Puppers Repeat

All I can figure is that this Momma dog once lived at the home where she had the last litter in December, and where her and the Pappa dog continue to hang out. And, although they were gone for months, when it was 'her time', she returned. Yup, saw her yesterday and she's had her puppies. I scoped out the collapsed building where she'd had the last litter, but didn't see any pups. It's possible she's gone off to the old farm where she'd moved her litter back at Christmas. Just putting out food for now.

They're Baaaack!

Back in February or so, the construction company started some serious work in the area where I'd fed the stray dogs. Hadn't seen them since sometime around February. Yup, after no sightings of the Momma and Pappa dogs in four months, I'd figured they were long gone. But a week ago I spotted them back in the same old hangout areas. Sure enough, Momma dog is looking a bit 'round'. So, I'm printing out notices to let folks know I'll be trapping...and hopefully they'll not feed the dogs. Hungry dogs are more likely to take the bait in a trap. Let's hope I can capture at least the female before she has this litter out in the woods!

Dying for a cell phone?

Some kind of madness has taken over, maybe it's some hidden mind-control method distributed by cell phone companies directly through the phones? I've read about two people risking their lives, and ultimately losing them, in an attempt to retrieve a dropped cell phone...and all this on the same day!


Cell Phone Drownings

Most of us pay less than $50 for our phones (cheaper when we extend our contracts), but even if I'd paid the full price...I wouldn't risk life 'n limb for a darned phone! I think they'll end up having a Cell Phone Darwin Award section at this rate.

Flying the Coop

The baby birds were making a bit of a racket and were climbing the plant in their pot today. About an hour or so later, I head out to do some more gardening and find all four had flown the coop! They'd made it off the deck, across my lawn to a small garden by the fence. They were able to fly short distances, up the fence or into the flowers. After stashing the poodles inside again...I managed to snap a couple of photos before the baby birds found a way past the fence and into the woods.

Redneck decor?

I visited my sister, Debi, in South Carolina back in April. She lives in an awesome old Victorian home. After some plumbing problems, they were doing some renovations and replaced a toilet. Being a busy family, they moved it to the back porch and hadn't had time to haul it off to the dump. So, shutter-bug that I am, I snapped a photo.



On a more recent trip for Memorial Day weekend, the toilet was still there! In an attempt to get her husband's attention, my sister added some beauty to the beast. Didn't work to get the darned thing hauled off, It's early June and it's still there....but it is more attractive. And, appropriate decor since her husband is a plumber! Maybe they should move it to the front porch, eh?

Carolina Wrens

Finally got some rain this weekend and things cooled down, so I decided to get busy with some yardwork and gardening. I had some potted grassy plants that I wanted to transfer to one of my flower gardens.




When I brushed the leaves aside, I disloged part of a nest that a bird had made in the pot! Out jumped two wee baby birds and off the deck they fell. So I quickly stashed the Poodles inside before they decided the birds were tasty treats, then scooped up and replaced the birds in their nest. Twice more a baby bird jumped out and I could tell by the songbird's change in tune that something was wrong. Yup, there was the darned baby bird in the yard again. Finally I think I adjusted the nest back the way it was, and saw the momma and pappa birds continue to feed their four babies thru the day. So, I suppose that particular plant will need to wait 'till the babies fly away.





So I went online trying to find out what kind of bird this was, and found it was a Carolina Wren. My nephew, Stephen, recently did a school project on South Carolina (he got an A!) and it included lots of info, including the state bird....the Carolina Wren! (Click on Stephen's photo for a larger image, and you can see his drawing of the Carolina Wren in the upper left of his project)

Geocaching

My sister, Karen, got me interested in a new hobby...Geocaching. (geocaching.com) It's a kind of high-tech hide-n-seek game using a hand-held GPS. Here's some photos of me and my family on a geocaching weekend and attending the GeoWoodstock 5 event held in Raleigh. Not just a stroll in the park. We managed to get waaaay too far out on a trail, and had a long hike out - think it was 4 miles by the time we finished. My nephew, Jonathan, won the 'tick' contest with a total of 20 found on him for the weekend, with my sister, Karen, runner up with 15. Ick!

The whole crew at GW5

On the trail to a cache

Tech-teasers

Okay....just so you can exercise your brain or tie it in a knot.

Statement is: "Not case that server is down AND network is up"
Re-write this using OR instead of AND.