Friday, November 04, 2011

November Brings Rain, Snow, and an Update

Facebook makes it so easy to comment on things or share events and thoughts, I'm surprised to see how long it has been since I've "blogged". Today is my 5th anniversary of when I started working for Oxnard at the South Oxnard Branch Library - so nice it happens to be my "off-Saturday" so I have three days off this weekend and we're able to spend the time at Sam's house in Kings Beach. It's also nice Ann and Zane are always available to take care of Bob, the fish, and the house whenever we're away.
Life has been good for the most part - great most of the time with a few bumps along the way. Bryan married Jessica, Sam and Jenn broke up, Brooklyn is 1-year-old and Lindsay and April are expecting again. Tom and I celebrated our 40th anniversary in Italy!
I think I said the same thing a year ago, but I hope to post here again more often.

Saturday, April 09, 2011

Beautiful Snowy Morning

We've spent a very relaxing Spring Break with Sam & Jenn. Five days in this beautiful Tahoe North Shore area with our kids is a great way to vacation!

(Nov.4, 2011 note: I've never edited previous blog postings until now. Back on this day in April, I posted being overjoyed that Sam and Jenn were getting married in November, this Saturday, in fact. Sam broke it off in August and although I was very sad, we all agree it was the right decision. I've just removed the photo I took that week of the happy couple - no need to open old wounds by keeping it up.)

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Wind: Another Trial for Mother Birds

We are having another windy day and gusts of 25-30mph were blowing the avocado tree branches all over the place this morning. Poor Mama Hummer was spreading her wings and tail over the nest, but she still had to leave to find food. You can barely see one of the babies along the left side of her body if you click on this picture and see the enlarged photo.
This is the first time I've seen her with her back to the house, but I guess she was facing the wind to protect her nestlings.

Monday, February 07, 2011

Baby Hummingbirds!

A week after noticing the nest in our avocado tree and seeing the mother bird was letting me take pictures while she was away, I went upstairs to get a closer look from the balcony. What a wonderful surprise to see eggs in the nest!This morning, I was a little worried when I didn't see the eggs (a nesting pair of scrub jays had been noisily announcing themselves the day before.)When Mama came back, she appeared to be feeding a little beak.I was delighted to see two baby birds in the nest! They are far from cute at this point - blind, featherless with bulging eyeballs and tiny beaks. Thankfully, it is warm this week so Mama can leave them long enough to find food for them:Don't forget to click on the pictures to see the bigger versions.(Sitting on the nest with squirmy babies underneath is not as stable as before!)
According to several websites, hummingbird eggs take an average of two weeks to incubate, so Mama camoflaged her nest well enough we didn't see it for at least a week! It will be fun to watch the babies grow feathers and learn to fly. Stay tuned!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Hummingbirds in the Backyard

I've been watching a couple of hummingbirds in the yard this weekend and was happy to see that one of them let me take some closeup shots with my camera this morning.
I wondered why this one was sitting in one spot for such a long time - until I took a closer look and discovered it was nesting! I am also able to see the tiny bird and her nest from our balcony.

I caught this shot while the bird was out of the nest for a while. One of the little birds was on the telephone wire and chirped a warning for the other to come back. Now whenever I've gone out and found the nest empty, one of them comes back to the tree but doesn't immediately go back to the nest. It is pretty well hidden, so I guess they either know that, or have seen me enough times to know I won't hurt them.
(If you click on any of these photos, you'll see the bigger versions. If you click on the two photos of the tree, you'll see the bird in her nest. The last shot is a wide-angle shot from the balcony. I've drawn an arrow and labeled the location of the nest since it is really hard to find when you have the whole tree to look at.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Facebook

I just added a Facebook badge to this blog since I obviously haven't been keeping up here. I DO have hope I'll come back and update this sooner than later!