That Time Again

It's that time again!!! LAKE season! Wednesday, Bobby and I went up to the lake so I could do a little work (he's not much help with one arm but he tries). All I wanted to do was hang my bird feeders and pull out some Day Lilly's because I want to plant a Hummingbird/Butterfly flower mix.

My mom once said that if there was a statement that described Bobby it would be, "Bobby rigged a system," or, "Bobby rigged it up" and for anyone that knows him knows how true this is. And he came through with his "systems" when it came to hanging my feeders. He set up a pulley system for my feeders by the house so it is easier for me to fill them. He told me how to hang them and I got up on the ladder and he supervised/directed.

Then, when I was hanging my new feeder, using a similar method as the others, I didn't secure the wire enough to the tree and when the ring took the weight of the feeder (it held 6.3 pounds of food!) the wire gave way from the tree and my feeder crashed to the ground, breaking into several pieces. Very sad, but my own fault. I was not thinking when I was twisting the wire to the tree and didn't secure it enough.

So, my feeders were hung, at least some of them, but I only got about 1/3 of the Lilly's pulled out. As far as I can determine they have been there forever! The bulbs are deep and there are so many! The plan is to try again tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be nice and I can work in the yard.

While we were there I could hear some of the birds have already returned. I could hear Purple Martins but didn't see any and none had taken residence in the Martin house that we put up last year. I can't wait to see if we have any new birds!

When Did I Become Like My Parents?

It's funny how people say they don't want to be like their parents but somehow, no matter what, we end up taking on the traits of them. I have wonderful parents. I am very blessed that my parents have always been around, are very caring and have taught me many important life lessons.

For years my parents have been feeding the stray cats in their neighborhood and for about the past 3 or 4 years they have had raccoons that have come to the food bowl to partake in the evening meal. Now, you know it's bad when you go over to your parents and your dad informs you that the raccoons like Jelly Belly, Jelly Beans- but just the pineapple ones. After he had been feeding the family of raccoons, or The Coonies, as he named them (Rosemary and George), he discovered that they would let him pet them. So now anytime we are over at my parents we have to check the food bowl to see if there are any visitors and if they do arrive, we enjoy feeding them too.

Well, somehow Bobby and I have become like my parents. In the fall Bobby made a food trough so we could feed our stray cats. For about the past two weeks we have noticed some nightly visitors to our house and now have four raccoons that eat at our house. So every time we walk up the steps from the basement or walk into the kitchen we have to check to see if anyone is eating. Last night we sat in the hot tub and had to be VERY quiet just in case someone decided to visit. Somehow I was very lucky in the parent department.

I guess if I have to be like someone, it might as well be like my parents. Come to think of it, maybe that's one of the reasons I enjoy my birds so much.