New Life :)

The past couple of days have found me taking a lot of pictures of the yard and birds, etc.  I noticed today, that it's mostly centered around new life.  Let me know what you think.

Yesterday I looked outside the front window to see this family of Finches.  I don't know what 'dad' was teaching the youngsters at this sedum.  But I'm sure it was very important.  They all, but one, seemed to be paying close attention.  That one seems to have a wandering mind. :)

A short time later, they were all gathered around 'dad' a little ways away on the ground.  Looks like one still wanted dad to feed him/her.

I noticed the past few days that this bush just off our front walkway is in full bloom.  Do you know what it is called?  I really don't know, but I absolutely LOVE the flowers!  I adore pink and green together like this.  I may have print one of these photos and frame it.

This morning I was outside putting in some hostas that I got from a fellow Belgium-er off of freecycle. I placed all but one plant around this bird maple. 

The entire time I was working under this tree, the chickadees were busy all around me.  One of them was hopping around in the maple right above me.  I was able to get a picture of him/her before I went in the house.  I swear, it was only a few feet above me.  I wonder if it was okay because there was branches and leaves between us, or maybe it just knew I wouldn't hurt it.  Either way, I was glad for the company.

Here's another chickadee that the first one was talking to all morning. This one was a bush or two over from where I was working.

Last week, I put in two small raised beds in the front yard.  I'm transplanting some plants from the south border to see if they'll do better in a raised bed.  They weren't doing so well where they were, so here's hoping.

Finally, I walked around the house, trying to get photos of some of the baby birds we have living here. This next nest is a Robin's nest that is in an arborvitae on the SE corner of the house.  This group is very loud when feeding.

As I was walking along the south side of the house, I noticed a few more photo opportunities.  :)

This nest is also a Robin's nest, but these baby's are much bigger.  I tried to stay a bit away, as I didn't want to scare them out of the nest too early.  They should be fledging soon though .. look how big they are! This one is located just outside our back patio door.  Again, in an arbevitae :)

Another photo opportunity.  Beautiful contrast right?

As I was heading into my bedroom to get cleaned up, I heard a loud racket taking place right outside the south window.  I walked over there to see what was happening, and I saw this little guy.  I literally laughed because he is so ugly that he's adorable! :)  I believe it's a baby grackle and he was complaining very loudly and for a very long time.  He's probably still complaining if mom or dad hasn't come back yet!  The nest must be behind him in the arbivitae ... I didn't know it was there, but then again, I am sure there are a lot of nests that I'm not aware of.  Lots of bird activities going on in our yard. 

So now you see.  Lots of new life being celebrated in our yard.  :)

Spreading the Word ...

I wanted to help spread the word.  Bahr Creek Llama and Fiber in Cedar Grove is having a shearing open house this Thursday - Saturday.

Find out more about it at their blog or their website.

I plan to go on Thursday.  Hope many others go as well! :)

May Pictures

Well, I guess I'm going to get all caught up on sharing pictures :)  Of course, then within the next week or two, hopefully I'll have other photo opportunities to share with you!

Here's a few photos from this month so far . . .

A couple of pictures of a Rose Breasted Grosbeak that's been visiting our yard.  Last saturday I was blessed to hear it sing it's heart out over about 1/2 hour.  I'm very pleased to have this bird in our yard :)

Joel has been getting tools for Christmas and his recent birthday.  When we decided to have grandpa help dad put a ceiling fan in the dining room, Joel got his toolbox out and was able to use some of them. :)

Here are the men hard at work.  Well, getting started at being hard at work. :)

Grandpa & Grandma requested that Seth make them some quesadillas.  They had seen his post about it on his blog, and wanted to try them while they were here.

I've also seen a few Baltimore Orioles flying through our yard lately.  They are such pretty birds! :)  I'm glad they are visiting as well. 

And of course, our little bunny, who is growing fast.  Pretty soon won't be able to tell the baby apart form the mom and dad.

And I did some crocheting.  These were made with two skeins of Bernat Handi-something .. Cotton yarn.  It is slightly different then the Sugar n Cream or Peaches & Creme that I normally use. Bumpier.  I got 4 dishcloths and two water bottle carriers out of the the 2 skeins.  Not bad uh?

Well, that is it.  Leave comments! I love comments! :)

April Pictures #2

Catching Up.  More April Pictures.

Here's a grape hyacinth that came up.  This is one of a handful of bulbs that I brought from Iowa.

 The following is a flowering crabapple tree outside our house.  Pretty isn't it?

Waves on Lake Michigan :)

Some hats that I took to the hospital in Grafton, WI.  The ones on the left I made; the ones in the center were made by FH and the ones on the right were made by NH.

My first harvest this year - some radishes I had under a plastic tunnel.  The tunnel didn't work as well as I would have liked.  Potatoes that I planted under there haven't done as well as others that I planted later and outside the tunnel.  May have to rethink the tunnel or just use it at the end of the season to protect from late frost .. we'll have to see.

Here's Joel helping make supper one night.  We had shake n bake chicken (homemade flour coating).  I cut up the chicken, and then Joel did the shaking and placing on the stoneware pan.  It was fun making supper with him. :)

A cute picture of Peaches :)

 White Crowned Sparrow.

 Mourning Dove.

 Some daffodils and grape hyacinth.  This is a group that I brought from Iowa.

 A pair of mourning doves with a pair of white crowned sparrows.

This is the site outside my bedroom window.  Love the flowers on this bush in contrast witht he red leaves. :)

We have a baby rabbit.  It's about 1/2 grown now ...

New bed I put in the wood chip area.  I have since transplanted a "Big Moon Pumpkin" and a "Dragon Gourd" which I had started in the house in a 1/2 a toilet paper tube.  They are doing well so far.

Here's some cards that I made for a women's group meeting.  I borrowed some punches from NC to do the bottom two. 

Finally, I crocheted this dishcloth.  The pattern is from here.

That does it for the April Pictures! :) Yeah!

April Pictures #1

I know I'm behind in sharing pictures, so here I am to try to catch up a little bit.  These are a few pictures from April.

To begin with are a few pictures that we took when Maya was here visiting.  We went to walk on the beach at Harrington State Park. 

 Seth and I noticed this neat sand formation ... It was very kewl.

 Also saw here where the water was moving across the sand .. also very neat to see.

As we were walking off the each and into the woods, I saw this very different bird.  I don't think I've seen it before.  If you know what it's name is, please comment.  the best I can figure is that it's a Sedge Wren.  It doesn't have the buffy under parts like the book says it should, and the bill is a little longer than the book, but it's the closest I could find.  So please correct me if I'm wrong!

We stopped for a bit at the Quarry Lake at Harrington state Park as well.

The boys were picking up rocks and then throwing them in the lake.  Rob surprised me by showing that he could skip rocks!  It was very neat to discover something new about my husband after nearly 19 years of marriage.  He taught the boys.  Joel was able to skip a coupleof times, but Rob was still the best with a 6 skipper at one time.

I know the video is pretty bad quality, but I only had my handheld digital camera with me, which takes good still pics, but not so great video.

This view is off the trail around the Quarry Lake.

Found some more birds.  I didn't get a great picture, but I think they are sparrows or finches.  They moved to fast to get a good identification.

 Back home, I caught this picture of a bird that I think is a female finch. Let me know if you think differently.

Well, I think that's about it for now .. that covers the first half of April ... will try to catch up another batch of photos in the next day or so.