What a Thrill!

I was making my husband's lunch this morning when I spotted two Tufted Titmice at the bird feeder! This is the first time that I've seen them at my feeders! I was so excited! I immediately stopped making the lunch and grabbed my camera! Priorities, you know!



They were the first birds I saw at the feeders this morning and quickly flew away when the feeders got more crowded. I do hope they come back!




What a beautiful way to start the day!


I'm seeing more robins in the yard. I do hope this is a sign that spring is getting closer.


We've had snow on the ground for a while now, more is expected this weekend and Monday. The robins are coming to the bird feeders. I've never seen them eat any seed, but they seem to be looking for food. I hope the snow melts soon for them, although I don't think this one has missed too many meals!



The male red-bellied woodpecker came back!


I had to stand at the door to shoo the starlings away so he could eat! They kept landing on the suet feeder and chasing him away. I frequently do that for the downy woodpeckers too. Oh how I despise those starlings!


I'm seeing more cardinals than ever too! For the last few days I've had as many as six males and five females! For several years I only had one pair, so this is quite exciting to see!

I thought I would update on my diet that I mentioned on January 31 for those who might be interested. It is still going very well! So far I've lost 16.5 pounds! That alone is motivation to keep striving towards my goal, (only 25 more to lose)! I'm still eating just whole foods with a major emphasis on legumes, fruits and vegetables. Still no caffeine or sugar! A neighbor gave my daughter half of a Cheesecake Factory Turtle Cheesecake when she babysat for them on the Saturday before Valentines Day. Now that was TORTURE! I didn't dare eat a bite though. I was so very glad when it was out of the house!

I am already seeing benefits of the diet change, which motivate me even more! Not only am I down a full size in clothing, (from a 16 to a 14), but my blood pressure and blood sugar are both staying in the normal range and my digestion issues are slowly being resolved. I am feeling so much better already!

I look forward to warmer weather when I can get outside to garden and walk again. I'm not too keen on indoor exercise and haven't been able to make myself do it...yet. Hopefully I can get motivated to start soon!

Another side note, due to increasing spam comments, I decided to stop allowing anonymous comments since most of the spam I get is anonymous. I decided to do that rather than use the word verification. I do hope this doesn't inconvenience anyone.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Robin

Happy Valentine's Day!

My sweet Valentine of 30 years, (married for almost 28 plus the 2 years of dating), and I went out to dinner last night with a group from our church. We had the small restaurant reserved for our group.

We were asked to bring a wedding picture to the event. What fun it was to see the couples who had been married for many years and how they had changed over the years! Many of them, like my husband and me, had married young! My hubby and I share the same birthday, and we had just turned 20. I have no regrets at all for marrying so young. We were poor as church mice, but we didn't care. We were and still are soul mates! What a blessing that is!

I thought I'd have a little fun with the Valentine's candy. I don't like most of the sayings on the candy so I turned them to the back side and made up my own using the text on Picasa. It's too late to use it for my hunny's Valentine's card this year, but hopefully I'll remember and make him a special card next year using this idea. What fun I could have personalizing his special card!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Wordless Wednesday- Sweet Blue Jays

Dove Ghost- Mystery Solved

On January 24, I did a blog post about a dove that had hit my window while try to escape from a Cooper's hawk. The dove hit the window pretty hard and left this incredible impression on the glass. I wasn't sure if the white substance on the glass was dander or dust.

Today my neighbor, who home schools her children, was reading a story about the American Bittern bird. The Bittern is considered a Powder Down Bird. My neighbor had read my blog post about the dove and called me to tell me about the American Bittern.

I did some Internet research today and sure enough, that is the explanation for the impression on the glass. The dove is also a Powder Down Bird! Mystery solved!





Here is a great explanation I found for this interesting phenomenon:

Doves don’t have an oil or “preen” gland to help with waterproofing their feathers. Instead, they have “powder down” feathers—extremely fine feathers that disintegrate into a dust-like substance. Through preening, the bird coats its feathers with this dust to provide some waterproofing. If you’ve ever seen a window strike by a dove, you may have seen a “ghost bird” on the glass—a tracing of the bird left on the glass by this powder down. If you and the bird are both lucky, that’s the only remnant of the strike you’ll find…
http://sipapu.wordpress.com/birds/wildlife-rehabilitation/suboscine-and-non-passeriformes-species/ Tina Mitchell

Direction Determines Destination

This post is of a personal nature, something that I am not completely comfortable doing on my blog. Not that I want it to be impersonal, but having it open to anyone who happens to stumble upon it is still a bit disconcerting to me. I read quite a few home and garden blogs and I enjoy getting a glimpse into the real lives of those who write them. So, here is a glimpse into my real life right now.

2009 was a very difficult year for my family. It started off with yet another job layoff for my husband, it was the third one in less than four years. (He was in the recreational vehicle industry.) On the heals of that was finding out that my dad had lung cancer and had to have his upper left lobe and three ribs removed along with chemo and radiation. My mother-in-law fell and had to have surgery. She is in the end stages of Alzheimer's and is slowly wasting away at 79 pounds and is dying a very slow and tragic death. Add the financial stress of trying to keep our home and stay on top of the bills and many other things thrown into the stress mix. It was difficult to say the least.

I am very much a stress eater. Also due to the finances, eating cheap was more important than eating healthy, (at least that is what I told myself). Guess what happened? I put on quite a bit of weight on my already over-weight self! At the end of December I weighed more than I have ever weighed in my life, even pregnant! YIKES! Plus I just didn't feel well at all. My immune system was sluggish and I caught everything that was going around. My blood pressure kept getting higher and higher as did my blood sugar. I had no physical or mental energy. I felt absolutely lousy!

This picture was taken by my son in October 2009.

I knew I had to do something or I was headed for some very serious health issues. So, on January 1, I got serious about my diet and health. I'm happy to report that I have done very well with my New Year's goal so far! When I weighed in this morning, I had dropped 11.5 pounds during the month of January!

I have not eaten any sugar, (I use Stevia), nor have I had a single piece of chocolate during the whole month!



I have also given up my beloved coffee, (my only source of caffeine), and replaced it with green tea. I've given up all processed junk food and I'm eating only food that provides real nutrition for my body.

I am an all or nothing kind of person, so I dare not cheat. I am also a sugar and carb addict, a junk food junkie, so I absolutely have to go cold turkey when I do this. Each time I fall off the wagon it gets harder and harder to get back on. (Yes, I've done this several times already. You would think I'd learn!). For me it is all mental. All last year, for the first time in my life I had absolutely no will power and I didn't even care anymore. I thought about food and felt hungry all of the time. It feels so good to have will power and be in control of my appetite again, to do what I know is right for my health.



I am very glad that my blood pressure and blood sugar are normal again. My doctor had prescribed blood pressure medication because my blood pressure was getting as high as 179/111 and I was having pounding headaches. I don't need the medication now.

Constant stress is a killer. It definitely takes a toll on the body, mind and spirit. I am trying to eliminate the unnecessary stress in my life. It seems that some people will continually heap more and more on our plates if we let them. I don't need more on my plate right now, it is already full. I am learning to say no.

I have over 100 books in my personal library on diet, nutrition and health. For some reason, it is a subject that fascinates me. That knowledge is absolutely worthless unless it is applied.



I am spending time each day reading from some of my favorite books on the subject to stay motivated and keep this at the forefront of my mind. I am doing my best to apply that which will benefit me and lead me back to good health. I don't want to just lose weight, I need a complete lifestyle change. Something that I can stick with long term.

My pastor preached a sermon recently about how our choices and our direction determine our destination. Life is made up of simple choices, those choices that we make eventually determine what we are. I am now reaping what I have sown in my poor choices regarding my diet and health.

Proverbs 27:12 The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

I am trying to remember this simple lesson as I change my life one choice at a time.