Meanwhile Back on the Ponderosa. . .: April 2010

Friday, April 23, 2010

Adventures off the Ponderosa

To read about an adventure we had away from the Ponderosa click here.

Click here for the picture that began the adventure.

Monday, April 19, 2010

The King of the Ponderosa spent most of last week here and he said some very funny things. I'm going to call them Parkerisms! They may not seem as funny without his voice because most of the things he says with a tone that should have a question mark or exclamation point after them. But I want to record them so that maybe someday he can read what he said at three!

As we pulled out of the driveway on the golf cart Parker saw where a tractor had left the muddy field and pulled onto the road and he said, "Oh look P-pa, there are some tractor footprints."

Conservation with Nana:
Parker: "Nana, where do bees poop?"
Nana: "I don't know Parker, maybe in the grass."
Parker: "But how, Nana, how"
Nana: "I don't know Parker, I guess bees have a bottom like you."
Parker: "But why Nana, why?"
Nana: "Where do you think bees poop, Parker?"
Parker: "In their nests, no wait they make honey. I think in the woods!"

On the way home to Parker's House
Parker: "Where are we going?"
Nana: "To your house."
Parker: "Nana, did you know that Bob the Builder, built my house for me and mama and daddy?"

What's Blooming on the Ponderosa

Azaleas in white, pink and red!

When two guys clean. . .

Last week when the pollen was so thick you could write your name in it. P-pa and Parker decided to wash off the deck and porch! They thought the pollen was making us sneeze and cough and that it would be good to clean it up.

Now when you get two guys and a water hose,

even if you adjust the sprayer just right,

some of the water is going to go on places you didn't mean to get wet!

And some of Nana's day lilies received collateral damage!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Plan B

We live on the Ponderosa with 87,000 birds. Most of the time there is peace and harmony. The worst bird problem being the woodpecker who is trying to peck our house down. He's been at it for a long time and we shoo him away or make a noise and he gives up---except for the large hole we found last week! Sometimes they eat from the dog food bowls or poop on the porch, but hey, we're outnumbered and you did see that Alfred Hitchcock movie didn't you? It's best not to anger the birds.
But this week a little war involving territory has broken out on the Ponderosa!

It involves this.
This week, the nesting instinct has kicked in and the birds have tried to move into our space. They want to be sheltered and their favorite places are in the eaves of our porch and shed. I can't blame them, there's nice little ledges there. Now, we tried shooing and beating the windows and putting rocks or bricks when they were trying to build, but that instinct is strong and they came right back. We tore it out, they built it right back! We needed a Plan B.
So, since we are suppose to be smarter than their little bird brains. We took ourselves to Walmart and marched right into the toy department, where they had an entire box of just what we needed for only a dollar.

There is another instinct called fear! Our goal was to make it work for us!

Once again there was some climbing and cleaning and strategic placement of the snakes.

Then came the test--hide and watch to see how they react!
Bingo, they hovered in fear, landed nearby, made some bird noise and flew away. No one has seen them this afternoon! Plan B seemed to be working.

Now it was on to the shed where there were seven nests either finished or started. It was an entire bird community--a nesting ground.

Smarter than the birds guy, cleaned up all the nests and

arranged another snake.
Right now we are winning with Plan B, but if you don't see us around somewhere please come check on us--it will be that brown house with all the birds sitting on it!!!!