Blue Skies, Cool Weather, and a Lazy Cat Hunt.

Cheryl enjoying the weather

Blue skies!

After the storms earlier this week,  and the mud and flood that followed... it is nice to finally have pleasant weather for a change.   The skies are blue with a few fluffy clouds and the humidity has dropped considerably.    Tomorrow will hopefully be another 20 mile run for Cheryl.  She is leaving the possibility open for alternatives should the weather change its mind. We shall see how things go.

So different from Wednesday!

The cat on the prowl!

Cat vs Squirrel!

Both square each other up.

In the mean time,  We have been spending time outside with the cat.  Hiro has been making friends with the local fauna while Cheryl and I watch from the porch or blanket.  I think the squirrels just mess with him, as he has never caught one ( although he has had more than a few opportunities to do so.) and he normally ignores them unless they are being particularly pushy.  Today was one of those days.

Hiro, for some reason,   decided to focus his attention on this squirrel.   A little round-the-rosy and a brief chase and then they both went separate ways... but not before I finally got some pictures.  Yeah!

Looks like the squirrel is just playing. 

Hiro likes playing with Voles the best.

Hiro mostly is interested in voles, chipmunks, grasshoppers, moths, and occasionally a bird.  The squirrel is one of tree that come and destroy the bird feeder from time to time.  One of them has a distinguishable brown tail.  ( It's a gray squirrel with a brown tail...I know it is NOT a fox squirrel)

Now it is just  teasing Hiro.

Hiro gets bored. 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday today.  The weekend is upon us!  Time to kick back and relax while the weather cooperates!

Female tree carving.

Ok, So today I was working on carving another wood nymph out of an old dead Cherry tree. Not the fruit kind, rather the furniture kind ( think choke cherry) I love carving cherry because the smell is awesome while you carve. Also, the wood is a wonderful rich orange/reddish brown color. Oh, and it is much harder than pine so you can add detail without crushing the wood. Anyway, the bugs are now out in full swing and that made carving outside a challenge. I finished up in the dark so the last picture is crappy, even with a flash. You can't see it much, but I tried to youth en her up a bit. She was looking a little too old for me. I'll see how far I get tomorrow, but right now, I have at least one seat to carve. In other news, Hiro, ( the "kitten") caught his first vole tonight. Don't worry, it got away. It did the old "I'm really scary" trick, forcing Hiro to drop it, then it bait and switch with a bunch of leaves. Hiro had nothing more than a mouthful of leaves to show for his time. But he did manage to catch it for a little while. Those little things are crafty! Maybe next time Hiro!

Thursday cram day!

Tonight I had to catch up all the carving for the week since tomorrow is Friday. 7 seats in all! Not a bad last couple of days. I'll be babysitting them all night tonight to make sure they get their second coat and are able to be shipped out tomorrow. Other than that, It has been raining all day today and most of the snow is melted. We have a wonderful "lake" in our front yard and I'm sure the small pond will soon be teaming with "life". (by life, I mean mosquitoes) It was warm enough for a moth to grace our window tonight. And I just had to capture the little maze the voles have been making under the snow this winter. The thaw has finally revealed them. Tomorrow, after our bookstore visit, Cheryl has authorized me to begin our next project. A modern cat post furniture. I can't wait!