Category Archives: Birds

All Creatures…

…great and small. Our Lord God made them all. Last Friday, while we were in Arizona, we took a trip to the Phoenix Zoo. The weather was in the 70’s and very pleasant. This post will take the place of my Quotes of the Week.

We waited a long time to see one of the three elephants the zoo has in residence.

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”  So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:20-21

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:24-25

Psalm 104:10-12, You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches.

 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Matthew 6:25-27

While we were looking at the giraffes in the distance behind a low fence this hummingbird came right up to the plant next to us and I was able to take a lot of photos while our heavenly father provided food for it.

Laura captured the photo of the sun beaming down on Jamie right on our developing grandson who is due in April.

For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13 (ESV)

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:14

With thankful hearts we left the zoo and headed to Old Scottsdale to have another walk about and find a spot for dinner.

Strikingly Different

We left Arizona yesterday flying into Spokane and were met with the striking difference in temperatures. This morning we started out at 12 degrees here in Colville. We’ve warmed up to 14 while I’m typing this. Today will be a catchup day for me. I’m behind with emails, blog visits and laundry. The photo of the sweet hummingbird was taken during our time at the Phoenix Zoo enjoying the 70 degree weather. We soaked it in and I’ll be posting more from Arizona after I catch my breath.

To those of you who are experiencing the deep freeze stay safe and warm!

Backyard Birds

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:26

We are spending a long weekend on the western side of the Cascade mountain range. We drove over the pass on Saturday with mostly clear roads for the 365 miles. We are staying with our oldest son and our dear daughter-in-law. While here we are celebrating her birthday.

On Sunday I traveled north to Canada for our annual Mennonite Girls Can Cook Christmas party/dinner. Dear was supposed to go with me but alas we realized we both forgot to bring our passports with us across the mountains. Oye. I have an enhanced license so I’m able to travel across the Canadian/U.S. border with that. It was a very sad realization that Dear would miss out on this event. I made the 2+ hour drive each way by my lonesome enjoying my new Lauren Daigle CD. Dinner and time with the “girls” was rich and wonderful. Lovella and her beloved created a beautiful setting for us all to enjoy. Everyone contributed to the meal and it was over the top delicious from the Charcuterie board appetizer, Potato Leek soup, plated salad, stuffed pork loin with noodles and gravy, roasted carrots, broccoli salad, fresh rolls and a beautiful layered cake dessert.

While I was in Canada Dear had dinner with our Western Washington Kids (WWK). For Monday we will meet up with dear friends for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant on this side and be able to hug our favorite waitress! This evening we will gather together with our WWK to celebrate Laura’s birthday. My take away gift from the MGCC party last night was a beautiful home made pie that Judy baked and we’ll enjoy that as Laura’s birthday “cake” after dinner. Photos to follow sometime soon….

The Wild Turkey Capital…

…of the Pacific Northwest.

Colville lays claim to that title. All of these turkeys were on our son’s property last weekend and we’ve seen many a rafter of turkeys on the roads we travel around Colville and Chewelah.

Now we haven’t seen one of these on the loose but this bull was spotted just a couple properties north from our new house. We definitely won’t be in the big city anymore.

It’s good and it’s scary with many unknowns but we look forward to be settled in by the end of September with all our stuff around us again. We also look forward to meeting our new neighbors. We hear they are good neighbors and will strive to be good neighbors as well.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

We had a nice lunch and visit with our oldest kids this afternoon. Josh helped his dad with a two man project for an hour after lunch. Then we got a hail/snow storm later in the afternoon that made a mess of the roads. We now have a new layer of white on our grass and deck.

I’ve overloaded my capacity for creativity with a project I’m keen to get done this week. This creative venture is a gift so I can’t share it till it’s given away. In the meantime things will be sporadic on my blog.

Hope all is well with my bloggy friends. Looking forward to the month of March.

The Weekend Roundup “G”

Welcome to Weekend Roundup…
1.Starts with “G.”
2. A Favorite.
3. Green.

Starts with G: Godwit, a shorebird on the beach.

Favorite: My Lenten Rose blooming now with green leaves and green centers surrounded by pink petals.

Green: You can find green everywhere in the Evergreen State in Winter.

Parting Shot:

Granddaughter Grinning in Gramps’ Green sleeve Grip.

Linking up with Tom The Backroads Traveller for The Weekend Roundup “G”.

We are in another wet pattern here in the Puget Sound area. Hoping for some sun breaks sometime soon. So happy to see Nathan Chen have a successful skate. I’ve also been entertained with some of the curling teams choice of clothing. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Saturday’s Critters

When we took a quick overnight trip to La Conner for an anniversary celebration on December 11th-12th we happened upon this field of Snow Geese in the Skagit Valley. They really were a noisy flock!

I’ll be linking up with Eileen for Saturday’s Critters. Thank you, Eileen, for being such a gracious hostess.

The last Saturday of 2017 and I’m recovering from boxing up all the Christmas decor and putting it back in the attic and vacuuming up all the needles from the tree.  Saturday evening our daughter and son-in-law will be hosting a small dinner party here to celebrate Katie’s birthday. Are your Christmas decorations still up? Will you be going out for New Year’s Eve celebrations? We’ll be fast asleep before the ball drops on New Year’s Eve.

Leftovers

Before I forget about these leftover photos of barns and critters I’m posting them for Eileen’s Saturday Critters and Tom’s Barn Collective. The two farm structures above were taken on some back roads October 6th in Skagit County.

On October 28th I took several fall photos in our yard and this sweet robin stayed still for a couple of photos.

The photos above of the Canadian Geese on the Sammamish River in Bothell were taken back on October 29th while we walked the Wayne Golf course.

These next three photos with barns were taken in Colville, Washington on November 17th.

The view above is from our son’s driveway looking out to Colville. I like to take this shot every time we visit to see how it changes in every season.

On our way home from Colville on November 20th we saw a few rainbows and this one happens to be over the nice red barn in the distance. I took this one with my cell phone.

I’ll soon be linking up to Eileen’s Saturday Critters and to Tom’s Barn Collective.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Saturday’s Critters

On Friday we picked up our friend Beth and headed north to La Conner for lunch.

We had a window seat at Nell Thorn Restaurant and while we were eating Beth saw this beauty out the window and knew I’d want to take a picture of it.

I headed out on the patio area of the restaurant to take some photos. The heron headed down to this dock to get away from me.

We enjoyed conversation and some good food. On our way home we chose some roads less traveled. I’ll share some photos from our drive later.

Hope you all have a good Saturday and Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to our Canadian neighbors!

Linking up with Eileen for Saturday’s Critters.

Barns and Critters…

Summer view from son’s mile long driveway.

We want to start a pool on when this barn is going to collapse.

A different view from our son’s driveway and part of the driveway, too, headed down to the main road.

All these photos were taken from places that have a Colville address in late June 2017.  Colville is in Northeastern Washington in Steven’s County. The next time we visit our Colville kids will probably be in August. They are coming here next weekend, woohoo! Addy’s first visit to Baba and Gramp’s house. During that same time a grand nephew will be making his first visit to Great Uncle and Great Auntie’s with his big sister who was here once before for Katie and Andrew’s wedding in 2012.

It is definitely summer here with sunshine and warm temperatures. I’ll need to get out and water again soon. I’ve started to pick blueberries off our large bush. It’s a race between me and the birds on who gets to the ripe ones first.

I’ll be Linking up to Saturday’s Critters with Eileen and The Barn Collective with Tom the Backroads Traveller.