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Showing posts from July, 2009

Photo Essay of Olbrich Gardens Butterflys

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Fireworks

Another busy weekend at Chez Bee! Saturday morning found us up at 6:30 for an hour and a half walk before Ben’s vet appointment. I was hoping to turn what amounts to a Tasmanian devil on the end of a leash into a dignified well behaved dog for his monthly mani-pedi. He get SO excited he makes a fool of himself. Well, the walk did it, he was so pooped he just laid on the floor until everyone thought that there was something wrong with him. He got beaucoup de treats too so I think a lot of it was him faking exhaustion to work that angle. Saturday afternoon knitting was fun despite the curiously missing Mrs. Sable. Just Kitty Mommy and Mousy Linda and I. I finished the striped Socketta socks and cast on a new pair of Treks. Saturday night was devoted to work although it was a bit tricky since my computer got ‘the vap-ahs’ literally and went belly up on me. I’ve narrowed it down to an overheating problem. Will blow it out with canned air again tonight and investigate further. Sunday I went

The Good The Bad and The Ugly

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Work has been a bear this week. I've spent the majority of my time moving a couple hundred PowerPoint presentations from Windows Front Page to Windows SharePoint. Some of the ppt.s were over 10 years old and the next best thing to being carved into a stone table. A stone tablet that didn't want to move to SharePoint. Bah! Lots of dinkin' around. FrontPage was so intuitive, easy to use, and adaptable. SharePoint...not so much. We've moved away from a program where you could make visual differentiations and use a little creativity to a program that is a glorified laundry list of document to scroll through. I know there is always angst with change but I'm usually all for the new programs and technology. This time it just seems like a big step backwards. Yet again, the Powers That Be didn't consult me early enough in the planning process. As you can see this whole thing has made me a little crankypants but that said, I should be wrapping things up tomorrow and can g

Busy Banana Bread Bee

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I got a tattoo. That’s right. I said it. A tattoo. I’m on a rebellious spree. First the purple shoes and now this. Don’t try to stop me. I’ll take you down with me. Straight down the road to ruin, mayhem and debauchery, I tell ya! Er... OK. So It’s only a henna tattoo. And it’s a cute little dragonfly. But it’s right on the back of my hand for all of the world to see! For the next 4-24 days. At least that’s what the lady said. It used to have glitter too, but I took that off because I thought it was overkill. Here is my friend getting one on her hand too. What a pair or rebels! Friend D and I went to the Mt. Horeb Art Fair on Saturday where we sampled Norwegian pastries, got our hands hennaed and bought fancy shirts. It was a lot of fun despite the cool temps and sprinkles. Lots of jewelry this year. Every other booth was beads. And I didn’t buy any. I know. It’s the first sign of the apocalypse. The second would be me getting an real tattoo! I was a Busy Bee yesterday, cooking, cleani

Sensai or Grasshopper?

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OK. It's finally summer in Wisconsin. How do I know? Because I bought the absolute coolest sport sandals of all time. Purple! (Eat your heart out Amy D!) And because on the way home from shopping I saw a bunch of folks who had pulled their lawn chairs out by the street and were holding a sign that said 'You Honk We Drink! The cacophony of car horns was deafening. Apparently they had been out there for some time because two folks had fallen completely over in their chairs, empties littered the grass, and the sign was upside down. I'm thinking the ploy had been a rousing success not to mention a creative way to jazz up a lazy Sunday afternoon. Anyway, I promised to tell you the story of picking up Ben's toys and I know both of you have been waiting with baited breath so here goes. For about a year now, I've been trying to teach Ben to pick up his own toys each night. Every night we go through the ritual where I pick up each of the stinking six giggabillion toys stre

Here and There. This and That.

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Weird day. Originally overloaded with plans but they all fell through more or less at the last minute. So I contented myself with puttering around the house and trying new recipes from a cookbook I bought this week. This is the Mexican Oven Baked Omelet . Filled with black beans, corn, onions and peppers. It called for chilies but I don't like them so I didn't add any. Top with salsa or taco sauce and fat free sour cream. Muy Yum! Also made blueberry muffins but they aren't as pretty. Someone put a roadkill skunk on my car the other day. I went down to the parking garage and it was hanging from my side mirror in a plastic bag. Since it's a security locked building, I suspected it was an inside job. It was. Fritz, the little Westie upstairs left it for him. Big fan apparently. I think that completes Ben's collection of flat animals now: squirrel (Flat Eddie), rabbit (F00-Foo), Beaver ( Beavus ) part of a fox ( MJ -may the rest of him rest in peace) and now a skun

Hiking Trip - July 2009

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Went hiking today in the Baraboo area with friends, Kim, Jodi, Bonnie and Terri. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. Weather, company, and scenery were all awesome! Some of The Universe's best work. The photos speak for themselves. Click on them to biggify. You won't be sorry. Pewett's Nest Parfrey's Glen Restoreth the soul....

A New Ice Age is Coming. Bring A Sweater!

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A week ago, it was so hot we were all melting and running down between the cracks. Then as soon as it arrived, the heat wave was over. The temperatures dropped 35 degrees and stayed there. There was a three day stretch where I saw nary a tube top or a flip flop. Friends up north insisted that the leaves were turning. Even this little birdy that had only hatched a week ago, accelerated his growth in order to fly south sooner than anticipated. And as if I needed one more sign that the end times were nigh and the glaciers they were a'coming , I looked out the front door and there was a polar bear in my front yard! This is the aptly named "Bear". He is visiting next door. He's cleverly disguised as a Grand Pyrenees to try and fit in with the city folk, but when he jumped up on me, I conservatively estimate that he weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 850 pounds-too big for a dog. And I distinctly got a whiff of penguin on his breath. Or maybe it was baby harp sea