The babies today

I had a stressful Saturday with the birds. I hadn't seen the mother in more than a day. I thought they had to eat every 15 minutes. As the day wore on I was getting really worried. Every time I looked they had their little beaks wide open. I thought surely they were starving. I tried to call everyone I knew who knew about birds and no one was home.

I looked all over the internet trying to get information. I called a wild bird rescue place in Oceanside. He told me to look at their crops (which is under their beak on their chest) and see if it was full. It didn't look like it was. He said maybe I could get a neighborhood kid to take care of them. You call that advice???? I called a wild bird and animal rescue place in Carlsbad hoping I could get someone who knew how to feed them. It was only a recording but gave the address to take them to.

After waiting a little longer hoping the mother would come back, I lifted up the basket (they're in a plant in a basket) put them in the car and started off for Carlsbad.

 I was very low on gas, the babies looked frantic and there was loads of traffic. When I got to the address there was lots of construction and very hard to see where the place was.  I drove around and around through lots of industrial sites and office buildings and finally found it. It was at the new animal shelter.

The young guy working there said they looked just fine and had been well taken care of. He said the mother must have been sneaking in when I wasn't looking.  I had seen two birds nearby that I thought might be the father. One with a red head and one with yellow. Two fathers? She's a bigamist? I was told the fathers also feed the babies. And sometimes even the friends of the family. So he told me to take them back home.

So after this 3 hour round trip I was back home and sure that the mother must be frantic...and the two fathers, also.

It's been 4 days now and they are doing just fine. They're being fed but I never see who's doing it. Sometimes I see a red head or a yellow head leaving the nest and even sometimes a brown blur that's probably the mother. I used to see the mother in the nest with them. Now I never do.

I got a lot of helpful information from my bird-expert friend, Margaret. I felt much better after that. I'm still not sure what they are but she thinks they're wrens.  I have two more "birdy" friends to check in with - Nancy and Beth. More to come, if anyone is still interested.

Baby birds and Zentangle birds

 Baby birds today, Wed. Apr. 17.

Starting to take shape.

The bird's mother (sort of ).

Bird nest update

They've hatched!

 The first three. There's another egg under the three chicks.

 They're not very pretty. But they seem to be in good shape.

Sound asleep. I think this is all 5 of them.

The mother is very attentive. She's probably out looking for food right now,
although that seems to be the father's job. He's been doing a good job so far.

Zendala # 51

Zendala # 51 (Template from The Bright Owl)

To see more go to thebrightowl.blogspot.com

Diva Challenge #113

 Diva Challenge # 113 - "Hip to be square"

To see more go to http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/

Sepia Saturday-Castles from my past

I'm sure if any of you look far enough into your genealogy you'll find a castle or two. I remember seeing some in my family tree. The more I look, the more I find. Here's a few.

 Castle Roche, County Louth, Ireland.
My ancestor, Alice de la Roche was born here in 1287.

Gilling Castle, Gilling East, North Yorkshire, England.
Another ancestor, Richard Fairfax was born here in 1390

Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire. My ancestor, Jane Bigod, wife of Richard Fitzeutace was born here in 1105.

 Tintagle Castle, Cornwall. My ancestor, Amicia Archdeacon was born here in 1380.

In legend, King Arthur was conceived here and so, apparently was Amicia.

Eardisley Castle, Herefordshire. Nothing much left. This is an archaeological dig at the site of the former kitchen. Two of my ancestors came from here- William Baskerville and the de Lacy family.

The site (and the de Lacys) are mentioned in the Doomsday book in 1087 as a part of the inventory of William the Conqueror's new kingdom. It also has a connection to The Hounds Of The Baskervilles", although the story doesn't take place here.

But wait, there's more:

Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales built by my ancestor, Geraldus Fitzwalter de Windsor. in about 1100

For more castle stories go to sepiasaturday.blogspot.com

Zendala # 51 and Spring has sprung at my house

Zendala # 51. (Thanks to thebrightowl.blogspot.com for the template)

 Chloe and the wisteria

 Would you think a bird would choose this plant as a home for a nest? It's on a baker's rack on my front porch.

Here's a birdseye view of it nestled among the spiky leaves. Looking very comfy, though.

 The first two beautiful eggs.

 The next day.

And the next.

And even another... Getting pretty crowded!

If you look real hard you can just see the mother bird sitting on her eggs. I had to sneak up very quietly, while inside of the house, and shoot this through the window.  I hate to disturb her, but every time I open the door, or just make a sound near the door she flies away. I sure hope they all hatch.

Happy Easter

NRA Conflict Resolution Shoppe

Mariachi Week March 6-16

Nancy and I were excited when we heard about Mariachi Week. We both love mariachi music.  There were various concerts going on in several places. We decided to drive to the Mexican border for the first one. It sounded great. It was advertised as an historic performance with U.S. and Mexican Mariachi playing together from the rooftops on both sides of the border. After getting up early and driving about an hour and getting lost (only once) we finally got there only to find out it had been canceled. We were so disappointed. There was a large outlet mall there so we amused ourselves shopping. It wasn't a total loss.

The next thing we decided on for Thursday night sounded great, also- Mariachi Night at the Museums. My two favorite things- Mariachis and Balboa Park. How could it miss? Live Mariachis in the Mingei Museum, the San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Man, and the Timken Museum of Art. It was supposed to start at 4:00. We started at the Timken...no Mariachis, yet. So we went to the S.D. Museum of Man... no Mariachis. We walked around and saw a few interesting exhibits. The best of which was Native American art on ledger pages. Very interesting.

We decided to go over to the Mingei...no Mariachis, yet so we went back to the Museum of Man and
finally a performance. Not Mariachis but a wonderful Ballet Folklorico- put on by the DanzArts Organization. Beautiful costumes!

We rushed back to the Museum Of Art and the Mariachis were there, however they weren't all there and it took them awhile to tune up.

So we amused ourselves looking at the details of the beautiful building.

Finally they started to play and it was definitely worth the wait. They were wonderful.

There wasn't much room for an audience so they decided to move outside. A good plan because then they really drew a crowd. And they looked great with the backdrop of the beautiful building.

I hated to tear myself away but I really wanted to see some of the other groups so I left and went to the Timken where there was a very young and "not quite ready for prime time" Mariachi. They really put their hearts into it though.

I rushed back to the Museum of Art to hear the last few numbers. And then we all tore over to the Mingei just in time to see that group packing up to leave.

And then the very young group waited for their bus.

I wish we could have seen them all but what we saw was very enjoyable.
Then we (Nancy, Deb, my brother Bob and I) went to a Mexican Restaurant for dinner.
It was a slightly frustrating but very enjoyable evening.

The highlight of Mariachi Week was the first ever Mariachi Opera "Cruzar La Cara De La Luna".

I was really looking forward to this but I waited too long to get tickets and only the very expensive ones were left. Just one more frustration.

Zendala Dare # 45 and #46

Templates from thebrightowl.com

Zendala #44 and String # 40

 Zendala # 44

This is the template from The Bright Owl.  I'm not fond of square Zendalas so I angled it and I like it better.

This is String # 40 from TanglePatterns.com