Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Tuesday Tickles

This morning I went out to do the usual watering and thought that Carla would be content being able to walk around the yard. But as a special treat I took Tweat out and sat her/him on the deck rail to enjoy the morning. Tweat really did - oh boy the singing and trying to get out of the cage to get involved with the other birds in the yard; and the other birds in the yard were interested in him/her because they were coming and sitting on the gutter and deck rail towards the opposite end of the deck. Miss Carla did not do much walking around with me she laid on the deck under Tweat's cage and "babysat" while I did the watering. I did have a great conversation with Walter this morning before he went to work - Butch & Sundance were really checking him out as he changed their water and food.

Mom came over this morning while I was finishing up painting the Office closet doors. They really turned out well (photos of completed Office/Exercise room to come). Then Mom helped me to clean out the freezer(s). They really needed to be done and I'd been putting them off for so long - I had initially wanted to do them when we first moved in, but I messed up and didn't do it then due to unexpected circumstances, and I kept putting it off until today. YEAH!! Mom was such a big help holding all the trash bags and just being around to talk with while I tackled such a big job. I really appreciate the encouragement. I remember when I lived at home and we cleaned out the chest freezer! Talk about a real job. Taking everything out and then defrosting and then reorganizing everything as you put it back in. Exhausting work.

Mom & I spent a little time hanging out on the deck with Carla and Tweat, it was so funny to watch Carla as she strained so hard to keep from trying to smell of Tweat's backside. She thinks it is just another "dog" that needs an introduction. Mom took this awesome picture of Carla watching Tweat in the cage.

Some of the gyrations that Carla does when Tweat is chirping and talking are amazing. It appears that Carla is either trying to get hold of Tweat or to talk back to her. She whines so, like a small child that wants something.

We then went back in and put a perm in Mom's hair - I had forewarned the family that we were doing that today so that they would be prepared for the "smell" that would be in the house when they got back. We also lit a spice scented candle to help cover up or at least mask the smell. The candle really did help. While waiting for Mom's perm to process we went back out to the deck where the birds entertained us further as well as a squirrel that totally lost it and sorta fell off the bird feeder. That was funny. As for Mom's perm it came out beautifully, and had lots of body and curl.

As Mom was leaving we saw this interesting critter on the butterfly bush it looks like a cross between a hummingbird and a bumble bee, however with a little research I found out that it is actually a Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth (Sphingidae: Hemaris diffinis); and what was even funnier was when Mom got home she opened the Virginia Wildlife magazine and the picture of the month was of the hummingbird moth. Talk about timing.

I found the shot with the dreaded Japanese beetle to be particularly curious looking. It almost looks like the Hummingbird Moth is checking out the beetle. None of my shots produced any stop action, but this critter is fast and not quite as cooperative as the bees. It definitely has the speed of a hummer. I have never seen one of these particular type of moths before, it is amazing at the variety and number of insects that God created and put here for our joy and entertainment, then of course there are those that give us all some torment too. This one seems like He was trying to give the Hummingbird some company. :)

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