empty nest syndrome

Every couple of days, I've been peeking into the house finch nest in our front porch fern.  Normally the babies just stare at me, and I replace the fern quickly.  But last week, I noticed a lot of activity.  Birds were standing and stretching in the nest...

...and the parents were hovering nearby, making a lot of noise.

I decided to investigate.  When I peeked inside the nest, there was a moment of startled silence before the babies exploded out in different directions.  I checked the ground around the fern, but they were all truly airborne.  I was afraid that I'd frightened them into prematurely leaving the nest, but after a little reading discovered that once they can fly, they're fine.  I'm just left with their feces-studded nest.

Yuck!  This fern went straight into the trash.  But speaking of empty nests...

That's right!  The nest I've been watching has been vacated.  Now we have an additional six goz!

They were so tiny and continually stumbled as they tried to walk.  Even though the weather was warm, they rushed to squeeze under mama's wing.

They tend to stay on the other end of the pond, where the bank has a gradual slope and they've got lots of grass.  Our end has a more angled bank, and lots of ivy and wild ajuga.  Hopefully I'll see them once they get a little older.  Of course, our original three goz are still around!

An old familiar face is making an appearance...the southern toad!

And another unseen friend:

Nearly unseen in the underbrush at our property edge: a newborn fawn, just a few hours old!

Mama was nearby, hovering nervously.  I moved away quickly to minimize their stress.  So sweet!  Later, I stumbled on another newborn in our front flower bed!  Tis the season!

Tabitha keeps a close eye on things from her usual perch.

Nothing gets by her.  Have a great week!

cat lap fever

BABIES!

The house finch eggs hatched last week and the babies have been growing steadily.  They'll be on the nest for another 2 weeks.  Hard to believe that they'll be ready to fly away soon!

A goose is nesting down by the pond.

She rarely leaves the nest and when she does, stays close.

I don't hear any peeps yet.  The eggs are still nestled in piles of goose down.

We do have some "hatching out" this week.  The peonies have blossomed!

I think the centers look like sea anemones.

I've been spending a lot of time in the yard lately.  It's so green!

Sometimes I find an intrepid explorer in the hellebores.

Sometimes I find other things, too.  I have to be careful when weeding our stone walls.  I've found black widows and snakes here.  I can't forget my nemesis, the fire ant, either!  Even if you don't see a nest, you have almost invisible free-ranging scouts, very aggressive. 

This weekend I nearly grabbed a juvenile snake that I'm fairly certain was venomous.  His head was triangular, not like the gentle rounded slopes of the garter snake.  He seemed more aggressive, and I didn't lean in to get a look at his pupils.  Later, I was crawling through some bushes and shook this out of my hair later:

It's just another reason that here in the South, I prefer to do my gardening when Todd is home...just in case!

Inside, the cats have been doing the usual...

...and while I don't have a spare second for crafting right now, I did highly enjoy opening this package of cheerfully-colored fabric for a future scrap quilt:

I especially love the yellows.  I have all sorts of ideas for these bright fabrics I've been finding lately, but regretfully I folded them away for another day. 

Our big spring clean is nearly completed!  Only another week of work, and then we'll be able to slow down and move into 'maintenance mode.'  I look forward to long walks, board games by the pond, and cozy evenings knitting, with a cat on my lap, of course. 

Have a great week!

one thing done.

It's still a hive of activity at the new house, and we're slowly starting to acquire furniture.  We didn't bring very much with us, and the house has felt empty and full of echoes.  But we're excited about the things we've found on Craigslist so far.  We'll buy some new furniture, but we like furniture that has a little bit of "character"!

Like this antique wooden armoire that we found for a steal on Craigslist.  This will go in the living room and hold our board games and puzzles.

And this gorgeous secretary tucked away in an elderly man's garage.  I used Murphy's Wood Oil Soap to clean some splotches of mold from the legs and it's as good as "new"!  

I thought about what to do with it.  Then I decided to put it in the front entryway and fill it with my white dishes, which I thought was a nice contrast.  I added a little dish for our keys and some festive greenery from a tree in our yard and - voila!

There!  That's one thing done.  I'm very pleased with it...and glad to at last have a place to drop our keys, too!

We've also purchased a few chairs that we'll slipcover until we get around to reupholstering.  This one is a great, sturdy little chair that we found for just $15!

Even though we're consumed with unpacking, measuring, painting, tile issues, furniture purchases and placement, etc., I can't help but notice the wildlife outside...even though I haven't gone looking for it yet.

I was delighted to learn that there are several types of lizards in South Carolina, one of the most common being the anole.

Having spotted one, we now see them almost daily.

They're so charming!

Another almost-daily visitor is a turkey...or two, to be exact.

We've seen a whole flock of them once or twice, but it's usually just this pair. 

I noticed this in the leaves while taking the dog for a quick walk the other day...a little leftover skin from a recently-molted snake.

Having grown up in the country, I don't have to be told that nearby water + fall + piles of logs + drifts of leaves + a warm day = snakes. 

We made sure to walk much more carefully after seeing this!

I didn't see this great blue heron the first week we were here, but now I see him every day.

I'm pretty sure I've heard his unearthly call at night, too:

   great blue heron call

I noticed a particularly bumpy log in the water this week.

Sunning turtles are notoriously skittish, and the crackling leaves would give me away if I tried to get closer.  But I was able to zoom in with Todd's camera to verify that they were indeed turtles.

With the woods all around us, I can't wait to see new wildlife...or at least have the time to go looking for it!

Have a great week!