Any Given Saturday

On any given Saturday, if you look out of our family room window, you are likely to see one of these...
One of these...
And maybe even one of these...
You see, I am a bit of and old soul at heart and enjoy feeding the birds and then drinking my coffee and watching all of them arrive to feed and frolic on a Saturday morning. Ever since I got my new copper bird feeder back in Nov, all had been going well until this little rascal showed up!
This little feller is the first squirrel I have seen even attempt to reap it's bounty off of my feeder. And he is one lucky little guy because the minute Grant spotted him, he was ready to get out the new BB gun he got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa and blast his biscuits off!
Yes, my little Davey Crockett was all ready to have squirrel for dinner. He even went so far as to ask me how you get a squirrel ready to be eaten and what it tastes like. I explained the process of preparing an animal for consumption (I'll save you the gory details) and of course I my response to what squirrel tastes like was, "It tastes like chicken." Doesn't everything taste like chicken? he he ;)
Mr. Squirrel's attempts at emptying my feeder didn't go unnoticed either...
Mr. Bunny and Mr. Blue Jay were right below gobbling up everything that Mr. Squirrel had dumped out.
They all make quite a team, don't you think!?
Aside from the circus of animals devouring my bird seed, my favorite part is enjoying the beauty of the various birds that come to visit.
I know Blue Jays are very common and are kind of the 'bullies' on the block when it comes to birds, but I think they are absolutely beautiful birds.
But my all time favorite visitors are the Cardinals. Hands down, they are the bird I get most excited about seeing at the feeder. They are so colorful and vibrant and they always remind me of the Grandma's of ours that have passed and are now in Heaven.
Just wanted to share a few little beauties of nature that make you stop and think how blessed we really are. Happy Saturday!

Goodbye Kevy

This past Saturday, our beloved dog Kevy, passed away. He was 15 years old so it wasn't completely unexpected, but still so very hard. He had is share of health issues popping up in the past year but up until recently, was the picture of health. None-the-less, it is hard to believe that a big dog could live to be this old and still have a hop to his step.
I am sure everyone thinks this of their pets, but he was such a great dog. He looked a little scary to those who didn't know him but was a great big teddy bear. If he could have, he would have climbed up in your lap the first chance he got and would have covered you with stinky dog-breath kisses. Even in his old age, the kids were able to yank on his tail and tug on his ears with never even the hint of a growl.
I am truly grateful that he was able to pass on his own, peacefully. I have had to put two of our animals to sleep, which is not an easy thing for me to do because I am such an animal lover. Right now, my heart is absolutely breaking for Roxy. She will be 4 this August and she has barely known life without her good pal, Kevy.
They got along so well together and Sunday she seemed so lost without him. She kept looking in the dog house for him and she didn't have the pep in her step as usual so the kids and I spent the entire day outside with her throwing the ball, giving her a bath petting her and letting her eat treats to her hearts content.
Boy, we sure are going to miss you, old man. May there be many doggy treats and belly scratches waiting for you in heaven. Goodbye Kevy.

Baiting the Birds

This is the blog post that was supposed have the funny title of 'Baiting Feeding the Birds' but since I am html and formatting illiterate, it will just have to be 'Baiting the Birds.'
Why call it 'Baiting the Birds' and not just call it 'Feeding the Birds', you ask?

The simple answer is...

This is why:
Yep, our cat's new favorite past time is to sit directly under the bird feeder and wait for a cute little unsuspecting tweetie like this one:
And then...WHAMO! When that cute little unsuspecting birdie lands on the bird baiter feeder she strikes with her catlike reflexes (HA! Catlike. Get it? Ha, I say! HA!)
*Notice the bird feeder appears to be 'swinging' in the picture and that is because it was. As I was snapping my zoom lens onto my camera Trixie really did jump up and attempt to snatch a little birdie right off of the feeder. I was super bummed I missed the action shot but glad the little birdie got away.

And here is Trixie Pie looking completely busted!
And then she began slinking back towards the house, knowing full well she was gonna be in trouble.
And this is the 'Is it okay to come in the house now or should I wait a few more minutes out here in the freezing cold while you cool down a little in there?' face.
I'd say she's forgiven this time, especially since she is an awesome mouser. Although, I did just fill the bird feeder this evening so we'll see if I am singing the same tune tomorrow when she inevitably 'assumes the position' again.

I ♥ Faces - Pets Only

Time to change things up again over at I ♥ Faces. This week, instead if highlighting human faces, they have decided to focus on the faces of our furry friends. Yes, this weeks photo challenge is Pets Only. I had a really difficult time choosing which photo I wanted to enter so I enlisted the expert photographic opinion of my 4 year old, Grant. I showed him my 3 favorites of our dog Roxy and he chose this picture of when she was just a pup. When I asked Grant why he thought this was the best one he said, "Because she's tiny." I guess that is as good of answer as any. If you'd like to see the two that didn't make the 4 year olds cut, click here.
I am sure there are going to be a ton of awesome entries of pets and animals of all kinds so make sure to scoot on over to www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com to check them out.

The two that didn't make the cut...

These are the two pet pictures that didn't make my 4 year old's I ♥ Faces photo challenge cut...

So, do you think he made a good choice??? If not, which would you have chosen.
Just curious :)