Beach, Day 3

I have to say I've never seen ducks in the ocean before. Seems there are more ducks here than seagulls.

Our beach house. The name of it is Doctor's Orders :0) We're renting the left side of the house.

Beautiful day for a sail. We've been enjoying our vacation. The weather has been great and the seafood has been awesome!

Memorial Day 2013!

Me and Terry are spending the week in Surfside Beach, SC with the Sissom family. The beach is crowded as this is Memorial Day. It's also biker week in Myrtle Beach just up the road from here.

The temps today are unseasonably cool. It's 78 here today and I can only imagine how cool the ocean is. This is the view from the balcony of our room at the beach house where we are staying. Terry's dad always does a great job of picking out a house to rent. Gorgeous! I love the Atlantic!

Can't wait to get out and take a walk on the beach. Happy Memorial Day everyone and a special thanks to all the men and women who sacrificed their lives serving our country so we can enjoy a gorgeous week at the beach. Thanks to all those who are serving in the armed forces around the world.

Friday In My Backyard

If you look closely through the willow tree branches, you can see a Robin sitting on her nest. This is the first time we've had a bird nesting there. She is very protective and if you get within a few feet she will let you know that she isn't happy.

Daddy Tree Swallow keeps watch from his perch near our back porch. I moved our shepherd's hook closer to their bird house so they can better protect them selves from predators. We had a female Tree Swallow killed on her nest by a House Sparrow a few weeks back.

Mama Tree Swallow peeking out from her nest. She is incubating eggs right now and is spending more and more time inside the bird house. I peeked inside earlier today and there were 3 very small, white eggs. Tree Swallows are known to lay 4 to 7 eggs. They lay an egg a day. Hopefully we will have some babies here in the next week or two.

Our Tulip Poplar tree is in bloom. It bloomed a bit late this spring. I guess because of the unseasonably cool temps we had early on. They are so beautiful! It's the Tennessee state tree as well.

Our hedge row is teaming with honeysuckle. They smell so good! Brings back great childhood memories. I love this time of year and hope your Friday has been awesome! Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Cat Nap

Our sweet Jessie cat snoozing in her favorite spot on the back porch. Now that's one comfy kitty!

Tree and barn in Gordonsville, TN.

Land adjacent to the barn covered in yellow flowers.

"Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~ Robin Williams

I took a picture of this barn last year around this time. A few days ago I went back and used my wide angle lens. This is one of my favorite barns in Gordonsville! Me and T want to wish our brother-in-law, Don Foy, a Very happy 52nd birthday today! Love ya', dude!

The fields in Smith County have been filled with these beautiful yellow flowers. I love the green and yellow colors together! Also want to say congratulations to my niece, Sarah, who graduated from high school yesterday with honors. We're so proud of you Sarah poo! Happy Anniversary to my sister, Kay and her hubby Neil. They are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary today. Love you guys!

Rob!

It was 5 years ago today that I lost my youngest brother, Robert. I miss hearing him play drums, his sense of humor, his big bear hugs that would literally take your breath away, his laugh, his funny stories and everything else about him. He touched the lives of everyone he met during his short life. Anyone who ever met him will never forget him. I miss him each and every day and was truly blessed to have him as a brother. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him or laugh to myself about something funny he said or did. Thank goodness for all the great memories that have helped me get through. Love and miss you each and every day brother! Until we meet again.

"Some people leave our lives unexpectedly, we hold on to the memories, and spend the rest of our lives searching for little reminders of them."

"Everyone copes differently, some cry for the loss of a loved one others smile because they know they'll see them again."

Bye Bye Bluebird!

I took this picture of daddy bluebird three days ago. Yesterday, I decided to take a look at the babies. I got a ladder out of the garage, carefully climbed up to the birdhouse and opened the door. The nest was empty. The babies must have fledged sometime in the last couple of days. I've read that bluebirds can lay more than one clutch of eggs in a season. I'm hoping our bluebird couple will do just that.

Five years ago today, my niece Kelly was married on the beach in Destin, Florida. Happy Anniversary Kelly and Kerry! Love you both!

Daddy bluebird bringing home the bacon, or should I say the grasshopper.

Feeding the little ones. I got a quick glimpse of one of the babies yesterday.

Break Time!

Mama tree swallow taking a break. The nest building has been going at a fevered pitch over the past three days. We took a peek in the box yesterday afternoon and we believe the nest is almost done. As for the house sparrow, so far so good. We haven't seen it around the birdhouse since the incident. The mama will be vulnerable to attack when she lays her eggs and spends more time on the nest. We're doing all we can to see that it doesn't happen again.

Happy Mother's Day!

I shot this video Friday morning of our mama bluebird sitting on top of our swing post. She had some kind of grub in her mouth and was getting ready to feed her babies. Their nest is in a birdhouse on the arbor overlooking our garden. We can hear the babies, but haven't seen them yet. The bluebirds are a little more wary of people than the tree swallows. They don't fly up to the birdhouse while we're near, but I think they're starting to get used to us being around. We finally got our garden planted on this beautiful Mother's Day afternoon. I hope all of you mom's out there got to spend time with your peeps today.

This is me and my mom, or Ma as I liked to call her. I guess this picture was taken sometime early in 1959, the year I was born. My mom passed away a year ago this past April 29th. I miss her each and every day and wish she was here for me to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. She was the best! Love you now and forever Ma! Until we meet again.

Bird Speak

I wish I understood bird speak. I would love to know what daddy tree swallow was saying to mama tree swallow :0) The nest building continued today although not as vigorous as yesterday. I guess the rain has slowed them down. Happy TGIF everyone!

I shot this video of our new Tree Swallow couple this morning. They are busy building their new nest. Enjoy!

Field of yellow. 

We have a couple of bluebirds and tree swallows nesting in birdhouses in our backyard. The bluebirds eggs have hatched and we've heard the babies peeping from inside the box. The tree swallows had been busy building their nest and we noticed that we hadn't seen the female around in a couple of days. I saw the male perched on our deck railing and he would fly up to the opening of the box then fly off. When Terry got home from work yesterday, I asked him to put the ladder up to the box and look inside. I had a bad feeling that something had happened to the female and unfortunately I was right. Terry found the female tree swallow dead on her nest inside the box. She had been attacked, pecked on top of the head by what we think was a house sparrow. I did some research and house sparrows are known to attack tree swallow and bluebird nests. Their MO is to trap one of the birds inside the birdhouse, then attack them and take the birdhouse for themselves. Terry told me he had noticed a sparrow coming out of the birdhouse over the weekend and I had noticed one around the box as well. It made us both sad as the nest had been built, but she hadn't laid any eggs yet. I cried as he removed the little nest. I'm sensitive that way. The male keeps coming around. I'm not sure if birds grieve or not, but he definitely knows that something has happened to his mate. I just hope our bluebird family will be alright. We didn't think we would have any tree swallows this year until today when I heard that familiar chattering sound. I looked out the back door and sure enough there were four flying around, checking out the box. As of late this afternoon a pair have been in and out of the box and we hope that they can successfully nest and brood their young. Nature can be cruel at times.

Bullet chilling in the window sill. Hope you've had a chance to chill on your Tuesday!

I love the perspective I get with my wide angle lens. Love the two darker irises in the patch of light colored ones. I can't wait until our lilies start blooming, which should be any day now! Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Fun with Perspective

I took this shot with my wide angle lens. Having fun with photos on a Friday. Happy TGIF everyone!

Our darker purple irises are starting to bloom now. We've really enjoyed them this spring. It's funny how the darker irises have a totally different scent than the lighter color irises.  Or maybe it's just me :0)

An update on our tree swallows. They are building a nest in the new birdhouse we put up on our porch post. The male and female have been flying in with nesting materials, plus there little bits of dried grass on the back porch.