What I've been up to and some sad news

First the sad news.... All 5 of my baby bluebirds did not make it. I feel terrible. As you may know I have tried for 3 years to attract bluebirds and my first time having them was a complete failure. I wonder if I'll ever have another one. You might remember that the Daddy bluebird disappeared a few days after the babies hatched (I assumed a cat or a hawk got him). Poor Momma bluebird was trying her best to feed all 5 of them on her own and I was trying to help her by giving extra worms. At first I thought things were going pretty good. But as the weeks went on I started to get concerned that they should have fledged and hadn't. But I could still hear the babies (I never peeked in after Daddy disappeared). We were out of town last week and when we left on Thursday I assumed they would be gone when we got home. It had been close to 5 weeks since they hatched and I was wondering why they were still in the nesting box. When we got home Sunday I could still hear one faintly chirping. At this point I figured something was wrong. I waited overnight and the next day I decided to look in the nesting box. All 5 were dead by this point. It was so pathetic! All had died at different stages and the surviving ones had lived on top of the dead and rotting babies until they all died. The only conclusion that I can come up with was that the Momma just couldn't feed all 5 on her own for them to have the proper nourishment they needed. Poor babies must have starved to death. I feel bad for not intervening when Daddy disappeared. Several people told us that we should take the babies out of the box and raise them ourselves but I wanted to give the Momma a chance and besides I didn't know if it was legal to do that. Oh well, I guess that is just nature but I wish it didn't have to be my bluebirds.

On a happier note Craig is making good progress on the Jeep. The engine is completely done and now he's on to the body work. This was the tricky part because Craig is not a body man, engines are his thing. Anyway, he's very happy with how it's turning out. The seats went back in last night. Hopefully in a few weeks it will be ready for the road and the dunes. This has been going on since last winter. I am really missing my Jeep rides this summer.

And even though the Jeep is not done yet we went to Silver Lake last week camping. We took the truck and the dune buggy out in the dunes.

Ty went with us. It was his first trip to Silver Lake and he throughly enjoyed it.

Jordan went too.

My brother from Florida was here visiting last week. It was a really nice visit and we all enjoyed being together.

Seems like yesterday we were teenagers. We are definitely not teenagers anymore.

And lastly my Mother's yard and gardens were in our local garden tour last weekend. Mom and Dad both worked very hard for weeks getting everything ready. It couldn't have been any more beautiful.

I wish you could all take a walk through my Mother's gardens. She is truly an artist. Yesterday was my Mom's birthday.... Happy Birthday to the greatest Mom ever! We spent the day together going out to breakfast and then hitting the antique and thrift stores all day. It was a wonderful day.

I hope all my blogger friends are doing well and hopefully I can make the rounds to all your blogs soon. Summer is keeping me busy.... life is good!