carolina wren fledgling climbing up the garage wall just seconds after he fledged. he and his 4 siblings lived in my garage for a week post-fledge, flying around and practicing for life in the wild. my timing was perfect to watch 5 bluebird kids fledge a couple of days ago. this was the first one to test his bravery. seconds after i snapped a photo, he was in the trees.

@chloebud Yes, I don't mind coyotes much as long as they keep their distance. Actually ours don't respond much to the typical hazing. I did use a high pitched airhorn once, and the coyote didn't like that (unfortunately I lost it but should get another). We added onto the top of our wall at home to make it difficult to jump into the back yard where the dog is sometimes. We have had dogs killed by coyotes here and two incidences of small children being attacked by coyotes. Wow, a mountain lion! Now THAT'S scary. You must be in a rural area or foothills. I'm in suburbs, so no mountain lions, but other wildlife like raccoons, possums, etc.

Remember these? Do they even make them any more?I remember my dad always getting an itinerary from AAA before a road trip, with routes highlighted. And the books had listings and descriptions of all kinds of local features like popular restaurants and attractions. Fun to peruse nowadays...

Nicole, your two pendants with stones look so much like an heirloom pendant I have. It was given to my grandmother when she was 16 by a boyfriend at the time (not my grandfather), so it over 100 years old. It’s an emerald with a tinynfresh water seed pearl. It will have to be my ’J’ for jewelry today because I haven’t come up with anything else.