Showing posts with label pinecone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pinecone. Show all posts

Friday, May 23, 2008

Pinecone Projects

First let me say, hurray! I'm back! Our little family has been very busy and we've had some computer issues - but now... all is well - and I'm happy to be blogging again.

I've been waiting to post some of our fun pinecone projects we did a few weeks back. My daughter decided she wanted to decorate her "treehouse", aka, the platform attached to the swingset. We got out the paint and had a lovely time being carelessly creative! (And I mean it... I had forgotten how much fun it is to blob paint on wood and let it drip into crazy, swirly designs.)

Since our paint was in
mason jars, we decided to dip pinecones in them to make some bright, colorful "lanterns" to hang from the treehouse rafters. What an immediately rewarding project... dip and done! They were so cute when we clustered them together like "chandeliers"! We used lovely shades of pink, orange and purple. Perfect decor for an afternoon tea.


The next weekend, we decided to embark on the peanut butter-bird feeder pinecone project. We smeared the pinecones with great big blobs of peanut butter and rolled them around in birdseed. Again, another immediately rewarding project... so pretty those little pinecones! We saw a few birds enjoying the seed from the pinecones but the squirrels enjoyed them even more. At one point, I saw a squirrel hanging from the trellis by his back legs and pulling up the rope holding the pinecone - like reeling in a fish!

After the pinecones were hung and the treehouse decorated, we taught our dog a new trick with the milk crate my husband rigged up with a rope. What a good dog!! Such a fast learner!



See more photos of our pinecone and treehouse fun on Sunniviews!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Ode to my dog

What is it about this dog?
Soft kisses with a wet nose,
Gentle licks with a soft tongue.
What is it about his silky warm fur?
Him curled up at the bottom of the bed,
Sweet brown eyes watching me pass by.
I snuggle my face behind his ears
and scratch his head, dear heart.


What is it about his devotion?
This dog that howls in excitement,
When I walk in the house;
Back end wagging so hard,
about to split in half with joy.
What is it about his energy?
This dog that flies so fast after balls,
frisbees, sticks and pinecones.
So smart he rings a bell to go outside,
and closes the door on command.




How can a dog be so cute?
When he cocks his head
on hearing the word "walk",
eyeing me with expectation,
an anticipated pause.
Like holding breath.
How can we not be in love with this dog?



So loyal, so good, this dog
that will follow my daughter
into her bedroom when she's
scared of dark corners.
This dog that brings our family together.
This dog, our beautiful dog, our Dasher.