Whistle While we Work...or swim in this case---

WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY

Join with other birders, sharing your wild bird photos, and Nature Notes...click on the link[s] found on the right-hand sidebar

Since the two of us try to stop at the Wildlife Refuge to check on the progress of the birthing status of the mama hummingbird and its chicks when we're out and about - this past week we stopped three different days [the mama has been in the nest --nothing's hatched-- yesterday, the nest was without mama hummer, but there was a 'classroom' of school-aged children in the area nearby, so we didn't want to get up close to see if the eggs were there or the nest abandoned. Will check in a day or two] But, while we were there yesterday, I walked out in the heat of the day to the bay and saw a pair of ducks...Black bellied Whistling Ducks to be exact. After getting these photos the couple flew off into the heavily wooded area to perch in the trees. They are TREE perchers...

Addendum to my post midday June 11th.....

The hummer nest Bud and I have been watching so closely?---Today at 10 a.m., we drove back and the mama was there.  By the time we got out of the car and loaded our camera and strung our binoculars around our necks to walk to the bay, the mama had left....Bud took the camera [he's much taller than I am] and reached above the nest as far as he could and snapped a couple of photos ---the two eggs are NOW HATCHLINGS!!!  We are proud parents of two baby ruby-throats!!  lol  I will share photos on here in a day or two.  Once I get 'em taken off the SD card.

WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE

Joyce has these questions for us this week. Join in if you'd care to do so...the link is on my right-hand sidebar

1. What do you think makes a good dad? A guidance counselor, knowing when to use 'tough love' and when to show a gentle side if needed. A provider; but not one who gives too much---a good father should never BUY love of his child in other words [i.e., is there a law that states a parent has to dole out thousands of dollars for a higher education? Is there something wrong with insisting his offspring PAY their way after a certain age?]---. A good dad who allows himself mistakes in the aforementioned qualities and grow with the child...be they newborns, toddlers, teens and adult children, makes a good father in my opinion.

2. What's something you learned from your own father? Independence. I grew up knowing that I should not count on anyone but myself to be able to survive life as I live it. I may have a partner for over 40 some years, but I know I can live on my own at any given time...[not that I want to, but the confidence is instilled in me, "Sink or SWIM" thanks to dad.]

3. It's your birthday-what kind of cake will we be having? It wouldn't BE cake. It'd be a Blackberry pie. My favorite dessert. Or maybe my other favorite dessert...fudge mint brownies with gobs of pecans. If it MUST be cake for my birthday then, it'd be white cake with little or NO vanilla icing, and y'all can indulge while I watch you consume the white cake --I may eat a very small piece but I would scrape off the icing. I don't care that much for cake.


[blackberry pie photo courtesy of Google Images]

4. When you're faced with a big decision are you more of a go with your gut type of person, or are you someone who reasons it all out, weighing the pros and cons? That would depend entirely on the KIND of decision. Marriage for instance, you can't presume any pros or cons in a life of decades with one person...it's ups and downs, financial-children-whether to work outside the home or be a stay a home parent; things like that. But, a decision on say, purchasing a house, then you can work with a realtor or contractor and weigh the pros and cons of such an existing structure or blueprint. Then after reasoning and weighing pros and cons, it's still more or less going with a gut decision....never knowing what the future has at any given time.

5. June is National Dairy Month. What's your favorite dairy item? Most often purchased dairy item? ICE COLD MILK  & most purchased would be a variety of cheeses 'cause I use it to snack on AND cook with.

6. Explorer Jacques Cousteau was born on June 11, 1910....what's something you've recently discovered or something you'd like to explore? Not much on both accounts. If I discover something, like a folded up $20 bill in the washing machine, long forgotten...it's a GREAT discovery!] But on the flip side here...I recently discovered I'm considered ELDERLY!!! Whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis? Me? Elderly? Reason I state this is 'cause in a news article probably written up by a punk 30 something journalist a man here is accused of stealing from the elderly...a particular woman in an assisted living home...she is 64?!!!! Whoa. In my own limited concept, an elderly woman is near invalid, near blind, no spunk left in her, and maybe pushing the century mark in age!! I'm still full of vigor, vim, and vitality [tho I don't overdo or overstress] -I don't consider myself elderly, I must explore this concept further. I'll get back to you.

7. Are you typical of your generation? Let me put it this way, I'm definitely old school, yet I enjoy learning new things of this day and age...may not like what I see or hear, but it's part of a learning process.

8. Insert your own random thought here. Bud and I purchased these DVDs at Walmart the other day when we were there looking for wooden photo frames for the collage work I did recently for my photo project. We bought an all time favorite of ours "Bullit" starring Steve McQueen...and oldie but goodie. I love car chases in movies, it gets my adrenaline pumping!! And this one, in Bullit, I like especially 'cause it takes place in San Francisco. If you've ever been there, driving, you understand when I tell you: "You don't want to be driving here if you have a manual transmission!"...the hills, oh the hills. Anyway, Bullit...good. We also bought "Life of Pi", "Water for Elephants" and the acclaimed Clint Eastwoood's "Letters From Iwo Jima". The movie Life of Pi was okay. Nothing spectacular tho. Good story, but certainly predictable of the outcome since it began with two gentlemen talking in real time...then flashbacks. Okay. That one is covered. Letters From Iwo Jima was pretty good. A war story about WWII and the infamous victory where the U S MARINES are depicted with the flying of the flag on Mount Suribachi. Of course it's political in a way, but a 'new twist' of the story...through the eyes of the defeated Japanese soldiers. Then, the last movie...Water for Elephants. Neither one of us could get through this movie. Boring. Drug out. We began watching it one night this past week, and couldn't get through it without us both dozing off. We tried a 2nd time, and about 1/2 through, we looked at each other and without another word uttered, we shut it down and packed it up to trade it off at Half Price Books someday in the future. All in all the movie -at least the part we drudged through- suffered from a pronounced lack of chemistry between its lead stars. Who woulda thought? I think this movie would have been better, much better, if done differently and had other celebrities and/or direction.