Slightly Off the Grid

(aka Maywood Living)


Hereford Zone

  • Mouse

    I don’t have a picture to share for this blog,  but you wouldn’t really want one.  Shelley and I are in the kitchen talking over a glass of wine when she suddenly starts shrieking.  “What? What?” “Mouse!  Mouse!  Behind you! Under the stove!  It was a big fat thing!  It kind of looked like Fluffball!”  (For those Continue reading

  • Sleepy bumblebees

    Where do  bumblebees sleep?  This is one of those questions that is very important when you are about age four, but then you put aside for other more important questions like, “Will I ever be able to retire?” or “Will I still have my job next year?”  Currently, in our  back yard, there are several  bumblebees sleeping on the Continue reading

  • ‘Astyanax’ Red-spotted Purple Butterfly

    aka Limenitis arthemis astyanax There are a few types of phone calls that will really get me flying out of school to get home.  One is my mother calling to tell me she’s taking my visiting aunt over to my house to show it to her.  “Do you think we could get in?”  All the way Continue reading

  • Turtles

    In a last gasp of summer, we enjoyed a weekend with Harper and the rest of the gang for crabs on Saturday.  John found a baby box turtle while mowing the back 40, and it almost went home with Harper as another new pet.  He was a cute little guy (we guess it was a guy), probably Continue reading

  • Bee watching

    People who don’t keep bees think this is weird, but one of the relaxing things we do around here at Maywood is  to go down by the bees and just watch them.   It’s a nice spot for sitting, down the hill from the house, tucked back in the woods.  It’s very secluded ( in spite of Continue reading

  • Comfort

    “Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”  So said Robert Frost.  A grandparent’s home, that’s where you go when you don’t want to go home.  A grandparent’s home is where they roll out the red carpet.  If you’re really lucky, your grandparents live next door to your Continue reading

  • Caterpillars on the fennel

    Caterpillars on the fennel

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         What’s scarier than Buggy or the One Red-Eyed Wolf?  Green caterpillars with black and white stripes and orange horns!    Ok, maybe they aren’t so scary. (Well, they are a little scary if you click on the picture and see the eNORmous image of them.)  They are rather amazing.  We found 10 of them on Continue reading