continuing work

Rick & I started work on the ceiling in the last guest room today.  We didn't get very far as holding wood over your head gets hard on the body very quickly!  But, it's a start - the framing is in and we got a start on the bead board.

In the middle picture is just a little of the wall repair Rick had to do - apparently the last owner just put wallpaper over damage instead of fixing it.  The bottom picture shows the different colors the walls were painted - they look like Easter eggs!

catty spiders

Yeah, that's my attempt at a witty title  ;-)  The "catty" part is me - we were at shows this weekend and I picked up a bunch of Dog News.  I found another ad where I wondered if the owners actually look at the dog before they write the ad copy -

 

That is not "exceptional reach & drive".  Maybe the dog actually has it, but in that picture?  No.

Yesterday, I went out to turn the sprinklers on in the back yard and found this staring back at me -

I looked it up online and it is some sort of jumping spider and apparently not likely to bite the dogs, so I left it alone.  Funny little sucker tho; every time I tried to get a picture of the markings on it's back, it would turn around to face me.  Guess I looked dangerous!

this n that

Yesterday Dodger, Proxy and I went down to the San Diego area to train at Raney Ranch.  OMG, talk about a dream place!  They have, I think it was, 40 acres and ponds and toys and...sigh.  AND, they have wildflowers!

 

 

Our mystery amphibian now has front legs and his back legs keep growing!

The dove is gone - he grew in enough tail to be able to fly properly so we let him go.  It took awhile tho - I opened the door to the cage and we had to go back in the house and wait before he would leave!

more legs

The whateveritis is growing his back legs at a fast pace.  I hope by the time he's done growing and turned into his final phase, I'll be able to figure out exactly what he is!

frogs and ?

The froglet is now essentially a frog as he hardly has much of a tail left and is spending most of his time out of the water.  So I put him in a cup and took him back to Prado, to the same pond he came from.  It took him a minute, but once he figured out where he was, he swam away quite happily.  I hope he doesn't get eaten by any of the birds!

The unknown amphibian's rear legs are growing and have knees now, so he flexes them away from his body often.  Still don't have any idea what he is!

Update on current destruction

I mean redo!  Yeah, that's right...  ;-)  Anyway, all of the wallpaper is off the walls, the baseboards are gone and the carpet has been ripped out of the closet - don't ask me why the floor is parquet wood and the closet was carpeted!  Next step is dealing with that popcorn ceiling.

This n that

Sometimes I wonder how much show people actually know about their breeds - how can anyone advertise that this dog's coat doesn't hide the lines of his body??

In other news, the tadpole is now a froglet as he has all four legs now and is sitting on the fake plant I put in there so he could get out of the water when he wants to breathe air.  I plan to keep him until his tail is gone, and then let him go in the pond I got him from at Prado.

legs!

The tadpole now has a front leg - I'm going to lower the level of the water in there so I can put something in for him to crawl out on when he gets to the point that he needs to breath air.  It looks like it won't be long before he has two front legs.

The whateveritis now has tiny back legs, so apparently we are an amphibian of some sort.  The legs are so small that I wouldn't have seen them except he flexed them outwards so I had a close look.

 

I've ended up keeping these guys because when I read about tadpoles online after I got home with them, I found out they are very sensitive to change.  Then one of the whateveritis's died so I was afraid to take the remaining one and the tadpole back to Prado!  I'm hoping that when they are adults, they will survive going back.

What?

I found these - fish? tadpoles? - in a pond at Prado.  My first attempts at taking pictures of them were less than satisfactory...

so I took a net the next time I went, and the next time...it took awhile before I was able to find them again!  I brought two home, as well as a garden variety tadpole -

Still haven't figured out what these things are - they look like aliens!  And kind of act like aliens too, as they like to stand on their heads on the bottom of the bowl - I saw them doing this in the pond too -

Maybe catfish, as they have whiskers -

Update on the dove - it is doing fine and is in a big cage in the side yard, growing feathers.  I can't really take a picture of it because it freaks out any time I get near it!