Good Morning Phoebe

This Fall I have had a pair of Phoebe visiting every morning. Each morning the male sings from some spot. Usually a tall tip of a tree. But this morning on a water spigot. He dips and swoops, runs under the house eaves for bugs.
I am besotted with the Phoebe as much as I was last year with the Screech Owls. You just have not lived until you have seen a wobbly headed baby screech owl manage to get his head peaking out of the hole. And to watch one fledge was unforgettable. They sit in the opening and throw their body back and forth as if in a game of "ready, set, go". It must be scary and look a long way down to them. And who knew the first time they must climb a tree. I learned so much about them. And I learned that squirrels destroy their bird houses. I hope my pair of screech owls
come back this March. The first week they were nesting. I saw at dusk, both the male and
female bathing in the birdbath together. It was almost too much. I felt like a voyeur who had
pulled back the curtain on someones love making.

Ok, I have to go christmas shopping for someone who lives in England. And if I don't get their
package mailed this week they will never get it in time.

Pillow Snatcher

Tiny is the love of my life. But Girl is my first born. In the dog world that is. I try so hard
not to let Girl see my baby talk Tiny. But it is soooo hard. Like when you have your second
baby and you do not want your first born to be jealous. So, you try and kiss their footsies when
your first born is napping. Oh, its so hard to add an addition to the family.

I made lemon curd squares today. I love them. They remind me of my grandmothers lemon
curd tarts and her banbary tarts. My grandmother was born in England and moved to Canada when she was sixteen. But she kept all her English ways. She would say, have a cuppa.
And she had many English habits. She made trifle and yorkshire pudding. And she made
lamb and kidney pie for my grandpa. I miss her every day. I was her "girl". Of all the grandkids
I took after her. And I am the only grandchild who can make apple pie like she did. I treasure
that gift. She used to let me watch her make the pie dough, and roll it out. Then she gave me
the trimmings to make jam tarts with. I had a magically childhood. One my children never
knew.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Tiny taking a nap.

Hello all. I have not had time for blogging much since Tiny came in to our lives. He is only
ten months old and he does not understand computers, other than, "That thing that takes my mommy away from playing with me." Right now he is under the covers of the Futon and very mad at me for being on here. Puppies require lots of attention.

Thanksgiving was hectic. I was the cook. For the first time in my life, my apple pie was not even edible. I have had bad pie crusts but this one was just mush. I tried to cook too many things
for one day. Next year I plan to go out to eat. Not sure what the rest of the family is doing.
But I am letting someone else cook.

Got this great spider shot this morning and then one of the husband and dog sleeping together.
Ha. Thats all. I must go play with the puppy.

I'm back...................

While we were gone my husbands Aunt Lillian passed away, all alone with no family nearby.
I have no idea how long she was before she was found. We have picked up her little dachsund
puppy because I had told her I would take him if anything happened to her. Her daughter sure
made it down here quickly enough to clean out her house. Do I sound bitter. I am bitter.

While on my trip I fell over a guide wire at an R.V dealer that should not have been there.
Either bruised or cracked a rib, and scraped a knee and hand. As Gilda Radner used to say,
"It's always something."

I am reading the book. Eat, Love, Pray. I love it. I can relate to that author because I have been
right where she was. But in my case, I did not end my marriage. I actually made it better.
We got Aunt Lillian's coo coo clock. Her daughter was going to throw it out. I think I will
give away all my stuff now so the kids will not have to do that.

I do not have much to say. And the new puppy does not like me on the computer as then
he does not get attention.

Rosie, Where For Art Thou?

The Rosie O'Donnell web site is down. I guess
they are upgrading. This butterfly photograph
was taken by my husband yesterday. It makes
it look like the passion flower has butterfly wings for ears. ha ha.

We are taking a little trip up North. My shoulder injury is all healed up. I have not updated here in a month. I have two blogs. It's hard to keep them both up.

I hope my flowers I just planted are going to be alright while I am gone. They are just now getting to be about an inch tall. What a waste that would be if they all died from lack of water.
I can't stay home all the time just because I am worrying about my flowers. No one but posts on here anymore. I guess that is because I don't keep updating. Pretty soon I will be putting my owl house back up. It won't be long and the owl family will be back. I sure hope we don't have the same squirrel problem again. All the birds are eating less and less now that all their babies
are grown. I never noticed how quiet it gets in the Fall.
Bye for now. See you in five or six days.

This one's for my friend Flash

Why, yes, I completely forgot the photograph. I have too many blogs to keep up with.
I also have a friend who is in her nineties and she runs circles around me. Since she gave up
her car, I have been taking her more places. I think she could have continued to drive a bit
longer but I admire her ability to give up the keys.

We have Red Hat groups here. I have not joined one yet. But I aspire to eccentricity. Much
to my husbands embarrassment. There have to be some pluses about getting older. And not
caring what anyone else thinks is a great one. I think I have read that poem. I belonged to a poetry group but I think I outlived everyone in the group. I live in a town which attracts a lot
of retirees as the cost of living is low here. Property and taxes are low.

In this photo, we were taking a back road from Maryville, Tennessee to Pigeon Forge, recommended to us by our godparents grandson. The journey to Pigeon Forge was much
nicer than the actual Pigeon Forge. Pigeon Forge has become a tourist trap and the closer we
got to the town, the more traffic we encountered. It became so awful that eventually we decided
to skip Pigeon Forge. But we did enjoy the scenery on the way.
Today is quite grey looking. I am hoping for a huge rainshower.

Getting Old is Not for Sissy's

My mother's cousin says this all the time. She is 87 and already younger acting than I am. She
has painted the whole inside and outside of her house. I get tired just watching her. This morning I tilled some plant food into my new flower bed. I was then worn out. I must get in better shape.
I am trying to walk one hour per day. So far, I cannot even make it to 40 minutes.
My favorite television show will be coming on in thirty minutes. It was not very well written
last week. I hope the storyline is better tonight. If not, I have some great books to finish reading.

I am anxious for Fall weather. This summer has seemed to go on forever. This morning it
was almost cool. It lasted for about two hours. I opened the windows and the cats loved it. I love when a cats eyes widen very large. I wonder what they are thinking when that happens. I saw a snowshoe siamese at the humane society pet adoption. My husband just gave me "the look".
Maybe I will outlive him and I can become that sherry drinking, eccentric cat lady. You know
the one with 50 cats who has all the empties lined up outside the door. Sadly, I had to give
up my Harvey's Bristal Creme. It was putting too much weight on my hips. Which, I have not
yet lost.

Sometimes I think my husband does not appreciate all my great qualities. For instance, I like
to sing out loud in the grocery store and I talk to perfect strangers. In my opinion, a stranger
is just a friend I haven't been introduced to yet. Men are so proper. Glad I was born a woman.

Here is a photograph we took on a back road whilst on our way to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It
was lovely. I would like to live in a little house in that field. Ta Ra. Goodnight Sweet
Princes of Maine.

I graduated!!!!!!!!

Yes, after two months in painful physical therapy I now have "daily range of motion" necessary
to do everyday ordinary things. I still cannot raise the bad shoulder/hand behind my back up
to my bra strap. But, I can accept that. The only way to have 100 percent range of motion
would be to let the orthopedist surgeon put me under and then rip open all the capsulation
and clean it out. Then I would technically have a new injury (my partially torn rotator cuff
already is past the scar healing point with calcium deposits( and then I would have my arm in
a sling for three weeks, and then three to six months of physical therapy. I will wait and see how
I feel. My internist says that if I keep up my therapy exercises at home, my shoulder will continue
to ache but I will keep what mobility I have gained. But, if I quit my exercises, my shoulder will
no longer hurt, but I will lose all mobility again. I think I can live with the pain. Hey, if it gets
to bad then I will consider surgery. All this has just given me a wake-up call. A reminder
to get in better health, to move more and quit eating "crap". ie. white sugar and flour.

Since my purchase of a quite expensive camera, I have now become obsessed with perfection
and now I delete what I used to consider lovely photographs. Sigh. I have learned that
in photography, light is everything. What time of day light, which direction the light is coming
from. It all makes or breaks a photograph.

Having had success with hollyhocks this summer after trying for 13 years. I am now starting
a bigger flower bed this Fall. And I hope this one is outstanding. I am making a very amended
soil bed before I even plant one seed. I have added foxglove, delphinium, and even Canterbury
Bells to the mix. Why not. I finally got Hollyhocks to grow. Anything is possible.
I updated here because I wanted to leave a comment on a Blog. Then I realized it had
been weeks and weeks since I updated. Ok, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Progress is slow but steady

Today started my second month of physical therapy for a partial rotator cuff tear. I have almost
attained mobility in all rotations except external rotation. If I am lying down on a bed on my
back, I cannot lay my arm flat from elbow to wrist. It sticks up in the air. I can now touch the
middle of my waist but no my bra strap.

Brenda still delights in torturing me. It seems that way. Friday I had my ultra sound therapy
and the front desk lady was doing that. And when she was done she said, "Ok, you're through,
you can go." Now I knew that could not be true because Brenda had not done any soft tissue
manipulation. (a synonym for "brutal pain") But I almost flew out the front door. Well,
Brenda made up for it today. In spades. "I knose this hurts you so much. But yur doing
soooo goood. Just a little bit more. A little bit more. A little bit more. Youse doing soooo
goood. ARRRGGGHHHHH Big scream here. (I don't scream anymore, it tends to scare the
elderly people.) Oh, thats right, thats me. But I do moan loudly.

I am up late watching David Letterman. He is sick. He has a cold that won't go away. Thats
what happens when you have a late in life baby. Aging immune system's and four year olds
do not go together. Sorry Dave. The truth hurts. I have been taking endless photographs
of my two hummingbirds. I am sure making their life miserable. My husband is working
an all nighter. I must get to bed as I have a physical therapy session at 1oam tomorrow.
I hope this is the last month of this. I wanted to go to England in September.
Ok. Have a hummingbird. This is a juvenile male ruby red-throated hummingbird. He has
just one or two spots of red on his throat.

Things are looking up. And my arm is straighter

And I don't scream so much. I groan a lot. Especially when Brenda puts her knee under my
armpit and pulls my arm away from my body sideways. I try to keep talking non-stop to her
and chew gum at the same time. It keeps my screaming level down to..... oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh........ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........... STOP... It is embarrassing to
be the only one being such a baby in physical therapy. But when you have an almost frozen
shoulder (a true frozen shoulder would mean you cannot even lift it yourself. It is literally useless and someone else has to move it for you.) and someone pulls it out and stretches it. Well, just imagine the pain of someone ripping your arm out of its socket. Then you get the picture. I have
already been through John, the therapist. He lasted only the first day. I could not help it. I had
no idea how bad the shoulder was until he started manipulating it. Or tried to. Because at that point this blood curdling scream came out of my mouth that I had no idea was going to happen.
Every head in the place turned, it got real quiet. And John, went to call my orthopedist. The next day I had Brenda. Now Brenda is very sneaky. She talks baby talk to you in Puerto Ricanesse. Youse doing soooo gud...... thats good, thats good. A little more, just a little more.
Com on, youse can do it...... She is so sweet that you just bite you tongue and let her kill you.
So, then after Brenda left huge bruises on my arms, they gave me Ricky who is actually in training to be the director of the place. He has his PHD and will be getting his license soon. He taught me more about the tendons, muscles and shoulder parts then I ever knew. How they work together. Why he is working certain joints. He likes to jiggle and shake things out. He works up to the big pull, so you are doing a slow motion groan.... Did you know that everytime
you work out on weights or work your muscles hard, you are actually tearing them and repairing them. Think of raw meat. Thats your shoulder muscles. And you tear them down in order to build them back up. That is why you are so sore from a workout the day before. Those little tears are healing up. Interesting. I will never take my shoulders for granted, again.
So, now I have Brenda. And I tried bribing her with Tostones and Templeque, two puerto rican foods she loves. I have now grown to love them too. Especially those coconut squares. But,
she just ate them up, and then proceeded to hurt me. But I am getting her scared of me. Yesterday she was trying to show me the position for an arm stretch on the table. And she did not quite have her arm as straight as it should be. So, I very nicely reached over and flattened her arm for her. And said, "Let me help you". (its exactly what she says and does to me when my shoulder or arm is not quite, there. She pushes it a bit more) Brenda looked at me "shocked" and said, "youse are scaring me". And I mean nothing derogatory by imitating her accent. She mostly puts on the accent heavy because we all love it. She tells us when she gets mad, she loses her accent. Lucky for me, I have not heard that yet!! So, I am almost there. I can do
everything in the stretch department expect touch my bra strap. I can even put hot rollers
on the back of my head again. Here are my tostones and templeque. They are very good.
Just fried green plantains and coconut dessert squares. Mojo sauce goes good with the Tostones or you can just use ketchup. They taste like crispy french fries. Oh, and I bought
way too many flower seeds for the Fall. Lost my mind.

Physical Therapy is not fun and games.

Had my second full day of physical therapy on my injured shoulder Friday. I did much better as I had the best therapist. Wednesday all I did was scream when he tried to stretch my shoulder.
Friday my new therapist told me I have an encapsulated cuff or shoulder. I think that means its almost frozen. I coudn't be fully frozen or I would have no movement or use of the arm at all.

I want to go to England so badly this year. All that is holding me back is the money. I even have
a place to stay in Kent, Broadstairs for a few days. It just costs so darn much to go to England and Europe now due to the money exchange being god awful.

I forgot to put up the hollyhock and flycatcher a few days ago. I just made myself a breakfast
bowl like Crystals does. Grits, sausage, scrambled eggs all mixed up in a bowl. Yummy.
My flycatcher still has babys in the tree stump. It seems like they have been feeding those
babies forever. Maybe they lost the first nesting and this is the second one. From my observations, Flycatchers are not the brightest bulbs in the bird kingdom. Seem sort of
flighty and goofy.

Must go do my therapy exercises. Ta Ra. As the english say.

A Month Behind

It is not my fault. I have had this sore shoulder for six months and just found out I have a partial torn rotator
cuff. Trust me. It is not fun. I cannot put my left hand in a sleeve, comb the back of my hair, sign checks for
accurately or raise my left arm above my waist. And MRI's are not fun either. I did not mind the noise or
the coffin like t.v. dinner tray which they slid me into the tunnel on. But, lying perfectly still for fifteen minutes
was just excruciating. I suddenly had to cough, scratch my nose, sneeze, twitch, itch........ But, I got through
it because I knew if I squeezed that little call button that we would have to start all over again at one minute.
I hope to never injure myself again enough to need an MRI. All I did was break my fall when I tripped by putting
out my left arm. It did not hurt that bad when it happened. But suddenly I started noticing my arm was not
working quite right. And sleeping in any position was painful.

So, what else is new. My owls have been gone for a month. I had a crested flycatcher with a nest in my old
tree stump. Those babies are gone now too. I never even saw the babies. Maybe the stray cat got them. He
has been looking really hungry lately. It is too hot to be a lime as Ephant says. Must be close to 100 F
today. My hollyhocks are still blooming but wilting a lot. I have saved some seeds from the magenta ones
for Kat (on my journal) I had pale pink, single flowers (those do not seem to be making seeds, grrr.) I had
double pinks, I had one cream color flower. No true reds or yellows. I plan to plant a lot more Hollyhocks
seeds this Fall. Ok, my typing hand is cramping. My meds might be wearing off. I never see anyone
read this blog. With my arm hurting I might not be posting here a lot. I start physical therapy on Monday.
My elderly friend is in the hospital and I feel sick about that. She has a respiratory infection. She is 94
years old so that is not a good thing. I hope they have ultra sound at my PT place. I hope it does not hurt
a lot. I did not feel very encouraged by my orthopedist. He just sighed when he was looking at my MRI"s
and kept saying, "what to do, what to do" Does not give you a comforting feeling. Then he said he prefers
to take a slow approach rather than an aggressive one. Ok............ Goodnight. Glad to see Wheatieboy
is back home. Here, have a hollyhock. and a flycatcher.

Help it's a Snake in the pond.

Well, the baby owls have all left. Life has gone back to normal. I thought. Until I saw this
guy sunning himself on my pond lilies. And see the big spider on top of him. Yikes. Is he
poisonous, I wonder. That's it. I am not sticking my hand in that pond again. I will clean the
filters in the top pond but I am not pulling that pump out to clean while that snake is in there.
No wonder I don't have any frogs this year.

Second owl and my hollyhocks

Well, the third owl is gone. I am going to make myself believe it fledged. The house is empty so
we took it down. No sign of trauma or eaten baby owl. I believe there was just one left. The saga of the owl family closes for this year. But I have a new owl house and next March I will be putting it in the same spot, but with a squirrel guard!! I have actual hollyhocks blooming. You would not
know this is amazing. But I live in central Florida, not the hollyhock kind of climate. A neighbor
who moved here from Georgia kindly gave me advice on growing them. I am over the moon.
So, here you go. Hollyhocks and baby owl. This is the second sibling that was in the tree. She is smaller than the one ear up owl.

Baby Owls

I believe this is a male baby owl. The other fledgling looks smaller, more petite. I bet he
was the first one out of the house. There is still a third baby owl in the house. I hope he fledges
tonight. The whole family, Mom, Dad and two siblings are waiting in the next wooded area
for him or her. It must be lonely being the last one out. I hope they come back to visit
once in a while. I am going to miss all this excitment.

Smorgasborg

Just flowers and cherries.

Two Out, One left................

Yesterday two baby owls flew the coop. I just photographed one in the tree in the next lot. There is another in the tree but he is hiding. I saw both parents and two babys in this tree. There is
still a baby looking out of the house. So, she had three babies in that little tiny house. Unless
there are two left in the house. The last one was hanging out of the house just now and looking
like he was going to jump. I kept saying to myself, no..........no........... Nobody is over here
right now. My husband said these owls are taking over my life. And then of course the darn
squirrel decided since no owls were guarding the house, he wanted to look inside. I had to shoo
him away.

Last night I was watching as a baby owl swooped out of the house. I guess there were two but by then it was getting too dark to see. And at 11pm when I checked she was moving them around
and getting them over in the next lot and they were making a heck of a lot of noise. Good thing
no cats were around. So, two down, one to go. The last one looks so lost and lonely. I know,
I know, I gotta get a life. Well, this is my life. I am a bird geek. And this is my first up close
experience with owls. Ok, maybe I will get better photographs later today. Here is one
baby, out in the world. Cute little bugger.

Does anyone know when this owl will fledge?

I swear its been at least four weeks since he hatched. At least!!!!!!!!! His mother sits
in a tree next to his house (it's gotten a bit crowded in his house as it is really a red bellied
woodpecker house that she chose) And I think she is tired of raising him. (we can all relate
to that) My son has taken so many photographs of the little guy that if you even approach
the house with camera in hand, pops back in the hole. He now has ear tufts. He is approaching
adorable. Before that he was old man scarey. I really should be painting. I really should be
reading. I really should be cleaning. This internet just kills my creativity. It's like an instant
fix. It's not reality folks. I know you guys are out there. But I have so many other things
I should be doing. Now, off to do something constructive. And, again, does anyone know
how long a baby screech owl can stay in the house before his mama deserts him?

Its called String of Pearls Ginger or Shell Ginger.

I have had this ginger by my pond for years. Never did a thing. Just two tone green with
spots. Suddenly I think I'm seeing things. A flower. I have flowers this year that I have coveted
my whole life. It looks like I am going to have real hollyhock flowers in my garden. I have
coveted those for years. I have this thing for wanting to grow things that do not belong here.
Like my surinam cherries. They are native in south Florida, Miami to be exact. Mine had frozen many times. I started covering them during freezes. I have cherries this year. First time ever.

A Room With a View

Houston..... We have lift-off

Saw the baby bird for the first time today. It was about 7am and she was in a clump of trees
outside the fence calling to him. He looks like a little ole grey man. When her calling from the next
yard did not work. She came closer to a tree near the house. When that did not work, she kept
flying back and forth to the house and the limb. Showing him what she wanted him to do. He
was thinking about it for a few minutes. Then three huge harrassing crows flew right over him
and he ducked back inside the house and so far has not looked out again. But, I think fledging
is tonight or tomorrow. Usually they take them out right before dusk, at least that is what
I have been told. I will miss having baby birds and owls. They won't be around after that until
maybe next year. Oh, I might see them hunting during the Fall or Winter. So, it's adios.
I'll miss you guys. You can bet if I get any more shots. I will post them. But I do not want
to disrupt the fledging process so all these will be from a distance and fuzzy. sorry. We do
want a successful fledging.

Cool Owl Photographs for WheatieBoy

Hey, you find those cool birds, I tell you they're over there. Somewhere. Go out into the
jungle. I'm posting cool owl photographs for you. It's the least you could do for a bird lover.
And here, have a cool bald eagle web cam. http://www.wvec.com/cams/eagle.html

My screech owls have not fledged yet. Greedy little things making Mom keep hunting for
them. Envy you in Africa. I still remember all those gorgeous zebra photographs that
Helen took. Is this a working vacation? Obviously, a yes.

Ok, here are the latest screech owl photographs. I took the one on a tree. My son with
his huge camera lens took the close up.

Ok, I'll cut him a break.

I took a photo of one of the little pesty squirrels who have inhabited my barred owl house. They should not look so cute peeking out of there. I saw my mama owl tonight after dinner. I read now
where they do not fledge for four weeks. That means I have one and half week to wait. So far,
the house has not seen any more attacks.
I am still waiting for my hollyhocks buds to open. If the flowers look as awesome as all these
lush buds I will be over the moon.
There are fires all over Central and Northeast Florida. Some area's of have been evacuated not
far from where I live. We could use a hurricane. I never thought I would hear myself say that.
Wheat stopped in London on his way to Africa. I am so jealous. I went to England and never
even saw London. Ok, I am tired. this will be it. Enjoy the squirrel. He is cute, how can you
not love him.

Give an Owl a Break

Poor Mama owl she just can't cut a break. This morning it was a damn squirrel eating another
hole in her roof. My husband put duct tape over it and then my dear son climbed on the ladder
and put metal flanges on both sides. It is getting to the point you can't even see the original
house. My son looked in the entrance after he was done to see if the owls were still in there.
He saw mama owl sleeping on top of the baby owls. Suddenly she stretched and opened
one wicked eye at him. He almost fell off the ladder. I have figured they are two weeks old.
I hope the house can hold together one more week. And I am searching for recipes for squirrel
stew. So... if you know of any, let me know.

Hit by an Owl

Well, almost. Tonight I was doing my owl patroling. And it was dark. And an owl on its way
to the entrance of the house almost hit me in the head. Wouldn't that be a funny one in the emergency room. What brought you here? Got hit by an owl.

I don't understand these screech owls. At least tonight they seem to be hunting food and bringing it back. We know there are babies in the house. But last night everything was so quiet over
there. This afternoon just after 12, the female owl stuck her head out and looked around for
at least five minutes. I was turning on the water sprinklers and she was nosey. My Aunt says
it is the hottest part of the day and she was just getting some cool air. One night I saw them
taking a bath together in the bird bath. It was awesome. I felt like I had intruded on an intimate
moment. And they were warbling back and forth to each other. I think I am becoming entranced with owls. Until I see one of my songbirds ripped apart in their beak. Then....... I won't be quite
so in love. I took this one today. Also one of my walking iris. Ok, I'll add that one tomorrow.

I hate Nature.

Yep, thats right. Last night my son came over to see the owls. I had been staying away to not disturb them. In the interim something (I am guessing the raccoon) ate a hole in the roof of their
house. My son climbed up on a ladder (thinking the owls had deserted) and got scared to death because Mama screech owl was sitting in the house looking up at him from the hole. About this
time I started crying. My husband and son got some gutter flashing and screwed it on the roof
covering the hole. I could not watch. My son said the mama owl stuck her head out and watched him cover the roof. Then my son and his wife sat down and waited. Pretty soon the Daddy owl appeared with food for the mama screech owl. Then a while later they both flew out and baby owls could be heard screeching. (so I guess they have hatched) Later that night we chased off a cat and a raccoon with a pellet gun. This is war folks. I have been guarding the house ever since.
I hate nature. The survival of the fittest is wrong. Just wrong. After the baby owls fledge, I am taking down this house and all my bird houses. I can't take this stress. Which is why I never watch wildlife or African videos. Who wants to see a zebra cut down by a lion.

Ok. thats all. Here is the war zone house.

Life is fragile. Handle with kid gloves.

I love this tshirt wisdom. This is my yellow waterlily. I will be fully open by noon and then I will take a better photograph. My fancy pink waterlilys seem
to be dying out. They only open one time. These yellow ones keep opening back up for days. This must be the third day for this one. I have two blogs so I have not been here in a while.

My dog Girl got very sick and that sidelined me for quite a while. Plus one of our cats died and we were not sure if it was tainted food. So, we switched the dog and cats to Canidae dry both for cats and dogs. No more canned food at all.
On their website they say they have never used imported ingredients. Lets hope we can trust them. My dog almost died. For a while I was feeding her boiled chicken with white rice. She was in the Vets for two days on I.V. treatments.
I hope this pet recall scare makes the FDA look at all imported ingredients, not just for pet food. We could all be at risk. Maybe its time to go back to the farm and grow all our own.

I will try and post again today.

Eastern Red Screech Owl

I have a little red screech owl living in my redbellied woodpecker house. The owl seems to have
no trouble getting in and out of the opening. Last night I sat until either the mate or the owl came out and was flying around the yard. I cannot tell if its the male coming up to the opening and
feeding the female because by then it is so dark I can barely see the shapes. I want to put a web cam up there but do not know how to do that.

I am ennamoured of a screech owl. First they have the most haunting whoooo, it is ghostly
sounding, kind of like a wail. whoooooooo whooooooo whoooooo. It trails off. Then following
that comes the most beautiful trill or warble. almost like a love song. You could write music
to it. I can see why the screech owls who foretold a death in the family because it is so eery.
For whatever reason I love these owls. I hope they have a successful nesting. Last night I heard
more than one screech owl singing so I know she has a mate or choice of mates. I took this
first photograph with my panasonic camera and my son took the second one with his huge
canon lens. I do not want to take anymore as the flash could hurt her eyes. Enjoy. More
pictures will follow.

Wales

I believe there is a fairyland and it resides in Llanrwst and Gwydyr Forest. I have never
seen such beautiful country or ancient homes. I imagine Robin Hood has retired there.
And King Arthur also. And Mab Queen of the fairys. I am going to England in May and oh how I wish I would have time to see Wales. Still waiting on our passport renewals to come back. I imagine after homeland security started forcing everyone to have a passport to leave your backyard, they were flooded with requests. Sigh. I hope mine gets here before July. July will
be too hot. Or is there such a thing as hot in England. Enjoy. I believe this overlooks the Forest.

La Chua Trail in Payen Prairie State Park , Gainesville, Fl.

I have two blogs or journals and it is very hard to keep up with both of them. My son took

me on a hike on La Chua Trail. It is not for the fainthearted. I say that because the alligators

are right along the foot path. I almost stepped on this guy. And this great blue heron was eating a baby alligator. I was dragged here by my son for the birdering but the gators seemed to outnumber the birds.

Some Days You Get a Gift, Some You Don't

So, today I ran around taking pictures of this guy, and gal, maybe. There were two. Who
knows which was which. We have had some very cold weather move in from the West
and it has brought with it a bigger variety of migratory birds. I love that. Made my day.

Tomorrow will be thirty degrees F or -3 C. And the next day even colder. I love it. I love
cold weather. Sorry, I live in Florida but I should live in Maine. And my dog would love it
better in Maine too. And I bet I would see even more warblers in Maine. Also I spent much
time today trying to convince two squirrels that I did not put up my screech owl house just
for them. I got my passport photographs and I am ready for my trip to England. This time
I really do have horrible passport photo's. Ten years ago I would have to say I actually
liked my passport photograph. I went to a photographer that time, this time I just
went to Walgreens. Maybe the photographer touched them up. Who knows.

I have been online looking up fold up kayaks, inflatable kayaks and fold up canoes. I am
getting something. I might try the one that has a free 3month trial money back guarantee.
Now that I have had a taste of being out on the water, I want more. Ok. Time to
take the big dog out. So, says the Boss.

Yikes!

On Tuesday I went out in my sons kayak. After we came back in, he went back out but this
time went down the river in the other direction. When he came back he said he had taken
a photograph of a large gator on the banks of the river. I am sooo glad I did not see any alligators while I was in the kayak. I would have freaked out. I am deathly afraid of alligators. And we
have had quite a few people in Florida who have lost their lives to them, or legs or arms. But
most of those people were in the water or close to being in the water. That is why I was so nervous about possibly tipping the kayak over. I have not accomplished much today. It was been a very boring day. I did get some new woodpecker nut blocks and I am eternally grateful to my
dear husband who knew I needed some. Without them I do not get my woodpecker fix.
Anyway. Enjoy the gator picture. Photographer, Paul Pfau. He is quite a professional.
http://www.pbase.com/paulyoly/