A View from the Dump

A few days ago, I had to go to the Ada County Landfill to properly dispose of some hazardous waste. Every Friday and Saturday from 8:00AM- 5:00PM, you can drive up to the landfill and they will dispose of your hazardous waste (old TV's, computer monitors, paint, oil, car batteries, liquid propane tanks, etc.) The view from up there was incredible, so I thought I would share a few of the photos.

  Here's a view of the road leading up to the landfill

  Here's a view looking out over the valley. You can notice the smoke from the fires that are burning around our area. Most notably, the Beaver Creek Fire (by Sun Valley)

Just between the power poles, you can barely see downtown Boise. Although it is very smoky in this picture, it was much worse the day before.

What Goes Up...

I was out and about earlier today and was lucky enough to see this...



Getting closer...



Touchdown Broncos!!!



The Broncos play BYU tomorrow...GO BRONCOS!!!

An Unexpected Visitor at Work

When my wife went into work the other day, she saw an unexpected visitor hanging on the wall. Can you guess what it might be?...



Well, here's a close-up view...


Yep, it's a bat!

Ducks on Parade

My wife opened the front door the other morning and noticed quite a gathering on our driveway. These eight ducks were just lying in the middle of our driveway. By the time my wife was able to grab the camera and get a picture, they were dispersing the area. You can see seven of the eight here...


We think this might be an entire family, because each morning and evening, they always show-up and eat at our feeder together.

Ninja Squirrel

You know it's about time to add food to the feeder when...



What does it take to get a little service around here...


There have been times when I would go outside and not think there was a squirrel in sight, until....one jumps out of the feeder. I've also seen starlings poke their beaks inside the squirrel feeder to get some seeds. One of these days, I'll be quick enough and get a picture of them doing it.

International Box Day 2012

Hello, it's International Box Day and to celebrate, I was able to persuade our two reluctant models to pose for some photos. Actually, they could care less, so I just set a box on the floor and let nature take its course :)

It's International Box Day, YEA!!! Do I look excited, or what?


Okay now, this is more like it!! Room to stretch...


You know, this box IS big enough to share...


Well, until next year...

This Quail is going to Bail

I was sorting the photos on my computer, when I came across some photos taken a few years ago. I can't believe that I never posted these before, so here they are...

Here's the little guy be-bopping down our driveway...


Perusing the neighbor's lawn to see if there's anything interesting...


Hey, what's that thing on the top of my head... :)


Of course, a blurry closeup...

Friday Fotos: 6/8

Here you go, Rebekah &#12484


:-) ...

courtesy of... somuchpun.com



This is how it's done in Stockton...

courtesy of... work.failblog.org



This is just too funny...

courtesy of... failblog.org




Oops...

courtesy of... icanhascheezburger.com

A Mother's Work is Never Done

I heard a lot noise outside the other morning and when I went to look, I caught these guys on our back patio ...



I threw out some stale bread for the birds and this mom decided that it would be a great meal for her babies. They followed her all over the yard trying to get their fair share. They even ended up on our barbeque AND on the handle of our power edger (Yes, lined up in a nice row with mommy in the middle)! Unfortunately, by the time I got the camera, they had moved to the patio.

The Early Duck Gets the Feed

My wife and daughter were outside the other night refilling the bird feeders, when all of a sudden four objects came flying down from our roof. Heedless to the fact that there were people only a few feet away, they were determined to satisfy their hunger. Since I didn't want walk out and scare them away, here's a photo taken (sorry for the fuzziness) from our kitchen window of 2 of the ducks (with a gratuitous butt shot of a third) :-)...



These guys stuck around the entire time that my wife and daughter were outside. When the ducks were finished eating, they kinda just walked around... getting the "lay of the land."

Waiting for Spring

As Yum Yum waits patiently for Spring to arrive, I think that I need to start coming up with a project for the summer. I have been toying with the idea of re-landscaping the strip of lawn that is on the side of our house. I'm thinking of removing the grass and possibly installing a concrete mowing edge along the property line. I would then use a combination of gravel or decorative rocks as ground cover with some plants added into the mix. I was thinking of maybe using Pampas grass.

Anyway, I think I'll try post a few photos of the area and see if any of you might have any suggestions.

A Cat with a Plan

Obviously, Yum Yum has the right idea today...



It just amazes me the positions she ends up sleeping in. Oh well, enough playing, it's time to get back to work. Spring Break means getting caught up on the assignments the kidlets didn't get done when they should have. So, instead of trying to fix a virus-ridden computer, I get to help them with their assignments and labs.
You know, Yum Yum's idea is looking better and better all the time.

Birds of a Feather-Part: Deux

Well, my wife went and did it and now we have to pay the consequences! We have been having a multitude of Goldfinch coming and eating their thistle seed which, by the way, is pretty darn expensive. It had gotten so busy at the feeders, that they were actually eating off of the ground, which Goldfinch usually do not do. So, one her way back from work last Saturday, my wife picked-up another Shepherd's Hook and some thistle socks to add some feeding stations for the Goldfinch.

Well, it didn't take more than two minutes before they swarmed the feeders. Although they are still feeding off of the ground, there are now three more feeding socks to attach themselves to.


Here's a photo taken through our kitchen window. By the time we got the camera, a lot of them had already flown off, but here are the ones that stayed. I know, the screen is a mess and those rips in it are courtesy of Yum Yum...



Not as many birds, but a better view of them...



Finally, a much better view. As you can see, my wife used electrical ties to secure the Shepherd's Hook to the post, which the birds use as perches...

I Think We're Going to Need a Bigger Feeder

Yes, I was thinking of that famous line from Jaws when I wrote this. But, it's true! You can see, these ducks climbing all over each other trying to get at the food; quaking up a storm and just being, well...ducks.




In the photos, you can see some of the ducks running toward the camera and the other feeders, where there were an additional eight or so ducks gobbling down some food. We get this "duck convention" at least twice a day now, with more coming all the time. Usually it is 20 + ducks at the morning and evening feedings, with a few stragglers flying in throughout the day.




This is in addition to the plethora of other birds and squirrels that filter in throughout the day. Oh, and let's not forget the Starlings, who have just recently re-discovered our yard and remind me of yet another classic movie: The Birds.

Yum Yum Peels Out

A few weeks ago, I was peeling some carrots in preparation for making carrot soup. Well, all was going swimmingly, until I had a visitor who just insisted in snoopervising my work...



Yes, she made a pest of herself and seemed to enjoy having carrot peels land on her head. The recipe I used came from something my wife found, but of course, I had to improvise. I doubled it and we ended up with roughly 6 quarts of soup, which we froze (we don't have a canner). This was just one of three soups I made this day and once I get a few pictures of the finished product, I'll share the recipes.

A Bird in the Hand...

My wife and kids went to Hummingbird Banding Day in Pearl Idaho a few weeks ago and here is photo of our oldest, holding a hummingbird that had just been banded. The hummingbird will lay there for a few seconds before flying off. Thanks again to Debbie from Boise Daily Photo for inviting us...

Here's a Cool Thought

I was originally going to post a few pictures of the strip of lawn by our driveway and ask your landscaping ideas on what I should do with it. But, I think I'll just leave that for another day.

Now, since it is SO hot out today, I decided that I would much rather post a photo reminding us of much cooler days yet to come.


Sending you all some cool thoughts...

Stormy Weather

We had a short, but powerful storm move through last night. Here is a tree limb that was torn off of our neighbor's tree...





Although this storm packed some pretty powerful winds, it did not hold a candle to the thunderstorm we had last week. That storm lasted for well over 30 minutes and some of the thunder was so loud, that it actually shook the house.

Laser Cat is Watching

Let Sleeping Ducks Lie

Here is the photo that I wanted to post yesterday...





Here's what happened to my site...

Somehow the coding got messed up. When I tried to post a photo (proper sized), it would bump the sidebars down to the bottom of the template. It would also not display anything after the photo-code. Also, it would not let me enter any coding.

I think (????) I know what happened. I enabled the new mobile-friendly code they (blogger) offered, but I did not continue reading that it is only for traditional blogger templates; mine has been highly altered.

So, how did I fix it? Well, I have a few testing blogs that I use to test new templates and new coding configurations. Currently, one of these blogs has the same template (minus all the widgets),as my main site, so I just deleted the template on my site and replaced it with the one on my testing site which solved the problem.