Another Front Porch Chat

It finally got warm in Northern Indiana.  Hot and humid actually and I have been outside as much as I can be.  When not out in the dirt, we are watching the darned birds.  A Red Headed Woodpecker has been showing up at the feeders, but is a bit of a bully and chasing the other birds away.  It's been hard to get a good pic of him because he is skittish of any movement on my side of the patio doors.  I preserver!

Our baby Blues are hanging out at the feeders all the time, but still wait for the parents to feed them.

We also continue to try to trap and remove feral cats.  There seems to be a cat explosion near my house and it is a huge concern for the cats. We often see them on the side of the highway which is 3 houses away.

So, here are the questions for the week:
Are you a heavy, light, or somewhere in between sleeper?
This is a joke at my house .  For years Terry worked third shift .  Laurie was young and I was a very light sleeper in those days.  Since Terry has been working normal hours, I fall into a deep sleep as soon as my head touches the pillow.  A truck could run into the house and I'd sleep through it.

Are you currently reading anything interesting?
This question always somewhat embarrasses me.  I used to be an avid reader.  Now I'm lucky if I find time to read Midwest Living and National Geographic.

Do you like to enter contests?
Yes, sometimes.  I always think I will win.  As long as I don't have to give too much info and I want the prize, I might go for it.  I do like to enter blog giveaways.

Are you Good about taking time to do things you enjoy?
That is a hard question.  I mostly don't do anything I don't enjoy.  But I find it hard to take time to sew and stitch.  Why is there so much else that are priorities to Me Time?

What's your favorite food to cook on the grill, or enjoy at a BBQ?
We rarely eat meat.  But if the kids are here for a cookout, there are always hot dogs and hamburgers and kebabs.  I do love grilled chicken that has been marinaded in Jack Daniel marinade.

I've Got The Blues

Well, you know me so you probably thought the blues I have is the lack of sun kind that I suffer with every winter...Nope....They're gone.

And if you know me even better, you might think I'm taking about the B.B. King kind.  Well, I DO have those blues and listen to The Blues a lot.  My kind of music when I want to be mellow.

But, you only have to know me a little to know that I must be talking about the BLUES...The Birdy Blues..my beloved blue birds.  Yes, of course they are back!! Actually, I was pretty surprised to find that they were here most of the winter.

This is actually a picture taken in  the late winter.
I noticed a male at my feeder stand.  I didn't have any worms out, but put some out that day.  I think we had a couple of different pairs visiting.

At least two pairs visited the nesting boxes and there was a little territorial drama for a few days.

Here is one of the males scoping out a nest box. The new owners of our local  Birds Unlimited suggested putting the boxes on the side of our house to protect the Blues from predators. I wasn't too sure I wanted to do that, but the safety of it did make sense so we tried it.  Of all our boxes, the one on the house was the box they fought over. I did watch in horror one day when a female English Sparrow actually flew up to the house and tried to drag the female Blue out.  I can't tell you how MAD we were.  I don't know how the birds resolved the issue..but our sparrow traps are up and ready when we are home.

 This is the female.  You can see that she is mostly grey.  Her color gets even more dull as the spring progresses.

Here she is again before she laid eggs.  This year that darn rodent Phil could not have been more wrong about an early spring.  We had really cold weather up to just a few weeks ago.  Once the female laid eggs we NEVER saw her again until they hatched.  That is kind of unusual as we usually see her once in a while.  We guessed that she was staying on the eggs due to the weather.



 These are a few pics that I took  as we patiently waited for the eggs to hatch.  When that day finally arrived..I think it was a week ago Thursday..I was lucky to be home and watch the baby blues come out.

I was looking out the kitchen window and some small movement along the fence caught my eye.  Then I noticed a baby blue sitting on the Trumpet Vine....he did not move an inch!!  The mother would fly to him and still he clung to that vine.  I just couldn't leave to get my camera.  I was sure there were more babies and I didn't want to miss a thing.  Pretty soon I watched a little head pop out of the house, pop back in, then a baby got up as if to fly and popped back down.  This went on for quite a little while.  Then...I swear this is true...the mother flew over to the house and put her head in the door and I got the distinct impression that she was giving those babies what for because pretty soon they both came out and flew up to the tree.  The bird baby was still clinging to that vine.  I watched him attempt to fly and went over the fence to the ground.  OMGosh, the neighbor's dog was out and here she came.  I hurried outside thinking I could check on the baby but the mother and father went into defense mode.  I looked up to see a Parent Blue diving for my head.  I said OK, OK I'm going in...I'd NEVER hurt your babies.

So we waited because we knew pretty soon those babies would be at the feeder with there parents.  At least I could count them and know if the first baby made it.  From past experience I knew that would probably be in about a week.  We waited and watched.  Kept a supply of worms in the new feeder I bought that deters Starlings from reaching the worms.

Then, about a week went by.  I watched as a parent got a worm and flew into the tree.

Here they are!! All three safe and sound and visiting the feeder every day.

Blue Birds really are the Birds of Happiness.

 Here is a closer look at the new feed we got.  It is perfect at keeping Starlings out because the holes on the sides are too high for their heads to reach in and get worms.  The is also room for the Blues to go in over the plexi sides.  Its also made from recycled material and will not rot and washes nicely.  We worth the money if you want to attract Blues.

Front Porch Chat

I have begun following a couple of more blogs. I think I followed a link to  Marianne from a linky party.
Marianne is wonderfully talented.  She also is a care giver to senior and special needs dogs, which of course would interest ME!

Marianne led me here to Every Day Ruralty. Its also an interesting visit.  I decided to join the weekly "Chats"
which is done by links to bloggers that choose to participate in ~ what reminds me of the memes that we all
used to do a few years ago.

Anyway, here are the questions this week:

Do you have any fun plans for the summer?
Mostly we are going to work around the house getting everything that needs to be done finished.  New privacy fence  ~ finish remodeling the kitchen and laundry room~ replace the tub  in the bathroom with a shower unit ~ AND the pond needs a new liner.  I gotta get those boys over here!

Are you currently dieting or following a specific eating plan?
Not really.  We are trying to eat more fiber, fruits and veggies.  That's been going pretty well.

How often do you wear blue jeans (or any other color of denim)?
I wear jeans to work, so you could say I live in jeans.  But as soon as I get home they come off and on go the yoga pants ...and flip flops.

Who is your favorite singer?
O, this a very hard questions for me to answer.  I like a lot of Pop artists like Train, Bruno Mars and Pink.  Then there are my all time favorite blues artists like BB King, and Ray Charles and Stevie Ray Vaughn.  Country?  Not much except Kris Kristofferson and a couple of the old time country artist..I like most music.  My fave singer at the time depends on my mood.


Have you cooked anything interesting lately?
No, but I'll be interested to see the answers to this question for inspiration.

So go over to Every Day Ruralty and see what others said.  Maybe you'll link up too!

TODAY'S MESSAGE COMES TO YOU FROM MAXINE

Well, if you know me, you know I LOVE Maxine.  I'm not sure why, because I don't share her outlook on life.  All I know is that she makes me laugh. I probably like her because she speaks her mind and I look forward to a time when I won't have to measure my words so much before speaking.

Have a Great Day and have a laugh on Maxine.

I've Been Outed

In  the summer of 2012, the business I work for moved to a new huge building.  It was totally updated and remodeled. I would guess that the renovation and moving huge machines, updating electric, etc probably cost about 1/2 million dollars.

It was a huge adjustment in our work flow.

This is the building front, looking along the side to the back.  That is my orange Element sitting outside my window.

 This is the view from my work space window.
I like to call it the No Tell Motel.  It has been quite entertaining watching what goes on, but also pretty sad when you think about the situation some "visitors" must be in.

I had my license plate stolen in broad daylight. I can't believe the gal that works next to me saw someone loitering in our parking lot and didn't even bother to pay attention to what he was doing.

 This is the view from my desk.
See, we are very modern. Nice little kitchenette, porcelain tile.  Three work spaces divided by movable panels.

In our old building a had a small cozy and private office. A quiet place to work and think. A few of my favorite picture wall groups on my walls.

This is my work space.

In our new space, I guess our owner bought into the theory that if we all work in the same open area we are more of a team. And we are not allowed to personalize our space except for one item on our desk which I chose to be a pic of Terry and I.  I do have a Tiger calendar that I was able to hang on the cloth partition and that's a good thing because looking at the current month picture has a way of relaxing me when it gets stressful.


So, are you wondering about this post title?  Well, I have been pretty unhappy at work since we moved.  After thinking about the cause, I realized it is because there is absolutely no privacy.  I am on the phone a lot...heck, I'm a purchasing agent and logistic manager.  The person in the space next to me talks loud, talks to herself out loud and makes noises.  When visitors come in, they seem to visit in the middle of the common area which is in front of our spaces. For some reason I have always thought of myself as an extrovert.  But recently I read an article that described me to a T and I know now that I am not nuts.  I am an introvert that covets my privacy and does my best thinking and concentrating in a quiet atmosphere.

Even though the countdown is on, I probably won't make it to the end of the year.

Are You Jumping on the Bloglovin Bandwagon?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Everyone is talking about Google Reader becoming extinct.
I an not a techi and have not yet jumped on the Smart Phone bandwagon, but I do understand why such changes are being made.  I am hoping that I will still be able to view blog feeds from my dashboard.  But, just in case Blogger messes up like they have a tendency to do when they make changes, I have started using Feedly also.  If you want to continue to follow my blog through Bloglovin', I have added their button on the right side of the blog.  I'll still be reading YOUR blog, cause I love em all SO MUCH!  Have a great day.

W hat Do YOU Do With These?

Eight of these come to my house every month.

Nope, they don't fall out of the sky.

I have to actually go to Walmart and pick them up.

And they are NOT free.

I actually pay a lot of money for them.

I wondered what to do with the empties.

They are good for beads and buttons.

You can keep $10 in quarters in them . That makes a great Christmas  fund.

You can keep them in your purse to store change.  No more digging...and they are most helpful at the cash register.

Google and Pinterest didn't yield many useful ideas.

If you have any ideas.  Any at all.  Please let me know.  I refuse to send them to the landfill.