1, no 2, wait 3, oh my 4!

Today while I attempted to get laundry and things done so I can pack my suitcases, I kept getting distracted.  Fairly early, I looked out my kitchen window, and had to take a picture.  There was this,

 

that's 1, and then there was this,

 

that's 2,  and I had walked outside before even seeing the laser eyes and wanted to take a picture of this,

this is not 3, but a rather very wee strawberry growing in what is supposed to be the back lawn.  The pretty little berry is only about the size of my tiny little pinky finger nail...I have small hands...so it's probably not much more than 1/4 - 3/8" in size.  So after this berry shot I came in the house to do aforesaid chores and managed to take a couple of brief videos of other distractions,

Kitties and a bird at the feeder

I think that's 3, the white one, barely visible.  And there was this, but it's not 4,

At the nest are the babies, the second batch this year, almost ready to fly...

And then through all this, Nick decides that he needs to pack his computer, his big computer so that he can go to Tino's and they can spend the night together and have their annual July 2 day to do whatever they want - this is their tradition, and what they're doing, as he is now over there and they had themselves set up before I left to return home....I was chatting with Tino's mom who was showing me their new master bathroom, nice! anyway, what they did was set their monitors up back to back and sitting across from their respective monitors, with their headphones on, playing their war-games, Call of Duty I think it is.  They play together via link ups almost daily, but they had to be under the same roof, at the same table.  These boys are funny!  It was 8:30 p.m. before I could take him to Tino's as Tino had a 4-H meeting and they couldn't take Nick along.

While we were waiting to go to Tino's, I needed to fix dinner too, so Nick said he wanted mac & cheese, home made, huh? Since when home made? He never liked the home made type.  I'll keep that for a separate post as I remembered to take pictures since the camera was downstairs taking pictures of cats and birds all day anyway, lol.

It was then 9:30 before I got back home and was able to sit down to spend a few minutes chatting with Marty who had worked late not getting home until around 8:00.  At one point I looked over out the slider thinking I saw something on the patio and sure enough, after turning on the lights, a couple of the kitties were down nibbling on a handful of kibble I'd thrown out earlier.  So I got a pie tin and put some more kibble in it and set it out just a few feet from the door leaving the slider open a few inches but the screen closed. (Raven & Flame are strictly indoor kitties so didn't want them to escape.)  I looked back over and wait, what? there's four, yes, that's FOUR kittens, and none were the mama - oh MY!  Four feral babies of a feral mama.  And here I thought this was the mama the neighbor across the street had told me he had trapped and spayed!  He was either mistaken or I completely heard him wrongly.

This last video is the least clear of all, and I do apologize for the video quality - It was dark, and I have only my little point & shoot digital.  Here's the 4 feeding, though only the white one is mostly visible.  Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't be feeding them so close to where the baby bird is likely going to 'fall' from the nest in the next day or two...

The kitties are cute, but do I really want that many ferals hanging around...again.  We've been this route before back before Nick was born, and they were so sickly after awhile that I did capture three, which is all that remained after several litters.  One became our Monster cat, tamed and much loved, who spent his days indoors and his nights out and last came home on 5/31/2011 at the age of 12.  We figure a coyote finally got him.  The other two, his mama and 1/2 sister, were very sickly and as much as it wasn't what I like to do, I took them to the local animal control, where they of course were both put down.  Mama was exceptionally feral and scrappy even in her sickly state.  The other one could barely walk and we'd had her in for a time, but could never tame her so when she let me pick her up outside even, I knew she was in bad shape.

As you can see, there were a lot of distractions today, and these are but a few of the videos I took, along with just watching the kitties play on the back wall through the binoculars.  With this being the first time ever seeing them, I was surprised at how they stayed there, on the wall, all day and then are still hanging around in the back yard even this late at night.  The white one was out by the big ash tree still just a few minutes ago.  I'm guessing the babes are between 2 and 3 months old, probably closer to 3.

Only Thursday

I have had the hardest time today keeping track that it is Thursday and not Friday.  I have no clue as to why it seems today should be Friday, but it does.  I'll just have to remember that I can't sleep in tomorrow...Nick needs a ride to school, and I'm the driver.

I went to quilt guild tonight, only the second time this year, so that's two out of five meetings.  That's actually better than last year.  Tonight's agenda was the presentation 'in person advertisement' of a new (well, 15 mo. ago new) quilt shop in a valley not terribly distant from where I live, maybe a 45 minute drive in really good traffic.  The co-owners and two of their crew were there with a lot of goodies from their store which they had laid out on tables to sell, a quilt-store brought to us, you could say.  I purchased two fat quarters...remember, I'm trying to save my money for Sisters this summer.

In other news, I'll be making more hummingbird nectar tomorrow.  In addition to the hummers frequenting the feeder, we seem to have regular diners in the form of a) a male finch, b) a female hooded oriole, and c) a ladderback woodpecker.  I've known the orioles and tanagers will visit the feeder from past experience, but who knew the finch and especially the woodpecker would belly up to the bar?  Surprised me.  I attempted to get pictures as the feeder hangs under our patio roof in direct sight from my kitchen window, but between the flash bouncing off the window, and, ahem, the dirt and whatnot on both sides of the window, the shot doesn't show much more than a bird shape and the glint of an eyeball!

I think I'll be washing that window tomorrow.  Oh, and directly above the feeder on the beam, is a finch nest where mama finch has been sitting for awhile and based on her actions, the babies are either hatched or will be very soon.  I have mixed feelings as all too often the nests that get built there are raided by the scrub jays we have, and I've even seen crows come in and try to get to the nests.  It's always a joy though when the babies reach maturity and are able to fly away.  I love when their little heads peak out above the edge of the nest and when mama feeds them.  

A Little Tuesday This & That

I haven't had a lot to blog about the last few days, or maybe it's just haven't wanted to think about what I might blog about, so today is a mish-mash of things.

This is one of the two little guys or gals that are growing so fast they'll be out of the nest in a day or two or three it seems.  Sorry my point-&-shoot doesn't do sharper images on zoom.  It's a hummingbird.

This is the light reflection being made during the eclipse on Sunday evening.  It was only partial here as we weren't in the path for getting the full thing.  Marty called these by a name, but I don't remember what that name is.  They look like little images of the sun with the eclipse shadow crossing it.

This little squirrel was enjoying a cool spot on the lawn next to the ash tree on a near-100 degree day.  I measured the girth of the ash: over 95" around. 

Ok, well, this is the back side of a baby robin...I missed the perfect photo op because I didn't have my camera outside.  From inside the house in the early morning, I heard a lot of bird chatter going on out back, so went to investigate.  There was a baby robin on a branch - a very good view and close - suddenly, up flies mama with some big dark bugs in her mouth and she fed baby right in front of me.  I so missed a great photo!  And this was the best I could get of baby as it started taking off up through the branches of the tree after I went in and got my camera.  Some mornings have been a loud cacophony of sound with the birds - I'm sure it's because so many babies are fledging right now and mamas are teaching them to 'hunt' for themselves.  I put a waterer out in the backyard but haven't seen a single bird anywhere near it.  I even scattered seed on the ground.

 The upper now has slider doors...still need that faucet, cabinet hardware, mirrors & towel/toilet tissue bars

The lower now also has a door and glass wall.  It also needs the same as above as well as the toilet...
Both will also need that final inspection by the city dude - oh joy!

And that's it for photos for today.

Here's my funny for the week:  Awhile back I complained about soap residue that didn't wash out of my dark clothes and left permanent stains because of these new-fangled water-conservative washers.  Well, I figured a way around that.  I place the soap powder in first, close the lid and let the water run until it begins to agitate.  I then open the lid and close it again.  It resets to add more water.  I then open it again and place my clothes in then shut the lid which causes it to add even more water - no more soap deposit problems.  That first round only adds about 5" of water in the bottom of the machine...how is that supposed to clean your clothes?  OK, so for the funny part.  Because doing it this way takes time by my having to stand there and wait for it to add water each time...not a problem for when I'm adding regular clothes because I use that time to lay each item out and pretreat as needed, but...I walked away to do a couple quick things in the kitchen (I was washing the kitchen towels, cloths & potholders in that load).  I then sat at the table, heard the washing action while I perused a couple magazines, and the dryer was running from the previous load.  Dryer buzzer goes off and I remove the items, went back to put the next load in the dryer because the washer had now stopped...NOTHING IN THE WASHER!  That's right, I got SO side-tracked, I forgot to go back and put the load of  towels in the machine!  I just had to laugh at my forgetfulness.

Spring Is Busting Out All Over

That title is a take off of a song from one of my favorite musicals "Carousel". The song is "June is Busting Out All Over" and I've linked it to a video on youtube. My aunt Irene would take my sister and I to see a movie when we were little. And since this came out in 1956, I'd have had to have been awfully little, but still remember going to it. But then, by the time movies made it to our area, it might have been a couple years later! She also took me to see "Oklahoma". I don't know what it is about that one, but I have never been able to watch it without falling asleep, even when it's come on television in recent years.

Here's what's busting out here at our house:These violets have been blooming for quite awhile; I think I've already posted about them once, but I just love them, they're happy little blossoms.
And I posted at one point about not getting my bulbs planted in a timely manner, but they're coming up great guns now and with buds! So I'm happy!
There are daffodils, tulips, and hyacinth poking up. Then, over in our terraced area are some freesia. They've never grown with strong stems, and the ants love them too much for me to be able to cut and bring into the house, but they sure are pretty. Ignore all those dead leaves, Marty likes to refer to them as mulch. um, yeah, ok. And I haven't gone out and tried to rake up the even bigger pile of leaves that sits in a corner all winter and spring...it'll be there yet in May or June.

And driving around town, trees are blooming and leafing, lawns are even greener and growing, and birds are singing ... a lot... and loudly... and it's a joy to hear them :) I've seen the Western Blue Bird, some little finches in the gold finch line, others I haven't taken the time to identify and the Phoebe. (And I don't know what I did to make this last paragraph show up underlined and in blue! Gotta love my relationship with Blogger ;) of course it probably won't show when I actually post this and I'll feel silly, but it shows as I type and when I look at preview.)