Happy Wednesday! It has been a battle of the "sharp beaks" this morning. The starlings, the mocking birds, the woodpeckers, the bluejays and for good measure, a brown thrush have all been at one another this morning fighting over position on the feeders. By and large, I think the starlings won because they gang up on the other birds and run them off, and then they fight with each other. They are like Appalacian clan folk; "it us against them, and then me against you." And through it all, they have just about cleaned out the bark butter sticks AGAIN !!!! The cardinals and the other birds just kind of sit back while all of this fussing is going on. Then when it is all over, they will come on in.

I had to change out the water in the birdbaths yesterday; or al least what was left of it. They had all gotten full of those flying Maple tree seeds, and there was hardly any water left in them. So, I scrubbed them out and refilled them with fresh water. This morning I'll need to do it again because the starlings, robins, and cardinals have all been in there splashing and taking their baths. They are fun to watch as they splash and flutter out there. Seeing the cardinals do that is a new thing as I told you last week. I'm sure they always have, --- I've just never observed it.

As you know, Wednesday is generally our day at the churches getting things ready for Sunday and then having choir practice. I also had a pre-marriage counseling session scheduled for this evening but the groom is wrapped up in planting corn etc and that means we will reschedule. and, since we are caught up and ahead with our bulletins, we don't have to go up until this evening for choir. I had planned to get a haircut today but then I remembered that the barber ships are closed on Wednesday. So --- now what??? It isn't like we don't have any work around here to do. It is just a matter of doing it. But, I think we need to get the maps out and finish our trip planning today and maybe make some reservations. We know that one of the stops we hope to make on the way out is Gallup, New Mexico. We stayed there on a trip out west once before. I don't remember the motel, but I'm sure it would have been a Choice Hotel chain motel; anyway, --- we found a resturant close to the hotel that served an Indian Fry Bread burrito. It was delicious and we hope to be able to do that again. I know it sounds silly to plan your trip around a burrito --- but hey; --- that the kind of thing we do. We had toyed with doing our return trip on I-80 just so we could go through Laramie, WY and go to a certain steakhouse that we love. When I eventually retire --- there are a lot of resturants in this country that are just waiting on our arrival. Somewhere in our future is a trip to Nova Scotia because I've read they have the biggest and best lobster to be found outside of South Africa; --- and that's too far to drive. LOL
The bucket list is still long even with all of the traveling that we have done in our lives.

My second cup of coffee is about gone so I need to get out of my recliner, quit watching the birds bathe, and get busy. Life is abundant and God is so good. There are Roses to be smelled out there and I'm wasting time. Have a blessed day.