Afternoon Nap

Bullet in one of his favorite napping spots...the window sill in our
office window. With a nice breeze and low humidity today, it's an
ideal spot!




"All I do is eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. There must
be more to a cat's life than that. But I hope not." ~ Garfield the cat

Transit of Venus 2012

Transit of Venus 2012: Spectacular show seen for the last time until 2117


More incredible pictures at the link. Check them out!

Bye Bye Birdie!

Yesterday morning, our Tree Swallows left to migrate. Terry happened
to see the entire family happily flying around the birdhouse and arbor.
Here's how he described it to me in an email he sent me yesterday morning.

"Those were definitely the babies flying around my head when I went
out there. Kinda freaked me out – I was standing in front of the box
looking up and there wasn’t any sign of the babies. I couldn’t hear
them or see them. Then out of the blue 4-5 tree swallows swooped
down near the entrance of the box but didn’t try to feed the one left.
That’s when he started jabbering. They didn’t do it again but the
momma bird did come back and feed him a couple of times. It was
like they were all trying to get him to fly out and I guess it worked
sometime between when I left and when you got up"! Pretty cool I
got to witness it.










We will miss them, but are pretty sure they'll return to nest in our
box next spring for the 4th year in a row :0)

Death is nothing else but going home to God, the bond of love will be unbroken for all eternity. ~ Mother Teresa

Sunday afternoon me and Terry took a drive down to Rob Draper
Memorial Cemetary in Gainesboro, TN where my parents are buried.
My mom passed away 5 weeks ago and the monument company went
down on Saturday to finish the engraving on the headstone. We also
took a little cherub to place on the headstone as well. It was given to
my mom when my brother Rob passed away 4 years ago. I miss them
so very much and not a day goes by that they are not in my thoughts.

Those we love don't go away,
They walk beside us every day,
Unseen, unheard, but always near,
Still loved, still missed and very dear.
- Anonymous

Hungry Babies!

Our ever hungry baby Tree Swallows.

Two of four baby Tree Swallows residing in our birdhouse this year.
Yes, that big one is a baby if you can believe it. We call him "Hoss"
after the character from the 1960's tv show, Bonanza. The three other
babies are much smaller. Hoss is always hogging the food and is always
fighting to be the first at the opening of the birdhouse. So much so, that
one of the smaller babies got pushed out of the birdhouse today.
Luckily I found "Little Joe" in the driveway. Terry got the ladder, I got
Little Joe and returned him safely to the nest. I'm glad I found him
before our cats did.


The three smaller babies. We've had so much fun today watching them
jockeying for position at the opening of the birdhouse. Mama and
Daddy have been busy all day feeding them.


Daddy Tree Swallow taking a short break on top of the arbor.
If if he thinks you're gettting too close to the nest, he'll swoop
down at you. He's attacked our cat, Libby, a couple of times.

Daddy Tree Swallow. I thought there were only two babies in the nest,
but it turns out there are three :0) More pics to come.