Sadness upon waking this morning…looked out the window, holding a cup of coffee and what do I see but the birdhouse door wide open! *Gasp* I rushed outside in my jammies, in the pouring rain, in my socks to find the nest on the ground and the remains of damaged eggs: Two damaged and Two [...]

Spent yesterday morning on the rooftop of the pavilion at the Arboretum. Temperature: 45 degrees. Wind: 20mph. Weight of pebble bags: 50lbs. No hot tin roof here! Brrr! The rooftop offered up these amazing views of the Arboretum which is leaping into spring no holds barred. Click for a larger version: As you can see [...]

We’ve been keeping the bird feeders full in hopes that someone would move into the birdhouse we have out there. 2 weeks ago we noticed a pair of Eastern Bluebirds hanging around – going in and out of the box. Hummm. Indeed they were busy building this nest: Bonnie and Clyde – our new neighbors! [...]

Well, you know my week wouldn’t be complete without some crazy animal to rescue. As mentioned in the previous article, we’ve had lots of rain lately…and what do I see at the bottom of the steps one evening: Yes, a very grumpy snapping turtle! He wasn’t that big but boy was he agressive. I thought [...]

The weekend of my birthday and it’s Tulip Time in Pella, IA. An uber-dutch flower festival celebrating the town’s dutch heritage and marking the beginning of spring — all in a quaint town in Eastern Iowa. Isn’t that Vvvveird! And of course a road trip across the state wouldn’t be complete without Geocaching! We loaded [...]