Who can guess what this is?

(My siblings should stay silent, as they will all know what they are looking at in this picture.)  This is something useful to my father in one of his hobbies, and believe it or not, it is not entirely obsolete.

Columbine

Taken from my mother's front porch.

Horses

I stopped down at my brother's house today and fed apples to the horses (making fast friends with them!)  Four of them lined up for a photo.  And an extra shot of my mother and me below, because my sister follows my blog and will appreciate this (even though she never comments!)

This is a candy bar. And it is disgusting!

I'm in Idaho. I'm sure they don't sell these anywhere else. This is a candy bar that is filled with marshmallow and has a chocolate outside with tiny bits of coconut sprinkled on top.  It is not worth the calories.

My Dad and his ham radio tower (Idaho Falls)

Pond Scum

Out on my walk this evening, I found a lot of different things to photograph.  But when I finished the last leg and came to the pond/swamp that borders the road, I realized I needed to capture this summer phenomenon.  Green duckweed coats the entire surface of the pond!

Father's Day

A photo with my dad from our annual breakfast out---a tradition my sister and I have for father's day-- and we don't let our brothers in on it!   :-)  (If we could have grabbed someone to take the picture of all three of us, it would have been nice to have my sister in this shot.)

Lupine

Saturday's picture-- from my somewhat damp front garden (which got a whole lot wetter later in the day, as it poured rain!)

Perspective

I spent a chunk of the day at a doctor's appointment and then getting another MRI of my back (something I went through in 2003, in which we found some herniated disks).  Not happy that my back is acting up again, and on top of it, I had a bout of what probably was food poisoning early in the day.  But after the MRI, my husband and I stopped at Barnes & Noble so he could pick up a Father's Day gift.  I'm not really very sick or disabled, just a little bit uncomfortable--nothing that won't pass--and I refuse to let it reduce my enjoyment of the small pleasures in life, like browsing books, sipping coffee and enjoying a banana muffin! (Especially after not eating much beyond soda crackers all day!)

Deck Update

Nothing more interesting today than a progress photo of the deck removal.  Apparently the parts that have been removed were the worst to get up and the rest of the deck removal "shouldn't take very long."  We will see...

It was a good dinner!

Flag Day

It's June 14th and I put the flag out.  Then I figured I should take a picture of it.  I was playing around with the shutter speed, as the wind was blowing. It's not easy to get the right amount of light --my camera only allowed me to open the aperture to this point.  Plus the flag is partly under an overhang and shaded by the crabapple tree. I took a lot of experimental photos and decided this was the best.

Piano Strings (Sunday's photo)

I went to the Grand Old Days celebration yesterday, on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.  There was a display of decorated upright pianos, which will be distributed around the city during the summer. I especially liked the string artwork on this one:

Deck Demolition

It's gradually coming apart, with the help of a longer crowbar and the saw...

The Summer Project

We are replacing our old cedar deck (which must have been built in the 70's and clearly is rotting!)    Warren is providing some of the labor in its removal and our neighbor (who used to build decks professionally) will build the new one for us.  It is slow work, getting all the screws and nails out and takes 1/2 hour or longer just to remove one board.  Not fun. Glad I'm not doing it!

Garden Excavation and Discovery

Ah, I knew I had planted this a few years back.  As I pushed back the aggressive Day Lilies, I discovered some treasures in my garden.  (I am still catching up from a few years of yard neglect, working my way around the yard, from one garden area to another.  I am about 2/3 done and my back HURTS! from pulling all those encroaching weeds, lilies and ferns.)

Bridal Veil

The spirea is in full bloom. 

Memorial Day Breakfast Picnic

My dad organizes a breakfast picnic at one of the Minneapolis city lakes each Memorial Day (ever since I was in 10th grade--which is now a VERY long time ago!)  We have only been rained out about 2-3 times in all these years.  This year it started out sorta ok.  The first photo is of my son Andy, cooking sausages. (Rather poor focus--sorry.) You can see what happened eventually, in the second photo...