U-pick

Michelle and I went out to pick strawberries this morning at a 'u-pick' farm just north of Gainesville for only a dollar a pound. Can't beat that! So we picked about 10 pounds for pies, smoothies and shortcake. We also stopped at an amazing plant sale sponsored by the Native Plant Society. I couldn't believe how diverse and well organized this event was. It was a good thing we only had 25 dollars in our pockets! Incidentally, it was at the first park where Michelle and I had our first picnic here in Gainesville.

We broke a record this week for lowest low early Wednesday morning - 34 degrees. Other than the very cool day before and after that night, it feels very summer-y (Michelle has passed along her bad habit of adding y's to nouns to make funky adjectives).



Chance got a bath today.



He hid under the canoe when we pulled out the hose and dog shampoo. :) (Sara, look familiar?)



I mentioned in a previous post that I've been having trouble at my field sites with armadillos digging up my longleaf pine seedlings. A fellow from the Tampa area hooked me up with some vermin deterrent, pictured above. He uses it to prevent cuban tree frogs, an introduced 'pest', from getting into utility boxes and shorting them out. I wonder how long it took the maker to come up with that brand name. Thankfully, we did receive some rain recently and overall, the seedlings are doing quite well.

Hi, Michelle here. Just wanted to share a few of the latest knitting projects.



Booties for my cousin Katie and her husband Jason's little one, due in May. I had to make them unisex, hence the neutral tone.



A bee-themed scarf for birthday girl Meg.



A ladybug summer dress for Eric and Amy's (my cousin and his adorable wife) daughter Bri, who turned 1 this past Sunday. I got it in the mail Monday, so hopefully I'm not ruining the suprise :)

Does it seem like I've been knitting a lot of things for babies lately? Well, I have, and that'll be the trend for quite a while. Baby items are usually quick knits, nice and small:) Everyone I know is preggers! Not really, but almost. In chronological order - cousin-in-law April, cousin Katie, my best friend Tammi, sister-in-law Janna with #2, and sister-in-law Meredith (with the first Pucci grandchild!). We're very excited to meet all these little ones some day soon!