Entry Number One

So I've decided to jump on the blog train and start one of my own. I don't know how often I will write, so we shall see.
I guess I'll start off with the summer so far. First I can't believe it's already the end of July. We have had so much rain this summer I feel like it's going to be over too quickly with not enough time to enjoy it.
June started off with my getting the flowers on our balcony planted. They have really come out nice and full. And since we don't have a yard, the balcony will have to do.





The hanging baskets aren't surviving very well. That's a long story.....let's begin:
When I first put out the hanging baskets, within the first couple days there was a nest in one of them. It really irritated me so I threw it out (horrible, I know). The next day another another nest. Threw that one out too. I really didn't want birds in there because then the flowers wouldn't grow. The following day there was another nest and in addition an egg. GREAT! I can't throw that out. So I left it.
Then a couple days later another egg. We have twins! After this Mr. G and I kept close watch on them. Actually found it quite interesting. We figured out that it was a Mourning Dove that had laid them. We did some research and found out some interesting things about Mourning Dove's.
One of them (I think it was the Dad) would sit on the eggs all day. Usually from 8am-6pm. Then the other one (the Mom) would sit on them the rest of the night. One day I actually saw them switching shifts!

If you want to hear what a mourning dove sounds like, go here: http://www.learnbirdsongs.com/birdsong.php?id=7


So as time went on, the eggs got bigger. Then they hatched.
The twins got big pretty quickly and soon Mom wasn't even able to sit on them. We saw a few feedings (real gross). And soon they weren't all icky and sticky anymore.

The last day of the birds, I went out there and they were gone. I looked down and they were on the ground! They were out of the nest and hangin' out on the balcony. Mom was nowhere to be found. I literally almost stepped on them. As I watched Mom came back and they managed to fly up on the side rail. Before I knew it they had all flown away. I couldn't believe how quickly these were hatched, grew and then flew away.


The balcony is lonely without them now....