Birds of Winter

This morning I stepped outside to do a little bird watching. I figured I'd see if any of the Winter birds had arrived on the cold front we had a few days ago. I expected to see a few white throat sparrows and and juncos. Imagine my surprise and delight when I stepped out and there were not just a few species, but ALL of the birds that hang out here in the Winter. There were white throat sparrows, juncos, cedar waxwings, a Northern Flicker, a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebes, Yellow Rumped Warblers, chipping sparrows, lots of cardinals and red breasted nuthatches, AND at least a hundred American Robins. I always thought that Robins were only here in the Spring, but that myth was totally busted today:) The birds were flitting to and fro, taking turns bathing and drinking out of a water pan we left out in the yard. The sapsucker was sucking sap out of the Loquat tree, and the Northern Flicker was hopping around under the Oleander bush eating bugs. I was in birding Heaven.

Life doesn't get any better than this....

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!

Happy Thanksgiving..time to eat, drink, and be merry (and miserable for a few hours).

Gobble Gobble!

A Birders Paradise

This morning as I sat outside under a big pine tree with my coffee, I felt like I was in paradise. There were Red Breasted Nuthatches twittering and tooting their tin horns right over my head as they scurried up and down the tree, a family of 4 Tufted Titmice taking turns with the Chickadees at one of the seed feeders, Cardinals swinging in the satellite feeder, Bluejays squawking way high in the tree because the cat was out with me, 2 Eurasian Collared Doves hopping on the ground cleaning up all of the seed that falls out of the feeders, a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker pecking midway up the tree behind my head, a Green Heron flying overhead toward the pond, and a juvenile Red Shouldered Hawk hollering from somewhere in the distance.


I could never move back to the city when I have my Birders Paradise right here...

Cardinals at Sunset

Every evening, close to sunset, I go outside and sit in my chair and wait. Right at sunset, I can hear “chip, chip, chip” and I know the Cardinals are making their way to my bird feeders. They swoop in one by one to fill their bellies full of black oil sunflower seed. Sometimes I count 30 or more at a time at the feeders and on the ground. Then they fly up and disappear into the trees to sleep.


Beautiful creatures of God....

The Ladybugs Know

Today I looked out the window and there were ladybugs everywhere. They were clinging to the window and the side of the house. They know it’s about to be Winter and with Winter comes bitter cold. They’ll hitch rides on mailmen, dogs, cats, cars..they’ll do anything they can to get inside a warm house.


Pretty smart, huh?

The Musings of a Sleep Deprived Granny

Tales of Sitting at the Hospital With a Sick Baby

Did I say sick? Yeah, right..this baby has been smiling and babbling ever since she was brought in here. It’s 11:00 AM..Marissa is all fed, changed, and getting veeery sleeeepy. Finally, she drifts off, and Granny thinks she’s gonna get a few hours sleep. NOT! The nurse decides to make an appearance and take her temperature. Baby is wide awake looking at her. 15 minutes later, nurse leaves and baby babbles for a few minutes, cries for a few more because by this point she’s beyond sleepy. And when THIS baby is beyond sleepy..well…we won’t go there…

What’s that? Silence..sweet silence..nighty night.

12:30 AM..Sometime during the last hour and a half, I drifted off to sleep. Seems like as soon as I got some good REM going, I woke up to a respiratory therapists butt in my face. He gave Marissa her breathing treatment, surprisingly she didn’t wake up. Then the nurse came in and took her temp yet again..woke her up but she went right back down. I don’t think the AC is working and it’s hot in here. The respiratory therapist said he’d call maintenance to check it out..”Well, why not?? Everybody else has come into the room, might as well let them in too”….

1:30 AM..I looked at the clock just now..only 1:30?? It’s gonna be a looooong night. I toss and turn with these 2 pillows that are flat as pancakes, sweat like a pig because the room is hot, and drift in and out of sleep for the next hour and a half.

3:00 AM..They’re baaaack..time for another breathing treatment. Marissa is startled wide awake for this one and she’s NOT going back to sleep for awhile. He finishes the treatment, leaves the room, and Marissa decides she’s ready for a bottle. Ok, what the heck, I’ll feed her and then she’ll go back to sleep for a few hours..right? Get her all fed, burped, changed (which was an ordeal because she wanted to kick her feet and get her IV wire stuck in her toes and across her diaper so I fastened the diaper on it). Did I mention it’s HOT in here? Maintenance never came..finally opened the window a crack to let some fresh air in.

3:30 AM..Marissa has decided it’s playtime..she’s lying there in her crib kicking her feet and singing like crazy! She thinks this is funny…Granny isn’t so sure about that..I’m starting to look and feel like a zombie..must be quite a scary site for Marissa to see. I turn out the lights again, lay down to gather my thoughts and start to drift to the soothing sounds of a baby babbling. I think I went to sleep for a few minutes..woke up to her crying..she had moved around and her head was against the crib rail and she wasn’t too happy about it. I got back up, moved her down, turned her on her belly because this kid will NOT stay on her back for long. She FINALLY drifts off to sleep with me singing Amazing Grace. I don’t dare get back into bed yet, because I have this feeling someone will come in the door soon, so I get on the computer and start blogging.

4:16 AM..Guess who was right? Yep, Marissa was sleeping soundly, nurse came in to take her temp yet again. I love this nurse..she’s a sweetheart and she tried real hard not to wake her up, but….heeeere’s Marissa…staring at me with those big blue eyes…….

5:15..I had a few minutes catnap, heard banging around in the hall (boy, those nurse sure don’t believe in being quiet, do they?)..now I’m wide awake. My computer keeps saying there is a wireless connection available, so I figure why not? Worth a try. Success! I’m on the internet..it stayed long enough to check my e-mail, Ebay auctions, etc. The whole time I’m online, I’m looking around to make sure the wireless internet police aren’t coming through the door, because I don’t know if you’re supposed to connect to other peoples wireless signals or not. It’s unsecured, so I figure why not? Stayed online for 30 minutes, then the signal got weak. Oh well, I desparately need sleep anyway. Off to bed I go…for a whole hour..whaddya know about that?

6:20.. Wake up to respiratory therapist brushing the dang tube across the top of my head. At this point, I’m thinking “If you touch the top of my head one more time with that thing, it’s going around your neck or up your nose..your choice buddy!”. Haha..up your nose with a rubber hose…

6:25..Sleep at last. I actually got to sleep for an hour and 15 minutes this time! Woke up to food service bringing in breakfast at a little before 8. Coffee..I need coffee! Oh no…what’s this? Tea? I am desparate for coffee and you dare bring me tea? Off with your head woman! Oh well, it’s caffeine at least. Pretty good too. The breakfast though..that’s a whole different story. It’s SUPPOSED to be Cream of Wheat, Hashbrowns, a Biscuit, and a muffin. Yep, there’s a biscuit, and there’s a muffin. Cream of wheat??? Are you kidding? More like cream of crap with a capital C! Hashbrowns? Nope..it’s an ice cream scoop of mushy something, but not hash browns. Oh well, I can live on a biscuit and a muffin for now..who needs food anyway..I’ll trade the food for sleep…

Calgon…take me away……or at least give me a good stiff drink…

Priceless

6 Matching Wooden Chairs for the Table: About 85.00 (IF we could've found any that match)




Traffic Ticket for "Disregarding" a Stop Sign: 130.00




The Look On The Cops Face When I Told Him Where To Stick That Ticket.....


PRICELESS!!!








Well, I didn't REALLY tell him where to stick it, but I wanted to....