Craft Night in Mid September

Oh what a craft night it was! Things actually got crafted. You can tell winter is coming even though the days are still warm. We're all crafting. Well, except me. Some horrible dog whose name I can't even say right now TOOK APART the origami floral globe I painstakingly put together 2 weeks ago. The craft group cheered me on as I pushed through my frustration and completed a tidy, sturdy globe. Which the b%^* took apart on Tuesday. She didn't even shred it, which is almost worse. If she had destroyed it I could have said "oh well, it's ruined". Except it's not. And now I have to put the damn thing back together. Anybody want a free dog?

Guess who the ace dismantler is!Here are our projects for the week:

Cece's Sock!

Cece with sock. She's so freaking adorable with her blue sock!Kelly is working on bronze sculptures of Easter Island style heads. This is carved from wax and will be used for the actual bronze casting. As this craft develops I'll be posting more information.And Erin's totally splentacular, amazing and just so f^$&ing adorable Sea Nettle, made from a Hansigurumi pattern (sorry for the photo quality, my bad):And totally unrelated to our craft night but cool anyway:Some lucky devil in Cave Junction has this for a mailbox. I just love it! Nancy

Oregon Caves National Monument Hike

On Labor day we hiked the Big Tree Trail at the Oregon Caves Monument. The highlight of the trail is – one wild guess!-a big tree. The big tree is the largest Doug Fir in the state of Oregon, estimated to be around 1300 years old (give or take a few hundred years), with a circumference of 41 feet and 160 feet tall. It’s not a Redwood by any standards but it’s a really big tree. Since most old growth forest is gone it’s hard to remember that trees overall used to be a lot bigger. Here's the tree: I had a great time. Don’t let Kelly tell you I was bitching the whole way up the trail, I was not. OK, maybe I was, but just a little. A teeny tiny bit really. No need to blow it out of proportion. Kelly did point out that we were hiking on a trail in the mountains and most likely there would be some elevation gain (1100ft, to be exact). I was much more reasonable after he told me that. It’s not like I starting yelling about moving to Kansas immediately or muttering wildly “where the $%&^ is this *#$& tree” or anything like that. I really did have a great hike, especially on the downward descent. The tree is magnificent, the trail is well-maintained and the forest is enchanting. We saw a deer that was relatively untroubled by our presence, it kept hopping a short distance ahead on the trail until it got wise to our direction and moved parallel up the mountainside. The woods were alive with rodents, all industriously preparing for winter (or not - who knows really?). We saw little black, very noisy squirrels and lots of chipmunks, although I can’t ID any of them with the genus/species. There are a lot of squirrel-type critters in the west. Birds were calling, mostly the Stellar’s Jays although I did hear some Nuthatches and Chickadees. I’m glad I stuck it out- it was a memorable hike.

More of the Pets that Tolerate Craft Night

More pictures of our snarky pets...Velcro the wonder cat with the polydactyl paws..And a better shot of Io.

And here's a terrible shot of China. China is currently off on a backpacking expedition so, when she returns I will attempt to redeem my photographic skills and get a better portrait of her. As for Kita- I'll just have to try again. For such a tunky gal she sure does move fast!

More Snarky Pets (and a repeat)

Shiko, the most energetic miniature pit bull ever:

Max, looking unhappy, probably because of the sand blowing in his eyes:

And another of Sunny. I just couldn't resist this one:Still missing: Kita, the wonder blur, China the queen, Velcro and Cece's dust bunny.

Snarky Pets!

Sunny (tell me about the rabbits, George!)Stubby, showing his favorite side

Io (looking like an animatronic dog from "Babe")Frosty, the beauty queen

I will post photos of those pets that were slighted. Sorry guys and gals! I don't have photos of Emily's clan or the Egyptian goddess China or the cottonball of fury Max or Velcro, the cougar-pawed housecat. More to follow....

Found It

I ID’d the little lady from yesterday’s post (I’m assuming it’s a lady for literary purposes, who knows what gender she really is). She's unappetizingly called a Green Stink Bug Nymph. Here’s a much better photo: I got this photo from cirrusimage.com. It’s a “catalog of over 7000 high-resolution close-up pictures of live wild insects and spiders…” The site houses an extensive archive of the backyard bugs of North America. It's a good reference for all those crafty bug projects you've been wanting to design; there are intimate photos of everything from glorious butterflies to icky bedbugs (which are making a comeback after being almost erradicated- isn't that good to know?).

Check out their section on dragonflies. Stunning, really.

Let's rename the Stinkbug. All of them are too interesting and colorful to have such a yukky title. I know, I know, they extrude an unpleasant scent when disturbed, but does that mean they deserve such an unappealing name?

A Bug's Life

Kelly and I were hiking along one of the local forest service roads and found a fecund blackberry patch that was bear-less. While I was stuffing my face with luscious ripe fruit I came across the bug pictured below. She (do bugs have gender?) was sitting on a plump blackberry, looking like a precious gem. As I scrambled for my camera the uncooperative bug moved from her prime purple backdrop and scrambled onto the poison oak leaves intertwined with the blackberry bush. She’s more camouflaged on the PO but still, she’s a beaut, even thought I didn’t really capture her full glory. I think the carapace design would make an interesting piece of jewelry. Or papercraft design. The bug itself would make an interesting model for an Anigurumi creature. Anyone want to design one? A challenge for our snarky crafters.

Does anyone know what the heck this bug is called? I don’t even know where to start to find out what she is – I need bug recognition software!