I would like to assure Cynthia that there are plenty of us who "still work for a living" who have no trouble at all with EST and have little difficulty squeezing the limited sunlight into our physical activity routine. Sounds more like a scheduling problem to this girl scout. ;) Hope your sister's recovery is moving along in the proper direction and doing so predictably. Is she home now? Good to hear that warmer temperatures are assisting in ice removal. Our driveway is pretty slick and I worry about Rex slipping, sliding, and wrenching something in the process (only to protect our investment, mind you). "Dog bowling" helps and directing him over the snow covered lawns after a day-glo tennis ball limits the risk. In his "frail elderly" phase I'd be worried about Monty, IF I didn't hate dogs, that is. Did Cynthia take both Dannie and Hope "on the road" yesterday (excellent suggestion, Woody)? Why does Chloe have wear booties, Cindy? is it protection against the nasty stuff they lay on accumulated ice to get it to melt? I imagine that at her size ingesting even a little of it by licking off her paws could do some damage. I understand today is the Superbowl... like I care? I suppose the pre-game show will start by 10 AM and the post game wrap-up will linger into the predawn hours of tomorrow... . Sounds like a PERFECT day to get out and tackle errands, if you ask me! Do trials greatly increase your work load at the awfice, or is it just that the work load changes character? The Camellias are beautiful! I have to admire them from afar, I'm afraid, even many of the beautiful Hydrangeas don't perform well here, too often nipped by late frosts if not securely bundled up. Interestingly, the winter lows are not what zaps 'em, it's those late (May) frosts that do 'em in. It will be some months yet before any thought of getting out and working in and around the yard begins to invade the space between my ears. But is sure is fun to read about the exploits of others. Any chance you'd take a closer shot of the foliage for me? we had an arrangement at work that I THINK may have used Camellia leaves... very pretty. Power to you on the decluttering, Kathy. It's sometimes hard to get started but once you're rollin' the feeling of accomplishment is great. V., I heartily recommend tackling the basement! I haven't enjoyed a project as much in a very long time. Sure, it's a ton of work, but it's the sort of thing that's right up my alley; requires good planning, mastery of some new skills, and methodical execution. Best of all, I've refused to be daunted by a helpmeet whose partipation can range from downright sullen to wonderfully inspired, and THAT'S made a big impression. It's gratifying to see a new, useful space emerge in "glorious living color", too. I'd say you guys are due for a bit of a "spruce up" and a wedding seems like a perfect reason to do it. VERY exciting about your new ring, any chance we can get some more information on that? I have all the "family jools" from Mum's side of the family, nothing terribly valuable, but some interesting pieces. I'm absolutely amazed at how tiny they are... several won't make it over the second knuckle on my left (smallest) ring finger! Did "Luck Be A Lady" last night? (listening to lots of Billy May arrangements lately and it reminds me of your DD and her trumpet). Julie, you were clearly on fire yesterday with respect to one-liners, I'm not sure you overlooked one opportunity in your inspired post. :) Yes, the mopboards will be pickled to match the window trim and the stairwell railing. The "new" rule in this house is that nothing is put in the 'frig. without a cover and all vegetative matter is to go into the crispers. I found one too many cans with contents identifiable only because they had labels on them. Dessicated tomato paste with mold on it is so "yesterday". ;) Mercifully, we have the ultimate recycling opportunity; fully mobile, and sporting a snug-fitting fur suit. I've been thinking of you Woody. Every time I look out the windows and survey the winter landscape I wonder how you arrive at the spacing for shrubs/trees in your fantasy landscape plan. Do you plant with mature size in mind or for immediate effect, relying on future thinning/pruning/limbing to keep things in order? And I have to do some "scale" drawing pretty soon, too. Only this time it will be for the upcoming floor project and will be pretty easy... just simple geometry. How's your printing progressing? Hi to Eden (has she been outdoors in 2 weeks?), Michelle (who we know will slog through drifts to get to the compost pile), Jerri (the purple footed one), Sue (who's either working or lying about it to cover her Facebook tracks), and so many others... and also, beleaguered Marian, holding down the fort in an ice-coated world. Camera back yet, Deanne? While shingles may be itchy and uncomfortable I won't start worrying about your unhappy condition until you begin dragging your backside over the carpet... hang in there! OK, time to think about what could be the final assault on woodwork, you guys...

Ohh, too cool! It's so exciting when a new bird shows up and you got a picture too! I just bought a subscription to the Birds of North AMerica website and this is what they say about Eurasion Collared-Doves.... One of many successful species introduced to the North American fauna in recent history, the Eurasian Collared-Dove was first released in the New World on New Providence, Bahamas, in the mid-1970s. Since its introduction, this dove has spread quickly across the North American continent. Reports of this bird continue at a rapid pace as the public is made aware of its presence Fairly uniformly distributed in Florida, Georgia, and along the Gulf Coast of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Locally common in Alabama, Arkansas, sw. California, se. Colorado, and regions of Illinois, Kan-sas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, N. Carolina, Oklahoma, S. Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Reports of small numbers (1Â10 doves) from Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, N. Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, S. Dakota, and Wisconsin, as well as Saskatchewan, Canada. May occur in Mexico; all sw. Texas counties have reported observations. ... But not in Ohio :^( There diet consists of .... In North America, seeds and cereal grain offered from bird feeders and spilled from agriculture. Includes seeds of millet (Setaria spp.), sunflower (Helianthus spp.), milo (Sorghum spp.), wheat (Triticum spp.), and maize (Zea mays). Reported also to take spilled peanuts (Arachis hypogaea) from warehouse (Drennen 1997), fallen pecans (Carya illinoensis) crushed by automobiles on road (Steele 1998), crackers, and bread (CMR). Same male observed eating berries directly from Dahoon holly (Ilex cassine) every day for a week in early Aug 2001 in s. Florida (CMR). Flocks seen feeding on gravel in parking lots in Florida (CMR). And thanks Brenda, I haven't had any new birds in awhile so it was fun to research something new!

HTown, don't be too comfortable with them. I've been feeding the ones in our yard off and on for awhile, but I never get too close to them. No matter how "familiar" you may be with them, they still have an instinctive distrust for people and they have the potential to be dangerous. Most people don't like them because they've had bad experiences with them, just like many other types of wildlife that invade or wreak some form of destruction on their property, and that's completely understandable. They can also be aggressive towards pets. I made a point of mentioning to my neighbors that there were raccoons active in our area. If you get to feeding them and slack off, they could move on to another property where they're not as welcome and that could have negative consequences for the neighbor, the raccoon or both. I'm not saying don't feed or enjoy them, but make sure you educate yourself on them before you get into it on a regular or semi-regular basis. Make sure there are no means for them to access your house including the roof and chimney, because once they know where the food is coming from they could try to find an easier way to get to it. It's best not to leave food for them near your house for this reason. One of the first things I did when I knew how much they came around was make sure they couldn't get on our roof from any trees, the area around our deck was sealed, and our chimney cap was secure. I added chicken(Actually smaller gapped fencing than chicken wire) wire around the opening to ensure there was no access.(Something I was going to do anyway to deter the birds that ended up in our living room.) This link I found can cover it a little more indepth. These are just tips, but they can be helpful. Feeding Tips I guess my message is it's fine to enjoy them, but make sure you know what you're getting yourself in for, as there are a few things to consider. :-)

Our doves did try to eat some of the rice I threw out for them as I had read that someone had said they liked rice. Yesterday I noticed that our baby doves were sitting alone but we were also aware that the Mom and Dad were close by watching over them. Late in the day a Blue Jay was after the two little ones sitting in thier nest. Both parents decended on the Blue Jay until he flew away. Neither of the parents went back to the nest; we were concerned that they wouldn't make it to the next day. To our joy we found the Mom sitting on the nest early in the morning. However later both parents were away from the baby doves. Late this afternoon I was thrilled to witness both the Mom and Dad at the nest; Mom was feeding the little ones. And later - no parents, no baby doves. They had left the nest. My previous witness of all four of them together must have been the LAST family gathering. My question is: Do the parents stay with thier young long enough to teach them full flying lessons or do they kick them out of the nest and expect them to survive on thier own?