Funny Little Bluebird

Remember that funny little bluebird I told you about in an earlier blog.  I also took videos of him attacking the side mirror on my dad's suburban.  When my son-in-law was here last weekend, he showed me how to load the video onto my computer and from there, I knew how to get it on my blog.  We had the funnest (is that a word) time watching him.  As mentioned previously, he would go from the mirror to the antenna, to the wheel and then start the entire process over again.....too funny.  Oh, and the voice you hear in the background talking, that would be my sister.  Also, I couldn't get my video to load right so I talked to my daugher and she said to go through Youtube.  I did that and now while my video is playing, sometimes other videos pop up from Youtube along the bottom.  I can't figure out how to get that off so for now, you'll just have to ignore that.  To view the write-up and previous pictures of this funny little bluebird, click here.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

We went to a gathering of friends Friday night for emergency survival demonstrations.  All the demonstrations were excellent.  We learned about 72 hour backpacks, different ways of cooking outdoors, gun safety, and how to clean fish.  After the demonstrations, we had a fabulous meal of chicken, pot roast, rolls (all cooked in a sun oven), salad, baked beans, and peach cobbler (made in dutch oven).  Below is part of the group that attended.  There were more people but by the time I decided I should take a picture, some of those attending had left.

While we were eating, someone noticed a rainbow that was coming from a nearby pivot.  It was hard to take a picture and get it right when the colors were at their best.  I did, however, capture some pretty good shots.  The pictures look kind of blurry below the rainbows and then I realized it must be the water and mist off of the pivot.  Either way, it was beauty to the eyes.

This last picture was my ah-h-h-h moment.  The colors were so vibrant and it actually made a double rainbow.  Sweet!

I Never Would Have Guessed

The Idaho Falls Temple and the grounds surrounding it are so beautiful.  Basically, all Temples and the surrounding grounds are beautiful.

But, today when Evan and I went to the temple, it was a different story.  Evan told me they were renovating the grounds surrounding the temple but I never would have guessed it would be to this extreme.  I can't wait to see the finished product!

 

Lunch Time

I haven't blogged for a few days so today I decided I would post something.  I didn't have anything in mind and the most exciting thing I could come up with was beet greens.  Yes, beet greens!  I had just picked a handful from our garden and thought I would cook some to see what they would taste like.  I've tasted them before but it's been years so today was another one of those try-something-new days.  They cook up like spinach, wilting quite fast.  They even tasted a little bit like spinach, which I like so there you have it.....I like beet greens. 

Now, it gets a little more exciting.........while I was eating my lunch, I noticed that the Western Kingbirds were fluttering outside the dining area picture window. I thought it a bit unusual so I grabbed my camera and headed out the door. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary but I did get a peek at this.  The picture is a little blurry but if you look close, you can see the head of a baby Western Kingbird poking up out of the nest.

Next thing I knew, it had it's little mouth wide open, waiting for food, I'm sure.

LUNCH TIME......mama bird flew right in and catered to the little baby's demanding mouth.

I went out later in the day to see if I could get some more pictures but the parents were getting a little flustered so I thought I would leave well enough alone for today and try again another day.

Mission Accomplished

It was a nice weekend.  Both our daughters, my sister, and our son-in-law came to visit.  Saturday morning after eating breakfast, we ventured outside to put up Evan's new tent.  There were some fun times going on that weren't captured with the camera and ones that were captured.  But, due to remaining anonymous and stating to the fact they didn't want their faces on this blog, I did not post them.  Here we go.......setting up the tent.

Putting up the tent and putting things inside the tent (cots, stove, kitchen center) was a lot of fun but we also had to put up with this....................

But, then again, there's nothing to worry about............it's all been taken care of and it's in the bag....sorta.



And just for the fun of it. after putting up the tent, we also put up the portable shower.

Between processes, my sister was sitting outside while Evan went to town to pick up some tent pegs and the rest of us were in the house. While in the house, the phone rang and when I answered it, I heard a very low, whispered voice say........the buck is on the lawn. I wasn't quite sure what was going on so I repeated....the buck is on the lawn. The whisper came back.............yes. So we got the camera and went to the window to take pictures. It's kind of hard to see but my sister (circled in red) is sitting on the left-hand side of the picture and the buck (also circled in red) is standing on the right-hand side. She was so excited that you might have thought she won the lottery.

After a long day, we enjoyed cooking hot dogs over a nice, (ahem) blazing fire. We were going to start a fire in the fire pit but the mosquitoes were starting to come in pretty thick so we didn't want to start a big fire in case we couldn't enjoy it so we opted to building a fire in the rocket stove. When all was said and done, the mosquitoes weren't too bad so we even ate our meal of baked beans, hot dogs, and potato chips outside.

After a long day of fun, you know, we didn't even sleep in the tent.  I think we were all just a little tired and thought the comforts of our nice, cozy beds sounded much more appealing.  But, at least one good thing came out of it.......we definitely learned how to put up the tent.  Mission accomplished.

All Fired Up - Rocket Stove

I was in the house (upstairs vacuuming) when I heard the phone ring.  And of course, I decided to haul the vacuum down the stairs and get to the phone before it stopped ringing.  Oops, missed the last step (story of my life).  Needless to say, I did not make it to the phone by the fourth ring.  When I regained my composure, I went to see who had called.  Believe it or not, I recognized the number but my memory had failed me (still a little shook-up from missing that last step) as to who's number it was.  I called the number back and guess what...........IT WAS EVAN!  I know......keep laughing!  He said that he had the little rocket stove fired up if I wanted to see it.  After going out to look at the stove, Evan decided to cook an egg on it to see how it worked.  Believe it or not, it cooked our egg in approximately 3 minutes. 

Things Are Growing Well

I looked out the window this morning and there was a nice looking buck standing close to the fence, his antlers all in velvet.  I hurried and got my camera, looked out the window again, the buck was gone.  I decided to sneak outside to see if he was around somewhere.......nope.  I did, however, see a fox hopping over rows of potatoes and peas out in the garden.  I tippy-toed as quietly as I could to the garden to see if I could get a picture of the fox........nope.  While there, I decided to take some pictures of Evan's garden.  The last picture I posted of the garden was July 3rd, 19 days ago.  Can you believe how nice it looks now.  Things are really growing well. 

What Are The Odds

On the first morning of our walk this summer, we went by what I thought was such a beautiful picture taking moment.  There were a group of horses standing in front of a group of trees.  It was one of those moments you didn't want to be without your camera.  Well, guess what.......I didn't have my camera on me, I left it in the car.  After we were through walking, I drove back up to get a picture but the horses were gone.  Each morning since then, I have watched this area in hopes that the horses would be back.  Wahoo - this morning they were there in the same spot.  I don't know what the odds of that happening were but it looks like the odds were in my favor!

Flowers For Me

Evan went out back behind our house last evening to put mosquito pellets in some of the high sub water and along the swale where the mosquitoes breed.  The spray truck sprays our property every 2-3 days but we still have a lot of mosquitoes.  Anyways, back to more important matters.  While down there, he came across some Castilleja, more commonly known as Indian Paint Brush, so he picked some and brought them home to me.  Aren't they beautiful!

Predicaments

Last evening before I left to go to the tourist park for Young Womens, I noticed something moving out of the corner of my eye.  When I turned to see what it was, I noticed this little, baby robin.  He was the cutest little thing.  He kept chirping, chirping, and chirping.  I never did see the mother but I'm sure she was not far away.  Here I was in another one of those predicaments of.......do I stay and take pictures or just leave.  Before going to the park, I had to go to the church and pick up some plates and spoons (we were having a dutch oven dessert night) then head on over to the grocery store and pick up a few items.  Once again, you know for a certainty what won out.  T-A-K-E  P-I-C-T-U-R-E-S, of course.  I was only a few minutes late but it was worth it.  Just look how cute this little bird is!

Oops, I failed to get a picture of our peach and apple dutch oven cobblers.  In the beginning, it was so windy and I'm sure that didn't help in the cooking process.  Around 8:15pm, our cobblers were still not quite done but due to time, we decided to go ahead and eat them.  Done or not, they tasted really good.  Is there a bad way to eat cobbler?  I did, however, get a picture of our wonderful Young Women.  These Young Women are such a pleasure to work with.

  

Walk the Walk.....Talk the Talk

On our walk this morning, I paused to take a breathtaking picture of the view from our turn around point.  Our little jaunt is just over 3 miles and with all the views and of course yakity, yaking, the walk, even though taking us 1 hour to accomplish seems much shorter than that.  It's always a refreshing way to begin the day.

The next couple of pictures are views of White Knob.  It's a mountain that is continually white the entire year.  Here it is towards the end of July and there are still patches of snow on it.  It is a beautiful mountain and from what I can gather off the Internet, it has a core of limestone through which thrust intrusions of granite.

Every time I travel the road to and from walking, I see this little old building.  It looks like such an interesting place from history and in my minds eye, I envisioned it as being an old school house or something really fascinating.  That being said, I called the people that live near the building and asked about it.  Well, my images were totally deflated as the information given was...........it used to be an old hog slaughter house.  Fascinating - right?

I know I'm almost home when I cross the old river bridge.  Not only is my walk beautiful but getting there and back are also beautiful.