Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter Fun




I thought I would share some Easter fun and interesting websites and blogs that I came across while stumbling. If you haven't stumbled with StumbleUpon you should give it a try.  I'm always finding cool websites that I would not have found any other way.


 A fun site to check out is the Jelly Belly Candy Store http://www.jellybelly.com.  There's fun recipes, downloadable wallpaper, contest, a great springtime idea section, and a bake and decorate center.  There is also a jelly bean art collection with famous faces like Elvis and Marilyn  Monroe .


I have mentioned the Think Geek Website before and I  had to mention it again...where else can you find a "Chocolate Zombie Bunny"?...and lol...they are sold out!





This is just one of the fun recipes on the "so, How's It Taste?" website.  It has a lot of great recipes with easy to follow instructions, and wonderful pictures to show off the finished dish.  I can't wait to try the 7-Layer Mexican Dip.  



Who doesn't like PEEPS? 
The Peeps website http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com was fun to check out.  Fun recipes, a peep gallery, and you can create your own Peep World, and more. 

PEEPS® Blue Raspberry Sparkle

 Easy Cupcake Decorating Ideas


I love Maxine!...and I didn't have to stumble to find her, but I did come across these funnies while stumbling.

 

I found the picture above while stumbling and there was no information about the picture. 

StumbleUpon

My StumbleUpon Profile

This is from the StumbleUpon website.  It's what it's all about and how it works:

 

Decorating Tips to Dye For! 7 New Ways to Dress Up Your Easter Eggs

  from Yahoo! Shine
I forgot about Shine being a part of Yahoo. It has a little bit of everything. Fashion and beauty, healthy living, career and money, parenting, and a lot more... http://shine.yahoo.com

Treme's season 2 starts tonight on HBO and I am going to go and get ready to watch it.  Treme is one of my favorite shows. To find out about the show check out the website here: http://www.hbo.com/treme/index.html#/treme/about/index.html 

Recap of season 1







Friday, April 22, 2011

Mystery Pics

Rainey and I had fun taking these photos...it was a fun day, and this is the outcome from that day.
 














Saturday, April 16, 2011

Spring Has Sprung

One of the reasons that I like spring so much is because it is the time when nature comes to life.  You know spring is in the air when you hear the first birds singing, and the flowers are blooming.  In my case they are weeds but the are pretty weeds, 

 ...and our apple tree is blossoming beautifully.

If you have been following my blog you know that our first hummingbird arrived on April 12th and so far I have only seen the one.   I will be adding more pictures of him and his friends as they arrive.

Tomorrow it will be 2 weeks since we put up our non hummer bird feeder and it is time for it to be refilled.  The main visitor's to the feeder so far has been a pair of House Finches.  At least I am pretty sure they are House Finches.  Cassin's Finches look a lot like them. 



  
Western Scrub-Jay and a male House Finch on the right 
  
I read that the Western Scrub-Jays like peanut butter so I made a mixture of peanut butter and oatmeal to put out for them.  Now I had to figure out how to feed it to them.  I couldn't just put the food in a lid and sit it on the ground.  The bugs would get to it plus the lid would blow away.  So I came up with the idea to nail the lid with the food in it to a stump in the front yard.  It had been up a few days but no birds touched it that I know of.  Then I read that the Jays like peanuts...whole peanuts still in the shell.  I asked Rick to pick me up a bag of unsalted peanuts on his way home last night.  So yesterday evening I put a handful of peanuts in the dish with the peanut butter and oatmeal and a couple of peanuts on the fence post.  I checked and the peanuts were still there when I went to bed. 

I woke up to a beautiful morning.  It was a very nice day today.  The wind decided to leave us alone for most of the day anyway.   I got up and  made coffee...Rick was already up and had finished the first pot.  As I was waiting for my coffee I remembered the peanuts, and when I went and checked they were all gone.  I'm thinking it had to be a squirrel even though we haven't seen any in the yard so far.


Just had to throw that in...hehe :)
I didn't think a bird could take that many peanuts, not in that short of time anyway...and at night. 

I put out more peanuts and went to get my coffee.  It wasn't long before my peanut snatcher showed up.
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 It was a Western Scrub-Jay.   He took one peanut after another until all of the peanuts were gone.  I would really like to know where he was taking them.  When he ran out of peanuts he did eat the peanut butter and oatmeal mixture. 

Western Scrub-Jay Pics






 

Like I said it was a beautiful day so after watching the birds Rick and I decided to go to the local swap meet in Cedar Crest.  It's right up the road from our house.  It's not a very big swap meet but it is fun to check out and I did find something to buy... "An Identification Guide to Common Backyard Birds"...lol...the book cost me a quarter.

I'm having a lot of fun watching and learning about the different birds that are showing up in our yard, and learning about the different birds that are in our area.

Misc bird photos that I've taken around our house

Western Bluebird

Canyon Towhee







Thank you for checking out my blog, and I hope that you will leave me a comment so that I know that you were here :)
Doddee

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Sandia Peak Drive and Hike

What a beautiful day it was for a drive and hike in the Sandia Mountains.

In the summer the Sandia's are perfect for hiking, climbing, biking, or just going on a picnic. Hang gliding and paragliding are also popular. At the end of this blog I've added a Youtube video of a dad and his 4 year old daughter hang gliding off the Sandia Crest. It is a beautiful video that I think you will enjoy.


 






The top at Sandia Crest
You can see both sides of the mountain from the top. From here you can see Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
In the picture below is the east side of the mountain, the side of the mountain that we live on.



The radio towers are on the right here. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of them. In the video below you can see the towers in the background.
The Sandia Crest House Gift Shop & Restaurant is here also. The gift shop and restaurant are worth the drive up.

The Elevation is 10678 feet

Hiking the Crest



 

Views of the west side, the Albuquerque side

 






 


It was a wonderful day and I can't wait until the weather is nice enough to go again.

Here is the video I told you about. Check out the background when you are watching it. The towers you see in the picture are at the crest of the mountain where the parking lot and gift shop is.


A very cool video!

It's better if you click the watch on YouTube  button in the right hand corner of the video screen below.