1 day ago
Aug 31, 2008
Pine Siskin......
There are often five or six of these guys on the feeders at a time! The chickadees don't get a look-in! They are such messy eaters and the floor gets covered in the seeds which they then fly down to eat! The feeders are being emptied daily - boy it's costing a lot but Lloyd just laughs when I complain and reminds me how much I enjoy watching them! The Pine Siskins are also soooo noisy!!! They fly in big groups and are little and so sweet to see!
Aug 28, 2008
Bird Feeders
Our Bird Feeders are VERY busy right now as the birds fill up before their journeys south or before the cold sets in! We have 6 feeders going at the moment but will have more once the wrap around porch is completed. WE kept our feeders going all Summer this year and REALLY noticed a difference in the birds that visited us!
We also had our bird boxes in the woods which we know were used - we are thrilled about this!
At our feeders right now we have our families of American Goldfinches - these are amazing to watch and we have loved watching them grow from when it was just the parents to when the babies started their early flights!
We also have our baby Barn Swallows who were just the cutest little babies EVER!!!
We have had baby Chickadees who were such scruffy babies but are now just like their parents all smart and grouchy looking! They don't seem impressed with sharing their feeders with all those hungry Goldfinches - why on earth do Goldfinches have such big families?????
Our Woodpeckers had babies and they are gorgeous!
Our Hummingbirds had a couple of babies - only a couple we think - they grow VERY fast to the point that it isn't long before you can't tell baby from parent! The only way you can tell them apart is that they seem quite 'ditzy' around the feeders ;) They have now left to fly south though!
We now have a Pine Siskin visiting the feeder - I believe it's a female as she doesn't have much yellow on her!
And then there was my mystery bird which we have now identified as a White-breasted Nuthatch!!! Nothing like the Nuthatches we had in the garden in England - or the Nuthatches we get near our mailbox here and have been trying to attract here with the introduction of more spruce trees! These Nuthatches are HUGE for Nuthatches and this one I have NEVER seen upside down at the feeder - not once!!! It's gorgeous with its big white neck and black stripe down its face! I will try to get a better picture than the one I have!
So my feeders are being filled up almost daily and the birds are loving the mix of nuts, seeds and berries we are putting in (a mix I bought at Walmart when I couldn't get to the Wild bird store in time and couldn't lift the huge bag of Sunflower seeds lol) so I think I will just buy this mix in future - it's two different bags that I just mixed together but the different birds seem to love it!!! I tell you it's worth every penny to watch them frolic around out there :)
I will miss our Summer visitors when the leave - especially the Goldfinches - I know some stay over Winter occasionally - I wonder if any of ours will......
We also had our bird boxes in the woods which we know were used - we are thrilled about this!
At our feeders right now we have our families of American Goldfinches - these are amazing to watch and we have loved watching them grow from when it was just the parents to when the babies started their early flights!
We also have our baby Barn Swallows who were just the cutest little babies EVER!!!
We have had baby Chickadees who were such scruffy babies but are now just like their parents all smart and grouchy looking! They don't seem impressed with sharing their feeders with all those hungry Goldfinches - why on earth do Goldfinches have such big families?????
Our Woodpeckers had babies and they are gorgeous!
Our Hummingbirds had a couple of babies - only a couple we think - they grow VERY fast to the point that it isn't long before you can't tell baby from parent! The only way you can tell them apart is that they seem quite 'ditzy' around the feeders ;) They have now left to fly south though!
We now have a Pine Siskin visiting the feeder - I believe it's a female as she doesn't have much yellow on her!
And then there was my mystery bird which we have now identified as a White-breasted Nuthatch!!! Nothing like the Nuthatches we had in the garden in England - or the Nuthatches we get near our mailbox here and have been trying to attract here with the introduction of more spruce trees! These Nuthatches are HUGE for Nuthatches and this one I have NEVER seen upside down at the feeder - not once!!! It's gorgeous with its big white neck and black stripe down its face! I will try to get a better picture than the one I have!
So my feeders are being filled up almost daily and the birds are loving the mix of nuts, seeds and berries we are putting in (a mix I bought at Walmart when I couldn't get to the Wild bird store in time and couldn't lift the huge bag of Sunflower seeds lol) so I think I will just buy this mix in future - it's two different bags that I just mixed together but the different birds seem to love it!!! I tell you it's worth every penny to watch them frolic around out there :)
I will miss our Summer visitors when the leave - especially the Goldfinches - I know some stay over Winter occasionally - I wonder if any of ours will......
Sams crafts!
Sam painted a tray for me :)
I like the top picture - looks like his left eye slipped down the tower of blocks!
.
Rainy days.....
We were going out today but it was so grey and rainy and cold that I just wasn't i the mood to head out anywhere, so the kids did crafts and stuff all day. The workmen were here all morning and I had a work guy here to fix the tumble dryer this morning too. that didn't take long as it was just a loose wire thankfully.
Chris and Susie are off to Vals this evening, and Lloyd is taking Laurie to the movies. I could take Sam and Abby out somewhere I guess....we were out last night though as we spent the evening at Broadmoor Lake and at the Farmers market which was nice.
I'll add some pictures of the kids and their crafts from today :)
Aug 27, 2008
Ready, set, go
A video on our family trip to the Edmonton International Raceway, filmed by my son Chris.
Going private again....
I've decided I liked my blog more private and I miss it! With that in mind feel free to add me to Facebook (those who haven't already). You'll be able to see piccies and whatever there.
Aug 25, 2008
Last time at the lake this Summer?????
Yesterday it reached 28c and as it could well be the last really hot day of Summer 08 we decided to make the most of it and head to the lake again....it was a nice way to relax and enjoy the nice temperatures! The picture of the water/ sand is actually a picture of the little fishy things in the water - whole schools (???) of them!!! But even though there were so many of them and the water was so clear, they were IMPOSSIBLE to catch!!! Even with buckets! Even with weighting down empty bottles with stones and little bits of food inside and leaving it for 10 minutes! We tried everything to try and catch the little buggers and we couldn't catch them :)
But they were amazing to watch :) The children had fun trying to catch them and watching them swim :)
So lazy....
My day has soooo not gone to plan! I was originally going to take Susannah to the movies this afternoon but then her room was SUCH a mess so I told her to tidy it with Abigail and they took soooo long and then both the boys got invited out and so I decided they deserved to go out and Susannah didn't - so the boys have gone out for the afternoon instead! The girls tidied their room on Saturday supposedly - so how on earth could it look so disgusting by today? I told them that Charlie and Davidson are cleaner than them! I'm sure the workmen were outside listening and laughing!!!! Lol!
Susie, Abigail and Sam have been playing outside all afternoon. The girls went for a cycle ride. Sam has been playing with his bubbles. They've been in the sandbox and just busy playing games outside - Lloyd and I were saying what a great thing the sandbox was this Summer - it has had soooo much use from all the children - even Chris has spent time in that sand box with Sam - so glad we made it so big!
I took down all the hummingbird feeders and washed them out - the hummingbirds have all left now on their journey South for winter.
For the final wash before storing them away, I use a mixture of water, sand and a little bleach. The sand scratches the insides of the bottles and removes all traces of sugar and syrup and mold and stops any mold buildup over winter which can harm the birds next year and just a touch of bleach won't harm the birds next year - I make sure to give them a good clean and rinse before reusing them next year - in clear hot water and then making sure they're cold before using them anyway!
I have three loads of laundry to dry and my tumble dryer isn't working! Lloyd needs to move the spare one into the laundry room tonight. They are coming to fix mine but I need to get the clothes dry before then so I will use the spare one. Then when mine is fixed Habitat for Humanity are coming to get my spare one. The people building our kitchen also build houses for Habitat for Humanity, so we are donating our tumble dryer, oven, washing machine, and couches and also the fridge freezer when the kitchen is finished. So they are coming to take all of that next week. We have a big dumpster coming on Friday as want to get rid of all the things piling up by the workshop and we want to clear out the workshop and the basement and the basement and have so much to get rid of (again). Lloyd has a week off next week so we will spend the first few days doing that and getting the workshop ready for the new wood burning fire so the pigs new winter quarters are ready! We also need to chop wood ready for fires this winter as our stock of logs has diminished!
Work on the renovations continues! They have something out there that constantly beeps - to be honest I wnat to go out there with a hammer and smash it to pieces! Laurence frequently brings me cups of tea thankfully. He will make someone a wonderful husband!
Lloyd and I are going out tonight - I need sugar for my bees so its an excuse to escape for something to eat for a while :) Lloyd went to work late this morning and stayed and had coffee with me first - he bought some new ties last week and wore one of them today. He looked so good in it!!! He had to take the garbage to the end of the road before he left as we had forgotten last night - He looked so good - I told him we had the worlds best dressed garbage man ;) (Terry cover your eyes) I wanted to rip his clothes off there and then ;)
Lol ;)
Have a great week everyone ;)
Susie, Abigail and Sam have been playing outside all afternoon. The girls went for a cycle ride. Sam has been playing with his bubbles. They've been in the sandbox and just busy playing games outside - Lloyd and I were saying what a great thing the sandbox was this Summer - it has had soooo much use from all the children - even Chris has spent time in that sand box with Sam - so glad we made it so big!
I took down all the hummingbird feeders and washed them out - the hummingbirds have all left now on their journey South for winter.
For the final wash before storing them away, I use a mixture of water, sand and a little bleach. The sand scratches the insides of the bottles and removes all traces of sugar and syrup and mold and stops any mold buildup over winter which can harm the birds next year and just a touch of bleach won't harm the birds next year - I make sure to give them a good clean and rinse before reusing them next year - in clear hot water and then making sure they're cold before using them anyway!
I have three loads of laundry to dry and my tumble dryer isn't working! Lloyd needs to move the spare one into the laundry room tonight. They are coming to fix mine but I need to get the clothes dry before then so I will use the spare one. Then when mine is fixed Habitat for Humanity are coming to get my spare one. The people building our kitchen also build houses for Habitat for Humanity, so we are donating our tumble dryer, oven, washing machine, and couches and also the fridge freezer when the kitchen is finished. So they are coming to take all of that next week. We have a big dumpster coming on Friday as want to get rid of all the things piling up by the workshop and we want to clear out the workshop and the basement and the basement and have so much to get rid of (again). Lloyd has a week off next week so we will spend the first few days doing that and getting the workshop ready for the new wood burning fire so the pigs new winter quarters are ready! We also need to chop wood ready for fires this winter as our stock of logs has diminished!
Work on the renovations continues! They have something out there that constantly beeps - to be honest I wnat to go out there with a hammer and smash it to pieces! Laurence frequently brings me cups of tea thankfully. He will make someone a wonderful husband!
Lloyd and I are going out tonight - I need sugar for my bees so its an excuse to escape for something to eat for a while :) Lloyd went to work late this morning and stayed and had coffee with me first - he bought some new ties last week and wore one of them today. He looked so good in it!!! He had to take the garbage to the end of the road before he left as we had forgotten last night - He looked so good - I told him we had the worlds best dressed garbage man ;) (Terry cover your eyes) I wanted to rip his clothes off there and then ;)
Lol ;)
Have a great week everyone ;)
Me??????
Thank you to Susan for helping me create this amazing likeness of myself online. I think you will all agree this looks JUST like me :)
hahahahahha :)
You too can create a picture of yourself by going to Susans blog 'Being Kylies Mom' - link to the left - and check out Susans post!
Aug 23, 2008
Blowing bubbles in the air.........
We had to run to the UFA today for some pig food and a salt lick for the deer, and while we were there we picked up a bulk pack of bubble wands on sale. Sam has had fun this afternoon playing with them and using up the big tub of bubble liquid we had in the cupboard! I love watching little ones playing with bubbles - and I love joining in :)
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