Just passing through...

Since I have been taking care of my uncle I have had and taken the time to appreciate the nature around me. My parents have a deck and have put humming bird feeders and bird houses close by. The birds are entertaining and our family enjoys sitting on the deck watching the wildlife.

Humming bird

My cousin Maya painted a birdhouse in school and my dad hung it by the deck. Our experience in the past has been that a birdhouse has to be outside for about a year before any birds will move in. I guess weathering it makes it more inviting for the birds. So when he hung Maya's house by the deck it was for decorative purposes only.

Our "hippie" birdhouse

We never dreamed that birds would move in. We jokingly call it the hippie house. When my dad first hung it he had just used a piece of twine but with the new residents he had to secure it with a piece of wire so it wouldn't get knocked down.

The other day I went out to get the humming bird feeders to wash and refill them and I noticed a passing traveler.

Tortoise peeking out to see if I'm gone

I had to laugh at myself because I know how silly I must have looked to any outsider. I wanted to get a picture of the tortoise outside if its shell so I sat in a kids chair in front of it waiting for it to emerge.

Watching me with one eye

Instead of coming out of its shell we had a stare down :) With its shell barely open I could see one eye that occasionally blinked. I even placed an apple core in front of it hoping to tempt it out. Anybody observing me would have only seen me sitting in a little pink chair under the tree leaned over holding my camera.

Buster waiting for something to happen

After a while even my dog, Buster, got bored watching me.

Big yawn ... this is boring

In the end the tortoise won the stare down and I went back in the house to get some work done.