Our Backyard Part II

More Flowers...

More Birds...

Downy Woodpecker

Black-capped Chickadee

European Starling

Our Yard- Part I

Our Yard
Part I

I have posted before, about how gorgeous the flowers are in our backyard. As soon as one blooms and dies, something new is transitioning in!! I am loving this backyard!!! Im sure my Nature album on my laptop will be HUGE by the end of the Summer. :)

FLOWERS...

We have Robins ALL OVER!!!

Only In IOWA...

In Honor of Our First Month of becoming Iowan's,
I Present...

Only In IOWA...

Only In Iowa do you have Barns EVERYWHERE!!!

It's kinda Ironic, driving around and seeing a Kohls followed by a Barn, Sams Club, and then yup you guessed it A Barn!! Such a change of scenery. I guess I never noticed how much I am in love with this Huge Structures!!! Somehow being amidst all of these Barns it kinda seems like home.... Perhaps being drawn to these in the first place were another testament of where we were headed.

Only in Iowa are you CONSTANTLY listening for a Tornado Siren...

Alan laughs at me, because since arriving in Iowa, I am on alert. Subconsciously, I have been listening for such a siren. I am so worried!!! That I wont wake up or hear it when it goes off! I have already mistaken our Master Bedroom Fan, kids magnet alphabet fridge toy, kids sonicare toothbrushes and even Brenton yelling in the playroom in the basement. Needless to say, I think I have a Giant Paper Bag with My name on it in the tornado room for when I hyperventilate due to shattered nerves.

Only In Iowa, does your Weatherbug go off WARNING you that you are in a TORNADO WATCH.

We experienced Our first Severe Thunderstorm aka Tornado Watch. The storm moved in extremely fast and almost appeared from no where on the Doppler. (yes I watch the Doppler... I even animate it to see its progression) I have never seen lightning like this, except for once in my life. (back in navuoo on a family vacation when I was 9.. and which is only 3 hours South of us) The lightning literally does not stop lighting up the sky. The clouds were low and unsettling. Before the storm it was 62 degrees... within the hour we hit almost 80 with 75% humidity. I am guessing the barometer level changed so drastically it triggered some minor anxiety. We live 4 miles from downtown where they experienced Softball size hail from this storm!! I was not prepared for a Tornado Watch so soon upon our arrival to Iowa. For some reason I had it in my head that we still had a good month to prepare. Our House actually has a Tornado Room in the back corner of the basement consisting of all 4 walls of cement. We spent Sunday 4/3 quickly gathering emergency kits, flashlights, snack foods, blankets, camping chairs, ect to go into our room. Lets hope we never have to use it!

Only in Iowa, while driving around town do you hear such a joke...

As I was driving to Sams Club the other day (a whole whopping mile). I heard a commercial...

guy 1: Do you have Hail dents on your car??

guy 2: HAIL YAH!!!

We are still laughing about this and between my siblings this has been our reply for everything!!! (photos are from our local newspaper!)

"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

Only In Iowa Wood you have a Woodchuck as a Pet aka Groundhog...

First mistaken for a Beaver we named him Beav...(as pointed out in the first video) However after much analysis of our photos we have come to the conclusion it is a Groundhog. Hence Beav has been named Wood. (what can I say our kids are original! ;)) Every day we see this guy come out of the woods and partake of our scrumptious backyard grass. :) Best part is we do not have to worry about feeding it or cleaning up after it... What a perfect pet!!

Only In Iowa do the Birds chirp at Night?!

On our Anniversary the kids had gone to bed. And Alan & I were enjoying some yummy spinach & cheese filled Raviolis while tuning into the Jersey Shore. (Yes we like to keep things classy! lol) It was probably around 10pm and we could still hear the birds chirping!! I thought this was so strange. And so every night after the kids were asleep, I opened the door and low and behold they keep going!!! I especially love the Woodpecker that woke me up this morning at 4am. But that aside Iowa has the most stunning birds I have ever seen EVER! Here is a list in our area..I promise to do a future post on the gorgeous birds in our backyard. :)

Only In Iowa do you have CORN in your gasoline!!!

Hey!! I really don't mind because it usually means cheaper gas by a whole whopping 10 cents!!! HAIL YA!!!

Only In Iowa do your pets BECOME Bird Prey...

Just in the few weeks of being here our poor dogs have been the apple of multiple birds eyes... (especially Red Tailed Hawks) Going outside with them every time has already become old. However this is the price you pay when you live within 5 miles of the great Mississippi River. In one months time we have already seen Osprey, (catching a fish over the Mississippi... gorgeous bird in flight!!) Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures, & Red Tailed Hawk!!! Thank you Dubuque for your wide selection of GIANT Birds!! For a good story go here...

So as you can see Our Adventures never have a dull moment!! And I am sure since, I have this many story's to share in the first Month. There will be more in 2 months time... Special Thanks to the BFF Ginny for the Inspired Blog Title!!!

To Be Continued....

A "Adventure" in Dubuque...
Part I

I'm now to the point where, once to twice a week, I load up my jeep with the kids, dogs, and snacks. We have come to call these outings "Adventures". We pretty much drive around Dubuque and surrounding areas without a map (or a gps now) and try to find our way around. Dubuque is a mix of New England woods, Rolling farmland, and San Francisco type hills. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking and since we live within 5 miles of the Mississippi River we have a wide variety of wildlife.

On this particular day we ventured out to the "Mines of Spain". Honestly I wanted to go because I couldn't get My Fair Lady out of my head... "The Rain in Spain, stays mainly in the plains...". When I first saw the sign, I googled it and found out it was this amazing preserve with dozens of trails. Best part was it was only about a 15 min drive from our house and FREE!! Naturally we took back roads to get there. We decided to drive up the hill and landed us at Juliene Dubuque's Grave site with panoramic views of the Mississippi River. We got out of the car and sat on a bench for 15 mins watching a tugboat go down the Mississippi...

We continued walking to the grave site which is enclosed in a massive stone tower. Savannah and Brenton were beyond excited!! A Castle tower was just in the middle of the woods. haha. We noticed steps going down from the tower down the bluff. So we went to the bottom of the stairs. When we got to the bottom, I thought it would be a cool pic if the kids climbed back up with Benson and stood in front of the monument. Dubuque has amazing birds here, as in BIG Birds. I saw this huge bird above us while the kids climbed. He just was flying round and round... I didn't think anything of it to be honest. I took the photos and that's when I realized something was not right. I could hear these weird noises. I looked around and couldn't figure out where it was coming from! Than I looked up, and noticed this Bird was circling us. I than realized it was after our dogs probably.

Oh Crap.

I ran up those stairs as fast as I could. I tried to stay calm, because the last thing we needed was chaos. I quickly told the kids it was time to go, and that Mommy was going to carry Benson (he is the smallest of the 2, weighing in at 4 1/2 lbs. Lacy is 9lbs.) and hold onto Lacy.(After all if it wants the dogs, let the bird attack me and not a 2 & 3 yr old!!!) "Lets have a race to the car! Okay?". The kids started running, and I started running behind them.

However, this BIG Bird was not giving up. Savannah turned around. HUGE MISTAKE!! This Bird was so low, that I quickly realized its wing span was probably BIGGER than ME!!! And I'm guessing since Savannah starts to SCREAM bloody murder at this point, she had realized it as well!!! FYI, when your kids realize there is a GIANT BIRD chasing you, the no chaos kinda goes out the window! Savannah would NOT stop Screaming! Brenton was Crying! I'm holding 2 dogs and trying to get the kids to RUN!!! Savannah couldn't and wouldn't stop looking UP at the bird. So she was screaming and running in circles. literally. I told Brenton "Grab your sisters hand!!! RUN to the car as FAST as you CAN!!!". He quickly grabbed her hand and just ran!!

I'm pretty sure that because we were running under so many trees that it was the only thing protecting us somewhat. The most anxiety was when the dash thru the parking lot. It was just wide open asphalt. I quickly pressed the unlock button while we were still under the trees.

Meanwhile there is a beat up car sitting in the parking lot. With 2 ppl sitting in it, with their windows rolled down. (Pretty sure they were smoking pot) As we run past there car. The Guy says out there window "Hey! There is a pretty big bird chasing ya!"
Me: "Yah I kinda gathered that." (No Shiz... seriously?!)
Guy: Ya he almost got ya!!!
Me: Im throwing dogs and kids into the Jeep at this point. And Ignoring him.

It took me a good hour to calm the kids down. Can we say TRAUMATIZED?! Never taking dogs to wildlife preserve again!! And def not coming back unless there is a second adult with kids.


We later learned, that the BIG BIRD, was a Turkey Vulture.

*A large bird, it has a wingspan of 170–183 cm (67–72 in), a length of 64–81 cm (25–32 in), and weight of 0.85–2.26 kg (1.9–5 lb).

*It has dark brown to black plumage; a featherless, purplish-red head and neck; and a short, hooked, ivory-colored beak.
*Its life expectancy in the wild ranges upward of 16 years, with a captive life span of over 30 years being possible.
*The Turkey Vulture is a scavenger and feeds almost exclusively on carrion.
*It finds its meals using its keen vision and sense of smell, flying low enough to detect the gasses produced by the beginnings of the process of decay in dead animals.
*In flight, it uses thermals to move through the air, flapping its wings infrequently.
*It roosts in large community groups.
*Lacking a syrinx—the vocal organ of birds—its only vocalizations are grunts or low hisses.
*It nests in caves, hollow trees, or thickets.
*Each year it generally raises two chicks, which it feeds by regurgitation.
*It has very few natural predators.

Although they are not known for going after live animals... it does happen. Its just rare! Yay for adding to a rare statistic! :/

To Be Continued...