☼ Back to Nature ☼

The baby bluebirds have finally developed a few pin feathers. Aren't they adorable! Mom and Dad keep a close watch on them.

A fellow co-worker who's also a schoolbus driver, noticed a nest with one blue egg in it the other day, in of all places.. behind the stop sign on her bus! She discarded the nest a few times before the birds finally laid an egg in it, now she has no clue what to do with it. There are now 4 eggs. Once they hatch the babies will have no chance riding along a bus at 50 mph. She's afraid to move the nest now for fear the parents will neglect it. She doesn't keep her bus at home (it's parked on the school parking lot) so she can't set something up beside where the bus sets for the nest either. Anyone have any ideas? If my babies weren't hatched already I'd drop them in our nest to be fostered by our parents.

While I was out shooting ladybugs in the backyard yesterday I ran upon this all curled up and basking in the sun. me and my bare feet quickly high-tailed it out of there! I had no idea what kind of snake he was so I Googled.. he's a Speckled Kingsnake. (non-venonmous) I went back 20 minutes later and he was gone. Good thing! ha The bad thing is he was in the same area where a little brown rabbit has been coming in and out of every morning and evening to graze.

Another random blog from me today.. not a whole heck of a lot going on in these parts. The kids and I are steadily counting down the days until the last day of school. Every day it gets a little more hectic I think. The kids are getting wilder, the cafeteria gets louder. Today I had some *mama-drama* which is always fun. NOT! That's the only bad part about my job. I have to deal with the occasional parent who either thinks their child has never told a lie or thinks they're poop don't stink. You know the kind I'm sure. lol

Jamie is back to work but his shoulder still bothers him. The Dr told him he had "slight rotator cuff damage" and "bone spurs on the collarbone". He could either just live with it or seek other treatment.. meaning surgery. Something which he doesn't want to do but will if it comes down to it. He has another appt. Thursday so see if there are any other options they haven't tried.

We're also worried about Jamie's mother. She has had 2 "small heart attacks" in the last 2 weeks. She had a heart cath. done 2 weeks ago with after the first one and is in the hospital again now getting ready to have another heart cath done after rushing herself to the ER last night, throwing up and in pain. She's had serious heart trouble all her life but the few years have really gotten worse. I've lost count on how many heart caths she had total now. And she's had stints put in twice. Keep her in your prayers if you can.

Kasey is getting ready for soccer tryouts next Monday. She's finished with the play for Drama Club for now and can concentrate on toning up for soccer season. She's gained a bit of weight over the last year. I hope she can lose it once soccer starts back up.

The critters are all doing fine, except for the fish. The new batch of fish I got for the pond 3 weeks ago managed to get ICK! We lost one fish within 2 weeks. The others are hanging in there. Hopefully the treatment Mr Jim gave me will clear it up. He replaced my fish and felt bad that they were sick. Sometimes things just happen though. Today I noticed a tadpole belly-up in the pond. He had already acquired his legs and making the move into frogdom. He has 1000 brothers and sisters ready to take his place though. Did I mention I had to take out 100's of tadpoles from the pond and put them in a holding tank? (the new pond I have yet to get set up good) Their numbers were just out of hand and they had to go somewhere. lol

I guess that's it from me.. have a great week everyone. :)

Sadie

"Live, Love, Roll"

I would like to wish all the Mother's out there a very Happy Mother's Day today. God Bless you all for what you do.

I visited my own mother today. Every year for the past ..oh 6-7 years, I have given my mother a Hosta plant for Mother's Day. My mother's yard is very bare, she never bothered with flowers when she was younger and now that she's older she just can't. She has some nice bushes and trees that are older than I am though. I thought some Hostas would liven up her yard in the front. They've done really well and she has every variation I can think of now but this year I wanted to do something different so instead of planting her another Hosta, I went with a Daylily. A "Wineberry Candy" variation that already had some buds on it. I think new traditions are sometimes needed and Mom will love seeing her new lily bloom by her backdoor.

This is what it should look like.

Pretty eh?

Notice how he looks startled with about 3 seconds left on the video. Sadie was rustling in the bushes behind him. lol

A Very Happy Mother's Day to everyone this weekend. Be nice to your Mothers and tell her just how much you appreciate her.

Today was a day of many "firsts" for me. I saw my first Chickadee at the feeder this morning before heading off to work and I saw my first Indigo Bunting at the other feeder late this evening. I wish I could say I got *the money shot* for both these occasions but unfortunately I did not. Still.. I am tickled pink to see both these birds come to the yard. You know it's been a good day when you run outside with the camera in the middle of cooking supper to see an Indigo at the feeder, a hummingbird whizzes by your head for a late evening sip and a rabbit sneaks out of the brush to come out and graze on your newly mowed lawn. lol I had to make myself come back inside the house.

Chickadee

The baby blues have hatched!

Yesterday we spent the day near Kentucky Lake as a family. We did something we'd never done before.. take a ferry boat ride. In all our years visiting the lake, I never even knew a ferry existed for the lake until yesterday. Our family has made many trips to the lake over the years (mostly the Tennessee side near Paris, Tn) for family reunions. It's always been a favorite place to swim and picnic and (when I was a teenager), tube. I'll never forget my brother and his wife taking me and Jamie on our first "tubing adventure" on his boat when we first got married. lol

On this trip we wanted to see a few places we hadn't seen before. We visited Fort Donelson Battlefield in Dover, Tn. and then drove to Puryear, Tn. to meet Kris' girlfriend for the first time. Our first stop.. the ferry boat in Danville, Tn.

It was a nice peaceful 10-15 minute ride to the other side of the lake with some very interesting views.

The old Danville bridge looked ominous jutting out from the other side of the lake.

Eagles were nesting at Fort Donelson and they had their share of photos taken by the many photographers perched alongside the roadway.

The battery of canons perched atop the bluffs of the Cumberland River.

Fort Donelson National Cemetery

The "Eiffel Tower" in Memorial Park..after all we were in Paris. (Tn) lol

To view the entire album click here. (just too many pictures to post here!)

Click here to learn more about Fort Donelson.

Click here to learn more about Kentucky Lake.

Boy did it turn out cool today! The sun was shining most of the day but there was a definite chill in the air. No shorts today! I even grabbed a jacket when we went out to the river for a bit. I wanted to check out White's Lake Refuge but once again.. it was too wet. The trail to the boardwalk and tower weren't even passable. We walked a little ways down the access road to see what we could find.

Raccoon Tracks

Solitary Sandpiper

Little Blue Heron

And of course we couldn't go to the river and NOT take a few pictures of the mighty Mississippi.

"We call upon the waters that rim the earth, horizon to horizon,
that flow in our rivers and streams, that fall upon our gardens
and fields, and we ask that they:
Teach us, and show us the way."
American Indian, Chinook Blessing Litany, Earth Prayers from Around the World, 1991