Joy AND Sadness

As you know, I've been very distracted for the past month --dealing with my left knee problem. Anyhow--during that time, our Bluebirds must have decided to nest in the new Bluebird Nestbox in our backyard. After the Chickadees and Bluebirds fought over the nest a couple of months ago, neither took it. SO--it had been empty for quite awhile.

This morning George walked by the nestbox (for another reason) and a Bluebird flew out.... He came and told me---and of course, I got VERY excited... I made him open the nest to see what was going on.. Surprise!!! There are about 4 baby birds in that nest.. SO--I'm gonna be a Grammy again this Summer!!!! YEAH!!!

I sat on the deck for awhile this afternoon trying to get some pictures... Mom and Dad were taking turns going back and forth feeding the little ones.. I managed to get a few pictures ---but hopefully I will get LOTS more before and when they fledge.

Above is Mama Bluebird coming out of the nest... (They are so quick that it's hard to catch them in a photo.) Below are a few more pictures!!!!

Daddy Bluebird comes to the nest to check out his babies. Mom and Dad take turns going back and forth taking care of them.

I just had to include this picture even though it's sorta blurry.... One of Dad's jobs is to carry the 'fecal sac' away from the nest (far away). See it in his mouth? Bluebirds are VERY clean birds --and when all of them leave the nest, we will find it almost as clean as when they first got there. Daddy keeps those babies' diapers changed regularly!!!! ha

Here's a cute picture of Daddy Bluebird at the nestbox. I'm sure he and his lady are proud of their babies!!!! I'll keep you posted on this JOY.

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On a very sad note, a very good blog friend of mine, Eileen Brown, from British Columbia. lost her husband, Daryl, this week. Eileen and I have been blog friends since November of 2008 ---even BEFORE I joined Blogger. She is one of my very first blog friends--and she means so much to me.

Eileen and her hubby had only been married five years (would have been six in August) ---so we had something special in common, since George and I have only been married almost nine years. We both felt as if we had found a very special love-of-our-life in our 'golden' years. We always enjoyed talking about our Sweethearts with one another. The one difference was that this was the first marriage for both Eileen and Daryl. They had no children---but have an adorable dog named Mingus.

Eileen had gone to visit an ill sister when her husband died. He was only 60 and had been in very good health. He worked six months out of the year doing fire weather forecasting. No one knows yet what happened to Daryl, but apparently, he died very suddenly (maybe from a massive heart attack).

When I read Eileen's post, I just burst into tears. Life is so precious --and none of us know how long we are going to be on this earth. This has just devasted me. I wish I could meet Eileen and give her a big hug. We haven't met ---but she is one special lady. Don't let anyone ever tell you that blog friends are not that important. They ARE--and I have some GREAT friends for life I'm sure.

If you have a few minutes, please go to Eileen's blog and leave her a comment. I'm sure she'll appreciate knowing that so many of us in Blog World are thinking about her and praying for her. Click HERE to visit Eileen's blog (Cicero Sings).

Hugs,