Baby Chickadees

We took a break from our many projects to watch our little family of Mountain Chickadees come out and meet the world. It was quite a process!

Here's the first baby looking for a parent to bring him some food.

Momma arrived with a juicy morsel - but she wouldn't let him have it.

She used the food - which the baby REALLY wanted to try and get the youngster to jump out of his warm cozy house into the wild unknown and the ground far, far below.

Over and over she would entice him with food.

But she wouldn't let him have it.

The baby stretched further and further out of the house - reaching for what looked like a plump green worm.

Momma kept backing away.

At this point, baby was at the point of no return. He had one one wing out and couldn't back up.

Momma came in close for one last try. Click on the picture to enlarge it and you'll see momma has her foot on the chick. A re-assuring pat, I'm sure.

The baby got his other wing out and tried them to see if they worked.

I'm sure momma is coaching him out - "jump, jump - you can do it!" And he did. He jumped down into the bush below and momma promptly gave him the worm.

A few minutes later, another little head appeared in the door and the scene was repeated.

The next day we saw several little birds hopping around in the bushes. Momma was still bringing them food.

At least one more baby remained in the house as momma was still taking food inside and removing the trash. It's no wonder she needed to have the older, stronger siblings move outside - there wasn't enough room for everyone inside!

The babies were getting more and more adventurous with longer and longer trips out of their comfort zone until they all flew away. We're going to miss watching them but it's early enough in the season that we are hoping for a second family.

I finally finished the quilt top I've been working on. This one was a challenge as I modified a French Braid sampler pattern to make the quilt larger. In doing so, putting the braid runs together became much more complex - but it made me think and stretch outside of my comfort zone just like my baby chickadees.

The bathroom is finally finished. Son-in-law Brent installed the new floor and the new chair-height toilet. Both projects went smoothly. Brent is a perfectionist - and does beautiful work. We couldn't have done it without his help.

Bill was left with the vanity and sink. He hates plumbing - and apparently plumbing hates him back. Since the new sink was 5 inches to the left of the old sink, the pipes were in the wrong place and he had to figure out how to get the drain in the sink to connect to the pipe in the wall. I won't bore you with the details - but the sink leaked and Bill took it apart and put it back together at least 2 dozen times - no joking. Each attempt required at least one, maybe two trips to Lowe's and/or Home Depot. He was NOT a happy camper! His other son-in-law, Tim even came over before work to try his hand. It stopped leaking just long enough for me to think it was fixed and put things back under the sink - then let loose again, water everywhere.

It hasn't leaked now for 3 days - but I still check every time I wash my hands. I have a container underneath, and paper towels nearby - just in case.

I was hoping we could do some small renovations in the master bath over the summer - but I don't think I'll mention them to Bill just yet.