Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

Jack had so much fun swimming yesterday that we went back to the civic center pond today. The water here is clean and clear and Jack doesn’t mind that bit of ice at all. This is the place where Jack caught his fish and he wants to catch another one. A bigger one and he even had a strategy. First he swam in a slow zig-zag skirting the edge of the ice, then he meandered near the shore until he found the right spot and planted himself like a post and just stood still……for about 5 minutes. I found a bench, drank my coffee, got up and took a few photos, sat down again and still Jack didn’t move. The spell was finally broken by the rattling sound of his cookie box when I put my hand in my pocket. After that we walked down to the soccer fields and back and Jack took one last dip before heading home where the boy is happily napping in a sunbeam.

Friday Feathers: The Birds of Spring

First, a solemn fellow or two. Or proof that life is fucking disappointing, because whenever in  a fantasy novel a crow or raven lands in front of you they have a message from some overlord or lady that sends you off on an interesting quest. All I got was being croaked at.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

Full Fish Ahead: Part 3

The new aquarium is full of life and it’s all adorable. Let’s check in with Avalus.

Part 3 – Cuties and Questions

The tank on Tuesday 28th of March. Bought a filter, forgot blue paper. ©Avalus, all rights reserved

The new filter arrived and now the Daphnia’s reign over the tank is due. They can swim but they cannot fight any stronger currents. So I fished as many as I could out, thanked them for their service … and fed them to the inhabitants of my main tank. Ah, the circle of life. I will try to get access to a microscope and try my hand at video editing and then do a post about them. You need to see them move and you need to see them up closer than I can do with my Magnificator (notr). So today there will be some random photos with blurbs. [Read more…]

What the storm did

You may remember that I talked about a storm about two weeks ago, and when I went for a walk last week, I could see the devastation in parts of the forest. In one spot, the gnarly pines paid a high tribute and their trunks are lying there, ready to be removed (that part is not part of the nature reserve), with the branches being left to the wilderness.

A look at the trees shows you the power of the storm.

©Giliell, all rights reserved
This fellow was already hollowed out by rot.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

Well, I got some loot to take home, but I would have preferred the trees alive.

Precious Tulips

From Nightjar,

These photos were taken in the last day of winter, just before the equinox. I brought these little red tulips from my grandma’s garden after she died and I planted them in a pot to be sure I wouldn’t lose them. It turned out to be a great idea and by moving it around I was able to capture them in different light conditions.

©Nightjar, all rights reserved

©Nightjar, all rights reserved

©Nightjar, all rights reserved

©Nightjar, all rights reserved

Jacks Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

It’s a cold and gloomy day here with drizzly rain and lots of mud. Jack doesn’t seem to mind, but I’m finding it a bit grim. Everything looks so dirty. The sidewalks are coated with gritty sand, the grass is grey and the landscape is devoid of colour. I tried to keep a cheerful outlook thinking perhaps I could find a few snowdrops or an early hyacinth, but nope, I could not find any flowers today. I did find a pretty piece of turkey tail fungus, though, pretending to be a flower. It will have to do until the real thing comes along.

Jack’s Walk

Cedar Creek. Looks nice, but smells bad ©voyager, all rights reserved

Jack is a water dog by nature. He’s happiest when his feet are wet and I usually don’t mind if he takes a dip when we’re out. Today, though, he dipped into the creek at our local park and came out smelling like a sewer. The smell was so bad that I was gagging while trying to dry him off. Shit. Literally. He smelled like shit and then he started rubbing up against me to dry himself off.

So now I have a situation on my hands. I can’t take him home like that, I don’t have more towels and now I smell like a sewer too. Also, we’d only been in the park for a few minutes and Jack was still full of energy and not ready to leave. It took 2 cookies to get him into the car and he was dramatically mopey about it, grumbling as he went to sit on his bed in the back. Now the smell is concentrated inside the car and it’s me who doesn’t want to get in, but I do even though no-one offered me a cookie. I need clean water and there’s no choice but to drive there. Thankfully, it’s a short drive because even with all the windows down and a stiff north wind blowing through the smell drifted past me in waves. I think I caught notes of decomposition and fish in the aroma. We finally arrive at park #2 where there is a small fowl and foul free pond and Jack was a good boy and jumped right in. We stayed for about half an hour and Jack spent most of that time in the water. He came out smelling like a normal wet dog and he was so tired he got into the car with no fuss. The dog bed will need a wash and I took my clothes right down to the laundry, but that’s not a bad deal for so much dog happiness.

Foul Free and having fun ©voyager, all rights reserved

Spring Flowers

It’s that wonderful time of year when flowers start bursting out everywhere. Even in the sidewalks. Just ask Avalus.

Some tiny flowers, which are growing in the space between the plates of the walkway in front of my department. I wonder what insect visits them? The flowers are about 4 mm across. I got funny looks (again) by people passing by, while I was half prone on the walkway to get the pictures. Well, their loss for not noticing these tiny treasures.

©Avalus, all rights reserved

©Avalus, all rights reserved

Jack’s Walk

Hens and Chicks ©voyager, all rights reserved

I found my first growing thing of spring today. It’s a brave little hens and chicks lured out of its nest by the bright spring sun. Too bad for the little hen, though, that it’s still bloody cold. The high today was +5º, but there’s a bitter north wind blowing making it feel more like minus 5 instead. It’s supposed to get up to +11º by the end of the week, but then dip back down to zero again for a few more days. Sigh. Is it just me, or is spring taking a bit too long to get here this year?

Tree Tuesday

It’s finally spring! Well, at least it is in Germany and Avalus is sharing a wonderful blossoming tree with us today.

Today at noon, it was really warm (18°C in the sun!) and so I had a stroll over campus, discovering many things. And a fruit tree in bloom, with lots of bees doing beesness!

©Avalus, all rights reserved

 

[Read more…]

Jack’s Walk

Is that tree looking fuzzy or are my glasses dirty? ©voyager, all rights reserved

That tree is looking fuzzy with teeny, tiny baby buds ©voyager, all rights reserved

It’s a wonderful day in my corner of the world. There’s a bit of a north wind keeping things cold, but the sun finally decided to visit and it gifted us with a brilliant blue sky. I can hear birds twittering and the air is filled with that earthy smell of spring. It’s a day full of treats for the senses and I am loving the feel of sunshine on my face. Jack is also in excellent spirits and has a bit of extra bounce in his step. I might be a bit bouncy myself. We had a lovely walk all around the neighbourhood and we sang our silly songs and talked about rabbits and the trees.