Won't be long now ...

YUMMMMM :)

Passion fruit are blooming

Yipppppeeeeee!

Lovely afternoon at the beach with Barklie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7CI0qAD7AM

Relocation

The hummingbirds have been fairly inactive lately ... used to be I'd fill all 92 feeders (exageration, it's really only 8, but sometimes seems like more) every day. Lately, for the past month, the hummers seem to have disappeared. They're just now starting to make a comeback, I've noticed mama hummer doing some remodeling on her home. She's picking apart the old nest and starting a new one ... good for her! Looks like it's time for a fresh start, that old nest was looking pretty old and tired. She's previously added on 3, 4, maybe 5 times to the old nest. Now she's picking off the good parts and rebuilding ... here's the old nest ...

And here's her new nest ... she seems to be trying it on for size, bless her little heart. It's very small, I'm sure she's just trying it on for size before she adds more ...

I've got a bag of lint from the dryer, she loves to use that in her homemaking process ...

Happy homemaking hummer mama.

Oh how I love my pretty flowers

So many of my orchids are starting to squirt out their beautiful
blooms ... I LOVE that :)

Bubba the cat (2nd attempt)

Bubba is one of our many cats that have adopted us. Can't remember exactly when he arrived (we have about 14 that have adopted us) but he is the sweetest cat EVER! He never picks fights ... That's rare, and unfortunately gets his butt kicked on a fairly regular basis :(

He's blind in one eye, I feel bad about that, I think it happened when I put out a ton of slug bait in the flowerbed. But he is just as sweet as he can be with his whiny/pathetic "meow" ... Sooooooo sweet!

Bubba ... the sweetest cat EVER!

Bubba is one of our many cats that have adopted us. Can't remember exactly when he arrived (we have about 14 that have adopted us) but he is the sweetest cat EVER! He never picks fights ... That's rare, and unfortunately gets his butt kicked on a fairly regular basis :(

He's blind in one eye, I feel bad about that, I think it happened when I put out a ton of slug bait in the flowerbed. But he is just as sweet as he can be with his whiny/pathetic "meow" ... Sooooooo sweet!

YUCK ... WTH is this?

Found it in the kitchen sink yesterday morning ... Ewwwwwww! Thought
it was a baby lizard at first, that would've been ok. Captured it and
set it free ... Hope it doesn't come back, whatever it is. Crimony,
I've come a long way :)

Waterworld ... the most fun I've had in a long, long, longgggggg time!

GOOD TIMES!

A couple of weeks ago my brother, Brian, and I went for an adventure on the water. HOLY COW ... that's quite possibly the most fun I've had on the water since I moved here!

If you live here on the lovely island of St. Croix, or you're visiting ... you've gotta do this. I was grinning for hours afterwards, and so was brother Brian, it was sooooooooo much fun! Our guide, Justin, took us out along the North shore towards the East end of the island. They cater to your desires, if you want to see the sites, they provide that. I've lived here almost 8 years, so I've seen the beautiful sites ... we just wanted to fly across the water, and that's what we did. I'm sure they heard us laughing and yahoooooing on land ... soooooo much fun!

The name of the company is Island Flight Adventures Jet Ski Rentals and Tours ... they're awesome. Very friendly and customer service oriented ... how refreshing! Here's a link to their site: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147402-d951899-r46544786-Island_Flight_Adventures_Jet_Ski_Rentals_and_Tours-Christiansted_St_Croix_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html ... I hope that's the right link ;)

Here's a couple of pics from our adventure ...

Gotta start if off with the rabbit ears, it's a tradition ...

And there I go ... ready for some fun ...

There's brother Brian, he's ready for FUN ...

And we're off ... look at that flat, calm water -it looks like a lake ... niiiiiiice!

The moral of the story:

We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.

~The End~

Home Sweet Home

Nothing like a visit back to Oregon to really put things into perspective for me. What a great time, visiting with my family and friends ... makes me realize just how much I miss them all. Another fabulous Mother/Daughter beach weekend ... this was number 11! So much fun to spend time with my Mom & Aunt Donna and cousins Debi and Geri at the Lincoln City beach house ... Good times. And staying at the fabulous Fisher B&B is always a treat, my Mom & Dad make it so comfortable and relaxing for me ... thank you!

A full week of no mosquitoes and no sweating ... now that's a slice of heaven right there!

The highlight of my week, aside from spending quality time with my family and friends: getting a warm welcome from my furry 'kids' ... they do know how to let you know you've been missed and they're happy to see you, bless their big hearts.

P.S. BIG THANKS to Rudy for taking care of the chores while I was away.

Hummer sleepover

Last week, as we were preparing dinner, I noticed a hummingbird flying around in the house. We've had several come in to visit, along with an occasional sugar bird. I think they just like to come in and see what we're doing, then forget their way back out. It was shortly after I'd filled all the feeders on the front porch, so I'm thinking it came in to thank me personally, or it had the biggest sugar buzz going and didn't know where it was.

Later, it became apparent the hummer was infatuated with the fake hummingbirds hanging from the mobiles dangling from the tall ceiling. At one point it landed on the mobile, and appeared to be making goo-goo eyes at the pretty painted hummers floating in the breeze. Awwwwwwww ... I think he momentarily fell in love ...

It also became apparent he was eyeing the fake hibiscus ... poor little feller is hungry! We brought in a couple of feeders, hoping he would quench his thirst and be on his way ...

That hummer drank a lot of food ... poor thing was really hungry. After he'd quenched his thirst, he continued his visit and discovered the pretty fake parrot ... goo-goo eyes for the parrot soon followed ...

Eventually, the hummer settled down and perched on the hummer mobile and watched a movie with us. Don't remember what movie we watched, but I do know both the hummer and I snoozed through the end.

We decided to let the hummer spend the night inside ... not really much choice at this point. In the morning the hummer took a drink from the feeder and decided to go outside and explore. He was a most excellent houseguest.

~The End~

A day in the life of a baby hummingbird

We have a mama hummingbird that raises her babies in a nest on our front porch, attached to the chain of a hanging light fixture. I'm not sure if it's the same mama hummer each time, but there have been at least half a dozen families in the nest over the past couple of years. Each time she starts getting the nest ready, she'll sometimes add on and attach pretty little flowers to the outside ... soooooo cute! It's starting to look like a hummer tri-plex now

This is the view inside the nest, taken shortly after the baby left ...

This little hummer left it's nest earlier in the morning, and decided to take a rest on the front fence. Shortly after, a lizard appeared and showed great interest in the little baby hummer. Mama hummer continued to go get food, from one of our many feeders, and came back to feed the little darlin' ...

No worries, the little hummer flew away before the reptile could grab it. No critters were harmed in the photographing of this event. However, I was armed with a rake in the event I needed to intervene and scare the lizard way ...

~ The End ~

My favorite new battery powered toy ...

No, not that one .... this battery powered toy ... THE JOLT ...

There's something quite satisfying about swatting those little buggers, seeing the flash/flame and hearing the loud "CRACK" ... I'm hooked. As I'm a magnet for any mosquito within 50 yards, I rarely walk without "The Jolt" at home. In fact, I'm thinking, perhaps one for each hand - double the pleasure, double the fun!

Dang ... I need a hobby! ;-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy 2009 ... this is gonna be a fantastic year ... quite possibly the best ever I'm thinkin'.
After a fun-filled week in lovely, cccccccccold Kentucky, it's time to head back to warm, wonderful sunshine tomorrow morning ... YIPPPPPEEEEEEEE! I've run out of winter clothes, ready for shorts and flip-flops.
New Year's Eve was spent with Mike and Kathy ... good times ...

Snow woman Evelyn ... Then ...

and now ... she's resting peacefully, if people would just quit rearranging her buttons and facial features and earrings ...

Now and then

Then ... December 1981 ...

And now ... December 2008 ... What a difference 27 years makes!

Merry Christmas!

What a truly wonderful Christmas this was ... it's been a bazillion years since we've all been together for Christmas. This was my first Christmas in Oregon since moving to St. Croix 7 years ago. It was fantastic! Warms my heart and puts a smile on my face every time I think about it ... :-)

Merry Christmas to all from beauuuuuuuutiful, snowy Oregon!

Hurricane Omar - We're OK!

Hurricane Omar made it's trek past our slice of paradise in St. Croix, and try as I might to get back, I missed it.

 

HUGE THANKS to my brother Brian and our friend Joyce for taking care of everything at the casa while we were away. Joyce was there to take care of the pups and cats while we were on vacation, and then Omar made his appearance. We asked Brian to help out, and he really worked hard to get things ready for the hurricane. Putting up shutters, taking down the wind chimes and relocate the hanging plants ... it's a lot of work to get ready for a storm. Brian got the generator set up and scrambled to get more gas and hook up everything that needs to have current when the power goes out. He and Joyce really had their work cut out for them, and I can't thank them enough - they did an excellent job. It's stressful to prepare for a storm, and such a helpless feeling to be elsewhere when it happens and wonder what's going on. I had to resist the urge to call every 10 minutes and ask what's happening now?

 

As it turns out, the storm caused quite a bit of damage around the island, but nothing compared to what I would have expected for a category 3 hurricane. I haven't seen it for myself yet, I'm still stuck in Puerto Rico; really looking forward to returning home tomorrow. The photos I've seen of the Christiansted boardwalk are heartbreaking ... check out the pics submitted here by Kelli:

 

http://stormcarib.com/reports/current/stcroix.shtml

 

All in all, it was a very lucky turn to the East that prevented more destruction, it could have been soooooooooooooooo much worse. I'll try to get some photos tomorrow, when I return home.

Creature comforts ...

It's a dogs life ... oh to be lounging on a big, puffy dog bed, surrounded by all your Wilbur the Weiner dogs, with your rawhide treat close by. Yes, sweet Maully ... you have every reason to be smiling BIG ... the world is your oyster ... whatever that means.

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A horse is a horse ...

OF COURSE!

Here's a picture of my new horse. I'm thinking "finders keepers" applies here, and it comes with a baby horse ... BONUS!

I went to get a closer look and noticed it's tied up to a shrub in the lower lot ... someone must be helping eliminate all that tall grass. Here's photos of Mama, I've named her Edwina, and baby horse, unnamed as of this moment ...

Baby horse below ... bright sunshine made the picture hazy ...

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