Maybe a Bird?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Our St. Patrick's Day Post:  

Now that the girls are getting older. 

On Sunday mornings I will often ask them to go choose a dress for themselves so getting ready for church can move faster and more smoothly, since the choice of what they will wear will not be a debate. 

Yesterday morning I went upstairs to check on 

their progress and everyone was 

"Wearin' O' The Green!!"

Our oldest daughter knew that today would be St. Patrick's Day and was helping her little sisters celebrate.  I hadn't realized until then that we had green dresses for everybody. It was a fun idea so we had to capture her initiative in a picture.  To continue the celebration this morning, for breakfast we had green sliced pears, buttered toast, green yogurt, and green milk!  It's not often that they all eat so happily. After choosing out appropriately green attire, I found the green head bands with springs and sparkling green poof balls that wiggle when you move, we used these several years ago for an "Alien Parade" we marched in (Lis will remember). On the way to school, our 5 year old said 

"This is maybe the bestest day of my life!" 

Wishing each of you the "Luck 'O the Irish" today!!  

The Swarm of Bees

One little honeybee by my window flew;

Soon came another - then there were two.

Two happy honeybees in the apple tree;

One more bee came buzzing up

 - then there were three.

Three busy honeybees starting to explore

Another bee came to help - then there were four.

Four laden honeybees flying to the hive;

They were joined by one more bee - then there were five.

Five tired honeybees with the others mix;

Now there's a swarm of them - a hundred times six.

Elsa Gorham Baker

.....they're back.....

We have a bees and lots of them.  The weather here is warm and the flowers are blooming, and the bees are back in business.

We have so many bees swarming in our backyard to sip water from our sprinklers, we can't even go outside during the middle of the day! If anyone knows how to "redirect" the bees to another "watering hole" please share it.  We need advice on how to co exist with them. We had several last year and were just careful, but this year, it seems the word is out and "Mac's Pub House" is buzzing with activity.

"D'you know that bees and dogs can smell fear?" Ray Boyd – Jerry Maguire

An Amazing "Tail"

I stopped in at our vetrinarian's office this morning, to find out some information about the appointment we have there tomorrow. While I was there, I glanced at the bulletin board and noticed some flyers of "Lost Pets", I pointed out each picture to our youngest daughter and mentioned how sad that these families could not find their dog.  We left the vet and planned to run errands, but I realized we had forgotten one of the returns I needed, so we turned for home a few blocks away. After we were in the car driving out to do the errands again, I noticed a large Golden Retriever wandering down the road. It struck me as odd to see the way it seemed to meander, so I slowed down and called to it out my window. The dog stopped looked at me, wagged once and took a step toward the car.  It worth a try so I parked, got out and called the dog to me, it seemed shy but came after some coaxing. I thought maybe it belonged to a neighbor but no one answered their door nearby.  After calling the Humane Society and finding them still closed that early... I decided to take the dog to our house and call the Animal Control dispatch to pick it up.  I made a make shift leash and loaded it into our van, it was a very calm and sweet and climbed in like it was our own pet!  While driving I recalled the stop over at the vet and vaguely remembered one of the "Lost Dogs" was a Golden Retriever.  I took a chance, called the Vet and got the phone number of the searching owner. I left the "found dog" in the kennel area of our own yard, to go finish my errands, while I waited for the owner to call us. I decided to let them come see if the dog was theirs before taking it to the Humane Society.  Finally, after speaking to the women, we arranged to meet on our street and let her take a look at the dog I found. 

Her dog was a male, w/ a green collar, and jumped their fence several miles away from where we live... this dog was shy, it  would not let me check it's gender... (which was okay with me too), and this dog had only a choke chain. I was pretty sure this was not her lost pet, but thought it was worth a try. When she finally drove up, she slowed to a stop, and before she even put it in park she blurted out with tears in her eyes, "I can't believe it!  You found my dog!!" I was so surprised, and thought maybe she had made mistake herself, maybe wishing it was true, since it just seemed so odd that it would work out so amazingly.  She opened her car door and the dog wagged it's tail and climbed up into her lap!! No small feat for a dog as big as this guy! And a big guy he was, named "Phineus", he was scared of the hot air balloons on the morning of the "Balloon Rally" we blogged about in January!  He had been lost for 6 1/2 weeks!!  It seems another family found him, took him in, and he must have escaped from their yard as well!  Evident because he wasn't starving and not as dirty as a true stray would have been.  And of course, he was missing his own green collar and had a choke chain in it's place. The woman called her husband crying and said "I found your dog!  I knew it was him as soon as I saw his tail end!!" LOL.

I keep thinking how amazing and coincidental this is, I just happened to stop at the vet a day early, the bulletin board there caught my eye, then I happened to forget a return and had to drive through our neighborhood again... crazy. Oh, the photo above is not of the dog I found, just a look alike :-)

What a happy ending!!

"Chickens on a Tree"

Biker Babe Part Duex

And here we showcase yet another avid biker in the Southwest!  The first to master biking and inspire her dare devil sister.

Biker Babe!

She's a bike rider now!! Dad has been a very patient coach, and finally all his hard work (and hers) has paid off.  Check out the video(s) to watch her in action!