R.I.P. Frederick

Frederick, a black hooded rat who was the pet of the Nesmith family, passed away today at the advanced age of 2 1/2. He had cancer.

Frederick lived with his brother, Snickers, in the spacious rat cage in the basement. Along with his brother, he enjoyed playing in the mazes built by Robbie, running around loose in the basement, and catching (and eating) crickets when he could find them. He also enjoyed running after the kitty, who was afraid of him.

Frederick was always curious and energetic, and the family loved seeing his interested face and bright eyes. His favorite foods, besides crickets, were grapes, Cheerios, and sunflower seeds.

After his brother Snickers died this spring, Frederick had to adjust to living alone. But he recovered from the loss and enjoyed the company of his people, allowing them to scritch him behind the ears until he bruxillated happily.

Frederick was buried in the backyard after a short funeral service. He will be missed by all.

Jane: Crochet Haiku

Lion Brand Yarn is running a yarn Haiku contest. I've been working on my entry. Here are some possibilities. I think I'm only allowed to submit one.

My gaming boys say

"Wait! Just one more level, please!"

Me? It's "one more row."

Amigurumi:

Totally useless objects

With eyes and a smile

My yarn is flying . . .

Oh no! I missed a stitch there.

Back to the frog pond.

Give me some good yarn,

Knitting needles, crochet hook--

All I need for bliss!

Jane: Sad Plants

In general, the yard looks good, but some plants are looking a bit sad.

What happened to my Sweet Woodruff? Parts of it are turning black and drying up :-(

My tomatoes did not like the wet weather of June, nor do they like the encroaching shade from the vigorous spruce trees behind them. The Celebrities have NO tomatoes on them at all :-(

Well, at least my star magnolia is doing OK. I keep pulling scale off of it, but not as much as last year.

The kitty is looking fine, too! She follows me around the yard when I inspect plants.

Vacation by the Numbers

Number of miles traveled: 2809

Number of nights in hotels: 6

Number of nights with relatives: 4

Largest waterfall seen: Niagara Falls

Largest concentration of waterfalls: Watkins Glen

Three largest cities visited: Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York City

War sites visited: Valley Forge, Gettysburg

Tech museums visited: George Eastman House and Museum, Corning Glass Museum, American Chemical Heritage Museum

Number of Blue blobs encountered: 2

Highest point: Empire State Building

Lowest point: having to stay in a run down hotel in Wheeling

Number of kitties befriended by Eli: 5

Ice Cream encountered: Malley's (Cleveland), L'Arte del Gelato (Greenwich Village, NYC)

Jane: Des Moines Sculpture Garden

Found these pictures on my camera.

We stopped there on the way to collect Robbie from Jazz Combo camp in Indianola. It started to rain when we got there, so we didn't see all the sculptures. We'll have to go back!
Click on the picture to go to the very small web album.

Des Moines Sculpture Garden

Jane: Funeral

I took Robbie to the funeral of one of his classmates yesterday--not something one wants to do, but it's really important to go to the funeral--Robbie realized that.

Patrick played sax in the Jazz Band with Robbie and was one year ahead of him. He died of a severe asthma attack while the family was at a family reunion.

The testimonies at the funeral gave a picture of an outgoing, very talented, happy young man. Robbie left a message on the facebook page set up by the family.

I can hardly imagine having a child die. They had a slideshow playing before the service started. I'm sure they were saving those pictures to show at his graduation . . . now they were used at his funeral.

I told Robbie he's not allowed to die before I do. "Is that a threat?" he asked.