Happy Birthday USA!
I've had lots to blog about lately, just not lots of time to blog.
I'll start with Sunday, June 24th when I had such a nice visit with my friend Linda who was traveling from her home in Wyoming to Chicago for a family visit. Linda stopped by my house with her great dog Junior. Junior is a Dusty by Dot son and he sure is smart and well trained. He has a bunch of agility titles and is starting to show in the Open class for his CDX. Judging by the beautiful job he did on the signal exercise, he's also well on his way to competing in Utility. It was great to see Linda and Junior and I'm glad they had a good trip and are safely back in Wyoming now.
Bluebirds and Wrens
On Monday, June 25th, the five baby blue birds left their nest while I was at a three hour doctor appointment. Gosh, I was sorry to miss their fledging but I'm happy they are safely out of the nest. My sister gave me the name of the local "bluebird guy" who will actually come out to my property and check out my bluebird houses and put up new houses in better locations if needed. I can't wait! I hope to have a few more bluebird nests next spring.
The forever chirping baby wrens left their nest on Tuesday morning between 6:00-6:30 a.m.. I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat on the patio to watch. Being wrens, it was a noisy affair but so interesting. The parents sat in a nearby tree and called and called to the two youngsters who finally fell out of the nesting box and on to tree limbs below. From there one of the baby wrens immediately took off flying to his parents. The other wren, however, had some trouble and lack of confidence. This bird fell from the tree limb to the evergreen shrub below where it hopped around for some minutes before finally trusting itself to fly.
The wrens were the last birds to leave the nest here which meant my cat Percy was finally able to resume his indoor/outdoor cat life. I do love my cat but the months he is forced to stay inside are difficult months for both Percy and me. I tried to snap a picture of Percy as he ran out the door for the first time since April but he zipped by me so fast I'm not sure you can even find him in this photo. All in all, it was a successful "hatch" this year with 5 bluebirds, 2 separate wren nests of two babies each, about 12 tree swallows and uncounted number of robins, blue jays, orioles, hummingbirds and about every kind of woodpecker found in southern MN.
Family Reunion
The really big event around here for the past 5 days has been the family reunion. My parents planned it last winter. I come from a large family and my immediate family, plus all my first cousins, were given marching orders to be here for the big event. It was an absolutely fabulous reunion. Great planning, perfect weather, terrific food and though we are probably as dysfunctional as the next family, no big family blow ups. It was just a wonderful time.
Here's a lake shot, a typical long Fourth of July weekend. The kids enjoyed the water and the jet skis and then played a very hard fought game of soccer. Gosh, my cousins kids are very good soccer players. I'm glad no one impaled themselves on my dad's anchor while playing soccer.
I'm going to be happy to get back to work tomorrow and back to my everyday life. I've eaten and drink-en and visited and celebrated enough for the whole summer! I suppose I'm offending some vegetarian with this photo but one of several tasty reunion meals was this whole spit roasted pig. Delicious!
One of my brothers has provided a Fourth of July fireworks show for quite a few years now. This year he went all out with a spectacular show on Sunday evening for the reunion and yet another show this evening for Independence Day. I tried to take a picture but failed. This doesn't do justice at all to the great show my brother provided.
My cousin Molly took many professional quality photos during the reunion events and she had a slide show going during all days. There were so many exceptional photos. Perhaps I'll share a few as I receive them. It has a been a wonderful past five days, seeing so many of my extended family members and sharing great meals and great times with them. It's a time which will not be forgotten.
All right then, I'll try to get back to the subjects of knitting and dog training - things I've accomplished little of lately - next blog.
I'll start with Sunday, June 24th when I had such a nice visit with my friend Linda who was traveling from her home in Wyoming to Chicago for a family visit. Linda stopped by my house with her great dog Junior. Junior is a Dusty by Dot son and he sure is smart and well trained. He has a bunch of agility titles and is starting to show in the Open class for his CDX. Judging by the beautiful job he did on the signal exercise, he's also well on his way to competing in Utility. It was great to see Linda and Junior and I'm glad they had a good trip and are safely back in Wyoming now.
Bluebirds and Wrens
On Monday, June 25th, the five baby blue birds left their nest while I was at a three hour doctor appointment. Gosh, I was sorry to miss their fledging but I'm happy they are safely out of the nest. My sister gave me the name of the local "bluebird guy" who will actually come out to my property and check out my bluebird houses and put up new houses in better locations if needed. I can't wait! I hope to have a few more bluebird nests next spring.
The forever chirping baby wrens left their nest on Tuesday morning between 6:00-6:30 a.m.. I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat on the patio to watch. Being wrens, it was a noisy affair but so interesting. The parents sat in a nearby tree and called and called to the two youngsters who finally fell out of the nesting box and on to tree limbs below. From there one of the baby wrens immediately took off flying to his parents. The other wren, however, had some trouble and lack of confidence. This bird fell from the tree limb to the evergreen shrub below where it hopped around for some minutes before finally trusting itself to fly.
The wrens were the last birds to leave the nest here which meant my cat Percy was finally able to resume his indoor/outdoor cat life. I do love my cat but the months he is forced to stay inside are difficult months for both Percy and me. I tried to snap a picture of Percy as he ran out the door for the first time since April but he zipped by me so fast I'm not sure you can even find him in this photo. All in all, it was a successful "hatch" this year with 5 bluebirds, 2 separate wren nests of two babies each, about 12 tree swallows and uncounted number of robins, blue jays, orioles, hummingbirds and about every kind of woodpecker found in southern MN. Family Reunion
The really big event around here for the past 5 days has been the family reunion. My parents planned it last winter. I come from a large family and my immediate family, plus all my first cousins, were given marching orders to be here for the big event. It was an absolutely fabulous reunion. Great planning, perfect weather, terrific food and though we are probably as dysfunctional as the next family, no big family blow ups. It was just a wonderful time.
Here's a lake shot, a typical long Fourth of July weekend. The kids enjoyed the water and the jet skis and then played a very hard fought game of soccer. Gosh, my cousins kids are very good soccer players. I'm glad no one impaled themselves on my dad's anchor while playing soccer.
I'm going to be happy to get back to work tomorrow and back to my everyday life. I've eaten and drink-en and visited and celebrated enough for the whole summer! I suppose I'm offending some vegetarian with this photo but one of several tasty reunion meals was this whole spit roasted pig. Delicious!
One of my brothers has provided a Fourth of July fireworks show for quite a few years now. This year he went all out with a spectacular show on Sunday evening for the reunion and yet another show this evening for Independence Day. I tried to take a picture but failed. This doesn't do justice at all to the great show my brother provided.
My cousin Molly took many professional quality photos during the reunion events and she had a slide show going during all days. There were so many exceptional photos. Perhaps I'll share a few as I receive them. It has a been a wonderful past five days, seeing so many of my extended family members and sharing great meals and great times with them. It's a time which will not be forgotten.
All right then, I'll try to get back to the subjects of knitting and dog training - things I've accomplished little of lately - next blog.
Labels: blue birds, dog shows, dogs, knitting, training
posted by mary at 8:51 PM
1 Comments:
I've been assuming you must have been busy, since we haven't heard from you lately - so what a great post! Sounds like you have in fact been busy, but even better, having fun.
P.S. Is that Junior in the first picture? He's a cutie.
P.P.S. I think I can spot Percy - I'm sure he spent a lot of time looking for all of the birds that were gone ...
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