Nick and the cherry tree

So recently the cherry tree in our yard has decided to produce fruit. It isn't just producing some fruit. It is producing enough to feed Ethiopia for a year. It didn't fruit last year (due to drought??).

Nick evidently loves the fruits because he rolls in it daily. The first time I saw him with cherry stains, I thought he'd killed something and rolled in it. He stinks even worse than usual now!!


Note purple stains all over him.




Not much else happening on the home front recently. I've been catching banding mourning doves that go into my dove trap. I do manage to catch a load of grackles (AKA dinosaur birds). I banded 2 doves, 1 cardinal, and 22 grackles today.

Doing some travelling this week after over a month off! Only going to Knoxville for what will certainly be another boring 2 day meeting. At least there is a hospitality room with cases of beer for consumption!!

VACATION!!!!!!!

So we finally got a nice vacation. We went to the lake house for a full 9 days, plus 2 travel days. We got only 3 days by ourselves, but we had nice visits with family ranging from my parents to Bob and Susan, to Judy, Bob, and Jane, and Susan's Welsh relatives Gwenda and Brian (who were an absolute delite, and hilarious!). We also had a blast with Sarah from Maine, who we thank for a couple bottles of vino, too!!

Bec and I did a lot of nothing for several days, incl reading at least 8 books betwen us (yes I read 3+ books), I rode 170+ miles over the mountains and set a personal land speed record of 55.2mph on my bike (topping my 54.9 mph I set in Huntsville a couple years ago while scared to death because the bike was shaking, it didn't shake this time), we paddled the lake, put in the ladder (after buying bolts), floated on the lake a lot, and looked at all the other people's babies (some 9 were born since last year, and no I didn't drink the water cause there's something in it). Kevin and Kenzies 9 mo old looks like he's 2 yrs old! He's huge, but he had the most wonderful blue eyes.

Bec and I did some hiking at Ricketts Glen State Park (which is way hilly). Otherwise we didn't go anywhere except shopping in Tannersville on a rainy day where we spent an hour in J Crew while Bec talked to David about what color he had everything in. There is a Merrill store there so I got a sweet pair of tennis shoes and a warm up jacket for running. We did visit the Burberry store where we saw a scarf for $279. Yes, that is right. I laughed, made fun of horribly rich people that spend their money unnecessarily, and said lets get out of this rip off. It was ridiculous.

In the end, we were on track for a quick 12.5 hr drive home, but a truck wrecked Sat afternoon shutting down the interstate through Monday, hence we took a 90 min detour on backroads through eastern TN (which has some really nice places I'd consider living). In the end, the trip took 14.5 hrs and we got home at 9pm. That stunk.

here's a bunch of picts from the trip:


Ricketts Glen SP. I left the shutter open (on the camera) for a while so the water isn't static, but rather blurred. Really cool.

Another from the park.

One more from the park.

Sarah visiting with us.


Song Sparrow at the bog. Tough lighting, but I got super close.


The lake from the bog.


Another shot of the lake from the dock. Perfectly calm water. Gorgeous.


Water lilly thingee.


My parents during their visit.


Bec wanting to puke on the way up the steep climbs at Ricketts Glen.

Picts are posted to www.pbase.com/shoeman look for the Nuangola folder, of course. Other cool and new pictures are found starting here:
http://www.pbase.com/shoeman/image/100218066 (click "next" in top right for more)

and here:
http://www.pbase.com/shoeman/image/100218169 (click next again)

Scott's Bday

Yup, a whole week has passed since I turned 32. I just didn't post pictures because I was depressed and crying from getting old. I mean I'm on the down swing to 40 now, which might as well be 50 or 60, which means I'm pretty much bald, gray (what hair is left), wrinkly, and crippled. I'm over that now and sitting here at 5:50 am writing a blog update on a Monday morning.

Bec made a lovely cake for my birthday, which we just finished yesterday! It was good, but we were trying not to eat it all at once, which was a distinct possibiity without self control. I got a great grill cover, finally, to cover the grill that Bob and Susan had given us as a house warming present. I finally got one, now that I have to replace a burner since it burned itself into 2 pieces. Lowe's doesn't carry them of course, so I need to order it. Uh.

Anyway, I also got a lovely bottle of Gentleman's Jack and several pictures/posters framed that are now hanging in the utility room and office. Plus my diplomas from back in the dark ages when I graduated with some college degrees are now framed nicely and hanging in the office. Bec didn't want them next to her diploma (yes singular) as she only has one (not counting HS). Yes, I'm in trouble now.

So here are some picts of the picts and my cake.





My cake had a chasm/fjord/fault in it.


Me and my cake.


Diplomas looming over the desktop.


Poster by the cat food.


3 frames over the mini-beer cooler and cat poop spot. Looking sharp!!

Evidently I don't have a picture of the other picture. Oops. Time to make some food and go to work.

Thanks to all of you reading that contributed to the great framed picts!!!
To the rest of you, where's my present:)

Off to the lake house this week. I ought to take a ton of picts up there.

I know, I know......

I had nothing better to do for the last 5 weeks, but I posted nothing (thanks Kelly). So I took some picts of the yard and utility room (new window treatments) and here you go, a silly little post.

All in all, not much happening. I am fat and trying to get riding again to shed to some beer pounds. Then I got sick for a week (last week and it is lingering) and did nothing but get OD'd by my doctor (she prescribed me way too much of my antibiotic), snot all over the house, and lay on the couch watching reruns of such classic shows as Crossing Jordan, Scrubs, and MASH. Bec and I watched bike racing this past weekend in Nashville (cheering on my teammates), which was a lot of fun. Some really good bike racing too!!

Here you go:


This is the view from the top of Unaka Mtn in east TN, near Erwin. Cloudy, but gorgeous view. I was up there in mid-May for a bird ID refresher course we put on every spring.



Gladiola in the front yard. We have some yellow ones too, but was too lazy to take a couple more shots.



New schnazy window treatments in the utility room. They are blue and white. Now if I just had pictures/posters framed to put on the big bare walls:)

Click on picture for larger version.
Twilight criterium race Saturday night in Nashville. These were the pros, who were smoking fast!! This was my first attempt to use an extended shutter speed to catch and blur moving objects. I really needed a tripod, but I leaned against a tree and it worked ok.

One more blur of bikes.


So from here on out, I will attempt to post more often to prevent ridicule, which will happen anyway, so maybe I won't post much:) Things will be happening before long, including the man of the house getting older and a vacation to the lake house (which will include a LOT of bike riding-YAY!!!).

Ok, ok, Bec forced me to

Gypsy doing what she does best, sleep.

So we haven't updated in a while. Same story, not much going on, been lazy, nothing to show. Blah blah. Well I have taken a bunch of days off and done a lot of those little things Bec has been telling me to do for about a year. I also did some fun stuff, like birdwatching. I forgot how much fun it can be! It's my job and I never do it.

Anyway, I did things like change out the "almond" electrical outlets in the utility room with white ones that I've had since December so they match the switch plates. I put up gutter on the garage so we don't get wet when it rains. I fixed the stupid gutter on the back porch so things aren't growing in it and I capped one end and fixed the downspout on the other end. I also built a compost bin for Bec on Saturday. I built a robin nesting platform and a bat box (using some wood left over from building bluebird boxes for my undergraduate thesis some 11 yrs ago). Plus I was able to mow my new grass finally!!! This is the grass that replaced that stupid gravel path in the backyard.

Nice gutter along the garage. It ain't pretty, but it works.

Pretty 3'x3' compost bin, now with food and grass clippings.

My new grass!! I hate grass, but it is nice to not have that stupid walkway!

Last weekend we were in Memphis with Brian and Kelly for the Derby party. We ended up winning $8 total, even though I was the bookie and held the cash. Straight up winnings, but I bet on the horse that won while Bec bet on the horse that died. The picture is of my favorite part of the party, the drinks!! Ok, that's not true, the drinks were awesome Brian, but the company was the best. If you haven't seen their house since the kitchen was redone and painting happened, you need to. It is really wonderful.

Some new bird pictures start here. Just clicj "next" to see more. Some pictures are of fairly rare birds in middle Tennessee.

http://www.pbase.com/shoeman/image/96820447

Until next time....

bits and pieces

We've been fairly busy this spring. Scott's been in and out of town and I've been spending my time studying. My finals are next week, otherwise I would be camping with Scott this weekend.
Last weekend, we went to Huntsville so Scott could meet our new nephew, Mark, and we could visit with John. We had a great time. Scott helped Jay work on the boys' new fort.

the fort prior to completion


Mark Austin


the very busy big brother...



After finals, I go back to working full time throughout the summer, but we do have a few fun things planned.

Blue Angels and Bluebirds

The yard in April 08. Looking good with all the blooming flowers!! The iris's will bloom by the end of the week and the tulips are opening now. Some of the stuff we planted last year and got "burned" in the freeze in April and suffered in the drought are blooming for the first time and growing rapidly!


So we have a pair of bluebirds nesting in our bluebird box. She had 5 eggs today and should start incubating today. Last year we had only titmice in the box, after bluebirds tried to nest and a House Sparrow killed the female bluebird on the nest (that happens a lot). Hopefully our bluebirds will make it this year.

Bec took this shot of the daddy bluebird, while I was off working on yard stuff.

There was also an airshow in Smyrna this weekend. The Blue Angels were here flying low over the neighborhood. Rather then spend $20 a person and have to be with a lot of rednecks, we could see a fair amount from the yard, not use portajohns, relax in our yard, and not spend $5 for a hot dog. There were shows on Sat and Sun. Pretty cool. Glad the airport isn't active but for tiny planes anymore!


Bec got this shot Saturday.


I got this one Sunday.


Not a Blue Angel, but cool plane! (taken by Scott on Saturday)

Hopefully next weekend I'll get to meet my new nephew Mark. The following weekend I may see Brian and Kelly as I'll be in town for the state ornithological society meeting (old birders), so I may skip the banquet and go have some fun! Can only deal with old birders who want to grill me on birds all day and whom have no idea about personal space. I don't like to be able to tell what they had for lunch, yesterday!