Bluebirds: IT'S A BABY!

I'm so excited to announce that our single bluebird egg hatched today! We knew it was time as Mr. Bluebird appeared for the first time in days, and sure enough there was the hatchling when I looked in (after Mama flew away). I hope you can click on the photo to enlarge it - it's little beak is on the edge of the feather on the left side. It opened up for a bite, but I wasn't tall enough to get a good shot of it ... next time I'll take my stool like I did for the egg. We'll make every effort to avoid disturbing her for the next week so she can keep the baby warm, and the sparrow danger is always lurking so we'll be on alert for that.

In lieu of gifts, we're accepting congratulations on their behalf.

Friday's Favorite Things-Foot Butterfly

Every kid brings home dozens if not hundreds of works of art from school, most of them actually done for the most part by the teacher. But we treasure them anyway. A year or so ago, when my grandson, Garrett, was in preschool, he brought home this butterfly made from foot tracings. He wanted me to have it, instead of his mom. Usually I put them on the fridge or front door for awhile, and eventually they end up in a folder out of sight.


This butterfly floated around for many months, until one day I decided to frame it and put it up on a wall shelf in the bedroom. It was there for several weeks, until one day he finally noticed it. His face lit up, and he said "wow, Mawmaw, I didn't know you liked it that much!".


Yes, I said, I liked it that much. Because it was his foot, and his foot would never be that small again. And when he's 6'4" like his daddy, and has a gigantic foot, and kids of his own, he can show it to them and say "look how small my foot used to be! And my Mawmaw loved it so much that she framed it so that you could see it someday."

This is one of my favorite things, because it will always remind me of a time, and a size, in his life that was so fleeting.

Wednesday's Wander to the Wayside

Hop in! Buckle that seat belt. Get your camera ready - you never know what we'll see!

I saw this rooster a mile down the road earlier, so he's on the move! I guess he heard what they say about the grass is always greener ...

This is a sign post just above a church called The Cowboy Church. They actually can bring their horses on Sunday morning, plus they have a riding area. I loved the flag in the background. (If I had zoomed this, you could see that the middle sign says church.)

This house is the one from last week that had the laundry hanging on the line in the backyard. I'm not sure how old it is, but I love the stone foundation and mature trees and bushes.

These cows are enjoying the afternoon shade on an unseasonally warm day.

This is the same field. Don't know what that thing is, but I'd guess something to do with food or water. The yellow is from some kind of weed that's blooming.

This cemetary is on the border of the same pasture. At night they have solar lighted crosses!

This is an antique store about one minute from my house. We've lived here three years, and I've never gone there! You have to call some guy to come meet you - I think he lives behind the store . It has some really cool rusted things like bicycles, farming equipment, tubs, etc. No telling what's inside.

Thanks for visiting! See you again next week. I'll provide the snacks.

(Someone behind the scenes is messing with my spacing again ... I've reposted this a dozen times and it's different every time! Does anyone else have that problem? Let's try again ...)

(Nope. It does not want to put spaces between these last paragraphs. Hmmm.)

"Angel": Look Out for the Animals (very long, but important)

Today's choice for Musical Monday selection for the juke box is "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan. Most everybody knows that it's the theme song for the ASPCA, and that it rips your heart out when it's showcasing animal neglect.


Several months back, I was visiting a relative and telling them about some of my neighborhood dogs who are severely neglected by their owners, how it drives me insane, and how I have a tendency to step in and try to fix the situation before resorting to animal control (or because animal control won't do anything, which is a story I'll cover another time)(and I'll talk about my issue with what I call benign neglect another time also). She, in turn, told me a story about some dogs in her neighborhood that made me say "I'll never again apologize for interfering in the lives of my neighbors and their pets when I feel that there is neglect going on."


I may have some of the details of the story wrong, but I think the basics are true. Coming into her neighborhood and turning the corner onto her street is a house that had two dogs. Almost the entire neighborhood passed this house every day, sometimes several times a day. It was summer. It was hard keeping track of what everyone was doing, who was working, who was on vacation, etc. One day they received a call from someone down the street. Next door to the house on the corner. Could Mark come down and help. The people in the house on the corner had abandoned the two dogs in the back yard, and the dogs were dead. It was summer. Temps were probably in the 90s. They had no water. For days. And no food. For days. By the time anyone noticed, even the next door neighbors, it was too late.


I was so upset by this story. Could not get it out of my head. Especially when trying to go to sleep. Imagining how they had suffered and how they waited and waited, in vain, for their "family" to return. But it made me see how responsible (not nosey) I have been in watching my neighbors and their pets, validated my concerns over a water bucket consistently turned over or no bedding on a 20degree day or night. I vowed to remain vigilant and never again apologize for it (even though I'm probably referred to as busybody.)


Recently I was looking thru the Humane Society website, and read a story about a dog named Sunbear, who had been abandoned in a townhouse for SIX WEEKS ... and nobody noticed. When he was finally found, he was locked in a laundry room with a bag of dog food on the outside of the door. He died a few days later. A lady who heard of this story was so upset that she decided to do something about it ... she initiated a site called the Sunbear Squad. Well, let me share a section of website with you.


© The Sunbear SquadNirva created the Sunbear Squad, a website with advice, inspiration and materials to set up neighborhood pet watch groups. The idea is to walk, bike, or slowly drive through your neighborhood on a regular schedule, learning to recognize all of the pets who live there and noticing when people move in and out.When people move out, she says, pay special attention to make sure pets are not left behind.“Be a Good Samaritan,” Nirva advises. “Go stand near the home and call out repeatedly for the pet; he or she may bark or meow or come to the window. Listen closely in case the pet is trapped in a closet and look in windows for signs of life.“Do this several days in a row because some traumatized pets may be frightened, too frightened to respond at first. You may save a life!”


Foreclosures and an unstable economy have caused an increase in the abandonment of pets, and it can't be ignored even on a small scale, such as in your own neighborhood. Don't assume that a realtor will be by in a few days - it's often a month or more before that happens. Please, be aware of your surroundings! And check out this wonderful website to see how you can help.


Since I've got your attention, let me also say this - you'd have to be living under a rock to not know that the shelters and rescue groups are suffering. They are full to the brim. They are overflowing with cats and dogs. Foster homes are in short supply. Resources are low.


There's no shortage of sympathy for them, or for the animals. But sympathy doesn't pay the bills. Our inner voice says we should do something, but by the next morning we've forgotten. I've been guilty of this myself.


Please, if you are able, DONATE YOUR TIME, MONEY, OR SUPPLIES. It doesn't have to be hard or a hardship for you: (1) Write out a check for $10, look up the address of your local shelter, put on a stamp, and drop it in the mail. (2) If you have an hour here and there that you could drop by to walk a dog or pet a cat at a shelter, that counts. (3) Donations of pet beds/blankets/shampoos that you no longer need or use could be donated. (4) If there's a coupon in the Sunday fliers for a bag of dog or cat food, you could purchase that and drop it off, or even donate the coupon!


Don't forget the rescue groups. Every breed has a group looking out for it, and even though they most often get funding and donations, they still have very high expenses. I recently asked Heartland Golden Retriever Rescue Group to take a senior girl who was being neglected by a neighbor of mine. They took her within a week, spent probably upwards of $800 on her as she was heartworm positive and had to be boarded while being treated, and found her a home in about three months. But some dogs are in rescue for a year or more for one reason or another, including behavior and health problems. The dog may go into foster care, but the rescue group still covers their medical expenses. They never kill them or give up on them. If you have a favorite breed, just look it up on the internet and get an address to send whatever donation you can, no matter how small. Another need of rescue groups ... transport of an animal, either from a shelter to a rescue group, or a rescue group to a new forever home. I do this quite often as I can no longer foster, and I love it.


The message is simple, even though the situation is not. Be a good samaritan. Keep your eyes open. Give whatever you can whenever you can to whomever you can. But give. Of your time, of your money, of your heart. Look out for the animals ... and their keepers.


Oh, the dog pictured above. My sweet Charity. A rescue that was supposed to be a foster seven years ago. I was sent to pick her up from a shelter three hours from my home, and got there 30 minutes before the shelter closed at noon that Saturday. She was to be euthenized a few hours later.

Friday's Favorites-Buffet

Here's another new reoccuring category - Friday's Favorite Things. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I love my "things" passionately, obsessively, and compulsively!

When I left for college in June 1966, I only took what a young college person needs - very little other than what was needed to set up a dorm room. When my adoptive dad came up to see me that next May to tell me he was divorcing my step-mother, anything that was left at our house, all my youth and teenage memorabilia (including high school year books and a charm bracelet that covered almost every important event of my life) was gone. I went to the house to get my things, but my step-mother and her mother kept me from entering, and apparently either before or after that day threw everything away - because they were angry at my dad. (We won't go into the emotional impact of being blocked from going into my home, even if I did hate the woman.)

Hence my obsession with my things. I hoard them, display them, love them. Friday's Favorite Things will include things collected or given to me from that day on, as well as favorite photos, books, quotes, people, colors, etc.

Today's favorite thing is this beautiful buffet. When David and I were setting up a home together in 1973, we found this buffet at a salvation army type store. It was a shocking pink with gold antiquing that was popular at one time. We stripped it, stained it, and loved it. Who'd have thought that there was such a beautiful walnut underneath all that paint - look at the grain on the top drawer! And those legs!

From that day forward, this has been the center of our home. Anytime we move (and we've moved nine times since 1973), this is the absolute first thing I set up, and it has almost always, in the 36 years since, looked the way it does now. (Except with more clutter and things on it. And not quite so clean.)

The first thing to go on it are the photos of my favorite people, with a few favorite objects, some old books, and a favorite lamp (which was purchased from a neighbor in about 1986, and they'd had it since WWII).

I think that favorite things make a house a home, that they add texture to our lives and our psyche, and keep many of our memories alive. (Of course, the clutter control people will counter that with "just take a picture and toss the object".) (And yes, I realize that I've showed four shots of the same buffet...I just couldn't decide which to use, and I love the way the morning sun spotlights it in the first one.)

What is the first thing you put out when you move into a home (besides toilet paper and sheets), that thing that says now it's gone from a house to my home? Is it a family heirloom, or a gift, or something you purchased yourself?