It’s Time For Lots of Laughter

“Waiting For High Tide”

I shared Wes’ painting (shown above) of a turtle on our social media pages this past week, as it’s currently in one of our miniature shows and available through The Snow Goose Gallery. This adorable turtle perched upon a rock, appearing to be totally enjoying the sun and waiting for high tide, reminded us of a very funny story from photographing it that day.

We had gone to the Louisville Zoo many years ago now, with Wes’ Nana and his parents, and since Nana couldn’t walk all over the zoo, I gladly pushed her around it in a wheelchair. We were stopped by a beautiful pond, happily watching the ducks, when all of a sudden they took off and I could see at a distance that the incoming artillery raid was dropping “liquid bombs”. I made a split-second decision, deciding that I couldn’t move fast enough while pushing Nana’s wheelchair, so I left her there and quickly ran away, escaping the duck droppings! Needless to say, returning to our poor Nana, I could see that she was totally covered in liquid duck poo! It was all over her pants and shirt and even her hat! I felt so terrible, but nearly died from intense laughter . . . Ha Ha! Thankfully Nana was always an awesome sport about stuff and found great humor, even at her own expense, in the hilarious encounter as well!

Talk about laughter, our two resident baby squirrels continue to entertain us daily with their hilarious antics and interactions with one another, bringing us much laughter indeed! 

Okay, just as I’m still ashamed to this very day of what I did to poor Nana, I’m ashamed to say that I’m terrified of getting shots, and anything to do with the medical field for that matter! Wes and I got our first Covid vaccinations over a week ago now, and Wes was able to keep the appointment a secret for over two days prior, to keep me from worrying myself silly over getting a shot. Sadly, I saw that the alarm was set the night before, and instantly realized why, so I didn’t sleep hardly at all that night. Reluctantly I drug myself out of bed the next morning, managed to eat part of my breakfast, and tried to make myself look as if I had it all together, which I didn’t pull off. 

Standing in a short line at Kroger I felt like I was doing a death march, and there was a young man with his mother in front of us. He started making small talk, most of it funny, which I managed to force a chuckle at now and then. Then he said . . . “I hate shots and am scared of doctors!” Immediately identifying with this, I said “Me too!” Then he went on to say in a heavy Appalachian accent . . . “Boy, last year when I got my flu shot, they hit a vein, and the blood went to spurttin’ out like Old Faithful! It was shooting all over the room, and they couldn’t get it stopped! I can’t stand the sight of blood, especially my own, so it was terrible.” His mom adding to the story said “Yeah, we were in there over an hour while they tried to get that under control and to stop the bleeding!”

Well as you can well imagine, I began to feel very faint by this point and could literally feel the color drain from my face. Then I watched as a young girl left the clinic room, and she had a dreadful look on her face and was rubbing her arm, as she left as if a trained hornet had been used for the injection. Suddenly the clinic door opened back up and the very young doctor called my name. I felt like it was all over! I told him my husband had to come with me, because I may faint. I sat down on the chair, bent over, placing my head into my right hand and waited for the end. As I waited he said “All done” as he put on a band-aid, and I thanked him for being so good at what he did since I hadn’t felt a thing. Although the entire scenario was horrifying at the time, it’s hilarious now and has brought us many laughs! 

Purple Phacelia blooming in our backyard above, and a wild violet blooming alongside a stream below

We enjoyed a nice hike alongside a stream this past week and I took several videos and underwater videos with my beloved GoPro, and will be making a relaxing cascades video for you to enjoy soon on our YouTube channel

Wes fired up the rocket stove this past week and cooked a pile of delicious fried potatoes and onions, a favorite of ours! It’s amazing to us to be able to cook for free, and the smokey flavor added by cooking them this way, makes it even better! Here’s a short video below, to show you how it works, and you can hear the taters sizzling . . . YUM!

 Ridiculous Remedies From 1892

Okay, so here’s this week’s remedies for you, which as always I’m not suggesting for use! I really don’t know where one would go about finding some of the ingredients they used, such as galangal-root, and they were always using ammonia to drink in small doses, which I personally can’t imagine! The funniest part is that if a particular remedy didn’t work, they always turned to whiskey, gin, brandy or some other spirits which they used to fix anything . . . Ha ha!

See our miniatures in person this week

See the show online now here: 30th International Miniature Art Show
May 1-31, 2021: Seaside Art Gallery, Nags Head, NC (We are the judges for the show this year!)

See the show online here: The Art of the Miniature XXIX
May 2 – June 13, 2021: The Snow Goose Gallery, Bethlehem, PA

To see our available miniature paintings, visit our website, artofwildlife.com

Would you like to commission us? If so, contact us by Email

Follow us!

Until Next Time ~ Rachelle

Newts, Butterflies and a Bird in My Hair

Wes and I enjoyed a couple afternoons spent kayaking this past week. The weather was lovely, with warmer temps and the trees starting to turn that beautiful bright spring green, and several were blossoming adding to the delight and beauty of the adventures! It’s still very windy much of the time, but we get a really good workout paddling in it. The fish are starting to bite as well, as Wes caught 5 big white bass! I caught several leaves and sticks, but had fun, and isn’t that what really matters. Drawing near a small sandy bank along the river, I noticed there was a large group of Swallowtail Butterflies feasting on something. So I slowly paddled my kayak up onto the sand, carefully climbed out and sat on the front of it, while watching and photographing the butterflies.

They were everywhere, flitting about here and there, and I felt like I was back in Butterfly World, it was truly amazing! I finally snuck up close enough to see that they were feasting on the remnants of what appeared to be perhaps coyote scat or maybe even an owl pellet. Nonetheless, whatever it was, they were certainly taking advantage of it and enjoying it to the fullest! After climbing back into the kayak and paddling further along, we got out onto a pebbled covered beach to enjoy a picnic lunch. I was thrilled to see that the woods behind where we sat, was absolutely filled with the beautiful blue blossoms of Virginia Bluebells! There were so many of them, that they filled the air with a sweet, delicious smelling fragrance, adding to the magic of the setting!

Some days we walk to a nearby pond for a difference in scenery and a quieter route. Well, one day this past week, we noticed that there were several newts floating about, and upon closer inspection, we saw that there was actually lots of them all over the pond! So the next day I took my GoPro camera along with us when we walked to the pond, and got some neat videos of them, which I grabbed these still shots out of. 

They appear to have tiny orange spots on top of their back, and it is great fun and very relaxing, watching them float and swim about.

My precious little Tufted Titmouse friend, Tinymouse, continues to hang out with me at times! She flies up when I’m sitting out on the back or front porch, and lands on my head or shoulder, where she stays for several minutes. Of course I talk to her, and after a bit, she walks over to my hair and starts trying to collect curls for her nest. Finally she realizes that they’re attached and decides to just sit there for a little while longer, before flying off. It’s a magical encounter each time it happens, and one I never tire of!

In his spare time, Wes has been watching videos and reading about the Kratky hydroponic gardening method, and has started raising lettuce, peppers and other things that way, and is doing very well with it. Of course we’ll still be growing many things the traditional way in dirt too, so it’s gonna be interesting to compare the differences in the methods.

Let me know if you’d like to hear more about this method, and I’ll do a blog on it and share links to some of our favorite gardeners using the Kratky method.

 1892 Every Day Cookbook

Okay, so instead of a ridiculous remedy or tidbit, today I’m sharing an actual recipe from the antique cookbook. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard of egg balls, and must admit it doesn’t sound very appetizing. But, as they say, I guess I shouldn’t knock it until I try it. So, if any of you decide to make these and like them, I’d love to hear from you about it.

See our miniatures in person this week

See the show online now here: 30th International Miniature Art Show
May 1-31, 2021: Seaside Art Gallery, Nags Head, NC (We are the judges for the show this year!)

See the show online here: The Art of the Miniature XXIX
May 2 – June 13, 2021: The Snow Goose Gallery, Bethlehem, PA

To see our available miniature paintings, visit our website, artofwildlife.com

Would you like to commission us? If so, contact us by Email

Follow us!

Until Next Time ~ Rachelle

Bouncing Baby Squirrels

The first peak outside, “WOW . . .it’s a long way down!”

We’re excited to have new little ones around! You know, the kind with four legs and covered with fur, sporting a long bushy tail? That’s right, we have two adorable baby squirrels, who decided to start checking out the big outside world this past week, and we have had so much fun watching them explore everything for the first time! 

“If you’d just get out of my way, it sure would be easier to get out!”

Of course, one was much more adventurous at first, and was brave enough to venture completely out of the safety of the box, but it took it quite a while to muster up the courage to do so!

“I don’t know if I’m quite sure about this”

They would peer down at the ground when looking out of the box, as if thinking . . . “Boy, that’s sure a long ways to the bottom!” Finally one got brave enough and came completely out of the box! He did a wee bit of exploring right around the box, while the sibling watched his every move, nervously from inside. All was fun and games until he climbed up onto the wet slippery roof, and then down he went! Of course I was sitting out on the porch at the time watching them, and I gasped out loud when I saw it happen! 

“Oh No . . . now what do I do?”

I stood there watching intensely for a few moments and was about to head down to check on it, when I saw it emerge from the leaf litter, shake it off, and immediately start climbing back up toward the box. Half way up the tree, it just froze and started crying, and I felt so sorry for it. Then suddenly it regained courage and continued climbing up the tree, only it went up the wrong part, and after going back down and finding the other trunk, it climbed up the rest of the way, and carefully climbed back into the safe box!

See, I was okay, you didn’t need to worry

Since the box is only about 15 feet from our dining room window, we have certainly been well entertained at meal times! Today, they’re both out and about exploring their big wooden jungle gym for squirrels, and one even climbed all the way to the very top of the tree! Of course it wasn’t there very long at all, before heading back down to the familiar area near the box. 

It’s been truly delightful being able to watch these two adorable babies interacting and playing with each other, whilst building up their strength and increasing their dexterity. Now just a few days later, they tend to walk along the narrow, bouncing limbs of the vine with the dexterity and confidence of a tight rope walker, much more graceful and sure-footed than in the beginning.

“I’m going down to the ground, but I’ll be back, so don’t be scared”

“Oh . . . I sure wish he’d come back up here!”

The one baby went down to the ground and was gone quite a while before going back up into the tree, where he joined his sibling. Then just a short while later, they both ventured down the tree and out to explore the big world. 

“See, I came back for you”

I don’t know if they’ll be back to the box for a nap or to spend the night, but I’ll sure watching for them! I got several adorable videos of them, so I’ll be making a short video and will share it with you next week. 

Celebrating Easter . . . for He is risen!!

In The Studio

I finished my painting commission of two Purple Martins this past week and got the time-lapse video made and uploaded to YouTube, and here it is for you to enjoy! 

 See our miniatures in person this week

See the show online now here: 30th International Miniature Art Show
May 1-31, 2021: Seaside Art Gallery, Nags Head, NC (We are the judges for the show this year!) 

To see our available miniature paintings, visit our website, artofwildlife.com

Would you like to commission us? If so, contact us by Email

Follow us!

Until Next Time ~ Rachelle