call the audubon society...

because I'm about to become an honorary member.

Yesterday afternoon was something. First of all, the oriole has been around the backyard every day. The nest is still way up in the palm tree, so I'm assuming there are some eggs in there. This bird is so bright and pretty.

It was being very still so I was able to quietly walk closer and get this picture. He was perfectly perched on the branch. I took these while I was in the backyard after witnessing a commotion. It was a nice way to calm down, watching this little beauty. The girls and I had been out watching the 'commotion', with our cameras in hand. I will tell you about it later in this post.
But first, earlier in the day, I had been in and out the front and back doors, watering plants and flowers and walking to the studio to work on graduation stuff. Every time I went out the front door, I could hear the little buzzing flutter of a hummingbird. It took a couple of times before it dawned on me that I had heard that same thing the day before. We have some flowers blooming right by the door so I just thought it must be attracted to them.

Here is the courtyard by the front doors. You will recognize the potted plant where mama quail is still nesting. And to the left, above the brick column is the dove's nest. Her eggs are still there, but she isn't around much. She was so flighty and would scare the heck out of us when we would walk by and I'm wondering if she is still interested in her nest. On the other hand, the mama quail is mostly calm. She will just sit right there while I slowly walk up and peek at her.
We added a sign. At first it said "Beware of Bird"...warning people that walked in to the courtyard, because when the dove and sometimes the mama quail would come flying out of the nests, it would scare you to death. But after yesterday, I decided it needed a new message....
Another look at the dove's nest way above the rest.
Here are her eggs.
And a reminder of the mama quail's collection. Still twelve. Still there.

And here is something new. This plant is in the corner by the door. After walking out several times and hearing that familiar helicopter sound of the hummingbird, I looked around a bit. And to my surprise...
Look at this! Look back at the photo above. See it? On the bottom leaf on the right hand side. Is that not cute?
But this is much cuter! Tiny, tiny eggs!
We were so amazed and excited! I knew I would never get a picture of her on her nest since every time I walked outside I could hear her humming and dashing away quickly. So, I went inside and did my best to focus through the little window of the door. It is a challenge since it is a glass window and a screen and metal door. But, I was able to get a few hazy photos.

The nest.
Patiently waiting... the little mama hummingbird.
She could actually hear the click of my camera and would fly off pretty quickly. But I got a couple. How cute huh?

So, back to the commotion. After getting the pictures of the hummingbird, I heard a big squawking and screeching sound in the back. I looked at Rachel and her eyes were wide. We both were saying..."what is THAT?" I had never heard anything like it before. Along with the squawking noise there was big flapping and rustling sound too. So, still with my camera in hand from the sweet little hummingbird, I stepped out the back door. It was coming from the big palm trees and I could actually see something dark up in the palms and could see a big turmoil of sorts. It was really noisy and lots of flapping going on. As we walked a bit closer it settled down. We had the small camera on record, but I think we interrupted what was going on so they had quieted down. We spotted this guy.
And another one. I think it is the same kind of hawk that we have seen before. This one stayed here where it was. Look at its claws!
It was turning around looking at us. The other one disappeared into the thick part of the leaves again and there was another big commotion and lots of flapping.
And then they took off. There were two that came out of our trees and two more that were circling from the neighbors trees. Look close at this one. It has something in its beak.
They just kept circling and screeching.
And then...darn it because we missed it with the camera...out of the tree where the commotion had happened, a big owl flew out with a big burst of its wings. So, the hawks must have been after the baby owls that we suspect are up there and the owl was trying to fight them off! Literally fighting. You've heard a cat fight before... well, that is how I can describe the sound and commotion. Only more noise. A bird fight. The screeching and hollering and the flapping of wings against all the palm fronds was pretty impressive.
And you know the whole time I'm looking up at the sky and the trees, I'm constantly checking around my feet for long skinny hissing creatures and looking over my shoulder for hairy snorting pig like creatures. I keep my eyes focused for darting lizards and sneaky cats.

I don't know...being a member of the Audubon Society might be too exhausting. But, I would much rather see the birds and the little eggs and hope for hatchlings... than see a snake.

kaleidoscope thursday

This one won't be a hard one to figure out, but I like it a bunch.

kaleidoscoped:
and before:
I love when someone gives me a bunch of tulips. They are one of my favorite flowers. Because we don't have them popping up in our yard here in Arizona, the Reptile Wrangler brought home a bundle for the dining room table. I love when they are more tulip like, in their tight little buds, but there is something about how they look when they are on their last stem, just barely hanging on, that I love too. The next day, these petals just let go and dropped to the table in a little puddle. They were done being beautiful. Although, there was something about the petals, still soft and full of color, that looked pretty just sprinkled around the vase on the table.

Do you love tulips too?

april 27

Seventeen years ago a little rainbow came into our life. She made an entrance that even Roy. G. Biv himself couldn't have matched. It was a bit like a storm, rolling in and crashing down, drenching us with a tidal wave that we didn't know was coming. But just like a storm, the heavy clouds lifted and the sun shined and we had a little baby girl.

We have a thing for rainbows in our family. We love to spot them after a rain. There have been many over the years that have been significant to moments in our lives. We loved to catch them shining through our stained glass window in our old kitchen. We loved them arching down over our old barn. And the double ones were the best, rising above the pasture and ending somewhere over the mountains. Bright colors bursting against the dark sky.

This girl loves the little bursts of color that sprinkle through her crystal collection hanging in her window. In this house, she gets just a quick splash early in the morning. The best way to start the morning... a little sprinkling of color dancing around her room.

Keep dancing girl. And keep looking at the colors that surround you. I love how you are seeing the world around you, with your eyes wide open, eager to look past any storm... searching for all the rainbows.

Happy Birthday Leah!

tuesday

Do you know what they say about spring colds? I don't either, I just know I have one. Everyone else in the family had it first. I resisted the urge to join in the fun as long as I could... but alas, my body finally said, "if you can't beat 'em... join 'em."

So as I sniffle around the house, continuing to work on graduation preparations, a birthday celebration and regular homemade duties...I'm keeping an eye on the quail eggs. A full dozen are still there and the mama bird who rarely leaves them. When I walk by her potted plant nest, I tell her "good job mama... take care of your little eggs."

Just a little motherly advice from one mama to another.

easter, sugar cookies and a surprise

We had a very nice Easter. A delicious dinner with the Arizona relatives. We were able to sit outside on the patio again this year. Normally, Easter in Colorado was spent inside while watching the wind, the rain, or sometimes even the snow outside. We spent many years bundling the kiddos up in coats and watching them hunt for eggs, while we stood inside where it was warm, watching from the windows. But here in Arizona, despite a little bit of wind, we had a delightful day outside at Nana's.

The girls and I baked and frosted some sugar cookies on Saturday. I have made a lot of these sugar cookies over the years for many different holidays. Everyone has always enjoyed decorating and especially eating them. I have quite a few cookie cutters that I have collected over the years! And because you are just never too old for some fun traditions...we dyed eggs too.

Oh yum.

As I was uploading my pictures to the computer this morning I saw some pretty pictures. I didn't remember taking them, which happens quite often around here. Okay, yes it does happen that I don't remember things that I do, but what I mean is... sometimes other people use my camera and then I often see little delightful surprises...

such as this.

And this.

Doesn't the inside of the rose look like the little swirl of butter on the top of a brand new butter tub? We call it the "do-dad" and it was always a whirl of excitement to see who got to the "butter do-dad" with their knife before anyone else!
And this.

I thought the same thing. Not so special...why did someone take that photo?
Oh spit.
How nice.
And they wonder why I am acting a little forgetful and neurotic at times.

kaleidoscope thursday-special edition

It is Thursday and that means it is kaleidoscope day. I have a bonus at the end too. We have an explosion in our yard right now.

kaleidoscoped image:

Before:
The explosion...

And now the explosion bonus:

A roseplosion!

back again

Last week, when I had my wild wildlife day and saw all the pretty birds and the not-so-pretty snake, I mentioned that I had a bobcat visit too. I have not seen much of them for the past few months and we have been wondering if they would come back for another spring birth. We are hoping not, as we like all the birds that are in our yard when the cats are not. Although, the bobcats are a novelty and we are the envy of the kids' friends. But I'd rather they stay on the other side of the fence.

Last week, I see this guy on the patio off of our bedroom. My back was to the doors and I actually saw him in the reflection of a mirror in front of me. So, when you are looking in a mirror and you see a bobcat walk in front of your face, which is really behind you and it looks closer than it actually is,(in fact it looks like it is in the room with you) well you kind of jump just a little. But that is my usual response when I see these things anyway. Side story: You know that black king snake that I saw last week? Well, I saw it out on the patio by the studio last night and a little startle sound came out of my mouth. Like this..."AHHHHGGWHH!" Rachel was in the studio and came to the door. She said, "oh, by the way mom...there is a snake right there." And then later, we were eating our dinner out on the back patio and I look over towards the rose bushes and see the same snake creeping along the brick wall. I let out a similar gasp and everyone said "What?" I pointed to it and Rachel said, "Mom...why do you scream every time you see a snake?" Ummm... isn't that what most people do when they see snakes? Thank goodness the Reptile Wrangler was sitting right there. He continued to eat his dinner as we have decided to let these black and white snakes have full slither of the yard, as they are known to keep the rattle snakes away. Instead, we made up a song with lyrics about the Reptile Wrangler. It could be a future post. Just sayin'.

So, here is the visitor by our bedroom doors. He looks a little menacing here, I must say. I think he was looking at me looking at him.

There is a little something that I noticed about this latest visitor. I think it is one of the babies from last spring. In fact, I think that it is this one in this picture from last June. Do you see the little tell tail sign?

Here is a picture from last week. Look at the end of his tail. See how it curls up? Every time I would see the cats, I would notice that one had a little curl in his tail.
Here he is again last October.
And again last week.
Again in December.
And again last week. Not so much of a curl in this picture, but it is still turned up a bit.
The spots are much more faded so I don't know if it is the same cat or not. Maybe they just curl their tails when the are being curious. You can at least see, if it is one of the babies...it has definitely grown up.

My current pictures are looking a bit out of focus. This is my small handy little camera that I always carry in my purse or have sitting on the counter. I love it. So do other people in this family. It met with a little disaster last summer (not mentioning any names) and I have been prodding it along hoping it would be okay. But, I think not. It just seems to be giving me more and more out of focus pictures. I loved that camera. I think I mentioned that already. I love my big camera and use it a lot too, but this one is just very handy. I will miss it.

Good thing Mother's Day is coming soon. Or my birthday. Oh and our anniversary.

So, what do you think? Do you think this is the same bobcat all grown up? Or do you think the tail thing is just something they all do?

prom

Oh so pretty. Oh such a great time.

I think you can say... this prom was one they won't forget.

Oh how our little girls have grown up.

kaleidoscope thursday

It is Thursday already.

Here is the kaleidoscoped image:

Here it is before:
Looking through a wire fence at all the trees and bushes that were hit hard by the winter freeze. This was taken about a month ago, so the good news is that some of it has shown a little sign of life. Some of it has not. The interesting thing about the kaleidoscope is that with all of its angles, it actually brings more into the image than the camera lens. That is why you see blue sky in the after image and not in the before.

Happy Thursday!