Quake Attack Part Deux

***NOTE: for some reason, when I placed this photo (properly sized) after the first paragraph, Blogger did not show the rest of the content AND it threw my sidebars to the bottom of the template, so I had to delete the photo until I can figure out what the heck they are doing. I will post the photo in a separate post when I get this mess sorted out. Thank you for your patience.


This is one pair of at least two that frequent our yard several times a day. This time, instead of sleeping in the grass by our back door (one of their favorite spots) they chose the feeder itself. Based on my vast duck-keeping experience, this is one way I know that they are probably out of food. However, last Saturday, they let us know in a more direct fashion.

Last Saturday, my wife was planting our veggies in the garden, when the ducks decided to pay a visit. They flew in and waddled over to the feeder to begin their mid-day meal. Unfortunately, there was not enough food, so Mr. and Mrs. Duck decide to take matters into their own beaks and go straight to the top...my wife. She watched them come over to the berm and then Mr. Duck climbed the stairs and, while looking directly at my wife, began quacking at her. He then walked down, looked back at her, then walked right back up and quacked again. Seeing that his point had been made, he walked back down where both he and Mrs. Duck gave a final admonitory quack and then flew off.

Needless to say, after my wife told us about this, she went ahead and restocked their their food supply. Later that afternoon, they came back and were perfectly content to enjoy their repast and settle down in the grass and rest.

Koko and Yum Yum Hard at Work

Trays are for Sitting

Is there nothing off-limits...

Koko, Undercover

Over the past few days, the temperature has dropped and we are in the middle of another cold snap. Tired of the cold, Koko had a great idea: why not burrow under the covers and take a snooze...



You can tell that he is SO thrilled with having his picture taken.

Quack Attack

These ducks have become daily visitors now.

Taken just before he flew down to join Mrs. Duck, here is Mr. Duck on the roof of our neighbor's house...






Here are Koko and Yum Yum enjoying a little "Dinner Theater"...


If you look closely, you can see the ducks through the screen

My Wife Met the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Admiral Mike Mullen made a stop today at the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He happens to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the highest ranking member of the US Military. My wife was able to attend the talk he gave and later, she was lucky enough to be able to meet him and shake his hand. He also gave her an awesome "keepsake" of their meeting: an inscribed coin that had "Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff" on one side and his name and rank on the other.

This photo was taken from her phone. The lady in the red jacket and white shirt is the Admiral's wife.





Later in the day, he gave a few more talks throughout the city.

It's for the Birds

The Goldfinch are back in force this Spring. What you see in the photos that follow is pretty normal for most of the day. Usually there will be between 20 and 30 feeding at one time. In addition to the Goldfinch, we also have other feeders that are visited by doves, other finches, Red Winged Blackbirds, ducks (yep, they started to come back this week), starlings (who eat us out of house and home), the occasional hawk who comes for a quick meal, and squirrels (who have their own feeder).

Oh, Deer

My wife took this picture at the Veteran's Administration Hospital. She said there were four of them, wandering around the grounds. This was taken at the flag pole.

This is for the Birds

Here are a few of our backyard guests...

Hail to Wednesday

We had a little thunder/hail storm blow through late this afternoon.



Killer and Brutus on guard duty...

Jeff Dunham in Idaho

My wife was lucky enough to get to go and see Jeff Dunham this week. Her friend had an extra ticket and asked if she would like to go. Uh, YES!!

She said that they laughed the entire time. We have seen Jeff Dunham's DVD's and his Comedy Central specials, but there is so much more when you see him live. As an added bonus, after the regular show, he brought out a new character he is developing and tried-out his routine on everyone.

Here are a few things she brought back...

Finals and Roaring Springs

Last week, I had to drive the kidlets to take their semester final exams. This meant that for two days, I got to sit in the car for several hours and be bored. So, I packed a bag with some popcorn and some reading material and settled back to wait. Since the testing site was right next door to Roaring Springs water park, I decided to get a few photos. Unfortunately, only one came out half-way decent.

Here's a shot of one of the water slides. As you can see, there's not a real big line at the moment. I guess since this was taken when it was 18 degrees out, may be a factor...

Finals, Yum Yum, and Weight Loss

Finals...
I've been busy the past few weeks helping the kidlets finish their schoolwork for the semester and studying for their final exams (all comprehensive, so they need to know everything they learned in each of their classes for the entire semester. Oh, and NO NOTES are allowed) later this week. With that being said, here is what I feel like...




As to the weight loss: I know I don't write about it much anymore, but I am still losing the fat, although I still weigh about the same as I did last year...around 205. I am thinking that since I am still strength training, the lack of weight loss (actual pounds) is due to the muscle I am continuing to build. I can tell that the fat is leaving, but ever-so slowly.

Well, I guess I better get back to the books, so I can try and remember everything I taught this semester. I hope you all have a great week and I'll see you on Friday Fotos.

Yum Yum's Spot

I get up for a minute to do something and when I get back...

Squirrels and School

There were two squirrels sitting on the fence like bookends, but naturally as soon as I get the camera, they moved...






Well, I guess all good things must come to an end, but starting tomorrow, it's back to teaching. It was so nice to be able to read some books and do some research for more than 20 minutes a day. You see, that's about all the time I usually have to myself during school. When I'm not teaching, I am trying to learn what I need to teach: Yep, it's a case of the teacher being just one step in front of the student. I have two different math and science lessons to learn, not to mention History. For example, tomorrow in math we begin Graphing Quadratic Functions (Algebra 2) and Systems of Linear Inequalities (Algebra 1). In science there is Molecular Genetics (10th grade) and Meteorology (9th grade). The tough part will be getting back into the routine.

Now, off to watch some football...

Hey, You Missed One

Uh, it looks like you missed an ornament over here...

A Power Nap Done Right

Both the kids were slammed this last week with unit exams and papers being due. I still have to help my oldest with an algebra unit exam and then I am done for a few weeks. Hey, maybe I can finally have the time to actually read or write something!


So, how are you spending your Christmas break...

Birdie TV

A view from our window. As you can see, the our cats have a great view of the show. On the left,you can see the tip of a tail as they take a break for intermission...



Hint: look at the vertical window divider and you will see the birds.

The Life of the Party

I was supposed to fix the toilets this weekend, but instead I had to help my oldest with science and math. The topic in science was genetics and gene mapping and the math junk was about complex numbers (using both real numbers and imaginary numbers; solving problems, and then graphing the results)...not my favorite way to spend a weekend. Believe it or not, I would have been much happier tearing our toilets apart.

Now, on to the star of the show....

Here we see our ample cat stretched out on our table. We used this table for Thanksgiving to hold the drinks and snacks. If you look closely, you can see him sticking his tongue out at us... some nerve, huh?

Laser Cat

Just trying to watch a football game, when Yum Yum decides to sit in front of the television. I guess everyone's a critic...