Mysterious baby bird

When I got home from work today I noticed a baby bird in the front yard stretching his neck out and expecting to be fed. To me it looked far too young to be out of it's nest already so I assumed that it had fallen from the tree above. Sure enough, there was a big nest about 20 feet up. Well, I grabbed our extension ladder and was going to put it back up in the nest but when I peered into the nest it was empty. I could hear it chirping back and forth with other baby birds so they must have been somewhere else in the tree. When Melinda came out to help me we began to notice that the bird is trying to fly. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was ready to fly. The more we watched it the more we were convinced this was true. It didn't look like any bird we had seen around here. The little bird has since flown off rather wrecklessly, but nonetheless it's moved on. There was a little yellow tail and black around it's eyes. All this on a primarily grey bird. It made a cricket sound instead of a bird chirp. If anyone knows what it is let us know. We struck out trying to find it in our Audubon Bird Guide.

FLASHBACK OF THE WEEK: 1982

Way back in 1982, when I was only 13, I played baseball for Battelle's Grocery in the local community baseball league. We were the champs this year as we revenged last season's championship game loss with a come-from-behind last game win against Riffle. The setting was very much the same; both teams had the same record going into the last game. Again, we trailed by a run going into the bottom of the 7th (and last) inning. I was on deck when we lost last year's game. This time, the batter, Kevin Scarbro, drew a two-out walk. He stole second base on the first pitch to me, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd. I remember Kevin McCulley's da Paul, who was the 3rd base coach, giving me the 'take' sign on a 2 balls; 1 strike pitch. I saw a pitch that I couldn't ignore however and swung at it and blooped a single over shortstop and in front of the centerfielder. The runner from third scored easily and behind him chugged Kevin Scarbro who slid in just ahead of the throw home for the championship! I remember leaping into the air between 1st and 2nd base. I am on the bottom left in the photo. Kevin Scarbro is the tall one in the back. He passed away from cancer in 1993. Ora is just to the right of him. Kevin McCulley and his dad, Coach Paul were not present for the photo. Coach Dick Hill is at the back right.

Dodgeball

John played dodgeball through the county parks department this summer 2 times a week and enjoyed it thoroughly! Running around on the tennis courts nailing other kids with the foam balls and dodging incoming shots sure gave him a good workout. The action is fast-paced and you always...always have to be on your guard! Mel had a blast watching him and she grabbed the camera and took these great action shots.

Through the years...

Back in the summer of 1988 I took a photo of me, Amy, and Mel by reaching out my hand and pointing the camera back at us. I really didn't expect it to turn out but when I got the photo developed it wasn't blurry or anything. Over the years we have recreated this photo a few times just for a joke. I thought it would be cool to put them together. Looks like our hair is the thing that changed the most!

Faxes from 'Future Dwight'

I take a shot at it...

I used the camera and had a try at photographing a butterfly in the backyard garden.

Goin' creekin'

We all went out creekin' the other day. Creekin' is heading out to a local creek with no plan other than to explore. We lifted rocks and checked out the crawdads living under them. Some were big; most were small. John brought his net and caught small fish and put them into a plastic cup for us all to check out. I found a cool looking dark green frog and a cool soft shell turtle in the water as well. Melinda and John brought their fishing poles. Katie Grace practiced throwing her line out too. John was the only one who caught anything and it was when we were on the way out. In fact, we were all getting in the car when John came out of the woods with a bluegil in that plastic cup! A nice way to spend a few hours enjoying the beauty of this creation!

FLASHBACK OF THE WEEK: August 1992

I've sold everything from hamburgers to shoes and that would include greeting cards. This photo shows me hard at work at Carlton Cards. And check out that spiffy little hat I had to wear on the sales floor! I think I "misplaced" it after about 6 minutes... I wonder what the card said...? Anyway, this job helped me pay for my last year of college and saw me thru to my first full-time job out of school. Working retail can be fun and this job was just that thanks to the bunch who I worked. Great memories.

Cody 1991-2007

Well, Cody, our 15 1/2 year old cat finally passed away today. It was so sad to see him go but we have a ton of great memories with that rascal that we can fall back on. Melinda got him in February of 1992; seven months before we got married so she's had Cody around longer than me! He really didn't mind me coming along but when we had John back in 1995 he wasn't too thrilled. That, and the fact that we had taken in a beautiful stray cat (Claire) by then as well, didn't help. Well, Claire passed away a year or so later and Cody began to mellow out. By the time Katie Grace came along, he was very tolerant of her. He mellowed a lot and we were able to enjoy him so much these past several years. We'll miss you old buddy.

Great Aunt Luellen visits

Melinda's great aunt Luellen visited this past weekend from Naples, Florida. We have talked to her on the phone and e-mailed back and forth for several years but haven't met her. Melinda last saw her back around 1978 down in Florida so this was a real treat for us all. Especially the kids! Katie Grace loved having her over for a "sleep over" on Friday night. After Katie Grace went to bed, John, Mel, and myself stayed up til midnight chatting with Aunt Luellen. What a treat that was. We wish she could have stayed several nights after hearing all the great stories of how her and Uncle Dick ran a dairy farm, Uncle Dick's service in the Pacific during World War II, and their home in Florida. We can hardly wait to see her again. Maybe we'll get down to Florida to see her next!

Wiffle Ball

John and I love to play Wiffle Ball in the backyard at home (and at Mama & Papaw's too like in these photos). He's not fooled any more by my curve or riser pitches; off-speed or fastball. He pretty much hits everything I try. The only weak spot he still has is that back door slider on the outside corner but if I try it twice in a row he usually rips the second one right up the middle at me. Ah, the dog days of summer!

Fishing

John's favorite thing to do besides play baseball is to fish. I am not a fisher. Never did have the patience. Melinda does and goes out with him from time to time. These are photos taken recently at a park near us. Don't think he caught anything that day but the scenery was heavenly!

Good Old Cody...

Well, our 16-year old cat Cody is pretty sick these days. He's not eating and barely drinking so we took him to the vet on Saturday morning and they said he was very dehydrated. They took some bloodwork and are keeping him a few days to rehydrate him until the tests come back. This weekend has been hard for Mel since he was her cat from the get-go back before we were even married. He has always been 'her cat' but the past few years has seen him be more affectionate to everyone else around here so it will be hard to say goodbye to him some day. Good old Cody...

Birds in garden

A couple of gold finches have been picking seeds from our little wildflower garden the past couple of days. Melinda was able to get a few good photos of them this afternoon. Check them out:

When pigs dance?

Katie Grace wanted to pose with this pig statue at "the fun park" (Coney Island). She really got into the pose! Now if there was only a TV show called Dancing With The Pigs...

Flying Bobs

Well, you'd think by the name of this ride at Old Coney that it would be my favorite. Think again... It goes round and round you see and I (well, my stomach actually) will not enjoy the ride. Regardless, I couldn't help but to have my photo taken in front of it. I'm just not going to get on it. Ever!

Coney Island

I took off the second half of work yesterday and took the family to Coney Island. John's buddy Garrett came along as well. We were there from 2-9 PM and had a blast! It's nowhere near as big as King's Island but you don't have to wait in any lines. Plus, the rides are more scaled down to kids/early teens size. And to top it off, the weather was simply beautiful! Here are a few photos:

John & his autographed ball

While at the Reds/Diamondback game a few days ago (July 8th), John got a ball signed by his favorite player Josh Hamilton. I couldn't get a good photo of the mob scene but we ran into friends from church who snapped this cool photo. John is just a tad bit happy don't you say? We had been at the park from 5 PM until 1o PM so it was a great way to end a long evening at the old ball yard!

Vending machine prank

New doll; missing tooth

Katie Grace got a real nice doll for her birthday from Uncle Wayne and Aunt Judy. Here she shows how happy she is with her new doll and at the same time reveals her "new" smile now that she's lost her first tooth.

Uncle Wayne & Aunt Judy

Had a real nice visit this past weekend with Mel's Uncle Wayne and Aunt Judy who were in town from Melbourne, Florida. They stopped by the Cincy area in between visits to their sons' families in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois. We always look forward to them coming to town but we hope someday to be able to get down to Melbourne and soak in some Florida sun and sand!

Jim Halpert (The Office) busted for practical jokes on Dwight Schrute!

New Flowery Photos

Mel took some more great shots in the garden this weekend including a photo of a butterfly taking off from one of the flowers. Pretty. Pretty cool. Here are a few of them:

Reds - 8; Diamondbacks - 1

John and I went to the Reds game tonight and saw them defeat the Diamondbacks 8-1. We were given tickets about 20 rows behind the Reds dugout on the 1st base line. Great seats! Before the game we hung out in the right field bleachers where John was given a ball by Ryan Freel (a ball hit by Brandon Phillips). After the game John had it signed by our favorite player, Josh Hamilton.

Flower photography

Melinda does a great job taking photos of the wildflowers in her garden. Here are a few samples. Nice, eh?