weekend shots

Or not-so weekend shots.  Bad news..... my camera is broken.  Or rather it has an error message.  I love my camera and have owned it for about four years.  I truly cannot believe it hasn't given up on me before now.  I am pretty rough on it and treat it just as any other accessory on my body.  It gets tossed around and stored here and there.  I am at a crossroad decision.... send it off to the Nikon repair center, buy another camera or take the plunge and follow internet directions and take it apart myself.  Supposedly there is just a little red gear that needs lubing up.  Sounds pretty simple and the avenue I will probably take once I get my nerve up to do it.  Other than that my weekend was great.  Shaun got Black Rose up and going again and we took the top off of her, we also put new tubes and tires of my bike. we hung out with friends and spent Mother's day afternoon with my Mom at my sister's house.  Here are a few of the last shots taken with my camera.  sniff, sniff.

 DC pocket full of worms.

My inviting path to the woods.  I love that Shaun keeps it mowed.

babies everywhere

As I was unloading my beautiful seedlings/plants at the house after work yesterday, I couldn't help but notice that I was being watched.  From the basement I could see an Eastern Bluebird flying from the back side of the house to the trees, an Eastern Phoebe nearby in a tree watching me who has a nest underneath our porch and a pair of Carolina Wrens, one very verbally talking to his mate and the other with a mouthful of food or maybe building supplies.  We have several places purposely put out for our feathered friends around the outside of our home and this spring the birds are making good use of them.  I had to make supper and didn't have time to pull up a chair and wait around for pictures of the busy parents but I did want to share their homes.  And I did spy some sweet little Phoebe fuzzy heads in the nest.  Mrs Phoebe built in a better spot this year where she will be able to use her nest again.  Last year her first attempt fell and the second served it's purpose but wound up falling too.  

The bluebird house.

The wren household.

Mrs Phoebe's nest and fuzzy heads.

The sparrow family home.  They flew from the nest last Sunday.

And this is the Mourning Dove that is nest in the tree outside my bathroom window.  She has quite the camo going on.

She is actually to the left of the split in the crook of a fallen dead branch.  You can't see her in this picture.  I was making her nervous so I let her be.

We also have Starling babies in the shop which we aren't pleased with.  It's harder to get rid of them with little cheeps coming from the nests.  

I am positive I wouldn't have to go far to spy more nests of different kinds of birds.  It's amazing how close by the birds with nest to each other creating a wonderful kind of natural harmony.  Maybe a bird watch is in order for the weekend.

days of our play care

Honestly... I don't know what we'd do without the dirt pile that's out behind the day care.  It is a little walk down our driveway but just far enough away that we've gone somewhere.  The kids and I climb, jump, hunt, run, fall, throw, yell, and imagine.  The pile they are on here is our space ship.  I am on the ground looking for imaginary food.  We get dirty and sometimes a little hot but in the mean time we are all learning a lot.  This day we discovered bird prints and hundreds of tadpoles around the edge of the water.  Fascinating.  We are so lucky to have a big dirt pile in our world.  

By the way, here's a book we read on pond life.

weekend shots

Howdy all.  My posting is getting more and more random as the days are getting hotter and I have a ton of outside time and chores and playing to do.  no complaints from me about it!  I'd rather be outside.  But even though my blog is a favorite hobby of mine it can feel like something I am dragging along at times when I don't have time to post.  That's life I reckon.  Here's some shots from this past weekend.  My sister and I hung out a lot garage sailing, garden sink painting, pork chop eating and curtain making.  Plus we had a family birthday that I took no pictures of.  Oh well!  Have a wonderful week!