This is the time of year when my wife Lisa really shines. All our birthdays are over the next couple months, and nobody is better at making each birthday special than Lisa. Gifts, decorating, making cakes, making everybody's favorite meals, she does it all. We are very lucky! My son's 14th was yesterday.

Here's my homemade ant-moat, which so far has kept most of the ants off the hummingbird feeder. I say most, because somehow a couple have gotten through, but that's okay.

Unless the "Moses Of The Ants" comes and parts this sea of tap-water, I forsee no further ant problems.

1. Wire from an old clothes hanger

1. Mott's applesauce cup

1. Dab of caulking around hole

And the winner is (dramatic pause...) Lilac!

My daughter carefully considered all the names suggested (thanks!) and did some very scientific experiments which involved calling her to see which one she responded to best. Okay then, Lilac it is!

She's doing great! She's starting to get the idea that she'll get a little chicken-flavored dog treat if she goes to the bathroom outside, instead of on the rug by the stairs, so that's progress.

I am very, very lucky. Many good things have happened in my life, but the best is that I get to share it with the most beautiful, kind, patient and centered person I know. Lisa and I married 15 years ago today, and somehow she is even prettier now than she was back then! Yeah, I got the good end of this deal, I know!

I love people. I guess you could say I'm a "people person." But I really don't want to talk to any people in the bathroom at work. Not about work, not about kids or pets or anything. Here's the maximum length for any work-bathroom conversation, and this is for somebody I know well:

"How you doin?"

"Good."

That's it. I've even found an out-of-the way restroom in another part of the building that I've been using sometimes to avoid the restroom chit-chat. I won't tell you where it is, because then my secret will be out.

On Mothers Day an army of ants launched a full-scale invasion of our hummingbird feeder (shown here in happier days).  What impresses me is they have to scale a 6-foot pole, crawl down a small wire, get the food, then carry it back on what must be a 10-mile trek in ant-world. They are training them well in ant-boot-camp.

I thought that the hummingbirds might actually like it, because they'd get free, unlimited ants with each trip to the feeder. It's like you go to the drive-through for a large Pepsi, and they also give you a free bag of fries.  Not so. It turns out that hummingbirds not only do not like ants (at least not these ants) but they're actually staying away.

We washed off the pole and the feeder, but they came right back. I saw an "ant moat" at the hardware store, but it was 6 bucks, so I didn't buy it. Still working on alternatives. Let me know if you've solved this problem!  Thanks!

Last night was my son's junior high spring orchestra concert. (He plays the cello!) I'm glad we weren't sitting in the row behind us, because a woman next to us held up this giant tablet computer over her head, so she could record the whole thing!!!

I mean this was no little video camera, this was a big, wide moniter, bigger than the tv we had in my house when I was a kid! You could see the ripples going back for rows, as people behind her had to adjust their necks and chairs to see around it. And she left it there the whole concert! My arms would have fallen off!

No one said anything! I guess they could still watch the concert on the screen!

Please tell me this isn't a trend! I thought we only had to worry about sitting behind really tall people or people with really big hair! Now you have to look out for the lady with the Jumbo-Tron?