Once Upon A Time. . .

Ever since I was a little girl I have been in love with Golden Retrievers. When I met, fell in love with and then agreed to marry my husband, he agreed to love, cherish and provide me with a
"floppy yellow puppy."

Thirteen years and thirty days later. . .

This handsome boy is named Jack.



This lovely lady is named Daisy.

They fell in love and had eight puppies.

On June 14 we drove to WV and got to meet their sweet girl. 

We also named her Daisy. It was the name that I had picked out years ago.

She is so sweet and cuddly and perfect!

 She is is the floppy yellow puppy I have always wanted!

We brought her back to my mom's house for the night.
Here she is just before we put her to bed. She got all tuckered out and fell asleep in the grass.

The next morning we packed up and drove to the farm.

I wasn't too worried about introducing her to Daphne, but I kept a close eye on them for a while.

We had some bone chewing. . .

Quite a lot of butt sniffing. . .

Some water drinking. . .

Some rope playin'. . .

And finally some. . . nursing?!?!?!

I think they are going to get along just fine!

Two days later, we are settling in fine and Farm Boy has finally
 checked off the last box on the prenup.

Life is good.

Cousins. . .

As grateful as I was to be able to move to KY, I knew that there were going to be things that I was going to miss when I left SoCal. Beyond the obvious things like family, good friends, our church and a job I loved, there was going to be this little guy.

I grew up watching for birds outside our window. My mom always had bird feeders around, so it was natural for me to grow attached to seeing him. 

This is a Black Phoebe. It is only in the Western US and if you see one outside your window it is probably the same one everyday, since they are territorial and solitary nesters, often remaining year-round in an established territory.

I knew that when we moved I would no longer get to enjoy watching him.

http://www.audubonbirds.org/species/Birds/Black-Phoebe.html

About a month after we moved into this house I started hearing a bird out on the front porch. We were sitting at dinner one night when I finally saw her. I grabbed the bird book to look her up and lo and behold. . . .

Meet the East Coast cousin of my little Black Phoebe. . .

the Eastern Phoebe.

 

http://www.greglasley.net/easternphoebe.html

Turns out all of the ruckus was her finding a place to build a nest! She decided that the transom above our front door would be a great spot. While we knew it would be messy, we couldn't help letting her finish and lay her eggs.

We had such a unique view, and got to watch throughout the day as she built her nest and then sat on the eggs.

A few weeks later they all hatched!

And the feeding began! She flew back and forth bringing them flies and bugs.

They started filling the nest to the top

And finally started overflowing. . .I swear there is a fifth bird in there!
 I think it was stuffed down into the middle.

I got up this morning and started working on this blog post. I realized that some of the pictures were still on my camera and as I walked through the living room to get it I couldn't believe what I witnessed!

I got to watch every little bird take its first flight from the nest, and

 I actually had my camera in my hand!!!

First one out!

Second one.

Number three.

Here are the last two.

Number four ( you can see the tail of number three).

The last one getting ready to take to the air!

Fifth and final flight!!! 

We now have an empty nest.

 I feel so blessed to have gotten to witness God's little gift from the first piece of moss

 to the very last flutter of wings.

Our "Bird Feeder"

I HAD to buy a bird feeder yesterday.

Most people buy them so that they can bring the little birdies close to their window to enjoy nature.

I bought one because. . .

This. . .

Was not going to end well.

If cats could talk . . .

"Dexter, what in the world are those crazy cardinals thinking?" 

"I don't know, Dipstick! They are certainly living life on the wild side!"

Hopefully we will not be witnessing any National Geographic moments from my kitchen window!