Good Morning ELF's!

It's been a while since I have dropped a few words here.
Serious eagle watching time and beautiful Spring takes me outside to do other things.

Welcome ClaireM. This is a wonderful place to come chat, share pictures and animal stories. Interesting about the bees. I really take honey for granted
You do live in a beautiful area of CA. I presently live in Los Gatos but will be moving to San Juan Island, WA next month.

Karen....your collages are just gorgeous.

Jo...I am so glad Miss Winston is better. Loving Zach posing on your laptop.

Annie....you are doing a marvelous job keeping up with White Rock. I look forward to your pictures and reports.

Carolyn....your poems take me on such a mystical journey. You are truly gifted.

I am shopping for a new digital camera. Any suggestions? I was so overwhelmed when I went to the camera store I could not make up my mind.

Have a Beautiful Day everyone.
Hugs
Carole

Good Morning ELFs......

Carole, I have a Nikon Coolpix L18 which is easy to use, I love, and takes great pictures. If you are looking for something more involved someone else will help you I am sure. Pretty much with this anything I want to do, I can. Actually I have no clue about a lot of the features but will learn bit by bit. We got rechargeable batteries for it to make life simpler. (Glad you liked the poem - they are fun to write; cbbird thank you too - that one starting spinning at 3 am and woke me up!)

Annie and Everyone - This is a busy time of year and one when we all are watching nests, living life, learning new things, painting, writing, having fun so we see each other here when we can. That is the best aspect of this thread; come as you can and when you can. Sometimes we have a flurry of activity, other times it is quiet as we are off doing amazing things.

Everyone enjoy your day......
smiles and joy to you,
carolyn

Good Saturday Afternoon ELFS!

Oh, oh from the nest area I'm hearing a barking dog that sounds as though it is very near the tree.
Someone is also there calling h/h.......checked....Mom's not upset so everything's ok.
It sounds like the people may be preparing for a Saturday night party...hmmmmmm.
Have you ever tried getting sap off your fingers? I just filled and hung the bird feeder and when I
grabbed the evergreen bough it had sap I didn't see. I really had a time getting it off my fingers but
it sure smelled good.

I'm too late to bid you adieu but Karen, I wish you a great trip and will miss you until you return!
I love the collage you left for us.

SARA - It's always good to see you. Hope you're having fun at your bowling party. I was in two leagues once upon a time. What is your average?

Claire, How interesting you have bee hives. I am fascinated with them and appreciate what they do for us. My friend from EA chat has beehives. Actually it's her husband who takes care of them. Here's a photo that's a favorite of mine. There were a lot of bees on the flowering topiary out front.
CLICK for larger.


Carolyn, Yes, summers are usually busier times for most. The season doesn't matter with me....I'm just plain ole busy all the time.
I just love the poem. That was a lot of fun to watch and I actually have a video of the sweet eaglets getting lost in all those feathers.

Carole, So good to see you here GF. My husband gifted me at Christmas with the Canon SX40 and I love it! The HD movies it takes are just outstanding. Be sure to get a case for it and also a large memory card and an extra battery if you take a lot of pictures and movies. Even if you don't, it's good to have the extra battery.
Do you have everything packed and ready to go? Is everything all set in Washington?

Have a Great Night & Wonderful Sunday ELFS

ETA: That photo was taken with my old Canon camera.

HI All,
Here are the pictures of last week's honeybee swarm, as promised.

First the spinning cloud of them settled on a small redwood tree near their hive. You can see them gathering on the branch but there are hundreds still in the air.

I had to leave for a while and when I came back they had coalesced into a mighty ball, with the Queen safely in the middle. This is the old Queen who has left her hive in a planned swarm as the new queen emerges from her "queen cell", which looks a lot like a peanut. The new queen will reign until the workers make another queen to supersede her if she is not laying enough eggs to sustain the hive or if too crowded (as in this case), then they make a new one for the existing hive. They are all sisters or daughters or granddaughters or great-great..etc. of our original one hive from years ago. There are a few males but their only purpose is to mate with the new queen.

I heard the phrase bee tenders yesterday, as opposed to bee keepers. That certainly fits us as we leave them to manage themselves pretty much. It's still daunting to me. As much as I love honey, I don't really like to steal it from them. Wouldn't mind if someone else would do it for me, though. lol
Claire

Lana, I just can't wait to see a picture of your painting....you are soooo talented.

FINISHED THE PAINTING ready for the show next month - will post it as soon as I locate my cord.

Welcome Claire new smiley
- so cute!

Quote by:AnniesKatz

Carole, So good to see you here GF. My husband gifted me at Christmas with the Canon SX40 and I love it! The HD movies it takes are just outstanding. Be sure to get a case for it and also a large memory card and an extra battery if you take a lot of pictures and movies. Even if you don't, it's good to have the extra battery.
Do you have everything packed and ready to go? Is everything all set in Washington?

Have a Great Night & Wonderful Sunday ELFS

ETA: That photo was taken with my old Canon camera.

That's the same as my camera - love it - don't have to carry the big zoom lens around - now to find the download cord

Happy Sunday ELFS Karen, Carolyn, Lana, Claire, Jo, SARA, Jean,
Arlene, Christian, Gabi, Gillian & our missing Jas.

HI Claire,
I added your photos. The only thing you forgot to do was hit the file tag in the
formatting area (just above your text area). You would have clicked the file tab a total of
three times and put a 1 in the first one, a 2 in the second & a 3 in the third by placing your cursor in the flashing area between the two file words: . There will be no spaces. I had to type it that way so it would show up.

Those are wonderful pictures. They are so fascinating and your experience with them just so interesting.

Lana, I'm waiting with baited breath!

HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY ALL

Good Afternoon on this Beautiful Sunday ELFs.....

I got called to go stay with Miss L as she is sick with a fever and it was the 40th anniversary of their church, Cat is playing her viola at the services with the band and SIL and Mr. E wanted to go - so I went and we had a wonderful time together. She showed me her babies and cuddled and then I got her to go back to sleep to break the fever hopefully. As thanks my SIL purchased for me a gorgeous petunia basket, the aroma of which made my car smell delicious.

Lana, baited breath times 2! You are so talented (as is Arlene). We have quite a bunch here.

Claire, that swarm is incredible to view. I cannot imagine how you learned to do this, but am grateful to see it in action. And to think that they are all related down the generations in the queen area. Thank you so much for sharing that!

Annie, you have been hopping with White Rock I know. These particular eagles are just as special as you told me, but maybe a lot more. I love how they share their duties and always make sure the chicks are safe. Also Dad has a great way of ensuring that both get fed.

Catch you later friends.......
carolyn