Mar 23, 2010 | Wildlife |
Today was an active day for the birds – finally a nice spring day and I was able to get some pictures to share.
First the Bluebirds were busy working on a nest – it looks like they have decided on House #2 which is the same house they used last year. They made a good start on the nest today – actually Mrs. Bluebird did a lot of work on the nest today – she does most of the nest building. Here are some pictures from today.
Mr. Bluebird sitting on the fountain
Mrs. Bluebird gathering pine straw
Mrs. Bluebird getting the straw into the house - this piece got stuck so she came back out and then turned around and went back in with it.
Mr. & Mrs. Bluebird
Then later this afternoon I saw something large fly across the yard and land in a tree. It took me a minute to find what it was because he was hidden behind the leaves. Luckily it was busy so it gave me time to get my camera and try getting pictures from a few different vantage points. I tried from the kitchen window but the leaves were in the way, I tried from Tyler’s bedroom window – still no good, I tried from the driveway outside – still couldn’t get a good shot. He was really busy. I finally went out on the back porch (I was trying not to make any noise so I could get a picture) but Aspen snuck out with me and started barking which interuppted my busy visitor. I did get one really good picture when he stopped to listen to Aspen and then a picture of him flying off (its not that good but you can see him). What was it and what was he doing?
It was a Cooper’s Hawk and he caught something – possibly a bird that was under or on the feeder – and he was eating it – that’s why I had so much time to try to get a good picture until Aspen started barking. He did take it with him when he flew off. In the picture look on the branch in between his feet and then look at his feet where he is flying off. I can’t tell what it was – I have a feeling it was another bird.
Cooper's Hawk with his prey
Cooper's Hawk flying away
I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Mar 16, 2010 | Wildlife |
On the back of our house we have a screened in porch. We also have two dogs and no doggy door so the door to the screened porch stays open. As a result I get the occasional bird (and occasionally other animals) stuck inside my screened porch. They seem to get in and then can’t seem to find their way back out. So this weekend I found this couple in my screened porch.
This is a House Finch – the female is on the left and the male is on the right. He has the red color on him and she is plain brown. First I took their picture then I headed out to help them find their way out. The male got out fairly quickly but the female took a while longer. The male did not leave her – he sat in a nearby tree and waited. So when she finally flew out she went right to him. And boy did they have a loud conversation.
I figured it was one of two different conversations – “What were you thinking going in there….are you crazy….that was the dumbest thing you have ever had us do….” or “Oh honey, I am so glad to see you….I’m so glad you are safe….I love you…..” Who knows but they eventually quieted back down and finally flew off.
And here is another picture I thought I would share just because it is funny. A Chipmunk sat up on the edge of the wall near the bird feeders and just as I took his picture he jumped – so I got him “flying” -all 4 feet are off the ground.
I hope you enjoy the pictures – I’ll be back later with a stamping project.
Mar 10, 2010 | Big Shot, family, Rock 'n Roll, Wildlife |
I would have thought in March it would be easy to find green candy – especially jelly beans since Easter is coming soon. But no – it took some searching. I guess I should have bought some of those green M&Ms they had at Valentine’s Day (not sure what those were about) but I wasn’t thinking about St. Patrick’s Day then. I’ll have to remember that for next year. So I finally found Key Lime Jelly Beans – there are green and white ones in the bags.
Here are the little treats I made – this idea came from Julie Grenier. Aren’t they the cutest? I made some Easter ones (and will be making lots more before Easter), but yesterday I made some for St. Patrick’s Day. These are for my friends tonight that I’ll see at our St. Patrick’s Day themed Pokeeno night.
This project fits the Paper Pals challenge this week (at least I think it does) – it is a color challenge – to use Green – the color combo there is Garden Green, Certainly Celery and Kraft. Mine is similar – I used Garden Green, Green Galore and Whisper White.
The little shamrocks are stamped with the Rock ‘n Roll technique – I inked it with Green Galore and then rolled the edges in Garden Green before stamping. That gives it some variation in color which I like.
Stampin’ Up! Supplies are:
- Garden Green card stock, ink and marker
- Green Galore card stock and ink
- Whisper White card stock
- Holiday Blitz stamp set
- Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set
- Scallop Circle Punch
- 1-1/4″ Circle Punch
- 1″ Circle Punch
- white gel pen
- Modern Label punch
- Big Shot die cut machine
- Movers & Shapers Die and modern label shape die
- 1/16″ punch
- Stampin’ Dimensionals
- Apple Green grosgrain ribbon (retired)
Non-SU supplies are the 1×8 clear bags, white crochet thread, and jelly beans.
I just wanted to give you a few other updates – one is a bird update – yesterday the Bluebirds started building a nest in House #3. The female was bringing in pinestraw and was working it around inside the house – she only got a little done. Today it is pouring (really pouring) rain so I don’t know if she’ll work on it today. The other two houses in the yard are empty.
Second is a Tyler update – we picked up his tux for the prom yesterday – after we went to get x-rays of his finger. Yep for the first time in forever the boys were outside throwing a football and Tyler jammed his finger. Turns out his pinky finger on his left hand is broken. We have an appointment with an orthopedic hand specialist today. I don’t think it is bad but I guess I’ll know more after the appointment this afternoon. Hopefully he can still play his horn because the band has a concert performance next week.
Thanks for stopping by today! Maybe all this rain will help everything around here turn green – like the grass and the trees…..I’m ready for spring. My daffodils are coming up they should be popping their blooms soon.
Mar 3, 2010 | Cards, Occasion Mini 2010, Sale-A-Bration 2010, Thank You, Wildlife |
This card was created by Wendy Randall for some swaps. I got one at our group meeting in January but I don’t think I ever shared this card here on my blog.
Now that most of our snow is gone from yesterday it is time to focus on Spring – come on Spring – I am ready!!
I love the little bird cage stamp in the Happy Moments stamp set – this is one you can get for Free during Stampin’ Up! Sale-A-Bration.
Wendy created a pole for the bird cage to hang on and the bird is singing “thank you, thank you, thank you”. The pole is two pieces – the curved piece comes from one of the die cut alphabets and then she cut a straight piece the same width. The little piece of ribbon hides the spot where they are joined.
The faux wood background is something Wendy uses a lot – to create this look pull your ink pad across your card stock – this is called the direct-to-paper technique. Then using a Stampin’ Write marker add little nail heads here and there to create the illusion of wood planks.
A cute card!
Here is a quick peek at what the Bluebirds were doing this morning – 
I found Mr. Bluebird inside House #2. I checked later on to see if they had started a nest in there, but not yet. Maybe he was just taking a closer look. This was the house they used last year so maybe it is the one they are leaning towards. Hopefully they will decide soon and start to build. Last year it was around the middle of March.
I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Feb 28, 2010 | family, Wildlife |
I couldn’t decide what title to use for my post today. I finally decided to call it “Birds & Tuxedos” because that was what most of Saturday was about. So this isn’t a stamping related post – I’ll try to add one later today so you might want to check back. But if you want to see some nice photos keep going.
So this little story actually starts late on Friday when I went down to the kitchen and to my big picture window and noticed new mess on my window. I thought “Oh no, the bluebird finally knocked himself out”. Remember me telling you about the bluebird that sits on the fountain and taps my window. So I looked for him on the ground – only it wasn’t the bluebird. It was a Cedar Waxwing and he was lying down on the ground at the base of the fountain.
I went outside to check on him and he was still alive and breathing but not moving around. This was late in the day and the sun was setting and it was getting cold. I called the local bird store and asked my friend that owns it what I should do. She said to watch him for another 30 minutes or so and hopefully he would fly away. Usually they are just stunned and after they recover they are ok.
He finally moved and sat up and turned his head – good I thought – he hadn’t broken his neck.
The Cedar Waxwing normally travel in a flock but there weren’t any others around. About 30 minutes later they came back – maybe it wasn’t the same flock but I’d like to think it was. I hoped maybe since they came back he would try to fly with them. He did try but didn’t go anywhere – he wasn’t going “up” – just across the yard. Eventually I decided I needed to bring him in for the night (that is what Willi told me to do). So I got a shoebox and went outside to get him and bring him in for the night. He spent the night in the shoebox in my laundry room.
So Saturday morning I took him back outside to see if after a night’s rest he could fly. Here he is in the morning when I took the lid off the box. He was walking around. But I could really see where he looks like he injured his shoulder – can you see the feathers on his right side near his head. They are pulled up a bit.
He was able to get out of the box and sit in the yard and fluttered up to the step. I took some more photos of him – he is such a pretty bird. The red tips on his wings are almost fluorescent and really do look like wax. The tips of the tail are yellow. And he has a mask on his face.
He looked so much better in the morning after he rested all night but he still couldn’t fly. I left him out there for about an hour watching to see if he would go, but he only fluttered along the ground a little.
So I put him back in the shoebox and took him to the wildlife vet. The vet examined him and I checked on him later in the day. Apparently the spot on what I thought was his shoulder was actually a puncture wound in his neck. And it was getting infected – they thought it was maybe from a cat. But there were no cats that got near him after I found him and I don’t have any in my yard. So perhaps something got him first and that was why he flew into the window – I don’t really know. Anyway I’m sad to report that they had to euthanize him.
Ryan was with me and told me he wished he hadn’t learned what “euthanize” meant. He just thought it meant they returned them to their “youth”. So I have been sad today, I wish I could have done more and had him survive.
And now for the tuxedo part – that was Saturday afternoon. I took Tyler to get measured for his tuxedo for the Prom! Yes our first Prom is approaching and it is Tyler that is going with his girlfriend. He tried on shoes, jacket, shirt, picked out the tux, the vest, and the rest. So on the path to the prom – the tickets have been purchase, the tux has been rented, next are flowers, pictures plans, dinner plans, and transportation plans. I’m excited that Tyler is going to the prom and that he is going with a girlfriend so he is sure to have a great time. Prom is early – March 13th – and at the FOX Theater in Downtown Atlanta which will be exciting all by itself!
Say a prayer for my bird – may he rest in peace.
Feb 23, 2010 | Big Shot, Designer Series Paper, Occasion Mini 2010, Scrapbook Pages, Upsy Daisy, Wildlife |
She is the shelter from the storm…
As you can tell if you have been reading my blog I spend some of my time observing the birds and animals in nature around me. It is actually very fascinating and you can learn a lot. Last year in May my friend and upline Wendy had a group retreat at her home. It turned out to be a rainy weekend. The back of Wendy’s house faces into the woods and the back porch is high off the ground and I was surprised to see on her porch a nest built on the floor next to the grill. I kept my eye on the nest – it had four beautiful blue eggs and belonged to a Robin.
I had never really thought about it but the mama robin sat in that nest during the rain to protect her eggs. She sat on top and spread her wings to create a shelter from the storm. When the rain stopped she flew away to do what she needed to do. I found it to be quite amazing the protection that she offered those eggs.
Because she was close I was able to get some great pictures of her on the nest and of the eggs. I pulled them out and decided to put them on a scrapbook page.
This is my week 5 page for the 52 weeks of scrapbooking challenge. (I also finished week 6 and I’ll show you that tomorrow).
I used Taken with Teal as my background to match the color of the Robin’s eggs. I added strips of designer paper from the Sweet Pea Designer Series paper pack. I used the Big Shot to create some accent pieces – the scalloped circle, and the flower daisies in the corner.
The new xl Two-Step Bird punch added an accent on my circle and the stems on my flowers. The stamp set I used is Upsy Daisy. And then a piece of black satin ribbon at the top.
The Designer Paper, the bird punch and the satin ribbon are all from the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Mini Catalog. If you haven’t tried out the ribbon you really should – I have used most of what I bought and I’m on my second roll of most of the colors. I hope it is in our next catalog and I wish they would add So Saffron – this week for some reason I have wanted to use So Saffron ribbon more than once.
Sadly, I found out a few weeks later that while the mom did a wonderful job protecting her eggs during the storm she did not make a wise decision on the location of the nest. Because it was on the floor of the deck it was easy for other animals to reach. I hope she tried again in a better location.
I’ll be back tomorrow with my week 6 page.
