Poor Momma Robin

At my request Craig built me this robin nesting box that I found in a birding magazine. We put it up on the back porch and for the last two years I have anxiously waited for a Robin to build a nest in it. Much to my delight this was the year. She's been a good Momma and before we went camping last weekend Craig climbed up on the railing to take a peak..... 3 eggs.

The sad news is that when we got home Momma Robin was no where to be found. Again Craig climbed up on the railing and all the eggs where gone. We found the shells scattered around the yard. We have no idea what got them. Do squirrels like eggs? We have a lot of squirrels around the yard. Or maybe it was a raccoon? We see them around outside in the evenings. Poor Momma Robin.......

A new hobby

Craig and I took Friday off work and headed up north to Silver Lake area camping... just the two of us. We are still here and at this very moment I am sitting around a campfire blogging and enjoying the peace and quiet. I am very content! Craig left a bit ago to run into the dunes for a few hours and I was very happy to be left alone and do nothing but enjoy the cool breeze and crackling of the fire. It's been a wonderful weekend. As much as we love and encourage the kids and their friends to join us when we go camping, I need a weekend like this a few times a year.

We decided to try something new this weekend... Geocaching. If you don't know what it is check out their website. www.geocaching.com It's a hobby where people hide caches all over the world and then put the GPS coordinates along with clues online for others to find. It's really easy. You simply program the GPS coordinates into your GPS which takes you to the vicinity and then you use the clues to find whatever is hidden. Usually it is some sort of box or container. Inside you leave your name, where you are from and the date you found the cache. It's interesting to see when the last person found it and where they were from.

We went hunting for 3 different caches this weekend and were able to locate 2 of them. The first one we found was behind an old historical cemetery a few miles from our campground out on a dirt road. It was a beautiful place!

We found it just into the woods tucked under a fallen down tree. It was an old army ammo box. People leave little trinkets. We didn't have anything to leave but we signed the register.

The next day we went hunting again. This one was by far my favorite. We had no idea where the coordinates were going to take us but away we went. Much to our delight it took us down this little two track at least 3 miles into the woods! We ended up at a nature preserve and then had to go on foot on some hiking trails... right up my alley!

It took us a while to find this one. Just as I was about to give up Craig says "I found it!".

This one was a Tupperware container hidden under a rotting stump.

Here I am signing the register.

If you look at the website you will be amazed at how many caches are hidden all around the world. You can put your zip code in to find ones hidden in the area you are at. Almost anywhere you are at in the US there is a hidden cache a few miles from you. What a great thing for families to do and I'm sure kids would love to do this. And for hardly any cost at all if you have a GPS. Give it a try!

Time For a Fiona Update

Fiona has been to 3 different vets for consultations on her hips (Calve Perthes Disease). All the vets agree that she definitely has the disease, definitely needs surgical correction, and all are recommending the same surgical procedure. We were encouraged that she might only have it in one hip when we heard that only 10 percent of dogs with this condition actually have it in both hips.... no such luck there, it's in both hips.

Cost has been a big factor in this decision for Craig and I. In years past Craig and I have had general conversations stating that we would never spend a huge amount of money on trying to save a dog. Never did we think that we would actually be in that position of having to make that type of decision. When I'm at work I would be telling myself that we had to make this a practical decision and not let our emotions make this decision... then I would get home and see her and I would absolutely melt. Ultimately, our decision was finally based on the fact that she doesn't have some condition that can't be helped. It's not like she has a terminal or chronic condition that can't be cured such as cancer. All the vets have told us that these dogs go on to live long productive painless lives. They said that after surgery we will not be able to even tell that she has this disease. They will not fix both hips at the same time so she will have 2 surgeries about a month apart. The vet we are going with quoted us about $700 per hip which we were very happy with as the other vets quoted us double that amount. We feel this is doable.

Fiona's first surgery is set up for June 2nd. In the meantime Fiona is getting lots of attention and pampering. Her every whim is catered to and we love babying her. Twice a day she is given anti-inflammatory' and amazingly she gets around pretty well.

More to follow.....

Our Princess and her Prince... Senior Prom

Another Proud Evening

Yesterday afternoon our community Lions Club had it's annual Community Honors dinner celebrating the top 10 graduating seniors, the Hartford Citizen of the year, and the Grant Hitchcock Lifetime award.

Eight of the top ten seniors with Principal Kent.

Aly, Jordan, Lindsey, Emily

Jordan's good friends.

Each year the Lions club awards 3 scholarships and Jordan received the highest honor scholarship! Way to go Jordan!

We love our Jordan!

Morels

When the workers were here putting our fence in last week they found some morels in the yard. Later that night I walked out into the woods behind our house. Boy did I find a bumper crop this year. I found so many I had to run back to the house for a bag, My total for the year was 60! I may take one more walk out there this weekend to check for any last few that might have popped up.

Caleb is always the cook. We enjoyed so many that we were starting to get tired of them. I gave some to my parents and some to the neighbors.

My orioles are back and enjoying the grape jelly I put out for them. They are so beautiful! I'm STILL waiting for my hummingbirds. I really think they have been here but I just haven't spotted them yet. My Dad's been having some at his feeders for the last week.

Tomorrow is Friday. The week has flown by! It's supposed to be cold this weekend... just as long as it's not too cold to do some more yard work.

Weekend Projects, Fiona and a Bluebird

With the new fence in the back yard we've got our work cut out for us with all the landscaping we have planned around the house and around the fence. This area under the bay window of the kitchen used to have ornamental grass. Jordan sprayed it with weed killer a few weeks ago so yesterday Craig and I dug it all out. That was a job!

Fiona is having an OK weekend. We are continuing to give her pain medications. She was so happy to be outside with us all day yesterday. She's hobbling around but getting around pretty good. She puts no weight at all on her right back leg. She'll be seeing the specialist soon.

We are edging and putting river rock all around the fence. Our goal is to edge and rock the west and south sides this year.

Some more Fiona cuteness....

Zoe is a big help, she just makes sure Daddy is doing it right. Craig is edging wide areas around the corners so I can plant pretty things in the rocks.

Craig's working hard!

This part is already for the rocks. In fact, Craig is outside right now spreading the rocks. I'm inside nursing a headache, blogging and watching the Andy Griffith Show. I'll post more photos of our progress soon.

The last 2 days Mr. Bluebird has been visiting us. He's been checking out the bluebird house but unfortunately a pair of house sparrows have also been checking it out. If you know anything about bluebirds you know that house sparrows were responsible for the near extinction of bluebirds. Craig is trying to get rid of the house sparrows. House sparrows are one of the few birds that are NOT protected. The sooner we can get rid of the house sparrows the happier I will be and so will Mr. Bluebird.