MEOW!!

Birds

I found this nest in the red honeysuckle. These mockingbirds are just about ready to go. As I leaned into the shrub to take the picture, I felt something pull my hair. It was one of the adult mockingbirds, swooping and trying to run me away from the nest. I see them do that to the cat, and other birds, all the time.

This is the bird "flight". When we did the tree work, we also moved it into place and Greg tied it down so that the wind won't tip it over. He had to do some trimming on the overhanging limbs to get them off of the rooftop. Hopefully we will go pick out wire for it in the next several weeks.
This bird took refuge from the storm on our front porch. We have had some rough weather in the past week. Friday evening we had hail mixed with rain and high winds but all of our vehicles were undercover so there was no damage.

More Stuff

The pears are coming along nicely. Still have a way to go though. My red honeysuckle is finally coming back. All we can figure is that the old neighbor sprayed something along the fence line to kill grass and must have hit this bush as well. I almost totally lost it but thankfully, it is doing better.
The passion flower vine is covered with blooms, some of which have already come and gone.
Last year is the first time I planted this vine. I got cuttings from a friend and they did very well. It is called sweet potato vine and I just thought that even though the vine looks like a potato vine, that it was just sort of a made up name. But the friend who I got last year's cuttings from said that hers had actually made potatoes under the ground. This is a topiary that will hopefully fill up by the end of summer.
The waxleaf ligustrums are in full bloom......the smell is yummy.....and the bees love them.....

Wildlife

The kittens are four weeks old today. They have grown so much. They are starting to walk around and socialize with each other. Hoping we can find homes for them all.

These guys have been swooping around under the patio for over a week. They finally decided where they wanted their home to be.
This is an old horseshoe that I had over the backdoor until we remodeled. It is just leaning up against the beam in the carport. The swallows have built their mud nest, using it as a support.
I caught the male and female redbird sitting on the fence. (Please don't look at the scrap of the plastic grocery bag.)
There were at least 5 bunnies playing out back on Saturday. I sat and drank coffee and watched them.

Tree Trimming

This is a tree in our front yard that is mostly dead. Greg had taken a lot of the dead stuff off with the chain saw and now it was time to try to tie it off to be able to pull it down and try to control where it would land. Greg and Brandon were studying on it at this point.

This is pesky nephew Lucas. He is the youngest and lightest so was the logical choice. But this is only as far as we could get him to go up in the tree.
"Hmmm....wonder if we could tie the rope to the truck and the other end to Lucas and get him a bit higher?......."
"Nah," says Brandon. "I will just do it myself....."

(Brandon is that yellow spot pretty high up in the tree.)
Tell me this guy isn't part monkey. Look at the way that foot and those toes are wrapped around that trunk. He has been climbing since he was 18 months old.
The wind was too high or at least part of the tree would have come down. It will have to wait for another day. But at least the rope is now tied so that hopefully the direction that the tree falls can be controlled. (I will be out there with the video camera. We could certainly go for some extra money that we might win from anything exciting happening. We have probably all seen videos of these things going bad.)

We have a new graduate nurse in the Family!!

Congratulations, Marci, for passing your nursing exam!! Yahoo!!! Now on to the state board....

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is mom's birthday (you will have to look on the cakes to figure out what number it is). I was able to attend church with her at the church that I was raised in. It was nice to see so many old friends.

Hope you had a great birthday, mom!! I love you!! paula

Enjoying Outside

This little guy sat on the fence so long this afternoon that I was able to run inside and get the camera. I started out just outside the door with the zoom lens. Then I moved closer, and closer, and closer still. The little hummer just continued to sit and pose for me. I was probably about 5 to 6 feet from him at this point.

I couldn't believe my good luck with him sitting still.
These are some of the amaryllis that we moved from Jeremy's duplex when they left at the end of last year. It wasn't the most ideal time to move them but we didn't have much choice if we were going to take them. I think they all survived. Jeremy has some at his house that are blooming and all of mine are blooming, too.
I was outside this evening when I got home, just piddling around with my plants and in the yard. I noticed that a potted "walking" iris that Millie gave me at Thanksgiving is pushing a bud. It should be blooming by next week. It appears that I was able to save a palmetto (Greg and Millie both say I will be sorry that I wanted one, although since I intend to keep it confined to a pot, I don't think it will be taking over here) and a fern. There is another plant that is coming out but I have no idea what it is. I guess I will just have to wait and see what it does. I hope to get to work with my pot plants over the weekend.

Fun Weekend

We were finally able to find a few hours to head to Round Rock on the motorcycle for a late anniversary dinner compliments of Samantha and Brandon (it had taken this long due to scheduling problems with sporting events). It was a wonderful place. The meal was awesome. Brandon and Greg got steak and Samantha and I got the grouper/shrimp that was the special of the day. The bottle of wine was superb. And the bread pudding for dessert was absolutely to die for. It was an outstanding early dinner!!

This is in the waiting area.
The cigar bar (I just peeped in to take a picture since none of us smoke cigars.)
The dining area.
Then Brandon had gotten us tickets to see the Round Rock Express which is the farm team for the Houston Astros. The ballfield is almost in their back yard so we didn't have too far to go.
It was a beautiful night for a baseball game. The Express team got spanked but there was always something fun going on between innings.
This is the mascot. All we could figure out is he is a train "conductor"...to go with the Express...
We had a great time at the game. The next day, everyone joined us in Round Rock for lunch and to celebrate Greg's birthday. Brandon is quite the cook. He made roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, green beans, and a great pasta salad. For dessert, he had made a couple of cheesecakes. He had never made this particular recipe before and he has decided that he didn't like it as well as his original recipe. But I didn't hear anyone complain.......
We convinced Brandon to whip up some bananas foster. He also did what I guess would be pineapple foster. Served over vanilla ice cream, it was scrumptious!! That is the pesky nephew Lucas peeping over Brandon's shoulder. I think he was afraid to get too close....
Brandon has always loved playing with fire. But I think the first time he did this it scared even him!!!
We headed home, ready to start the week after a fun weekend!! Thanks, Samantha and Brandon, for being great hosts!!

Happy 50th Birthday Greg!!

What a cute little boy!!!

I see some similarities in the haircuts......

Wishing you many more birthdays.......I love you!! paula

Flag Pole

Greg got the flag pole repaired last week (it is in the front yard) and he hoisted the flag on Friday. As I drove down the driveway, I rolled down the window to tell him that he needed to at least be humming the Star Spangled Banner while he was raising the flag........

Anyone want a kitten?

Remember the story about Greg taking the cat to the vet to get her eye well enough to take her to the clinic to have her spayed? Well, her eye got better but she now has kittens.......go figure....Before we left for church, Kitty had been laying in a different place in the laundry room and really didn't appear interested in getting up. When we got home, I told Morgan to go check on the cat. She had already had three and was in the process of having a few more. The fourth one we had to work with because I think "mom" was distracted by us being there, plus she acted like she was pretty tired. We got the kitten breathing and then let Kitty handle it from there. She did a very good job. She is a good mother.

There are three white kittens, one black with white on neck and feet, a grey stripe, and one that really looks a lot like a calico.
Millie, this one is for you. You always thought our cat was ugly......well, take a look at this one.....