Jumping!

Our puppy can surely fly!

Pottery!

I took a pottery class this spring, and while I'm certainly no expert, I think I actually made some pretty decent (small) pieces, considering it was my first time!

There are three more in my office (a flower pot and a cup and a worm pinch-pot, don't ask), but here are my favorites...




And one more that I love the shape of but unfortunately the glaze didn't really work (at all).


Yay!!! I like art.

Treat time at the Zoo

This isn't a normal activity here but sometimes it's just funny to tease the animals....
Who said cats and dogs are that different?

North Carolina

I went to Wilmingon, North Carolina for a conference last week. It was a good conference and my talk went pretty well, but the most exciting thing is that spring is in full swing there, and the air smelled like ocean, and it was gorgeous. I miss the ocean.

For those who like pickles, we drove through Mt Olive, the "Pickle Capitol", where there are lots of pictures of pickles.

The boardwalk in Wilmington...

Campus at UNCW...


It finally stopped raining and we got to see this!

Our Dog and Her Sticks

It's no secret to the people on our road that Shasta loves her sticks; there's a steady stream of them left on the roadsides whenever there's no snow and she can grab them. What many people may not realize, though, is that she ONLY grabs the sticks on the way BACK from a walk...I'm not entirely sure how she knows, but pretty much everytime you start heading home from a walk, she grabs a stick and starts tearing it apart. This happens in the summer...

Fortunately, the beatings are only a threat to your ankles or knees...

She also does this in the "spring" when you're 6 miles from home in the snow..

*sigh* That's our girl!

Deer beds

The deer really liked the trails we were on too!

Red Buds!

Spring is in the air!