Tuesday Garden Party - Mega Fincho?

Remember last week, when I showed you the super-cool finch feeder we put out?  (You can get them on Amazon for those interested....)

Well, as we were watching or finches fight for spots on the feeder, playing Fincho!, we said to ourselves... "What could be better than a 24 finch feeder?"

And the natural answer to that question is this:

A 121 finch feeder!  The Mr designed and built this feeder that we like to call the Finch Organ (because it kind of looks like an organ....) so that we can watch 121 finches feed at one time!

Is that not the coolest thing ever?

We haven't had 121 finches yet, but we've had over 35.  The "word" will get out in finchland, and soon we'll be playing MegaFincho!

They are cute, aren't they?

We found one side effect of a large feeder.  A large amount of food on the ground.

Which leads to a second side effect.  Mourning doves.  Apparently they like the finch food too.

So does this California Towhee.

The hummingbird doesn't, but I liked him just the same.

And now that we've invited all of these birds into our yard, I am left with one question.  Beaks or teeth?

The few tomatoes we have are suddenly being eaten.  I can't tell if this comes from birds or rats or a different animal.  Any ideas?

We're watching and waiting for our tomatoes to start really growing. Check back next week to see how they are doing. In the meantime, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

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Happy Anniversary Michelle and Rick!

Today my beautiful niece and her handsome husband celebrate their second anniversary.

Beautiful, right?  And wonderful people too.  We were fortunate enough to have them visit several months ago.  Better guests we've never had.  I especially enjoyed their visit because we had an opportunity to get to know Rick better.  He's a fantastic addition to our family.

I hope you both enjoy your anniversary and that you have many more celebrations.  We love you guys!

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Sunday Snapshot - Weekend Review and a Preview

The Mr and I had a wonderful weekend.  We got to sleep in past 7.  Two days in a row.  Heaven.

Here's some other things we did:

Made lemon jelly.  Delicious.

Want the recipe?  Check back the week of August 23 - 27 for a "Canning Week" blog party!

Finished this:

Curious as to what it is (aside from the coolest thing in our backyard)?  Come back Tuesday.  I'll let you know.

Made Sunday dinner with all of these spices.  There are 16 there.

Want to know what I made?  You can find out this Friday!  Be sure to check back - this was amazing.

And finally, a little planet watching with The Mr.  Beautiful skies.  Can you see the planets?

I won't make you wait to find out which ones are which...

Mercury is in this picture too... but there is too much light pollution to see it.  Ugh.  Still, pretty romantic, sharing the planets with my hubby.



Hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as we enjoyed ours...  and I hope you check back this week!

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Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes and Zucchini

When you are faced with an abundance of this:

And this:

... you really should try making this:


Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes and Zucchini

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 medium zucchini, sliced
4 medium tomatoes, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place tomatoes, onion and zucchini in a shallow pan (a cookie sheet with sides works well), mix in the olive oil, making sure to coat all the vegetables, and spread into a single layer.

2. Place the vegetables in the oven and roast for 10 minutes, or until the edges start to brown. Stir and roast for 10 - 15 more minutes. The vegetables should be very soft and slightly browned.

3. Meanwhile, grill the chicken breasts. (I feel like there should be some more complicated instruction here, but that's really it. Grill the chicken breasts. I supposed I can add "making sure not to overcook" because I do that sometimes. But maybe you don't. Probably you don't.)

4. Stir the herbs into the vegatable mixture. The tomatoes should smash up and make a kind of thick sauce for the zucchini and onions. Salt and pepper to taste.

5. Put the chicken breasts on plates and spoon the vegetable sauce over them. Tasty!


For more great recipes, check out The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap! If you have a recipe to share, please join in the fun!



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Before and After

This week I have a problem photo.  This is The Boy and me when we picked him up from camp.

I love the setting.  We've got several others from different trips in this same place, so I really wanted a picture here.  Unfortunately, as you can tell, the lighting is terrible.

This is after I spent some time with PS Elements.  I tried to get rid of some of the shadows and brighten the colors.  Still, not a fabulous picture, much better!  

I think I like how this one turned out - hope you do too.  I'm pretty sure that by the next time we go to camp The Boy will be taller than me, though I have ordered him to stop growing.  He's only 9 for heaven's sake.  ;-)

If you like my shots, you need to visit Pixel Perfect for more before and after fun! And if you want to play along all you have to do is show us your SOOC (straight out of camera) shot and then the edited version. Link back to Pixel Perfect and link up your post below! Feel free to share with us your editing program and camera gear too!

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My Crazy Neighbor and His Mom

We live in a wonderful area.  Great location, reasonably quiet street.  Lovely scenery. 

Crazy neighbors on either side of us.

Wait, that's not part of the good things about where we live.

Nevertheless, true.

The neighbor on one side (we call him Ned, referencing Ned Flanders, though he really is very little like Ned Flanders) is in his early fifties we think.  He doesn't have a job.  He's been taking care of his elderly mom for the past eleven years, living in her house and living off of her Social Security and pension. 

I don't feel like I am telling secrets or anything here.  I am CERTAIN that if he had the opportunity to talk to any of you that he would tell you these things.  That is his thing.  He's a talker.  All the time.  For long periods of time. 

His mom died about two weeks ago.  He called a few days before the memorial service for his mom and asked if we would take pictures.  (Technically he asked if The Mr would take pictures because he is not really comfortable talking to me... kind of a male chauvanist... but The Mr couldn't and threw me under the bus asked if I could do it instead)

I was raised that when a neighbor has a death in the family, you bring food.  We have been crazy busy and hadn't been able to get over to even give our condolences except in passing much less make anything to bring.  So when we got the call, I thought "here is something that I can do!"

Though, taking pictures at a memorial service.  Odd.  I've never done it, nor seen it done.  I talked to the minister prior to the service to make sure it was OK.  The minister seemed almost relieved that I was offering.  You see, Ned doesn't have a lot of friends.  He's a super-needy guy, and a real talker.  Did I mention that?  None of the family (except Ned) came for the memorial service.  I think the minister was afraid that there wouldn't be anyone to be there for the service and for Ned. 

I took the pictures from the balcony.  No one noticed me, which was good.  It was a small and short service.  About 35 people were there, including the folks who did the music and the ministry people who bring the cookies for the "after party".

Ned's mom was a pretty interesting woman.  One of the first women pilots in the Air Force.  She flew during WWII.  B25s actually.  She was a college graduate.  She raised a family.  She received a Congressional Gold Medal for her Air Force service.

All things we never knew.  She was never really able to intereact with us in the six years that we lived next door.  We saw her in passing as Ned took her to and from appointments.  Kind of sad.

I printed some of the pictures that I took and made a little book for Ned.  He seemed to really appreciate the effort.

I thought I would share a few of the pictures of her memorial service.

A beautiful picture.  Sadly, we never saw her like this.

The minister.

Ned himself.

Early years.

Congressional Gold Medal

I am sorry I never knew her.  May she be at peace.


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Tuesday Garden Party - Fincho!

We've been working to create a nice retreat to be able to watch birds. The Mr and I like the birds. We recently got a new feeder, on which we can see 24 finches at a time! We play finch bingo when we watch this (4 in a row is fincho.... 24 is finchout!). And take pictures of course.

You can see some of the different kinds of finches we get here.

Sometimes two sit in one spot.  And sometimes (often!) they push each other off the perch.

And sometimes we get just one.

Sometimes we get distracted by other birds.

The guys at this feeder think all of us are crazy.  Which we may well be.  ;-)

But always, we watch for that most elusive of events.... finchout!

Check back next week to see what The Mr built for our backyard enjoyment! In the meantime, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

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Sunday Snapshot - Time to Come Home

We picked up The Boy from camp this weekend.  Kind of the reverse of what we did when we dropped off The Girl a few weeks ago.

This is The Boy with one of his counselors.  She's awesome.

The Boy at his cabin.

The Boy at his bunk.

The Boy and I walk down to where the campfire is held.

In front of the chapel...

The Boy and I at the outdoor chapel.   Gorgeous surroundings.

Then we were off to get a malt.  The Boy is tired of waiting.  Or tired of the constant noise of the shutter.  ;-)

Mmmm.  Chocolate malt.

And of course the candy mine...

... watch your head!

This is where we found the world's largest jawbreaker.

It costs $9.00.

Thank goodness The Boy is not old enough to have "old camp friends"!









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