You Are On: About Us Page 1
Click To Go To:
ABOUT US
(new monthly photos below this paragraph)
Follow us on Facebook! We post new photos before they are on the website, link below.
|
WE CAN EXPLAIN THE WEIRD STUFF! REALLY!
Photos above are: Glenn and Heidi Reed in front of their home; Framed butterflies from Peru (not for sale), Glenn's "Grand Poo-Bah necklace made of real Moose Poop, A Great White Shark head mount (sold), a fossil whale vertebra carved in Barrow, Alaska, Glenn with our 8.5 foot tall extinct Cave Bear Skeleton from Romania (bear for sale, you guess which one!), and Glenn and Heidi in the midst of their Dinosaur Family in their backyard. Lastly, our "Alaska Room" wall displaying three mammoth tusks, walrus tusk head mounts and baleen all for sale on the Alaska and Mammoth Fossils pages.
Glenn Reed used to have a shop in Myrtle Beach of shark and marine related items. He closed the shop in 1994 and "went walkabout" with Darel, his beloved wife, for the remaining years of her life with M.S., meeting Heidi Lee who had been doing arts & crafts shows with her line of jackets, scarves and jewelry. Heidi joined the "family" with Glenn, Darel and their two cats, and for the next four years, they both cared for Darel. They combined their businesses, traveling in a Class A motor home, touring the country while doing 40-50 arts & crafts shows per year, with the wire-wrapped shark's teeth and gemstone bead necklaces Glenn was now making and Heidi's work with something for everyone! Prior travels of Glenn and Darel have included 54 countries covering all continents except South America. This included 8 summers chaperoning high school students on a six-week educational tour of Europe. Road trips of the new "family" resembled what they called the "poor Charles Kuralt tour-with-no-sponsor" as they found the back roads and small towns that ALWAYS hid fascinating people, stories and treasures just waiting to be discovered. Darel enjoyed every bit of it - an ever-changing scenery of interesting things that kept her mind more active than most. Glenn had already been "an avid collector with a short attention span", so when they all settled in Boulder City, Nevada (midway between Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam) there were oodles of weird things in the store right away. They have since added considerably to the shop's inventory with things that "wowed" them. Darel's condition merited staying put, hence the choice to open the store instead of traveling further. Photos of the Boulder City NV store below:
The store was educational in nature, for all ages, with self-guided information cards throughout the store describing where things were made/obtained, and how they were made. If they don't make it themselves, they either know the artist & technique or have dug the materials and met the miners themselves! Their store was on the Approved List for educational sites for field trips in the Clark County School District. During the school year, they gave weekly educational seminars on varieties of the way-too-cool stuff in the store. The store theme was to display beautiful things from all eras and continents for others to see, learn from and perhaps purchase. We hope you enjoy the "mentally nutritious journey" through the website in the same way. Darel passed away in June of 2000 in Nevada. She was a gentle soul with admirable stamina under the circumstances. She is sorely missed. For those of you that knew her and her struggle with M.S., she never allowed the disease to beat her, and fought right up to the very end. She died with a sense of fulfillment - she knew that she had touched at least one child's life and made a difference. It turns out that she did that many times over, as so many of you parents know from the experiences your children had in their contact with Darel. Heidi comments that Glenn's faithful care of Darel kept her comfortable right to the last, keeping his promise that she never be put in a nursing home. Not an easy promise to keep, especially those last few years. Many never knew what an effort this took. A quote from one of Glenn's friends was "what a statement that makes about the kind of persons we all can be". How true. Glenn and Heidi got married in June of 2001 (classic drive-up chapel, Las Vegas style wedding!!) and continued to run the store successfully. After 9/11, which changed the Hoover Dam tourist traffic considerably, they decided by 2002, for several reasons, to relocate back to the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area. The Nevada store had been open for 3 years by the time they packed it down and moved. Photos of the Myrtle Beach SC store below:
They opened the store in Myrtle Beach in June of 2002 for 18 months, at which time the website and eBay business had grown phenomenally so they could not justify keeping the storefront open. So they closed it down and have been running the net biz from their lovely country home, 20 minutes drive from the beach, since December of 2003. They continue to travel and come home with new weird things every time, they can't seem to stop! So now you know "the rest of the story". We trust you will enjoy the growing inventory you see on the website, even the past photos of the 2 stores, and latest travels. Welcome aboard! |
-cropped_-_resized2.jpg)
|
MAY 2020 5/6/20 Yellow Adirondack composite umbrella chairs/table installed on upper and lower decks (lower deck stairs not quite finished). Looks like a party waiting to happen! And a pink rose that bloomed today. Surviving Covid-19 on our own terms.    |
|
JUNE 2018 Flowers in our back flower bed. It's a jungle out there! The lilies are the size of dinner plates and about 5 feet high. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) The deer urn has sweet potato plants. .jpg) Dahlias, calla lily with bonus spider, and another huge lily. We are gratified at this beautiful garden this year. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) |
|
SEPTEMBER THROUGH DECEMBER 2016
It was Heidi's 62nd birthday coming in October and I was trying to plan a trip to figure out just where I would take her for this special day. This was my thinking in late September.
Well, the last week in September we had an second request for information from a man in Australia, the first being a year ago, about the 40,000 year old Romanian Cave Bear skeleton pair, https://tellmewhereonearth.
He let us use his downtown Melbourne apartment for 10 days at no cost to us. Then when we were finished with the re-construction of the two bears he then flew us to Tasmania, and then a ferry ride to an Island called Bruny Island, where he has some 6,000 acres that he is developing with remote cottage to rent out. The daily fees are around $1,200 per day. We stayed at his private lodge for 5 days, meals were furnished by his staff, and were given a four wheel drive land rover to use so that we could enjoy the island. All of which was at not cost to us.
After 5 days we returned to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania for a 1 night stay at his penthouse apartment which is located in the middle of downtown overlooking the harbor, which was the best location in town. This place rents out for $1,200 a night. It generally is always booked, but they had a cancellation so, instead of us staying in a hotel Michael offered us the nights lodging for free. So, in the morning we checked out of his apartment , went to the famous Saturday Market, and were given another 4 -wheel drive vehicle to use for the next week that we would be in Tasmania.
If you have not figured it out by now, it seems that we had made a lifetime friendship with Michael, and this will not be the last business we do with him. He wants 3 more bears for 3 other possible lodge locations. We are working on that as we speak, with our collector that lives in Austria. He has just what we need and now it's just a matter of the money he wants.
So, now we were on our own after being in Australia for 2 weeks. Tasmania is a beautiful place to visit, but not to live there. It was really remote to say the least. The people were very friendly and the foods were really good. We ate a lot of "mixed grill" (mutton, beef and kangaroo meat) as this is pretty much their basic protein source, and plenty of meat pies and baked goods, better than Australia. The seafood was the best you could ask for. If you google Tasmania you will see how beautiful the countryside is.
Heidi and I took some 10,000 plus photos and she is working on putting a selection of them on our latest travels page on the web site.
After our week in Tasmania, we flew back to Melbourne and returned to stay a couple more days at Michael's apartment. From there we drove to Sydney for another weeks stay. While there I took Heidi to the Sydney Opera house to see " MY FAIR LADY " that was being performed by a British touring company. It was a wonderful evening. We also visited the aquarium. A lot of walking! While in town we were introduced to a shark dealer friend of ours from Florida. While at his home we discovered 3 very rare shark jaws that he had purchased from a fisherman located in Taiwan . https://tellmewhereonearth.
After we left Sydney, we then flew to Brisbane (Heidi got to hold two different koala bears at a sanctuary near Brisbane, and we drove to the beach in Coolangatta, among other interesting experiences). Then we flew to New Zealand for a week. While we were there we had driven the entire northern part of the island and were on our way to the southern tip to see the annual seal migration for the breeding season. The night before we were to take the ferry across to Christchurch , Heidi told me the next morning that she felt the bed move in the middle of the night. While we were having our breakfast, I turned on the local news and was shocked to hear about the earth quake on the southern tip of the island. There were some 1,00 tourist that were stranded as the road system had collapsed and the mountain had slid down covering the only road way out. I am sure that you heard about this on your news as Christchurch has still not recovered from their earth quake that took place several years ago. About 60 % of the town has been destroyed and there are no plans to re-build it, as they sit right on top a a large quake zone.
So, we spent another few days touring New Zealand (Kauri Museum, visited the largest tree in the country - named Tane Mahuta, in the forests north of Dargoville, visited two wood galleries; and then flew back to Australia to Cairns, Australia to visit the Great Barrier Reef. By now the weather was quite hot and tropical. We spent 5 days there and had a great trip out to the reef. Heidi took a helicopter ride to see the reef from the air. When she came back, I then took her down in a glass bottom submarine to get a real close up view of the reef. This is the same thing I did with Darel when I took her to Australia in 1993. The only difference between the two trips is the reef is now for all practical purposes DEAD. With global warming the coral cannot survive with this increased level of warm water, and the coral has now lost al it's color, and is just s dead looking gray color. There was no sea life to be seen any where on the reef, and not a single turtle has been seen in years.It was a real disappointment to see this terrible situation. From Cairns we flew down to Adelaide which is on the southern tip of Australia. This is where my friend Rodney Fox lives and operates his Great White shark diving business. I wanted to take Heidi on a Shark Cage dive to see Great Whites. However before we got to that point we had to fly north of Adelaide to a small town called Coober Pedy , which is the Opal capital of the country. Due to a tight schedule we were only there for some 36 hours. In that time we were able to visit with all 8 of the Opal dealers that I know in town there that I have been buying opals from since 1993. We were able to buy some 30 pounds of great opal materials. And a local miner took us on a private tour of a lifetime to the opal mines, their "golf course" where they even have night golf with glow-in-the-dark balls, and the only underground church in the world - a Greek Orthodox Church. We ate in an underground restaurant as well.
If you look on the news letter that I sent you , you will see the mention of the addition of the latest opals that we have on the site that we bought in Coober Pedy.
From there we flew back to Adelaide and that afternoon caught another flight to Port Lincoln for 4 days to do the shark dive. The weather was just perfect for the dive, and Heidi saw two great whites. This was a once in a life time experience for her, or for the fact for anyone. From Port Lincoln, we flew back to Adelaide and caught another flight to Perth, which is as far west as you can travel in Australia. Here we spent another week before we left for Bali. We both agreed that we could live in Perth. It really is the end of the earth compared to the rest of Australia. It was so fresh and unspoiled, and very under developed . It's as if time stood still in their part of the country. Yet, they have everything there that the rest of the country has, only in smaller portions. It was a wonderful week and this was the first time during the 6 weeks in Australia that we were sad to be leaving a particular town. I am sure that we will one day return to spend more time there. Note: Must see: King's Park. Next we took a flight to Bali, which took us some 4 hours. It was a nice short flight. Now we have traveled back in time as this is really a third world country to say the least. A friend of ours that lives in Los Angeles, and does business in Bali, set us up with his contacts there to take us around and introduce us to some of the best bone carvers that live in a community up in the mountains of a town called Ubud. Here is a wonderful link telling about Ubud. https://www.bali-indonesia.
The morning after we arrived in Bali our new friend Wayan arrived at our hotel and off we went for a 2 hour drive to his home/shop to see his carvings and other items that he makes and sells. He was/is such a wonderful young man, that by the end of our 5 days stay there we have adopted he and his family. We have started a wonderful working relationship with him that will continue to grow over the years. We actually got the first shipment of our carvings from him about a week ago. Those too are in the newsletter. He is now working on another group of animal carvings for us. He is also a silver smith by trade and has made sterling silver caps that I use for the large gator teeth necklaces. His work is outstanding to say the least. I no longer need to wait for months to get my work done in Thailand and his price is about 1/3 less. There are so many stories that I would love to share with you about this part of the trip, but it would take me hours to type. Heidi bought me a new speak and type program for my computer that is really the best that there is.
Wayan took us to several other carvers' places of business and we bought many different carvings from them. We went to a huge silver show room where they had over 200 silver smiths doing all sorts of silver works that you could possible think of. The food in Bali is very spicy and hot. Most of which neither of us could eat. Yet, there were many meals that we enjoyed , and already miss.
Next we took a flight from Bali to Bangkok which was only about 2 1/2 hours long.We flew on the Thai Airways Boeing 787 Dream-liner, which is being built right here in Charleston, South Carolina.Every seat was like first class.Of all the planes we had flown on up to this point,this was the most fantastic flight ever.
We spent a week in Thailand. A friend of ours here in Spartanburg is from Thailand and owns a Thai restaurant here. He is a retired General in the Thai Army. Two days after we left the US on our trip to Australia, the King of Thailand died. The whole country was and will be in mourning for a full calendar year. Everyone must wear black, and do nothing in the way of pleasurable things. No music, no dancing, no celebrating of special days,as any of these activities are a sign of disrespect to the memory of the King. There was a annual car show in Bangkok to introduce the new car models and it was a terrible show. They were only allowed to sell Black or White colored cars.
This was actually the worst time to be a tourist in Thailand. However we made the most of it. So, one day our friend Rick took us to several temples and points of interest that most tourist never see. I had seen these attractions when I was stationed there in 1966-1967. Most of them I had taken a lot of pictures of and had shown them to Heidi over the years. So, when we got ready for the trip I got them all out and showed here things that I would take her to see that I had seen as as a young man in the Air Force.
So for the next 4 days we toured Bangkok, and saw more temples, and ate some great foods. I also took Heidi to the floating market place where I had visited some 50 years ago. It was really hard for me to keep things straight in my mind that it had actually been 50 years ago that I was young man living in Thailand. When we rented a boat to drive the water ways of the market, it was as if time had stood still these past 50 years. Nothing had changed from when I was there. It was very strange to me. At times, I really didn't know what was happening as I was traveling in the past.
From Bangkok, we flew north to the town of Udorn where I was actually stationed for over a year.This base was located very close to the Laos border . I hired a taxi for the day to take me to my old neighborhood to see if there were still people there that I had known. Within less than 30 minutes from the time I left the hotel, I actually met a lady that was a young girl when I lived on her street. The reason why she knew who I was is most interesting.
When I lived there, everyday when I returned to my house I was renting, because I didn't like living on the base with all the restriction that they had. I would see a man with a push cart selling Popsicles and ice cream. I would buy a few and sit on my porch and watch the world walk by. One day when I was making my daily purchase a little boy was standing there watching me. I offered him an ice cream bar. He took it and ran off to his house. For the next several days , he managed to always be in front of my house just as the ice cream man was there. I would always offer him something of his choice, and we would try to talk with each other. After several days, I noticed that he had a couple friends with him now, and I would offer them something also. Before long there were close to 20 kids everyday, and many days they actually got the ice cream man to drive right up to my house so that I wouldn't have to come into the street and wait in line to make my purchases. Now keep in mind, that the price of these ice cream treats were just about 4 cents US. So, I could buy a treat for all the kids for less than 1 dollar. This would continue for some 10 more months before i would leave for my next duty assignment which was in Spangdahlem, Germany.
So, back to this lady I met on my street. When I asked her about a retired Sargeant that also lived on this street she told me had died several years ago. She wanted to know how I knew him and I told her that I lived on this street and pointed to where my house was, and she asked me if I was Glenn,and I said yes. I asked her how did she know my name ??? She then started to tell me about how she was one of the kids that would come to my house everyday when the ice cream man would come to sell his things. She then started screaming down the street toward another lady that was running a little food stand there. She came running up to me and also explained that she too was one of the kids I had treated with the ice treats. It was a very interesting visit to say the least.Many of the kids no longer live there, but from time to time they come for visits. So, I left several of my business cards for them to pass on to anyone that might have known me and we will see what happens from there.
The catholic orphanage that I used to help out at is no longer there. After we GI'S left they closed down and moved all the kids to another location closer to Bangkok where it was safer. When I was stationed there the whole community was only about 4,500 people. Now it's an international airport and the town has grown to well over 600,000 people. So, when I told Heidi I was going to take her to a small remote village , never did I think it would turn out to be this large.
So, three days later we flew back to Bangkok and caught our next flight to Hawaii. This was a long 14 plus hour flight. It was a China Airways flight and the food was terrible. It was so bad we could not eat anything they offered. We arrive in Honolulu in the early morning, and the first thing we did after getting the rental car was find some food that we could eat. We spent a week here just relaxing and getting some much needed rest . We actually slept for two days before we started doing anything. The Island was ok, but I wouldn't waste my time ever going back there for a visit. After living in Myrtle Beach for some 20 plus years and having this wonderful beach that we have here, Hawaii had very little to offer. We next flew to Los Angeles , where Darel's cousin Chris picked us up at the airport and took us to his home where we spent the weekend visiting with he and his wife. It was a nice visit and we had a great time. A lot of good food, conversation, and REST. Next he took us back to the airport on Sunday. We then flew to a friend's home in San Antonio, Texas. He is a dealer in Woolly Mammoth bones and Ivory. There we purchased 100 pounds of material to send back to Bali for Wayan to carve for us. We spent two days here, and we really didn't need to do any touring of the area as we have been here before and saw about all there is of interest there. Now this was our 22nd one-way flight for the entire trip so far to this point. I told Heidi as we were getting ready to return the rental van, that I really didn't want to get on another plane, and would just as soon keep the van and drive the last 1,500 plus miles home to Spartanburg. On the way home we could visit friends of ours in Lake Charles, Louisiana where we buy all our alligator parts from. So, that was the plan and off we went. We visited with him and his wife for the day and bought several alligator skulls for me to work with, as well as some 45 pounds of various size alligator teeth and other gator items. All in all it was a great visit. From his home we drove to Biloxi, Mississippi, where we spent Christmas eve and Christmas Day at the Hard Rock Cafe Casino. https://www.
We then drove to another friend's home in Atlanta and spent the night near there. She is one of the team teachers from Auburn University that we spend a week in September with teaching Black children in the "Black Belt" schools of Alabama. Heidi and I have been doing this for the past 10 years now. We bring a lot of our strange and weird things with us that under normal conditions these kids will never seen in their lives. One year we actually dismantled one of the Cave Bears and took it there for them to see.
We finally arrived home on New Years eve. The entire trip took us 11 weeks and 2 days to make. We were home less than a week and drove down to our shark friend's home in Gainsville, Florida to show him the wonderful Megamouth shark jaw we had purchased from his friend in Sydney . Then we drove further south to Titusville, where the Space Center is located to see another friend of ours. Then on Monday we drove up to St . Augustine, Florida to buy some shark jaws from a dealer that we know there. From there we drove to Charleston, South Carolina to deliver the two extra Megamouth shark jaws to our friend Rick that prepares our shark jaws as we need them.
From Rick's home to ours was a 4 hour drive and we were back home again. Then 10 days later we flew out to Tucson, Arizona for the annual Gem, Mineral, and Fossil show that we attend every year come the 1st of February were here for a week making contact with a lot of our friends that are dealers and suppliers to us. It's always a great time out there as this is the one time a year where we all can get together and catch up on times and deals that we have made over the years past.
So, now we have been home for a month and have completed a lot of projects that needed to be done in order to list all the new things to the website, Ebay and so on.
It was the most spectacular experience that the two of us have shared in our 16 years together. So, our next possible trip will be to Austria to work out the details of the three cave bears we need to buy. From there , we have no idea as to where we will go next. I am sure there are a lot more stories yet to come as I bring them to the surface, and these I will share them with you as they surface in my memory bank.
Enjoy the trip, link to the Newsletter page (bottom of the page) to view some of the photos and details from the trip until such time as we can post the entire virtual trip in photos:
NEWSLETTER PAGE Glenn |
| JUNE 2014 |
|
Here's an amazing Totem made of a large whale rib, created by Alaskan artist Doug Smith. We just received this a few weeks ago (June 2014). It graces our living room to remind us of everything we miss in Alaska.
Glenn's new "bear face gourd" T-shirt, thanks to friend Charlotte who sent us the photo of a sold gourd, and Heidi for creating a birthday T-shirt for Glenn.
|
|
A recent lunch (June 2014) at the Baguette & Co. Restaurant in Cowpens, SC, a French restaurant that will see our faces often. Here's Heidi with her melted ham & cheese on croissant sandwich. A happy camper
|
|
The new calla lilies in our deer urn
|
|
Glenn with our 13th wedding anniversary flowers, and Glenn with a new haircut
|
| FEBRUARY 2011 |
|
Sunset in Myrtle Beach, as seen from the Kroger store
Winter pansies just keep blooming
|
| AUGUST 2010 |
|
Mr. Bear (smaller bear, healed front foot injury),
August 17th
Note the size of his claws! His back is towards the Conservation Forest, he feels safe. |
| JULY 2010 |
|
With the weather here about 115 degrees, 74% humidity, we bought a Misting system around the perimeter of the front porch. Turns out, our porch is a little narrow to fully appreciate it without getting wet, there needs to be more space away from the actual mist to be able to sit on a dry bench. But we still turn it on now and then and it cools the porch about 20 degrees. The cats don't like it much, but when they walk through it to get their dish of milk and get misted, which keeps them cool for quite awhile (like walking around in a wet bathing suit on a hot day), we glad we found a way to make them cooler.
Glenn stood in the mist and his beard got all "gray" with mist which looked hilarious, right down to the eyebrows that stuck out about an inch.
You wanna piece-a-me?
|
|
Mr. Bear (larger bear, healed back foot injury)
July 12th You can see the distance from my office window. Gently scraping more corn towards him as he eats.
Sitting up for a scratch
And checking out his underarm. How comical.
|
|
July 11th
It is not unusual to see the gray fox eating side by side with one of the cats.
|
|
July 11th
A BLACK COYOTE - a rare sighting!
This morning a black coyote walked through our yard (likely a cross with a wild dog, but still! rare). A wondrous sight. At least that is our best guess. |
|
July 13th
"The Beagle Boys", one of two raccoon families that eat at the cat food dish daily
If you look closely on the left you can see the fox waiting his turn.
|
|
July 19th
BOTH bears in the yard at the same time
We found the big bear would not let the smaller bear eat at the other dish. So after they left, we relocated the 2nd dish nearer the ditch, which turned out to be a good idea. |
| Who says you can't have an animal paradise? |
| JUNE 2010 |
|
June 5 -
Another new litter of 4 (here are 3), eyes just open (so we guess they're about 2 weeks old). The black one resembles Tux, though it has an eye problem we can't fix. It is a runty but feisty little thing. The large tiger cat is a very contented, cuddly kitten. Proud Papa Glenn does everything to make them comfortable. (See March of 2010 for photos of mama Tux)
|
|
ROSE GARDEN
Here's an update on the blooming of the Rose Garden off the back porch. A gift, every day
Roses - will I ever get tired of photographing them? Nope!
|
|
The Camellia Japonica bloomed next to the porch again, though we cut it back pretty far. One bloom fills the whole front porch with the most beautiful scent. A fragile yet powerful bloom.
|
|
June 15th
MIMOSA Blooms on a tree down the road; Heidi's favorite "Fireworks" flowers
|
|
June 12th - update on Snowball's kitty, now 13 days old
|
|
June 9
BEAR! You can see the distance from the office window. One happy bear.
|
|
June 9
FOX! Called a "Gray Fox" though there is some red in his fur, he visits regularly to eat cat food. Isn't he a beauty?
|
| MAY 2010 | |||||
| CATS | |||||
|
All one litter of four, spooning together on the porch. Mama peering from the bushes, Miss Beauty Eyes (May 26)
|
One of the kitties with pretty eyes like its mama, the 2nd with the Elf ears and eyes. We later named it Squirrel because of its habit of laying its tail along the top of its back when it is petted, like a squirrel tail.
|
||||
|
Mr. Male, he craves attention but does not know how to purr
|
Tuxie has grown up to be a beautiful Tuxedo female
|
3 of the kitties tormenting their indulgent Mama. She is the only one that has all 4 of her kittens that have survived
|
Gold Tuxie, brother to the black and white female. He is alone at the back of the house (the other cats would not allow him at the front, a territorial thing apparently), he had one mean female with him for awhile but she is gone.
|
||
|
May 31, Snowball's new kitty!
June 2nd, Glenn quite by chance saw Snowball coming out from under the porch steps (not a waterproof area). He looked and found a WHITE (assume it will be Siamese marked) kitty...just one. I do not know what may have happened to any others in the litter, but she clearly brought it from wherever she birthed the litter, to us. The lone survivor, apparently.
So these photos are of her 2 day old baby, and mama. We created a new box for her and her baby, she has nursed it in the box and is now very happy there. Glenn, of course, acted the part of the proud Papa.
|
|||||
| FLOWERS | |||||
|
Amaryllis, a welcome flower each spring, and always a surprise
|
Yellow Roses
|
Orange Tiger Lily
|
|||
| APRIL 2010 | |
|
Glenn, showing off his beautiful Lewis Byrnes didgeridoo made from the rootstock of a eucalyptus tree, woodburned design, signed by Lewis. It was the premier piece at the Didg Fest in Joshua Tree, CA (I believe the year was 1999)
|
|
|
The first IRIS bloomed next to the back porch, a refreshing sight.
DAHLIAS
|
Snowball the Siamese's only kitten, Glenn is smitten. She is now 6 weeks old (4/9/10). See Feb & March for other photos!
Update, 4/20, a cozy spot, sleepy happy kitty,
And a smitten admirer
|
|
AZALEAS
The bushes were so full of blooms, we've never seen them look so beautiful
|
WILDFLOWER A plain Jane compared to the lilies, but this little wildflower growing in the yard was a pleasant surprise
|
| DAY LILIES | |
|
The white are "Free Choice Oriental Lily". The red and whites are "Maru Lilies"
We call the red one the Man-eater, it is so HUGE. It is a "Love Story Oriental Lily". Wow.
|
|
| ROSES! | |
|
25 bushes of them, thanks to Glenn's hard work.
|
|
|
BEACH! April 22
Part of the new boardwalk was finished, from 1st Avenue South, up to Pier 14 Restaurant. A lovely walk on the beach, and the boardwalk and back |
|
|
Notice the flags at one entry to the boardwalk, near Ripley's Museum
|
Heidi, on the boardwalk, and views up & down. Nice tent shading.
|
|
Pier 14 Restaurant, and the walkway up to the pier, and on the pier, and the walk back to our car
|
|
|
Sandcastle near the Pier
|
Another sand castle, with a great trough going back to the ocean. Once the tide comes in, the trough will fill up, and fill the moat inside the castle. Well done!
|
|
Black-headed Seagulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) on the beach
|
Glenn, in the surf looking, of course, for sharks teeth
And today's "catch" by Heidi and Glenn includes plenty of shark teeth, a piece of agate, even a dolphin ear bone
|
| CATS, April 27th | |
|
3 cat friends, enjoying the new sidewalk. Goldie looks so content
|
This mama cat has perfectly camouflaged fur
|
|
Tick tick, being pampered when she got wet in the rain
|
|
|
One small gold kitty, the feistiest thing you've ever seen, eats ferociously. And no doubt because it has a mama that doesn't take care of it. So we taught him to eat food and drink milk early, for his own survival, which he understood very well. We were sure rooting for the little guy. In spite of inhaling milk, and stepping into it, he did learn quickly. And since Mama didn't clean him up after his messy eating, we did that too.
Unfortunately, within a few weeks he had disappeared. We apparently can't take the place of a mama, but we sure tried our best and we'd do it again. |
|
| MARCH 2010 | |||
| YARD PHOTOS, TAKEN 3-23-10 | |||
|
Close up of the cypress stump
|
Grape hyacinth, in front of the swing
|
Jessamine bloom, against our split rail fence
|
Mini daffodil
|
|
Cleveland Pear tree blossoms, outside the kitchen window
|
Cleveland Pear tree, outside our bedroom window
|
A violet hiding in the leaves
|
A form of lily of the valley, but larger, has re-bloomed this year
|
|
The flag is smartly flying today in the wind
|
|||
| CATS UPDATE | |||
|
One of the "Boots" family
|
"Tux"
Update, Tux-April. What a beauty:
|
Snowball the Siamese
|
Three tiger cats and Snowball
|
|
Our Black cat on the swing
|
Goldie and a Boots kitty
|
||
| Lily and the Wolf | |||
|
Visiting little friend Lily enjoys one of our Wolf capes we pose on the floor
|
|||
| Tripp and the Cookies, Dad in Tree | |||
|
Our own little two-fisted neighborhood Cookie Monster comes to visit
While his brave dad cuts down a pine tree in our yard
|
|||
| A VISIT TO THE BEACH (Myrtle Beach) | |||
|
Glenn thrives walking on the beach
|
The only find today was the bottom of a fossil sandshark tooth.
Clam shells cruelly pretend to be shark's teeth just long enough for you to bend down and pick it up
|
||
|
Under the Second Avenue South Pier
|
Patterns in the wet sand
|
||
| SNOWBALL'S KITTY | |||
|
Snowball's surviving tiger baby, born 2/26, here 4 days old
|
3/26, 1 month old
|
1 month old, Glenn's little friend
|
|
| VISIT FROM CANADA | |||
|
Friends Harry & Linda, family & friends made their annual visit to Myrtle Beach. A photo op in front of the TWO cave bear skeletons this time:
|
|||
| FEBRUARY 2010 | |||
|
ORCHIDS for VALENTINE'S DAY!
Glenn found this gorgeous yellow orchid plant (Cymbidium, King of Orchids) as a Valentine's Day gift. Update: It continues to bloom through mid April!
Update March, high resolution photos
|
|||
|
SNOW!
(February 12-13, 2010) Only the 2nd time in 21 years in South Carolina (the last time was Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009). A winter wonderland for 24 hours! So of course Glenn made a ghoulish Snow Dude.
Over the next few days, Glenn re-shaped the melting snow person to a mini-dude or girl with Spanish Moss hair...next to a cat in one photo, for comparison size. Hilarious. That's my guy.
|
|||
|
Our house, with a new White look, and the driveway
|
|||
|
Glenn getting the morning paper, pretending he's in Margaritaville ... not!
|
Next to the Bear Crossing sign
|
A view of the flower bed and storage building
|
A small tree outside our bedroom window
|
|
The dinosaurs are cloaked in white
|
Golden eagles overhead
|
||
|
Interesting pattern on the paving stones in front of the front steps
|
First time this spring litter of kitties has ever seen snow! One we call boots, another called Tux, and Snowball the Siamese
|
The palm tree out front is not used to this color
|
|
|
Glenn, in the wig, playing Snow Scarecrow? I'm scared!
|
Our American flag, three views
|
The neighbor's SEVEN FOOT TALL snowman
|
|
|
The red camillia bush cloaked in snow now, that gave such beautiful blooms just 24 hours ago, along with a pink bush on the other side of the front steps (not shown)
|
|||
|
SNOWBALL'S KITTENS
Snowball our Siamese had two kitties 2/26. The black kitty did not survive beyond 4 days, Snowball brought her to the carpet for us to care for when it had passed away.
|
|||
|
CAMELLIAS continue to bloom, the best year yet
|
|||
| JANUARY 2010 | |||
| CATS | |||
|
At least 9 cats snuggling on our porch, and one photo of Mr. Goldie; 10 cats on the rug
|
|||
|
An idyllic moment in the sun, Tuxie (black & white female) with her two gold Tuxie brothers
|
|||
| FLOWERS | |||
|
Camellias and huge Lilies graced our table
|
|||
| Friend & Neighbor Craig's birthday | |||
|
We'd given his kids bright red Wax Lips as a funny gift the week before. They greeted us wearing the lips, which turned out to be the hit of the party
|
Young Tripp looks on, waiting for Cake Time!
|
It's Cake Time with Grandma
|
Craig, wearing the family's traditional Birthday Cake Hat
Sister Rebecca, managing the food
|
|
Theme of the party was TOOLS, to replace the hand tools stolen recently out of his garage. Glenn spoofed him with a bucket full of broken tools, then a nice Lowe's Gift Card at the bottom of the bucket.
|
The funniest part was how little Tripp would put his hand over his mouth anytime anyone suggested HE wear the wax lips
|
||
| DECEMBER 2009 | |||||
|
DIXIE STAMPEDE, CHRISTMAS SHOW, Myrtle Beach SC
Thanks to Carla and daughter Lily, I attended this well performed show and dinner
|
|||||
|
A beautiful Christmas decorated plantation with themed costuming and dancing, and horses
|
Santa's Toy Shop, complete with glow-in-the-dark toys and dolls & horses that came to life
|
A Peter Pan like fairy flew through the air
|
|||
|
Horses turned streamers in a delightful dance
|
A solitary white horse in the midst of the "storm"
|
A Christmas scene with the camels, 3 wise men and an angel flying overhead
|
A Pig Race!
|
||
|
A Reindeer Man riding a Chicken, a constant bit of hilarity throughout the show
|
Horse Parade with snowflake lights
|
The Ringmaster on his gorgeous black stallion
|
|
||
| CATS | |||||
|
Two gold brothers and their black & white "tux" sister
|
Glenn lavishing love and milk on them all
|
||||
|
They couldn't resist sitting on the moving polar bear Christmas statues in the yard, even crawling INSIDE of them
Snuggling to stay warm in the winter rain, on the porch rug
|
|||||
|
TREES
Near Office Depot at the beach, gorgeous fall colors in January
|
|||||
|
Neighborly help, Big Machine!
Neighbor Craig and son Tripp are leveling our driveway with his dad's equipment, pounding the road flat. We could feel this even 2 blocks away.
|
|||||
| NOVEMBER 2009 |
| Drive to Shallotte NC, 11/20/09 |
|
We made a beautiful drive to Shallotte (North Carolina) this afternoon, ate at the Inlet Grill (scallops, shrimp & clams), a great view of the inlet & marsh near the ocean (though I failed to take photos of that).
These photos are of the hibiscus bushes blooming outside the restaurant, and a green striped plant a customer kindly identified for us as "Acuba" also known as Japanese laurel.
We drove back south to our favorite ice cream place in Calabash NC where I got a sweet potato souffle ice cream (yum!). Brought 3 pints of other flavors home too.
|
| OCTOBER 2009 | |||
|
Heidi's 55th birthday
Glenn took Heidi to the Atlanta Aquarium on the way back from the Wehle Nature Center in Alabama. Carla made a beautiful STEGOSAUR Chocolate DINOSAUR birthday cake for Heidi, how memorable is that? You can even see a huge order of tagua nut in the background, waiting to be sorted, numbered, priced & photographed.
|
|||
|
HALLOWEEN Our helper Carla and her daughter Lily, posing with our scary Alien Mannequin Dude (with Mardi Gras hat and boars tooth necklace). Glenn is wearing his awful wig.
On a whim, when the doorbell rang and we knew it was our neighbors, Glenn opened the door on his hands and knees, wearing the Wolf Headdress, scaring the kids half to death. He then stood up and removed all doubt of his dastardliness. "Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill."
A family of pirates and 1 princess, our neighbors' costumes. Darn good too!
|
|||
| A few of the better photos I took of our road and yard, a break in the cloudy/rainy weather with a bit of sunshine. | |||
|
Sumac on neighbor's fence, and fence line
|
Spanish moss on the neighbor's tree
|
||
|
yellow autumn leaves in our yard
|
2 decorative pepper plants
|
||
|
Acorns on our oak tree
|
A white bell type flower/weed that proliferates on the side of our private road
|
||
|
Poisonous mushroom
Amanita muscaria
|
A picturesque vine over our road
|
||
| Cats | |||
|
New Cat Plantings! Wonder how big they'll grow?
|
|||
|
Snowball and her baby Tick-tick
|
Mr. Goldie, and black Mr. Deefie
|
Tar baby
|
Bootsie boy, next to gator partial skeleton on the porch
|
|
Yellow Bellied Sapsucker
We used to just call these Red headed woodpeckers. From living here in the woods, we have identified many bird species. |
|||
`  |
|||
| SEPTEMBER 2009 |
|
FLOWERS
A beautiful water hyacinth in our friend Dale's Florida pond. Photo credit to Dale and Kathy.
|
|
KITTIES
Documenting some of the semi-wild cats we enjoy here
Gold & white cat
Our surprise Siamese Snowball Her brother (neurological problem, holds his head to the side)
New litter of 4 kitties
A tiger with white boots & nose from another litter
Gold male cat, he is panting from the heat, as the cats have gotten their winter coats from a few cool nights, and now are too warm. Weather is still in the high 80's during the day.
|
|
BEARS!
Believe it or not, Sept. 25th Glenn found berry bear puke with a baby bear footprint right in the middle of it, over near the deer corn.
A mama black bear and twin cubs visited the yard Sept. 26th. (We had to deal with reflection on the sunny window, apologies).
Some sound caused one cub to go up on his hind legs for a few moments. False alarm.
Mom and cubs decided to take a tour of part of the yard to be sure there was no danger.
You can see where mom's front left foot has been broken, and healed crooked. A permanent limp that does not look comfortable, also causing her to slow down. A detriment if she needs to get away from danger with her cubs.
Mom tipped some of the corn out of the deer dish so all 3 could feed at the same time
This twin scooped corn between his paws and was NOT going to share
|
|
BEACH
Another stroll on Myrtle Beach Sept. 21. The weather is still in the 80's.
Heidi found a great Squalicorax tooth, they both found lots of sand shark points, and a few whole small teeth.
|
|
TURTLE
This wayward little turtle was tootling across our driveway towards the conservation forest, a LONG ways from water, when we spotted the cats looking at something in the yard and we discovered it - an Eastern Box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina), also called Common Box Turtle. The hinged plastron (lower shell) that he is able to move up against the upper shell to protect his head is a marvelous ability.
In reading about it, I found that the male has a concave (lower shell) plastron to facilitate breeding on top of the female, which has a flat plastron. So this is probably a female. We took her down the road the other way to a small stream so she could have more of a chance of a good turtle life:
|
| AUGUST 2009 |
|
PINK FLOWERING PLANT
A pink flowering Fasciata Bromeliad on our porch we enjoy every day.
|
|
Near Titusville, FREE ICE CREAM, can it be?
|
|
HUMMINGBIRD
A hummingbird outside my home office window. Through August we have hundreds of sipping visits a day outside Heidi's office window to the 2 feeders there. Ruby throated males, females and juveniles visiting constantly.
|
|
MUSHROOM
Glenn found a tiny red mushroom in our yard. We can only identify it as a new mushroom of the Amanita muscaria species that turns into the red mushroom with white spots that we also find in the yard (other photos amongst the About Us photos). YES, it is poisonous.
|
| JULY 2009 |
|
BLACK BEAR SIGHTING!
Two bears have been coming nightly up until the fire April 22; there has also been considerable construction going on nearby. Since then we have not seen the bears, and worried they were either dead or had relocated to another area. The bears usually start coming during the day starting in late May/early June. They had not done so. Friday July 17th one bear finally came during the day, we were so glad to see him! It is the bear with the injured back leg, the skin & muscle had been stripped from the right rear leg back in March (we don't know what did it), we did not know if he could survive. He did! We estimate he is a 2 year old around 300 pounds
He ate well, took a bath
He's had his bath (you can see how wet he is), now it's a mouthful of cat food for dessert, going down on his elbow to do so:
he explored the latticework where the cats are, though they are not prey to him..
The damaged leg joint is stiff & fixed, and he swings the leg in an outward arc to walk. You can see it is healed but thinner from lost muscle, skin & fur, and weaker.
He looked up this tree several times on his hind legs at his full height. He must have seen something we did not, then went on his way.
|
|
Current photos of the surprise Siamese kitten we call Snowball (born of a black cat mother, and black/white long-haired father, apparently a throwback). You just never know. She's Glenn's favorite, the only one allowing herself to be touched. She has wandered into the house and two other buildings when the door is open. A curious cat indeed, and a welcome fuzzy presence. Taken July 18th. Typical cross-eyed, inscrutable expression.
Nine cats showing in the 1st photo (the 3 mothers are off to the left), and six kitties at the milk dish in both photos.
|
|
DEER! Though the deer come to our yard more than once a day, today (July 20) the doe & two aunties had a baby fawn with them, what a treat. You can see them here between our house and the neighbor's.
|
| JUNE 2009 |
|
Annual visit by Frank and his family, a photo op by the two dinosaurs this year
Frank, normally a cautious, serious sort of guy (but really a kid inside) shows his other side when he comes to Myrtle Beach
|
|
One of 22+ cats currently in our yard, this one is gold & white
|
|
MAY 2009
May 1, it was a beautiful day to walk on the beach. A little windy, about 75 degrees at the beach (closer to 82 inland),
but the tide was out and there were numerous hermit crabs to watch skittering through the tidal pools. What fun!
Glenn even found a nice fossil great white shark tooth, and a large megalodon shark tooth on the beach that day |
|
Mid May, our first glimpse at our surprise Siamese kitten from a totally black colored mother, black/white long-haired father. Isn't genetics great?
|
|
My annual photos of the beautiful Amaryllis flower beside our back steps:
|
|
APRIL 22-MAY 2,, 2009
MYRTLE BEACH FIRE
(photo credit to Tom Murray, Sun News, of a Loris firefighter at Nehemiah Green's home on Willard Road, 12 miles from our home)
Many of you may have seen the national news about the huge fire in the Myrtle Beach/Conway area of our state over the last few days. It started Wednesday the 22nd in the Barefoot Resort area behind Barefoot Landing mall in North Myrtle Beach, and spread rapidly due to the wind. No one quite knew how far it would reach.
It is South Carolina's biggest wildfire in more than three decades - a blaze 4 miles wide, covering 23 square miles over the past two days - destroyed 70 homes and causing the evacuation of 5500 people Thursday.
Even by May 2, Blackhawk helicopters are still taking water from a neighbor's pond several hundred yards from our home, as some of the fire is still in a peat bog type of ground which is difficult to put out. A smoke smell permeates the yard some days due to the direction of the wind, causing us to have to wear masks. BUT WE ARE SAFE, and our hearts go to those who have lost possessions in this wildfire. The efforts of the firefighters has been very much appreciated!
Helicopter photos, courtesy of neighbor and professional photographer Lisa Young |
|
MARCH/APRIL 2009
Azalea, myrtle blossom and yellow jessamine vine, early April, in our yard, a welcome sight:
Friends Harry and Linda visited again from Canada, a warm change from the record snowfall where they live
Raccoon eating happily from the cat food
Two of our "wild" cats have had kittens, they are old enough to explore through the lattice work and are now drinking milk from the dish. Their antics are always entertaining.
They look like whack-a-moles poking their heads out of the lattice work. Total of 6 showing in the last photo
|
| JANUARY 2009 |
|
January 15th
Another wonderful walk on the beach with my Curmudgeon Glenn, one of me at the 2nd Avenue South Pier, and a wicked shell that just MIMICS a shark tooth, cruel:
The bush had the most blooms we have ever seen, though a freeze a week later killed them off, we thoroughly enjoyed them while we could:
One of the first azaleas, a double color:
Life's simplest pleasures, a Rainbow Foam car wash with a cotton candy smell (the color changes as it comes out of the nozzle), it is more than just a car wash to us. A kid's delight, I hope I never grow up:
|
|
A visit to the Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach was a blast, to see the sawfish, moray eels, and the sand tiger sharks:
An orange sea anemone as seen on a mirror, a jellyfish, and a pink anemone (these 3 photos compliments of Carla Ellenbecker):
|
|
Inauguration Day (January 20) we had a freak snowstorm here in South Carolina (first time in 20 years), about an inch accumulated with slushy roads. An inexperienced driver went off the road near our house, hit a telephone pole at 10:15 a.m., causing a complete blackout of electric, T.V. and internet at the same time, while we were watching the pre-Inaugural activity in Washington D.C. leading up to the swearing in of Barack Obama as our new President. What incredibly bad timing! So we hopped in the car and headed down the road to a restaurant with a TV, immediately seeing the flatbed tow truck taking away one of the two cars involved in the crash, and the numerous bucket trucks busily replacing the pole.
A random photo of a housing development on Highway 90 showing some of the snowfall
Here's Glenn at the Fresh Catch Seafood Restaurant, where we ended up watching the inauguration till 12:15 p.m., heading home to find the power on again and watching the rest of the festivities on our familiar large screen TV. A memorable inauguration, but not in the way we planned!
|
|
Lily, daughter of friend and indispensable helper Carla, they made a special visit to our home Jan. 24th at little Lily's request to see us. Her last request before they left was to rock in the big chair in Heidi's office, where I told her that her hair matched that of the fox fur hanging on the back of the chair. The other fur is otter, both furs from Barrow, Alaska from our 3 trips there
|
| DECEMBER 2008 | |||
|
A tree in our front yard has turned a beautiful red, we couldn't resist showing it off. This is our "autumn" in December:
Our
The camellias began blooming around December 20th:
Around Christmas, a flock of seagulls settled on the parking lot at Walmart in Conway
|
|||
|
One of our "stray" cats decided to take a stroll across the storage building roof. A strange sight:
|
|||
|
Beavers gnawed a huge tree next to a creek near our house
And one tree stump gnawed by the beavers looks like an elephant!
|
|||
|
OUR CHRISTMAS '08 PHOTOS
Taken 12/15/08 |
|||
|
Two years in the making, Heidi's arctic purple velvet coat trimmed in Eskimo worked polar bear fur is a real heirloom piece
|
On the front porch of our home
|
In our front yard, inside the circle drive
|
On our tandem bike, a novelty in this neighborhood
|
|
Hand in hand with our pet dinosaurs
|
Our Extinct cave bear that protects our living room, now looming over the Christmas tree
|
Glenn clowning with our largest mako shark jaw
|
Heidi's "work" area, with a big bay window overlooking the side yard where bears and deer frequently feed
|
|
Glenn shaking one of our trees, I rarely see him this cheerful, I had to snap this photo:
|
With our two wolf headdresses from Alaska (black, and blonde), posed like domestic dogs on our living room rug
|
||
|
Two Ugly Face Jugs...with one extra. We sent this as the last photo in our grandkids' photo balls for Christmas. Do you think they will be terrified? Guaranteed. We call this Glenn's Bad Santa Look
|
|||
|
Friends Laura & Bob brought their traditional Lasagna Christmas luncheon for us, along with Christmas cookies. It made us feel like Christmas had really begun.
A pygmy octopus that washed up on the beach, Bob & Laura preserved it in alcohol for their collection.
|
|||
| NOVEMBER 2008 |
|
OBAMA WINS PRESIDENCY
Friends and customers alike sent us Headline newspapers from their state or country (some whole newspapers), with the historic Barack Obama Presidential win. One of our favorites is the headline "The Planet at the "O" Moment" from Romania. We read every one, relishing not only the historicity of it, but also the news and perspectives of the other countries. We thank you one and all for your generosity. These will be cherished mementos of our U.S. history. Below is a picture of most of them.The papers are from:
Rodney Fox, Australia
Theresa, Nova Scotia
Patricia-Singapore
Michael-Romania
Laurence-Luxembourg
Peter-Australia
Gaby-Germany
Harry-Canada
Jyoji-Japan
William-Scotland
Laura-Netherlands
Dann & Cyndi - Nevada
Bedards-Maine
Dale-Florida
and from Us, here in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina And here are photos of the same group, by sections so they are more easily read, if you wish to:
|
|
Thanksgiving Day, Casino Boat
North Myrtle Beach, SC We enjoyed a sumptuous Thanksgiving buffet aboard the Big "M" Casino boat, the weather was in the high 60's, a perfect day in South Carolina. The boat trailing us is a much smaller casino boat.
Glenn's last shot was of a seagull as we were docking, with the rosy glow of a beautiful sunset coloring the photo and the seagull on the piling. A fitting ending to a nice day, though we went on to have dinner at a great Mongolian Grill called Empire Fire north of Barefoot Landing shops.
|
|
My Drusy Quartz Pendant collection
An email friend asked about a pendant she saw me wearing in a family photo, so I photographed the iridized drusy quartz pendants I have in my personal collection. Though we choose not to handle these on a retail basis, I have posted them here for you to enjoy. The other stones in the pendants are: Fossil Ammonite (the circular shell), spotted Ocean Jasper, Opaque blue Larimer, and blue topaz. |
|
OCTOBER 2008
Our most recent painting, acquired for Heidi's birthday, from artist Sandra Ragan who did our other sunset paintings. Sandra named this one "Heaven's Autumn". What a breath of fresh air, I can feel the soft grass on my back as I look up at the trees and hear the wind.
|
|
Our "stray" contented mother cat nursing her gold kitten, this kitten has actually survived till January, so far, thankfully.
|
|
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2008
A MUSHROOM BIRDBATH! Okay, it's for a really tiny hummingbird or munchkin bird, but that's what it looks like!
Baby spiders, just hatched, in between our front porch steps:
|
|
Our favorite visitor, Mr. young Bear, laying on the hill between our yard and the Conservation forest:
|
|
Our gorgeous hibiscus continue to bloom
|
|
Yellow garden spider at its most glorious, along our driveway
|
|
A Texas Rose (Hibiscus) seeded over near the bear pool, only a foot high, with an 8" bloom. What a pleasant surprise! I pan out so you can see the size compared to the pool and Glenn
|
|
Our neighbor's horse (retired from Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede), knows where the best corn is...in OUR yard
|
|
JULY 2008
Fourth of July, our flag is waving proudly
Every afternoon we have a big thunderstorm, here is the view off the back porch of the cameo building and the dinosaurs in the back yard through the torrential rain pouring out of the eave troughs
One of our wild kitties, enjoying the coolness of the swing
Our fat, well fed raccoon family eating the cat food under the umbrella that keeps it dry. Glenn took these photos from his office window with the zoom lens
|
|
MAY/JUNE 2008
We have known of a mother black bear and 3 cubs that have been visiting our side yard every night. Now they are visiting the yard during the day!
The young male (we think it's a male because he's bigger than the other 2 cubs and usually feeds separately. Here he is standing guard at the crossover path at the ditch:
It looks like the bear is smelling the flower, when in reality the hibiscus bush is considerably closer to the camera:
And taking baths in the bear pool...together! One cub entered the pool, then mama, then another cub..I don't know why the side of the pool (which is a boy's plastic car bed) didn't split. We'll have to write the manufacturer and tell them how sturdy it is!
Then exploring a short ways beyond the hibiscus bush "barrier" before realizing they were "out of bounds"..
Here is Mama bear that came alone this morning. She has apparently broken her left front ankle which has a large lump on it (or a snake bite), we have noticed since she began coming, as she limps but can put weight on it. We hope it heals without an infection, we will continue to worry.
|
|
A rare sighting for South Carolina! A wood stork (Mycteria americana), usually found only in Georgia and Florida, wingspan up to 5 feet across, striking black & white wing markings, has been visiting the pond down our road. What a treat!
|
|
A small type of wren is building a nest in our barn birdfeeder!
|
|
This year's flowers are flourishing, thanks to Glenn's generous fertilizing with Miracle-Gro. Japonica camellia, wildflowers, yellow calla lily, rose:
Day lilies that grew like weeds, 5 feet tall!
Hibiscus:
One of the flourishing flower beds:
Mimosa blooms, resembling an exotic Fourth of July fireworks, from a tree down the road:
June 23, 2008 The Texas Rose (a species of Hibiscus) began blooming yesterday. The blooms are as big as dinner plates. We have been awaiting their arrival. Many more to come, the stems are over 5 feet tall with a dozens of blooms on each of the five stalks. A testament to Miracle-Gro, I'm sure, and Glenn's loving hands:
|
|
Mama cat deposited one tiger striped kitty on our porch carpet with a clear message - help! She apparently didn't have enough milk for her whole litter this time. This is our "stray cat"...one of them. So we fed the little female with kitty formula first with a bottle, a large spoon, then a saucer. We discovered that baby kitties don't immediately figure out the right angle to lap milk, they tend to inhale milk from a bowl while trying to drink. So now we know why a kitty will step INTO a plate to drink from the far edge of the milk, so its nose is out of the milk. We also treated the baby's eyes, she has steadily improved and can hardly be called one of our pampered "stray" cats anymore, as she romps up to the porch as soon as she sees us step out in the morning. Notice the evolution of progress:
Here's my tough big guy:
Little Miss Bitty Kitty checking out the sprinkler head:
Mama boots, with her litter and a couple of her mother's (Big Mama's) litter. Boots' litter is 2 weeks older than Big Mama's litter:
Big Mama lapping milk with the kitties:
Big Mama, acting lovey, and another female we call Mrs. Black who did not bear a litter this year, thank goodness!
Update 6/14/08 This kitty has now disappeared, the casualty of one of the many predators in these woods. We are glad we had some time to help a young creature, however long her life. Fat & sassy raccoons (there are 5 or 6) share the space under the storage building, and the cat food amicably with the cats. The umbrella keeps the food dry..another pampering by Glenn:
|
|
June 18, 2008
Friends Frank, Cathy, their kids Josh, Noah and baby Danielle during their annual visit, posed under Mr. Cave Bear, and photos from the Fresh Catch Seafood Restaurant down the road
|
|
APRIL 2008
Beautiful hibiscus blooms at the new Market Commons (the old Air force base area of Myrtle Beach)
And our own azaleas blooming:
then they explode into real bloom!
and our early wildflowers:
Candy striped amaryllis:
More roses, more vivid each year it seems:
|
|
Good friends Harry, Linda and Zack & Zack's mom from Canada visited us this year. Young Zack enjoyed the wolf skin headdress, and our Mr. Cave Bear:
|
|
Long-time friend Hal Kaiser (moving to New York, photo May 29) poses with Mr. Cave Bear for one last time:
|
|
We woke up one morning, and looked out to see that the dew had fallen and highlighted the many spider webs in the yard, and in the ditch and the grass beyond the ditch. What a phenomenon to view!
|
|
MARCH 2008
The hyacinths, azaleas, irises and crocuses have been out for a couple of weeks already, here in South Carolina, here's one of our hyacinths..
|
|
January 1, 2008 Open letter from Glenn: It is with a very distinct amount of pleasure that I make my following intentions known to our loyal customers, friends and fellow business associates. I have reached a point in my life where I have had the pleasure of building a very successful business. My ever-growing curiosity over the past 38 years has led me to the far reaches of the earth, pursuing my dream of finding the strangest, most bizarre oddities that you see on our website. These past 11 years, Heidi has been involved in my business. Early on, our businesses were combined, creating another whole dimension encompassing many beautiful categories of things we have found from new travels together. So I have decided it's time to hand over the reins of this partnership to my lovely and capable wife Heidi, making her the sole proprietor of Where on Earth effective January 2008. I will continue to support Heidi, but in a much different role. This change in management will allow me more time to pursue other creative choices. Working on gator skulls and cameos and restoring our cave bear skeleton is like putting together model planes and cars that I never got to play with as a kid, now I can do so with even less distractions...
One weekend's work with cameos & eyeglass loops: I hope you will join me in further support and interest in Where on Earth as we continue our travels to find the unusual, as well as educational endeavors. As a sign of her mutual interest, she has taken a quantum leap in the new direction of the future of Where on Earth. Heidi has made her first sole selection, a large addition to our outstanding collection. It is with admiration and love that I share with you and showcase - Direct from Romania - The Romanian Cave Bear Collection (link below)
|
| OCTOBER 2007 |
|
As our neighbor Craig was going to be in Charlotte NC for a day with his wife, Glenn asked him to bring an armload of fresh flowers from the famous Farmer's Market near the airport for Heidi's birthday. What a plethora of blooms to receive in a single day!
A baby named CHERISH A tiny resin baby by Camille Allen that my Glenn purchased for my 53rd birthday. This is the 3rd baby Glenn has purchased for me from her collection (the other 2 can be viewed on About Us page 2, Sept of '05 section). It does describe his attitude towards me. What a treasure Glenn is.
|
|
Mom cat with her 4 babies, playing around the storage building, at least two of them are gone now including the gold kitty
Even she can only take so much, she finally leaves, and they are puzzled
|
| AUGUST 2007 |
|
The strangest, largest grasshopper we've ever seen (at least 3" long, yikes!), on a leaf near our back porch:
Anyone have more information on this creature? Thanks to Theresa in Nova Scotia, she identified this as an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper. Thanks! |
|
Yellow mushrooms sprouted overnight:
and a lovely white wildflower sprouted nearby:
Glenn came home with a 50 pound watermelon. It took the two of us a week to eat, but eat it we did!
|
