Could this be an Indigo Bunting?

I'm pretty sure this is an Indigo Bunting.  I snapped these pictures today at my feeder, the thing is this bird is not supposed to be anywhere near BC.  This guy is way off course because the closest he should be is in southern Manitoba, three provinces over from me, and that's only in the summer months.  I've compared the heck out of it and can't find anything too similar can anyone deny/confirm?










I'm including this picture because I've read that it can have purplish on it's head and, on my monitor, it looks like it's a bit there.

Butterflies & Bees

The weather has been great.  I've started planting in my garden, I know shame on me for being late but our weather just hasn't been right lately.  Yesterday the kids and I planted 25 mystery tomatoes.  Well most of them are a mystery because Dallas can't remember what the abbreviations stand for, she's the one who picked up my tomatoes for me.  Any idea what GN, E, or T might be?  I figured out that GD is gardener's delight, R is roma, BB is bush beefsteak, and YP is yellow pear but the other's have me stumped.  I have one last tomato to put in the Topsy Turvy planter that Grandma gave me for my birthday and I'm about done with tomatoes.


I've also planted six peppers, all I know is "there's every colour but red" so Dallas says.  My oldest daughter needs a pen and paper to write these things down for me!  I still have beets, cucumbers, peas and whatever else I can find to stick in the ground.  I'm using my whole garden this year but everything is so spread out that I can run a rotatiller pretty much everywhere, goodbye weeds!  (You realize those words are going to come back and bite me in the ... uh huh).



Today I was determined to get some shots of the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly but when I went outside I couldn't see a one.  I took a few pics of some honeybees swollen with pollen instead.






I caught this bee in mid flight.






Then I came in the house to upload my camera card.  As I was sitting here a butterfly flies past the window, I quickly get up and look out at my pink lilac bush and lo and behold there's a whack of them!  Now it's a scramble for my other card, grab the camera and run... it was worth it because the pictures turned out great.  The butterflies are so beautiful :)



This one has a bee and a butterfly in the pic.








Seeing double here.












I do believe you can click on the pics to see larger images at Flickr but I'm testing this with Google Docs so I hope it works.  If not you can click here for my Flickr site.

Pics at the Pond

Just as the sun was setting the kids and I headed up to the pond.  The water has been staying even so we must be keeping the beavers in check.

The weather hit at least 27C/80F today and it was beautiful.  So long winter and hello summer!  Here's some pics of Sydney sitting on the dock.

Jevan had to throw rocks in the pond so we could get some ripples.

The more rocks he threw the more ripples we got :)

A close-up.

And of course her signature hands up to the sky pic :)

Birds at my Window

I pulled the window out of my canning room, cleaned the heck out of it, sprinkled some bird seed on an outside shelf where our air conditioner usually goes, popped the window back in, and then waited.  I didn't realize we had so many birds in our area!  My feeder is really just for small birds but now that I have an outside shelf I'm seeing bigger birds.

Male Evening Grosbeak

Another male.  The females look almost the same but their colours are more faded.

Female Lazuli Bunting flicking up the birdseed.  The males don't seem to be brave enough to come up to the window yet but I see them sitting in our willows.  They look similar but have quite a bit of blue on them.

Another Lazuli Bunting.

Male House Finch.

Female House Finch flinging the seed around.

Male Brown Headed Cowbird (I'm not positive, correct me if I'm wrong).

If you'd like to see larger pictures visit my flickr site.

My flu seems to have calmed down but I still have a bit of a cough.  The only new thing is my eyes!  Both are so bloodshot it looks like I'm bleeding from my eyeballs.  The itch and burn is pretty yucky.  Hubby brought me in some drops, that he keeps handy in his truck for welding flashburn, and that seems to tame them down a bit.  I have no idea if this is flu related or I've mysteriously become allergic to something?  Seems odd but I hope tomorrow they're better because today after school Jevan looked up at me and said "Mama your eyes are all cracked."

Have you been to Mexico lately?

Yes I was asked yesterday whether I had been to Mexico lately or had I been in contact with anyone who had been to Mexico recently?  Me?  On a holiday?

Let me start at the beginning... I'm sick, have been for over 8 days.  Coughing, ears plugged and sore, throat feels like I have a dagger in it, head stuffed, etc.,... all the typical flu signs.  I've been trying to ignore everything and just carry on bravely but after waking yesterday with a heck of a headache I cancelled my dentist appointment and put in a call to the doctor.  After sitting for 30 minutes in the waiting room (grrrh) I saw the doc (not my own but a different one) for all of five minutes.  No I haven't been to Mexico, and no I don't know anyone who has been recently.  After looking at my eardrums he said they are like they are turned inside out, the reason for the pain in the ears, throat, and the reason for not hearing so well.  No antibiotics, just pick up some decongestant nasal mist and hold my head over hot steaming water.  I should be over it in another ten days... TEN DAYS?  I thought I was doing good by holding out for eight days before I went to the doc but there's a chance I may cough myself silly if I have to put up with this for another ten days... good Lord.

In the meantime I'm sitting at my kitchen table not doing much of anything.  I've thrown in the towel and succumb to the flu... sore throat and all.  Funny thing is I hadn't been anywhere for almost two weeks so someone brought this to me.  Ever feel like installing a disinfectant sprayer thingy at your door before anyone comes in?  If you felt like me you'd already have plans drawn up for it.

Okay enough whining, time to get on with other stuff.  This morning a new very tiny bird showed up at my feeder.  I snapped some pics and grabbed my bird book.  The bird is an American Goldfinch, if I'm wrong please correct me.  Hey I wonder if they have any Canadian Goldfinch's?  Probably not but it never hurts to ask :)

Here's some pics:

If you'd like to see any of these pics in larger sizes please visit my flickr site.

Beaver Dams

This weekend we spent a lot of time up at the Fountain Valley Beaver Dams.

For years we've mostly left the beavers alone but I guess the colony is getting quite large and they are really increasing their dams.  When this happens the water spreads out and the ground starts soaking up the water, this leaves our ponds nearly empty and very little water for the fields.  Pops has been shutting off the pipes during the day just to build up the ponds but the situation is getting critical.  The beavers are quite destructive and they've brought down a ton of trees.

Hubby has the job of ripping apart the dams and getting the water through.  If you look close he's up in the left hand side of this picture.

His cousin Gloria came up with us on Monday and pitched in.

Jevan and Sydney were both with us on Monday because there was no school due to Victoria Day here in Canada.  Jevan quickly attacked not the dam, but the cooler full of food, the reason for his dirty face :)

Sydney is a bit pouty because she managed to get one leg soaked all the way up to her butt, mind you it was while she was wearing my boots!  I ended up taking off my socks and giving them up to her so at least she had warm feet.

Saturday Hubby and I were up there by ourselves and lots of beavers came out.  They are nocturnal and only come out around dark so getting a clear picture is a bit difficult.

The beaver spots us and slaps his tail in a frenzy to warn the others.

Monday Hubby breaks open another dam but I don't think we are winning the battle because within about 24 hours the beavers have it fixed.  Here's another one swimming around.

Next weekend we'll probably head back up there.  Hopefully they get the hint and settle down a bit.
If you'd like to see more pictures visit my Fountain Valley Beaver Dams set at Flickr .

Almost Free bounce card

When I want a bounce card for my external flash, the first thing I do is surf the net searching for the perfect one. My camera bag is stuffed full and real estate is at a premium, it has to be compact, good looking, and cheap. I found three sites (I'm sure there's plenty more), one sells them and sort of shows you how to make them but the cost is unbelievable ($50+), the other one makes them but it's a bit bulky and not very good looking, and the other is strictly buy it, again, at a rather expensive price. Along with those sites you can buy a few at eBay but I couldn't find anything for Canada and I don't like customs/duty/exchange rate so I'll stick with this side of the border.

The two "make it" sites had great ideas and I basically combined the two sites and made myself the perfect bounce card. I bought two pieces of craft foam, one black and one white, and a package of velcro strips. White glue and a pair of sharp scissors is pretty well all you need after that.

With a simple twist vertical shooting is a breeze.

Attached with velcro, easy on easy off. Lays flat and takes up very little room in your bag.

I created a template and out of the two pieces of foam I made 6 bounce cards. I only have one external flash so I'm giving the extras away not including shipping. I figure $10 will cover the cost of shipping and the envelope. If you have a Paypal account send ten bucks to kansasA@gmail.com or simply email me if you don't and we'll make other arrangements. Don't forget to include your shipping address! I'll ship to Canada and the States but if you're willing to pay for extra postage I'll ship anywhere :)

If you'd like to see larger pics visit my Flickr site here.

Lexi

Today my oldest daughter Dally had laundry to do and she comes to her favourite laundromat, that would be here.

She had my grandbaby Lexi with her and Lexi is... well... no different than all three of my own children. They were screamers, and not content to sit and play quietly... ever. Oh Dal thought she had it easy when Lexi was born a month premature and she had to wake her to feed her, but boy oh boy things have changed.

Call it colic, irritable baby syndrome, gastric reflux, or whatever... we just call it cranky baby and apparently it runs in our blood... very deep. But those cranky babies turn into wonderful toddlers and eventually pretty mellow children so maybe it's all rolled into the baby stage and it's over and done early :) In my younger days this is what I kept telling myself so I didn't go insane :)

For the most part Lexi is like this...

...and this, tears sitting in her eyes after a screaming fit.

But every once in awhile, when the stars and planets line up perfectly, you get this!

And then you feel better knowing that she is happy some of the time :)

While Dally was here I got her to pose for a portrait picture. I have a few more photos to complete for my final assignment and the course I'm taking will be done. I've also created a watermark for future pictures.

Normally I would run a bit of a Photoshop clean-up on the picture but because I have to submit it I can't :( It pretty much has to be SOOC (straight out of the camera) and very little tweaking can be done.


You don't often see me on the blog but before leaving Dally snapped this picture with her own camera. It's the first picture of Lexi and I together :)

Jasmine Flower

It's amazing what you can do with a bag of water, a pin, and a jasmine flower.

I set these shots up today because the way my throat feels I'm not doing anything else :) I either have strep or I won't say what happened, other than it involved a stoned wheat cracker and a piece of hair, and that's probably too much info.

If you'd like to take shots like this grab a bread bag and fill it with water. Hang it high enough to get a "bounce" with the water drop. Poke it with a pin and wait for the drops, and then take about 500 pictures and get maybe 5 good ones :)

If you'd like to see larger sizes you can view them at Flickr.