Author: Caryn

Crane fly rest

On By CarynIn Craft, Wildlife

I found a crane fly resting on my door wreath.

Crane fly on paper flowers

It is spring, so there are crane flies every where. The first year I moved to Texas I was alarmed at the size of the “mosquitos”, until I found out that these long-legged beasties are not blood suckers. Most varieties only live in the adult stage for about a week; long enough to look for a mate to make new crane flies, but not long enough to bother about eating.

Year 2 on my origami wreath

I am most impressed that the wreath has held up. I made it last year and it stayed on the front door for many months. The paper flowers are just wired in, so I can reuse the grapevine wreath, but it looked so good when I pulled it out of the closer that I just hung it back up. Where it hangs there is no direct sunlight, and it is sheltered from wind and rain.

Grape hyacinth

On By CarynIn Garden

Another sign of spring, our volunteer grape hyacinth have bloomed! These have established themselves at the base of a cedar elm near the driveway. There was one plant five years ago, now there are several clumps in the area.

Grape Hyacinth

Purpose of the shoe loop

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

How very considerate of the shoe designer to put a tension loop on my sneakers. It is just right for anchoring a braid so I can use my foot to apply tension so the braid comes out even and straight. I do appreciate thoughtful design.

Tying the end of a braid to a shoe loop to apply even tension

Container garden

On By CarynIn Garden

I picked up basil, pepper, and oregano plants at a local nursery for my container garden this year. I usually start with seed, but didn’t get the seeds in this year, so went with a short cut. I amended the soil with chicken compost from the bottom of my compost bins, which was nice and dark and crumbly, and used the wheel barrow to mix an equal amount of dirt from the container with the compost. I’ve set up the frog habitat again too.

This year’s container garden

I’m hoping that I didn’t plant too soon. It has been cold this week, and basil doesn’t care for temps under 40. Hm.

Tooth hook

On By CarynIn dog

Our dog Missy likes to play fetch. Well, “like” doesn’t really cover it, “obsessed” is a better term. It may seem like I took the photo below just as the ball slipped from her mouth, but no, she carries these Holy Roller balls by hooking it on one tooth. All the better to pant with my dear.

Missy with a ball hanging from her bottom tooth

She has four of these balls, all different colors, because they are easy to throw and don’t hurt when someone misses and hits someone else. They are also much, much less gooey than tennis balls after a couple rounds of fetch.