Khristos Rodyvsya!

Happy Ukrainian Christmas!

Not being of Ukrainian descent, I waffle from year to year as to how we celebrate. Some years, it's as simple as little toys laid out for the boys. Since the teenager isn't home any longer, I didn't even do that this year. Bad married-into-Ukrainian family mother. Oh well. Whatchya gonna do.

I am, however, thinking about trying my hand at a little baking today. (Oh my, you say.) I'll keep ya posted on that. Three p.m. and I best get cooking if I'm going to. (My Christmas present to myself.)

I think the robins are migrating a little early this year. I have been putting fresh water out for them as the ground and ponds are all frozen over. It has been terribly cold here.

Except today when we got a little dusting of snow. It warmed up a tad. Why is that?

Yesterday, I received my Christmas box from my brother Jim. We're bad that way. I have yet to mail brother Johnny's gift to him! Heathens!

For the kid.

Aso included in the box was my mom's ring which my sister-in-law had repaired. If you remember, this summer I had to cut it off her finger as her arthritis had her little fingers swollen so badly. Now I have a piece of her with me all of the time. Awwww.

Bella has been curled up, keeping warm.

Too cute.

Yes, there is a nose in there somewhere hidden under the paw.

Well, if I'm going to do this, I best be getting to it. I'm thinking about making an apple strudel. Yum. Just what I need while I'm trying to begin dieting again. Joy, joy to you all.

xo
ro

Robin Migration

The robins arrived yesterday enroute North, I suppose. With the weather as strange as it's been, I wonder how they know when it's time to head back? I admit, they are early this year. They didn't arrive last year until February 22, see last year's post.

Another difference this year is that they are feasting across the street on the holly bushes in Dianne's old yard rather than our large four on the side of our house. I wonder if the smoke smell is getting to them too? (I got the same smell at the same time last night. It has to be someone burning a fireplace upwind from us. That's all I can figure and hope. It's just that if I knew that were the case, I could actually enjoy the smell. We don't have a wood-burning fireplace and I rather like the smell--unless, that is, I think it's my house burning.)

You've Got the Cutest Little Baby Face(s)

The latest additions to our motley crew have arrived! I count four, how many do you see? (Click on the photo to enlarge.) There were five eggs, remember? The hub came home early today and so I had him reach up and get a pic for me--remember me = short. I thought I had seen a little fuzzy head up there! Look at the one waiting for the hub to drop in some food! "Are you my mother??" (When the teenager was a toddler, this was his favorite book. Such a sweet story. I remember we also had it in Spanish, ¿Es Tu Mi Madre? We had a babysitter from Guatemala, Dora, and those two just adored each other. She would read this over and over to him and he would just sit and smile contently listening to the words and looking at the pictures with her. He was always into books. Even today, he loves to read. The other night we went to the bookstore to get some on his list. His cell phone rang on the way home. "Hello? . . . Uh, I'm just coming back from the bookstore. . . Uh yea, . . . like I read books man." I had to smile. Now, the other one, the now pre-teen, hates to read! Isn't it amazing how different they all are even though the come from the same two people? Funny. Anyway, way off subject there; but the little baby with his mouth open made me think back to that stage in our lives. Sigh.)

Of course, I really need to have the house power washed. The negative aspect of having a white house in Tennessee--lots of spider webs and a little mold in the shady spots. Not bad mold, mind you, just gets a little green on one of the dormers come August. We have never had the house washed since we've lived here, and it is high time that we do before there's some damage done. But, with all the new babies, I can't just move their duplex. I had to phone the guy back today and tell him we'll have to wait a couple of weeks to have it washed. He probably thinks I'm totally nuts. But, who could look at those little faces and tell them they have to move? Not me! Anyone know how long before they fly the coop? No idea here.

Oh yes, and speaking of babies; guess who came to visit us today? Take a close look and see.

Can you tell he's on the inside of the window looking OUT?! Yep, we had another robin fly in (or brought in??.) Poor little guy, he must be thinking "What in the world have I done....I really don't understand what I just did." This male cardinal looked to be a young one by his size. I'm going to have to start keeping my doors shut or get screens on all of them! (Ha, as if that would help. Miss Bev brought the last one in through the one screen door we have! Yep, they have pulled the binding out that holds the screen in and they sneak out a little corner. Little buggers.) The little guy was too afraid to fly, thank goodness, and he stayed right by the window long enough to let me open it and let him fly away. Amazing I haven't put my screens back in for the summer. It would have been a little more difficult getting him out if I had. It was miraculous that the kitties were all asleep too. They would have had this little guy in a snap. He wasn't panicking and just fluttered a little bit trying to get out the window. I'm thankful it all ended well, again. Phew! What a wonderful feeling it is when something like this happens. Maybe they go back and tell their family that not all humans are bad. smile. Let's hope.

Spoke Too Soon

Of course, after I say Same Ol' Same Ol' and the hub leaves town, we get some excitement in the house. Yes, that's a robin. Yes, he's in the kid's room. Yes, it was Ms. Trouble that brought him in.

I'm sitting here, posting and I hear the kid screaming, "MOM!! MOM!!" I go running into his room and this poor robin is fluttering about. The kid's hiding on his bottom bunk covered in a blanket. Bev (Ms. Trouble) is sitting there with an evil grin and mud all over her. Never a dull moment.
Poor little guy was so freaked out. He was just panting as he flew from one high object to another. Of course, he found the airplanes to land on, then the fan and then a light on the top bunk.
It took a little over five minutes to get him out. The kid has two doors going out to the top deck, thank goodness. That made things a little easier. I bet that guy is chirping a sigh of relief, you think?

Hey hub, remember the time with the squirrel in Georgetown? Oh my. We were newly married living on the top floor of an old row house in Georgetown. We had what's known as a railroad flat where the row houses have an open area in between each one--I guess for ventilation. You could look from the bedroom window and see the kitchen window at the other end. Anyway, somehow, a squirrel had fallen from the roof in between into that area. No one was living in the basement apartment at the time, thank goodness. I made the hub go down and open all the windows and coax him out through the back door. He thought I was utterly crazy. He had never come up against such an animal lover, no less now being married to one! The plan worked and the funniest thing happened. After the hub came back upstairs, we were looking out the kitchen window to make sure everything was A-ok. This squirrel (wasn't the same one) came up to the edge of the roof and just looked at us for what seemed like a minute. I swear! It was as if he was saying thank you for saving this little guy's life. He definitely would have died down there with no way out if the hub hadn't saved him. Isn't that just the sweetest story??? I swear, it happened just like that. You can ask the hub. It's one of those moments in your life when you sit back and say "Wow, we're all in this together."

The Proof is in the Pudding

I was telling Bud, of Bud's Ramblings (and my fellow-Tennessean blogger), just last week that I knew spring was around the corner when we get a huge flock of robins--I mean hundreds if not thousands. It's right out of the movie "The Birds." Now I've seen huge amounts of black birds in the yard before, but I had never witnessed this amount of robins until moving to the Nashville area. Last year was the first time I had seen such a sight.

Well, folks of Middle Tennessee and areas close, I am happy to announce that "Spring is almost here!!" I noticed a few robins yesterday in the yard and wondered if this could be the beginning of their migration North. This morning when I woke up to get the kids off to school, I looked out the side door, and low and behold, there they were--a hundred or so. They stay for a day or two and eat all the berries off all the hollies in the neighborhood, and then they're off. We have five holly trees right on the side of our house, so I can witness this amazing "grazing" up close. It is fascinating to see so many in one place at the same time. There's a constant flutter in and out of the trees. I tried to capture this on film, but I couldn't get close enough without scaring them all away. I did, however, take these two before-and-after shots to prove my point. Shows you how much I knew. I always thought that robins only ate worms.

Left pic (I know a bit blurry--sorry, way too early) 6:30 a.m. Right pic 2 p.m. You'll have to click on them to enlarge to really see the difference.


Here's a website on tracking the migration of the American Robin that I'm trying to enter my sighting info into. Haven't had much luck yet getting logged in. Oh well, guess I'm going to sit back on this rainy day and just enjoy the flight of the robins.