2012 Ducks

As usual, we have been feeding the ducks again this summer.  The parade had been pretty steady of mostly Mallard Drakes up until about a week ago.  That was when the first Hen showed up with her little ones.  They weren't so little and already had feathers.  As best we can count there are either 13 or 14 of them.  The following picture is of one of their feeding sessions.

The next picture is of the second batch of little ones that have showed up with their mother.  I think there are 8 of them and they are still"fuzzy".

The last picture is a group of Drakes that show up on a regular basis.

The parade goes on and there is still the occasional Rabbit and Blue Jay that also sample the corn tray.

Patrick

Great Friends

It's great to have good friends and especially great before having surgery.  Yesterday I had plastic surgery on my leg for melanoma.  So far all is going well and reports are good.  Earlier last week, two of my girlfriends went shopping - as most women like doing.  In this case, they decided to make up a recovery basket for me to help me with my bed rest days.  There are 7 notes along with some fun stuff to open.  Today I got to open my first card - and, Carol and Marcia, it did make me giggle.  The goodies for today look good too.  How did you know Cheetos were one of my favorites.  The tea looks good - very thoughtful to buy me "diet" tea.

 

My other close friends are ones sent home with me from the hospital.  I've never used crutches before and am thankful I'm able to put weight on my sore leg; otherwise, this could be disastrous.  Also, a little like the airplanes, I have a little "black box" with a tube attached to my leg.  It's called an Acti-VAC pump and the pump is wrapped inside a bandage on my leg.  From what I was told, this is suppose to cause the wound to heal from the inside out; rather than outside in.  I guess we'll find out when it comes off next Thursday.

 

The surgeon originally told me that I'd be spending one night in the hospital BUT yesterday said it would be up to me and how I felt after recovery.  Fortunately, everything went according to schedule from check-in, radiology, and even a little early for the 2:00 surgery time.  I've never been in a hospital so had no clue what to expect.  When I woke up in recovery, I thought I was still waiting to go into surgery.  Gotta love those drugs.  The first thing the anesthesiologist told me when I woke up was "I think you can go home" - then, I thought I was dreaming.  I passed all the necessary vital tests and walking with crutches plus eating (hadn't eaten or drank anything all day).  I was home around 8:00 pm.  These are my other "good friends" but only for this week.

 

Last but not least, I've got a very attentive and wonderful "nurse" who has been doing remarkably well - even with his sore hip.  I couldn't do this without him.  He is having a follow-up surgery on his hip on July 5th so I have to be back on my feet by then so I can take my turn at being nurse.  So far we're going good - and it's only Day 1.

Patrick thought I needed a photo op when we got home from the hospital yesterday.  I bet he didn't think I'd dare use the picture here.  Note the neat bed tray - specially made by Patrick.  He does enjoy making things - anywhere from bread, pies, cookies, bird houses, and now trays.  What a guy!

 

If you have my e-mail address, drop me a line - I've got lots of time on my hands these days to chat.

Baker in the House

Most people that know Patrick know he gets up before the chickens - usually somewhere between 4:30 am and 5:00 am.  He does a lot of "research" on the computer during these wee hours of the morning too.  Lately, it's been new recipes.

This morning he tried out one of those recipes called Crusty Bread.

Of course, we needed to get a new pan for this bread; the regular loaf pan wouldn't work.  Yes, it's cast iron and very heavy.

The bread was baking when I got up this morning - the kitchen smelled great.

My experiment today is crock pot lasagna; the pictures wouldn't be as pretty as the bread.  The bread should go good with it.

Our Watch Dogs

Earlier this spring, we were concerned about the Bluebirds returning to the house they claimed last year.  It looked like the swallows were trying to claim it and there are plenty other houses for them closer to the river. Little did we know how territorial the Bluebirds are; they didn't need our help at all.

The picture that I couldn't get was when the Bluebird was chasing the squirrel across the neighbor's yard.  Also, we discourage the squirrels from coming around the bird feeders.  This morning the squirrel tried climbing the Bluebirds' tree after I chased it way, but didn't stick around very long.  The birds had it running in circles around the tree - pretty funny to watch.

Doesn't take much to entertain us.

Big Bird

It's normal for us to look out our kitchen window and see various birds; e.g., Gold Finches, Blue Birds, Blue Jays, Hummingbirds, Nut Hatches, and Chickadees.

This morning Patrick looked out and saw this walking in the back yard.

It was alone and we have no idea where it came from since we're along the water.  It didn't seem too concerned about the photo shoot either; probably, better than another type of "shoot".

Updating!

A couple weeks ago, during one of our several thunderstorms this spring, we were awakened at 1:30 AM by our security company calling to let us know they received an alarm that our smoke detectors went off.  They wanted to know if we were OK.  Lightening didn't strike our house and we didn't notice any smoke or damage - at least not at 1:30 in the morning.  It was later that we found out the television in our bedroom was hit with a power surge.  It was an old set so we weren't too sad when we had to take it to the recyclers.

We had been talking about getting a new television in the living room, but were waiting for that TV to "die" but it didn't.  We decided to move that TV into the bedroom and get a new one for the living room.

After dropping off the old television, we stopped just to look at some new ones so we could see the difference in screen size and picture quality.  We did a little more than look.  We found what we were looking for and brought it home.

Of course, we had one of those huge entertainment centers that weighed a "ton" as it was solid oak.  After checking Craig's List, I decided to give it away instead of competing with the 92 already listed for sale in our area.  One of my nephews found a home for it.

We ordered a new TV stand which arrived last week.  It had to be assembled and after we unpacked the box, one of the main pieces had a broken corner.  Patrick called right away and they shipped out a replacement part which arrived today.

The first two pictures are the old entertainment center.

Some assembly required!

 The assembly begins!

 Finally, the update is complete and we're enjoying the view.

One TV down, three to go.

Tis the Season!

Since we've gotten home our weather has been more "normal" for our area; not like the winter. At least the grass has stayed green and there have been some decent days to be outside.

The first item on the agenda was to trim the apple tree. As you can tell by Patrick's attire, it wasn't a very warm day.

The next item was the yard. Last week we had someone de-thatch and mow the yard. Yesterday we made a quick trip to Fleet Farm to get what we thought was the right yard application to put down. We thought we'd give the Scott's four-step process a try this year; only to discover that what we bought yesterday was Step 3 - we missed the first two.

Today was another trip to Fleet Farm and we got Step 1. It was a nice day to be outside so this application is already down.

Now, we need to find Step 2.

Patrick's garden will be next on the agenda. He bought himself a new toy for tilling his garden spots.

It's not the biggest but is better than a hoe. As soon as he finds his fertilizer for the garden, this will be put to the test.

Next week is suppose to be warmer; maybe we'll get the pontoon home then as the dock and lift have been installed.

I guess that's why we need three months off in the winter - to rest up for our spring chores.

Home Again

We arrived at home last Saturday afternoon. It's a long two-day drive but we had good driving conditions all the way home - no rain or snow anywhere. We thought this was the first time we'd had greenery the entire trip.

We made our usual stop in Drumright, OK where Patrick visits the cemetery and from there on to Carthage, MO. Since our last day was on a Saturday, we didn't have to worry about any rush hour traffic in either Kansas City or Minneapolis.

We saw more traffic accidents on this trip than all the other years combined. They were all single car accidents and nothing major; only one stopped us for a while.

When we got home, all of our bird feeders were totally empty. We stopped yesterday and got food and filled all the feeders. Today was the first time any birds found them; it won't take long now for the rest of the birds to arrive.

These two have been here before. When I came out of the garage carrying the board and pail of corn, the drake started "talking" to me right way. He stood back and just watched me - still chattering away. The hen was a little more timid and stayed further out in the yard until I was completely out of sight. She wasn't too sure she should eat any of that "stuff", but once she figured out what it was, she jumped right in.Right where the drake had been eating. They'll be back.

Happy St. Patrick's Day - and Anniversary

Today is a special day for the Irish as well as for us - our 4th wedding anniversary. It was a nice day for a drive so we decided to check out another part of Hill Country that we hadn't seen before and we went to the town of Kerrville. It's a little over an hour from here and very scenic. We toured the town and discovered it has 4 Dairy Queens and we had to stop at one of them. The Guadalupe River runs through this town - just as it does here.

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised with these:

My gift to Patrick isn't quite as "romantic", but I thought appropriate for him.

In case you don't recognize what it is, it's a portable fish cleaning table. Maybe we'll get to go fishing and actually keep the fish now. I'm still waiting to catch my first fish but don't plan on cleaning it - or taking it off the hook.

Today is the last of our "holidays". We come to Texas for only 3 months but when we go home we've each turned another year older and have been married another year.

Trip to San Antonio

A week ago this past Sunday we went to San Antonio to visit the Gunther House to have their well known waffles. They were delicious as usual. After breakfast we went to the River Walk downtown San Antonio. It hasn't changed much since the last time we were there a couple years back. It was a nice walk and we also did the boat tour. The pictures below were taken during our visit. The first is a shot of the Gunther House. The next one is the front of the Alamo. The others are shots of waterfalls along the River Walk. The last one is of a horse drawn carriage that travels the streets of San Antonio. We haven't ridden it yet, but have taken the trolley tour in the past. Have to try the carriage the next time

By the way, I finished another year yesterday. Another birthday down the drain. It was a good day.

Patrick