New birdfeeder

Larry and I visit a nursing home every Sunday where I take Communion to the Catholic residents. One lady, Madeline, is 97 and feisty as can be. She is pretty much bedridden. Larry wanted to put up a birdfeeder outside her window and we bought a nice one, but when we got to the nursing home with it they said no. The maintenance man thinks the seed attracts mice to the building and they come in through the heating vents. Hey, mice will find a way in if they want. But our good deed will have to wait until Spring when we'll put up a hummingbird feeder. For now I have replaced my old feeder with a new squirrel-proof feeder. When the squirrel jumps on his weight closes all the doors. He hasn't given up and I hope to get a video of one of his acrobatic acts. In the meantime here are a few photos of the old and the new. I love my little birds! I'm mostly getting chickadees, tufted titmice, and nuthatches. Although the video below is a house finch. The goldfinches (who are brown for the winter) are coming as well. The perches may be too small for the cardinals. I hope the downy woodpecker can use them because they are one of my favorite birds. We'll see over time. Happy bird watching!

Ben and Sara's wedding - The Best is yet to Come!

If you missed Ben and Sara's wedding poor you. The Mass was beautiful and the reception was lots of fun! Don't miss the bagpiper video after the photos of family. (Take note of all those cousins? And that was just a few of them from the Schneider side of the family!) Don't mind the shaky video. I was trying to manage an umbrella that blew inside out while I was shooting.

The Groundhog Buster Strikes Again

Well, we caught another groundhog and took him down to the dam. So it's Paka two, groundhogs zero. This one was happily eating tomatoes in the cage and didn't seem too upset about his condition. Guess he heard he was about to go on a waterfront vacation. I held the camera properly this time and got him heading straight for me. Hope you enjoy this, Brendan.

Little Birdies in their Nest Agree

Well they may agree in the nest, but that doesn't apply to the bird feeder. I washed and put away the hummingbird feeder today and replaced it with the seed feeder on the side of the house and two tray feeders in the front. And now I wait with anticipation all my winter friends. The tufted titmouse won't be long finding it. He dropped by the other day and sat on the finnial of the feeder post looking at the strawberry as if to say, "Hey, the hummingbirds are gone; now where the heck is the real food?" he will be happy to know he's not forgotten and I'm sure he'll be back soon along with the cardinal, the chickadee, the wren, the nuthatch, the finches, and the bully blue jay. The squirrel, no doubt, will find it quickly as well as the greedy chipmunk who fills his cheeks to bulging before going off to bury his treasure.

Larry is closing up the pool. It got plenty of use this summer with our two Texas families visiting for a total of five weeks and grandkids coming and going through our revolving door.

So now we turn our faces toward Fall and all the coming holidays rejoicing in God's goodness and remembering to share what we have with others who are less fortunate.

40 Days for Life Campaign

Haven't been writing much here and it's late so I'll be brief. Larry is doing so well we are praising God every day. The worst thing he had to deal with after surgery was a bad cold that has been hanging on for several weeks, but that's on the wane finally.

I've been driving to Manassas every week to participate in the 40 Days for Life campaign. Several babies have been saved at that site and going on 300 aroung the country in the first half of the campaign. Praised be to God. I urge everyone who's never prayed at an abortion mill to do it. There is nothing like the experience of saving a baby's life and saving a woman from a lifetime of heartache. I couldn't resist taking the picture of this little girl and her grown up friend.