in the garden after a rain.......(my parent's backyard)

The Moon Sunday night...at dusk....June 28, 2009

I was sitting upright in a regular lawn chair.....using my Lumix point and shoot camera......NO tripod.....zoomed in 40x....

the moon was so pretty

Lily pad......

the moon Tuesday morning around 2:30 a.m.

one of our wild bunnies napping by our overturned kiddie pool... CLICK photos to see him up close!

we have a few bunnies this year in the yard..this tiny guy has been the newest to make an appearance. A much larger one also is hanging around. The two will chase each other around the pool and under it and then fight over this same sleeping spot. They each take turns napping there. I had to try to snap a few through my kitchen window. He is adorable.

Weight Watcher's Spinach and Cheese Quiche (3 points and 139 calories per 1/12th slice)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

1 (12 ounce) can fat-free evaporated milk
1/3 cup low-fat or fat-free cottage cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 large eggs
3 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 Basic pie Crust baked and cooled (recipe to follow)
1 box frozen spinach thawed, drained and squeezed dry (10 oz box)

Basic Pie Crust (SUPER good pie crust - 114 calories, 3 points per 1/8th slice/section)

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/8th teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons cold butter, unsalted, diced
2 Tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3 to 3-1/2 Tablespoons ICE water

Mix flour, sugar, salt together. Cut in butter and shortening. Add vinegar....then ice water stirring just till ball forms. Flatten to patty and place in plastic or foil and place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Roll out as you normally would with flour or between plastic wrap. Place in 10-in pie pan.....price sides and bottom with fork and bake till slightly brown...about 15 minutes or so in 400 degree oven.

COOL crust.

Meanwhile for filling of quiche:

WHISK together the evaporated milk, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs and egg whites, salt, and pepper.

On top of cool pie crust sprinkle spinach......pour liquid mixture above over spinach......place on cookie sheet or baking pan and bake for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees.....turn oven down to 350 and continue baking until center comes clean with knife. Mine took longer than recipe said ( they said 20 minutes longer) but mine took more like another 30 minutes longer. Allow to cool. Cut into 12 slices or 6...but if 6 remember to double points and calories if you are counting those.

This was actually very good and pretty simple to make. I think what would have made it better would be tomatoes added to it....so next time I have a slice I am going to slice up tomatoes on top. I also think fresh spinach would be better than frozen and you CAN use fresh. You just have to steam about 8 cups of fresh washed and trimmed spinach leaves for about 2 minutes till wilted...then chop up.



ENJOY!

Sunset in Darke County, Ohio (CLICK photo to see full size)

Check this out.......I can see so many ways this could be used to help autistic kids learn social skills too!

The technology being developed in the video world today is amazing. Check out this video clip of technology already available.....and think of the LIMITLESS possibilities this means in the virtual world of interaction!

the Great Blue Heron showed up at our local park again,,,,,(CLICK to enlarge if you like)

Noah with the Jerseys at Young's Dairy Farm in Yellow Springs, OH

the bunny and the squirrels and birds all get along together.....

and come up with the chipmunks all at the same time to eat at the same spot in my backyard. So far Mr. Hawk has not made any appearance since winter.

These were taken through a clean spot I found on my kitchen window. The last shot is amazingly clear for being taken through a kitchen window. CLICK TO ENLARGE IT and check it out!

what does your garage look like??

driving home in Colorado and the local pumpkin patch in Colorado.........(click to enlarge of you like)

Update on Joe the dog since many have asked.......

the situation has not changed for Joe. The neighbors HAVE put up a high privacy fence section at the end facing my grandmother's house so now we cannot even see Joe when we look over there and he cannot see us. I feel really bad about this......and miss him a lot....and feel he probably thinks we abandoned him or forgot him as he can still see our car pull up and "hear" us but we do not go over ....except in passing down the alley we then roll our car windows down and yell out to him.

I don't want to cause more problems for my grandma so I do not go over and try to still pet or talk to Joe up close and personal since the neighbor told me to stay off her property or she would call the police. My uncle however still DOES do this. I am glad at least he does and I wish I still could. I miss hugging Joe and still try to see him if I can up close when we leave our grandma's house in the dark.

If the world were perfect I would have long ago gotten myself a house outside of town in the country a bit...not too far out though....but on some land and I would have gone and taken Joe to live with us. He deserves so much better than what he has.

His pen situation has not changed......the conditions are the same.....and the neighbors still do not really spend any time with him. It makes me cry every time I think about it or see him over there and it makes my stomach feel sick.

I contacted that Dogs Deserve Better agency but if they have ever contacted the family they have never contacted me to let me know about it. This is one of those situations that unless someone just goes and takes Joe.....apparently no one can do or will do anything about it. It makes me sick to think people can get away with having a pet dog in those conditions.

So anyway.......there is no good new news to share about Joe. I wish there was.

Continuing with more from Bear's Mill........click to enlarge if you wish

a couple more from Bear's Mill...click to enlarge photos if you want full size....

Before even thinking about getting a flu shot....you should reread this......

click on this link to read a prior interview with 60 Minutes on the 1976 swine flu scare and tactics used to get people to receive flu shots and then what happened to them afterwards....

60 MINUTES EXPOSED SWINE FLU VACCINE LACK OF SAFETY

I caught Opie in a strange position the other day.......

yeah....let's take a closer look.......

the waterfalls at Bear's Mill........Greenville, Ohio

BEAR's MILL

gratefulness....

the moon this morning around 5:30 a.m......

taken with NO flash......NO tripod......with my Lumix camera.......nothing fancy but I thought the moon looked incredibly filled with craters....much more so than usual.....and so bumpy! AND the angle almost made the moon appear oval instead of circular. Very odd but very nice. The morning was cool and crisp...with frost on the ground and 2 large bunnies in my front yard.

clouds.....

CLICK TO SEE FULL SIZE

Opie in the plastic file cabinet drawer........

not sure how he managed to squeeze his big body into that little 12 x 12 drawer.......

but he did........he is double jointed I think!