Mish Mosh From This Week

My mojo has gone missing.  And I think my brain with it.  I managed to get this birthday card for my godmother done before her birthday, but I'm afraid that my "brain calendar" has let me down and I misplaced a week somewhere so I'm behind on my birthday cards.  So on my list of things to get done this weekend are now "belated" birthday cards.  That and Valentine's Day stuff  - oh, I have my work cut out for me.  Finding that mojo would be very opportune right now!

I combined some SU and Unity stamps for this one.  I stamped the cake and then made a mask so I could get the lace on there, emboss it and then add the sponging.  

I had to sneak in a picture of the baby from last weekend.  He is such a joy!  He turned 10 months old this week - it goes by so fast.  He's crawling, pulling himself up on everything, and babbling up a storm.  I think he's going to be a handful for his parents because he wants to go, go, go!

Just a few pictures from last Sunday that I hadn't shared.  I love the signage on the Inlet deli.  As busy as the area is in the summer, it's not so busy that you don't notice it, but in the winter, when things are slowed down quite a bit, it just stands out so much more. 

We had our first snow day on Thursday of this week.  We only got about 5" of snow, but it was coming down heavily during the time the school buses would have been collecting the students so it was a good call to close the schools.  They had forecasted 6-10" for our area but being that it was a very heavy snow, it worked out for the better and didn't tax the snowblower (or the snowblower operator - HWNSNBP) as much as it could have.  

HWNSNBP had recently repaired this feeder that we use at the school and decided to put it out for the birds in the bad weather.  Well, as you can see, a flock of starlings found it and swarmed it keeping our regular backyard guests away from it and the suet feeder.  

So we gave them a brief snack and shooed them away and put the feeder away until they left the area.  It may seem unfair, but they are aggressive and will keep the other "well-behaved" visitors away.

This has been playing over in my head this week.  I had an e-mail conversation with the staff at the Raptor Trust this week.  They had made an appeal on Facebook for people to sign up as bird rescuers specifically for European sparrow and starling babies.  I questioned this as they are both considered invasive species here in the US and we try to discourage them from our area because they compete with the cavity-nesters like our bluebirds, sometimes just destroying nests and eggs for territorial rights alone.  (We've even seen the evidence of the female blue being attacked and either perishing or being so afraid as to abandon her eggs.)  

They were very polite in their response stating that while these species do not fall under the Migratory Bird Act and are not protected, it is their policy to be humane to all species.  However, since they are funded for the purpose of protecting our native species, they ask for the help in taking care of these non-natives off-site.  This way they can train people in the care of baby birds and perhaps get them to volunteer at their facility and get them certified as bird rehabilitators.  

I see the reasoning behind that and can accept it, though I can't bring myself to personally do it, as again, I've seen the effects of having these non-natives around.  This train of thought, using the words non-native and native, played on my mind heavily this week in light of what's going on here in the US.  I don't support this "ban" of people of other races/ethnicity's or religions entering our country without credible reason, but find myself turning my back on these birds in what might be perceived as being inhumane.  But I know these birds to be "terrorists" in the garden.  I have seen what they are capable of, but do I turn my back on the innocent among them?  I know we're talking apples and oranges here, birds and people, but it does make you think.  Or maybe I'm just too negatively affected by all this political/non-political stuff that seems to be surrounding us lately.  

So let me drop the topic and show you what I spent some time doing on that snow day - the family tradition is to make chocolate chip cookies.  Even though the kids are no longer home, and even though he does not even eat them, HWNSNBP wanted to make certain that the tradition was carried out and had me check that we had all the ingredients before he went to the store the day before the storm.  I saved a little of the batter to add nuts to for some cookies for myself, but the rest of these went to work with me on Friday (we had a delayed opening because of the snow) and were quickly devoured.  

That tradition completed, I now have another tradition to take care of today - Valentine's Day marshmallows!