Time flies when you are having Summer

Just taking a minute to check in because I have been busy again and it is a month since I posted. My swallows have all left the nest. Actually 6 of the 7 baby birds fledged and one apparently died in the the nest. After several days of no activity I opened the house to clean it and there was one dead swallow baby. Not sure if the mother finally abandon him or if something else got into the house and killed him. The bird houses are all clean and waiting for a second nesting but as of this writing that seems doubtful.The gardening is taking precidence over birding now. I have beautiful flowers and lots of veggies growing. The tomatoes are just starting to ripen and I am so looking forward to that first BLT with a home grown tomato.

Special Olympic golf has begun and Mike and I again will be trying our luck at capturing a gold medal. Mike celebrated his work anniversary date and is begining his fifth year on the job. Way to go Mike.

Jessica has been the traveller this summer with work and vacation taking her to all parts of the world. She and a girlfriend planned an Alaskan cruise and from there Jessica took a work trip to Singapore. She has decided that a 12 hour time change is sufficient cause for jet lag. She still loves Boston and now that she is back hopes to spend a little more time there.

AJ is taking the junior golf clinics at Belmont this summer and he is developing quite a good swing. He loves hitting balls on the range and into the pond when the range is closed. Sorry friends but I will be out walking the eighteenth pond more frequently this summer and you will not be getting your balls back. Fortunately AJ feels much the same as I do on these walks. We call it our easter egg hunt with the prize being more golfballs to hit futher into the pond.

Hope this video turns out. It is very short but cute. The ball goes about 60 yards now.

The busy season... Summer

My weekly posting goal is over but I am still committed to publishing. Since the travel schedule has finally slowed down the golf schedule had picked up. There are the regular Wednesday ladies game and couples on Sundays and it seems someone always needs a fourth on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Even though we can play pretty quickly at Belmont it is still a 3-4 hour round of golf plus lunch sometimes so it takes a big chink of time. I love it though so I just need to figure out how to sandwich in the regular tasks such as laundry and cooking and house cleaning. And now with the addition of gardening there really isn't ever any downtime. I could spend all day in the yard putzing around.

Bird update is that we had 7 swallow eggs that have hatched but haven't left the nest yet. I am still feeding bluebirds but do not have a nesting pair in either of my houses. The bluebirds are fun to watch as they feed the new babies.

                                      Daddy bluebird with 3 meal worms ready to feed the babies

                         Two babies in the feeding cup and one babies with dad on top of the feeder

                                                             Babies in the bird bath

Summertime

The official start to summer! Memorial Day. It is coming this weekend and we are ready. Spring seems to have missed Ohio this year as the winter quickly turned into summerlike temperatures. The golf course looks great. The pool is opening and the grill is ready to go. Let the fun begin.

Our travel schedule has finally ended after spending this past week in Boston and New York. We had a great visit with Jessica and walked and cached through Boston. Then on to Long Island for Steve's cousin Maureen's, daughters wedding. And what a New York wedding it was. Food, music, flowers, and of course time with relatives we rarely get to see anymore. Much like close friends it is fun to see how quickly conversations with favorite relatives pick up seemingly right where they left off even over many, many years. It is only the young people that change. Little toddlers become teens and teens become adults. Hmmm....I guess we become the elders, although some of the elders from long ago still are looking great.

But to me and Dorothy (from the wizard of Oz) there is no place like home. Yesterday was spent catching up with the mundane such as laundry, mail and groceries. And watering all of my new plants. One would not think that a 6 day trip in May would be a problem for new plants but it seems not a drop of rain fell last week and with temperatures in the high 80's things really dried up. But this morning all is well and rain is on the way.

Today's Quote:

"A weed is a plant the has mastered every survival skill except learning to grow in rows."

Back to the Birds

We started the year with the identification of birds. Our list of winter songbirds quickly ran out but now all of the summer birds are back. Most notably our swallows and bluebirds.One of the prettiest to visit the bird bath is the gold finch. This picture has three finches all waiting their turn.

The swallows have once again claimed the luxury bluebird house but both Steve and I have agreed that the swallows are probably the most fun to watch in flight. They truly soar when they are flying about catching their meal of bugs. The other interesting thing about the swallows is that they actually feather their nests. This picture taken Saturday shows a swallow on my house with a feather in his mouth. He actually caught it in the air. I have put some blue feathers in the yard and it will be interesting to see if they make it to the nest. Two years ago we had pink feathers in a nest.

 

I have been waitress to the bluebirds this year but so far no one has occupied my other bluebird house. We see them flying through the yard and I have continued to feed them. Our neighbor has a bluebird house and when we checked it about a week ago it had 6 eggs so I think I may be helping feed the babies. The bluebirds also like the bird bath. I am trying to get a picture of the gold finch and the bluebird together. It happens but I am never quick enough with the camera.

 

 

We had a great time this past weekend at the Northwest Ohio Area Special Olympics Games. Mike ran the 100 and the 400 and placed 3td and 4th respectively. Not great times but he had been suffering with a cold the previous week so that may have affected his times.  We had a wonderful Mothers Day with a visit from Jesi and AJ and John's best friend Annal. Mike was here and I talked to Jessica. We even Skyped with my Mom and Dad, adding a special Happy Birthday to Mom. She had celebrated her 89th birthday on Saturday. Hope those genes follow me. 

 

Travels, Fun and Yard Work

I think to keep the blog updated I need either more hours in the day, less sleep or a bullet point system that I might at some point go back and add to. So much has been going on that I would love to write more about but to do it justice I need to spend time writing and editing some pictures. So for this update I will try the bullet point approach.

Travels:
Went to Sonoma California and San Francisco for a week. Steve had a meeting and we decided to add a little vacation time to it with a long weekend in Sonoma. We have done Napa several times and the winery visits around Sonoma were a great change of pace. We were joined by our friends the Bennetts and had a delightful time in the house we rented in the hills of Sonoma. We were especially fond of "Fisher" winery and have joined their wine club. San Francisco city was as always a great city to spend time in. We walked, visited some of the usual attractions and ate some of their best.

Fun:
Yay! spring has arrived and the golf season has begun. Also the birds are here and we are courting a couple of bluebirds to again make a family in our yard. We have a nesting pair of swallows and I recently found a robins nest in our shrubbery. Still love to spend time with AJ. He loves the train and making Lincoln log stations.

Yard work:
My friend Kathy has been mentoring me in gardening and I have added a large area in front of our deck as garden space. This past weekend Steve helped me finish off a walkway through the space. Kathy and I have been attending plant exchanges and I have had many garden friends offer up splits from their own gardens. As soon as I post this I am going out to dig some more holes and add to the greenery.

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CRA...ZZZY Week

Starting Monday with the Boston Marathon bombing and right through today chasing down the second suspect. So much of the activity has been around Jessica's apartment in Boston (Cambridge) I have talked and texted with her often this week...sharing emotions and fears. What motivates someone to take such drastic actions. It has been unthinkable. She is working from home today with locked doors and window shades drawn. I watch the television and recognize areas we have visited near her apartment. I will be glad to end this week feeling safe.