Sunday Snipet's

Graduation 2010.

Hadn't really thought about it, until the other day when I realized that Laurie, Aaron and Trevor will all be graduating in 2010. I suppose the order will be Aaron in May, Trev in June and Laurie in August. Now, how cool is that?

Of course, this brings back another year's momentus occasion. 1997. That year I dropped Trev off for his 1st day in kindergarten, Aaron off for his 1st day of middle school and Laurie off for her 1st day of high school. I was the only parent that I knew of with children starting in 3 different grades, in 3 different schools on the first day of school. That was pretty cool too.

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The Boys at work.....

Roof rafters almost done

Monty putting the first piece of plywood on the roof

Hammering down plywood

Trev at dusk...he looks like a warrior with spear on his back...was really a 2x4 leaning between the rafters. I just love how this picture turned out, his silhouette against the cloudy sky at dusk. If you click on the pic, the enlarged picture even shows his eyelashes!

Our new screened-in porch and den are coming right along. The boys worked late into the evening to start putting plywood up on the roof. It looks big when you stand to the side and look down through the space. And I guess it is, since the dimensions are 12x40 ft, with each room being 12x20. I'm going to love walking out the back door into a covered space!!

Now, I've been thinking on how to arrange the windows and how to purpose each room. I want to add storage to the den area and have tentatively been thinking of a wall cabinet system that would maybe have an desk area(for laptop use) between to pantry style cabinets that would function as a closet/storage area. Can you envision it? We are also going to put a door from the den to the porch area.

So, exciting!! Stay tuned for more pics and progress as they finish the roof!

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Visitors

Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Now, I'm not saying the fountain had anything to do with this, but I do have to wonder if the sound of water brought these guys in for a visit. Yesterday afternoon, we saw 2 new species of birds in our yard. Aaron, of course has seen them before, but we just hadn't caught a glimpse of them until yesterday. I noticed the female Grosbeak, seeing first the bold eye stripes. I knew immediately it wasn't one of the usual birds I see out in the front yard. It had a seed beak like cardinals, but what struck me was the large size of the eyes. After Monty got a good look, and checking our bird guide, we were sure. It pretty much hung out the rest of the afternoon, flying in and out at the sunflower feeders.


American Redstart

Right after seeing the Grosbeak, I began to see a small warbler like bird flitting quickly about in the top of the birch tree. I could tell it was eating insects by the way it was moving about from limb to limb, barely staying still long enough for us to get a good glance. We were patient and pretty soon both of us got a really nice view of it as it sat for a few seconds on a branch. A very pretty bird, the American Redstart showed off the beautiful yellow stripes on his tail along with his soft gray head. At one time, we had two out flying from birch tree to birch tree.



Our Ranch

And lastly, Trev cut the lower limbs off the bottom of the birch trees yesterday and boy does it look nice. You can now see through them, down the middle of the bird garden to the front porch stoop. He then cut the grass, and well, I have to say the Steed ranch looks pretty awesome.

It's beautiful today and I'm loving it!!

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The Fountain

My latest endeavor to add the sound of water to my garden has resulted in this little baby. The big, blue ugly barrel is well, quite blue. However, it does serve the purpose of holding enough water, that I am not filling it up but every 7-8 days. I'm happy with how it turned out, except of course for the "blue". I've thought of several ways I could camouflage it, but I'm still undecided. I also want to raise the actual platform up level with the lip. So, all in all, I'm liking it.

Haven't seen any birds checking it out, but it does provide a nice little trickling sound as the pot bubbles over and the water runs down one of the two holes cut into the platform, which was the top of the original lid to the barrel.

Cost of fountain:

barrel = $4
ceramic planter = $8
pump = $49(which I've had for 3 yrs and used in other water features)

So, somewhat pricey, but still reasonable. And all for the sake of attracting the migratory birds flying by.

Hope you are enjoying the lovely weather!

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