Dodger

Rick and I went for a short walk this morning (before football started) while we were out we found Dodger - a cat we've met before. He talks a lot and lies in the middle of the trail so you have to stop and pet him.

Pretty Monarch

This is Dodger. He loves people.

Dodger talking to Rick

Family of Mallards! Rick and I have been watching these guys all summer. 

Cy-Hawk Day

Today in Ames marks our annual grudge match with the University of Iowa. The Iowa State Cyclones squared off against the Iowa Hawkeyes for the Cy-Hawk trophy at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames this afternoon. 

Rick and I decided that our meager funds were better spent on rent and food than on football tickets, so we didn't buy season tickets this year. The Iowa/ISU game is the one game you can never find a scalped ticket for, so we didn't bother trying. Instead, we're watching the game at home over hot plates of grilled brats and garlic-green-beans! 

We did make a trip into campus though, Rick needed to print a few things and I'm always up to take pictures!

Male Downy woodpecker - he was very busy excavating this hole on central campus and completely ignored Rick and I while he threw his sawdust at us. 

A rose near the library

A chipping sparrow near Lake LaVerne

The "wildlife" on campus is SO USED to foot traffic that they're all completely desensitized to people. This squirrel let me walk to about 4 feet from her and sit down while she dug around looking for a place to hide this acorn.

I got the feeling this squirrel didn't want Rick and I to know where she was going to hide her acorn.

A pretty Sulpher butterfly near Catt Hall

 After our walk around campus, Rick and I headed over to Ada Hayden. We took the prairie loop around the lake so our total milage was about 5.4miles.  There's a pretty good sized patch of thistle near one of the smaller lakes behind a housing development and the place was buzzing with these amazing
Hummingbird Moths!

I was playing with my shutter speed while I took these, hummingbird moths beat their wings the way actual hummingbirds do, so I really had to crank up the shutter to freeze the wings so you could see the colors!

These bugs are HUGE, they're the size of small hummingbirds!

Here I stopped adjusting and just turned my shutter speed all the way up so I could completely freeze the movement of their wings. These guys never seem to land!

While this isn't, in my opinion, one of my better pictures, I love being able to compare the size of the
Hummingbird Moth to that Honey Bee!

A Red Admiral blends in with some dry grass

The butterflies at Ada Hayden today gave Rick and I some practice in telling a Monarch from a Mimic

The black stripe running down the lower wing of this butterfly gives this guy away as the monarch mimic: Viceroy. This is one of the most colorful viceroy's I've ever seen. Normally they're a pretty solid orange without so many red and yellow tones.

This is a true Monarch - notice the lack of strip on it's lower wing

Erin's New Job!

Flyers via Main Street Cultural District

I interviewed Thursday morning at 11:30 at Chocolaterie Stam, first with the managers for about 30 minutes, then with the owner for about 40 and then I went back to class. Terry, the owner, called me around 2 (I was in class) to offer me a position with the shop and when I called him between classes he asked if I'd be willing to come in to help out with an event that evening. So after my last class I started my first shift. 

Ames has a pretty cool downtown, and they like to do community events. 

Thursday's event was the music walk! 

Several of the downtown shops had local artists in to play throughout evening. 

Stam hosted Lois Miller (pianist) - there's a big beautiful baby grand in the shop! And then Cecil's Harp (they played country Irish dance music)  It was amazing! 

I have not yet memorized the inventory, although I was invited to try a chocolate, and can now give my personal recommendation on the Butterscotch Bonbons.  

On top of tons of awesome chocolates, they have italian gelato in I'm-not-sure-how-many flavors (but it's a lot) and it's made in house, which is kinda cool. I'll get to learn to make gelato:) They also have a full service coffee bar (so I'll be learning to be a barista) and they sell wine (by the bottle) from, I think 5, different vineyards in Iowa. 

And free Wi-fi - cause that's important. 

Everyone I work with is SUPER nice, and the owner was really accommodating when it came to working around my classes. And the shop's normal hours are 

M-W 8:30 - 7

Th-Sa 8:30 - 8

Sun 1-5

So I'll never have any super late nights, which is nice when I've got to get up for class the next morning. 

I'm super excited about having a job! Rick's homework takes WAY LONGER than mine, so most nights I just sit around looking for something to do while he's in at the library.  Rick is excited to have a "sugar momma" again. By "sugar momma" he means "Yay! We don't have to take out student loans for groceries!"

 I'm already on the schedule for next week and looking forward to it!
 

Fantasy Football

For the 3+ years Rick and I have been together I've been asking to play in the Fantasy Football league with him and his friends.

They never let me.

They've been using the same excuse too, "It's already full, we don't have a spot for you."

But this year

THE BOYS LET ME PLAY!!

Our league, put together by Alex is called "The League of Extraordinary Genitals" and is rife with ridiculous word play. There are twelve people/owners(?) in the league.

Rick - A Farewell to Stiff Arms (his "team logo" is a picture of Hemmingway)
Alex - Xmus Jaxon Flaxon Waxon
Matt - Electric Dream Machine
Andrew- Beezer Twelve Washingbeard
Tyler- Archie's Oopsies
Grant- Last Place Legends
"Martini" (I don't know his real name) - Potato Chip Kelly
and then I think the rest are med-school friends of Alex's because Rick and I don't know them
Dan - Team Clifton
Ryan - Elway or the Highway
Justin - Rudock's Rampage
Collin - John Lynching

and Me - Operation Windmills
my logo looks like this

photo from: http://www.empowernetwork.com/nnextlevel/files/2012/10/pinwheel.jpg

Rick helped me with the Fantasy Draft, so "my team" is pretty much picked by Rick. Which is great because it means I can take credit for all good things my team does this season, and blame Rick for any lame performances.

Not only did Rick and I go head to head in our fantasy league this week, but My 49ers played his Packers. Our bet was the loser of that game had to cook dinner.

It was a high-stakes day to kick off the first Sunday of Football Season in our apartment.

San Francisco won 34-28!
Rick got to cook supper :)

The scores for our fantasy match-ups for Week 1 went as follows

Alex - 115
Ryan - 104

Justin - 98
Collin - 141

Tyler - 141
Matt - 122

Martini - 74
Dan - 113

Andrew - 133
Grant - 75

Rick - 83
Me - 122


It was a lot of fun!

Fall Decorating!

School's back in session and with the start of September I got to change all our summer decorations to the fall ones!

The wreath on the door went from something very similar to this (forgot to take my own picture!) but instead of using a pre-made wreath like the one on Camilla Fabri's blog, I made mine by stabbing cocktail umbrellas into pipe insulation (cause it's WAY CHEAPER than an actual wreath, and for any DIY decorators, you get enough insulation to make 2 wreaths!)

Now my door looks like this

The wreath is one I decorated myself, the owl was a gift from Rick's mom. He's so cute!

I also, sadly, had to change out the petunias, which were gorgeous all summer, but were quickly turning brown from the bottom up, and planted Mums in their place so our porch wouldn't look so dead.

Our porch from the sidewalk. We've got the prettiest porch on our building by far! No one else around here decorates! We've got a Nyjer feeder, a Sunflower feeder, a Hummingbird feeder and the green bowl on the railing is a heated bird bath (right now it's not plugged in). 

mum #1

mum #2

mum #3 (and the mini hummingbird feeder)

And the table centerpiece got changed from the beach memory jars to a pumpkin jar!

 

 And my pretty leaf candy dishes (from the dollar section at Target!) get to make a re-appearance!

Hummingbird

This is one of our little female Ruby-throated hummingbirds at the "big" feeder. These pictures, unfortunately, are taken through the screen door, which I try to keep clean, but it still robs me of detail. I'd leave it open, but the birds seem to be able to tell and won't come to the porch.

Barn Swallows

Rick and I took our day off for Labor Day to go out and do some hiking!

Monarch 

Barn Swallows

Barn Swallow

Barn Swallow