The Male Great-tailed Grackle

Yesterday I posted a bunch of pictures of brown blackbirds because I only had pics of females. That bugged me, so this morning I got a few pictures of the male of the species. As you can see, it is a rich, glossy black.

Great-tailed Grackle

Coming from the Midwest, these birds seemed exotic to me at first. They can have such impressive legs and tails that I even wondered if they might be Roadrunners! Not even close. They are called Great-tailed Grackles and are a blackbird common to the Southwest and the southern Great Plains regions of the US. Unlike the blackbirds I am more familiar with, the Great-tailed Grackles are very lanky, with long legs and tails, and the males have a very striking iridescence to their black feathers.  These are females that have been using our backyard to stake out the neighbors house lately (possibly watching the neighbors dogs.) They are smaller than the males and, obviously, not black.  They are not my favorite bird of the Southwest (that would be the Western Scrub-Jay) but they are bold and plentiful so they make the backyard much more interesting at a time of year when not a lot is going on back there.

23 weeks, 3 days Pregnant

Remy is not the only one growing around here! Little brother is up to approximately 1 lb 9 oz and is still measuring a full week ahead of schedule. We may have another tall boy on our hands! Here are some images from today's OB appointment:

Remy These Days

It occurred to me today that in April Remy will no longer be an only child and, while I hope that I won't stop noticing the inches of growth and the milestones of development, I probably won't have as much time to blog about it! So here is where he is at these days:

• He is 41 inches tall and weighs 34 lbs.  At 3 years and 7 months old, that puts him in the 58th percentile for weight and the 97th percentile for height!   
• He still loves his blankies and binkies. 
• His hair is thicker, darker, and less wavy than when he was a baby. 
• Favorite foods are bacon, pepperoni pizza, fresh strawberries, Ritz crackers, blueberry Craisins, and cheese sticks.  
• Favorite TV shows are Super Hero Squad, Curious George and Wild Kratz.  
• Favorite books are the Lego City books. 
• His best friend at school is Ryland. (Connor and Liam have been bumped, poor guys.)  
• He can now brush his own teeth, put on his own shoes, and go to the bathroom by himself. (But he still needs lots of reminders and pointers.)  
• He loves vacuuming, mopping, sweeping, and, recently, raking.
• His favorite Christmas presents were an airplane from Grandma Connie, a Dirt Devil Jr., and a Bissell Swiffer steam mop.  
• He can now tell us about his dreams, what happens at school, what he saw on TV, and all sorts of interesting things. 
• Cute things he says: packawage for package, I can't want to instead of don't want to, and responding your welcome! whenever people praise him. He's also extremely liberal with the adjectives nice and new.  
• Prefers scissors to crayons but can draw a smiley face when pressed.  :)  

Christmas 2013

Ready for Christmas

 Photo by Aunty Stephy

Red Rock and Hoover Dam (Steph's Visit)

Steph's way-too-short visit ended last night and I already miss her. We definitely made the most of the time that we had, though! I only have pictures from Red Rock and Hoover Dam but we also ate at some great restaurants, saw a movie, did some shopping, and drove up to see the snow on Mt. Charleston. It was a lovely break from the day-to-day, but now I need to hurry up and finish my Christmas shopping. :) Here are some pics!

Red Rock Canyon

Hoover Dam

Baby Boy!

I am 19 weeks 3 days pregnant and I had my big anatomy scan today. The baby is indeed...a BOY! Remy will be getting the little brother he wants! And so far it's a big baby boy, measuring a whole week ahead of schedule. Everything that they check checked out good, so I'm a very happy mama!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving was really small this year. Work gave Ross a ham so we skipped turkey and all I had to do was the stuffing, potatoes and candied yams. Brent and his girlfriend brought over some more yummy sides and we had a friendly, not-so-fancy dinner at the kitchen table. Afterwards Mommo and Poppo came over from their dinner at the buffet and we got to have pumpkin pie and visit a little.

It was so nice having Ross home for four days. We took Remy to see Frozen, did some online shopping, listened to a LOT of Christmas music, put up the decorations, and lazed around!

What's Up

Remy is splitting his time between the vacuums and superheroes. Thanks to the Lego Marvel game his favorites right now are Hulk and Iron Man. I have to keep reminding him that just because Hulk can throw things around doesn't mean that Remy should. Here he is playing in the bathroom sink with Hulk and a fire engine.

Mom has been sewing like mad for her ETSY sight. She made 6 of these adorable elves and I was lucky enough to get one before they all sold out! Mine is sitting on the fireplace mantle and I can't wait to get the Christmas decorations out of the garage and start decorating so that he isn't so lonely!
 

We had three days of non-stop rain here. That's an uncommon thing around here. I love the sun. Living here, I think I have actually become addicted to the sun. But it was a perfect opportunity to get nice and cozy with the fireplace going, thick socks on, and holiday scented candles burning. It wasn't so good for the roses. Here is one I rescued from the rain.

After three days of rain the clouds finally lifted on Sunday morning and this was the view from our bedroom. Snow! It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

New Camera Lens

During my first trimester I not only stopped blogging but I also stopped taking photos. (I was exhausted! I did manage to watch a lot of Doc Martin.) Anyway, when I recently dug my camera gear back out I noticed that my 50mm f/1.8 wasn't performing well at all and on further inspection it appears that the autofocus feature on that lens has broken. It's only a $100 lens, made of plastic, and out of warranty, so sending it in for repair didn't make sense. Instead I did a little online shopping and found that the 40mm f/2.8 is a popular alternative. It's $50 more but has a sturdier construction, and because it shoots a little wider (sorry, I don't know the correct lingo) you don't feel so cramped using it indoors. This is big draw for me because I was having the hardest time fitting more than one person into the frame with my 50mm. I would back up and back up and then bang into a kitchen counte. So the 40mm arrived on Friday and I am loving it so far. Here is what it looks like and here are some of my first pictures with it (my camera is the Canon T3.)

It's small but much heavier than the 50mm f/1.8. I ordered mine from Amazon.

Newest Park in the Neighborhood

We have wonderful parks in the neighborhood and Saturday we checked out the newest one. Wide, grassy areas to run and play, more than enough picnic pavilions, courts aplenty for the grown-ups, and a great playground for the kids. Add to that the gorgeous views of Lone Mountain and the Spring Mountains and this could be our new family favorite.