Baby Birdie!

All photos and written works are copyrighted sstaas. All rights reserved.

Well, guess what? One of the eggs has hatched! I looked online to find out how long robin eggs take to hatch and discovered that it is 12 to 14 days. Today makes 14 days exactly since I first noticed the nest and one egg. Apparently robins lay one egg each day.

It looks as if one of the other eggs is cracked, so there should be another wee baby bird pretty soon.

Now, all we have to do is hope that the babies remain safe. The location of the nest isn't very safe at all.

Latest Adventures of the Nest

All photos and written works copyrighted sstaas. All rights reserved.

I managed to take a photo which clearly shows the three eggs. The mama bird had flown off somewhere, so I was able to sneak out onto the deck and take the photo.

Well, the slight problem about this nest and the mama bird is that she gets mad if you go anywhere near the nest. I mean, even if you just step onto the deck from the dining room she'll come zooming up, screeching at you. If you try to do some yard work she does the same thing! Yikes!



How long will it be before the eggs hatch? How long after that before the baby birds fly away? There's so much work to be done in the backyard! And I don't want to upset the mama bird any more than is necessary.

Bird's Nest

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Here was I moaning that Spring had not quite arrived! Lo and behold, the other day I went down the steps from our deck to the backyard. Guess what I saw?

A beautiful bird's nest, complete with an equally beautiful egg.

The location of the nest isn't very secure, in my opinion, for any squirrel or cat can climb the steps and access the nest. And, since the mother bird was nowhere to be seen I assumed that the nest had perhaps been abandoned.

Not so. We were out of town for a few days, and when we got back, I sneaked a peek at the nest. Guess what I saw?! A mama bird sitting there quite peacefully. Well, she was peaceful until she noticed me. She flew off and yelled at me. Guess how many eggs there are now? Three! I wanted to take a photo of the three eggs, but with the mama bird being so upset, I quietly moved away so as not to disturb the nest.




Now, I've been wanting to take a photo of this nest for the past 24 hours. Just a few minutes ago I tip-toed out and took a picture of the nest with the mama bird sitting in it. She didn't mind. So, I ran inside to get my better camera and dashed out to the backyard to take another photo. Oops. The mama bird was furious! She flew away, yelling at the top of her lungs. I ran up the steps to the deck and managed to take a quick photo of the eggs. You can only see two of them.



I don't know how we're supposed to use the steps, or the deck, or the patio below, for that matter, whilst the mama bird is taking care of her nest. She'll be so upset anytime we're close to the nest. Even putting the cars in the garage could upset her.

Gosh. What to do?

Computer

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My laptop died quite unceremoniously, quite quietly. After three and a half years it was finished, caput. Just like that. I'd had problems with it crashing before, and two days before the warranty was up, the hard drive crashed completely. I got a new one free in the mail about one and a half years ago. And here was I expecting it to last longer! Call me a naive optimist!

Disconcerted by the blank screen and having unsuccessfully attempted to reinstall Windows Vista I finally accepted that this was indeed the end. Boo hoo. If that wasn't enough the desktop computer was on its last legs. I was on the verge of remaining computerless!

After researching and researching and researching some more I finally chose to postpone purchasing a new laptop, and instead to buy a new desktop computer.




Out with the old! Unhook cables and other preposterous items that seem to be covered in dust. And in with the new. Heck, might as well upgrade the printer as well, one that is wireless and contains a scanner and copier. Yeah!

Now all I have to do is figure out how all this new equipment works!

Five Signs You Know You're Ready for Spring...

Are you ready for spring? It's supposed to already be the spring here. Has to be the spring somewhere, doesn't it? But it aint here.

Here are five reasons you just know you're ready for spring.

1. You bought sunscreen - five tubes!

2. You purchased garden plants from QVC.

3. You put the snow shovel way, way, at the back of the garage.

4. You began to skip and do somersaults, forgetting that the lawn is covered in snow.

5. You heard birds sing, chirp merrily and you started to sing!

Very Puzzling Puzzles

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Guess what? It's now the second of April AND we still have winter weather! How could that be? We've had wet snow - whatever that means. Isn't snow always wet?! We're lucky to enter into the forties during the day. That, indeed is a puzzle. And it's one that the perennials and grass just don't understand. They're ready to be fertilised and pampered, not frozen over!




For all you jigsaw puzzle fans, I think you might like our games room. It's just full of jigsaw puzzles. Not that I do them. Puzzles are just too, well, puzzling. And I'm already still puzzling over what to have for dinner tonight, and whether to jump up and down to get some exercise or to go for a walk in the incessant cold weather.



That one above was too big for the table in the gamesroom, so it was done on top of a rug!




There are two puzzles here lying side by side on the table. And one isn't even the right way round! I call that a puzzle. How can anyone do a puzzle when it's turned the wrong way?



I may have solved one puzzle - instead of cooking dinner tonight I think we'll just get take away!