Bjarne

We lost our little Bjarne last night.

He had been getting sadder and thinner for many months and finally the decision was made to send him on ahead of us into eternity.

He was a Daddy's boy (and always a talker!)

this picture is from around 2000, and it was taken with a low-resolution digital camera -
thus the less great quality!

We like 'em silly!

When the kittens arrived, he was an excellent big brother, allowing Stephen to snuggle him at all sorts of inopportune times.

Thank you, Bjarne, for the many years of love and laughs.

We miss you!

Environmental Education Center

This morning, Juildeen and I went to the Environmental Education Center and park in Chandler.

happy girl!
She is getting so tall and thin!

the cacti are growing new bits!

There's a lake with ducks and fish.

We walked all the way around the little late.  

The inside of the building had some great displays.

they had coyote fur, rabbit fur, and casts of feet of different animals

Some scorpions in aquaria

did you know they glow under black light?
I am holding the black light flashlight to make this scorpion glow

They had a neat solar system mobile hanging from the ceiling.

There's a neat solar system walk around the lake, too, where each foot equals a certain number of miles (LOTS of miles!) and the planets are spaced at appropriate distances around the lake.

Here's the sun!

There also was a cool handout we used to play BINGO as we walked around the park.  

We didn't see animal tracks or a sundial.

I saw a recycling sign, but Juildeen didn't, so we didn't check it off.

Someone paining a picture wasn't on the BINGO list, but it should have been!

Here's the first fish we saw . . . 

a sad, unlive catfish. 

We did see some other LIVE fish - teeny little minnows!

Here is a Coot, also called a Mudhen.

Desert Mallow, blooming:

A wonderful RED cactus!

A beautiful cactus flower on the red cactus:

Look who's poking around inside!

We saw a hawk circling and swooping down to hunt fish.

We also found a waterfall!

This hummingbird posed for us in the midst of eating from honeysuckle flowers:

Then we saw two cute little quail.  I think they are adorable!

After our walk at the park, we went to In-N-Out Burger for lunch.

And because tomorrow is Juildeen's Grandma's birthday, we stopped at Target for some presents.

We bought her a statement necklace (in pink and coral, because Juildeen said that was her favorite color), some flowers, and a card.

I bought Juildeen some sassy studded sunglasses and a lipgloss as an early birthday present 

(she turns 13 in April!)

No sun headaches with these babies!

And here's your portion of cuteness for the day - Bjarne sleeping . . . 

awwwww!