Owls & other end of May Happenings

Greetings

We had some very windy days with threats of thunderstorms & hail.  We had several hot temperatures during the day then back to freezing temperatures during the night.

This heat was not felt so much due to the wind.

Grandkids

I mailed the Grand's their June care package.  I used the padded flat rate envelope.  You can stuff a lot of goodies in those envelopes.  Oppps!  I forgot to put the June birthday card in, so had to send it separate.  Daughter got Rose's bed.  Rose's eyes have opened & she is walking. 

Puppies are so cute.

Cooking

I cooked BBQ chicken in the crockpot & made a rhubarb crunch.  With this meal I also fixed corn & garbanzo beans.  How do you do your corn?  I mix a can of cream style & a can of whole kernel, drained.  I add pepper to taste, 1/4 to 1/2 stick of butter, then simmer on low.  I do a similar combination with fresh corn too.  My Sister was the one that showed me years ago to cook corn this way.  The canned garbanzo beans were in a spiced sauce of pepper, onions & curry.  We thought the beans would be too spicy for our tender taste buds, but turned out to be a good combo with the corn.

My secret BBQ sauce ingredients.

Rhubarb crunch & ice cream for lunch.

Gardening

Plants have started popping up everywhere...carrots, beans, tators & squash.  Kevin got tomato & pepper plants at the Hardware Store greenhouse.  

Covered the tomato & pepper plants to protect them from 

the hail that we didn't get but then came the freezing 
temperature that got some of these plants.

More fresh picked asparagus for supper.  Kevin don't eat it, 

so this was mine, all mine.

The rhubarb was needing to be cut.  I gathered a mess & made the 
rhubarb crunch. Kevin gathered a mess & shared with his coworkers.  

This plant was given to Kevin by a previous coworker that recently lost 

her battle with cancer.  Lynn, your bounty continues on.

Cleaning

I've been trying to keep up with the daily stuff...meals, washing dishes, making the bed & laundry.  Kevin did the vacuuming.  I've not kept up with my cleaning schedule. I've just not been in the cleaning mood this month.  Extra Covid-19 cleaning everyday at work continues & we've been out doing yard & gardening stuff. 

Kevin built a new flower bed around the base of 
the mailbox.  I planted the flowers & water them 
most every morning.  Sunday mornings is the
 day the flowers get their miracle grow.

Health & Weight Maintenance

Continuing with trying to walk more, be active & outgoing even when tired, watching portion sizes & not snacking after supper.  

Wearing my fishing hat to shade my eyes while walking out at

the lake after work. The sun is low & bright reflecting off the 

lake in the evenings. 

Took a walk up in the gulch after work to see if the Lady 

Slipper was blooming.  It had bloom buds but not 

bloomed out yet. 

Driving to the gulch we saw this fox.

Frugality, Savings & Spending

I hung the laundry to dry on the clothesline downstairs.  I'm catching the warm up water in a pot when washing dishes & use the water to water the container flowers.  I took my lunch, drinks & snacks to work.  I walked to work when working in town.  I spent $234.85 at the grocery store this month.  I stocked up on items for the Grand's visit as items went on sale such as cereal, chips, drinks & ice cream, you know, the "good junk food" that is not normally kept stocked in our pantry & freezer.  I did do several online orders including getting the Grand's plane tickets.  I ordered the dog crate for Rose's bed & ordered a blouse to wear to Daughter's wedding festivities coming up in a couple months.   

We like these pot pies with an egg for breakfast & stock up 

when they go on sale at our grocery store.  Also the pies 
are a good grab & go for my lunch when there's 
not leftovers.  

Social & Community Service Activities

No Lions bingo but it's scheduled to start up again next month.  Kevin & I have been doing a little bird watching, mostly in our back yard.  We got the opportunity to tag along on an owl banding.

Walking up to one of the nest boxes. The adult female Saw-Whet

sticks her head out to see what's going on.

Baby owl getting it's leg banded & documented.

Other Activities

I read a few more chapters in the Little House book I've been reading.  I watched Vudu TV & DVDs in the evenings before falling a sleep.  I've patiently been waiting for Dr Mike to have her baby on Dr Quinn Medicine Women.  We went camping & fishing in the Hills.  The only cost for our mini vacation was the vehicle gas getting us there & back.  We already had all the needed camping & fishing gear & took food we already had.  I froze blocks of ice in bowls for the cooler.  We (meaning Kevin) cooked fresh fish on the tailgate for supper & lunch.  We had several fish to bring home that was put in the freezer. 

Lots of good fishing holes.  The weather was cool with 

occasional drizzling rain. 

The fish were biting good. I caught myself a time or 2.

Kevin does all the camp cooking.  I plan the meals & 

pack the ingredients.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how about you?

Sunday morning more bird watching, walk with me.

All 4 robin eggs hatched.

Then there was a feeding frenzy.

Bird watching & apple pie or is it baseball?  Daughter added in a touch of 
a baseball theme in her upcoming wedding since her future husband is a 
baseball fan & youth coach.  The touches are creative & sporty, just as
she is.  She got her looks from her Moma & her brains from her daddy.
Kevin made this pie & I helped him eat it.

The robins have grackle neighbors. 

  

All 5 eggs hatched best I can tell.

Mother grackle waiting till I leave to bring in the food.  The male  

helps bring in nesting materials then guards the nest while female

 feeds or he pairs up with a second female & leaves the mother

to raise the young alone.

There is a bird up there in that tree just sitting there 

looking at me standing here looking at it.

A flock of finches hung around for a couple days feasting

 on the dandelions.  It seems these birds nest later in the
summer when there is thistle to feed their young.

See those finches down in amongst the grass?  It was kinda
hard to see the birds since they blended in so well 
with the dandelions.

I've seen this feller or gal out & about while I've been

walking & bird watching.

Tree swallows moved into the nest box Kevin recently built & 
put up out at the garden.  One of the swallow's favorite foods 
is supposed to be mosquitos....Yeeepeee!

The male swallow hanging out while the female builds the nest.  It  could take her 
a month but hopefully just 2 or 3 weeks.  Kevin saw her carrying a feather into the 
box.  I saw the birds mating right there on that roost Kevin made.  Egg laying starts
about a week after mating.  The male will help feed the young when they hatch.

Ducks in the wet weather pond also known as a pot hole

in these parts. The water is slowing drying up.

I spotted the lone town turkey up in the field.  There used

to be about 8 of them that roamed the neighborhood.

One of the best parts of bird watching has been watching & waiting 
for the lilac blooms to pop open so I could stop & smell the lilacs.
MMMmmmm, sweet fragrance.

I'll continue watching the birds & let you know how it goes.  Kevin discovered a bird nest & that's what got me started watching these birds. What's out your backdoor & beyond?  Onward to June.

Sunday morning bird watching, walk with me.

    

Kevin discovered this bird nest out in our trees. See the nest there in the
 upper fork of the tree? The nest is about 6 1/2 feet off the ground.

1st there was 2 eggs.  Notice the different materials the nest is
made out of.  Little sticks & course grass.  Mud & thin softer 
looking grass.
 

It's a robin's nest.  I hid quietly behind some of the other trees & 

zoomed in to get this close up.  The bird flies off the 
nest if we go out there anywhere near it.

This area of the yard behind the garage must have the juiciest worms.  
The birds return to this spot time & time again.  One of these looks 
male & the other female, perhaps a mated pair. The male has the

darker & brighter colors.

I use the camera to look inside the nest since it's about a foot taller 
than I am.  I turn the viewing screen down, so I can see.  Can you
see those little blue eggs in there?  Looks like 4 of them.

There is really loud squawking going on when we are out
 in the trees, even if we're not looking in the nest.

Still 4 eggs after several days.

OH!  LOOK!  An egg hatched. I can't tell which end is the head,
can you?

This here is bird watching in it's finest moments.

I did a little reading to find out more about robin nesting.  The female chooses the nest location & builds the nest.  The nest is built within a couple of days & can be anywhere between 5 to 25 feet off the ground.  The bowl of the nest can be compared to the size of a baseball sitting in it.  

The female usually lays between 2 & 4 eggs.  The eggs take about 2 weeks to hatch.  The male & female both take care of the young. The female can raise up to 3 broods a year.  Each time she builds a different nest.  

The baby birds fledge about 2 weeks after they hatch.  They can't fly when they 1st leave the nest.  The young birds bounce around on the ground & onto low branches.  Often the male continues to take care of these young birds while the female gets the next nest ready. 

I looked up a couple words used in the bird nesting process:

• brood - sit on eggs to hatch them.
• fledge - leave the nest.

I'll continue watching the birds & let you know how it goes.  Do you have birds or other animals you're watching in your backyard?  For Memorial Day I express my gratitude of those that gave their life to make our world a better place.

  

Rose & other mid May Happenings

Greetings

My little Rose was born.  She is a Boston Terrier.  Her Moma is black & white.  Her Dad is chocolate.  Looks like she got her Dad's colors.  I didn't realize Bostons come in different colors these days. Daughter was telling me chocolate, silver, lilac & some other colors.  We had a Boston for about 13 years during Daughter's growing up years.  Daughter now has a Boston for the Grands & I get to have their 1st offspring. 

Rose has arrived.

Grandkids

The Grands are going to keep Rose for a few months to enjoy her puppy stage & work on the getting her potty trained part.  I'll get Rose in August when I go for a visit.

New blue dresses.

Cooking

Kevin grilled steaks.  I was going to cook the packs of steaks in the crockpot.  We're not big steak fans, so we really didn't know what the rib steaks were.  I got the beef from a local rancher & had got a couple packs of each of their steaks to try.  I opened the packs & realized the steaks would be better grilled.  We also ate several frozen pizzas for quick fix meals. 

Leftover pizza for lunch while working outside.

Kevin getting steak grilling practice.

Gardening

The garden is all planted, now just waiting for everything to grow.  We ate our last jar of canned tators, so I hope to see tator sprouts coming out of the ground soon.

Look close, onions are coming up.

Cleaning

We worked out in the yard, building bird houses & planting flowers.  Kevin did the bird house building & I planted the flowers.

Started with this.

Ended up with this.

Health & Weight Maintenance

Continuing to try to be more mindful to watch portion sizes & to walk more even if I'm tired.  If I could drop a few pounds, I would have more energy to walk more.

Taking a break from walking to watch these geese swim

across the lake to get away from my stalking them.

Frugality, Savings & Spending

I ordered a dog crate to be sent to Daughter for Rose's bed.  Bought some pretty flowers from the Hardware Store green house.

What to get?

Social & Community Service Activities

We went to Lions Club meeting that begin with a trash pick up along the highway & ended with supper at a local restaurant.  I decorated the windows at work & our tree by the driveway for the graduation parade.  I watched the graduation parade with friends & collected candy to share with the Grands when they visit.

Graduation decoration along the parade route, 

home of one of the graduates.

I found 2 gloves.  One for each hand, though not a matching set.

Other Activities

We rode out to the lake several evenings.  I watched eposides of Medicine Women on dvd & Cybill, Grace Under Fire & Roseanne on Vudu TV.  

Read a chapter after taking a walk while Kevin fished.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how about you?