This week we welcomed three new animals into our home. Actually, into our garden. There was no room in the inn, so we built them a garden condominium.
Let me introduce Balthazar. He hops around a lot.
This is Portia. She hops around a lot too.
She likes bottled water. I think this picture makes her look smaller than she really is. Guess how much she weighs. If you guessed less than ten pounds, my theory was right.
Finally, Juno. She is the smallest of the three.
The top of her head is still black. It will turn silver with time.
These guys are all Champagne d'Argents (breed). They are born black and then mature to the color you see. They are very stunning, especially compared to the puny little wild things hanging out around here all the time that are about 1/10th the size of a full grown Champagne.
Here is the full bunny condo. Don't mind the compost heap.
And Alex requested that I show some pictures of our garden. Please don't feel bad if you happen to live in Idaho and can't plant your garden yet because it snowed yesterday.
The only other significant news from our side is that Ruben finally made some new friends. He is somewhat socially challenged, so this is a big step for him.
So, it's been a busy weekend here in Parent-town. The most significant event was the graduation of my big brother, Ephraim from the Medical Scholars Program at the University of Illinois. After 10 years of hard work, sleep deprivation, and patience, he is now an officialPhDand MD.
Here he is getting hooded. The 'dusty rose' stole means that he is going to do his residency in diagnostic radiology. This also means that some day he will make a LOT of money. You'll notice he looks rather happy.
Here we are with his daughter Daphne after convocation:
This is his lovely family. They have all been through a lot during the last few years (especially Amy. She's an amazing mom). They will all be very happy to have him done with school. Hopefully residency won't be as busy (ha ha ha).
My entire immediate family except for my oldest brother Roger and his daughter Elizabeth made it out for the event. We had the entire clan over to our little house for Sunday dinner. It was crowded (10 adults, 5 children, 3 dogs, and 1 cat).
This is what we had for dinner. It tastes better than it looks.
Back row: Asher, Daphne, Gigi, Hazel. Front row: Lola and Lucy trying to steal Hazel's food.
Ephraim has a very big dog.
The girls will miss you, Boomhauer!
I think everyone had a great time, and the only real downside was that everyone had to leave too quickly. We will miss everyone, but we are especially sad to see Eph and Amy and their children move away. Ephraim has not only been a great older brother and academic advisor, but especially over the last year he's become a good friend. I don't know if either of us would have anticipated that 5 years ago when I moved here, but I can sincerely say that I now consider him one of my closest friends and favorite people to interact with. There's no one that Katie and I would rather hang out with than Ephraim, Amy, and their kids. So, here's wishing you the best of luck in the new chapter of your life. Have fun in your new house in St. Louis, and make sure you don't forget how much you like us. We'll see you soon.
Those are the last words that came out of my husband's mouth. I mean, just barely, as I was sitting here typing. He's still standing there doing the dishes. Do you know what he was referring to? Honestly, it could have been any number of things... our car, our cat Ruben, my hairdo... Leaving that awkwardness aside, he was actually referring to what started as this:
And now looks more like this:
(herb garden)
and this:
and from which we got this:
Just the beginning of a fruitful year I have no doubt.
Moving on to other matters, a rabble of butterflies moved into our house and took up residence on our refrigerator:
And Lola's brain connected enough neurons to learn a few things. Just a few, mind you.
(Hi, this is Alex.) So, a couple of weeks ago Katie put up a very nice post where she briefly mentioned the roquefort honey ice cream that we made with our new ice cream maker. That night we had Ephraim and Amy and their family over for dinner, and they both partook of the luscious frozen liquid. We ate it over caramelized walnuts and pears. It definitely took Eph and Amy bye surprise since we wouldn't tell them what was in it before they tried it, but I think they at least enjoyed the experience, even if they wouldn't necessarily want to repeat it anytime soon. Katie and I actually quite liked it, and the remaining ice cream didn't last the week. That being said, the one who liked it the most was Daphne, as demonstrated by the video below:
Like I said, Eph and Amy weren't quite so sure...
Anyway, lest you think that all of the food we make is strange, last Sunday we had this...
...homemade vanilla bean ice cream (from the vanilla we made at Christmastime) and strawberry rhubarb crisp (with rhubarb from our garden). Both were very good.
Last Tuesday Katie had her last final of her third of vet school. To celebrate I took Friday and Saturday off from work. We were going to go camping, but it rained more or less all weekend, so instead we did this...
...weeded, mulched, and made new supports for our blackberry bushes.
We also did this...
...put in our herb garden. We currently have chives, sage, oregano, thyme, marjoram, parsley, coriander, tarragon, dill, and of course basil. The last thing we did Saturday afternoon was to build this...
...okay, so it's not quite done, but after a roof and a few cages are added (right now it's on it's side...it's actually about 3'X3'X8'), you are looking at what is the future home for our rabbits. I'm sure there will be more pictures of this in the future. Hopefully it will be inhabited by lagomorphs in approximately 3 weeks. Bet you're all as excited as we are!
Today was my last final. I survived it. It was for an art class (radiology). The test was all about looking at images and interpreting them. For example, what is this?
A dog and his heart. That is right. Extra points if you can tell that it is a BIG heart.
Here's another one. Name the species.
Horse digit. (The mineralization on the lateral side is not normal).
To celebrate the end of finals, Alex and I had lunch at Dunkin Donuts. We chose that particular location because someone had given me a gift card there. I am not sure why, since I am neither a coffee nor a donut person, but I looked online and saw that they have sandwiches, so away we went.
There were some flatbread sandwiches on the menu that looked mildly interesting. One was turkey sausage and one was veggie. Since I don't particularly care for sausage, I asked what was in the veggie sandwich. "Vegetables." Of course. I got it and it did have a patty that was composed of something that had cooked egg like consistency as well as a few flecks of what were probably spinach and carrots.
Alex got this:
It tasted about how it looks. And we even got to watch the lady take it out of the freezer, unwrap it, and toss it in the microwave. And who says that Americans have lost the connection with where their food comes from? Puh-lease.
Daphne's got that part down. She loved the Roquefort Honey Ice Cream (top picture, stealing from dad) almost as much as I did. She also likes Eastered Deviled Eggs.
Some good sleep is important.
Friends are good, especially when they are good friends, and especially when they bring Heifer cakes to share.
Then there's family.
I like my family. Especially when they try our weird, cheesy dessert and think its kind of cool.
The rest is just icing on the cake.
Sorry, I can't get over how cute these little dudes are.
Disclaimer: my life is not really complete yet. Those weren't my kids. The kids belonged to these fine young men, Evan and Griffon:
