Bird Watching

At least once a week, I like to get out to my back yard and just watch the birds.  They keep me quite entertained, flying from tree to tree, chasing each other around, sweeping by to check me out.

Sometimes I take my camera, sometimes I don't and prefer to just sit on one of the patio chairs and quietly observe.

And most times I'm rewarded with lots of birds, of various kinds.  It's one of the perks of living on a military base.

Before I show you what I captured today, let me show you how my day started.....with such a gorgeous sunrise.  I don't like where we are, never have, but I can't deny the beauty of the Arizona sunrises and sunsets.

The Lord sure paints a pretty picture in the sky.

I am often asked how I'm able to get time to craft. The answer is simple.....organization.

For me, it's all about planning and organizing and making sure that I get time in the day for everything that I want to get done. I also don't allow myself any crafty/crochet/reading time until my housework is done....it's almost like an incentive to get it all taken care of so that I can then sit down and relax with those things that bring me joy.

so, after housework was taken care of, around 11am, I sat down to work on the Pug quilts and was able to get both quilt tops done.

I had so much fun sewing these up, and I think it's because I am loving the bright colors and the funky patterns.

Tomorrow, I'll set aside some time to sew them up and probably do the binding etc. If I'm lucky, I'll finish them by night time.

Now let's talk birds. I stepped outside in the afternoon and the color was a beautiful dark purple.

It's been cloudy all day long, we were supposed to get rain but so far nothing, it doesn't really matter because as much as I love the rain I also love a dark cloudy sky.

We have tons of birds in our tree, and lots of nests too. The funny thing about these birds is that they love dog food and they're always in the patio waiting for the back door to open to try and see if they can get some of the dogs food which is located by the back door.

They sit and watch the house, it's almost a little scary hahaha

Sure brings visions of Alfred Hitchcock's "Birds" to mind. *shiver*

This was right before a bunch more flew in, at one point there were 24 birds in that tree, all on the branches staring down at me.

Then one or two will fly from the tree to the house across from us and sweep down to the yard and back to the tree, checking me out.

And while I'm being checked out by these birds....I am doing the watching of a different kind of bird overhead

I will never get sick of these beauties, I think the fact that my husband is a mechanic on the F-16's is a big humungous reason why I love these machines.

They were in holding pattern, waiting to land

I get a lump in my throat when I think that in just a few short months we'll be out of the military life and not living on base anymore. I am going to miss living with the noise of the jets overhead, of feeling my walls shake as they run the engines all the way on the other side of the base, of seeing their beauty in the skies during the day and their bright purple afterburner when they're night flying.

It's become a part of who we are and I don't think that will ever go away.

Aahhh just one more thing to thank the Lord for blessing us with. Not many people will have had the opportunity to live like we have.

Military life may be hard, and it IS, but the memories you make are so deeply etched in your heart that they will never be erased.