Hungry Baby Birds

Anticipation

You want us to eat this?

I promised updates and here are some new photos.  Of the original 5 eggs, 3 hatched.  Mom and Dad have been busy caring for these quickly growing little ones.  They seem a bit more comfortable with our intrusions since their babies aren't harmed after our visits.

Dad watching from the tree

Two days ago the little birds were still floppy headed and a tad listless. 

Today when I arrived they responded with anticipation of being fed, then seemed quite disappointed when all they got was this flashy thing.
They don't make any sounds yet, but I imagine that will change in the next few days.

HUNGRY!!!

"Hey where's my food?"

Cartoon birds Orangeball productions.

"I Voted"

This is Camerons first opportunity to vote as a now "adult" citizen of this State.  That's strange for us as mom and dad to acknowledge he's an adult.  Kevin and I have for years voted by absentee ballot, especially with the ever increasing number of state, county and judicial seats to decide on, plus the mountain of info you need to research on all the propositions attached to each election.  It's easier to in the privacy of your home do the research and take advantage of online resources to aid in making more educated choices.  Then not to be hurried in filling out the ballots.

So Sunday evening Cameron sat with his ballot and joined us in this "civic duty"  : )    He was quite pleased with the process.  Rather than mail, we will usually drop the completed ballots off at the local polling place and so his first election, this one a Primary ballot, is now a new first for him.

Project on Hold

After completing the roof on the back of the house, featured in an earlier post. Kevin and Cameron were going to begin the stucco on the side.  This however has had to be put on temporary delay as we have little ones to wait on.

Stock photo of a wrentit

It seems a mama and papa wrentit pair found the corner indention in the support post a perfect nesting place.  Honestly it's so tiny of an area who would have thought they could have fit in there themselves let alone built this perfectly ordered nest and filled it with 5 tiny blue green eggs.

Corner support opening only measures 2"X 3"

Began noticing awhile back that everytime I walked past the end of the house when watering the garden a bird flew off. It took awhile to realize they were nesting there and by the time we did we already had eggs inside, so the stucco project is on hold until they all hatch and fly away.  In the meantime it's been homeschool lesson time.  The nest is too high for the girls to see into it so I climb the step ladder each morning and snap photos to mark the progress.  Needless to say mama and papa bird aren't too happy with me and sit in the nearby tree, or on the roof of the house and barn making the tat, tat, tat chirp that is associated with this bird.

First hatchling and two of the 5 eggs can be seen here

Backgound shows remnants of old foam insulation maybe we should have left in
place. Never thought birds would nest here.

3 babies huddled into one fuzzy ball

Todays shot shows all 5 huddled together in a mix of the bald pink
and fuzzy grey downy feathers.

Zoomed in to take a shot of mom and dad at the top of
 the barn, not too happy with me!

Our birdwatching lesson has taught us that these birds are known for their unique chirp. They are monogomous with both male and female participating in the nest building and care of their young.

As the eggs began to hatch we had the combination of bald and a bit fuzzy little birds that are so ugly they're cute.  It's been a bit challenging getting pictures because of the angle and small opening of the area they are in.  It seems all the eggs have hatched now and according to what we've read it will be about 15 days until they are grown and leave the nest.  I'll post more updates as they continue to grow.

Prayer Request

There is a family, the Bartlinski's that we have been lifting up in prayer for some time. We have an icon on our sidebar for one of their daughter's in particular.  I've borrowed their info from their site for a brief history of Teresa here:

Today Teresa goes in for a heart cath to test and see if she is able to be listed for transplant status. Having to be put under for this procedure is dangerous in itself for her.  This is an amazing, loving family with nine children with all 5 of the younger girls originally from China.  God has already done so many wonderful things in answer to prayer and I encourage you to visit their blog to learn more about them at the link I'll have a the bottom of this post,

As a family we prayed for Teresa last night and took communion together to stand on the promises of that covenant's healing.  We believe nothing is impossible for God and personally while I am so grateful for medical advances like heart and lung transplants, I am believing for  healing that can come through His creative miracle working power.  I would humbly request all who are so inclined to lift this precious girl and her family up in prayer with the expectation of results that can come from the source of life Himself.  Thank you.

For the Bartlinski's blog click here.  http://ourplacecalledhome.blogspot.com/

This post linked to http://iliveinanantbed.com/

A.M. Rituals

I'm an early morning person.  I love my quiet time with the Lord being up early. To be able to think without interuption, to enjoy a hot cup of coffee in the cool quiet before the day's busyness begins and to be able to organize my "to do list".

Recently we replaced our fading coffee maker with a Cuisinart grind and brew. For years we've ground our own blend of beans since we tend to like our coffee strong.  This new machine has been great once I got used to it sounding like it was going to launch itself through the kitchen ceiling with the noise of the super fast grinder.  It has a thermos carafe for Kevin's sake because when work doesn't require an early morning schedule, he is NOT a morning person.

So after my time of refreshing I am ready to face the day of school schedule, house and property tasks and just the general busyness a day brings.


Hope your day started off as nicely for you. Make it a good one.

Lynda

Memorial Day

For all who have served, are serving or those who have given their all that we might be the beneficiaries of their sacrifice, we humbly give thanks for the blessings we are able to enjoy.

With sincerest appreciation - The Carr Family

Interesting

As I was cleaning this morning I decided to dust the hanging pictures, paintings and drawings on the walls around the house.  As I did I was struck that among them were ones saved over the years of my attempts at learning to draw people.  Each of the images had been chosen from a magazine piece or newspaper article dating back to my first attempts in High School.  What struck me as interesting were that within these images was the makeup of my kids.

The first was of a little girl featured in a National Geographic article after Russia first opened to Western reporters in the 70's.  I was taken by this cute little Russian girl and did it as a study for my art class.  Reflected in my family now by my oldest, Amber who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Then there was the little boy from a reprint of an old Life Magazine picture as he focused his attention on his game of marbles.  In our family Cameron is just as intent on his computer and Wii games.  This picture was also done in High School and I struggled a bit with correct shading and proportions.

This little Asian beauty was also done for that same art class. It wasn't quite complete with all the details as it was supposed to fade on the outside and give emphasis to the details you wanted to feature. Again it was from a National Geographic piece.  I'm struck with the character of faith reflected and I definately have in Hannah, my little prayer warrior and the incredible faith she moves in.

Finally, the last piece was taken from a newspaper shot and article done in the 80's of food being destributed to orphans.  Even the features of the little girl in the lower left corner remind me of Lauren and since dealing with malnutrition has been such a focus of our returning her to health the irony of this picture wasn't lost on me.

And just as an aside the shadow work of this leaf reminds me as we continually turn over new leaves in our families life and transitions it's an interesting study to look back on where we've been and how far we've come over the years.

It's not that there was any prophetic meaning to these drawings, just that of all the items I drew these are one's that I saved and put up around my walls that have remained after all these years.  So as the title says "interesting".