"Can We At Least Try?!"

Constance came in the house the other day after mowing.  She had found a baby bird under one of the trees in the backyard.  Tender hearted as she is, she asked if we could keep it.  Seeing how young it was, I was admittedly concerned.

It's little eyes weren't even open and it didn't have much in the way of feathers.  I sent a pic to Mike and he really didn't see it living without it's mom.  Constance was in tears begging "can we at least try?"  

I remember Kam and his baby doves and all he had to do to care for them and they were older.  I told her to call grandpa and see what he said.  She did and was in tears because again she was told that without it's mom there really wasn't much hope.  Again she tearfully begged "can we at least try?"  

I told her to talk to Uncle Hambone because he could give her an idea of all that is involved with taking care of a baby bird.  Again she got off the phone in tears begging me "Please!"  I asked her what he said and she said if possible put it back in it's nest and hopefully the momma would take care of it.  

She was so worried because she had touched it and had been holding it trying to keep it safe from the dog and her brothers.  I told her putting it back was it's best chance and she could say a prayer.  With tears in her eyes she climbed the tree and put the baby back in the nest, worried when she saw the nest completely empty.  Again I reminded her to pray.  

Later that evening when I went out to return the mower to the garage, I looked up in the tree and saw a dove sitting on the nest we had put the baby back in.   The relief was visible when I told Constance and my heart was full of gratitude for answered prayers and a little girl with a very tender heart, a great amount of faith, and a great love of animals.

Restocking the pond

After some otters ate the fish in the pond, we went in a little with dad to replace the fish.  The kids were excited to help.  200 catfish and 15 bass later -- we have fish in the pond again.

Oops!

I heard a little boy yelling "help" and went in to find this.  He decided it might be a good idea to go down his ladder head first -- he quickly decided that wasn't such a good idea but by then he was stuck.

Silly string war!

Carol and I met up at McDonald's and got lunch then met up again at the local park.  We had a picnic and then broke out the silly string.  We got in on the war too but the kids seemed to empty the most cans.  It was definitely fun!

We had a bit of a surprise when we were leaving the farm last night -- we looked by the horses and saw someone -- looked again and noticed it was Maddie.  Constance couldn't get out of the truck fast enough.  I sure do miss our Maddie!  It is always good to see her and they have had so much fun spending the weekend together.

Pond time

We have spent a bit of time at the pond this summer.  

Jordan has had fun just scooting around on the kayak.    We actually went and bought a few more so Nic could have some kayak time too and we wouldn't be fighting for time.  Nic took off too.  We even started kayak tag.

Of course Nic enjoyed swimming too.

Port Huron, Michigan

We took the kids to the beach today.  We drove them to Port Huron to the beach by the lighthouse.  The kids had so much fun.

Even though he didn't have a life jacket and I wouldn't let him go very deep, Jordan has so much fun in the water.

Jordan let grandpa bury him in sand.  He was laughing so much and it took him a bit to get out.

Nic decided he needed a bit of help.

He finally broke free!

Nic spent almost the entire time hunting for rocks.

Constance, my little fish, spent the entire time swimming.  Even after a few hours, when the bottom dropped out, and we left, it wasn't enough.

Just loved this picture of Jordan -- just so peaceful.

Patience

Constance's patience paid off.  She caught a minnow with her goggles.