Patience Pays Off

The cardinals came back tonight for dinner. I was on the phone with Mem and thought I would miss them because she kept talking and talking. Well, they were still here when I hung up and I got a few shots of them.

Who Says You Have to Leave Home

I have quite the characters of birds that come here. They are very entertaining to watch. They have gotten used to me that I can pretty much take pictures at will for the most part. The cardinals always take off still, but the rest will let me take the pictures that I want, and most will even come in closer. Of course, that is to come to the feeder, but they are nice enough to let me open my door to take some shots of them. The downy woodpecker is the most entertaining. He always is getting in funny positions. He also seems pretty used to people because on more than one occasion I have been outside doing things while he was eating, and he doesn't take off unless I am standing right next to where he is. Some of them will also squack at me if I don't fill the feeder fast enough for them. Before I move, I want to get a picture of all the birds that come here. I have gotten most of them. I just need the cardinals to stick around, and I also need my goldfinches to hopefully come back. They took off as spring started, and, with the exception of one quick siting, they haven't come back.
Hopefully, I will get one last shot at them.

Pictures of the day

Leo came home early this morning. He bought some very nice pottery that is pictured above. It is from the Chulucanas region. This particular region was founded because pottery from the Vicus, who were the original members of this mountain community, was found in a tomb. The Peruvian government sent a group of aritisans to study the potter in hopes of recreating it. They then settled in the area permanently. The pottery from this region is considered some of the best of Americas. It is made entirely by hand. They do not use molds or pottery wheels to make it. The other project of the day is that Leo got to play with his new tool, the nail gun. He put the quarter round down today. The house is really starting to take shape. I had a large number of birds coming to the feeder today. The cardinals took off when I got my camera out, but here are some pictures of the other ones that were here.

House Cleaning

Today, I did a lot of cleaning around the house. If Leo ask me what I did, he may not live to pick out a new house. I scrubbed down all the walls and woodwork. I do this periodically anyways, but wanted to do it now, so the house doesn't look dingy. The big project ended up being the tub. When Leo moved into the place. The tub was brown. It appeared that was the natural colot of the tub. Well, over time it started coming off, and the realization was that it was some sort of film on the tub. I have tried everything over the years to get it off, and have had minimal success. It took it off in some areas, but not others. Well, now that we are selling the house, I didn't want the tub looking awful. Who wants to buy a house with a tub that is disgusting looking? I called my mom and she suggested I try CLR to see if that would get it off. Well, after numerous treatments and scrubbing the tub is clean. It is actually a bright yellow, and looks almost new. I wish I would have thought of CLR sooner. At least that is one thing off the list.

You can tell Leo's Gone

Well, this has been the look on Wrangler's face pretty much since last night. It took him a long time to figure out that Leo wasn't coming home. This is a normal pattern with him when Leo is gone. That and the fact that he gets diarrhea which also occurred today, but he is good about getting outside, so there have been no accidents in the house. I have medicine to give him when it happens. Of course, I have been busy cleaning most of the day, so that doesn't help him either. Right now he is content watching the birds outside. He seems to be enjoying that. Of course, if I let him out he would go and chase them. He normally goes the other direction. No one told him he was a bird dog I guess. He'll be better tomorrow once his father comes home.

House Hunt is on

Well, now that the orders have come, we can officially start house hunting. It got me thinking what do I want or need in a house. Leo and I don't have extravagant tastes. We really don't need a lot in a house. We actually would take less house more land. I would like to have two bathrooms since I grew up in a house with one bathroom and seven people. We also want three or four bedrooms. We want a yard that at least part of it can be fenced in without looking stupid, so the dogs can run around. Other than that we don't have many true qualifications other than the foundation being in good shape. I like houses with a little character. There are two houses on our list that fall into that class. There are two renovated farmhouses that kept many of the charms of their eras. One seems to be a little more modernized in looks than the other, but they both still have the charms that one would like if you are into older homes. I am not much into newer homes. I think they lose some of the appeal that you can get with an older home. I like the idea that there is history in the house. You wonder what the walls would say if they can talk. That's the type of place that I like. The house above is not on our list. It isn't for sale. It is my sister's new house. Even though it is new and I don't normally care for those type of places, great detail was put inside the house to have some older style features put into it. I also wouldn't mind having land like they have cleared where the house is. I really don't want all 14 acres they have, but a couple acres would be nice. The more I got thinking about it. I think I am more of an outskirts kind of a person. I lived close to town and had the nosy neighbor next door. I am not sure if I want that type of a thing again. If you are close enough to town to enjoy what it has to offer, but yet far enough away you can have some privacy, I think that is the way to go. It will be interesting this week to see what the houses we ahve picked have to offer. I have my leading canidate. I hope it has to offer what I think it does. I also know that with the list that we have one of the houses is sure to be the one. It should be an interesting adventure.

Painting Adventure Part 2

Well, we finished painting the walls today. Here are some pics of the walls in various stages. It really doesn't show the true color of the walls since it was getting dark and the lighting in here isn't the greatest. It is more a deeper yellow color than what is being shown here, but a stark contrast from the terra cotta. It looks good against the dining room which we left the old color. It is definitely brightening up the room. I may try to take some pictures of it tomorrow when there is more natural light in here. It might give a better idea of the real color.

Painting Adventure Part 1

Well, today we embarked on changing the color of our living room. As most of you know, it was Terra Cotta in color. With no real natural light coming in do to shade and the overhang outside the sliding glass door, the room was extremely dark. While that worked for us, most buyers do not like dark rooms. We decided to paint it a lighter color. We were hoping to get it done in one day since we were only doing the living room part. As you see from the blog title, that idea didn't go quite as planned. We had to put two coats of primer in some parts, and it didn't dry as quickly as we would have hoped. Instead of risking a job that looked awful, we decided it would be best to just finish it tomorrow. There is no need to do shoddy work. We want the place look like we took care of it. Not like someone who just haphazardly does things. I will post pics one the room is done.

titmouse

I Have been trying for days to get a picture of one of these guys. They have been coming around a lot since I filled my feeder. I could never get a picture because they do not stay still long enough to take one. When they are still, they seem to move around and take away any good shots of have of them. Today, I remembered that my camera was set on rapid fire, and I finally got a decent shot. Of course, I took a ton of photos before I got it, but at least, I have one now.

Spring flower

It is nice to see the flower coming to life. My rhododendron started to bloom over the weekend and really is starting to look nice. It too me a little bit tonight to figure out why my camera would take a close-up picture of the flowers. Once I figured out how to do that, I got a couple of nice shots of it.

finch

I got a shot of this finch who is one of my regular at the feeder.

Regatta Gala

Today, we went to Mercer County Park to the high school crew regatta. It was much bigger than we thought it would be. There were schools from all over. We even saw a school from Virginia. Tomorrow, the MAC championships will be held there. The area in which we live is big on crew. The olympic team trains here and in Princeton. Actually, the olympians from the Home Depot from the last olympics were crew members. It is very interesting to watch them train. It is also funny to listen to the coxswain to listen to what they think is a motivational yell. One kid yelled today, "Speed it up. You don't want to be last do you?" I guess that was one way to phrase things. There was also quite the festivities at the school tents they had set up. There were a ton of alumni, and they had quite the food spread. We were thinking about jumping in line, and seeing if we could get fed. Like Leo said. You could tell that there was a lot of money invested in the crew teams. The high school areas looked like college teams with all the alumni boosters hanging around. Who says it is all about the football team?

signs of spring

Well, it was more like summer. After running to the grocery store and then washing the car, I decided to break out the camera to take a pic of this bird. It had watched me the whole time I was washing the car. After I was done, it flew over to my neighbor's tree and then posed for a couple of pictures. It was nice that it held still as most birds like to wait until you are about to take the picture to decide it is time to fly somewhere else. Leo worked on our patio today and then went kayaking. The patio is looking nice. I enjoyed grilling out there this evening.

Birding

One of the objectives yesterday was to take pictures of birds. The area of the canal that we went is known to have a large collection of birds that habitat there. Well, I may have had some shots, but Leo kept scaring the birds away. I never really got any shots off. I was looking outside my sliding galss door tonight and realized that I had plenty of birds flying around here. I got some good shots. Maybe I shouldn't have traveled so far to get some shots. It seemed to be better closer to home. Although, there wasn't the selection that I had in the canal, the birds were better subjects. Of course, it helps when you feed them. These were taken from my patio and over at the little pond behind out place. It was nice to be able to get some shots off and not have the birds fly away before I could shoot them.

Free Advice Gone

Since I took better pictures than he did tonight, Leo is refusing to give me any more advice on using my camera. I can't help that I have a much better eye for photography than he does.

Canal Walk

Today, we went to the canal for a walk. I took my new camera along with me. I didn't get all the shots that I would have wanted. I could have had a nice hawk shot except Leo felt the need to scare the hawk away by walking underneath it. I also played with the close-up feature on the camera and had some nice results.

Daffy 1

Daffy 2

Flower 3

Flower 2

These are for you Mom

Possible collision course.

I was playing around with a photo program and came up with this little cropping affect. It came out better than I thought it would for the distance it was. I wish I would have brought the telephoto lens with me, but sometimes you just have to work with what you got.

Getting Lost in the Woods

Today, we went for a little walk. The object of this was to make Wrangler tired. The object was not to get lost in the process of making Wrangler tired. Well, the second non-targeted effect was what actually happened. The above pictures that I took with my new camera was part of the reason that I got lost. I had stopped to take some pictures of a bird in a tree. Those pictures are not posted in the collage as they didn't turn out that well. Leo and Wrangler went ahead while I was doing this. Well, I started down the trail after taking some pictures and didn't see Leo or the dog. I kept going on what I thought was the trail and ended up walking two more fields over without seeing them. Now, I had never been on this trail, and I am sure, by this point that I am not on the same trail Leo took. I turned around the way I came figuring if I go back to the car I will meet him there at some point. I walked back the way I came took another little trail to see if he went that way, but he wasn't there. I came out of the woods to head back to the car, and here comes the boys looking for me. Leo had realized that I wasn't behind him. He went back to the car and I wasn't there yet, so now he is thinking that I am part of a real life "Missing Without a Trace" episode. Wrangler seemed to be real happy to see me, and he is extremely tired from the extra walking he had to do.

Big Thanks!

No one's birthday would be as fun if it weren't for this person. She may only put the amount of candles on the cake that she can find in the box, but she always makes sure you have a cake. I for one am glad that she talked Spidey out of putting the big 6 and 0 numbers on the cake. It is bad enough that you have to grow up, but becomes worse when someone tries to speed up the process.

Man in fast motion

For those of you who don't believe his mother, this is proof positive that Harry is one boy always on the move.

Birthday Party

Well, I received a new camera for my birthday.....the Nikon D40. I have been playing around with this for two days, and I am really liking it. Upon my mother-in-laws advice, I had Leo teach me Picasa tonight and if you look at the above you can see not only what I learned, but Pippi, Harry, Spidey, and the Little Princess having fun at my party. Peter, if you can't figure out who is who in those nicknames, you don't know you nieces and nephews well. The kids seem to have alot of fun. For those who think that the way they are playing pool is the easy way, you obviously haven't tried it. I can attest to the fact that it is very hard just to try and shoot the balls into the pockets. Harry seemed to get very good at it, but, if you know him that isn't very surprising at all. He is good at almost everything he tries without much effort. The twins are learning how to hit it big in Atlantic City. They are trying to come up with ways to offset the cost of college. It was a fun day for the adults also.

Listerine great stuff

Yesterday, Leo took Wrangler out for a romp. The idea was to tire him out a little meaning Wrangler not Leo. Well, last night I kept smelling horse, and not in a good way. Finally, dawns on me that Leo took Wrangler on horse trails. I asked Leo if Wrangler had eaten anything on the trail. Guess what he ate? So, I tried giving him some treats that are known for breath related problems. They, really didn't help much. Leo got the idea to use listerine breath strips. They were regular kind not the whitening kind as that would be bad for him. Well, we gave him one and he liked it, so Leo gave him another one. Well, the second one proved to be too much for him. He kept lifting up his upper lip, and his mouth was watering. It did do the trick as far as his breath goes. I am not sure how he felt about it after the second one, but he smelled better. Who would have thought it could be that simple. It is amazing what you find out when you are bored and looking to entertain yourself while taking care of a problem.

No real title.

I couldn't think of a good title, so I came up with something that fits that there is going to be no real theme with this post. I went for a walk today and slipped a little off the still damp curb. I think I pulled part of my hamstring as it seems tight, but I guess it could have been worse. I didn't fall with traffic going by, and managed to make a good save of things. It was hardly noticeable. I had to run to Target to get some things today amongst them was birdseed. For those who don't know, Leo bought me a very nice birdfeeding station for Christmas. I have kind of taken backyard birding up as a hobby since I quit working. I enjoy seeing how many different birds I can attract. Well, today they were quite upset that I had run out of food. They eat more than my dogs. Well, I filled the feeder. The whole time I had to listen to them chirping/squawcking away at me while I filled. I guess they were a little impatient. I must have been rough for them to actually have to go looking for food as most birds do instead of just coming to the feeder. I forgot to buy Nyjer seed for the goldfinsches. I will have to get some of that when I go for dog food later this week. There is still a little left in their feeder, so I will get some then. We watched the Phillies game. They lost today. There is always tomorrow. It is one of the nice things about having a long season.

Phightin' Phils

Yesterday, Leo took off and we went to our first Phillies game of the season. We are loading up in the beginning of the year. There is a big difference of a one hour drive to almost three hour drive we will have once we move. It turned out to be a great game. There was plenty of hits 30 in total between the two teams. There were also plenty of lessons to be learned. It was too bad Stephen was in school or he could have a full clinic of what not to do and ultimately what to do in situations. First off, there were four error by the Phillies in the game. Silly type of things such as real bad throws and a first baseman who couldn't catch the ball the first few innings. Then, you learned why you never give up. The Phillies were down 5-0 in the first, and 6-1 when they started there comeback to tie up the game. They also proved, while homeruns are nice, small ball is even better. They took the lead only to lose it and go to extra innings. Then, a smart base running play led to the go ahead run on a walk off walk in the bottom of the tenth. It was a great game. Since it was a Thursday afternoon game there was a small crowd. There were only 25,000 people there. We had a very nice time. Leo didn't feel the greatest, but still managed to enjoy the game. Since it was an afternoon game, we got home at a decent hour, and could relax. In Leo's case, go to bed early so he could rest up from being sick. Wrangler's bloodwork came back perfect, so he is officially done with things hopefully for a year. Now, I just have to figure who I am going to take next.

April Fools a day later

Well, we didn't play an April Fool's day joke on anybody, but I would be to think that Wrangler begs to differ. No, we didn't have the twins over here to color him. See tonight he was one happy boy at home. Daddy came home early, and that sometimes means good things for him. Then, he really got excited when his leash was grabbed. He got loaded up in the back on the car, and he knew he was going on an adventure. He was even making his happy noises as he thought he was headed for a romp. Well, that idea was thrown out the window when the car took a wrong turn. It really took a wrong turn three blocks later, and it was obvious to him where he was going. He was off to the vet's. You see it was time for his annual check up. In the past, I would just take him into work with me, and he would spend the day. Now, obviously, things have changed and we were regular clients. He has lost five pounds from running with Leo. Got a clean bill of health. His allergies are the best they have been in year. Surprising since it is going to be a bad allergy year. He has his annual bloodwork done, and his vaccinations. Plus, with the move coming up I bought a years worth of heartworm and flea preventative. I don't think he was too happy about his adventure this evening, and probably won't be as quick to jump in the car the next time, but at least we know he is healthy. Now, we only have four more to go.