Monday, July 16, 2007

Back to Normal

Well, here it is Monday again...back to work after 3 and 1/2 days off. (very large sigh!) My brother and his family have gone back to California. My mom says it's so quiet at their house now she can hardly stand it. Her poor kitty is walking around the house, meowing and trying to find Charlie to come play with him.

Even though it was a busy and fun weekend, it was kind of good to settle back into the normal routine, you know the stuff--washing clothes, cooking supper, picking out some new books at the library, watching my birds, etc.

I spotted this female Rose-Breasted Grosbeak at the feeder right outside my dining room window. They are pretty secretive in my yard and I was happy to see and photograph at least part of her this afternoon.

I became a new "Guppy Parent" over the weekend. My friend Squirrel at work raises guppies and he's been trying to get me to take some for several months. He brought in 6 fancy guppies and a plecostamus last Friday, so I ran in to work on my motorocycle to pick them up....probably the only time these guppies ever had a motorcycle ride!

They seem to be doing well, but hungry all the time and Squirrel said he fed them 2-3 times per day, so I guess that's how they've been trained.

Now if you think photographing birds or butterflies is hard....try guppies. I bet it took me almost 10 minutes to get these 2 somewhat usable photos.

6 comments:

Mary said...

They are good photos! What are you talking about?

Ok, I can't help grinning from ear to ear picuring you and your guppies biking down the highway. LOL!

It is good to be back to normal. I have found that weekend guests are fun but exhausting. And they do preclude bird watching.

I wish I had some grosbeaks... They visited for two days in the Spring and kept moving!

Anonymous said...

Ruth,
Grand butterflies now grand fish, what will be next? You'll have to get a bigger aquarium come this fall for all your fish or another one! Wait til Charlie comes again, instead of a museum you will have a zoo. Guppies are very prolific breeders. I thought that was pretty funny that he called your house a museum because of all the mounted animals you have dis-played.
MOM

Anonymous said...

You titled this blog "Back To Normal" what's normal. As you know nothing is ever normal at this house. If you find something normal let me know.
MOM

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

I'm liking the visual of motorcycle guppies too! LOL!! Like Mary I've only had rose-breastd grosbeaks in my yard once, for 2 days, a couple of springs ago. I've seen the twice this summer up at Hasty Brook though. So pretty.

Jayne said...

Guppies on a motorcycle...what a ride! We used to have them as kids. They are neat fish. I can imagine photographing them is a bit of a nightmare with their quick movements!

RuthieJ said...

Hi Mary,
These pictures were OK, it's the other 18 I had to delete (I love digital cameras!)
Those guppies fit right in the saddlebag. I wonder what they thought?
I think my yard is still not wooded enough to host grosbeaks and have them feel comfortable. The feeder I took this picture at is getting pretty surrounded by tree, so I think that helps.

Hi Mom,
I would like to get a bigger aquarium, but don't think I have enough hours in the day to take on too many new projects.
I guess I really can't define what's normal--especially at your house. You have a lot more people stopping by to visit than we do.

Hi Lynne,
I first saw only the back half of this grosbeak and thought it was odd looking for a house finch. Then I saw the head and knew right away it was a grosbeak. The males are much easier to spot if they're around, so I felt privileged to get a good pic of this female.

Hi Jayne,
I think we had guppies when we were kids at home also. I'll be curious to see how long it is before they start having babies....