apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

Or is it the pansy doesn't fall far from the pansy-filled hanging basket? Either way, I thought this was pretty cool. And the ONLY thing in my yard that's worth sharing (see last post for reference). Speaking of apples, my grandmother is getting us an apple tree as a late Christmas gift - pretty cool!

So, here's the deal: Last winter/early spring I had a hanging basket that had a ton of multi-colored pansies hanging at the end of our driveway, next to the irises. Well, what I initially believed to be weeds, turned out to be some purple pansies in the area right below the hanging basket. I'm sure there's a scientific way to demonstrate exactly how the seeds (do pansies even have seeds?) got transferred from the basket to the ground, but I'm not going to pretend to know how it happened - and no, I didn't plant these pansies so I'll just show you my pictures. Please note, the hanging basket this year also has purple pansies....pure coincidence.

cardinals and more

There really isn't anything in my yard that's worth talking about, so here's a post dedicated to the birds who have been snacking at my feeders. I just want to say that Cardinals are hard to shoot because they are very skittish - they'll fly off if they sense that they're being 'watched.' So there's the excuse as to why these pics are a little blurry - I have to shoot fast before they see me.

Another shot of the young male at the feeder
Carolina Chickadee with the Cardinal waiting his turn to
gobble up the sunflower seeds

Female Cardinal on the lookout

Brown Thrasher - they're bottom feeders

A couple of Brown-headed Nuthatches

whose bed is it?

So one night while the family was chillin' out, Owen decided to take advantage of Margot's vacant bed. Well, let's just say he lasted about 5 minutes before Margot realized what was happening and she wasn't about to let Owen steal her bed. Here's how it went down...

happy (and proud) Owen

Margot making the first move to overthrow Owen

Getting a bit more aggressive

Upset that she got pulled out of the bed and forced to leave Owen alone

the gambler

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em - know when to walk away and know when to run....

You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table

there'll be time enough for countin', when the dealin's done...

holes

Last month the 'in' thing for Margot was a stick. This month, well, it's digging holes. Not cool, Margot...not cool.

it's been a while...

But I've been out and about these past few weeks doing a little bit of this and that....

view from my hotel room

and at night

nice billboard