Heritage Hill Homestead

Birding at Home

Plain old brown birds aren't so plain when their heads are shaped like this hammerkop!

He may be a little ugly, but who wouldn't want to add this big fellow to their list? Of course, there's always the fun of trying to identify which hornbill is which.

A trip to the game park can keep one busy with a good bird book for quite awhile
and even longer with a bad bird book .


It seems to me a great number of the small birds wear flashier outfits in tropical countries than their American feathered friends.

But of course, one can't bird all their life in phenomenal places, but it's just a little difficult not to be bored with the same old Oregon juncos everyday after such variety. Since we were not home for a few months the bird feeders hadn't been supplied with seed anyway, so I figured we would wait until Spring and hopefully the flurry of migration would inspire some excitement again.

One day when we took a trip up North to get our dog I noticed at our friend's house quite a stack of Birds and Bloom and I spent some time perusing the pictures. Outside their windows were feeders of every sort. I could not believe the volume and array of birds at their feeders. That got my Attention!  I tried forever to get some good photos and I am feeling more and more ready for an SLR camera!!! Photographing birds can be rather challenging with the wrong camera equipment.  Anyway, I came home and bought some bird seed. It's a little slow going attracting the birds when their hasn't been anything offered for so long, but you can always be sure of an Oregon junco! I hope to attract many more in time for the Great Backyard Bird Count that begins on Feb 13.

In defense of American birds I must say that they are MUCH friendlier than their African counterparts. The little birds at our feeders are used to our presence and often even seem to communicate with us when they think we ought to refill the feeder or something. I grew up where chickadees landed on your head and begged for sunflower seeds in the winter. It isn't totally unusual to feed  nuthatches and jays and hummingbirds from our hands here, but birding takes a great deal of patience in Africa.

I took stock of all the birds I saw in a week here and this is my list.

1. a chukar standing by the side of the road on one foot
2. bald eagles standing on the ice of the river's edge together with a crow
3.chickadees - at the feeder
4. juncos - everywhere
5. red-breasted nuthatch at the suet feeder
6. goldfinches in on the thistle bags
7. crows
8. a wild turkey sitting in a low bush by the highway
9. a red-shafted flicker  flying it's peculiar flight
10. California quail at the feeders and in the shrubs
11. Canada geese at the river
12. Mallard ducks at the river
15. pigeons on the barn roofs.

An Apron Giveaway:)

I thought this was a cute apron and encourage everyone to visit and enter their name. Who knows....maybe you'll win!:)

http://my-strength-and-song.blogspot.com/2009/01/apron-giveaway.html

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Here we go again.....

Friday on the Homestead

So the coffee cream delight dessert and how it turned out..........

TOTAL INSANITY! No More Thrift Store Resales? To Protect Us? HUH?

http://www.americanvision.org/article/consumer-safetys-war-on-thrift/-

 Can you imagine where all of this would lead too?

Amanda <><
Matthew 6:33

Update:

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=85638- Thrift stores are except now, but not the local business. Such as a Homechool resale shop. (Used curriculum)

Playing around with my camera...

I have been wanting to learn more about my camera for a while now and I decided to play with it last night to see what I could learn.  I have been wanting to take some black and whites and sepia's of the kids but, if you have ever tried to take a picture of kids, you know what happens... THEY MOVE!  So, I piddled around and found a way that would capture them even while they were a bit fidigity.
Here are a few of my shots...
It is still not perfectly clear, but at least it isn't a big blur... and I don't have photoshop.
How cute is he???? swoon :)
Intensely into the movie....
Anyone with advice... feel free to chime in. I would love it.
Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend! :)
My Cup Runneth Over...

Men Aren't Dogs!

There are lots of women out there who say that men are dogs.  I think that's incorrect!

They are more like cats!

At least mine is!

In order to set up our Christmas tree we have to move the furniture in our living room around so that the tree can sit directly in the middle of our living room windows.  (see pic at top!)  We have a pretty big, open area in our living room.  That is the one thing that we liked when we decided to buy it.  When moving our furniture we have to use up alot of that open space by moving the couch into the middle of the floor & kind of sectioning off the living room.  After Christmas is over then we always put every piece of furniture back into place.  I asked DH if we could keep the furniture the way it was for awhile.  It's kind of cozy & more inviting when you have company.  You don't have to raise your voice when talking to someone because they are sitting clear over on the other side of the living room.  Okay, he didn't seem to have a problem with leaving it the way it was for a while.  Last week we bought a closet cabinet for our coats.  We have been needing one for a very long time.  The coat tree just wasn't cutting it anymore.  Apparently we didn't notice that this mobile home didn't have any closets when we bought it!  So we finally got one & it was on sale I might add!  After setting it up & getting it into place I decided to move around some more furniture.  You know how us women are with moving furniture!  I had a little area just beyond the front door with a little round table & 2 chairs with a checker board on the table.  I thought it looked cute.  DH did not.  He said it looked stupid & he has NEVER seen anyone have something like that in their house.  OK, so yesterday I moved the computer desk & chair into the place where the checker board table sat.  When DH got home last night he was talking to his brother on the cell.  He started growling complaining.  He told his brother that I had a piece of BEDROOM furniture in the living room (like the bed was in the living room!) & that he was a creature of UN-change.  So this morning as he was getting ready for work I decided that when he left I would change all the furniture back to pre-Christmas positions.  When he was done readying himself for work this morning he said to me, "I guess I can get used to it being this way."  Instead of him "getting used to it", I changed everything back the way it was.  While I was moving furniture the cat was running around growling.  LOL! 

So my man is like a cat!

He doesn't do well with 

CHANGE!

He's my Mr. Steady!

So I guess I will just stick with redecorating my blog instead of my house.

That won't bother him since he doesn't read here! 

A nice sunny morning...

  I was up early this morning with Donnie to get him off to work, but I just had to lay down again.  I did not sleep well last night, at all.  So, an hour and a half later I was up and moving--feeling fine. 

  The house has been straightened, the kitchen cleaned, treats for coffeehouse made, two loads of laundry done, beds made, dog fed and now I am getting ready to put a chicken on for some chicken and rice soup for tonight's supper.  I need to go and get some onions.  I never, usually, run out of onions, but I have definitely done it today.  Sigh...  With all the colds running through the Beale Bungalow, I thought a good bowl of soup and some bread might be nice. 

  The sun is shining so brightly this morning and I am so thankful for it.  Grey has never been my choice of color for the daytime hours.  I wish I had a back porch like my friend Marianne.  She can sit out there, enjoy the sun and not get cold.  It was warm here two days ago, but now it is cold.  North Carolina had some snow, according to some of the blogs I have been reading, but none for further north Virginia!  I do hope and pray that God will give us at least one good snow this winter. :)

  Well, I need to get ready for coffeehouse.  I am so looking forward to it this week.  Friends, what would I do without them?

            God Bless!!

Seeds and Garden Planning for 2009