Happy BOO! Day

Sam decided he wanted a Funfetti Halloween cake to celebrate!
So, yesterday, we made the cake,
and then decorated it before digging in.
It was quite Boo-licious!

Happy Halloween to all!

"IT" has arrived!

Mac OS X LEOPARD
arrived with the UPS man yesterday!
And, yes, the packaging above is just THAT cool!
Holographic man, like wow...
Apple runs circles around Microsoft.
Check out the guided tour showing the newest features,
and prepare to become a convert.
WOW... so cutting edge.
Can't wait for the test drive.

Welcome to heaven

He stood on the deck railing yesterday...
Singing and bobbing in unfettered abandon.

Is this what the feeling of heaven is like?
Sweet, happy birdsong all day long? :c)
If so, then Lynne's mom got a joyful welcome.
Love and prayers to Lynne and her family.

Atomic schomic

So I am to be up and awake at 5:45 this morning so I can get ready, have some coffee, read the paper a bit, and check email before I head into work at 7AM. I slept well, and woke up to the alarm. Once I got ready and headed out to the bedroom to put on my watch and rings, I noticed something amiss. My watch says it's 7:10. Wait! That can't be! I got up at 5:45 and so it's 6:10, right?

I rush out to look at the other clocks in the house, and sure enough, it IS 7:10! ACK!!! I hurry and get the coffee pot going as I start ranting about our alarm clock, and then it hits me. My atomic clock thought the time change was THIS weekend instead of NEXT weekend, and so it adjusted itself. ARUGH! I am supposed to be in the patient's room with a wheelchair to get him at 8AM. Did I mention it takes me, oh, 40 minutes or more to drive to the hospital?

I got here in record time and was in his room at 8:02. "Hey," he says, "I just got my breakfast, and they finally gave me some solid food. I'll just be a minute eating it, OK?" I just smiled, left the room and sat down at the nurse's station. As I looked up I noticed down the hall that ALL the hospital clocks have reset themselves as well, a week early. Is there a conspiracy here?

Fall beauty

Talk about talent!

Laura over at Somewhere in NJ requested that readers send in shots of pretty fall leaves in their hands. I did not have very much in the process of coloring here on Chickadee, but did manage this Sourwood leaf with the tree in the background. The collage she created is simply breathtaking!

Egg Update!

The update:

As you can see from the photo, OUR EGG SURVIVED!
Wish I could say the same for the poor glued together straws, but hey!
We passed with flying colors and were even dropped twice
our design was so impressive!
I'm thinking I need to go to work for NASA? :c)

Defying gravity!

The challenge assignment for Physical Science:

You are to create a module that will hold an egg and protect it from the evil forces of gravity. In other words, we will drop it from a height of over 5 meters and it must survive (not crack). You will build a module to hold the egg. You cannot "pack" the egg inside of a substance or material. Your module cannot be more than 6 cubic inches. I will supply the egg for the drop. You or I must be able to "install" the egg into the module in less than 20 seconds.

Scoring: Construction- 80% / Egg Survival- 20%

Well now, don't we just love a challenge that we have all of two days to complete? Ugh! We started thinking right away... something light and decided on straws. We created this 4" x 4" box made of straws hot glued together. Then we used pipe cleaners to create a "spider web" in which the egg would rest, and also used pipe cleaners to hinge the door so it could be shut by twisting the ends together. To further protect our egg, we added another layer of straws cut and glued to the inside of the lid. And, for easier loft and slower descent, we added a "parachute" of sorts by tying a grocery bag to the box.

Here is a view looking down into our comfy egg holding web! Today our creation will be hoisted off the top level of the bleachers at the football stadium. Will our egg survive? Will we defy evil gravity? Stay tuned!!!! :c)

Welcome neighbors

When we purchased this home in July of 2006, the house next door was under construction and was already for sale by the builder, who is also the developer of this subdivision. The first thing we noticed was that it sat down in a hole of sorts as he did not bring in any fill dirt to raise the lot at all. There is a slope going down from our lower driveway toward this house. And, the week before we closed, the builder of our home and of this new home met here to "fix" an issue of our buried downspouts which were pouring rainwater onto his newly developed lot. We spoke to the builder of this house, who assured us that "everyone knew that lot was a scrub lot due to the slope of it" and that is why he buried the downspouts towards it three years prior. Well, I guess if there is money to be made, someone will try and defy the odds.

They ended up cutting our downspouts and putting trays under them, but we knew that was not going to fix the developer's "little problem" he had created for himself in selling this house, as every time it rains, the entire side of the house floods with the rush of water down the street and off our lot. Needless to say, the house has sat there empty since the summer of 2006. Many people have looked, but once they walked out of the garage and looked up towards our lot, it became clear to them they were in a hole, and they would shake their heads as they drove away. Seriously, when you look out our bedroom window, you are staring at the roof line!

Well, he lowered and lowered the price until he was literally $65K off his original asking price, and a young couple took the bait. All of a sudden, we saw a "SOLD" sign on the realty marker in the yard. The day it rained cats and dogs, they apparently closed and signed on the dotted line. I watched as they pulled up to the house, got out of their cars, and stood looking at the sight above, hands on hips, sharing that incredulous "Oh, my... what have we done?" look towards one another. I felt really badly for them, but wondered why they did not see that this home is at risk every time it rains? Will they at some point ask us? Can I be fully honest and tell them that yes, it has flooded every time it rains much at all? What recourse will they have? Will it be fixed with a trench or French drain? Who knows? But, it's out of our control. We can't do anything about the slope of our lot toward this home. This may be the most expensive lesson they ever learn.

When it rains...

(Wait Till the Clouds Roll By -
William Henry Hamilton Trood)

Boy, did it rain yesterday. I mean, rain. All day long. Good, soaking rain. Rain not one soul would dare to complain about as it's been so parched here for so long.
I left work to go get Sam and there was a steady downpour which seemed to let up the closer I got to school. I was not sure, since it was raining, if he would come out of his regular door where he has to walk up a long sidewalk to the car or if his parapro would take him to the attendance office entrance where there is a circle you can pull up in next to the building. But, since the rain was light at that time, I just took my umbrella and walked up the long walkway to the 500 hallway door where he usually exits. I waited until his dismissal time, and then called Ms T on her cell to let her know I was at that door waiting with an umbrella. There was water rushing all about in culverts and ditches, and many places in the sidewalk where it had accumulated depth and had to be stepped over.

About the time Sam came to the door, whoa is me. The bottom dropped out. Picture the two of us... him bigger than me, under one small umbrella. You get the picture. I had my left arm around his shoulders to hold him close to me as we started the long walk to the car. The rain was coming down in sideways sheets, spraying us for all it was worth and threatening to turn the umbrella inside out. We were fully slogging through deep puddles and I could feel the water in my shoes. He was laughing the whole way and leaning hard into me, so much so that I was afraid I might topple over, so I had to keep making him slow down and stop leaning. That further slowed our walk.

By the time we made it to the car, we were literally soaked to the knees. Our arms were also dripping, and when I had to put the umbrella down for us to get into the car, the rest of us got drenched. The inside of the car got wet, and as we shut the doors and squished onto the front seats, we looked at one another, water dripping from our hair and noses, his glasses all fogged up, and we burst out laughing. We laughed and we laughed. It was an uncomfortable ride home with wet clothes sticking to us, and water all across the road in many areas, but we made it safe and sound. We peeled off our wet clothes in the laundry room inside the kitchen door and ran for the warmth of dry sweat pants and sweat shirts. Ah, the joy of long awaited and appreciated rain... thank you God for the rain of life.

Quick fly-in guest

I love seeing these guys fly!
This visitor was "kwirring" to beat the band in a neighbor's tree
when he decided to do a quick fly-in at the four way feeder.
I am assuming this is a young male as the head is not fully
red, and yet there is red above the beak?
He snacked for a minute or so and then headed back across the street
with his red belly shining in the sun.

Dinner and a new room

Husband and I went out to eat Saturday night and afterwards headed to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to look for throw pillows to use on the sofa. He'd never been there (Seriously? Never?) and was having way too much fun! We didn't find pillows, but after playing with everything in the gadget section, I spied this beautiful bedding and was thankful he was with me to see it. We'd been talking about getting something new, and it was great that we were in total agreement on this one.

So, we came home and fully changed the look of our bedroom.
Dinner out and a remodeled room.... a fun evening indeed!

Missed opportunity

I was sitting at the kitchen table when out of no where
this beautiful Phoebe appeared on my deck railing.
(Probably 15 feet from where I sat?)
The tail bobbed and bobbed and it just perched there scoping
out potential snacks in the air as I soaked in the beauty
of it captured in the early morning light.
But, did I have my camera handy? Drats!
I ran to get it and as I returned, it flew off towards
the neighbor's house. This was the best shot I could get
of the little beauty perched on their rooftop
enjoying the morning bounty of things flying by.

Be careful what you wish for

On Thursday of this week, the news came! The UHMS had awarded accreditation status to our HBO unit!!!! All the hard work and preparation of being put under the microscope paid off. All the sweating and palm wringing was over. We did it! We put ourselves out there to be inspected with a fine tooth comb and we prevailed! What an accomplishment!

I asked our nurse manager in a teasing tone, "So, when will all the announcements go out and the billboards go up telling the entire community just how good we are?" I found out on Friday. Seems that the PR department has already set up an appearance for our HBO MD on a local TV show (the ABC affiliate here) which airs after the news at noon for us to announce our new accreditation status and explain what that means. "And, um, they'd like someone to come with him and I think you'd be great. What do you think?" WHAT???? Gulp.

So... on November 7th at 12:30, yours truly will be sitting next to our good doctor, with my newly minted CHRN status as we explain all about our recent accomplishment and why it's a big deal. Gulp. Can you join me in praying.... please-don't-let-Jayne-have-a deer-in-the-headlights-look???

Just looking

We were out on the deck the other night when this

sweet young male visitor came flying in just a
few feet from where we sat.
I laughed and said to him, "Can I help you?"
He just stood there, head cocked from side to side,
as if he were going to say, "No thanks, I'm just looking."

Praying bluebird?

Had an emotional night here and didn't go to bed until late...
This morning I am paying for it with only 5 hours of sleep in me.
Should be a nice long day.

Wonder what exactly was going through this bluebird's head?
Wonder what goes through anyone's head at a particular time?
Think I'll just pray along with him...

Plumage changes

When this guy showed up, I was confused...
He has the brown coloration of the "first winter" male
and yet, has the striking rose-colored breast of an adult.
Hmmmm...
Does the adult male turn brown in fall plumage?
Can anyone shed some light on his coloration?

I'm a #2... what are you?

Thanks to Ruthie for the link to the interesting quiz!

You Are 2: The Helper

You always put on a happy face and try to help those around you. You're incredibly empathetic and care about everyone you know. Able to see the good in others, you're thoughtful, warm, and sincere. You connect with people who are charming and charismatic. At Your Best: You are deeply giving, altruistic, and humble. You devote your life to others while caring for yourself too. At Your Worst: You are manipulative and enjoy making other people guilty. Your Fixation: Rejection Your Primary Fear: Being unworthy of love Your Primary Desire: To be loved unconditionally Other Number 2's: Mother Teresa, John Travolta, Princess Diana, Dr. Phil, and Mr. Rogers.

What Number Are You?

Ahhhhhh.....

When my sister moved into her new home, one of the first things she purchased for herownqueenlyself while at the mall in Kirkland's was a beautiful Zen-like candle tray set with votive holders. The minute I saw it, I fell in love with it as the holders rest in a cool black tray surrounded by amber and stone colored rocks and are in rich hues of gold and green. They were on her coffee table and just added such an element of peace and tranquility to the entire room. Peace is what she's needed for so very long and so I was so happy to see her seeking out things to help her define her new space and life.

I was sweetly surprised last night when I swung by (and how neat it is that I can just "swing by" any old time I please) to see her for a bit and she told me she had something for me. I opened the bag to find my very own ~Ohmmmm~ candle set. I brought it home and set it up on my own coffee table. Now, we both are connected once again by the light and the peace. Lordy, I am loving having my sister home.... truly 'home' in every sense of the word.

Who am I?

I looked out towards the four-way feeder
and this is the view that greeted me.
An LBJ bootay!
Hmmmmm....
Who does that belong to?

An end of the season baby house finch?

Or is it just a fluffed-out smaller female?

Pretty... but

As you turn on the road out of our subdivision, there is a cattle farm on the right. I've been noticing that the once full pond there has been dried up for some time. Over the past weeks, I've also noticed the emergence of these beautiful lavender flowers on the pond. I kept meaning to remember to get a photo as it really is rather striking to see this blanket of lavender flowers over the entire area.

Well, I took my camera with me yesterday and got these pretty images. I came back to figure out exactly what the flowers are. I thought they were some type of water lily, but instead found that they are Water Hyacinths, which are an invasive species here in the south.

It's sad that what is often pretty is not always so beneficial.

Nuthatch party!

As I was snapping some photos of friends at the feeder, I had
no idea I'd be lucky enough to get these two very fast visitors
in one frame, AND facing in the same direction!
AND, in focus to boot! :c)

Fall... finally

This morning, it's 48 degrees, and the high will only be in the 70's!
I saw this beauty out back yesterday evening perched just so that you
could see the changing leaves on a tree behind him.
Just beautiful.
Fall has finally arrived on Chickadee.
Thanks be to God.

SmartMesh it is!

Being first time pool owners last year, we did what we thought would be the easy thing and covered the pool with a regular tarp and secured the edges with the long blue water pillows. "You'll need a pump, "said the guy at the pool place, "cause when it rains, you'll need to pump the water off the top." It sounded simple enough. That is, until all the pine straw and leaves fell on it, in addition to the rain. We got two of the pumps thinking it would be more efficient. It was nothing short of a nightmarish mess. I felt like the guy in the Dunkin Donuts commercial... time to pump the tarp... again. It was horrible to be out there in 20+ degree weather setting up the pumps to drain the rainwater.

Well, this year, we got educated and smart. They came on Monday to install this very cool trampoline SmartMesh tarp over the pool. Water goes through it, which is not an issue as it was also going under the old tarp because of the way the wall is terraced, but it has UVA and UVB protection (smart mesh that it is!) so that the sunlight does not get through. That way we'll have no algae and ick growing in the water. You simply blow the debris off of it with your yard blower when it's dry again! Nirvana! The winter pool pumping wench has left the building for good. Yahoooo! I sense a warmer, happier winter ahead with quite a few less expletives uttered.

Finding a "new normal"

As with any life change, there are adjustments to be made. Change is hard. We resist it. It's so much easier to just continue down the same known path. Even if it's not a particularly good path, it's our path, we know it and so there are no unexpected turns and twists to fear.

My dad reminded us of a wonderful analogy during all of this transition time in our family. If you take a frog and put it in boiling water, it will just jump out. But, if you put it in a pot of comfortably lukewarm water and then gradually turn up the heat, he will eventually sit there and cook. Such is our lives. We can be in a situation for so long that it becomes what is normal and comfortable for us. We lose perspective. We assume that's it. We cease even trying to get out of the pot of water because "it's not so bad" in there. All the while, we are cooking and don't even know it.

Dynamics are formed over time. We fall into the routine of what we expect will happen. And so when it's turned upside down, we balk. We run back into our minds to find safety and security in the known, no matter how bad it may be for us. Behaving our way into a new way of thinking takes time. I remember after having Sam, being so turned upside down by the enormity of incorporating this new little being into our lives. It was so overwhelming. Then I read a magazine where a new mom asked, "When will our lives be normal again?" The answer was, "When you can't remember what your life was like before. You enter into a 'new normal' and all will be well." Everything may actually even be infinitely better. But it takes time. Time to adjust to the change and know that all good things take some amount of risk. But the rewards can be life changing and magical.

Moral of the story... don't be a frog. Only you truly know when it's time to get out of the pot and live a happier, more authentic life. Just jump!

Home again

It was a long day yesterday. The movers got to my sister's house around 8AM, but by 11:30 or so, everything was packed up and ready to go. She was ready to go. No doubts or second thoughts. And, it was good to be taking her home. Off went the caravan, and by 2PM, we were pulling into the driveway of her new home. A home where she can "be" and shed much of what has happened to her for the past 15 years. Let the healing begin.

We were met in the front yard by two of the kids who live in the cul-de-sac. Brother and sister were cute as could be, and readily welcomed her two boys to the neighborhood. Within a few minutes, the younger was upstairs with his new found friend talking Naruto and PS games. The neighbor's very sweet sister was following my older nephew around and helping unpack with a smile on her face. The biggest worry my sister had was what affect this would all have on her boys. I do believe they will adjust just fine. :c) They were all smiles and joy for the rest of the afternoon as they unpacked their rooms and made them their own.

There is still much to do, and many boxes to unpack, but my sissy is home. Tears are in my eyes as I absorb that there won't be a pink elephant in the room any longer that we have to pretend is not there. We can resume the type of relationship we used to have before she became "funkdog" and gradually lowered her expectations for what she deserves in life. Lord, I am glad she is home. A weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I just know she probably slept like a baby last night.

"Funkdog" no more

It's moving weekend! Today we will heading down to help move my sister and her boys up here. They were in town last week, the boys toured their soon-to-be-new schools, and were very pleased with what they saw. The culmination of this weekend has weighed heavily on us as my sister starts to reclaim her life.

I read this excerpt from The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love (if you are not acquainted with HRH Jill, you should be, trust me) back in 2001 and it was just as poignant then as it is now...

"...Anyway, a stranger came to their door one day. He was singularly unattractive- very little hair covering his hideous, sore-wracked skin, just generally ratty and nasty looking. But as is often said of the unbeautiful of the world, he had a great personality. He came to be known as "Funkdog," because he was, in fact, a dog, and he was really funky. He came around regularly, and the boys would feed him and talk to him, but no one could quite bring themselves to actually touch him. And so they started this thing of petting Funkdog with a small stick. He would come and sit at a respectful distance, I guess knowing himself to be unclean, and eagerly await being petted and scratched with his stick. That image always just made me want to bawl, and now I think I know why.

I think Funkdog being petted with his stick is a perfect metaphor for what can happen to any of us in this life if we don't pay attention. In any area of our lives, things can go from great, to not so hot, to downright unspeakable, and do it so gradually that we keep downshifting our expectations to correspond with our current situation. We settle for less and less and tell ourselves, "It's not so bad" until finally one day we wake up and we are in effect, hairless and scabby, just hoping to get petted with a stick for a little while. You can forget what it used to feel like to feel good about life; feeling rotten - or just a low-grade funk - seems normal and therefore acceptable. I just don't believe that God intended for any of his creatures to be petted with sticks. If some area of your life sucks - do something else. Life is too short -- and too long -- to spend it being miserable. Life may indeed be short, but it is, for a fact, wide. It's high time we started settling for more."

Golden Day

~ ~ October 5, 1957 ~ ~

(I know you don't want any big deal made of this...
but it *IS* a big deal.)

Today is my parent's 50th Anniversary.
You started your lives together,
building a beautiful home and family.
Your sacrifice and dedication to both
makes me what I am today.
Loved.
Totally. Completely.
And, full of the knowledge that love is indeed a verb
and a choice we make each and every day.
A blind date with a very happy ending.
I love you both so very much
and am so proud to be your daughter.

Pine Pretty

Yet another return visitor this week...
I usually have these Pine Warblers, and later
some Yellow-rumped Warblers on Chickadee.
They love, love, love the peanuts and suet.

Old home week on Chickadee

I've had an absence birds for weeks...
Now, all of a sudden, it's as if they are
coming out of the woodwork.
I saw a flash of the brightest red in the trees.
Could it be?
Yes, the Summer Tanager is back.
Oh what a beauty he is!

Oh, how I've missed them

Yesterday afternoon, I heard it...
the warbling of my bluebirds!
I've not seen them around here in weeks and weeks.
I would bet that these two were born and raised here
on Chickadee, and I am so happy they are back.

High up in the pines

This little guy was way up high in the pines
flitting around. I aimed my lens and just
started shooting as he scurried about
looking for a late afternoon snack.
These are a bit blurry but still so much fun.
I love these Nuthatches!