What great pictures! Even caught her expression! As for the lawnmower, I think the noise scares her bad enough that she "freezes", but when you walk up, she flies to lead you away from the nest. I have a pair of doves in my yard, too. Have never found a nest, but love their cooing. (My mom used to think it was owls!) If they are on the ground and I'm walking around outside, sometimes they will "freeze" to hopefully blend in with their surroundings. Most of the time they stick out like a sore thumb - like when I was a kid and thought if I shut my eyes I was invisible! They are great little garden companions. Thanks for the photos! Carolyn

Do cardinals use the same nest for the next clutch? My mother and I jsut noticed the cardinal family living in the holly tree. The baby bird was hopping around the enclosed patio with the worried parents urging it back to the nest. One parent would hop with the baby and urge the baby to go to the other parent. This continued for quite a while until the parents had the baby sitting on an ivy vine in the corner. Apparently baby was hungry and needed a rest before getting back to the holly tree, so we watched mama and daddy feed the baby. At that time we thought they had just one baby, soon enough the other baby decided to leave the holly tree and join the family in the ivy. We tried to put the babies back in the nest, but the nest is too small. The babies are so tiny, too tiny in my opinion to be hopping around the patio. The patio is a very safe place from predators. Mama and Daddy finally put both babies on ivy vines and let them know it was bedtime. This morning I went to check on the babies. One was missing so I went looking since Mama was frantically searching. Mama and Daddy cardinal would never have found the baby because this wild child was in the garage. The garage door is now closed and we look before we step down on the patio as the wild child likes to play around the back door. We have really enjoyed watching this young family. I say young because both mama and daddy cardinal look to be in perfect health and have enough energy to chase the wild child. Mama gets really concerned when she cannot find the wild child and starts making a lot of noise, then daddy chimes in and we go to the door and look. Of course, the good child is sitting either in the ivy or the holly depending on where the parents wanted it to go. Even in the kingdom of birds parents have problems with their offspring.

In a refinery there are countless nooks and crannies to build a nest. I don't know what the attraction of this compressor cylinder was. It is in the open, no cover from the elements and the compressor handles flare gas, refinery waste gas. Inside that cylinder is the nastiest stuff imaginable, very high in hydrogen sulfide, one wiff would end her life instantly.

I am so grateful to all of you for trying to help me with this decision. Kmcg - your have it right -- I like the butcherblock but I am not sure how it will look. Those are beautiful kitchens you posted - in my next life I will have all white cabinets and butcherblock - no cherry island! Likkiirish - I have spent so many hours looking at the finished kitchen blog that that I think I could be certified crazy! In all my searching there and elsewhere on the internet I have found only one photo close what I am thinking about - which is below. It is not my favorite photo and, even in this photo, the island is black, not cherry, which would visually connect with the black countertops. I am thinking that I probably need to let go of the butcherblock idea and go with the black tops everywhere. I feel pretty certain now that that the black top on the island will look good. Here is a link that might be useful: