Saturday, June 19, 2010

Celebrating This Week

Wayne and I celebrated our anniversary and my birthday this week. We went to Patti's Restaurant in Grand Rivers, Kentucky, for dinner on Wednesday evening. This is the first time we have eaten in the Crown Room -- look at the beautiful stained glass window with the crown in it. And there were beautiful dolls hanging on swings from the ceiling, in cabinets in the corners, and displayed with quilts throughout the room. It is a fun room to dine in. We had our usual 2-inch thick pork chop (and brought half of it home) and a piece of their mile-high lemon meringue pie. YUM.


 
Most of the dolls were at least 12 inches tall and many of them were at least 36 inches tall. Look at the beautiful dresses and hats. The flowers and the white twinkle lights add to the charm of the Crown Room.

 Quilts with pink in them were draped along the walls, and there is even one on the ceiling.

Can you believe that we have been married 47 years? And I'm only 49 again, and again...... grin. Our waiter was kind enough to snap this photo of us... after they sang "Let Me Call You Sweetheart."

And now some news from the home front:


This is one of the baby wrens - I snapped this photo the evening before they left the nest this week. They were sure noisy. Now we have some more wrens that have built a nest in the other wren house. See how they fill in the gaps of the bird house with sticks. It always amazes me how they get those long pieces in there and get them maneuvered into place.

Have you been watching the eagles in Decorah? Just click here and it will take you to the eagle site; you'll be able to see right into their nest. The first of the eaglets was born April 3 and the other two were born during the following week. The eagles usually stay in the nest 10 - 12 weeks, so they will be flying away soon and then they will be shutting down the live streaming video of the nest. Here you can see the oldest eagle trying out its wings. They will take about three hops across the nest flapping their wings. Guess this is how they practice getting the air under their winds in preparation for flying away.


I took this photo this morning. You can see how they have changed from my earlier posts. Their beaks are changing to a gold color instead of black. They can now use their feet to hold the fish that the parents bring them and tear off the flesh themselves. Look at how long the talons on their feet are already.

It has been amazing to watch the adult eagles build, and continue to add onto the nest to accommodate all three of these young ones. Usually the eagles will have two eggs, so this was extra special to see how they raise three eaglets.

It has been fun to watch this nest of eagles -- from the parents sitting on the eggs, to the hatching, and watching them grow. It will take until they are about five years old for their heads to turn white to look like the American Bald Eagle that we all know. Thank you to Luther College for providing this bird's eye view so we can watch these majestic birds in their natural habitat.

Hope you are staying cool... it is hot here in Kentucky. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!