House hunting Blue Bird-style

Bluebirds are out shopping for houses right now.

I identified an Eastern Phoebe this weekend!! If I had only had my camera close by, I could have gotten a super good photo.

And I had a CUTE encounter with a Brown-headed Nuthatch! I was standing by one of my new bluebird houses, taking photos of the afternoon sun shining across the tops of some trees and . . .

. . . in the back of my mind, I kept hearing this cute little beep beep beep. Finally, I looked over at the birdhouse and this little Nuthatch was poking his head out of the hole, beeping at me. My camera was in my hand, but was down by my sides. So I very slowly turned the camera towards the birdhouse and just hoped that I got the shot, which ta da! I did! Look closely at the right hand side of the birdhouse.

Here he is after he flew out of the house and into the tree.

Beautiful Fall Colors Come Early!!!

We had an early frost last week - before Halloween!!! which is really early for this area. I had to run around and cover plants on 2 nights when the temps were in the low 30's!!!! And consequently, we are now getting beautiful Fall Colors super early this year. We don't usually see these kinds of sights until right after Thanksgiving. So today I had to run around and take pictures because a rain is coming and once that happens, a lot of the leaves will be blown off and washed out. Here are the results:

Serious Bag is not amused . . .but I am!!! VERY!!! LOL

a little Polyvore Fun on a Monday!

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween! by Yukicat

Heard the song of the returning White Throated Sparrow for the first time yesterday. Such a beautiful and haunting song signaling that winter is around the corner.

Saigon Cafe Express is now open!!

Yay!! Been waiting for the day this new little cafe was opened up. It's kinda like a fast food place, Vietnamese style. Today was the 3rd day in a row that I've eaten there. The first night was when I discovered they had opened and they were about to close, so I grabbed a plate of 3 Spring Rolls w/ peanut sauce for $3.25!!! and a couple of dough balls - don't know what else to call them, but they are white bread balls with slice boiled eggs & a sausage meatball inside. I was hoping they would have rice & shitake mushrooms in them as well, but alas no. Yesterday I went back and got my favorite dish, Bun Thit Nuong - it's only $6.25 and was pretty good, however, the special sauce made with fish sauce, lime & sugar was lacking a little in flavor - it needs more fish sauce. Next time I'm just gonna ask for 2 containers - maybe that will help. Today at lunch I ordered the Grilled Pork Sandwich on the big crusty french bread bun and it was excellent!!! especially for only $3.29 - so much more healthier than a QuarterPounder too!! Also had another plate of Spring Rolls. Oh and yesterday, Ernesto ordered a bowl of Pho (soup) which was awesome in taste and he got one of the Vietnamese style coffees with milk - excellent. Yesterday I ordered a Pineapple & Coconut tapioca drink which was super yummy, had big tapioca pearls and a cute anime top that I promptly took back to work and taped up in my cubicle. Today I got the Banana & Strawberry drink and it was great too. I was hoping it would have a different style anime top to take back with me, but it was the same style. bummer. Well, there are 33 items on the menu - i'll probably try a least one of every catagory - can't wait!!

Autumn Splendor by Yukicat