Delayed Graduation Photo

We finally got the picture of Walter from graduation. Since the photographer's cameras messed up this is the best that we've got.

It looks like the snake eggs aren't going to produce any young. They apparently are infertile. However, it was a fantastic experience just getting to observe.

Hey everybody. Dad said that she's a Janice instead of a Jake.

Green Snake Troubles....

Jake, who has been concealing her identiy, surprized us this evening by laying 6 eggs in the corner of her cage. I guess we need to rename her....

Now for a bit of information on green snakes. Smooth Green snakes are the only snakes in eastern North America that are entirely bright green on their upper surfaces. This coloration camouflages them well in their grassy habitats. The head is slightly wider than the neck and is green above and white below. The belly is white to pale yellow. Occasionally Smooth Green snakes can be brown or tan in coloration. The scales are smooth and total body length ranges from 30 to 66 cm. Males are usually smaller than females, but have longer tails. Newly hatched Smooth Green snakes measure 8.3 to 16.5 cm in length and tend to be less brightly colored than adults, often olive-green or bluish-gray. Smooth Green snakes are harmless snakes, they are not venomous.

Smooth Green snakes mate in the spring and late summer. Females lay from 3 to 13 cylindrical eggs in shallow burrows, in rotting vegetation, or under logs or rocks. Females may share nest sites, each depositing their eggs into a single nest. Eggs are laid from June to September and the eggs hatch in August or September. Time to hatching varies quite a bit, from 4 to 30 days. This is partly a result of their ability to retain the eggs and incubate them in their body. Keeping the eggs inside the female would be beneficial to speed development because females can bask and maintain the warmth of their eggs if they are retained in her body. Young Smooth Green snakes mature in their second year.

College Classes

Walter got signed up today for his first college class. He will be taking English111. Yuck

The Families

The Smith & Magnin's

Family Group Shots

Dean & Danielle

Sean & Danielle

Danielle with Mom & Dad

Ben with his parents

Ben & Danielle with his parents.

The Ceremony

Exchanging Vows

You may kiss the bride.

Pastor Eaves presents them with their Marriage Certificate.

Before the Wedding

Danielle poses for a few shots.


Danielle

Early Evening Snapshots

Walter in one of his rare smiling moments.

Dancing in the street. I'm not sure what they put into the pizza, but it sure put Walt's feet to hopping.

Danielle looking radiant.

Sean racing up the street towards home.

Country Fest

Danielle & Ben headed out this morning to Country Fest - they gave it up around 1:00p, due to the extreme heat. Maybe next year the weather will cooperate. As an alternative they were able to go out to see a movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Late Night

Sean, Walter and I went out for a late night adventure to the Barnes & Noble to pick up our copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was an interesting time. Everyone in line seemed to be excited and generally nice to one another. But...there were several interesting individuals "stalking" the parking lot. They were have light saber battles, dressed in Star Wars clothing, and to top it off they were even filming themselves. Sorry to tell them they were in the wrong attire for the evenings event.

At midnight the first copy of book 6 was sold and thus began the wait for our copy. It took about 45 minutes to make it to the register, but then it was on a matter of seconds before we were making out way out of the door. We made it home by 1:00a.m. In time to finally hit the hay. It had been a long day.

Museum Visit

As we started out for our afternoon visit to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Sean is not in a very enthusiastic. He'd been up laaaatttteee on Thursday night.

Interior of the Church of St Laurens, Rotterdam, painted by Anthonie De Lorme ca. 1657.

This is a close up of one of the dogs in the church. It is strange to see a dog inside of the church and in such a pose. If you look in the photo above the dog is in the lower left-hand corner.

This is a close up of the stairs in The Finding of the Laocoon, 1773 by Hubert Robert. It was extremely interesting to note that the individual stairs are visible through the clothing of the people on the staircase.

Visit From Santa

Santa was out visited in the neighborhood this afternoon. The kids enjoyed visiting with him.

Shopping

Danielle & I went shopping this afternoon. She got some really cute clothes and a few accesssories. I picked up a few shirts for Dean & Walter; and a few things for myself.

Dean took Sean out shopping and they found him several summer outfits.

The crowd is looking good.

Walter's 18th Birthday

We celebrated Mr. Walter's 18th Birthday this evening. We had a special dinner, followed by pound cake for dessert. Walter opened up his gifts afterwards.

A truly humorous birthday card from Granny.

Walter shows off his new shirt from Danielle. She says it is something that he would probably say.

Painting

I finished the mural today. Thanks! Sean for going with me and behaving so well. Sorry Danielle about the cat. I'm glad that Mamaw was able to help us out with getting you out of there.

Fireworks!

Nice! Show.

Watching the Sunset

Waiting for sunset.

Almost there.

Waiting for the Fireworks

Walter enjoying some tunes.

Dean & Sean cutting up while they wait for the fireworks to begin.

Ben & Danielle set up to watch the fireworks.

Dean relaxing beside the reservoir.

Jake

Sean found a really interesting present in Jake's cage this afternoon. It seems that Jake took the opportunity today to shed his skin. It is awesome to look at - it appears to be so much larger than Jake does.

Mom's Painting

Work on the Journey to Woodpecker had progressed nicely. Only one more day to complete the project.

Painting

Three days down, possibly on two more to go on the Journey to Woodpecker mural. It has begun to take on a life of its own. Sean will probably be going back with me on Monday to do some more fishing.

Sitting

Miss Danielle is spending the night at the Uncle's house tonight so that she can watch the cousins tomorrow while Aunt & Uncle are out fishing.

Seems like everyone is getting in a little fishing here during this first of July.

Fishing

Sean had a fishing expedition today while I worked on the mural at the Dillon's home. He did a fantastic job. He caught some really big ones - although he had to turn loose the "really big one", because we forgot a bucket. But he was able to catch some others a bit later (Mrs. Dillon had a bucket he could use).

He spent some time also out reading, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He's already in chapter 4.

It was a big day. He's even said that he wants to go with me again tomorrow.