Update on baby cardinals

Here's the latest on the baby cardinals:

The morning after we had worried about the birds making it through the night without something getting them, we found one of the babies in the dirt just barely hanging on. Guillermo picked it up and we found a box to place it in. Then we soft-boiled an egg and fed him some of that, and gave him a little water. But it looked like the poor thing was already too far gone. It actually rallied for a little while during the day, even standing straight up! We were a little more hopeful at that point, but by the morning, sad to say, it was gone.
Today, we saw one of the other babies on a bush by the greenhouse, and the other baby in a persimmon bush nearby. Those two seem to be doing real well, and we've even seen them fly a little bit, so they'll be fine.

In the afternoon, after some good rain showers went through and the air had really cooled off, we saw a Painted Bunting in the Crape Myrtle that is right outside the window to Fernando's room! That was so exciting!! Then right after that, we saw a pretty little yellow warbler. And wouldn't you know it, we were out of bird seed!! So, we headed out to Walmart to pick up seed and a few other items, refilled the feeders when we got home, but we saw neither bird again. We did walk out to the creek since we figured it'd be running and saw a nice big snake on the edge of the water. So, we look forward to watching the snakes again back there!

Flowers, birds, party

Aren't these Chrysanthemums just beautiful???

The latest update on the baby cardinals. Today we saw one baby cardinal on the fence by the carport, we placed another baby (that we found on the porch) close to the baby by the fence, and we wondered whatever happened to the third one. Later in the day, we discovered the 3rd baby on the opposite side of the yard, in our Lady Banks Rose. And we did see the mother feeding the two babies by the fence. So, we felt good that they were being taken care of. Now, if they can only get through the night without something getting them!!!

We went to a Fiesta party today hosted by some people in the Biology Department where John Fardal works. This home was way out 281, almost by the Guadalupe River, and they had the nicest deck to sit outside on and enjoy the cool breezes that blew all evening. We had great barbecue, great desserts, and best of all, great company to spend the evening with!

In this picture, Gwen, Angie, John and Guillermo

Baby Cardinals

Well, the baby cardinals are getting bigger! We knew when the babies had hatched, because the male cardinal joined the female on the nest to have a look. At first, the mom had been doing most of the feeding, but now it looks like they are both taking turns feeding the little ones. There are three in that little nest, but the picture really only shows two well. The third is behind the one on the right. The pictures of the jasmine show how their home looks on the outside of the nest. Very beautiful place to grow up in and very fragrant, too!!!




Yesterday, Tuesday, a company came out and repaired the windows in our TV room - a room which actually doesn't have a TV, but it DID many many years ago! Anyway, it's amazing, we had several people come out to give us estimates, with some of the people saying there's no way those windows can be repaired and some even saying it would cost a lot to replace the windows because they'd have to tear up the whole wall! Out of about 5 businesses that came out, it was the last one we called that said sure, those windows can be repaired. And sure enough, they repaired them. It is so nice to be able to open the windows again in that room. Those windows have been shut for a very long time. This company even fixed two of the bigger windows in our house, windows that had become almost impossible to open because they were so heavy. Turns out they just needed a new part, and now we can open and close them probably with just one finger!
Now to move on to what we need to do next to this house. Painting, maybe?

Today, one year ago, I was on my way to meet Guillermo and Fernando in Buenos Aires. That trip has been one of the "highlight" trips we have taken, but really, that's how all of our trips have been. We have taken so many wonderful trips, that it is really impossible to say which one was the best. But South America, well, it ranks right up there with the best of them. :-)

4 down one to go!

Rebeca's tough!
She just got notice today that she passed her 4th exam and now she has only one more to go! That will be on June 9th.

The Energumeno is in trouble!

The first 3 pictures show Guillermo about to cut off the top of the Caltech tree. How he hated doing that, but it had died up on top because squirrels had eaten away at the bark. Anyway, if you know how Guillermo can be, then you can just imagine what he is saying in those pictures.
"If that blankety-blank Energumeno had just done his job when he was here, then those blankety-blank squirrels wouldn't have been able to do this to this tree!" :-)

The jasmine is really blooming along our fence out front and on both sides of the porch. It smells so good on the porch, and we can really smell the jasmine also when we wash dishes. The cardinal has once again taken up residence in the jasmine on the front porch!

The avocado is bursting with baby avocados, but there are too many of them, and some are just going to have to fall off to make room for just a few of them.

The roses around our yard are just so beautiful right now.

Love the pool, but hate the smoke

Even though I knew what I'd be up against, I was happy to go play pool with Guillermo this evening. This is something we both enjoy doing together, even though we sure could do without the smoke that is always in pool halls.
Anyway, after a very good meal at Olive Garden, we headed to the pool hall. I don't play any good at all, but we enjoy playing together anyway. Every now and then I'll make a shot that for the life of me, I can't understand how I was able to do that!!! But I have a sneaking suspicion that sometimes Guillermo sets up the shots for me. He also uses most of the time we play to practice very difficult shots. I mean, the white ball is right there in front of a ball he could land very easily, but instead, he spends his time in our games looking for a more difficult way to get that ball in the pocket. It's good practice for him and makes our games more interesting. If Guillermo really wanted to, he could wipe me out probably in one turn!!!

Senior citizen, really??

Well, today was a milestone of sorts.
Guillermo and I decided, since we had to take the red car in to the shop, to have breakfast afterwards at IHop. As I was looking over the menu, I noticed that I am now in THEIR age range to order from the senior citizen's menu. At first I was excited about that, but then I thought, "Wait a minute, is that really something to be excited about?!?!??"
Well, it's exciting to save a few dollars, so I guess that is the good part.
It's supposed to freeze here tonight, and Guillermo spent a lot of the day trying to cover up the vegetables in his garden. His vegetables have grown so much with the warm weather lately, and they look so healthy, it would be a shame to lose them now.

Looking for windows

The roses along our front fence are just so beautiful - these pictures really don't show how pretty they are in real life.
Here's one from a little closer up....
These yellow lilies, although we don't have many of them, are really pretty right now.
And soon, we'll be getting new windows for this room of our house.
Those front windows just don't work anymore, so they are on the list of things to replace.

Playgrounds and chess

Linda came over in the evening with Jacob and we all had supper together. At 5:45, Linda left for a class she is taking at the school which is just around the corner from us. After she left, Jacob and Guillermo played two games of Horse in the driveway, while I watered our rose bushes. After that, Jacob and I went to the park, and even though there was a big choice of things to play on, he mainly played on the merry-go-round. It sure looked like he was having a blast going round and round with all the other kids. As I sat there watching him, I thought about how much fun I always used to have on the merry-go-round, and I remembered the time I almost made myself sick on it! So, it was fun watching Jacob have so much fun. When we left the park, we drove to Baskins to get an ice cream cone. We also got an extra one to take home to Guillermo.
Back at home, we found Guillermo out in the garden. We all finished our ice creams while walking out to the back of the field. Then it was time to come in, and fix up a bath for Jacob. After his bath, he and I played a game of computer chess and the next thing we knew, Linda was back and they both headed back home!!