Monday, May 28

 This little guy was singing up a storm.  He is an eastern kingbird

 These tree swallows had a nest in the wood duck nesting box

 This is the female, tending the nest

 I saw several of these female red-winged blackbirds scampering among the lily pads looking for insects.

 Even the turtles came up to say hello

 I can't find my field guide to identify this dragonfly.

 This was one of many carp that were constantly churning the waters.

 And here was the find of the day, a pair of sandhill cranes.  Probably just passing through as they don't normally nest this far south.

This morning I gave myself an early birthday present by going kayaking.  I drove over to Madison Lake and got there around 7 a.m.  As I pulled up to the boat ramp I realized that I was a late comer because there were quite a few boats already out on the water.  All of the boats I saw were bass boats and I was the only kayak as far as I could see.  The paddling was easy as the lake was as smooth as glass.  A great blue heron was the first bird I saw but he certainly wasn't the only one.  I took my time paddling along the edge of the lake listening for anything chirping or singing.  For a long time the only thing I could hear were the carp thrashing around in the shallow water.  Finally I found an Eastern Kingbird and several Great Crested Flycatchers in some willows on a small island in the center of the lake. I lazily made my way on  up to where Deer Creek empties into the lake and kept paddling for another 40 minutes until I could not easily make it due to the narrowness of the creek.  Once I turned around I went pretty quickly until I got back to the lake and realized that the wind was now blowing right into my face.  I kept a pretty steady pace, stopping to rest at each of the islands.  I saw a wood duck with a new brood of ducklings but I didn't get a photo because the mother quickly scooted them into the underbrush before I could get turned around or get my camera.  However, by a stroke of luck, while I was sitting and waiting (hoping) the baby ducks would come back out, I heard a strange throaty sound.  The sound was coming from the far end of the island so I let the kayak quietly drift forward hoping to get a look at what was making the sounds.  To my delight there was a pair of sandhill cranes about 20 feet from me.  I was able to get several great pictures before they moved farther away.  I pulled up onto the boat ramp 4 hours after I had started feeling pretty good about my morning.  I think I need to do this more often.

Saturday, May 26

 We have two families of geese that visit our yard.  They each have 4 goslings at last count. I know, you are saying we don't need any more Canada geese.  Our geese, however, are migratory geese.  They do not stay here all year.  At least that is what I tell myself, plus the little ones are pretty cute.

 And this is the Red-headed woodpecker.  One of my very favorite woodpeckers.

Whoa, was it ever hot today!  Here at the house Mr. B said it was 96. At the zoo where I was working it seemed to be about 106. I don't usually work on weekends but I have been trying to get my required hours in for the contact areas that I trained for.  They include the kangaroo walkabout, lorikeets and the Asia aviary.  This morning I did a pronghorn watch from 9-11.  Then at 12, I went to work in the Walkabout.  The kangaroos were not moving due to the heat so the two hours seemed to drag by. When I finished, I had to hurry over to the aviary in Asia Quest.  The aviary just opened this week and it was the first time I have worked there since they added the changes. They have added a viewing glass for those who do not wish to go through the aviary but would like to see some of what is in there.  The collection includes some of the pheasants from before, 3 small deer, cattle egrets, magpie geese and a variety of songbirds native to Asia.  The pheasants have not been placed in there yet but the Muntjac, the smallest species of deer were quite popular.  My favorites were the laughing thrushes.  The heat did not keep people away from the zoo.  I was surprised at how many were there.  As I left, I noticed that Zoombezi Bay was packed as well.  I hope everyone enjoys their weekend.  Stay cool!

Thursday, May 24

Think Olympics! That is exactly what the students at Holt Crossing are doing.  My friend Sharon is running her 13th Olympic games in this her 35th and final year of teaching.  Her fifth and sixth grade students have been learning about the summer games by participating in their own.  Today, I had the privilege of helping out with the track and field events.  I timed and measured and I loved every minute of it.  Each homeroom represented a country and wore a t-shirt with the flag of that country.  It was quite a sight when they entered the stadium in their multi-colored shirts.  The weather was perfect and the events went off without a hitch.  Great job to all of the staff and students at Holt.  I had planned to snap a few pictures for the blog but I was so busy it never happened.

When I got home I was pretty tired.  After supper I thought I would soak in the hot tub but when I got to the door to go out on the deck, I noticed there were two does out in the yard.  They were grazing along the creek, probably eating some of the clippings from Andy's weed eater.  I found my camera and took a few pictures before I noticed that the Baltimore Oriole was sitting on my orange feeder.  A perfect ending to a perfect day

Monday, May 21

 Mommy, that water is way too cold!  Let's wait until we get back home!!

 Lily and Lincoln playing in the fountain.

 You are right Evelyn, this water is really, really cold.

 Stopping at Young's Dairy for ice cream and to see the goats.

Today was our last with the girls and two granddaughters.  We decided to go down Dayton way and check out The Greene, a mall that is very similar to Easton.  Part of the reason we headed west is because it is close to Grandma and Pop Pop Foulk who also joined us.  It was a beautiful day to let the kids run and play in the fountain.  I was really good and didn't spend anything on shopping which made Mr. B really happy.  We ate at the Cheesecake Factory and I was good there as well and did not order any cheesecake.  I have to admit that I did get a sundae when we stopped at Young's Dairy so I guess I wasn't that good.  We also had Flyer's pizza for supper so Matt and Sara began and ended their trip home with pizza from Flyer's with a little Skyline, Der Dutchman, Los Mariachis, Jenni's ice cream scattered in between. It sure will be quiet here after tomorrow morning.

Sunday, May 20

 Four generations, Grandma, Grandma Great, Evelyn and Sara

Sara and Evelyn with Katie and Will.

This entire week has been pretty hectic but yesterday was the busiest yet. I think I overextended myself just a bit. We have been wanting to have a yard sale to get rid of our old furniture and many of the items that I cleared out when we were having our smoke damaged rooms cleaned and repainted.  What I didn't think of was how busy I was going to be.  I had been asked to speak at the Lutheran church about volunteer opportunities and we had a retirement party to go to in the evening.  In between I was trying to sell VHS tapes and vintage square dance clothing, neither of which seem to be in huge demand.  We did manage to sell some of our larger items, the couch and lift chair and I think we have a buyer for Gary's convertible which made the sale pretty successful.  The highlight of the day had to be the surprise retirement party for our friend Sharon.  The surprise element was a success and even though Sharon hates to be in the spot light, she was thrust into it and I must admit that she handled it very good.  She gave a wonderful impromptu thank you speech.  The room was filled with family, friends and colleagues from the three schools where Sharon taught.  The room was filled love and warm wishes  for a well deserved retirement.  To help her ride off into the sunset, so to speak, she was given a bicycle to get her started on her many adventures.  We wish her the best and certainly hope we will be sharing in some of those travel adventures.

 Hey Sharon, surprise.  And we know know how much you love surprises!

Today Trish and Lily flew home for a few days before Sara, Matt and Evelyn go back home. They even agreed to go with me this afternoon for a handbell concert.  Our handbell choir was invited to play with 2 other choirs at the St. Paul's Lutheran church in New Rome.  Afterwards we enjoyed dinner at Caraba's.  Busy or not, it is really nice having the girls here with Evelyn and Lily.  Luke on the other hand is not very happy about being left behind to go to school. Grandma is a little disappointed that he had to stay behind, too.  Tomorrow is our last day before they all head back home on Tuesday.  I'm sure we will fill the time with some great fun!

Sunday, May 13

I have been so busy that I have not been able to get to my blog until today. For Andy's 60th birthday we had cake and a party out in Delaware and when we got home we went to one of his favorites, the Mongolian BBQ for lunch.  We have had such a great time visiting with Sara and Matt and we are thoroughly enjoying little Evelyn.  They spent the week end in Cincinnati but should be back early this week.  We are hoping the weather gets a little nicer this next week.  I hope everyone had a nice Mother's day.  We went to York Steak House after church for a very nice dinner.

Thursday, May 16

Yesterday we visited the Cincinnati Zoo.  It was a perfect day and easy to see why the Cincy zoo is the #2 zoo in the country.  Although it is small, because it is land-locked, it is beautiful and they have been very busy remodeling and even improved the parking.  The baby camel was one of our favorites and they had some fascinating animals in the cat house including a very cool ardvark and an ardwolf.
This morning we went to the Headwaters of the Big Darby restoration project in Logan county.  Our friend Gary left money in his estate to The Nature Conservancy and it was used to build a trail through the project that connects the wetlands area to the overlook at the source of the Darby. The area, not far from the Honda plant, had been drained and the spring fed stream was running in a ditch along route 33.  The Nature Conservancy was able to secure the farm land and they have successfully restored the stream bed to it's natural state.  The trail is a mile in and a mile back.  It was quite a trek but well worth it to see the sign at the deck giving tribute to Gary.  I think Gary would be very pleased.

Monday, May 7

 Grandma Peg and Pop Pop Ed checking out Lily's cake.

 Lily wanted to give Evelyn cake and ice cream.  She loves "Baby" as she calls her

 Evelyn in Lily's baby doll stroller.  Yes, a little frightening!

 Lily wanted Evelyn to ride with her on one of the car rides in XBo's

Today our little princess celebrated her 2nd birthday.  Not that we haven't already been celebrating all week end but today really is her birthday so we had to have another party.  We started the day with breakfast at IHOP and then after Luke got home from preschool, we loaded up the car and went to XBo's, an indoor playground which is a larger version of Chuck E Cheese with lots of games and little rides as well.  When we arrived home we began getting our dinner ready.  Roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, noodles, creamed corn and grilled asparagus.  After dinner Lily had a few more presents to open and then she had another cake, this time it was Dora and Boots.  We have had a wonderful time and I can't believe that we have to head home in the morning.  I will miss Luke and Lily terribly but I think that is part of what makes our time together so special.  Happy, happy birthday to our little miracle, Lily Marie!