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.