Friday Foto Friends~ This n That

Hello Everyone!  It's Friday already, and our Sand Hill Crane Colts, "Spring" and "Trumpet", are a week old and growing like weeds!  

We enjoy their daily visits to our back yard along the shore of Still Waters Pond with their parents...

Mom and Dad are quite protective and careful, but they seem to be pretty trusting of us and enjoy a little handful of bird seed when we throw it over the porch rail to them.

As you can see, these youngsters are quite healthy and strong and ready to go wherever Mom and Dad lead them.

Our kitties, Blackie Sue and Sunshine, don't appear to be much of a threat to the Crane family.  They don't appear to be much of a threat to anyone! LOL. Lazy kitties on a Friday afternoon...

Yes, they are quite at home here now. And I'm still not too sure about Blackie Sue's "condition".  Sometimes I think she's just fat. But time will tell...

Speaking of special friends and their pets...Lily Grace (click HERE for a story about when Lily Grace met Bailey for the first time) wanted to say hello. She and her dog Bailey were out for a stroll in the land of the teddy bears in the guest bedroom.  But there's something else special about this:

If you noticed the pillow behind Lily Grace and Bailey, you will see a lovely little girl walking her very fancy Poodle.  Well, Lily Grace said she wanted to do the same thing with Bailey, so here you go...Bailey may not be a fancy Poodle, but she is a very nice Beagle, and Lily Grace may not be a fancy ballerina, but she does have flowers in her hair and a flowery skirt just like the little girl in the embroidered picture! Never mind that she is wearing her flowery skirt over her Ladybug Pajamas! It's still kind of chilly here overnight and in the mornings, and the Pj's under her skirt feel really nice and cozy.

Link to the story of when I made this pillow. There's quite a special story there, well worth going back to read. The embroidery was originally done by my hubby's grandmother, "Nanny Martin", and I made it into that pillow for hubby's cousin Janice on her birthday...but read the link to the post to get the whole story.

      

Let's see, what else is new?  Well, today hubby and I did our civic duty and we voted (early voting) for the special election that is taking place in our district to elect a Congressman to the House of Representatives to replace a Congressman who was selected by President Trump for his cabinet.   I won't say who we voted for, but let's just say we made  the "right" choice and voted for a very "fine" candidate.

 The actual election is Tuesday, April 1st, so for those here in our part of the state, you still have time to vote! Don't forget!! It's a very important seat.

We drove by the Old Brush General Store again this week to see what progress is being made. They have put the tar paper or whatever it is that goes under the metal roof on top of the plywood.

I expect the new roofing material will be put on this next week sometime.  They still have a long way to go to restore this old building, but at least it's a start.

We took a walk down the walking trail in old downtown Interlachen, and saw some wildflowers and wisteria growing in the empty lots where the old houses used to be before the highway was widened.

Coral Bean

I think this is a kind of Trumpet Vine

Spiderwort

And more beautiful Wisteria, growing up the side of a palm tree!

Every season brings out more and more beauty to enjoy!

Well, I thought I was out of pictures to share, but while I am sitting here trying to write this post, I keep getting interrupted by all the excitement outside my window...

These Pesky Muscovy Ducks keep coming up here on our back porch, or the roof, or in the yard, or wherever they want to go, and they like to eat the cats' food, or the cranes' food...and they are making themselves to be general pests.

This Canada Goose is about to let the ducks know what he thinks of them in his territory...

 He chased them away... Hooray!

And was very proud of himself and talking to me saying, "There, I took care of those pests!"

So I had just thrown out a little bit of birdseed to reward him when I noticed that the Male Sand Hill Crane had come back around for his afternoon snack.  He has safely deposited the mother crane and babies over on their nest for the night, and then he comes over to see if he can forage up a little more food before settling down for the night himself.  I wasn't sure what the Geese and Crane were going to do, but since the babies weren't present, the Crane didn't seem to have any problem with the geese.  Earlier in the day he had thoroughly chased them away when the babies were present. It was quite a sight, but I wasn't fast enough with my camera to capture it.  There was a lot of honking and flapping of wings going on! LOL.

Meanwhile, Blackie Sue and Sunshine where just trying to mind their own business up on the porch. 

They had just eaten their supper, and I know those ducks were trying to sneak back up there to eat whatever was left.

Blackie Sue was reassuring Sunshine that everything was okay. They are really good buddies and very sweet with each other.

 Meanwhile, the geese and Mr. Crane are all getting along fine.

The ducks are discussing their plans to get at that food...

They would like to get to the bird seed, but the geese and crane have it under their control.

The Geese are turning back around to chase them away again...

And even though I quit taking pictures, they did chase them off again, and I chased them off the porch a couple more times, and finally just gave up. The cats' food has all been eaten so they don't have any reason to come back up on the porch.

I may have to contact someone to come and trap these ducks and remove them as they are definitely becoming a nuisance.  We shall see. I don't want to harm them, but they are upsetting the balance of nature here on Still Waters Pond  (and upsetting my balance of nature too. LOL).

Here's some good thoughts to keep things in perspective...and remember that God is always in control.

Thursday 6 and Thursday Thankfulness...

 Happy Thursday friends!  I just discovered that one of our blogging friends, Syl, from her blog, Sylify, is hosting this "Thursday 6" meme each week. I guess it's been around before, but she is reviving it, so it might be fun to join in if you can.  Here's this week's questions:

Linking to Thursday 6 HERE

Welcome!!

1. When was the last time you were standing on a balcony or balcony like construction? Where was it? What were you doing?
I guess you could say our back porch is a lot like a balcony, as it overlooks our back yard and Still Waters Pond.  I am out there frequently, either to feed our newest family members, the "neighborhood cats" Blackie Sue and Sunshine, 

or to look at the Sand Hill Cranes and their new baby Colts, "Spring" and "Trumpet", 

or also to watch the Canada Geese couple who are currently standing out there on the edge of the pond taking a nap, literally:

Or to shoo away the three Muscovy Ducks, who seem to have decided that our porch and yard are theirs to claim...even to the point of eating the cat's food while the cat lays there and lets them do it...

And then to make a flying leap into the pond from the porch when I come along and tell them to get a move on!

The view from the porch the other morning...one duck and two geese...

2. Share with us one of your favorite recipes.

There are so many, but I was thinking about this one today and bought some blueberries so I can make them soon: Blueberry Bran Muffins -click HERE for blog post with recipe


3. What was the last thing done to your house?

It's been a while since we did anything special to the house.  When we first moved here almost 6 years ago we did a LOT.  But since then it's been mostly just normal maintenance. Click HERE for when we added the back porch roof, which is the same porch I was talking about in question #1.

Oh, after thinking about it, I remember now! The last major thing we did was install new vinyl plank floors in our living room, master bedroom, and my "Room With a View".  HERE is a link to when that was being done.   And HERE is a link to when it was completed, with a surprise visit from another blogger!


4. Did your grandmother give wise lessons? Please share one with us.

I honestly do not remember having a lot of conversations with either of my grandmothers. My maternal grandmother lived too far away, and when we did visit, she was often not well and so there was no real time to sit down and visit with her. My paternal grandmother lived close by and I saw her often, for all holidays especially. Probably the best lessons she gave was that she was a good cook and she shared some recipes with me for some of our favorite foods.  This link leads to one of the pages in my sidebar, "It's Recipe Thyme Again, More Family Favorites", and some of her best recipes that I remember are added there.


5. Do you like going to the hairdresser? Why? or why not?

I don't mind it. As a matter of fact, I just went this morning and got my hair cut. This new hairdresser I have now (at Walmart!) does a great job. I've had some bad experiences with others in the past, and so one thing I do not like is having to find a new hairdresser when one fails or one retired that I liked.


6. Do you plan a vacation far ahead, or are you more of a "last minute" person?

To take a real vacation takes some planning for us.  We are not very spontaneous about traveling/vacations anymore. It takes money too, so we have to plan ahead for that. I am thankful that our kids like to plan some trips that we actually go together and share the expenses. That was what we did this past fall when we went to the mountains.Link HERE to last vacation  Plus, hubby doesn't like to drive long distances anymore, and we really don't like to fly either unless we absolutely have to. So unless the kids go with us, we probably won't be taking anymore vacations.


Well, you know the drill.
Answer the questions on your blog or in the comments.
If on your blog, place there a link to this post.
And place a link of your post in the comments here.

Thank you for participating.

Thank YOU, Syl, for these interesting and fun questions!  I hope others will catch on and join in from now on.

I have to add one more picture...remember yesterday HERE, when I shared a picture of our Kitty Sunshine and also a picture of a sign that said "You are My Sunshine"?  And I said I wished I could figure out how to merge the two pictures together? Well, our friend Sandra over at MadSnapper N Beau, is the queen of figuring out fun stuff with pictures, and she sent me a message with this picture that she created from my two pictures:

Isn't that amazing?  I love it!! Thank you so much, Sandra! I don't know how you did it, but I sure love it!   Oh, and thank you to all of you who commented and enjoyed the pictures yesterday, especially the ones of Sunshine and the "Guard Kitty", as seen above. It was a funny story for sure.

And in closing, this little message from yesterday's devotional calendar says it best:

God does love and care for us, "even to the least evenet and smallest need of life".  That is very comforting to know.  Nothing escapes His knowledge or concern for us, and He is always there, ready to meet our every need. Sometimes we just forget to ask!

Matthew 7:7-8 NKJV

Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; 

knock, and it will be opened to you. 

8 For everyone who asks receives, 

and he who seeks finds, 

and to him who knocks it will be opened."

Amen!

Wednesday Treasures from Still Waters Pond

 On Wednesdays I like to post pictures of things that are special in some way, whether it be in my home, or out in nature, or wherever God leads me to find something special.  I know you are all interested in the Sand Hill Crane family and their new little colts, Spring and Trumpet.  Here's the latest photos of their daily visits to our yard here on the shores of Still Waters Pond:

The thing about Sand Hill Crane colts is that they grow really rapidly...it seems like inches taller almost every day, so you need to capture the cuteness while you can!

They are learning to forage for food in the yard and along the shore of the pond by watching what Mom and Dad do, and they do likewise.

Mom and Dad will feed them some tasty bites of things directly from their mouth to the baby's mouth, but mostly you see them pecking away at things on their own right from the start.

They are so cute and fun to watch...it's no wonder I don't get much done during these days...

I can't tell which is which, nor do I know which is a male or female, but we just enjoy them...

Early this morning the Crane family was walking along the shore and the Canada Geese were out in the water honking at them. However the geese got a little bit too close to the babies for comfort, and Papa Crane went flying at them and chased them away...

What was funny then was the geese charged at each other and started honking back and forth, as if they were having an argument. I can imagine the female goose was telling the male goose, "I told you so! I told you not to get too close to those baby cranes!"

And then they just swam around and kept talking back and forth like she wasn't letting him have the last word on the subject...

"I told you so, I told you so..."

She may have been saying "It's time for us to go get our own nest built and get some eggs laid so we can have our own babies! I keep telling you it's time to settle down and start our own family!"

I think someone was saying, "Quit nagging me or I'm just going to fly away across the pond!" LOL.

What they all have to watch out for is this great big Red Shouldered Hawk, who is sitting up in the trees above the pond and keeping a close watch on all the activities going on.  That's why the parents of the babies have to be so diligent to protect their babies at all times:

Now this is funny.  We have had this white ceramic cat for years and years. We fondly call it our "Guard Kitty", as it has guarded our home from intruders all these years. LOL.  I was looking at it and realized that it looked a lot like our real cat, Sunshine.  So I wondered what Sunshine would do if I introduced Guard Kitty to her:

The pictures pretty well speak for themselves.  Sunshine didn't know what to think at first.

Either she's praying about it, or is deep in thought about what this could mean. Is it real? Am I supposed to acknowledge this strange intruder into my new happy little world here? I really don't know what to think...

So I went back inside the house and left them alone with each other to see what she would do...and look:

Sunshine gave her the sniff test and then sat down in front of it and looked up at me looking at her through the door window as if to say, okay, I looked at it. Now what?

She's still thinking about this new development in her world...

Her ears are perked up and she's really thinking seriously about this...

She checks to see if it's still back there...

And she sits and poses almost identically to the way Guard Kitty is sitting.  It's hilarious to me. Not sure Sunshine thinks it's funny. I think she's insulted to think that she could be replaced by a cold, unfeeling, unscented creature that just sits there and stares and doesn't even purr or meow.  

I decided to bring Guard Kitty back inside and let Sunshine get back to her normal relaxed self.

I think she's greatly relieved.

I don't know how to do a merge of two photos, but I was thinking about using this sign on the wall in my laundry room as a frame for that picture of Sunshine. LOL.  I was singing the song to her today, and she seemed to really love it.

Of course, I don't want to leave out our sweet "Blackie Sue".  She comes and goes as she pleases and doesn't always show up for mealtime at the same time as Sunshine.  So here she is today, chowing down when she finally arrived around noon.

And even though Sunshine had already had her fill of food earlier, she thinks if Blackie Sue is eating, she should be too, so she always helps herself to Blackie's food, and of course Blackie Sue usually does the same thing. They each have their own bowls, but that doesn't seem to mean a thing to them. LOL

And now that feeding time is over, Blackie Sue is doing what she does best...abiding by the "Porch Rules"...

Sorry this picture isn't very clear. I had to take it through my very dirty window in my "Room With A View", or else if I went outside to take the picture she would get up of course and the picture would be ruined.  However, now I know it's time for me to get some spring cleaning done.  It's amazing how dirty porch windows can get between cobwebs, pollen, and just plain dirt and dust. So maybe I should quit watching these cats and birds so much and get to work around here.  

Hmmm, it's already 83 degrees and I think I'll do what Blackie Sue and Sunshine are doing now and just take a nap. 

LOL.

Here's a happy song to finish this post:

1 There is sunshine in my soul today,

More glorious and bright

Than glows in any earthly sky,

For Jesus is my light.

Chorus:

O there’s sunshine, blessed sunshine,

While the peaceful, happy moments roll;

When Jesus shows His smiling face

There is sunshine in my soul.

2

There is music in my soul today,

A carol to my King;

And Jesus, listening, can hear

The song I cannot sing.

3

There is springtime in my soul today,

For when the Lord is near

The dove of peace sings in my heart,

The flowers of grace appear.

4

There is gladness in my soul today,

And hope, and praise, and love,

For blessings which He gives me now,

For joys laid up above.

And those are my treasures for today. I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my world here on Still Waters Pond in the springtime!  May you have sunshine in your soul today, no matter where you are.