Sunday, August 07, 2011

The Green Heron

For Memorial Day weekend, we traveled to Big Cedar. On our way to breakfast, I saw this bird. I did not know what kind of bird it was. I have a iBird Explorer App for my phone, and preceded to spend most of the weekend trying to decide what bird this was. I had to get a better look to see the colors, the flight pattern, and perhaps the "field markings". I am not an experienced birder, so I have a lot to learn about bird identifications.I didn't get a good look the first morning. I had this big plan, get up early in the morning, get my coffee and take a walk down to the pond to study the bird. Morning came, and I thought no, I will not go birding this morning, I will waiting until the next day. Luckily, we saw the bird again, late morning, and was able to see the feet. The third morning, late in the morning, I had my camera ready and was able to take pictures. From the pictures, I could get a better understanding of the bird, and determined it was a Green Heron!


I learned from this experience. First, I am not a very dedicated birder. Most birders spend a lot of time in the field, in often rugged conditions. I didn't even walk down to the lake, I drove by an extra time to look for him. Early morning and late afternoon are also better birding times. I am fine with the late afternoon, but not those mornings.
I will concentrate on attracking birds to my yard. That is so much easier than hiking through the woods!
I had to crop the picture to see the feet and actually see what the bird looked like!

I am going to try and start my "Life List", more on that later.

Saturday, August 06, 2011

7 Grandkids and Counting

This is a picture from last spring. I have been blogging all day. It's too hot to work outside, so I have spent the day blogging, doing laundry and watching TV. Read on down for the last few months of actitvities! 

Graduations and Closings

Tucker graduated from SCDS Pre K
Jackson graduated from Kindergarten


Awana closing


Big Cedar


We went to Big Cedar outside of Branson for Memorial Day weekend. This may be favorite place to go! There are restaurants, several swimming pools, walking trails, beautiful gardens. There were some great fireworks on Sunday night. We went to Silver Dollar City for a few hours on Sunday. We mostly just let the kids swim and play!






                                          Jackson, Phoenix, Veronika, Violet & Tucker

Happy Birthday to You and You and You...

Happy 2nd Birthday Phoenix!

Happy 3rd Birthday Violet!


Happy 1st Birthday Fiona!






Happy 9th Birthday Veronika!

Happy 5th Birthday Tucker

I have missed making blog posts for my precious grandchildren! I love celebrating with family!
We have had a movie/lunch party, Dorey's Catfish, Build A Bear, swimming, cakes, and more cake!
I am a blessed woman to be able to share in the life of these kids!