Everyday brings more and more birds to the backyard. Dave got all the feeders up just in time for this influx. And he got the heated, bubbling bird bath set up too. And, new houses have been placed in the front and the back.
Our very productive wren house remains by the front door. Wonder who will live there this year - Wrens or Chickadees? They've traded off each year so far. A new Flicker house was added to the house. I really hope they move into this. A second Wren House awaits discerning little birds in the back. And finally, a Ledge Nest (for Robins or House Finch) has been affixed in the front and the back of the house. I'll keep you informed on any guests.
In addition, new patio furniture is in place. The deck continues to really blow us away. We have been able to sit out and enjoy it when the weather warms enough.
Only three tasks remain. 1) Stain/poly the deck (need it to warm up more). 2) Plant new flowers in the new flower beds (need that last sneaky snow storm to happen). 3) Make the squirrels stop pooping on our new patio chairs! A new war has begun. Dave bought some spray for defense. Hopefully it works.
Even with the beginning of this particular squirrel war, the back is looking awesome!
Lynn came to town for some work. Happily she had some time to stick around after that work ended on Friday afternoon. We drove back to the house looking forward to some R&R. Work was on the agenda as well, but it kept getting pushed back. NO REGRETS!
She arrived at the house and it took Pente about 4 seconds to introduce herself. Nothing new there. Pretty soon the wine was opened and the cat dresses came out. Pente wore some. Lynn wore one. Dave wore Pente. Good times!
Lynn also met the birds...well maybe not Grace. She hid as she usually does. Henri was quick to come out and inform Lynn that I was HIS mate. Ferne sat quietly in the background giving Lynn some loving looks. He even made a few vocalizations he saves only for the most beautiful females. Clover talked, but Henri put a stop to anyone looking at anyone but him.
The next morning we decided to run around Boulder for the quick tour. The weather was a little windy and a little cool. Sadly, there were a lot of clouds so she couldn't see any of the Rockies. We first headed up to a look-out hoping the Rockies were showing. They weren't. Then up to UCAR (aka NCAR; http://ncar.ucar.edu/) for the view.
I really think NCAR is cool and I'm psyched it's in our backyard. Next we headed to Chautauqua Park for the obligatory Flat Irons photo. (see http://www.chautauqua.com/). We hiked up a bit and enjoyed the pleasant weather.
Next up, we drove up to Flagstaff Mountain. I'd hoped some of the clouds had cleared off so we'd get a nice view of the Continental Divide. No luck. We parked and hiked a wee bit more than a mile. Not long, but it was snowy and icy so it kept our attention. Though the weather was sort of socked in, it was pretty and Lynn noticed how lovely it smelled in all the pines. We could see some of the fire scar from the Four Mile Fire from Artist's point. Sad stuff.
After our way-heinous hike, we were hungry so off to town for my favorite place - Sherpas. Yummy! This restaurant is manned by actual Sherpas from the Himalayas. Love the atmosphere, love the food. Following lunch, we walked on Pearl Street Mall. Happily performers were out though we were disappointed that Zip Code Man was not there. So far I've been unable to show any guest this guy (see this url for info and a video: http://thewebgangsta.com/index.php/2010/05/meet-david-rosdeitcher-the-zip-code-man/)
We wandered around looking at sparklies and people. One set of performers were SO Boulder. Two guys, lots of piercings, etc...playing awesome Blue Grass music.
Boulder is known as the Bubble for a reason! We also watched a performer who juggled and performed on the "Suidicycle". I wasn't sure I wanted to watch - falling off that things would NOT have been pretty.
We headed home and chilled watching some bird videos (they were interesting!). Then Dave got home and Pad Thai was started. We waited for dinner sipping on Dave's famous Margaritas and then had a fun dinner.
Finally we all went to bed. We were tired, but it'd been a fun day.
We got up this morning and headed to the Walnut Cafe. We didn't have a lot of time until we needed to get Lynn to the airport. Happily, after a night of pretty good winds, the clouds were gone and the Rockies were clear. Sadly, my ability to take a photo of this is minimal. I tried! Mostly I just got washed out snow-covered mountains and washed out sky.
She's probably just arriving home right now. It was great having her visit. We all look forward to the next time!
Yeah, we are SO over the home improvement phase. We are thiiiiis close to being done and just in time for burn out and the upcoming go-outside-and-play-season.
The most recent improvement was the birds room. Getting it in order meant that the Den was wrecked again. This time that wreckage included three bird cages and a cat locked up in the office for two days.
The room got all new paint (walls and ceiling), all new shelving in the closet and carpet cleaning (which of course meant the whole house got all new carpet cleaning.
The birds are back in their newly remodeled room. Then Den has been put back together.
Now all that remains are some new lighting fixtures that will be installed in birds' room (as well as some other rooms) and the completion of a super-bird friendly deck. I'll get photos of that up soon!
I walked into a store recently and saw this peacock. I snatched it up and death-gripped it the rest of the time in the store. A worker there followed me around as if I was going to make a mad dash to the car without paying.
I knew right away I was going to send this to my mom. She has many live peacocks - this one can live in the house and not poop. This is a distinctive advantage to the live ones it seems. On the down side, it won't reproduce and having baby peafowl is pretty fun.
This bird has an added decorative element - a sock on his tail. Mom left it here when she visited.
Recently Dave darted out to the left coast for some work. He had some time to hang out in Santa Cruz (yay Jeremy!!) and enjoy the place. He grabbed some fun photos of his free time we wanted to share with you.
As usual, he got some really nice sunset and landscapes which I think he prefers. And as usual, he got some nice photos of some birds. Lucky me. Is that a cute gull or what?
Can anyone identify that young gull? I could make a guess (and probably be correct) but in reality, in my opinion, young gulls are the material for super advanced birders.
The adult is a California Black-backed gull, correct? And for the youngster, I'm going with an Adorabolous Maximous.
Everyday brings more and more birds to the backyard. Dave got all the feeders up just in time for this influx. And he got the heated, bubbling bird bath set up too. And, new houses have been placed in the front and the back.
Our very productive wren house remains by the front door. Wonder who will live there this year - Wrens or Chickadees? They've traded off each year so far. A new Flicker house was added to the house. I really hope they move into this. A second Wren House awaits discerning little birds in the back. And finally, a Ledge Nest (for Robins or House Finch) has been affixed in the front and the back of the house. I'll keep you informed on any guests.
In addition, new patio furniture is in place. The deck continues to really blow us away. We have been able to sit out and enjoy it when the weather warms enough.
