The Birds of May

I thought I'd share some of the birds I spotted in May! I am always excited in the spring when I spot a Oriole at the feeders. They are so beautiful. 

And how I love these little guys! My neighbor girl calls the Hawkeyes! (After our football team here in Iowa! And their school colors of course are yellow and black!) However, I really didn't get a lot of them this year ...sad..

This was the food those oriole's loved! Breakfast food...ha... oranges and grape jelly!

As I looked out my office window, I spotted this house finch. So pretty!!

And the woodpecker was busy getting the feed off this block of seed. They continued to stay all spring and summer. 

I've had lots of mourning doves and cardinals. These birds both come in pairs. 

And the robin ..it showed up early again this year, so saw it eating the seed we had put out in the pans. I didn't think they ate anything but worms!! Ha! Ha! Silly me.....

This was the only picture (if you can call it that) of the hummimgbird! I only spotted s few this year. But I just love them! So fun to watch as they flutter in and out! What a unique bird. 

Do you bird watch? If so what species do you have?

And now there is "Winter"! Seems the minute I get up to go somewhere, guess who jumps in my chair, and rolls up and goes to sleep. 

This last week has been crazy. Wednesday, I went to our monthly potluck. (That was, as always fun!) Thursday I went to the doctor and got the results of my Dexascan, (uggg) of course as we get older our bones continue to get thinner. So, ended up on another pill. Friday, I had to go to an eye doctor, and had to have an injection in my eye! It was pretty sore that night and again Saturday. So I couldn't do too much using my eyes. Sunday my eye was better and had the joy of having my son, daughter in law and grandson Jesse here for lunch!

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It's always such a blessing to get a big ((hug)) from my grandson.  He lives in Denver, so don't get to see him that often. But absolutely love it when I do.


Pray all is well in your corner of the world. 

Bye for now!

Oriole's and Turkeys

A few days ago, we put out some "grape" jelly and look what came to the feeder!! An Oriole!! I am so excited, as is everyone who comes to visit my window or who check out my Facebook page! Their like, how do you get them?? What kind of feed do you put out?? And I say..."grape jelly" or oranges!! ha! ha! They are coming in droves now!! I will show you more tomorrow!

I took these photos back on April 7th! As you can see we still had snow...which was not the end of it, I'm sorry to say. But anyway, I just loved having this Tom (turkey) prancing around the yard.  I think he was trying to get the attention of the female that was close to him..ha!ha!

I'm going to try and play catch up from last month and insert some of the current things that are going on. Lots to tell..

Hope you're enjoying spring, as we finally are too.

Bye for now...

What's Up??

We saw this dandelion field as we were zooming down the road one day. My great granddaughter said "Wow! That's a lot of dandelions!" ha! ha!

I had this inquisitive little squirrel.. (which I haven't seen for awhile.)

He got up in my old wheelbarrow..butt in the air!! Looking, searching..trying to find IT!

I think he must have buried a nut or something in there. Maybe he found all of  the ones he had buried in my pots and planters..

I had lots of these cat birds...they are marked really pretty.

And of course the orioles. They came for quite awhile, but had to share their grape jelly and oranges with the cat birds. sad So, I haven't seen them much anymore either.

But these sweethearts, come visit all the time. I usually put safflower seed in the pan on the patio. They seem to love it. We've had those black birds here almost all spring. When we fill the suet and seed cakes...they seem to finish them off in a couple days..uggg Finally, last week my son filled the hanging ones again. Yeah!! And thankfully they haven't returned. 

One night there was one of those beautiful moons out..my camera never seems to be able to capture the true essence of it. But it was really pretty!

 

Are you ready for the 4th?? I just almost hate to see it come. Our state has legalized fireworks this year. (I know they used to shoot them off before...knowing they'd never get caught). But now...it's terrible...they are really shooting off BIG ones. Poor Rusty, he just goes nuts. Do you have big plans for this holiday weekend?? I hear on the news the price of regular gas have dropped below $2.00 a gallon. What is your price where you live?? It's $2.06 where I live, and $1.95 across town!!! (I'm assuming one area sells more than the other.) Stay safe...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bunny & Birds

 I have had such a hard time catching a shot of the Orioles, but I did get this one. I haven't seen any for a few days. But as soon as they come back I'll try again!! smile..

 

The other day I looked across the street and saw these two bunny rabbits sitting in the neighbors yard. Look at them...one was looking one way and the other one was looking the other direction.. I'm wondering if they had a family somewhere in between them. I saw a show one time on how rabbits hide their babies in the ground, such as in the middle of the yard. They cover them with fur & grass. She nurses them for about 5 minutes a day, their milk is very rich and lasts them all day. It is just amazing..

Speaking of babies...our cute little wren house we bought at the Farmers Market last year is occupied this year!! Smile... I kept hearing her sing from morning till night.. The other day when I was leaving I saw her fly in and saw a little stick protruding out. I love it!!!

 

We had a bird bath for years, as time went by the top kept getting knocked off and chipped, until finally it got broke in half...sad... (Not sure if it was the turkeys or the deer!) Then I saw a way to use it as a birdfeeder. (Theresa, at The Run Around Ranch told me about doing this.) Well, I finally got someone to make it, and the storm we had blew it away... sad... I need to have someone check out back to see if they can find it.

This little Mama sits out in our yard about the same time every morning. I bet she has babies out there too... Exciting...

 

Sorry I've been among the missing, I hope to get better at posting again.

 

I'd really appreciate prayers for my SIL, she's still in the hospital.

 

Blessings....



Lilacs and more...

Yes, we finally did have a yard full of lilacs in bloom this year. And Karen brought bouquet after bouquet into the house. They smelled heavenly!!!! As you can see, we were having rain when I took this photo!! (We have lavender, dark purple and white ones....) there are a few by our deck and patio. The rest line the end of our yard... Gorgeous!!

But then along came a spring hail storm, I know ours was nothing compared to some others. However, when it was pounding the house, I had De-Javu, many, many years ago we had a terrible hail storm. I was home alone, it knocked out all the windows on one side of my home!! I sat in the hallway, just sobbing. It was such a scary feeling, not knowing when or if it would ever end... This time I was praying and praying as I went around the house closing windows...and soon it ended. Well, it did do our lilacs in, between the hail and the rain. But we certainly enjoyed them while we had them!!

 

I know this is a blurry photo, but it's a Mama Oriole. I was so excited to see them come back this year. We have oranges and grape jelly out there for them. I hear them as they arrive, but they are fast, by the time I get my camera and  walk to the window, they have grabbed a few bites and have flown off.

I also received my 'free' Gooseberry Patch cookbook!! It is so cool!! I love their books. So many great recipes, stories and helpful hints. I had submitted a Christmas story, which they choose to use in this book! And when they do that, whether it's a story or a recipe they send you a free book!! I'm smiling... You can read my story about Rudolph here..

 

I've been very busy with the newsletter I put out, working on the church directory and a few other things!! This is all good, as of course you know I need to keep busy!

 

Blessings and Good Night..

Rainy Overcast Day



 

We had quite an ominous cloudy day! We got around an inch of rain, which really has greened up more things!!

 



 

Our love birds were at it again...joining each other on the patio.

 

I finally got a picture of the oriole having a little grape jelly for breakfast...smile...

 

Aren't these layers of clouds pretty in their own way??

 

Our residential bunny was out in the yard today. Our sedum (see in the background?) is really flourishing this year too. I'll have to get a picture of the yellow flowers with a different angle. Now all you see is the green (with a little yellow flower on the right side..) but from the other side the sedum is beautiful!

 

We're on the countdown for our MS Walk! Two more days, and I pray our weather holds out.

 

Birds..Birds..and more Birds...

 

Isn't she pretty?? We're all just so excited!! We've had Orioles here eating oranges, but yesterday we put a little grape jelly in our cute little feeder that our granddaughter Ashley and her husband Ben bought us for Christmas, at one of their local Farmers Markets in Alabama. Isn't it just adorable??



 

We also got a new feeder. A friend, Beth from Beyond the Garden Gate had a similar one, so we went looking for it. However, this was the only one we could find and the birds (Orioles) are just loving it. lol They seem to think that grape jelly is the best!! smile.. Maybe we'll be eating a lot of oranges..lol

 

Then here is the females also checking it out..



 

Even the males are enjoying this cute little bird feeder! Look at him taking a dip in the grape jelly..smile...

 

Yesterday was busy..we made a Rhubarb Custard Cake (you can find the recipe here) or look at my recipe page) for our potluck last night. It was so funny...it was pretty obvious that it's rhubarb time in Iowa...smile.. There were two cakes and one pie using the rhubarb. However, our cake was wonderful! Even got asked for the recipe..smile.. Do you have rhubarb? Or do you like it??

 

Today we had a lot of running around to do...seems liked I was kind of off...you ever have those kinds of days?? ha...ha.. We went to Sam's Club, I wanted to renew our membership...I saw one lady waiting on a person, and another one opening her register. So I asked her if she could help me? She said.."sure after I help those people..." Gosh, here there was a line of people waiting for some help...eeks... (they now have their line behind a roped off area...kind of like a bank!) Anyway, I did a couple of weird things like that today.

 

Must be time for bed...ha..ha before I get into anymore trouble!! I'm glad Tom hasn't had time to put his garden in..we are to have a hard freeze tonight..sad... Are you having crazy weather too??

Orioles are here again...

 

Remember I told you I bought some oranges to put out and see if they would come again this year? And look!! Their here...I walked over this morning to look out and see what was going on in our back yard...and there he was!! I hollered at Tom...LOOK...LOOK...LOOK! He's like...what?? When he finally did look, he was as excited as I was! smile... Every so often, I'd hear him out there and yep...he was back. smile...

 

Also, look what I saw on Facebook last night.  I thought I'd play with the photo. Cuteness...

 

Can you believe how fast they are growing?? Their Mom said "ChooChoo" smile...  Their so cute aren't they??

 

We didn't do too much today, how about you? Our weather was cool, due to the wind I believe. Tom had to water the yard again today and it was cold. Tomorrow is to be warmer, so when he waters again, hopefully it will be a nice warm day!!! smile...

 

Hope to get our MS Walk t-shirts tomorrow. Can't wait to show you, I know they will be awesome!!!