Duck Tales

Maybe not a duck, but water fowl (sort of) nonetheless. A few weeks ago we heard through the grapevine that our sod was going to be installed in the next few days. Woohoo! No more mud to wash off the boys and way less dust blowing into our house and dirtying up the window tracks. So off we went to the backyard one evening to check things out before the sod was laid and we heard this little Killdeer "yelling" at us. As we got closer we noticed a nest with some eggs in it - right there in the dirt. Well I couldn't let the sod guys (the SGs) come and destroy the nest and eggs so I called the DNR and the following conversation ensued:

Me: "I have a Killdeer nest in my backyard that needs to be moved before the 'sod guys' come in the next day or two."
DNR: "You can't move a migratory bird nest. There is a $600 fine if you're caught disturbing the nest." At this point I was very glad I hadn't identified myself when I got on the phone.
Me: "Well, the sodders are going to come and grade right over it. Wouldn't it be better to move it than have it destroyed?"
DNR: "You could grade and sod around it. Or I suppose you could apply for a permit to move it. Call the US Fish and Wildlife Services for that." This is starting to sound expensive...

So I dialed the number the DNR gave me for the US Fish and Wildlife permit office and got a voicemail. Needless to say, I didn't leave my contact information.

Meanwhile the SGs were here inspecting the yard with Sean and agreed to sod around the nest and then come back to patch the hole when the birds left. So the next day, the SGs showed up and got to work grading the yard.


Once it was graded, they put the rolls of sod onto this machine and rolled it out. You can see the small spot with the birds nest in the lower right hand corner of the picture.


The SGs showed up about 7 am and after 14 hours and a few dive-bombs by Mama Killdeer the backyard looked like this:


So after I rescued these birds I felt a sort of "mama bear" obsession with continuing to protect them (apparently their own mother wasn't good enough). Once the sod was laid, we started to get geese in our yard and they would go right up to the nest and eat whatever it is that they eat while Mama Killdeer squawked and dive-bombed the geese. Discontent with the effectiveness of the dive-bombing, I often marched out into the yard, broom in hand, to chase away the geese. Or sometimes I'd send Jack.

And given that I "rescued" the birds from the SGs and the geese, I felt I had every right to march up to the nest for a look-see and photo session. Here is Mama Killdeer:

Here are the eggs (look on the far left side of the nest):

Mama Killdeer did not agree with me. She's doing a "broken wing dance" in an attempt to distract me from the nest. Apparently since I stopped taking pictures of the nest to get video of this, it worked:

After that, I left her and the babies alone. Then one day I didn't see her on the nest so I went to check it out and she and the eggs were gone. After days and days of tirelessly chasing geese I was disappointed to find them missing and thought surely they had met a tragic end. However as I "researched" (read "followed one google link") Killdeer for this post, I learned that the babies can see and walk as soon as they hatch so I'm reassured that the babies survived and Mama Killdeer simply relocated her family to a more suitable environment. You know, one without loud equipment, SGs, thousands of treacherous geese and two active little boys in close proximity.

Definitely Keeping Up

I spent the morning in the doctor's office with Elise and Wesley. Elise had her 6-month check-up and Wes was in for a follow-up to a wheezing episode he had a couple weeks ago. I'm happy to report that Wes's lungs sounded great and that the likelihood that the wheezing was asthma related is lessened by the fact that he only needed the nubulizer for four days and sounded great today...whew!

When Elise was in for her 4-month check, she weighed in at about 17 pounds - the 99th percentile. Just looking at her you can tell she's, well, healthy as many strangers so "politely" point out. However, I didn't expect her to be 22 pounds, 4 ounces healthy today at 6 months old. If there was such a thing as the 101st percentile I think she'd hit it. For reference, Jack was 23 pounds at 1 year, Wesley was 24. Even now, Wesley, who I should remind you is 14 months older than his baby sis, is less than 5 pounds heavier. "Don't worry, she's fine," says our pediatrician whose daughter was as big as Elise at 6 months and is now a very average sized 4-year-old. She's the expert. I guess I won't worry.

Keeping Up

"Aww," I thought as I watched Wes and Elise playing together (read "in close proximity"). "They're going to be great friends."

Then this happened...

Remember this post? It's as true outside the womb as inside, I guess. Poor Wes, he's going to get picked on from both of his siblings.

Starkey Spray Park

Oh how I wish I knew of a good spray park near us where we could take the children on hot summer days. Instead, our children spray each other where we park the cars.

The boys were helping me water our new plants one hot afternoon last week and got a little carried away with the hose. It started with an innocent dump truck washing and ended with Wesley soaked from head to toe and Jack in his crocs and underwear. By the way, he is only wearing his underwear at my insistence; if it was up to him, he would just be wearing the crocs on account of not liking to get his clothes wet. Luckily this particular day, both of them enjoyed being sprayed by the other. On any given day, this activity can insight yelling, crying, fighting and tattling which requires a lot of referring on our part.

Elise couldn't miss out on the fun. Although she stayed much drier (again at my insistence). She would much rather suck on anything that comes within 6 inches of her mouth anyway.

Hold on to Your Wallets

In the name of global warming (a theory that is as unsupported by science as it is supported) our government is today voting on a bill that will increase our taxes by $2 trillion and eliminate millions of US jobs.

According to The Heritage Foundation, Cap and Trade:
1. Is a Massive Energy Tax
2. Will Not Make A Substantive Impact on the Environment
3. Will Kill Jobs
4. Will Cause Electricity Bills and Gas Prices to Sharply Increase
5. Will Outsource Manufacturing Jobs and Hurt Free Trade
6. Will Make You Choose Between Energy, Groceries, Clothing or Haircuts.
7. Will Be Highly Susceptible to Fraud and Corruption
8. Will Hurt Senior Citizens, the Poor, and the Unemployed the Worst
9. Will Cost American Families Over $3,000 a Year
10. President Obama Admitted “Electricity Rates Would Necessarily Skyrocket” under a cap-and-trade program. (January 2008)

Members of our House of Representatives will be asked to vote on this bill today just hours after receiving the final 1,000+ page document. A responsible representative would read through a document he or she was asked to vote on. It's not possible when only given a few hours to do it. The attitude in Washington seems to be "hurry up and push it though before anyone knows what's in it."

According to Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann on the Chris Baker show this morning, 85% of the taxes generated by this bill will go to special interest groups. She says you can also expect to pay 75% more at the gas pump, twice as much for electricity and 55% more for natural gas (as of yet I have not been able to validate these statements). To see how this bill will impact people in your district, read this article and look at the attached table.

Any Guesses?

What is going on in this picture?

Daddy's Day

Knowing that Father's Day was going to be busy for us, I wanted Saturday to be a day for Sean. I tried to let him sleep in, but apparently the noise created by "managing" three children is just too much to sleep through.

Despite the warm weather, we opted to head to the zoo for a picnic and to check out the new Africa exhibit. The lunch left us hungry (probably because I forgot half of it) and the Africa exhibit left us a little underwhelmed. However, we did get to spend the day together and the kids had a great time (hopefully Sean did too).

The obligatory pictures of children on the tiger.

Wes, Jack and Daddy admire Africa.

Elise spent the last half of the trip like this.

I know that if crying wasn't the only way they knew how to express themselves (Jack included), the children would say they are lucky to have such a great dad that loves them deeply, plays with them as if he was a child himself and provides a great example of what it means to love Jesus.