GBBC - Saturday Blog Highlight

Today is the
Great Back Yard Bird Count
it is a fun little Citizen Science activity where you count birds where you are! At home, at work, at the park - and then you submit the information about the birds you counted.
You'd be surprised how many people participate and how many birds you actually see!

My PAGE highlight for today is BIRDS.  I have some great pictures of birds that I want to share here.  A bird is a very tricky subject to photograph.  They move fast, spook easy, like to stay high in the trees, and sometimes they can be heard but not seen.

My FAVORITE thing about birds is watching the changes.  In fall some birds go away - south or southerly - mainly they go where there is more food.  Here in missouri there are not many back yard birds that actually leave, most stay for the winter.  Pleasantly we do get Winter Visitors.

My favorite is the Dark Eyed Junco.  He is a cute little bird that hops around on the ground.  Usually a scout arrives first - followed by small flocks that join him a few days to a week later.  

There is a little more here about birds and the GBBC - by the next time I feature this page I hope to have many more lovely bird pictures to show you.

READ MORE ....

#17 "A son is a son till he takes him a wife, a daughter is a daughter all of her life."

What do you think of the saying, "A son is a son till he takes him a wife, a daughter is a daughter all of her life."
Ugh. Well we've only got 1 out of 3 brothers to test the theory on - but as luck would have it - the 1 brother who is married - is the one that doesn't speak to us anymore. So, we have seen how quickly a wife can influence her husband in just a couple of short years.
I do see the 4 of us girls staying or trying to stay closer to our families than the boys.
It makes me sad. I hope Max doesn't follow that pattern.

#16 Treat your family like friends and your friends like family."

Respond to the proverb: "Treat your family like friends and your friends like family."

It is easy to get into a rut with family - we are with them all the time - we see each other at our worst - we know each other all too well. It is easy to take each other for granted. It is easy to feel like our spouse or children or siblings should understand our motives with out having to explain ourselves. It is easy to get more angry at them then we would ever get at a friend if each had committed the same offense.

There is no one on this planet who can and does - push my buttons like my husband. I can be cool, calm and collected, patient, kind, loving, feeling it to my core, happy and playing with my children - and if he pushes my buttons just right - then HOLY COW look out anyone in my path. It takes a lot of effort, recognition, soul searching, writing, thinking, praying.... to conquer that. I am getting better. Better at stating my feeling "I feel hurt because you spoke to me disrespectfully" instead of "you spineless cowardly nincompoop - how dare you, what kind of ....." (you get the picture). I haven't always stood up for myself. NO - just because I can yell doesn't mean that I stood up for myself.

When my girls start to have troubles - I will sometimes have them start doing things for each other - small services. It is hard to be angry at someone who you are serving lovingly.

I think the point is that we should treat our family members with the same respect, adoration, kindness, wonder, consideration, etc. that we show our friends.

That being said, I don't give my friends enough. I need to be a better friend. I need to continue my efforts to curb my reactionary responses to the button pushing until those buttons just don't respond anymore - you know replacing it with healthier more meaningful behaviors.