Our Sweet Animals Love Us So!

Over the years I've had many sweet gifts from my animals (can you feel the sarcasm yet?).
What kind of gifts, you ask? Many of you animal owners will have had some of these yourselves...

(live variety)
Lizards. Frogs. Mice. Baby Possums. Snakes

(half-alive variety)
Lizards. Frogs. Raccoons. Moles

(dead variety)
Lizards. Frogs. Raccoons. Moles. Rats. Mama Possums. Chickens (yes, chickens). Various Birds. Snakes. Fish. Bugs.

(dead and in the house variety)
Lizards. Bugs.
Until yesterday lizards and bugs were about the only critters that had actually been brought inside the house for us (or killed while in the house), most of the others (ie: the bigger ones) have been left at the doorstep or somewhere in the yard. But yesterday, I had a critter in the house that beat all critters....

Dead bird. In the middle of the carpet in Julia's room. NICE.

And it was a fledgling - still had pin feathers. I'm thinking the dog (who can hide all kinds of things in her very gentle, Labrador mouth) must have brought it in with her as we came in from school.

Just thought I'd share. (Have you had similar gifts left for you?)

There's Even Wildlife by the Whispering Marsh

One day I realized the cardinals were going crazy on my front porch.
The cats were sitting in front of the sidelights on the door and the birds were telling the cats something that I'm sure your ears are glad I can't translate.

I decided that must mean there was a nest around. I put on my country girl shoes (ie: barefooted) and went out searching. It didn't take long for me to realize that the cardinals were going in and out of my giant pittosporam that was growing by the driveway.



About half way up - waist high - is where I noticed the nest. Upon peeking in you could see right down in to it. Thank you cardinal parents for making it low enough for us all to peak into. Here's what we saw...
4 babies.
Several days later, there was only one left. I was nervous that he hadn't fledged and may be too weak. I was also bothered by the fact that they were calling for 40 degree weather overnight and he had no nest mates to help keep him warm.

The next morning, this is what I found...He was gone by noon.
Doesn't he look like a little Elvis bird?

It has been fun watching them all around the yard. There has been lots of calling and still fussing at the cats through the window.

God is in the Small Things

At the end of a day where...

*Terminix proves unhelpful and unwilling to cooperate
*Your legs are really killing you from standing up in your house because there's not many places to sit yet
*A journey to check on the house with "The Red Tin Roof" gives unexpected surprises
(read: the winds from this weekend's storm have blown the cute little metal chimney off of your house and it's laying in the yard.)

...God puts blessings in the strangest of places:
Sorry for the gross, meatloaf factor, but this little face really was sitting just like you see it, looking directly at me when I looked down. I instantly smiled before I even realized what I was smiling at.

And yes I do think it's a little message from God to brighten my difficult day. Reminding me that He loves me and that I shouldn't sweat the small stuff.

"Best Of" 2006

Let me know if you think I have left out that "one favorite". These are the ones I think Mom liked most.

Dolphin Funeral

The Naivete of Children

Check out the Frog

A little Tin Roof Wildlife

Thought You might Enjoy a few Pictures

Boogie Fever - Tiger Style

**other requests I had forgotten

Fire Seasaon Has Begun

They're Baaack!!!

On Thanksgiving weekend -
The geese gave thanks for the nice layover.

Sue, this is for you!

Enjoy!!

Since Sue thinks it's funny that I like my wildlife photos, I've decided to post some more for her. Of course, this picking means I love you! That said.....

The Alligator

This is the alligator that lives in our small irrigation pond. He's a little longer than my leg, and not any bigger around. I haven't seen him since it's gotten a bit colder. I'm sure we'll see him sunning himself soon.

The Geese

Periodically we have a flock (or flocks) or geese that take a break from their migration to rest in our field. They do it with yearly regularity. This time, I had my camera to catch a few shots. They didn't seem to mind me stopping to take some snaps of them.

As a matter of fact, some of them actually took a pose for me.

So, Sue, I hope you enjoyed these "Wildlife Photos". I'll have more coming for you soon!

Cool Bird

COOL BIRD

We've had a lot of birds hanging out on the posts of the dock (still being refurbished). You know, seagulls and the sort. But I thought this one was the pretty cool. I think this is a Night Heron.
He is, however, really large. In all of the drawings or photos I've seen of them they don't look like they get this big. He must be an old guy.

Mr. Lizard

Mr. LizardThis is my little lizard friend who always hangs out on the flagpole. Though he has never told me his name, he seems to like coming around and hanging out. I can only assume that this is the same lizard in all of the pictures because of the size of this guy and his love of the same spot. If all other animals are territorial, I don't know why lizards shouldn't be as well.

I was able to catch Mr. Lizard during a molt. He was rubbing all up and down the pole trying to get his old skin off. Looks like he may have tangled with a bird or a cat at some point between these pictures...he's got a really nasty looking wound on his side. It hasn't seemed to slow him down though. And if it's not the same lizard, this guy's wound may be a battle scar over who got to sit on the flagpole.

Spring or Fall?

Is Mother Nature developing Alzheimers?

These are just a few of the things currently blooming around my house.
Don't tell Mother Nature, she may decide to take them away.
I was one week too late to get the picture of the blooming wisteria.

Check out the Frog

I think these are most of the pictures that were lost the other night when the battery died on the laptop. Hope you enjoy! More to come later.

This is the picture of Julia being thrown at the swim team pool party.













This is Oscar. He is a very sweet boy. Due to his camoflauged coat we have to be carful not to step on him when he's on the hardwood floors.

We also have a new kitty that we adopted on Monday - his name is Felix. He's the other part of this "Odd Couple". Pictures of him on a later post.







A boy and his dog! Willis loves us, but especially Legare!

This picture was taken the night before the people came to build our shed. Legare and Willis were "helping" Bryan get the sight ready.








This is the start of our storage shed. It is really great. I will also post finished pictures of it on a follow-up post. Bryan is currently working on the shelving inside so that we can have proper storage. So far, so good.









This is truly the largest tree frog I have ever seen.

And for those of you who knew me as a child to know my love for frogs - you know that I have seen a lot of toads and frogs in my time.
This guy was LARGE!









This is him with a football ticket for reference on how wide his feet are. This ticket is minus the small stub on the bottom.











Another shot for size reference. This picture doesn't really do it justice.

Take your hand and make the "L" with your fingers to see how large this guy was. Go on, make the "L"...I'll wait.......

Did you make it yet? And remember, I have large hands. Impressive tree frog huh?

Glad I took pictures when I did, I haven't seen him back.


We'll be celebrating Julia's 8th birthday on Friday!!

Love you all - more later.

A Good Read

If you find yourself trying to find something to search, I have found a very interesting blog called farmgirl fare. She lives in Missouri and posts a daily picture of the things around her farm, ie: the animals, the scenery, the plants, etc. She posts recipes too, though I have not used one yet, many people who post on her site say they are yummy. Simply click this link to farmgirl fare, or go to foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com. You can amuse yourself for hours on her site with all of the links she has. Enjoy!

Life at Kiawah!

We had a great time for a week at Kiawah. It was a real family affair; Mr. and Mrs. W and Thomas, Aileen and Spencer and their children Spencer and Eliza, the four of us and our two fish (can't free feed them at home for the week like the dogs and cat). There were early mornings and late afternoons on the beach, a few bike rides for ice cream, shopping at the cute stores, lots of enjoying Tasty Cold Beverages and card playing like you have never seen. Thank you Sue for teaching us how to play Pooh Head! The kids and I taught my Mom and Dad when we were with them, and we taught the other side of our family this week at the beach! We couldn't get enough. I'll be glad to teach anyone interested the next time we're all together. And watch out...Julia and Legare are ruthless.

Enjoy the pictures below! Thank you Grandmommy and Pop for a week I hope we can duplicate next summer.



A picture looking back at our tent city and the beach house. You can see the chairs on the raised deck and a glimpse of the roof between the dunes. We would tote one tent back and forth with the tide so that us adults would always have shade. It was great!







During the week, the sea grass (I believe it is called sarggasm) was prevalent. On one of the last days it was on most of the beach. Luckily it didn't stink. This is a picture showing the most we had. There are tons of sea gulls munching on creatures washed in with with grass.

This picture is fuzzy because my camera hadn't acclimated from the cold house to the warm outside. It was actually bright and sunny. The weather was great all week.






The first day we were there, Julia led the smaller of the troops in digging a big hole.










We warned her that it was low tide and that it would be filled over as the tide came in, but she didn't seem to mind.

They just worked harder at fortifying the front wall.








They didn't seem to mind until, of course, the water started ruining their hard work. They continued strengthening the walls. But they worked to no avail ...the sea finally took it over.









So the next day, they dug an even bigger, deeper whole (their house) that was well above the high tide line. They played in it all week.












Julia claims to enjoy hand washing dishes. Some how the Tom Sawyer in her had the boys believing that they liked it too and they started tackling the dishes one night.

They had a true routine...someone to wash, someone to rinse, and someone to dry the dishes and the floor.

They swapped and took turns at each activity.






They were very proud of their cleaning and each made sure to show off their cleaning prowess.










Julia and Eliza - our Pink Girls.

One morning Julia even got in Eliza's pack and play to help entertain her before all the adults were up. Thank you, Julia!










Legare and Spencer - our little Game Boys.















Thomas, Spencer and Bryan - our little No Monkeys.

You know: Speak, See and Hear.










After I told Julia she couldn't take her Lovie blanket on the beach, Pop quickly seized the moment to babysit it on the deck instead of going out to the beach. Good Thinking!








Sorry there are no pictures of the card playing that took place each evening. Those of us who were playing cards were also the picture takers. But I can assure you that it was a sight to see.

A little Tin Roof wildlife

These are some of the things you might see if you ever came to visit us here. Most of these could be seen just by looking out of a window, you wouldn't even have to leave the safety blanket of The Red Tin Roof.

This picture was taken out of my bedroom window. If you look up at the top, you will see two small tree frogs sharing the back side of an ivy leaf. They caught my attention because the one on the left (I'm assuming he was the male), was enjoying putting on a big show of swelling up his body and throat to make the biggest croaking noise ever. I hope I didn't disturb them...ha!

The guy pictured below was hanging out at the side of the window as I was shooting the frogs. I was afraid I wasn't going to get him with the throat out. He decided to flex that muscle after the flash went off with the frog picture.
After the frogs and the lizard, I thought I would take some wildlife photos so that I could entertain all of you. That reminded me that I wanted to let you all see the bird nest that got started in the corner of my porch. Each year, this little wren starts a nest here and then leaves before she finishes it. This year, she got farther than ever. I thought I would take a picture of it for you and then pull it down.

As I took the picture I thought to myself that she must do this so that she would have a decoy nest. Julia and I watched her build it one weekend. Here it is....

Well, then, as I reached up to pull it down, lo and behold, a tiny little bird flew out at me. So after a while, I went back to see if I could see anything. Nothing....so I decided to look through the camera lens to get a close-up. Look what you can see when you use a flash....
After that, I decided to go to the swing and lift up the pillow where the other little tree frog likes to hang out. He wasn't there. But, on the porch post, under the thermometer, we found someone else...

Julia and I remarked that the tree frogs must somehow change their colors like lizards do to try to blend in with their surroundings.

After seeing all of these neat little things within about 15 minutes of each other, we then had an invasion of the ebony, slick coated K-IV. It is sometimes a ferocious beast that loves to bring other wildlife such as dead rats, dead raccoons and dead chickens to the house. We like to affectionately refer to this wild beast as Willis.

Today, as we were coming back onto the farm, we had another neat glimpse into mother nature at work. I always stop to point out to the children the occasional turtle, snake, flower or neat bird. As we passed the small irrigation pond next to the tractor shed, we saw the carcass of what I think is a sea gull. The turtles were tugging at it under water trying to convert it into an afternoon snack. So, as always, I stopped to let the children see. (We don't know the initial cause of death).
Then....from our right comes an adolescent alligator. It is swimming very slowly for the turtle's luncheon - I think it knew it wasn't invited. Luckily, I remember that my camera is in the car, so I grab it, take the picture up above, and then take this one...

At first, the gator just nosed it, then.......lots of trashing and splashing....

And afterwards, the alligator left the carcass and went on its way. I don't know if it didn't like it, if it realized that it didn't taste good or what. Weird.

But you know, the wildest of all the wildlife out here, is what you can see floating in the creek on random weekend afternoons. This time, it happened on the 4th...right in the middle of what would have been a normal work day - definitely a rare sight....

Hope you all enjoyed the fourth!

The Kind of Wife I Am

I was just wondering what Bryan might do if in fact he had married someone other than me.

Someone who may have been a true GIRLY GIRL that wasn't able to do things like, hang ceiling fans, hammer a nail, do dry wall work, check the oil to see if it needs changing, trailer a boat, help clean doves, etc., etc.

What if he had married someone who needed the constant manicure? Or pedicure? Someone who was above doing her own nails. Someone who couldn't put a 30 foot trailer on the back of her car and drive it around town. Or realize that she should park it (and do so successfully) so that she could get onto Archdale Street to pick up her children from school without getting it stuck at the turn onto Queen Street.

Or what if he married someone who insisted that he bait mouse traps? And leave it solely up to him to decide that the trapping needed to be done in the first place. And then what if she left it up to him to empty the mouse traps? Not because she was sad that she had killed one of God's creatures, but because she was such a girly girl, that she was truly afraid of the sight of a mouse.

And what if he married someone who was so afraid of the mice, that instead of depositing them in the river herself so that they could become crab food, she waited until he got home to get it out of the house? Giving it ample time to bake all day in the hot kitchen and start stinking up the place.

And on the flip side - what would I do if I had married a person, who did not like venturing off to work in the mornings? All so that he could bring home the bacon and provide his family with some of the nicer things in life.

What if I had actually married someone who took the initiative of baiting and checking mouse traps each day and actually disposing of the dead creatures himself?

Boy! Life would really be different for us both I would say.

Great things to ponder as we near the eve of our 12th anniversary.

I love you, Bryan!