My Family Is Awesome!

            Oh my gosh!

         I have a couple of three stories to tell you, tons of pictures to show you, and it's already Sunday morning. I've found that if I don't get at least a one-day start on writing, I won't finish in time to get this 'published' on Sunday and it'll be Monday or even Tuesday until you see it!

         "It's alright," Momma says when I tell her it will be late.

         That's what I love about her, no pressure. All my pressure is self-imposed.

         Before we start with my jibber-jabber, how about a bit of family news?

         Our local paper had this in it this week. The name jumped out at me. Ean Ammerman.

         Congratulations Ean! My family is awesome!

         Then I jumped up on the internet and messaged my beautiful cousin Stacey, Ean's mom. "Stacey, I saw the item in the paper about Ean's award. I want to include it in my blog this week and wondered if you had a favorite photo of Ean?"

         Stacey sent me this photo. 

        "In the paper it said he was a junior... Which he technically was but he actually graduated with two degrees in three years and was awarded four awards during that time... He has a degree in English and one in theatre... Pretty cool I'm very proud of him.... He's been accepted to the National theatre institute to study this Fall... He's very excited!"

         Then I wondered about what was going on in the photo. "Is Ean receiving an award?" I asked.

         "He's being hooded at his college graduation... He was lucky enough to match up with one of his favorite professors who is putting his hood on him... He was smiling because of that. All the colorful cords hanging around his neck also represent the honor society's and groups he was a part of at college... I think he had six cords... He wanted to do everything... Be a part of everything... Experience everything... So he did.... And held a job also... He's one determined guy."

         "What does 'being hooded' mean?" I had no idea.

         "The graduation gowns at college are like at high school but they have what I call bat wings... Bigger opening that goes down into points at the arms and then the hood is a piece of material that goes over the gotten and hangs down in a point down your back... The colors of the hood represent what type of degree you got... Ean got a bachelor of arts degree in English and one in theatre... When I graduated I had a bachelor of science degree in education... If you go on and get your masters or doctorate the hood changes.... Ean also graduate summa cum laude... Which means with highest honors... He got A's in all his classes...I only graduate magna cum laude... Which is high honors but not perfect... Damn him he beat me... Lol."

         Stacey sent another photo. "This was the one award he received... It's the biggest award they offer...I cried at the ceremony.... He loved everything about college and they loved him... It's nice to see others recognize and appreciate what you've always seen in your children."

         Stacey sent me another picture. "This isn't the best picture but you'll appreciate this... As his last requirement for his theatre degree he had to design the stage for the last show they put on... This is a huge window outside the theatre... In the lobby... As part of his design he glued over four thousand one inch square pieces of tissue paper to the window to make this replica of some famous picture... It took him hours and hours!!! All four of my kids are awesome artists... They inherited that from their dad... I can't draw recognizable stick figures!"

         "Oh my! Yes, I do appreciate the talent and hard work it takes to make something this beautiful! Stacey, I'm fairly bursting [with pride] for you! Awesome job, mama!"

          "Thank you. It was tough raising four kids but... Blood sweat and tears later... they came out awesome!"

         Ean is (I hope I get this right) my first cousin twice removed. Ean's grandfather Vince and I are first cousins. Stacey is Vince's daughter, one generation removed from me which makes her my first cousin once removed. Ean is her son thus the first cousin twice removed designation. Wikipedia has an awesome chart that explains all the cousin relationships very well.

         "Okay Peg, what's a second cousin?" you ask.

         Children of first cousins are second cousins. So Vince's daughter Stacey and my son Kevin are second cousins. Ean is Kevin's second cousin once removed. Got it?

         Speaking of Kevin...

         That stinker!

        On Friday, when we opened the mailbox, there were two Father's Day cards in there for Mike. One from Andrew and one from Kevin. Mike opened Andrew's first and read every word. "Pretty nice," he said. He reached for Kevin's card. "Do you think Kevin can top that?"

         "Nope!"

         The card Kevin picked out for Mike made me laugh. Whenever I see someone with a "World's Greatest Dad" mug, I knock it out of their hand and scream, "LIAR!" Open it up and on the inside it says, You're welcome.

         Too funny.

         There was a personal note on the inside too. Mike read it aloud and before he got to the end, his voice cracked; he could hardly finish. "Well he did it," Mike wiped away a tear or two. "He topped Andrew's."

         I can only imagine that Kevin's other dad got such a nice thoughtful note in his Father's Day card, and maybe, just maybe, it touched his heart as much as it touched Mike's.

         My family is awesome!

         That cute little red-haired brother of mine, Richard, is helping one of his girls out by taking care of her cats until she can move to a house that allows pets. In the meantime he has grown very fond of them — although if you ask him, he'll probably deny it.

         The sisters are about a year old, conceived and gave birth within days of each other. "The gray and white one had three kittens," I heard the excited voice on the phone one night.

         "Aww!" I said with a lot of feeling. "I looove kittens! But we won't have any, we had all of our cats fixed," I ended in a sad voice and I am a little bit sad about it.

         "You want a kitten — I'll bring you a kitten!"

         "No," I answered very quick. "But thanks anyway."

         A couple of nights later, Richard had this to say. "The calico crawled right in the same box with the gray and white one and had four kittens!"

         "Really!" You hear stories like this happening from time to time, but I never personally knew anyone it's happened to.

         Richard keeps me up to date on the progress of the kittens. "They are getting so fat with two mothers taking care of them. Sometimes one cat will have all seven kittens nursing from her and the other one will be grooming her."

         I am a little jealous, God forgive me, that I've never had the experience of watching this unique situation unfold. I can only imagine the stories I could've told!

         My brother is awesome! He took the cats in — cats! Most people wouldn't give you a plug nickle for a cat! — And he's taken such very good care of them. I'm sure he'll be sad to see them go.

         "No I won't," he replied when I suggested that to him. "But there is one pretty little kitten I'd like to keep."

         My family is awesome!

         I have a bunch of pictures from last time that I didn't show you. Wanna see those before we get on with this week's photos?

         A box turtle down by the pond. I let Ginger and Itsy torment him a little because they can't hurt him. He tucked his head and tail in, pulled his feet in, and shut his house down tight!

         Look at this guy, would ya! He is a baby leaf beetle. He won't look like this when he's all done growing up.

         Did I say I like babies? Maybe not all babies, he's kinda gross.

          This guy is a milkweed beetle. Once the milkweed blooms there will be tons of them all over!

         And the milkweed flowers are coming on! I can hardly wait. I hope I get a few pictures before the deer eat them all!

         Close-up of a Pale Sulpher. He let me get really close.

         Oh my goodness! There is so much life in that little pond of ours.

         This is a damselfly, he's an Azure Damselfly.

         I had a good time taking lots of pictures of him. He'd take flight only to sit on a different lily a few seconds later.

        I parked my butt on my haunches and patiently and quietly waited. The frogs I'd scared off on my approach were returning. I'd see a lily leaf move and if I looked below it to the surface of the water I could spot the frogs creeping in.

         This pretty green one is called a Forktail Damselfly.

         I spotted a tadpole too, or is it a polliwog? What do you call them?

         Every once in a while I'd have to stand up and give my 'haunches' a rest and once I stumbled and almost fell headfirst into the pond! Boy, wouldn't that have been a sight to see!

         That's the end of last week's pictures. Shall we get on with this week's?

         This, my dears, is a poor little box turtle trying to lay her eggs. Although the cats circled her and occasionally sniffed at her, they didn't do anything except watch her.

          This is one of my favorite butterflies. This is a Summer Azure and he's only about as big as my thumbnail.

         An old tractor in the field. If the grass gets any taller you won't be able to see it at all!

         Oh my gosh! This is the flowers of the Catalpa Tree. 

        I had no idea the flowers were so beautiful, so sweet smelling, or so big! 

        There was even a Catalpa Tree in the front yard of the house where we used to live and I never took note of them. I'm guessing I was busy with other things. I know one thing for sure. I wasn't as interested in identifying things back then as I am now. Okay, there's one more thing I know for sure. My ex-husband used to gather the Catalpa worms to use for bait in fishing. Googling it I have found out that the Catalpa worm is actually the caterpillar stage of the Sphinx Moth.

         The identity of this little white flower remains a mystery to me.

          But while trying to find it, I found the name of one I didn't know last time.

         This is chickweed.

         Birdsfoot Trefoil.

         I don't know what this guy is either.

         A closer look at the clover flowers.

     

         This is Deptford Pink.

         You know, when this guy saw me, he hid a little. 

         I'm not exactly sure what he was doing, but I suspect he was feeding off of whatever that black blob is or used to be. This is also not what this guy will look like when he grows up. He looks kinda like a grasshopper but I think he's an Assassin Bug nymph.

         The Crown Vetch is blooming.

         This one wasn't at my pond but I knew what he was when I saw him. He's a Jewelwing Damselfly.

         Yarrow! I love Yarrow!

    

         I haven't figured out what this guy is yet but since I'd taken this picture I saw another one just like it. If anyone knows what it is, let me know and I'll let everyone else know — and tell them you knew what it was!

         Now this guy I knew! This is a Bald-faced Hornet and these guys are big! He almost knocked me over when he flew past!

        

         This is a tiny little flower of my asparagus fern — after the rain.

         A firefly, or lightening bug.

         Another one after the rain. I spent a long time trying to identify this wildflower but so far, no luck.

  

          I'm pretty sure this is Wild Parsnip. It's not only invasive but it is also obnoxious. That means that it can not only crowd out the native plants but it can cause harm. The juice from these plants can cause burns. It contains furocoumarins which can make skin sensitive to light, a condition known as phytophotodermatitis, causing severe burns and blisters. It's not a good idea to fool around with these with your bare hands. This plant looks similar to Golden Alexanders but it blooms later and is much larger.

         I know one thing for sure, the bees love it! They were all over this plant!

         Butter-and-Eggs! I love the Butter-and-Eggs! This plant is also called Toadflax.

         I've only started to see this one in the last day or two. It's Rough-fruited Cinquefoil.

         Look at this one.

         "It's dandelion fluff," you say.

         I know it looks like dandelion fluff but it's not. It's much larger. I haven't seen the flower yet, in fact, I thought it might not flower at all. Just go from a pod to a fluff ball.

        And maybe the transition happens so fast it just seems that way to me. But I did what I always do.

         "You asked your mom?"

         Good guess but in this case, no. I Googled it.

         It does get a flower and this is called... get ready... this is called Salsify.

         "Is that supposed to mean something to me?" you ask.

         It means a ton to me! When I was taking care of Miss Helen in Missouri, she asked me to keep an eye out for this in the farmer's markets. I had no idea that it was a wildflower!

         Salsify, Tragopogon porrifolius, sometimes called oyster plant, has never really caught on in the U.S. as a kitchen garden crop.

         Thomas Jefferson would be sorely disappointed to know that, because he enthusiastically cultivated “salsifia” in his vegetable garden at Monticello.

Jefferson claimed that the white-flesh of the 10- to 12-inch tapered roots of salsify taste better than carrots, and he reserved space for a few rows in Square XIV every year of his retirement at Monticello (1809-1826). He wrote in his journal on Nov. 25, 1814, that 11 bushels of salsify “made this year” from the garden, a proud accomplishment during a tumultuous year that saw the burning of the Capitol in Washington by British troops and the end of the War of 1812.

         Salsify is in the sunflower family and every part of it is edible. Although it's called oyster plant, it doesn't taste like oyster, my search tells me. It tastes more like an artichoke.

        

         I think that's enough for this week. I've been working hard on this all day and now it's late afternoon, my neck aches, and I have time to post it.  

         So, let's call this....

         "Waitwaitwait! Peg! How did your suncatchers sell at the car show?" you ask.

         Next time. I'll tell you about it next time. That and another story I'm saving.

         So! Let's call this one done!