My Fish Tale

Ringmaster and I did a kid swap this morning so we could each put in a little paddle time on the river. Immediately upon launching, I noticed a commotion across the river, so I paddled over to investigate. Here’s what I found:

 

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In case you can’t tell, that’s amorous two-foot fish (carp, maybe?). James and I noticed that the Baldies are hanging out on our stretch of river quite a bit lately, and now I know why. Those fish are clueless when they’re spawning. I had the bow of my kayak practically resting on the fish’s head, and he didn’t notice–making him easy pickings for a hungry eagle:

See the poor lovestruck fellow clutched in his talons?

Fledging Day

James opened the garage door this morning, and a young bird fluttered up to perch on a power cord near the ceiling:

Baba peeked into the nest and reported only two fledglings:

One bird was absent, but James soon spotted him hopping down the driveway:

Looks almost like a grownup, doesn’t he?

I’m sure the parents will be glad to have their brood away from our house. Most likely they won’t make that mistake again, although with a brain the size of a peanut you never know.

Those poor birds . . . a bevy of strange men with loud trucks just pulled into our driveway surprising us with the news that they’re ready to reshingle our house. Do birds have heart attacks? Do 32-year-old women?

Diggin’ For Worms

Baba’s got big plans today. He’s digging up some worms and helping Mr. and Mrs. Robin feed their chicks. Little brother is assisting.

“Mom, I think Mama Robin is gonna be happy that I’m doing something to help her.”

I think I’m gonna stand in the garage with my camera so I can record how happy she is.

Have you officially crossed the line into bad motherhood when you allow your kids to do stuff like this in order to be able to post about it on your blog?

Robin Update – 05/29/07

It’s starting to feel a little Alfred Hitchcock over here with this robin’s nest:

However, it appears the hatchlings will soon be fledglings, much to the relief of James, who is impatient to get the garage in shape for listing the house (horrors, there are bird droppings on his brand-new garage door!). Here’s progress from the past week:

Wednesday, May 23:

Thursday, May 24:

Friday, May 25:

Sunday, May 27:

You see what I mean about the Alfred Hitchcock thing?

Monday, May 28:

That can’t be comfortable. I think these babies are ’bout ready to fly. More later!

My Hero!

After spending a good part of the day puzzling over this complex piece of machinery, my Knight in Shining Armor was able to restore my laptop to its former state of usefulness.

‘Nuff said.

Home At Last

We’re home, and it’s never looked better!  The drive home went smoothly, and Chicago was almost a breeze.  The only snag occurred when Kelli commented, "We haven’t had to stop yet!" and less than a minute later our progress ground to a halt at a toll booth.  After a 15-minute wait in line to pay our toll, we discovered the reason for the back-up was a "really nice guy" in the collection booth who had a two-minute conversation with us as we were trying to inch our way back into traffic (he had the stop arm down, so we couldn’t go anywhere).  Apparently, he was that friendly with everyone.

Although the trip to PA was a smashing success, the bad news is that somehow I managed to fry my computer while I was there.  So for the time being, I am without my laptop and will have limited access to James’ computer because . . .

WE ARE GETTING READY TO MOVE!!!

I know this is rather sudden, but it’s just across town.  James fell in love with a place on a local lake in the past several weeks and ended up buying it the day before I left for PA.  We’ll be moving the first part of August, so we’re spending the next few weeks getting our current house ready to sell and the rest of the summer packing up for the move.  If you’re curious about pictures of the house, you can sneak a peek here.

Philly

Julie beat me to posting about our trip to Philadelphia (via New Jersey, yes you heard that right), so I’ll refer you to her for the details. I have pictures of my own, so take a look at them here. I don’t believe I’d been to New Jersey before yesterday, so special thanks to Dan for taking the scenic route. I’m also pretty sure I’ve never driven the wrong way down a one-way, but let’s not go into detail.

We’re heading home tomorrow but won’t arrive until Sunday evening. And then we will be preparing for a big change (TBA).

Robin Update – 05/22/07

I bet you all thought I’d be skipping the bird update while I’m in PA, but you reckoned without my dear husband and trusty field photographer.

Here’s from Saturday, May 19:

Those white and black things are “bird diapers”, i.e. the poop sacks which the parents remove from the nest. Bet you wanted to know that.

Sunday, May 20 – you can see an ear on one of the hatchlings:

On Monday, May 21, the feathers are starting to grow in and the eyes are slitting open:

Notice the mouth on that bird. James says the parents are bringing fat worms to the nest constantly. I think I understand the feeling.

And now I leave you with this footage of a very angry bird:

 

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See How Silly We Can Be?

Julie’s brother Dan is over this evening showing us his fancy-pants Mac. See what he can do with it? Stunning.

Hershey, PA

I’m too tired to write much and Julie won’t write for me (bully), so this will be short.

Julie is having a fit because I just made this post longer by saying that it won’t be long.

Anything else you’d like to say, Julie?

I didn’t think so.

We went to Hershey today and took the tour and saw the 3D movie with lots of special effects. As you can tell, I’m not very coherent tonight, and we’re all feeling a little silly over here (the air in PA is kinda thin).

See more pix here.