To the beach.

Friday was finally a hot summery day! We visited a local ice cream shop (Monona Bait and Ice Cream), and then walked across the street to our favorite city beach to play.


The boys played and ran in the sand, threw rocks into the lake, dug holes and filled them with lake water, and sat out on the dock. It was so windy the dock rocked and rolled and swayed.


G was a bit wobbly as we rocked up and down, but said it felt like we were on a boat ride. It was nice to sit and watch the water, birds and boats.


A lovely afternoon!

Note: Today (Saturday) we have had some intense weather in southern Wisconsin. I know that there are several of you live in the areas where there were tornadoes spotted...hope you are all safe and sound.

And then there were...

Two!

Now, the question is this. Are these eggs from the same bird? About when the second egg appeared, a few days after the first egg, we started seeing THREE other doves (rather than just the one other dove besides whoever is in the nest at the time) flying about and hovering, and sitting on our garage roof. We read that sometimes four birds will share nesting duties, but I am assuming that means only one bird laid the eggs? Does anyone know?

Evolving Masks.

Ever since we visited the Milwaukee Public Museum over the winter and saw the display of Pacific Northwest Indian Masks, A has been intrigued. When I found blank paper masks that we could decorate, I knew I had to get some!

We started with paper masks (we used pre-formed masks, you could also paper mache your own), and I primed them with white acrylic - the boys chose white, you can of course paint the base any color or design. The boys then decorated them using glitter glue, beans, lentils, pasta, and feathers.



The boys loved their masks and for several days danced and played with them often. Then A saw a few books about masks - which meant new ideas! Both boys really liked that so many ritual masks from around the world are red, so they added to their masks using red paint and topped them with a coating of acrylic glitter paint (we used a silvery/charcoal color). The end result is very different and interesting!



When dry, they spontaneously did a special song and dance for summer to finally arrive - I think it worked too well...Saturday is supposed to get up to 87º!

One year ago.

I was going through my photos and saw pictures from one year ago this week.


The photos from my garden at this time last year show big baskets of herbs freshly picked, tomatoes on the vine, blueberries on the bush, full rose bushes - we are nowhere near that yet this year! Not one rose, or blueberry or tomato. We have had such a cold spring, with almost no rain until the last week or so. Things are getting green, but plants are pretty small. Many farms in the area have reported issues with planting and spring crops. Sadly, even our CSA is delayed a week since nothing is large enough to harvest! It has been very chilly and rainy for several days, but it looks like we'll be in the upper 80's later this week. What a roller coaster "spring"!

These photos of the boys are of them playing in the water on a hot day (June 6, 2007). They have grown so much!

Dover.

A few of you may remember my post from when we made birdhouses, and A had expressed interest in finding a special home for our friendly "Dover" - a mourning dove who has been visiting us for a few years now.

Over the weekend, we discovered that a mourning dove had made a nest in the hanging flower basket on our back deck. We were a little worried at first, since we use our deck a lot. We read and play and do crafts there, and the spot the dove chose is right at the stairs where we go in and out of the yard a LOT each day. But the bird seems dedicated, even with us passing by!

The boys are very excited, A in particular. Dover is his favorite bird, and from the haggard protruding tail feathers, we know it is our bird. A is excited that Dover has a partner. He wants to know all about doves and their nesting habits. We discovered many interesting things...

-Doves are not good nest builders, so will often place twigs or other materials to make a light barrier/nest in hanging baskets or on eaves where there is a support in place.

-Doves share nesting duties, so there is always a dove on the nest. We read that often the male will take day duty, the female night duty.

-Male and female doves look alike, so you may actually think that the same dove is sitting there 24/7 for weeks...but when they trade spots, there is time to eat/drink.

-Doves can be nervous and fly away, but will usually return to the nest quickly.

-Mourning dove nesting cycles are relatively brief about 28 days for the entire cycle. The first half is spent incubating the eggs (almost always two) while the second half involves brood rearing of young doves (called squabs). Doves may nest several times during the summer.

-Part of brood rearing involves feeding squabs on pigeon milk - a milk-like substance secreted by the crop gland of adult doves and pigeons.

The boys can easily watch Dover & partner by standing on their picnic table - so they spent a lot of time looking and talking to the bird yesterday. We had lawn work to do, and when the weed whacker came out the dove took off for a bit. That gave us enough time to take a peek inside, and sure enough, one tiny egg. The boys got to look at the nest and the egg and were very excited.


A wants some more books on doves so that we can be sure to "do the right thing" to ensure dover's success. We only have a few more weeks of waiting, I think, before we get to see the new arrival!


We have seen a few birds dragging twigs and grass into the painted birdhouses the boys made too, so I think we will have an exciting summer of birdwatching right here in our tiny yard!