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.