So, we've had some extremely cute furry little visitors to the backyard of late. 

Last night when I went to add more water to the pond, I startled the heck out of a little bunny chilling underneath one of our adirondack chairs. I thought she was gone for good, but once the task was complete, I peeked out back (usually bird watching) and saw her back on the patio. So, I grabbed the camera and caught a few shots through the various rear windows as she hopped and nibbled about. Please, eat our dandelions!



and then this morning, I wander into the dining room as the water boils for my tea and oatmeal,  and I find this guy galumphing about on our side yard. I snapped a few pics, none good, before he took off running back up the hill. As I'm getting dressed upstairs I glance out the window and see he's returned to the yard, so I dash downstairs to take a few more pictures of him in the backyard before he takes off again. He's really fast when he wants to be. 



We've seen all sorts of squirrels (even the occasional black one), chipmunks, and bunnies before, but never have I spotted a groundhog. He was awesome, and is welcome to come back and visit, as long as he digs holes only at the top of the hill where we don't have to mow. I do adore the little wildlife sanctuary that our backyard becomes from time to time. Well, except the heron. We need a bouncer groundhog at a velvet rope to keep the heron out (except that groundhogs are usually hibernating when the heron visits, but allow me my little hallucination this once, okay?!)

I have mostly packed the few items I'm taking back to Pennsic when I leave tonight. I even got HP7 on CD at Costco for $5 less than Amazon, so it is preloaded in the truck and ready for my drive. I just need to feed the fish and water the plants before I take off. Thanks bunches to the attack_laurelfor checking in on the house and fish while we are gone. I hope the groundhog comes back sometime when you are here.

Back in a week or so...

I am bad. 
I've done no sewing for Pennsic. Nothing new for me or Alan at all, despite my change in size. Eh, the big stuff still fits, just big. And I am going for less time than last year, so I'm sure it'll be fine. But I had hoped to make an outfit appropriate for helping out at the Crusader/Saracen battle. Of course, now the schedule is such that I'll be lucky if I can even see any of it. And still, it is always nice to have new stuff. Ah well. 

This week I've also been a total slug. I've fed the fish. I've watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the basement. I've re-read the last chapters of Book 7, again. I had a lovely dinner last night with folks and then went shoe shopping. I had two coupons for DSW, one that expires during war week, so I used them. Hooray for the sale section! I got three great new pairs of shoes all for under $60. A pair of black patent low wedges, some gold tinted fabric flats, and the best pink metallic flats from Kenneth Cole all came home with me. Tonight has been laundry and tv. Not even the hand sewing in front of the tv I had hoped to do.  sigh.

I guess I could start packing the rest of my clothes. Most of our stuff and a box of my garb is already at the war. Maybe, depsite all those who are desperate and unable to attend, I'm having a hard time mustering the enthusiasm for Pennsic. Even my retail therapy, despite the enjoyable experience, didn't make me jazzed for war. Perhaps it's because Pennsic is no good place to wear the new pink flats. I'm sure it'll be great once I get there. 

At least I hit my weight loss goal before land grab and seem to holding steady so far. :)

Pictures from land grab, and the progress in Vair and Ermine as of 1pm on Sunday. :) I even remembered to take pictures of the inside of our tent, which I always forget to do. It shows better how much we have to pack to live as we wish.

Pennsic Land Grab was one of the best in years. The weather was nice and relatively cool. We did have a small snag with 4 port-o-johns in our gate, but we slid them over so that 2 were in front of the garage and 2 were in front of our neighbors. We had the common tent, the kitchen tent, garage, arming tent, our personal tent, Roland's, Thjora's, Elspet's, Kathal's, and Kymber's up on Saturday, as well as Philip's little modern enclave, and the shower sump dug. Vair and Ermine was in good condition when I left on Sunday afternoon, I even got a quick shower in camp before getting on the road. We had our annual Saturday night of Land Grab trip to Ruby Tuesdays with friends for red meat and the salad bar. It was lovely, and our server Clay was the bomb.

I took pictures of camp before I left to share with folks. We got quite a bit done and were pretty much just hanging out when I decided to take off. I meant to download the pictures from the camera and upload them to Flickr last night, but my normal 5 hour trip took 6 with traffic and driving rain, and then the power was out in the house when I got home. le sigh. When I talked to Alan letting him know I was home safe I said it was like Pennsic (no A/C, humid, and lit by candlelight) only without the friends and bugs. Since I had a hot dog at 4pm, I just had a banana and some yogurt covered raisins for dinner, took a hot shower and then read a bit by candlelight, finally crashing around 10pm. The power came back on around midnight, waking me up to reset some stuff, and then it was back to bed. 

I'm dragging ass today, but I can go home, feed the fish, check on the timer related items, and take a nap if I wish. Maybe I'll watch HP1 on DVD after listening to it in the truck on the way to and from War.