Fun App.

I love birding.  And I love anything techie.  So I'm excited when I can combine the two.  Here's a great deal on an app I love and have been using for 2 years now.  Pretty sure I paid full price for it, but it was worth it.  It has a pretty extensive list of birds, photos, maps, and even several recorded bird calls for each species, which is a real bonus.  How many times have you heard a bird and wondered  which bird was making that sound?  Amazon is offering their Audobon Guides for half price until March 25.  Besides the bird app, they have one for identifying trees, flowers, mushrooms, insects, butterflies, and mammals.  Fun!

Here's the link to the apps:

Amazon Guides


Marie

Who Will You Be?

When you get to the end of your life, what will be the sum of it?  Who will you be?  

Some days I'm not sure who I am.  Being unemployed, I have the freedom to re-invent myself often.  Perhaps I have too much time to think.  

But once in a while I think it's a good idea to take a spiritual inventory.  Ask yourself that question:  What do you want to be remembered for?  I think your answer should give you a pretty clear view of what is important to you.  

When I get too far off the spiritual path, this is the question I ask myself.  And then I remember where I want to be and I can shift my focus onto what is truly important to me. 

And this is is it for me.

Find your path and stay on it.

Marie

Tablets, anyone?

Sooo, I've been off my computer for a while, but NOT by choice.  The stupid thing won't turn on most of the time.  I took it in to the repair shop, and of course, the expert could not find any reason for it doing so.  No fix.  I want to buy a tablet to replace it.  But I don't know which one I want.  There are a lot of choices, and there's something to love about all of them, depending on what you're looking for.  I think blogging requires a bit of tech-knowledge (is that a word? - well I like the sound of it).  So I'm asking if any of you have any experience with a tablet and could recommend one for me.  My requirements are that it has to be Android - I love that operating system - and I need to be able to download photos, so it should have a slot for an sd card.  I've noticed not all of them have that capability.   I hope to hear from a few of you at least!

Marie

Your Place in the World

I have to share my friend Jill's blog post from today.  She has got it all together!  She knows that what she is doing is worth while and she values her work.  Please try to remember that the people you work with and live with are impacted by the things you do and say every day.  You are important that way.  It doesn't matter if you are a CEO of a big corporation, a teacher in a classroom, or if you are a mother taking care of little ones inside your home.  In all situations, you are in contact with human beings and your reactions to them can either give them light or darken their day.  Jill is obviously someone who brings light to her students.  Check out her post for today:

http://chillinwithjill.blogspot.com/2013/02/of-course.html

Good-Bye Buddy

My youngest son with Buddy at the ranch this past Fall.

We had to say good-bye to our beloved Buddy today.  It was his time to go.  He would be 14 this Spring.  He couldn't stand up anymore and he had stopped eating.  So we took him in to the vet and let him go to sleep gently and peacefully in our arms.  My tears soaked the top of his head as my husband closed his eyes for the last time.  

On the way home from the vet clinic, my husband declared angrily "This is the part I hate!  It makes me never want another dog!"

"It makes me ache for another dog to take his place," I said quietly.

After a pause, he sighed and said,  "I'll probably feel differently after a couple of weeks".

But I do understand how he feels.  It is painful, and it makes you want to avoid the possibility of ever being hurt again.  But I need my furry friends - they give me comfort.  It's worth the risk.

At least we still have our sweet Sugar.

And curmudgeon cat Ted.

We love them :)

Marie

Valentine's Day - Huh?

We were on vacation on Valentine's Day, so of course, my sweet husband forgot.  I didn't expect him to remember, and it didn't bother me.  After all, when a Minnesota girl is in a beautiful hotel resort on the warm sandy beaches in February, Valentines are not a priority.  When he realized what day it was, he took me to the store and offered to buy me flowers, which I declined - where would I keep them?  I settled for chocolates, of course!  I am not one to ever turn down a good chocolate :)

What did you-all do for Valentine's Day?  Have we given up the romantic Valentine's Day rituals?  Maybe so.  There certainly is not the pressure to impress anymore.  We've settled in to a very comfortable, sweet lovey-ness and I don't mind it a bit.

Today I read the cutest post on a blog that I wanted to share with you.  It struck a chord with me because it would be the kind of Valentine's evening we would have in our house.  She's also sponsoring a give-away you might be interested in!  Check it out, I think you'll enjoy it:

http://thegreenhousediaries.blogspot.com/2013/02/valentines-do-over-free-flowers-for-you.html

Birds of Paradise

When I went on vacation I was hoping to see different birds as birding is one of my favorite pastimes.  I didn't really see too many different species since we pretty much stayed within the resort area.  Some day I will talk my husband into a trip to Sanabel Island, which is widely known as a birding mecca.  Nonetheless, I did have fun watching the birds that were there, and did manage to get a few photos.  

One thing that surprised me, although I should have expected it, was the number of birds there that we have here in the summer.  We were sitting outside one afternoon at a beachside cafe and red-winged blackbirds were landing on the tables!  They were a serious pest and there were signs posted that read:                             "Please Don't Feed The Birds!"

Of course, there are gulls everywhere.  This one is a bit angry with me for parking my beach chair in his prime hunting spot.

One day we went on a fishing excursion, and the birds at the dock put on quite a show.

These pelicans wait around the fish cleaning table for scraps.   There are several species of pelicans in the Keys and they all mingle together.

This is an immature Snowy Egret.  He's standing over the fish cleaning table, pretending to ignore the gentleman cleaning fish.  But when he tosses up a fish scrap, the little guy is quick to catch it in midair and gobble it up!

This big boy seems to be too dignified to beg for fish and stays above the fray :)

This is a Great Egret.  We came upon him while beach combing one day and he just froze.  I was only about 6 feet away from him, but he posed for me for about a minute so I could take a good picture without needing a zoom lens.  Then I quietly sneaked away.  I wonder if he thought I couldn't see him if he didn't move.

The Cormorants - not an attractive bird at all, and I neglected to take a picture of one because we have thousands of them at home.  Now I wish I had taken one because maybe some people have never seen one.  But I did take this photo, because I think they look silly when they do this.  They are divers, so they sit and hold their wings out to dry their wing feathers.  One sunny afternoon we were looking down into the water at some tropical fish swimming around a reef and suddenly a huge dark fish bolted into the school of fish and scattered them in all directions.  But it wasn't a big fish, it was a cormorant.  He wasn't fast enough to catch any of the pretty fish, though.

This was a real treat for me - I have never seen an Ibis before and here was a whole flock of them right on our beach.

But now I am back in the frozen tundra watching my beloved chickadees at the feeder :)

Marie