I didn't get around to putting out my bird feeder until late November or early December after we moved into our new house.  I may have waited too long, because very few birds ate from the feeder all winter long.  Fortunately, the squirrels haven't gotten into it either.  I've seen a pair of Chickadees and a couple of Sparrows.  The Mourning Doves often sat under the bird feeder, but never on it.

Well, this morning I was pleasantly surprised to look out and see a beautiful male cardinal sitting on my feeder.  At the same time, I noticed the doves flapping about.  It turns out they are nesting in a hollowed-out spot on the oak tree (where the tree lost a large limb many years ago, undoubtedly).

Can you see her?  You have to look closely.  Anyway, just another sign that spring is here and yet another cold Wisconsin winter is on its way out.  With a high of 66 degrees today, I'm looking forward to working on the deck a little more.  Hopefully in a couple of weeks it will remain warm enough that we can seal the deck and put out our patio furniture and the grill again.

Yesterday's beautiful, sunny, warm weather prompted me to go out and survey the yard.  I was surprised to find that my lillies are coming up already!!  The wild ones, anyway.  I decided to work on the deck while the kids were playing in the yard.  We want to put a coat of water-sealant down before we set out the patio furniture, but the deck desperately needed washing before we could seal it.  Honestly, I don't think the previous owners ever bothered cleaning the deck.  I started out with a bucket of water and the deck brush, but I quickly realized that I would need the hose.  I scrubbed a small section, hosed off the sludge, scrubbed a little more, and then rinsed.  Here are the results.  You can see around the edges where the deck brush wouldn't fit, the color my deck was before I washed it.  YUCK!!!  Green-gray slime.  It looks beautiful now!

I will undoubtedly scrub it down one more time before we seal it, just to make sure I got off all of the crud.  I was hoping to get out and finished around the edges today with a hand brush, but it looks like rain so I will have to wait until we have nice weather again.

Just a couple of photos that I meant to post last weekend, but didn't have the time to upload until today.  Here's a pic of Sydney with one of her little art projects from school:

And here's Kylie after spending about 20 minutes giving herself a makeover:

Oh, and I got a nice thank you card in the mail today from Joyce, the woman whose mother I drew the portrait of.  She sounds quite pleased with the drawing.  I'm glad.

I did my first "commissioned" drawing this week, for one of my brother's elder-care clients.  What do you think?

I wish I could make a living doing this, or at least make enough money to suppliment our income so that I didn't have to work for $7.25 at a part-time evening job.

Just for kicks, here are a couple of pics of my kids that I did.

 

If anyone's curious enough to look at my other drawings, here's a link: My Artwork.  Besides portraits I have done for friends and family, there are a bunch of "Lord of the Rings" drawings, as well as a couple drawings of Josh Groban.

Kiefer and I took the kids for a walk at the Retzer Nature Center on Saturday.  It was a little bit chilly with the wind, but not too bad.  And the kids, those little troopers, are such good little hikers.  We walked about 2 miles.  We didn't see any of the wildlife that we know is so abundant there because two very inconsiderate people ignored the "No Dog Allowed" sign and snuck their BIG dogs in anyway.  You could hear them barking all throughout the park.  I hope they get a hefty fine next time.  Anyway, we did see several signs that spring is just around the corner... robins everywhere and this... 

The pussywillows are budding.  At least, I think that's what this is.  That's what we called them as kids.

Winters in Wisconsin are long, so this was a welcome sign that nicer weather is just around the corner.

This week was a mixed bag.  We had to take the car in for 50,000 mile maintenance.  We got it in there and they said that the 30,000 mile maintenance had never been done.  All of our fluids were very dirty, etc.  Well, Kiefer took it to Car-X at 30,000 miles to have all that work done, but the dealer's mechanic said if we didn't have it done right away at 50,000 (instead of waiting until 60,000) it would void our warranty (which only has 10,000 miles left anyway).  So, we paid $450 for all of this maintenance.  Anyway, during the maintenance, they found a gasket leak in the transmision fluid pan or something like that.  I don't know anything about cars, nor did I talk to the mechanic myself, so I am getting this story second hand from Kiefer.  Ugh!  That's another $150 or something like that!  This did NOT come at a good time.  We've built up a bit of credit card debt over the last couple of months, so we were hoping to try toget it paid off.  These expensive car repairs aren't helping!

To top it off, our water heater was leaking.  But here is where our luck turned around.  I called the Home Warranty Company (we've been in this house for less than a year) and a replacement heater would be covered, with the exception of a $50 deductible.  While the plumber was here, I asked him about a couple of leaky pipes in the basement.  He called the insurance company and, to my surprise, the leaks were covered, too!!  Better still, I only had to pay the $50 deductible ONCE (new policy starting this week).  Had I called last week, I would have had to pay $50 per repair job... $50 for the water heater, $50 for the leaky water meter, and $50 for the other leak.

Kiefer went to pick up the car last night at the dealership's maintenance department.  They didn't charge him for the rental car (for 2 days!) or for the gasket leak repair!

All in all, I guess I shouldn't complain.  Everything worked out pretty well.

Well, I've been working all weekend so I am dead tired... too tired to think of anything interesting to say, so I will just leave you with this nifty site I came across.
create your own visited states map

First, here's Boo getting into mischief.  She climbs the gate, but can't get all the way over.  What a cutie!

Well, something about starvation has made Sunny (our birdy) much more open to socialization... and to learning tricks!  Ok, so they aren't the coolest tricks in the world, but we're pleased that she is so easily trained.  She will now ring a bell for a treat when we say "ding-a-ling" and she will spin around once when we say "dance".  It's cute.  It's amusing.

Now, I have heard of people training their Cockatiel to talk.  I know they can imitate sounds, somewhat, but some people actually claim they can talk.  So... I think I might start trying to teach her to say something.  I'm not sure what.  Something short and simple, of course.  We'll see what happens.  We taught her to ring the bell in about 15 minutes.  It took her a little longer to "dance", about 30 minutes.  I wonder how long, if ever, it will take her to talk.

Sunny is still not eating her veggies.  Well, she eats some (VERY LITTLE) when she gets hungry enough... but given the choice between seed and veggies, she'd never touch the veggies.  In fact, one night, she even decided to poop on the dried greens I gave her so she wouldn't have to eat them!!  Little stinker!

We're looking for another birdy to adopt.  We are thinking about a Conure or a Quaker, only because the bigger birds are a little too expensive for us (adoption fees are ridiculously high on some of them).  My husband used to work with birds... Cockatoos, Amazons, Toucans, and others, when he worked for a travelling zoo... a high school summer job.  Anyway, he loved the birds and now wants one that he can train to talk and so on.

Anyone know of a person in the Wisconsin or Northern Illinois area that needs to get rid of their birdy?  That's how we got Sunny.  The owners were going to release her outside!  We rescued her.  Now's she part of the family :)

Well, I got my birthday/anniversary gift a little early... ok a month and a half early.  Hehehe.  Kiefer got me a violin.  I have been wanting to play ever since my mom bought her violin, back in November or December.  I used to play when I was about 11 years old.  In fact, I picked it up rather quickly.  Messing around with my mom's violin really made me wish I hadn't quit.

Well, as it turns out, the violin is worth a lot of money.  So, I made the decision to list it on E-Bay in hopes of getting closer to it's true value.  Then I will buy myself a newer, less-expensive violin.  You can see it here, if you happen to be in the market for a violin, or if you are just curious.  (Note: the auction won't open until 5:30PM PST... it runs from Friday 2/27 5:30PM PST until Friday 3/5 at 5:30PM PST).  1913 E Reinhold Schmidt Violin 

My mother is picking up the kids this afternoon, so I will have a few hours to myself with which I can do whatever I choose.  I have neglected my Italian studies for the last few days, so I suppose I'll brush up on my verb-conjugation skills.  I'm surprised at how quickly I am learning.  I just need to find someone to practice on, or I'm sure I will quickly get out of practice.  Italian anyone?

Sunday morning, I am driving to Johnson Creek to meet Eliza.  I haven't seen her for about a month.  We'll have breakfast and chit-chat for a while.  Then we'll probably walk around at the outlet mall for a while, and perhaps pay a visit to Kohls.  There are some adorable pants on clearance that I've been dying to get, if I can find them in my size!

So, that's my weekend, in a nutshell.  I figured I'd better make a post about it now, because I may end up forgetting later on. :)

Well, my mom and I had planned to go skiing this morning.  We cancelled our plans when it looked like all of the snow would be melted.  It was in the mid-30s and raining all day long.

Wouldn't you know, we got about an inch of snow last night!!  It was too late to reschedule my plans with my mom, who just returned from New Zealand and had a lot of work to catch up on.  So, no skiing for me.  Anyway, the kids had fun in the snow. :)

 

 

The kids both got their hair cut last week.  Here they are: