ABC Tag - Part Deux

Fran has tagged Dick...

A: Attached or Single: Attached
B: Best Friend: Wife
C: Cake or Pie: Cake
D: Day: Thursday
E: Essential Item: Dental floss
F: Favorite Color: Blue
G: Gummie bears or worms: Gummie worms
H: Hometown: New Bedford, Mass.
I: Indulgences: Cashews
J: January or July: July...warm
K: Kids: Three 1 girl 2 boys
L: Life is incomplete without: A mate
M: Marriage Date: June 19th, 1943
N: Number of Siblings: Four
O: Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P: Phobias or fears: Loud noises
Q: Quote: "We hold these truths to be self-evident…"
R: Reason to Smile: For a smile in return.
S: Season: Fall…Harvesting tomatoes from the garden
T: Tag: Richard III
U: Unknown Fact about me: Sensitive
V: Very Favorite Store: Lowes
W: Worst Habit: Picking at fingernails
X: X-rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds
Y: Your Favorite Food: Sirloin steak cooked medium-rare
Z: Zodiac Sign: Taurus

ABC Tag

Julianne has tagged Fran...

A: Attached or Single: Attached
B: Best Friend: Husband
C: Cake or Pie: Cake
D: Day: Tuesday
E: Essential Item: Cheese
F: Favorite Color: Green
G: Gummie bears or worms: Gummie bears
H: Hometown: Chicago
I: Indulgences: Dark chocolate covered marshmallow cookies
J: January or July: July...lots if life
K: Kids: Three 1 girl 2 boys
L: Life is incomplete without: My family
M: Marriage Date: June 19th, 1943
N: Number of Siblings: One
O: Oranges or Apples: Apples
P: Phobias or fears: Forgetting birthdays
Q: Quote: "All’s well that ends well"
R: Reason to Smile: Anticipating a Turtle Sundae at Culver’s
S: Season: Fall…weather and fashion
T: Tag: Dick
U: Unknown Fact about me: I like to read British mysteries
V: Very Favorite Store: J.C. Penny’s
W: Worst Habit: Not speaking distinctly
X: X-rays or Ultrasounds: X-rays
Y: Your Favorite Food: Lasagna
Z: Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

A Lonely Canoe

Where is everyone? Does anyone want to go fishing with me, or maybe turtle hunting? I'm looking for some passengers. What is a lonely canoe to-do?

Operation "Myrtle"

Operation "Myrtle" came about from the escape of Myrtle (the original turtle that Cynthia caught for David Hayes). To remedy this, Cynthia commissioned Richard to catch a replacement turtle in time for the July 4th pool party. Richard was not only eager but he was also a good sport and embraced his commission cheerfully.

Hunting for pond turtles is not so straight forward; you can always catch a glimpse of the turtles who poke their knobbly heads above the pond's surface, but they react quickly when threatened and will retreat swiftly out of sight.

Here's Richard sporting a pair of hip waders as he gets an early start on his search for Myrtle's replacement.

Sean shot this video of Richard wading in the cat tails in search of turtles.

Finally...after days of combing the pond in a canoe while wearing waders and clutching a net...SUCCESS!David Hayes has selected "Shelly" as the name for his new turtle. Shelly has since been removed from his bucket and placed in a roomy aquarium that has lots of rocks and plenty of water. We believe Shelly is a male turtle, given the remarkable spectrum of colors on his head, claws, and plastron (underside).

Fun Family Fotos

The Price Family of Houston is shown here wearing their playful faces. We had a blast...and look forward to visiting with them again - sometime soon.Dick and Fran snuggle with their Great Grandson RIV.

Evelyn assembled these mystery pods in the shape of a snowman (these could be insect pods...eewww).

The porch swing is a popular hang-out. Here are Amelia, young Frances, Jennifer, and Fran "Gamma".

Amelia is pictured here with her dad, they just returned from a spin around the pond. How many spins did Richard take around Sanctuary Pond during his visit? Hundreds? Perhaps thousands... He was hands-down the "go to" guy if you wanted a canoe ride.
Even Dick "Gampa" took a spin around the pond. We later learned that Dick was wearing his "indoor" shoes during this canoe ride (note the grin) ...much to Cynthia's chagrin.

Sharing a Few Chuckles

Sean has quite a repertoire of video clips which kept us amused and howling with laughter. Here he is showing Dick and Fran one of his favorite clips entitled “Ahmed the Dead Terrorist"…it's hilarious…check it out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neTsQng-70o

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A Bird's Eye View

One of the many benefits of having visitors is the opportunity to explore the numerous attractions that Chicago has to offer. Since this was Jennifer's first visit to Chicago, we thought a trip to the top of the Sears Tower would thrill both Jennifer and Sean. Clifton was also thrilled; this was his first trip to the 103rd floor of the tallest building in Chicago. Photos courtesy of Maj. Sean P. Price. .

The John Hancock Center

The famous Chicago skyline

Looking down at the crowded Taste of Chicago Festival

Independence Day

Keith is shown here, hard at work cooking up some tasty burgers and brats. Keith and Deb really know how to throw a pool party. Hey...when is the next one and are we invited?

Dick and Fran appear to be enjoying the beautiful weather and the scrumptious vittles.

Kim, Deb, and David are digging into Deb's famous seven layer salad.

Rumor has it that on this day the record for the most people in the hot tub was broken. Richard and Julianne's friends from West Lafayette, IN helped break the record which now stands at eleven.

Sean used the 10 second timer feature on his Canon camera to take this awesome group photo.

Sean captured some candid bantering among the July 4th revellers.

Mmmm...What's Cookin'

While on a conference call, Clifton takes a quick break to sample Richard's delicious oven pancake (aka "Monster" pancake). The sweet aroma must have been just too hard to resist. Richard is a wizard when it comes to whipping up a tasty breakfast for the family.

xFlies

Evelyn and Gavin had a blast catching butterflies and dragonflies. This friendly butterfly has found a home on Evelyn's knuckle. However, it was agreed by all that the creatures would be released from captivity by days-end.

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POOF! and off it went!

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Although, it appeared that Evelyn was a bit reluctant to release the dragonfly...and the dragonfly didn't seem to want to leave. But sadly, they eventually parted company.

Turtle Hunting

Here are Richard III, Evelyn, and Frances returning from a spin around the pond in persuit of turtles. Many hours were spent turtle hunting from the canoe.

Generations of Gardeners

Great Grandmother Frances is showing young Frances how to properly carve out a weed from the garden. They both share a love for gardening.

Eager Helpers

Amelia and Evelyn detected a spider web in Aunt Cynthia's much cherished Cleopatra lamp, so here they are helping her finish the dusting. As much as Cynthia tries to stay on top of her household dusting, she always manages to forget a lamp or two, or three...

Fun with Butterflies

Here are Amelia and Frances Price enjoying a visit with their Great Grandfather on the porch swing.

Beautiful Amelia is pictured here, standing next to the Coreopsis (which by the way is Fran's favorite perennial). It didn't take Amelia very long to notice that the Coreopsis is home to several, very friendly butterflies; which by the way are unaware of our newly arrived visitors.
If you look closely, you can spot two or three butterflies hiding in the blossoms.Evelyn quickly spotted the butterflies, and was very careful as she gently lured one of them onto her finger.

CAUGHT!! GOTCHA!! ...the butterflies can't get can get past these darling girls. What fun we had catching butterflies.

Smell the Roses

We were so thrilled to have the tea roses greet us this lovely Sunday morning, that we just couldn't resist taking some pictures to share with fellow bloggers.

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Happy Fathers' Day

Pictured here is Dick on Fathers' day, wearing his favorite suit and cap.

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A Room With a View

Each morning the colors of spring greet us at our bedroom window. We look forward to the pink tea roses, which should be making their seasonal debut any day now.
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Gorgeous Irises

Glittering Gladiolas

Fragrant Honeysuckle (a favorite among the hummingbirds)

Colossal Turtle

Pond turtles will lay their eggs in a hole carved out by the mother in the middle of the night. So, imagine how thrilled we were when we became aware of this colossal turtle still laying her eggs early Saturday morning.
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Females produce 5-13 eggs per clutch. They deposit eggs either once or twice a year.
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Some hatchings overwinter in the nest, and this phenomenon seems more prevalent in northern areas. Possibly, winter rains may be necessary to loosen the hardpan soul where some nests are deposited. It may be that the nest is the safest place for hatchlings to shelter while they await the return of warm weather. Whether it is hatchlings or eggs that overwinter, young first appear in the spring following the year of egg deposition. Individuals grow slowly in the wild, and age of their first reproduction may be 10 to 12 years in the northern part of the range. Adult turtles may survive more than 30 years in the wild.
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_pond_turtle"

The Bucket

What is Cynthia carrying in the blue bucket?

Please vote in the Poll.

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Oasis - Hello!

On the day of the launch, Oasis was navigated into her slip at Winthrop Harbor, Illinois - as shown here in this clip: