Couldn't help myself...

Oh dear...I'm in deep ... kind of smitten with the goslings at the moment.  In fact, I couldn't stop myself going over to the lake between rain showers to get a few hundred more shots.  As is sometimes the case when I've taken far too many shots and can't decide what to blip...I just flipped through them and waited for the one that made me feel some sort of emotion.  This was it.  There is something very tender about this to me.  

I had a strange and rather unsettling experience at the lake today.  I was just setting up to take some shots of the goslings when a man walking a huge dog that he called a "wolf hybrid" came along.  All the geese quickly started making alarm calls and moved the goslings into the lake faster than you could say "yikes".  The man said he'd "wait" until I finished my shot.  I wasn't sure what he meant by that and so continued shooting. Eventually he wandered away and the geese returned to the grassy banks of lake to feed.  Then, suddenly off they went into the water again - yep, the man and his canine/lupine were back.  He kept hanging around and I eventually got the feeling that he was waiting for me to leave so that he could turn his dog loose.  Needless to say, the dog could have killed the goslings quite handily.  I settled myself in for the long haul - no way was I going to leave.  He finally took the dog and got in his car - but he didn't look happy.  Creepy, right?  

Hubs helped me put up another nestbox this morning.  And while I was out, I noticed that the wrens are STILL working on their nest box - I saw one of them carrying soft nesting material into the box.  Usually the female does this - after removing a few of the sticks that over-zealous papa has crammed in. So, I have to think that she is about ready to start laying.  Once the chicks hatch, you wouldn't want to be a spider, larvae or insect in the yard since wrens only feed their chicks crawly things.  Not that you'd want to be any of those things anyway...

Having our neighbors over for dinner tonight - always a fun time. 

The Tale of Two Kitties...good grief!  Are these cats EVER going to stop hissing at each other?  Now the Dowager (aka Phoebe) has taken to running under the bed in Charlie's room and growling at him from under the dust ruffle.  That causes Charlie to get the big eyes and crouch in the doorway, preventing Phoebe from leaving and resulting in the ultimate stand-off.  I feel like I'm living in a black comedy.

Happy Saturday, people.  Thanks for all the love on yesterday's cantankerous goslings!

For more goslings, a wren, and a blackbird, Click here for first six pics.  I'm putting a couple in Extras too  if you just can't get enough of the cuteness.

Debbi