The Year in Pictures -- Winter into Spring

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January



Ellen came to visit and we spent much of our time together birding.




It rained a lot in January.




The orchids liked the rain. Yes. We have orchids outdoors in January.




The rain was good for mushrooms, like these tiny Bird's Nest Fungus.





And these crazy things. They are called Cannonball Fungus, and they shoot their spores like artillery.




Taylor started to split apart her honeybee colony.




And Robb and I set up the hive he bought me for Christmas.




We continued working on befriending the cats that came with our house. Robb is shaking hands with Cardigan while Sleeves averts his eyes from the sordid spectacle.

February

Robb built a rain-shelter for the feral cats.




It was a huge success. Many naps were enjoyed in the Little House.




"Hey you kids! Get off my lawn!"




It was the Year of the Tiger.




Once again, I participated in the Chinese New Year's Treasure Hunt.




We had the dying mulberry removed from our back yard. It was difficult for me to have a tree cut down.




But it was the right thing to do. Taking out the tree doubled the size of our tiny back yard.




I planted spring vegetables, like these peas.




I also dug out an insane amount of wild onions.




At work, my intern and I painted a stupid amount of black scenery.




Robb and I went to the Flyway Festival. I sat next to this owl for at least half an hour before I realized that it was alive. I seriously thought it was taxidermy.



March




American Idiot opened on Broadway. I was in charge of all painted scenery and surface treatments for this gigantic production.




The huge all-black show opened, too.




On the opposite end of the spectrum from American Idiot was Girlfriend, a charming two-man musical that we all just adored.







Robb built bamboo cages for our garden. It was hard to imagine that the tomatoes would ever get this big but, of course, they completely engulfed these structures.




We proved to be incompetent mushroom farmers, killing everything we were trying to grow on purpose, and then growing monster fungus after we gave up.




Robb planted three variety of hop vines. These eventually grew to be over twenty feet tall. We were not expecting such vigor on first-year vines.




I took several beekeeping classes.




I advised Kitty, who had honeybees trying to move into a tree in her backyard. We were able to set up a one-way doorway and dissuade the bees from moving in.




In addition to all of the honeybee activity, I discovered solitary native bees, living in the soil of my vegetable garden




We enjoyed learning about some of the smaller residents of our back yard. Some were feisty and adorable.




And some were beautiful and imposing.




And we continued our attempts at befriending the backyard cats.




And taking undignified photos of them.