Dad Bringing Home His Baby!

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Grandma Holds Puddy Cat

Are You My Mother?

 The Peaceful, Quiet and Still Sleeping Habits of a Newborn

Ezra is nine days old today and this is the last video as I go home today. Thanks Mandi and Silas for letting me come out and help. It has been a dear experience and I will miss you.

As Per Annika's Request

Interrupted Home Tour

Wide Awake!

Hey Max and Annika, Just Wait 'Til I Can Play!

Ezra's Homecoming

A Lovely Week In Florida

Man vs. Nature

A sting to the face and two stings to the leg from pesky yellow jackets. All in a week. Two hives of vicious yellow jackets and one hive of wasps have claimed  space in my backyard. The two stings to the calf came while stepping down into the pool area: looking forward to a fresh dip in the water, body barely covered (swimsuit). When the gate swung open, the yellow jackets attacked. Yellow jackets also made-home in a crack on the stairs into the forest, so when Mr. Martinez and I went for a walk, they attacked us both. Mr. M. was just a bit quicker in brushing off the pest than I was. I sustained an allergic reaction, of course, and for a week now have sported a swollen neck which makes me look like a dowdy old man with a double chin. Think Winston Churchill.

Wasps, having made their home in the crook of the pool slide,  stung an unsuspecting guest. So, Mr. Martinez and I have been wasp-busters carrying around cans of wasp spray, duct tape all the while dressed like terrorists with ski masks-donned in desperation after Mr. M. was stung at least six times while cutting back the foilage to get at the opening of the nest.

Two squirrels have made their home in the trees. I have caught one scratching at the new black tarp and today I stood less than two feet away from a bold little fellow ripping up the soft batting of a cushion on an outdoor chair. I thought my presence would have discouraged his bad-boy behavior but no, as if he was laughing at me, he kept right on ripping until his mouth was full of soft white cotton.

Have I mentioned the bats, the mosquitoes and the ants? The deer that ate the tops off the tomato plants when someone left the gate open?

Ah, this battle with nature...woman vs. nature, is also subtitled under woman fascinated with nature and woman entertained by nature.

Last night I swam to the end  of the pool (faster than Phelps), and sat in the water watching the movement of an ant. One tenth the size of a dead bee, he carried it on the edge of the pool so the weight of the bee hung below him. Thinking the ant and his prized find would fall into the pool, I pushed the dead bee onto flat ground. The ant fussed and moved back to the edge of the concrete so the carcass once again hung below. It was easier for the ant to move the bee while it hung! Fascinating.

I spent hours yesterday morning beefing up my soil with peet moss (Remember the preserved, ancient bodies found in peet bogs)? --all the while entertained by the two squirrels who are either best friends or enemies. I couldn't decide if their antics were war or play. They chased each other across the pool cover. I imagined the soft plastic with the movement of the water underneath them is strange but joyful. At one point, each squirrel at opposite ends of the fence, ran towards the other squirrel. On impact, they both let out a war cry, then kept chasing each other throughout the yard.

Did I mention that the deer in the forest appear to be triplet babies? That the emergence of the bats at night is a kind of ritual? That when I get my first mosquito bite of the evening, it's my signal that I've worked long enough and it's time to go in?

It is a common theme of literature, of life, this man vs. nature. But just as common a theme is: man loves nature. Stings et al.