Backyard Birdies...and the cat that awaits them...

Having been sick for the last week, I found myself prisoner on the couch, surrounded by musilex meds, tissues, unhealthy snacks and Dr Pepper. My television viewing was limited to watching things like Judge shows celebrating people that made me feel normal, shows about murders, solving murders, unsolved murders and the people who commit murder, hours of programming about nazis, hoarders and drug addicts and to wrap it up...people who are addicted to eating things like couch cushions, toilet paper, soap and the like.

I was getting depressed.

I finally decided to shut off the TV and do something else. ANYTHING ELSE. I chose to organize some of my many photos on my computer and found I had an interesting collection of backyard birds to share:

Here we have a winter visitor to the bird feeder:

and here we have Killer Diller, laying in wait...

This was a nest over the garage door a couple of seasons back:

These are the parents of that big ass baby in the nest above:

One parent guarded that nest faithfully (I can never tell which is mother or father):

Here is a baby robin I had to rescue from the clutches of Killer Diller:

I tried to return it as close to the nest as possible:

Two baby robins in their comfy nest (I was hopeful the one I rescued was one of them!):

and here we have Killer Diller, right below the nest, waiting...

The following is a rather intensely built Blue Jay nest in the front of the house:

and here we have a rather intense Blue Jay scolding anyone who dares get close to the nest:

This is me attempting to gain some video of the baby blue jays...FAIL:

Below is a family of some kind of bird, all hanging out on the weather vane:

and finally, the weather vane in the sunset:

that's all for now...gotta go blow my nose again...ugh..

The sad task that marks each January.

When the house goes from smelling of Christmas Cheer to reeking of Woodland Death...it's time to take down the tree!...and the decorations...and the lights.

Oh, and throw out all the leftover cookies, pints of egg nog, candy canes and other assorted holiday treats.

So last weekend I spent AN ENTIRE SATURDAY forcing 4 boxes worth of decorations back into the very same 4 boxes the decorations came out of:

Then I moved on to the sad task of dethroning the tree. Here you have a brief photo history of "Frank" the Christmas tree - as he was named by one of the kids:
The awesomeness of the $40 Lucky's parking lot tree could not be denied:
But sadly, as the needles fell, and the smell of woodland death permeated my house, I had to post the eviction notice. Some people, I WON'T SAY WHO, were not enthused about stripping the tree:
But eventually, Killer Diller took care of the removal of the lights...by watching me wrap up the lights. Which of course would not quite fit back on the VERY SAME REELS they came off of:
The tree was even less enthused about the stripping and eviction:
As the eviction was carried out, begging and pleading could be heard. I swear I heard echoes of the same begging and pleading all up and down the street:
But what is this? Has the tree found a friend to spend its last moments with?
You were a good tree, "Frank", and we look forward to welcoming some cousin or sibling of yours next year.

Christmas time was here!

After spending the first day of 2011 forcing 4 boxes worth of decorations back into the four boxes they came out of, I realized I had yet to publish the Christmas blog!

The festivities this year began with the annual horror known as "getting a good Christmas card shot". My two year old niece tried to help out:

Exhibit A: Failure to capture four children looking in same direction:

Exhibit B: Those who take the "casual pose by the tree" request a little too literally:

Exhibit C: The unfortunate Christmas sweater fit:

Before I knew it, the time for Christmas card planning was over and it was almost Christmas Eve. I took some time out one evening to make some "easy cutout" cookies:

(each year I say..never again...and each year I try again - SICK!)

Time for "Nestor the Long Eared Donkey" - the Rankin Bass 1970's cartoon I remember and no one else apparently does:

and time to volunteer to help my sister get her youngest kids to take a photo with Santa:

(the one on the left is simply too terrified to cry!)

Then Christmas Eve arrived, and here are a few examples of the kids posing with ornaments and stockings at Grandma's house:

Then, for what reason I'll never know...these three decided to suck lemons for awhile:

Christmas Day dawned stormy and cold. I trudged the three miles through this horrific storm (i.e. rain and mild wind) to the "main house" for the big event:
The niece and nephews were already assembled, be-jammied and hyper aware of the load of gifts taking up 80% of the space in the living room:

The unwrapping, filming and photographing began!

Some people, I WON'T SAY WHO, rapidly unwrapped and ran off with the goods:
While others posed momentarily with their gifts:

and some got their hearts desire..this one wanted a Pogo stick and got one!alas, the cornucopia of gifts couldn't last forever:
While the adults waded through the piles of boxes and papers, untangled toys tied to their packages with super strong twisties from hell (what is with that, anyway??) and scarfed down sugar laden donuts, the kids inspected their "gift kills":

While others amused themselves in other ways:

Then the kid dreaded "adult gift opening" portion of the day came around - the kids tend to show little patience with this activity:

uh, yeah...I had nothing to do with the following gift!
We did manage to find creative ways to keep the kids quiet while we opened presents:

While assorted family members traipsed home to unload their gift hauls, the Christmas dinner table was set up:
(uncomfortably seats about 20)

The afternoon brought kids with fresh (new!) clothes:
and fresh new kids to open their gifts!
So the madness ensued once again...with paper and gifts and the occasional baby flying all over the place:

And then another fresh kid arrived to tackle her gift offerings:

and finally, the big gift of the year was unveiled...yes, we all brought mom (grandma) into the 21st century and got her a laptop:
This kid's betting she can't find the "on" button:
Finally, and I do mean finally... it was time for some dessert - my awesome butterscotch pies shall only merit a passing reference, as I mistakenly purchased "cook and serve" pudding instead of instant. This MINOR error resulted in what I shall politely refer to as "loose pie filling".
Lastly, here is a glimpse of what I dealt with while attempting to get some portraits of the kids this year...to no avail: