♥ Kildeer Eggs ♥

I just love all the new life that comes with spring!  About a week and a half ago, when one of my piano students was leaving, she noticed a kildeer egg in our driveway, just a little off to the side of the main driving path.  Since then, I've noticed there is another one!  I tend to get a little excited over these things!  :)

I have to say thought that I've often thought that these birds aren't very smart.  They will lay their eggs right barely on the edge of the road, or in this case on our driveway.  It's so close to where we drive and where piano students pull in and park that we were worried those little eggs might not make it.   And see how well it blends into the rocks? 

Can you see them?

So, bless his heart, Jason put up a little blue flag out there to mark them so we could help mama kildeer protect her eggs.  I have already warned our mail delivery lady and she says we're not the only ones on her route marking kildeer eggs!    That made me smile!  :)

I may not think mama kildeer is very smart as far as where she chooses to lay her eggs, but she really is a good mama.

She doesn't like me coming around, getting that close to her babies. 

She's headed out to try to distract me.  Love those spindly legs!

She is mighty protective, squawking and playing out the broken wing scene for us time after time. 



Can you see here out there pretending to have a broken wing so I'll look at her instead of her babies?



We try not to linger very long around the eggs so she can get back to warming her eggs.  But I have a certain little 5 year old boy that is very curious about those eggs.  I have to watch him when we go outside because he is a little obsessed with them.

The incubation period is about 28 days or so, and we're not really sure how long the eggs have been there, but I'm thinking in the next week, or two anyway, we should have two kildeer babies.  Actually around here, we call them "kildees". 

I hope we're as blessed as we were about 4 years ago.  We watched  a mama kildeer (and the daddy on watch nearby) protect their eggs, and actually witnessed one of the babies making his debut into the world out of the egg.  And watched them struggle to stand on those long spindly wobbly legs.  It was a beautiful thing.  And believe me, that was a very protective mama.  She contorted herself into a very ugly creature to attempt to scare me away....she didn't like that camera near her babies one little bit! 

If you'd like, you can read that post, Don't Mess With My Babies, here.  It's quite a nature lesson, if you've never witnessed that before!

I'm hoping we get to see these babies....we're watching closely for any changes.  They don't stay in the nest long after they arrive.  If we are blessed enough again to get photos when they arrive, I'll be sure and share them with you.

Thanks so much for stopping by.................. and remember to take time to notice God's creations all around us.  I'm always amazed at the beauty and the details of each and every thing He created for us to enjoy.  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

Spring Days

Spring is officially here, although we’ve actually had spring like days for quite awhile now! So much for our persimmon seed weather prediction of lots of snow for the winter, huh?

With weather so beautiful, Jason was able to (finally) finish Amber’s cabinet! He put the finishing touches on it Monday evening and the cabinet is now in its new home at the salon. I really like the way it turned out!  (I snapped a picture of it before it was loaded up and ready to go).

Notice the addition on the side? It is removable if Amber so desires. It holds her hair styling equipment……..hair dryer, curling irons, and flat irons….etc….

Nearly two weeks ago, on another beautiful weekend, we were blessed to attend my Grandma’s 94th birthday party. She is an amazing woman! She has done remarkably well for her age. However, we did receive word last night that she is in the hospital. She apparently had a light heart attack and has pneumonia on one side. I’d appreciate it if you remember Grandma in your prayers!

That same weekend of Grandma’s birthday party, we were blessed to meet a very sweet blogging friend, Betty of Through My Back Door! Betty made time to meet with us even though she had been cooking brunch for her granddaughter, Amanda, and her family (whom we have all been praying for). She is such a bubbly precious person! I felt like I have known her forever! Blogging friends are just awesome! Betty also works part time at The Speckled Hen, which is a wonderful primitive store! But as I told her, I’m not sure how she keeps from wanting everything in the store when she goes to work! I’m pretty sure I’d be in trouble if I worked there on a regular basis! Oh to have a store such as that near me! We have nothing of that sort near us. Sharon is the owner of The Speckled Hen and she is one talented lady! Her decorating skills are obvious by looking around her store!  It is such a charming place!

Sharon is a really sweet person too! She gave the kids a candle that they had been admiring (and smelling) the whole time we were there!  :) 

Thank you, Sharon, for opening your store to us, for the candle, and to you and Betty both for making us feel so welcome!

Here we are. That’s Betty next to Joy and Sharon next to Betty.  (Jason was there.....but he was the photographer).

This past weekend, while I was inside the house (all.weekend.long) nursing a migraine headache, and Jason was finishing up Amber’s cabinet, Joy worked with Luke on his baseball skills. The baseball set was a birthday gift from Uncle Richie and Aunt Missy. He loved it!

He had the stance down pretty well.

I don’t think he ever hit a ball though. But he never gave up trying!

I think he actually did more of this…….retrieving the ball.

Pitching was his favorite thing about baseball.  Can you tell by the grin on his face?

Along with spring comes the desire to give the house a good spring cleaning. That is definitely on my to-do list. (Bet you thought I was going to show you a nice clean house now didn’t you?) Not yet......remember I had a migraine all weekend!  We have a certain 4 year old around here that has somehow acquired quite a few toys that need to be organized and…….ahem….donated to kids that don’t have any toys.  :)  We haven’t taken a spring break (as such) from homeschooling, although we’ve had a little bit lighter load this week. I’m hoping to get a little of that spring cleaning done before this week is gone.

I hope you’re all enjoying this spring weather! Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a great day!  :)

And the Winner is.......

First of all, a big thank you to everyone that stopped by and entered the spring giveaway...long-time blogging buddies and the new ones too! I appreciate you all and I really enjoy your comments!

Now on to what you came over here for today! After mixing up all the names really well, Joy reached in and pulled out the winning name.....



Drum roll please....

And the winner is.......



Lynn...Country Heart and Roses!

Congratulations, Lynn! If you'll email me with your address, I'll get your spring goodies mailed out to you! (I might have your address somewhere Lynn, but email it to me anyway....just in case)!

Have a great week, everyone! :)

Blessings,
Tammy

Time for a Giveaway!

I promised a giveaway when I either reached 300 posts or 300 followers. Well, I hit the 300 follower mark first, actually a couple of weeks ago or more, and I've been brainstorming on a giveaway! I still have a few more posts to go to reach 300 posts, so who knows maybe I'll do another one then! But for now, I promised a giveaway, so here it is: (remember, you can click on the picture to see it up closer)....



I wanted my giveaway to be spring related.....so included in this giveaway is an 8 x 10 (framed in distressed black) "Happy Spring" stitchery, a 5 x 7 sheep print (framed in black), a beehive beeswax candle (from our local bee farm), and two sunflower (floating) candles.

The rules are simple. To be entered once, just leave me a comment letting me know that you'd like to be included in the giveaway. For two entries, become a follower, or let me know that you already are. And for three entries, announce the giveaway on your blog as well. You may use the above picture for that purpose. The contest is open to folks in the U.S. and Canada. Oh, and be sure that I have a way to contact you, either on your blog or by email address!

Joy will draw out the winning name this Saturday evening, March 20th at 9:00 p.m., (which is the first day of spring). I'll announce the winner the next day, Sunday, March 21st and get it mailed out to the winner the next day!

I'll leave this post up here until Saturday. In the meantime, Jason is off tomorrow and Friday and we hope to get lots accomplished around here with the makeovers. Joy's room is coming along nicely. We still have two more pieces of furniture to paint. Those pieces of furniture and trim have taken several layers of primer/paint to cover the darker stain. But it's getting there! I can't walk by her room without stopping to admire it and I sometimes make an excuse to go in there.....it's already so "her"! I can't wait to show it to you.....but I want to get more of the little details and custom touches put to it first!

And I'd like to thank everyone who stops by and visits my blog! I appreciate you so much and really thank you for being a follower and especially for all the sweet and encouraging comments! You all are the best! Good luck on the giveaway!

Have a great day! :)

~ Tammy ~

New Beginnings

We've been blessed with a few of God's gifts to us through nature.....one of which came right to our kitchen bay window. We sat down for supper the other evening and this cute baby rabbit decided to pay us a visit.



Jason spotted him first! I went to grab my camera in hopes of catching him before he decided to hop away. To my surprise, he decided to stay awhile (probably to his mother's dismay). I decided to call "it" a "he". He was just sitting there watching us eat supper and stayed perfectly still as we moved near him too. He even let me close enough for a photo.



At this point, I was beginning to worry that there might be something "wrong" with him. As a matter of fact I was asking Jason what we should do...we couldn't just leave him there for dogs to find. If there was something wrong, I wanted to see what we could do for him. Jason encouraged me to wait awhile and make sure Mama Rabbit wasn't near by....saying that if we touched him and he had our scent on him, she might kill him. I suppose this is the case in Rabbit World.



I'm so glad we did wait because within a few moments, I looked out there and Mama Rabbit was inching close....coming to fetch her wayward adventurous little one. We stayed as still as possible and in a few minutes, baby hopped along with mom. Can't you just imagine the "talkin' to" (or more) he got when they got home! :) But he sure gave us a simple pleasure with his little visit at dinner time and I guess we must have been at least a little interesting to him......curious little fella!

And at the edge of our gravel driveway are four little kildeer eggs. Every year we have kildeer eggs in almost exactly the same spot.



When I went out to get photos, Mama Kildeer moved away from the eggs squawking at me!
These were the closest I could get to Mama and Daddy Kildeer, even with my 300 mm lens.



And then Daddy Kildeer flew in from nearby, so they were on oppposite sides of the eggs, just watching me.



Mama Kildeer creates quite a commotion to distract visitors from her precious babies. She runs to the far side of the driveway just a fussin' and flappin' her wings to gear our attention away from her babies and focus on her. She sometimes even acts like she has a broken wing. She actually did this for my photos!







It's amazing to me how God made each and every creature so intricately...with their own built in protective modes. I'll keep a watch and try to catch the little babies as they make their little debut!

I'm so thankful for spring and all the beauty that goes with it...God's gifts to us through nature.....new beginnings. :)

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UPDATE - I typed the above post earlier today with intentions of adding the rest of my pictures, and then this evening, Jason spotted our wayward visiting baby rabbit again! He came to almost the same spot...just over in the grass. I was able to get some better pictures!



I'm wondering if he remembered us or if his Mama tells him to stay put.



Or if he's being disobedient being out here!



Isn't he the cutest? We gave him a name.......Rascal.



And look at this.....it's pure torture for Bambi lying in the bay window sill watching little Rascal. She was just cocking her head, eyes big, ears back, and purring. And still Rascal stayed.



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One more thing....please continue to remember Joy in your prayers. She has started running fever AGAIN this evening and saying she's tired and sleeping a lot and not feeling well. So we're off to the Dr. again tomorrow. I'm not feeling so well myself. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers....we sure appreciate them! :)