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.....

Sad

Geez, sad to report that the diamond doves have stopped sitting their egg as of yesterday. Not sure what is going on with that but very disappointed. Maybe it wasn't going to hatch anyway. Will wait a few days, talk to the lady I bought them from, and go from there. The ring neck dove is still sitting tight on her egg. If it doesn't hatch this week, something was awry with it as well. Maybe it is for the best, kinda hard for a naked little baby bird to be trying to make it in our cold weather right now.....

Eggs again!!

The diamond doves have one egg, laid in a container that is intended to be a feed cup for the parakeets. This is the male sitting on the egg. Neither of the pair will leave when I walk up and get nose to nose with them to try to see inside the nest. The bluish color to the photo is because the aviary is covered with a blue tarp to keep out the cold.The female taking a break from sitting the egg.

Ring necked dove

The ring necked pair also has an egg. Not sure if this is the female or male sitting the egg. I had put several containers in the cage, not knowing what they would prefer. The egg that was laid before Christmas that didn't survive was laid in an old cake pan, this one is in the coffee container that I cut down. Each pair only has one egg. I am so excited, but will just have to wait and see if they hatch them. In about 14 days, we should know....

All the doves are very tame to me. They will even fly down and sit on my head while I am cleaning the cage. Can't say the same for the pesky parakeets. They are now inside the house in a cage because of our extreme cold weather that we had for a few days and they were a challenge to catch, even with the fish net that I had. And let me tell you, parakeets are small but they can bite like you wouldn't believe!!!

This morning.....

This hawk hangs around at the house alot......the reason we keep the dog inside......

Beads

Jonathan spent the longest time just playing with four strings of Mardi Gras beads......

Put them on.....

....take them off!!

Then finally putting them in the bucket.......Over and over and over again......

Happy First Birthday Charley!!

A year ago today, Charley made an early appearance and became a part of our hearts!!
I thought she was the prettiest little girl I had ever seen!!

Happy Birthday Charley!!Mimi and Papa love you!!