Three birds

Inherited another parakeet through Craigslist, the blue one on the right. The gal I got him from said that it was found outside in a park about a week ago, which would have been when it was a bit cold here. He was on the ground and one of her coworkers threw a coat over him/her to make the catch. She was unable to keep it because they have inside cats. I really hope that it is a female so we don't have any dominant male issues since they are living in such close quarters in the small cage inside until the weather warms up. As far as the birds outside, the parents have pushed the young dove (it is snowy white, wish it would stay that way) out of the nest and are already sitting another egg!! The small dove pair have TWO eggs that they are sitting, hope they are successful this time. Only time will tell....

It's warming up......

Baby dove

The baby is growing so fast. Yesterday morning when I went out to feed, it was out of the nest and sitting on the shelf but I put him/her back since it was cold and snowing outside. I hope it stays all white but chances are, it probably won't.....

Snow!!

Although predicted to fall during the night (to the tune of 4-6 inches), we awoke to no snow this morning. By my trip in to work at 7:30, it was sleeting. Shortly before I got to work, it started to snow. And it continued on for the better part of the day. Lots and lots of big, soft, floating snowflakes!!! It was awesome!! Luckily, the judge closed the courthouse at noon!!
Yahoo..... freedom!!!

Nearly all schools, and many businesses, closed at noon. And will start late in the morning as it is predicted to get below freezing tonight which will make the roads a bit slick in the early morning.

We get so excited about snow. But it must be remembered that this part of Texas doesn't get much snow......therefore, we have a blast when it does come!!! And most people here can't drive worth a flip in this weather, they are idiots, thus the late openings in the morning!!

We drove around in the country this afternoon (Greg got home about 2:00) and we really had more snow than most places.

After we got back home, I made the obligatory snowpeople. We saw many unique ones today but I didn't have the time or energy or appropriate clothing on to stay outside for much longer than these cuties required!!

I made yummy tomato soup today and will try to make pancakes in the morning from a Pioneer Woman recipe.....cinnamon bun pancakes!!! I can hardly wait!!!

Special Olympics Basketball

Greg spent Saturday morning, from 8 until 1, refereeing special olympics basketball games on campus at Baylor University. I tagged along with the camera. I have to admit, I was very surprised by the folks there. I had mistakenly assumed that they would be "kids", which there were several teams of special children. But the special adults had a couple of teams, too. There were all ages and sizes, men and women. And they all played with enthusiasm, intensity, and a true happiness.

Greg stopped to talk to me once and his comment was that they were different sizes on the outside but basically all the same on the inside. A Lady Bear basketball player stopped by to welcome the players.

Greg was the one that volunteered his time but I think we both were truly blessed by being a part of the fun. There were several times during the day that I found myself blinking away tears. We sometimes get so full of ourselves that we don't take the time to give back to the community, and we forget to appreciate just how lucky we are......

Headed home.....

We had to eat out just one last time before we headed home. We stopped for lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. We really need one of these in Waco........

The round things were called Great Balls of Fire. They were similar to hush puppies, but were filled with crab meat, cheese, and chopped jalapenos!!

Ooops......I didn't get a photo of the crawfish etouffee until it was just about too late!!!

Charley was taking a nap when we first arrived, it took her a little bit to wake up and "warm up". But it wasn't long before she was in Papa's lap for him to read her new Valentine book to her.

Charley and Brandon walked us to the car to say goodbye.

The Capital

It has been years since either of us had visited the Capital building.

It is really a very pretty place.

The ceiling is very different.

This is the floor of the rotunda. Even though it was a government holiday, there were many people visiting.

What a great city......liberal ideas, but great......

Austin, TX

The capital city is really a beautiful and unique place.
This gal had her carriage decorated for Valentine's Day.

And these people had the right idea about how to get around town......

Eating in Austin, TX

Valentine's Day, we ate mid-afternoon at the Iron Cactus on 6th Street in downtown Austin.

We started with a really good margarita......

....and some made at the table guacamole.

YUM!!!

We shared skewers of shrimp and med rare steak, with veggies and cheesy rice with corn.....

.....all that remained.......

Baby Dove

This is the best picture I could get of the baby dove, the mom was busy eating so I quickly slid the nest over to get a shot. It isn't much to look at but is really growing fast.

Charley

Neither of us had to work today so we spent last night in Austin for Valentine's Day. Will post more later. We stopped by to give Charley her Valentine's gifts.....her mom would be so proud, look at her reading her new book!!!

What a darlin' Charley is!!! She is walking all over the place, and goes non-stop, she is just too busy!! And while she is busy, she is also jabbering and making noise!!

Love you, Charley!!

Look!!

Look what I got!! A NEW CAMERA!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

What a cutie!!

Boots

New boots from Christmas........thanks to the Round Rock bunch!!

Frost and fog

Very heavy frost and lots of fog this morning......

Here comes the sun?????

This is the sunrise Tuesday morning. We finally got to see the sun for a while.

This was sunrise this morning.

We have just a bit of snow, mostly sleet, I think. We are allowed to go in to work at 10 today.

I know you people in the East don't understand our fascination with snow but we just don't see it that often here in Texas. And especially not to the magnitude that you guys are dealing with it now........

Now, I am ready for this to be gone and the sun to come out so that we can dry out a bit!!

Bird Update

I took the egg from the diamond dove nest today. The shell was already broken so I took it inside to examine it. It appears that the egg was fertile but the chick stopped growing at some point, maybe it got too cold, who knows. Hoping they try again, but maybe they will wait until the weather gets warmer. While I was in the cage, I decided to see what the ring neck dove had going on. I stood on a paint bucket and pulled her nest toward me so I could see. Didn't want to disturb her too much so just pushed her over a bit with my finger and saw a pink, wiggling baby bird......as well as a second egg!! It should hatch within the next 48 hours. Then we will see if the adult birds are good parents or not......

Random

I bought a bunch of alphabet magnets and we have all the grandkids names on the backdoor.....