Happy Days Are Here Again!!!

It has been a very good, (and busy), week here at Robin's Nesting Place. We had a week long visit from my parents and niece and we finally got the call we had been waiting for! Kerry was offered a position with a company that he has desired to work for for several years now! He starts work on Monday! Things definitely worked out for the better in this case. He enjoyed his other job, but he was considered self-employed and therefore had no company benefits. After having been with a great company for 15 years, a job with no benefits greatly bothered me. I really missed having the perks that a larger company afforded. I'm so thankful that he is now going to have those "perks" again. We are so thankful that the unemployment didn't drag out any longer than it did. We are also very thankful that we can stay right here in our beloved city of Noblesville. I think I'm finally beginning to breath normally again.

We have several friends close to us who are still unemployed. Some are in the same industry as Kerry and a few are not. It is very tough economic times for many people. Our prayers continue to be with those who are still waiting.

2008 Indiana State Fair

Yesterday I finally had the opportunity to visit the Indiana State Fair for the very first time. The State Fair is a big deal around here and I was the only person I knew who had never been. It was a beautiful day, right around 80 degrees with very little humidity.

I love the smell of cotton candy! It is one of those smells that immediately triggers childhood memories.







I spent the last hour of my time there just sitting and watching people eat.
Fair food doesn't really tempt me too much; deep fried Oreo or Snickers isn't very appetizing or appealing to me.

Deep fried Pepsi? I wonder how they do that.

I skipped the fried veggies too and had ice cream instead, that is always tempting to me. The chocolate milkshake from the Dairy Barn was delicious.

A mass planting of chili peppers.



A couple of young girls in Pioneer Village.




Getting ready for judging. They were gorgeous, especially exquisite decked out in their finery.

Well, now that I have finally been to the Indiana State Fair, I feel like a real Hoosier!

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

I was in the kitchen this afternoon and thought I saw a hummingbird moth fly by the patio door. I grabbed my camera and went outside looking around the yard hoping to find it. I was delighted to see that it was indeed a hummingbird moth. My first one to see this year!

I was able to get a few pictures of them last summer and was hoping that I would see them again this year.

Usually I plant the lantana in pots on the patio, but this year I planted several in the ground. They are doing much better than the ones that are potted. This was the favorite of the clearwing moth.



I'll have to keep a closer eye on the lantana now that I know which plant it prefers.

Hummingbirds

I've never had large numbers of hummingbirds visit my feeders, usually just one or two at a time and the most I've ever seen at one time was four.There were three hummingbirds fighting over the feeders today.

I stood very still on the patio, ( in the drizzling rain), waiting for one to light on the post long enough for me to snap a picture. It always amazes me to witness their diverse flying maneuvers.

I took these pictures through the window, which was still wet from the over night rain.

We had a terrible thunder storm that terrified our golden retriever, Lilly, and alarmed us too, we needed the rain though and I'm very thankful to have received it. Now I need to do a little more weeding while the ground is wet.