An unlikely home

When I moved to our house in November I dragged along this birdhouse. It was a gift from our good friends, Becky and John a few years ago when they moved.
If you can see in the picture it is precariously suspended just how I quickly put it in the tree. Hanging from those two twigs.
It is a cute little metal decorative birdhouse, don't you think?

Well, we are NOT the only ones who thought so.....
Use your imagination, as you are about to see 'nekkid' baby birds.

Okay that is a nekkid baby bird. Yes that baby bird is inside that heart-shaped opening, in that decorative birdhouse. That baby bird has three siblings. There are four cramped in that space.

Okay, it gets better. These are not HOSPS (house sparrows) or some other troublesome, nest anywhere kind of babes. Those are.............

Eastern BLUEBIRD babies. Their mother protests loudly when we sit in the back yard near HER house.

For those that don't know...there are RULES for Bluebird houses. Things like, near a medow (nope), a certain height (nope), a X circumfrence opening (Nope, a heart) and so on. Well, apparantly this bluebird momma wanted something a little fancier. LOL

I have two other known Eastern blueburd nests (in appropriately correct boxes) on the property, one with an unknown number of babies and one with five. So we have quite the nursery going on.

Sorry for the quality of the baby pic, I refused to really agitate the house. After she fledges these guys I am going to tie that house up better so if she wants the house next year she can have it. LOL

I didn't know I was looking for

This table, but I found it anyway!
Doesn't she have lovely legs?

I apologize that I didn't even clean her up before I took her pics. She needs a good scrubbing and eventually a coat of paint or something. Any thoughts, blog-pals?

BTW, Goodwill $6! :D

I intentionally bought a wreck

If you aren't familiar with cakewrecks the blog, it is time you go there and be prepared to laugh.



I love that blog, I browse our local Kroger for wrecks and often they oblige. They have ugly Cupcake Cakes (CCCs) (*patooey), horrid icing colors and the What the heck factor often.



Well, for Father's day I actually INTENTIONALLY bought a wrecky one (there were many to choose from) for my hubby.



Here it is!

It is a nearly perfect wreck example. .... Shiny icing. Blob 'dad' wearing sumo hair, no face. Shiny dad is lying in a hammock nay air mattress, hanging from twigs with pom poms for leaves. I thought at first those were badly done "M" birds above his head, but alas they are supposed to be ZZZ's but apparantly icing snores do not self-right! Hence they are "N's" LMBO!

It only needed a little MORE wreckiness.....so they added...PLASTIC Flotsam! It did save them misspelling father, dad, day or adding 1000 exlamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

I need to say...the cake was a tasty wreck and I think some of the funniest was that I hadn't mentioned it's wreckiness and some guests attempted to be kind and say "oh nice cake" I had a hard time not peeing my pants! Okay...go see more wrecks.....You will love it!

Aging gracefully?

For some reason in the last few weeks I have been noticing 'lines' across my face. They say they are a sign of wisdom but it is making me cranky! It seems I should not still get the occassional acne outbreak AND laugh lines. ALso how did I get these worry furrows in my head AND laugh lines. It's wrong!

I have NO clue what 'gracefully' means...but I am gonna try 'kicking and fighting'. I am going to start slathering on the sunscreen, getting to the gym, drinking tons of water and using more moisturizers. I don't think I will win the war, but I shall battle, nonetheless. Also, maybe this will encourage me to go to the gym more, so people won't notice? LOL

Lightening Bugs!

You may call them fireflies, here we call them "lightening bugs". No matter what you call them they are fascinating and I find myself endlessly enthralled by their nightly dance. I saw a few this week and I a propelled back in time to my childhood. I remember hours of chasing, catching and releasing them.

This has been a week of beautiful NIGHTS....unseasonably cool a nearly full moon. I have enjoyed going to the barn at dusk and watching night set while my horses munch their supper. I actually got up a few nights ago thinking there was a barn light on, but the moon was so bright it just seemed so.

Take a moment tonight to gaze at the sky and if you have fireflies....maybe recapture your youth by grabbing a Mason jar and start chasin'!

Fleeting Flora

Here is one of my favorites!

Peony (or however you spell it in your neck of the woods).
I got all these plants minus one when they built our new library. Progress always has a cost and our cost was a beautiful home with a gorgeous garden. Luckily, the library had a sale. They sold by the bag for next to nothing. I got several (eight?) Peonies, several Iris and a few others. This was the first year they really came back to 'full glory'. The five year wait was worth.
I do hate that the blooms are so heavy they drag down their stems, but the glory of those few gorgeious days is awe-inspiring. I didn't know colors when I got them and ended up with pale pink and white. I dream of finding the dark pink some day to plant, as it is the color of the ones from my childhood yard.
These are another item I leave here at the shop and may or may not take with me, to the farm, some day.One thing about all this fleeting flora it sure makes you wake up and pay attention each day.
One day they are merely buds, the next full blooms and then one big rain storm and they are battered shells of their former selves. I have no time to mourn the Peonies because today my first Tiger Lily opened up. Those guys will show all the way until nearly fall and then my surprise lilies and then the color of the Autum.
Take some time today and enjoy the fleeting Flora in your area. Maybe next blog I will talk about all the Fauna I have been finding, too! :D

Rain and Roses

We have had alot of rain this year. We were fairly annoyed with it in April when we had rain something like 20 out of 30 days. My horses were mired in mud, my heart was aching for sunshine, but now it seems worth it.

This rose was at our house when we bought it (seven years ago?) and I didn't know it was a 'climber' so I fought with it and tried to prune it and just in general didn't understand 'her'. Then I read an article about climbing roses and that you don't trim them back even in cold climates...and ta da.... She is so much happier. I would love to move her to our new house, but can't decide if it is worth her suffering again. Since we still own the property, she stays put for now.

Here is a lovely shot of one of the blooms after the rain. This climber only blooms for a week or two and it does it intensely. I guess it is another reminder to appreciate things.

Take time to smell your roses, be the literal or figurative, today.