Happy St. Patrick's Day! I can't say that I am really that into this particular day. I came downstairs this morning and Jordan says "You're not wearing green Mom". No, why should I when as soon as I get to work I have to change into blue OR scrubs. I'm not trying to be a stick in the mud, it's just one of those days that I never give much thought to. Maybe if I was Irish I would think differently.
One thing I have found interesting is the dyeing of the Chicago river green on St. Patrick's Day. I think someday I might like to witness it as I only live 100 miles from Chicago but I probably never will. I can imagine the crowds are really bad in downtown Chicago today. I wondered how they did it and why they did it and I found this explanation on a Google search.........
"Chicago is famous for a somewhat peculiar annual event: dyeing the Chicago River green. The tradition started in 1962, when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges and realized that the green dye might provide a unique way to celebrate the holiday. That year, they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river—enough to keep it green for a week! Today, in order to minimize environmental damage, only forty pounds of dye are used, making the river green for only several hours."
Did you wear green today?
What's wrong with this poor Robin? I just finished stalking him around the yard for the last half hour trying to get a decent photo of him... these are the best that I could come up with. He didn't feel like posing. 
At first I thought he had weird coloring but it became evident that a bunch of his feathers are missing. Poor baby. 
Even the feathers on the back of his head and neck are gone. I wonder if something tried to get him and he barely escaped with his life. He was hopping around happy and eating so I think he's OK. 
The whole cast and crew including the orchestra pit. 
It's tradition that after the Saturday night show the whole cast goes out to Pizza Hut for a party. The pictures speak for themselves. 
Caleb (Sky Masterson) and Jordan (Hot Box Dancer & Mission Girl)
Caleb and Lindsey (Sarah Brown)
Caleb and Trent (Nathan Detroit)
It is finally here.... the week of the musical. We wait all year for this. I may not be doing a lot of blogging for the rest of the week. As soon as I get off work I am usually up at the school for dress rehearsals, with my camera of course. The kids get home about 10:30, go to sleep and then start all over the next day. The first photo is Caleb and his buddy Trent. Caleb is Sky Masterson and Trent is Nathan Detroit. This is so much fun!! 
It's very detailed and beautiful.
I think it's amazing that those little bitty paws and claws can grab like that.
This morning I saw 4 new varieties of birds in the yard and around my feeders; cardinals, mourning doves, blue jays and starlings. Things are coming along nicely with the birds. There have been about 4 of these little downy woodpeckers flying around this afternoon. 
And we have been busy all weekend finishing our bird houses/nest boxes. Craig did the sawing and assembling. 
I was in charge of sanding. 
Craig also threw this together for me. It's a suet woodpecker feeder. I saw one in the store and tried to explain it to Craig. I think he did a wonderful job on it. 
And lastly I wanted to show you these. My parents were displaying in a home and garden show today with Mom's orchids and other house plants. After church I went to see them at the show and look around. There was a lady there that was selling gourd items. She grows these gourds herself and makes beautiful items with them. I bought these two. The long one is a bird house and the other has about 3 holes and is full of organic wool material. The birds pick out the wool and use it to construct their nests.