Blog Profile / Julie Zickefoose
| URL : | http://www.juliezickefoose.com/blog/index.php | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Hobbies / Nature | |
| Posts on Regator: | 413 | |
| Posts / Week: | 1.5 | |
| Archived Since: | March 5, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Liam and the Big Foam Finger
Not long ago, Bill of the Birds got a wild hair, and he called me in the afternoon and asked me if I wanted to take the kids to PNC Park in Pittsburgh (a mere three hours away) for a Pirates game. That same night. Well, uh, sure! Sure, we can do that. Show More Summary
Goodbye Blogger
Feels like almost four years ago that I last did this, posted a Testing Testing post. Only now I know what's involved in blogging, where it can take you and what you have to do to keep it going. One of the things I had to do recently was get off Blogger. Show More Summary
Cash for Clunkers: Zick Takes the Bait
Photo by Phoebe Linnea Thompson. Last caress for the old car. We're on our way to the car abbatoir. I'll be on National Public Radio's All Things Considered this afternoon, between 5:30 and 6 pm Eastern time, talking about trading in my faithful, 14-year-old, 14 mpg Ford Exploder for a sleek green beauty of a Subaru Forester. Show More Summary
More Filmmakers Visit!
To "Jack," who keeps leaving strange comments on recent posts along with a handy link for home security systems (or whatever): OK. You're at least looking at the pictures and trying to leave a semi-relevant comment. Please stop with the ads. Show More Summary
Filmmaker Visit
We have been graced this past month by visits from some illustrious naturalists. First came Michael Male, who with his wife Judy Fieth creates absolutely amazing films about nature. We know them mostly from their work with birds (their eastern warbler video is soon to be followed by a western warbler DVD that is mouthwatering). Show More Summary
Orchids Again, but Wrapped in Dog
You may remember my blog from last November, when I picked a sultry warm day and repotted every durn one of my orchids, spread 'em out on the front lawn and about kilt myself bending and stretching and fetching and washing and spraying.Normally, you shouldn't have to repot an orchid more than once a year. Show More Summary
Hamstermania
It really does not take much to win my heart. I wear it pinned on my sleeve. And where small helpless young things are concerned I probably have an overactive maternal instinct. Which, on the whole, has been a very good thing. I've raised...Show More Summary
Requiem for a Rosepink
Perhaps my favorite wildflower of summer is the rosepink, Sabatia angularis. This generous, free-blooming pink beauty is not only beautiful, it's staggeringly fragrant, with a light muguet (honeysuckle) scent that makes me swoon. Wherever and whenever I see it, I stop the car, leap up the road bank, and bury my nose in it. Show More Summary
Pink Chicory, and Musings on E-Etiquette
Such a glorious summer for wildflowers. It's green right up to the road margin, something you don't often see in August in Ohio. I take my camera everywhere I go. On our bluebird box route, the kids begged to take their bicycles along. Show More Summary
Caspian Terns--Finished
It's time for the last installment in our little painting class. Watercolors go pretty quickly!Here, I’m playing with bounce light on the birds. I want some of the mauve and pink tones from the underlying sand playing up on the birds. Show More Summary
Caspian Terns Part Two
We're working away on the Caspian tern painting. I have nothing pithy to say about how I painted the sand and the ocean. I just did it, painted things wet on wet in stripes and painted right over the masked out birds with great abandon and speed. Show More Summary
Time to Paint!
Another year, another Bird Watcher’s Digest cover. My 18th, I think. Maybe 19th. I’ve been painting covers for this wonderful magazine since 1986. Yow. That’s a long time.This was to be a special painting, one to mark and commemorate the fact that Bird Watcher’s Digest is hosting the Midwest Birding Symposium Sept. Show More Summary
For a Deer
I have no claim on this running doeexcept that I am here and agog Trying to catch her, keep her in a little black box with a magic window Somewhere I can see her again and again. How is it that such a creature Lives here among us Weighs...Show More Summary
More News from Paradise
There are some urgent news flashes from Paradise that I need to pass along. This is the only news that really matters, so pay close attention.It is very hot, touching 90. I suppose it had to get hot sometime. August 9 seems like a good day for it to finally turn hot. Show More Summary
Dispatch from Paradise, Ohio
Mether, I see you are shooting a picture of our house. Perhaps you need a stately pose from me, Chet Baker, to improve the image.I live in paradise.A 1978 vintage ranch house in Southern Ohio is not what most people would consider paradise, but that doesn't bother me.Not many people really know Appalachian Ohio. Show More Summary
Chet and the Rat Snake
Not long ago, Bill was backing his van out of the garage in the morning when I heard him give a yell. ZICK! ZICK! It was his snake yell. I hoped it wasn’t a big black rat snake hopelessly mashed in the garage door track again. Not going to talk about that time. Show More Summary
The Pleasures of Vegetables
On a menu in Port of Spain, Trinidad recently, we saw an entrée called The Pleasures of Vegetables. I didn’t order it, but probably should have. It’s always hard to leave home in spring and summer, but it’s especially hard when the sugar snap peas and green beans and tomatoes are in. Show More Summary
MidSummer ChetFix
There is something about a brisket tickle that makes Chet Baker a little crazy. The brisket is a very tender bit of the Boston terrier, probably the tastiest and most chewable. It is very lightly haired, so it’s not a big leap to imagine beginning one's carving there when dividing the dog. Show More Summary
Checking the Frog Puddles
A particularly handsome American toad.The summer posts will keep coming for awhile. My laptop is back at Apple, having given about twenty high-pitched death wails in a row (a nerve-jangling experience) before I removed the battery and silenced it. Show More Summary
Bluebird Boxes and Black Raspberries
Chet Baker loves to check bluebird boxes with me. He knows which locations are safe for him to get out of the car and which ones aren’t, and he waits patiently until we get to a place where he can make his rounds.I know, Mether. I know I have to wait, because this road is too busy for me to get out and make my rounds. Show More Summary