An update on Dave's dad ... he is doing very well and it back home. Not sure if he will ever fly again but he is getting around and in good spirits. A lot of that is probably due to your prayers! Thank you!

A friend on a non-hippi list sends a photo of her cool CAKE and there is a hippi in the background. She replies that she knows nothing of this Apple Blossom (not an AB) and you say that it looks like Pink Diamond and suggest she looks it up on the internet. She replies that she did a GOOGLE search for Pink Diamond and lo and behold her search reveals a photo that you took posted on this photo. She then refers to you as a wealth of knowledge and starts bombarding you with questions...and of course you encourage her to join the FORUM!! K

This has been an unbelievable day in Alabama! The weather people had predicted that the tornadoes would be numerous and powerful. They were so right. There have been multiple tornadoes with many fatalities and unbelievable destruction. Tuscaloosa had an enormous tornado that had confirmed minimum of 15 deaths. We know there were at least 40 confirmed deaths in the state. Cullman has had three tornadoes. Birmingham was hit by a terrible tornado. A suburb of Birmingham, Pleasant Grove had horrendous damage with fatalities There was one tornado in our county, but the damage was south of us. We spent some time in our basement, and no, not everyone has basements, but you spend time in it if a tornado is approaching. One of the things that enhanced the death toll may have been the early morning storms that resulted in many people losing power. They would be less likely to know that a storm was on the way. My DGD was in the house with her other grandmother, and the tornado hit the street where she was. The windows in her house were blown out, and out of the houses on the street were heavily damaged. In fact the house she was in is the only house on the block still standing. There was a fatality on the street. She reports that the sound of a tornado is indeed very like the sound a train makes. I feel very blessed that all of my family is safe. I hope everyone on the forum remains safe. Have we heard from Jean? kay

I TOTALLY agree with Angie! After having my 1st nest attempt last year fail after losing the young to cold weather (50's, rainy, windy,) They started another clutch and I was in fear of another nest failure. The eggs seemed to be going on a little too long w/o hatching. It really discouraged and upset me but then my face lit up when I opened the box to skimpy newborns! It kept my spirits up and resulted in 4 new BBs in the world! And Dad raised them BY HIMSELF after he lost his mate. It was a rather down season and looked like a failed one but me and the blues kept pushing forward and all ended well! I had 3 separate pairs raise 1 clutch each by the end of the season. Good luck from here! -Tim-