AMERICAN COOT BABIES

I've been patiently waiting - checking almost every day when we go to the lake - nothing!  No coot babies.  Hardly any coots are over there at all right now.

Today Mike asked if I wanted to take my grandson to Wood Grill buffet which is over in a different city down the mountain - and on the way there is a local lake we stop at whenever we are in the area.  Luckily we still had our duck food in the car.

I spotted a Coot baby in the reeds.  The timing couldn't have been better - they were old enough to swim in the water - but not old enough to lose their head fringe - the color which is orange-ish /red around the head fades within  6 days.  I think we probably only had one to two days before they would lose all their colors and look like a gray bird.  Probably one more day.

We had thrown food out for the geese but on closer inspection of the mom and baby coots - i realize that she was feeding them the food we brought.

Yes - ...I did take a lot of photos - here are some of them.

I may never get to see a baby coot again at this stage of their development - so  I made sure I took photos from every angle.

 I found after reading about coots that if the coots have green feet they are juveniles and brown feet they are older. 

A SKETCH I DID AWHILE AGO

For some reason reminds me of Pogo, another frog I have been drawing.

HAD TWO OF MY GRANDKIDS VISIT FOR A FEW DAYS

My granddaughter from Bend and one of my grandsons who is here every other weekend.  They were enjoying playing on the steps and running around the backyard.  It was great having the kids here.  I put up a string across an area of the backyard where they played volleyball, but as usually happens - the ball never stays in the yard but instead we lost balls down the gully area over the back fence and it's impossible to get to them.  Now I have a different grandson spending time here.  Hunter is almost 12 and will be here for awhile, not sure when he goes home as this is an open ended visit.

My "Railing" garden is growing.  That's my new term for all the plants I have in little pots in the railing.  I will eventually plant them in a different area when they get big enough.  Depending on the season because of all the trees - i will have to move them around to get enough sun on them.  Right now they are doing well on this part of the railing, mostly in the afternoon.

 I realized I have a part time job - between watering the plants on the railing, the plants in the little garden in the back yard, filling the bird feeders, putting water in their bird baths, raking dirt - I'm busy all the time, and then add a couple grandkids to the mix  - that really keeps me busy - and can't forget walking the lake.  No wonder I don't read books anymore - nature calls me! 

Kids are funny - one of the things they seemed to enjoy was going up and down these steep steps

 I'm glad we moved here 8 months ago - even though we are just renting it really feels like home.

here's a pic of my little garden in the back yard.  I'm still adding vegetables but doing it slowly because of the critters that live in the mountains - I've already had the leaves chewed off my cucmber plant and they started on the zucchini - I'll probably end up just doing a pot garden - haha, that sounds funny and fun - but I mean plants only in pots so gophers don't get them.  My neighbor has a beautiful garden right next to this and the gophers are eating some of her plants. 

Being a renter I'm not willing to put much money into plants and wood for container gardens.

POSTING MORRO BAY STUFF

I might have posted some photos from Morro Bay but I know I didn't post many and I may have posted some on my other blog - but I'm too lazy to go through the archives.

Here are a few shots from Morro Bay Garden Nursery and then this cute cafe we found in a little town called Harmony.  I believe the population is less than 20 - Laura can correct me if I'm wrong.  I loved the look of it.  There were people in there sitting so it was hard to get a really good view - again, my sis have a great view of it and I might borrow it and put it here.

You order in the room down below and eat across the shop in another shop which is the one above.

 Harbor in Morro Bay and gift shops

Love the little metal sculptures below.

 Morro Bay Garden Nursery - I know I've posted a few here before but before I'm done I'll be putting them all up as I want them on this blog for future reference.  I noticed a few times I've been there - they change out the paintings every so often or put in a new display - it's so beautiful  in the nursery and they have many rooms and outside areas to walk through.

CAN YOU IMAGINE ANYONE

Baking blackbirds into a pie - even if it's for a king!!

Sing a song of Sixpence ....

blah blah blah

Leave the blackbirds alone.