Can We Come Out?

Another batch of baby Bluebirds almost ready to fledge.

There were 4 eggs in this nest.  This will bring our total to 21 once they fledge.  We have another box with 5 eggs.  It’s been a busy year at the farm :)

I love my Zinnias.  We always have plenty of cut flowers.  Last year I put Zinnia seeds all around the vegetable garden.  I thought it would make it look prettier.  Unfortunately the flowers got larger than I thought and spread a little…Al was not too happy my flowers took over his garden.  I was told NO flowers were going to be allowed in this years garden.  Well I didn’t plant any (honest) but it seems the seeds from last years flowers came up anyway…and you guessed it.  Al has flowers in his garden…again :)

He knows better than to kill them, so he just grumbles a lot!

 

bunny

dinner time

bath time for Bluebird

Yesterday, while I was inside reading blogs, I heard “Ivan the Terrible” squawking like crazy.  He’s our Mockingbird and he was after a squirrel.  It seemed the squirrel was in the peach tree trying to steal a peach and Ivan didn’t want him there.  I was a little concerned that the squirrel may have been after a baby Mockingbird, so I went outside and helped Ivan scare off the squirrel.  Once the squirrel left the area of the peach tree, Ivan went about his business. 

We certainly have a nature lovers paradise here and we will certainly miss it when we go on the road in the motor home.

A fox picture to end up with :)

Birds and Flowers

You can sure tell it's "baby" season here.  We have more nests and baby birds.

We have two Bluebird nests with eggs, and one with 4 babies.  We have LOTS of adult Bluebirds flying around from previous nests. They are getting more used to us and don't panic when they see us.  When we first moved here, we would see them up on a power line and if we got anywhere near, they would fly off.  I think they now realize we won't hurt them.

We have another Carolina Wren (Nancy) nest in a flower basket on the front porch.  When the eggs hatch, we will have to sneak in on the front porch so as not to disturb them, or use the back door!  They are such sweet and interesting birds, we always enjoy having them nest on the porch.

We think there is a Brown Thrasher nest  in the front Holly.  We've seen mom and dad (Ike and Tina) flying in and out a lot, so we think they're feeding babies.  We haven't found the nest though.  The bush is very thick.

Al is back in Tampa for a few days, so I am trying to do some house work and of course my daily mowing.  I usually try to take the mower for a ride every evening.  I enjoy it, but am having to watch my grip to avoid any more issues with my thumb.

Some pictures of my Hydrangea bush.  It's actually about 4 different plants and I guess they are all different because they are different colors.  They are beautiful early in the summer, but as it gets hotter, they tend to droop.

I believe this is a type of Ginger.  The pink flowers just sprout up from the ground and then later the leaves appear.  We have them all over the place and I always forget about them until they pop up!

Cut flowers from my flower gardens.  I love Zinna's and have tons of them.  There are always plenty of flowers for cutting, unfortunately the kitties LOVE to EAT my cut flowers (and of course spill the water), so I usually just leave them on the porch where I can see them!  It's safer that way :)

Lazy Day

We had to go into town yesterday to pick up the Honda from getting the window replaced.  We decided to have the new tint put on while we were there. So at least that little project was finished.  It was a bit of a hassle, but at least it's done.

Once we came home, we decided to do like Al's Grandma and Granda Pa Lueck recommended and take a nap after lunch!  They were farmers who worked very hard and they believed a short nap after lunch was good for you! They lived well into their 90's, so they may have been on to something!  It sounded good yesterday so we went up to the motor home, and took a nap on our new "Bed in a Box" mattress.  Boy is that a comfortable mattress.  It's more comfortable than our home mattress.  I find that I start out sleeping on my left side and when I wake up, I haven't moved.  I think it is soft enough so that you don't get sore and firm enough to keep you comfortable. 


I had planned to wash the Honda because it was covered with yellow pollen.  The rain we had on Thursday brought in a cool front with a stiff breeze, so I just couldn't get motivated to play in the water.  The dirty car will have to wait.  The temperature got up into the high 70's but the breeze made it cool.

I decided to mow a little.  I am chief mower on the rider and Al does all the trimming, regular mowing, fire ant killing, and "Round Up"  With our large property, there is always something that needs mowing, so it's a good thing I enjoy it.

The rain washed pollen off the grass and trees and also helped to green things up a lot.

 This is a flowering shrub we have in our yard.  We have never figured out what it is but once a year, it blooms profusely.  Here it is, just starting to flower.  I'll post another picture when it's in full bloom.

Yesterday, I decided to mow part of our clover meadow.  The Crimson Clover is very pretty, and it smells wonderful, but that clover can get pretty thick and it can be a bit difficult to mow (even with our commercial grade Grasshopper mower) once it gets too thick.  When I mow the clover, that song from the 60's runs through my head.  Crimson Clover....Tommy James and the Shondells, I think.  I hated that song back then, and still do, but I can't help but hear it in my head when I'm running thru the Crimson Clover!   The clover field is really beautiful when the clover is in full bloom, and I accidentally mowed a little too large of area...Al wasn't happy with me.  Sometimes when I mow, I get carried away...like last week when I murdered a hose and spray handle!

Once the sun started to go down, it started to get really cool, so we came in and watched a few episodes of "Friday Night Lights" from our Roku/Netflix.  That is a really good show.  It has been on Tv for years and we never watched it.  We're catching up on it now.

Today we plan to stay around the house, except for a quick trip to Walmart to get Al a new battery for his little spray rig.  He has a tank that he puts in the back of a little red trailer.  It has a pump, and he can spray for fire ants or put down Round up.  He pulls the trailer with the Golf Cart and it works quite well for him.  This is just too much property to try to walk around and to this kind of thing.  The Fire Ants are a never ending battle in South Georgia.  You just have to keep spraying the ant hills and the best you can do is control them.  They will never be completely gone.

Fringe Trees and More

The spring bloom just keeps getting better.

Here what I call Fringe Trees.  I’m not sure if this is the correct name or not, but aren’t they beautiful?  They are not in our yard, unfortunately, although we do have a small one.

Spirea is blooming everywhere.  Ours are still small plants, but still pretty.

These are pretty weeds that are abundant (unfortunately) in the pasture. They go away once it gets hot.

These are what we call Easter Lily’s but grow wild this time of the year.  They make great cut flowers and are so pretty.  They are abundant in the pasture and one part of the yard we call Bluebirdy Meadow.  While mowing it yesterday, I just couldn’t bring myself to mow them down, so I mowed around them. 

More of my favorite…Wisteria

Today was the day of the appointment for the window replacement.  The glass had remained in the window but it shattered in a million little pieces, just being held together by the window film.

For some reason the drivers door wouldn’t shut properly.  We finally figured out it must be because of small fragments of glass going into the frame.  Al had to drive into town with the door bungeed shut!  Not too safe!    Part way into town Al decided to stop and take the window completely out because the wind was about to do it for him while he was driving!  Anyway, the window is done and the door closes (or so the body shop says). We haven’t picked it up yet because it was storming.   Besides, if we have to go into town tomorrow, we will probably have to get a Grits cup!

Spring Bloom

The following photos are Flowering Peach trees.  We first saw them blooming last year and stopped to take pictures.  The lady that lived there was outside working in the yard,  and she gave us a few small trees.  There were a lot small trees that came from the larger trees. Anyway, we kept the small trees in pots, and babied them all year.  We only have 2 left.  The squirrels liked to chew on them for some reason.

Some of the trees come out in the light pink and some in the dark pink.  As you can see here, some trees have both color blooms.  They aren’t in full bloom yet. I’ll get more pictures later on.

The Dogwoods are starting to come out and are pretty.  Evidently there are two kinds of Dogwoods.  These have small flowers.  The prettier ones have larger white flowers are are more showy.  They haven’t started blooming yet.  These are pretty nice though.

This is a picture from the car…sorry about the big old GPS sitting on the dash!

More Spring Bloom

Spring is trying to come to south Georgia and we’re seeing more and more blooming trees.

I think these are more flowering Cherries.

One of our apple trees is in full bloom and the one that is supposed to pollinate it, is still dormant.  We’re not going to get apples that way!

More Daffodils

Daffodils

Spring must be coming.  We are having more and more Daffodils blooming. 
Pretty, huh?



The photos turned out real well.  I just got down and aimed the camera on them while pointed up.  I had to take a few to get them in the frame, but they turned out real nice.

The moon is full and absolutely gorgeous tonight.  I tried to get some pictures but the pictures never do it justice.  It was incredible.  We’ll be sleeping with the curtains open tonight!  I love it when the moon light shines in, and we’re out in the country, so no neighbors to worry about.