Sad Report: The camera is having issues

Our camera is officially on the fritz. Sometimes it seems to want to work and then...pssssbts. It shuts itself off. This does not bode well for "capturing the moments" on a whim, as I've discovered today.

We have our friends JK and his little sister B over today, and when J came home, he asked them if they would be willing to go out and pick all the "yellow flowers" that have inundated our backyard. They were THRILLED with this idea...based on their reaction, I've really got to work on my delivery of how I ask kids to do chores, I tell you.

Anyway, they are out there and E has decided to wear this sunhat that, luckily, has a strap on it. I say luckily because we are having GUSTS of wind that can knock any one of these little kids on their bottoms without a moment's notice. It is soooooo funny watching them scurry, trying to get these flowers picked while the wind is making this awfully difficult! I wanted to get a picture and also take a shot of the bird's nest. Alas! The camera is, as my children say, "Not being my friend!" and I just had to share this news and knew that you could appreciate it, Gentle Reader.

Nesting

Tis the season, I guess.

Across the way on the outskirts of a nearby neighborhood, on the other side of a 4 lane road, is this little pond that geese seem to LOVE from fall to early summer. We see them there all the time and it's kind of neat to watch them fly in and swim or walk across the road (that's a hoot in fact). Two weeks ago, I was surprised to see one brave little soul who built her nest on a "wall" of rocks for the second year in a row, sitting on her nest. Last year, I never saw any little goslings, and I think she might have been chased away from her nest by the lawn care company that was moving and trimming stuff over there, but I could be wrong. Yet she's back. So far this nesting season, she's had to sit through a number of torrential rains and some nasty cold snaps, so I wish her well on her endeavor. Plus, I think it'd be neat to see some little babies swimming in that pond, but that's just me.

On the other hand, I'm not feeling the love so much for a young Robin couple who have decided that our newly acquired swing set is a FABULOUS place to set up residence. We have a slide/swing set that has a little house thingy over the slide, and the birds have built your typical round nest in the rafters of that little house thing. So, my kids (with the exception of O who could care less) are hesitant now to use the slide (sigh). (the picture on the left shows what the nest looks like...now just picture it in the little house-covering-thing near a slide...I'll try to get an actual picture if I can)

But more importantly to me, you should see the state of our deck and stairs leading to the lawn (I may spare you the picture of this, though). In their quest to what...look for better nest material? Look for potential enemies? Chirp proudly about spring? I have no idea, but these birds visit our deck with GREAT regularity and consequently, our deck and stairs are COVERED in bird poo. Seriously. Crap is everywhere (excuse my French!) and I'm grossed out. I've already mentioned the torrential rain that cleaned off one round of it, but today it looks just as bad as ever. I can't let the baby out by herself because she thinks these round white piles are FASCINATING and must be touched and examined with fine detail.

Oh yes. You can only imagine.

I'm only hoping we have avoided tasting those little "treats" by my shrill shrieks of, "EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Leave that alone!!!!"

So, you see that I'm not against nesting. I'm just against any crap that comes with it...like so many things in life. lol.

Hope you are having a good day (and sorry about the spacing situation of the last few paragraphs...after trying to fix these dastardly things, I've given up for the time being. Yet another example of the above complaint. sigh)