Happy leap-year, the return of the marofrog

     It's leap-year 2020 and I'm bringing back the marofrog I wrote about back in 2016 on the last leap-year. It's time for an update on my marofrog. Before he was still just a baby, now you can meet Glint all grown up (even if he is still small).

This is an awkwardly posed marofrog.
Glint was in the middle of bouncing around and about to push off the bottom.
Don't worry, marimo and marofrogs don't mind small spaces.
Fun fact, most of the time marofrogs are just normal marimo which are plants not animals,
so as long as the water is clean and properly cared for they won't leave via magic.

     Read here about the legend of the marofrog and remember, don't boil them, it's a very bad idea plus it would destroy them.

     Read here about the heat warning of marimo, the plant that marofrogs are close kin with.

     Disclaimer; Marofrogs are shy, they won't show themselves to just anyone so sneaking a picture is as rare as leap-year. Ugh, getting caught might end up with me plagued by gnats or my window spontaneously falling out of the wall. If I manage to get another before next leap-year I'll let you know. It took me weeks, maybe months of staking out the marofrog just to get this picture to share today.

Moss and succulents from my own backyard

     I took a break from social media and blogging and now my birthday month is almost over so I thought I'd share some more recent photos from my own yard. The succulents are out and I absolutely love it. Ever since I was little chicks and hens were a plant I loved having around and that hasn't changed. I also love moss, if I could figure out how to keep it pest free I'd harvest some from my yard to grow inside but I've had no luck with that and don't want to introduce bugs into my living space.

A chick from a chicks and hen plant growing on a rock wall.

Another chick, I love this photograph.

Large chicks and hen succulent.
I don't know the name of this plant but it is pretty.
The tips are a reddish purple color leading into green.

Moss clinging to stone.

Several types of moss. Does anyone know what they are?

So much moss it's pouring out of the rock wall in this one spot.

Disclaimer; while I love moss and succulents my favorite flower is pansies. Unfortunately I don't have any pansies but I would love a bunch along with some columbine flowers.

Christmas baking

     Merry Christmas. We got plenty of holiday baking done, brownies, sugar cookies, chocolate covered Ritz, chocolate covered pretzels, muddy buddies and fake almond roca. SO MUCH SUGAR..seriously good but I'm looking forward to Christmas dinner. Am I the only one who prefers a smorgasbord of snack foods to an actual planned out meal? Nothing wrong with the meal, I just love meat, cheese and crackers. Anyway I took pictures of some of the sweets we've made so far.

I used leftover chocolate to coat a few pretzels in both milk and white chocolate.
I will be making more of these, so good.

Obviously I had to make a Grinch heart cookie. I've yet to see the new Grinch movie.
I like the classic song You're a mean one Mister Grinch.

That cookie is mine...I can't fit my name on a cookie.

I think I was just trying to go for a Christmas sweater vibe or see how much frosting I could fit on the cookie.

Two Ritz crackers with peanut butter inside and coated in both milk and white chocolate.
These are a hit, a new recipe and something I think we'll be making again in the future.

Disclaimer; I doubt I'll even finish the sugar cookies I decorated and I made the least but I will eat MINE, lol.

Purple and gold, my first wreath

     I made my first wreath using the wreath from Walmart that was $2.97 or something like that. The purple and gold ornaments I got online from Walmart this summer on clearance originally priced $4.95 but I found them at half price. The angel wings were $1.97 from Walmart and the silver bead garland I think was $1.47 if I remember correctly. I kind of removed all the packaging so I can't go back and look at the prices, oops. Finally the curling ribbon I bought at the thrift store for $1.50 a spool and I bought six spools that day but only used purple and gold to go with the ornaments.

Not bad for my first try making a wreath. I think it turned out pretty cute.
The lights are cool white, they kind of come off as blue.
Warm white lights would look better but I don't have any.
The wreath is for my bedroom closet door which you can see is purple.

    I wrapped the fairy lights and silver garland around the wreath so many times trying to make it look good but I had no idea what I was doing. The curling ribbon was tied together in a bunch and curled before I just tucked it into the wreath with no clips or hooks to work as a filler for some blank spaces where I felt adding more ornaments to fill it in wouldn't look so well.

     The ornaments came in a pack of eighteen but I didn't use the entire package. To attach them I just used ornament wire. I am loving the purple and gold and normally I am not a huge fan of gold. I love silver and copper but this gold with the purple is just awesome and making me wish I had more purple ornaments, most of mine are blue, pink or tones of silver.

Disclaimer, totally addicted to hoarding ornaments. Seriously when it comes to ornaments if I can find them on a good deal and I like them, I think I'd pick them up. I did just start buying them the last couple years so there's only a few packs so far...on the hunt for teal green, grey, purple and orange for now.

I spy with my blue eyes....a beehive on a wire

    This summer I found a beehive growing in a strange place. I don't know if this is actually common but have you ever seen a hive grown on a power line (whatever cable it may be).

     This is the first time I've seen one grown on a cable but I have seen them other places before but what interested me was how much this one has grown from June 26th to July 7th when I took these pictures. Granted I wasn't standing in the same exact spot and the lighting was different on both days but this is the same exact hive.

I matched the cable size in these photos as close as possible so you can see the difference.

     I wondered how big the hive would grow but it hasn't changed in size since so I figure it's done by now. I had this big plan to take a few more photos of it growing huge but nope, hasn't grown since. Oh well, it was fun anyway.

     Were the bees bad this summer for you too? We had a bunch of angry bees, really angry ones. I had to keep retreating inside because they liked landing on my legs. Bumblebees, sure I don't mind those so much anymore but anything else, eek no, I'm not sticking around for that.

Disclaimer; I have no idea what kind of bees these are but I do know that the song I just found and have been listening to the last few days and while writing this is kind of funny. Black Honey by Thrice. How weird that I'm listening to a song about bees while writing a post about bees. That wasn't planned, I only realized it when trying to come up with this disclaimer.

Sunrise photos 9/13/2018

     I caught the sunrise this morning and took a few photos I wanted to share. I should have worn a sweatshirt, it was thirty seven degrees outside. Not too bad just a little too chilly. I'm so glad it's September because that means hoodie weather! Fall is my favorite season, the weather gets cooler and it rains.

That pink :)

I love how the one tree stands out.

Opposite mountain had a faint pink halo above it and fog below.

My favorite.

Disclaimer; I did not paint the skies for if I had they would be purple, copper, and silver.

I accidentally hugged a bee

     True story, absolutely true. I'm so glad it wasn't a wasp or a hornet or the yellow jackets of my nightmares. A bumblebee is much safer.

     Waiting around between spots where I was taking photos on my walk, I felt something on my fingers at my side. At first I thought it was the hem of my shirt so I grabbed it, probably shouldn't have. Since my shirt did not feel like a fuzzy caterpillar I knew what it was, a bumble bee and probably the one I photographed earlier not far from where I was standing. Unfortunately I don't have any bee photos for you today since those turned out too blurry to know what I took thanks to the odd angle and timing I couldn't see the screen to readjust the automatic focus but I do have a ladybug photograph and a few other things I saw to show you.

Can you see me? What am I?

I've never seen this part of the river before.

Ladybug, wild flowers, summer into autumn colors.

Red roots? Anyone know what these are from?

I like this rock.

Looks like fall in august to me.

Disclaimer; the bee was not hurt, it flew away. I just think it wanted to snuggle on my fingertips for a little while. I guess even bees need a hug every once and a while. But not wasps or hornets or yellow jackets. They're evil, lol.