DFDA54

So the garlic might not have been the last mystery of my backyard. I still didn't know what color my lilies would be when they bloomed. I got that answer late last week.








Although I'm not in love with the color, it is satisfactory enough. At least they aren't something as cliche as tiger lilies.

What the Hades?

I believe that I have figured out what almost everything is in my yard, except for one thing.

Look at the picture below:





Anybody out there know what this thing might be?

I understand, that this perhaps isn't the best picture for plant identification purposes.

I Can Not Tell A Lie

It is often, most likely, mistaught to the children of America that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree. The story is used as an example of George Washington's veracity.

I've heard the story, but what is most intriguing about the story to me is why he would chop down the tree?

When I moved into my home, I had two mystery trees in the backyard. My hope of hopes was that they were cherry trees. However, the people that examined them determined them to be magnolia or crabapple trees.

As the fates would have it, they were wrong. I have two cherry trees.

Although I did not know that I had cherry trees, every bird in the county did know about my trees. I was warned that I needed to cover the trees with nets to prevent these flying thieves (with apologies to the Bible, they didn't reap or sow) from making off with my cherries.

I purchased the requisite net and Jesse and I spent close to an hour getting it over the trees.






Victory Photo


After the nets were up, I ran a sample batch of cherries over to Shannon, my cherry expert, for a determination on whether or not they were ready for picking.

She determined that they were ready to be picked and we scheduled a cherry picking appointment. What I didn't know, was that this was also a cherry pie baking appointment.

I can not tell a lie. I didn't really participate in the pie baking, but I have since participated in the pie eating.



The Bounty



Shannon with the Bounty



Shannon removing the pits.



Cutting the lattice. It was the first time this cheese spreader had been removed from its box.



Shannon making a mess in my kitchen. Actually Shannon still owes me one mess, because I recently tracked mud into her apartment and also left a sizable mess behind when we bound calendars. So I'm up on her 2 messes to 1.



Shannon rolling out the pie crust. Both Jen and Shannon are tremendous pie crust snobs. Neither will even consider the remote possibility that a person could make a pie with anything other than crust made from scratch.



Removing the pits from cherries is a messy business.



More pit removing.



Shannon Picking Cherries



Shannon Picking Cherries



The Proud Owner of a Shannon Baked, extremely juicy Cherry Pie.


After looking at one of the pictures of Shannon picking cherries I thought it might be interesting to Photoshop that picture with one of my favorite Photoshop techniques. I thought it would look interesting due to the nets.





Now that I have officially enjoyed the fruits of my cherry trees, I know one thing for certain. If George Washington ever came over to my house and chopped down one of my cherry trees, I would lay him out. Founding Father or not.

Memorial Day Backyard

I have a bush in my backyard. In fact, I have several bushes in my backyard. But one of those bushes is special. That one bush holds a nest.

Recently the eggs in the nest started to hatch. Out of those eggs came baby grackles.

I'm a long time hater of the grackle. Of course, you are all familiar with my landmark paper "Hey Mr. Grackle, Why You Gotta Be a Dick?" that was published in a 2002 edition of Ornithology Reader.

However, I have to admit, that while I was hanging around in my backyard on Memorial Day, I actually thought that the baby rabbits and grackles hanging out in my yard were cute.

Later that night I went over to Jen and Derrick's house for a barbecue. As I sat at the table with Jen, Shannon and Derrick I began to regale them with my tale of cute baby creatures in my back yard.

Because there were 2 chicks at the table, I was expecting to hear at least one "Ahhh.."

Instead, what came out of there mouths, (almost at the exact same time) was, "You should buy a cat to kill those."

I will not buy a cat, but I will publish some photos of the potential cat food.

Heartless, heartless people.

Shindy

On May 23, I had my housewarming party. I would consider it a success on some level. 10-15 showed up for it.

I would like to thank everybody that made an appearance:

Baier, Jason
Bardole, Shannon
Bennett, Charlotte
Brannen, Suzie
Daniel, Jeff
Derner, Geri
Degeneffe, Scott
Gorshe, Derrick
Gorshe, Jen
Gorshe, Jill
Henning, Monica
Hiatt, Eric
Howard, Jesse
Howard, Kalista
Howard, Kelly
Howard, Saydie
Howard, Taylan
Janson, Jay
Jauhari, Andree
Jenson, Terra
Johnstone, Jason
Junck, Sara
Kahler, Brandon
Kahler, Logan
Kahler, Russ
Kahler, Teresa
Kewer, Jeff
McAlpine, Willy
Meiners, Alex
Meiners, Barb
Meiners, Frank
Meiners, Trevor
Miller, Bethany
Miller, Jim
Miller, Nate
Mubaidin, Shadi
Parsaei, Nader
Perkovich, Becky
Peterson, Tim
Redd, Ernie
Roberts, Lori
Roberts, Sam
Roberts, Steve
Schmidt, Amy
Schmidt, Corey
Schmidt, Izzy
Strachota, James
Stensland, Alexis
Stensland, Carla
Stensland, Elainie
Stensland, Jason
Stensland, Johnathan
Ungs, Casy
Venema, Barb
Yin, Amy

Of course, some special thanks are in order for some special people.

Thanks to Logan for manning the grill so I could engage in hosting duties.
Thanks to Johnathan for helping Logan out.
Thanks to Shannon for bringing Oatmeal Cake.
Thanks to Terra for bringing taco dip.
Thanks to Jay for bring rhubarb crunch and blackberry buckle.
Thanks to Jen for bringing brownies.
Thanks to Monica for bringing taco dip.
Thanks to Steve for bring homegrown salsa and rhubarb crisp.
Thanks to Becky for bringing mint fudge cheesecake.
Thanks to Jesse for bringing ice, a canopy and running to get more firewood.
Thanks to Sara, whom I think might have brought some vegetables.

I did not really get out my camera for this occasion, but Sara took some pictures with her camera. Below are a few pictures from Sara's camera.

Admittedly these pictures only include a small spectrum of the party people, but it will have to suffice, it is all that I got.



Monica and I



Monica and Jen



Sara and Jen



Sara, Jen and I



Sara, Jill and Jen



Jen, Derrick and Shannon (Shadi in the background)



I and James



Jesse, I and Sara



Logan, I and Jesse



Logan, Sara and Jen



I and Jesse



I and Jill



Jason, I and Jesse



Jen



Jen and Derrick


I guess now that the house is sufficiently warmed, I won't have to do that again.

But on the positive side, I think almost everybody who came to the party will leave with at least one memory of my neighbor, Mr. Jason Johnstone. My Kramer.

Housewarming Invites

I had a housewarming/birthday shindig on May 23. I made individual invitations for those that were invited. I'd like to share some of them.



Willy



The Kahlers



Nader



Sara



Shannon



The Roberts Family



The Hiatts



The Howards



Jay



Jeff and Yin



The Gorshes



The Baiers



Bethany and Rebecca



Casy



The Degeneffes



Geri


Geri requested a new picture of us be taken because she wanted a picture where she wasn't looking at me as if I was the smartest person in the world. I guess I never noticed her having an expression different than what I'm used to seeing by the majority of people in my life...