"Honey, the T.V.'s out again! I swear, those cable guys are real turkeys!"

(Actually, these are!) Submitted to Friday Ark.

My recent diversions...from blogging (as well as normal life), are courtesy of my son and these two felines, Gizmo (in black), and Bentley (in white). See my new "living/bedroom"? Gizmo likes the view of the bird feeders...

...both of them! I'm trying to accomodate these two with their own "perches" in hopes of discouraging climbing in areas I don't want them...I know...cat people are all laughing at my foolish self-delusions.....anyway....
...Bentley enjoys lounging on the couch more than watching birds...
....but the change in living situation has them both wondering (and conspiring)...
...."Who, us?"
When my boy found a new place, Bentley helps with the packing...
...but no cats are allowed, so the furniture assembly is done without any feline assistence.
Still a work in progress....
.....better now!Fairly cozy for a "bachelor pad"......even with the tarantula posters.However, one of the real tarantulas is not happy about the situation!
This lovely lass is a Brazillian White Knee Tarantula, and she doesn't appreciate all this activity! This is only the second time my son has seen her defensive posture, she usually just sends up a cloud of "urticating hairs" from her abdomen and runs away. Please do click the image to enlarge...see the two fuzzy bumps in the front? Behind those are her fangs, and according to Wikipedia ..."due to their large size the puncture damage can be extensive." ...um....time to put the lid back on! Ah well, now that the boy is settled, and I can get back to life as usual...plus two felines, that is!

Bloom Day (waaay late), and I had a bloom! My hard-core winter weather has turned me into an "Ebay plant-monger", and this is a recent newcomer. Fenestraria rhopalophylla (or "Baby Toes") arrived in bud, and promptly opened up a flower! Sure, it's just a plain white, but pretty all the same, and it's great to have a flower this time of year! More cactus from Ebay too, this is Mammillaria spinosissema , purchased from Desert- to -Tropics Nursery, packed very well and looking pretty...
....looks even better potted up!

And here we have Mammillaria nivosa, with fruits from a recent bloom. This beauty came from the same Ebay source, and they have enough cool plants to keep me broke if I don't control myself! Potted up in a bonsai pot with this little ceramic dude, and I'm hoping to get a tarantula shed from my son to utilize as decoration in another cactus dish. The sheds are cool, they look like a whole spider without the fangs and attitude, and will be very appropriate paired with cacti, IMO.
More new succulents from Ebay, this is Echeveria imbricata 'Blue Rose', from Xerophyte-World, the same place I got the aforementioned Baby Toes. They have a dangerously large and diverse selection as well ;-)...
....like this Echeveria Hybrid 'Perle von Nurnberg'....
....and Echeveria Shaviana 'Truffles'. Looks a tad rough, but it has come around nicely since this picture was taken.
Also from the same source are these Lithops, or "Living Stones" as they are referred to. I have always wanted to grow these, and I hope to keep them happy enough to bloom.

So here they all are, in the new sunny window spot I made for them ....

....and so concludes another Bloom Day...late but not forgotten! :)

UPDATE:Apparently tarantula sheds do, in fact, include their fangs...yikes! Can you imagine shedding your teeth (as well as lungs and trachea) on a regular basis?! No wonder mature spiders often die from incomplete shedding...houdini could get stuck in that process!)

"Red skies in morn', sailor be warned"...this theory applies to snowmobilers as well, because this began the day last Sunday......and this is what followed..... ....the local weather people name snow storms up here (hurricane envy?), so this one was "Isabella".
She began her fury with some ice in the morning........about a quarter inch thick!



My son gets scraper duty...

......and it's a real project........success! Now I get to hit the road for the 75+ mile trip home...by this time, it's snowing.......and snowing.....glad I'm not in that line of cars!
Although my lane doesn't look too great either!
The side roads sure aren't any better....

....getting deeper as I get closer to home.... ....these snowfall totals are short by a few inches-I got fully 13" of new snow, on top of what was already there!
There's even a snow drift inside this feeder!

I really love the way the snow looks, but I think it's time to break out the shovel and dig out...

.....proof positive that you should be careful what you wish for! After all, I started the year wanting more, and by golly, I got it!

Freakish fun for my freakish life...lately I've been mostly absent from the blogosphere, due to illness as well as my grown son moving back in with me (temporarily!!) Anyhow, we took a trip to The Rave/Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee to see Marilyn Manson last week-great show! These pics are from the venue web site, but our seats were in the balcony and not too shabby...

....as expected, he employed some props, and this "waitress" was particularly convincing... ....lucky for her, she was only a robot! She actually walked across the stage in a very lifelike fashion, and then off with her head!!
Then later in the show, he mooned the audience and spun around for a full frontal flash....fun stuff, people!