Baby birds

It was a year ago that Ward got a bird feeder for his birthday and we started watching the birds around our yard. As part of this new found interest, we also have been watching our bluebird nesting box this spring. The birds have used it before, but we paid little attention to them.

This year, we watched as bluebirds flew around it making a nest. Later we checked it occasionally to watch the successful brood that was raised there. Wally and I took a few pictures of the process as you'll see below.

Let me mention a couple of things before you look at the pictures. Baby birds inside dark boxes don't take "cute" photos. I think the phrase, " They look like something only a mother could love," applies here.

February 23--Our bluebird nesting box that Wally built as part of his Boy Scout Eagle project.

                           March 23                                 March 27                                                    April 3

It took a couple of weeks for the nest to be built and then it sat empty for a couple more weeks.

This nest is made out of pine needles. Bluebirds usually use only one material to build their nests.

April 26--They hatch.
I don't know exactly when the babies hatched, but I think it was just before this picture was taken.
The four babies are mostly pink skin with tufts of gray down on their heads.

April 30--five days old
The down is increasing and the beak is a lot more prominent.
The eyes aren't open yet, but they should be opening in a couple of days.

May 11--sixteen days old
They have visible tail feathers and are starting to develop wing feathers. 
There's still a fair amount of down.

May 19, 2012--twenty-four days old
The nest is empty. They've probably been gone for a couple of days.

Note:  If you want to see a good photo and informational presentation of baby bluebirds visit Bluebird Nut.  

A Second Look--May 23, 2012

We've had a lot of rain over the past couple of days, so I went out between showers for my Second Look this week. The ants and bees were out in full force especially around the sage and spirea.

See what I found this week during my Second Look.

Rain drops on Lady's Mantle leaves along with Dead nettle (Lamium m. Aureum) 

The Blanket Flowers went from only two blooms last week to many.

Ant on Sage foraging for nectar.

Annie giving me a second look through the screen door as I do a Second Look.

Bee on Spirea blossoms.

Presently, my favorite garden tools: soil knife, sun hat, and leaf scoops.

School Days--Eddie

 School Days is a reoccurring feature in which I ask people about their early memories of school. Everyone has a story to tell about this and I hope to give them a voice here. 

Here is Today's Story

Eddie started kindergarten in 1988 when he was almost five years old. His school was in suburban Maryland.

What do you remember about starting school?

I remember that Mrs.Gnu was my teacher for kindergarten. She was nice enough, but she acted like she didn't want to deal with kids, especially me.

Why do you say that?

Maybe because we were hard to deal with.

We had a coloring book on dinosaurs to color and I didn't want to do it. Coloring was not my thing. I colored all of the pictures gray and didn't worry that I was outside the lines. She asked me why I did that because the dinosaurs were different colors. I replied, “You should know. You are old enough to have been there.”

Another time I watched one kid dump an entire bottle of Elmer's glue on another kid's head.

Were you one of those kids?

No, but the two kids involved later lived together.

What do you remember about first grade?

Mrs. Bee was my teacher and was frustrated with me. I wasn't catching onto spelling and although I could read, I didn't want to read what they had at school. One day, she was exasperated with me and said, “Why aren't you getting it? Are you stupid?”

That's awful.

Yes it was. It was the first time I wanted to hit an adult. The interesting thing is that she was my mentor in middle school to help me be organized.

Can you tell me a good memory from elementary school?

My second grade teacher, Mrs. Jackson was very nice, but I really enjoyed fifth grade. I don't remember what I learned, so there must not have been too many problems in that area. Mr. Shraffe was my teacher and he was a lot of fun. He was a good story teller and sometimes he would end the day with a game or a magic trick. He brought his laser disc player to school and showed us Billy Joel's music video of We Didn't Start the Fire. We studied history that way.

Thanks for sharing your memories. I hope we can hear more stories another time.

Soil Knife

Ward's new soil knife

I have a new favorite garden tool.  It cuts, it digs, it measures, it saws, it makes coffee. Well, actually I'm not sure about the coffee part, but it might. What is it? A soil knife also known as a hori hori knife.  The miracle tool is the shape of narrow trowel with a sharp knife edge on one side and a saw-tooth edge on the other. The one we have is also marked off in inches for measuring.

Apparently, it's been around for a long time. It was first implemented in Japan to dig mountain vegetables. (Thus the original name of hori hori which means "to dig" in Japanese.) However, I only heard of it recently when Aunt Martha suggested that Ward might like one for his birthday. I got it for him, but I kind of felt like when I was a kid and for my sister's birthday bought what I really wanted. Ward has gotten to use it a few times, but I have had it out almost every day.

Each time I use it, I find another thing it does better than any tool I've used before. It makes digging very easy. Its sharp blade cuts into hard soil almost effortlessly. And if you run into roots while you're digging--no problem. You can saw right through them. You can measure the depth of your hole when you are planting, and it cuts better than any razor blade I've ever used when opening a bag of mulch. I love it. The only problem is that Theodore has discovered it too. Maybe Ward needs another one for Father's Day.

Food Waste Friday--May 18, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. 

Here it goes for this week.

Cilantro past its prime.

I should have known. When I looked up the definition for cilantro, here's what I found:

  cilantro  (sɪˈlæntrəʊ): an herb, also called coriander, that is sold in big bunches and rots rapidly.  :)

No wonder that cilantro is a common occurrence on my Food Waste Friday posts. However, this time, I used more than usual before it started to turn to slime.