"The most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance." John Ruskin

The flowers we have been enjoying in Tennessee are great. From our crocuses, irises, tulips and hostas it's nice to see so much color. Though we've labored hours on many plants the ones we've enjoyed the most preceded our arrival. These tiger lilies could have been planted here thirty years ago for all we know. For as thick as they grow, they very well could have been here that long running the length of our front yard and framing our mail box. Dave took these pictures and did a wonderful job.

He couldn't pass up the opportunity to exhibit his shiny hog. Which he took to the local race track last weekend for a little drag racing. He was delighted with his times and speeds. Legal speeds, in this instance, of 87 mph in 1/8 mi. Unfortunately, our camera was not in attendance or we would have some video to share. A similar outing may not occur for quite a while, since the motorcycle is currently lame with a flat tire; due to all it's burn out on said excursion.

Girls trip

A number of years ago while I was in the financial grasp of higher education my mother, sisters and I rarely saw each other at the same time. Though I traveled back to the grand State of Alaska every summer it was to exotic places like Shemya, Reddog Mine and Kensington. There were seasons where contact with my family was limited to thank you notes for the use of a shower during midnight drive-by's. All us canny girls decided this lack of true interaction must stop. Thus, the Girls Trip was born.

This is from our first trip.

Here we are a few weeks ago outside the Orlando Temple.
(The color scheme in the Celestial Room is purple and green. Usually I'm most opposed to purple, however, this was delightfully elegant.)

Till this year our trips have been within the State of Alaska. This time we broke our geographical bonds and met up in Florida. Spending time with my mom and sisters was wonderful! We had a great time eating amazing foods, visiting water parks, applying copious amounts of sunscreen then promptly sweating it all off, taking pictures in every lighting, angle and pose conceivable and just being together. It was a marvelous week.

The fireworks at the Magical Kingdom and Epcot Center were great, though a wee bit crowded. If there had been a suggestion box, I would advise more seating options at the Magical Kingdom. The sidewalk got a little hard after a while. The Epcot center was more accommodating even if a pagoda was slightly in the way of the show.

Pastries in Paris are a must if you're ever in the area. I just hope the French girl filling my order for the third time within two hours was too busy to recognise me. Maybe putting my hair up, down and then in a hat worked.

To dodge the Florida heat and humidity, large amounts of cold desserts were consumed. Ghirardelli's did not escape our mob descending on their air conditioning and devouring some great ice cream. Here is where I would like to write that all four of us ate this boat of sweetness. Hmm... not so much though. I pretty much had all of it.

After scoffing at lines of people standing in the sun to get signatures and pictures with Disney characters I trampled a little girl in a princess dress and tiara to get to the Beast. Her prince charming must have been busy at the October Fest. How could I not pass up an opportunity to kiss the Beast? What character would you go out of your way to meet?

Long before our arrival each of us picked one eating establishment and one activity that we could not leave without completing. What a great system! There was no way to see everything and this way no one whined about their ideas being shot down like guinea fowl. For my birthday we ate at the Rainforest Cafe. I tried to call Dave during one of the thunderstorms so he could hear the elephants and lions roaring. It didn't work so much. We went to a show of my choosing that would not have been possible without Dave's birthday present to me of his June allowance. Thank you, Honey! You're the best!

Look at what they got me for my birthday cake! It even had a candle somewhere in the oohey gooey foot-high greatness. Now, this we all ate. I don't think there was a crumb left.

This is evidence for my drums instructor that I did practice while on vacation.

In my absence Dave purchased Rock Band. "Honey, now you can practice all the time." What things have your spouses managed to sneak into the house while you were away?

Thanks for a great week girls! Can't wait till next time.

One fish, two fish...

Dog Fish!
How to teach dogs to swim.

1. Ask them nicely to swim.
2. Throw something dog likes into the water.
3. Wade into the water so dog can swim to you.
4. Finally admit to yourself that none of these things work, chase down dog, hold by collar, drag into deep water.
5. Pat yourself on the back. Your dog can now swim.

6. Check yourself for leeches.

Our Hunter Gatherer

Ahh! Some time on the lake.













Dave decided that my back-up-in-case-we-tip-clothes made a good covering. We're both fried anyway. Though our head gear did do some good. The skin is still attached to our noses. Hopefully it will remain that way.

The one he kept.


The one he didn't.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Babys First Picture

We saw our kid earlier this week. The tech said she thinks its a girl. So there it is, we're having a girl. Or possibly a boy with no penis. But since there is a loving supreme being that watches over stuff like that, our child will be the former and not the later. Our precious little meat-wad had come a long way from being a gooey blood-filled jellybean. We watched her hopping around like a little frog during the ultrasound. She's feisty, and modest. It took a while for us to catch a glimpse of the goodies because she is already so pure and chaste. She got that from me.

Tired of Rock and Roll

... but only because what goes for 'rock and roll' these days is crapangrywhiteboynoise. I've been threatening to switch brands for a while if things didn't get better and they haven't. I can't believe I'm writing this- I listen to country. At first I only did it when I couldn't find anything on all the rock stations, but now I have half the pre-sets on country station and I have it on about 70% of the time.

Looking back I'm not really surprised. There were signs. Like the hunting, camping, and fishing. The gardening and the beekeeping. And most of my friends are red-necks. My life's ambitions are to work with animals, have a ton of kids and live on a ranch out in the boonies. Those are all fairly rednecktastic themes so it only makes sense that eventually I'd pick up on redneck music.

I still love good rock though. And if someone ever starts making good rock and roll I'll definitely listen to it.

"No, Jim, I use a bad apiarist."

"I say we fill Michael's office with bees. My apiarist owes me a favor."
Thanks, Dwight Schrute. That was a highlight in our week. However, you may not extract our queen and place her on a flushable wipe. She's too valuable for such petty things.

Ah, Bees! We have had our bees for a little over a week. Check out how awesomely unaware and inexperienced we are at keeping them. We checked on them for the first time this Saturday and they haven't all flown off and ditched us yet.
In fact to our delight and surprise they had already started making honey! Apparently, they need to work their bee magic on it longer before it can be applied to toast. Thankfully, we knew this or we'd be having an unpleasant week of restroom familiarization.
Our little workers even started making their own comb. See the honey inside? The comb was so light and fragile. We stuck some in the freezer for show-n-tell for our friends. Thank you all for humoring us. You've been great. If we get a little too excited go ahead and tell us so. Then we'll proceed to tell you how awesome it to have bees and that everyone should jump on the band wagon. When they fly off into the setting sun shouting insults and we cry on your shoulder then you can proceed to tell us how awesome it is not having bees mess up your emotional stability.

It would appear that dogs like honey. As well as honey comb. Who knew? Yeah, probably not the best idea to get them addicted to it. At least we have this kick-butt pest control fence. The dogs are actually part of the pest control management. Hopefully this doesn't turn into a case of the fox guarding the hen house.
Instructions were relied on heavily from our trusty Beekeeping for Dummies during the installation process. We each hived a nuc and made Harrell modifications when needed. Good times!

Our bees did not arrive in the mail, as is the usual manner of delivery. We'll have to try it someday to see the reaction at the post office. Bet that delivery guy won't skip us for having a motorcycle parked within 10 ft. of the mailbox that day. Our lucky bees were picked up from the supplier in Alabama and drove overnight to arrive in our hands by 8:30 the next morning. See all those boxes of bees! We were last on the list. This guy had already stopped at three other towns before he got to us.

The Harrell's are bee owners! With a lot of first timers luck by next year we shall be official beekeepers.