Under the Stars: July 2008

OH SO HUNGRY!

FIVE BABY BARN SWALLOWS

GRIFFIN, BUCKBEAK, RAIN, PHOENIX, AND CELESTE OSTLER
(PLEASE DON'T ASK WHAT ORDER THEY ARE IN)

Today Andrew and I celebrated our five month anniversary as a married couple. It was a great day. He called me from work, and told me that one of the guys he works with knocked a nest down thinking there were no birds in it. This was two days ago, and the Mom and Dad bird, although around seem to have lost interest. They gave up feeding them and I guess don't know what to do. I knew these birds wouldn't make it with out help and a miracle. There were five barn swallows, and Andrew and I were afraid they were going to die. You can see this video at the bottom of the page which was taken this morning, and then know that in the hours since then they all have only improved. They sleep, but tweet when they are hungry. I called my Mom for advice. Since Eubie our brewers blackbird lived to be 13. He was a bird that our pet cat Camphor brought home to us. I bought "cheep" dog food and mixed it with a tiny bit of water per Mom's instructions. I thought for sure they were goners because they just weren't opening up their beaks, unless I forced them. I also noticed they were shivering, so they went down my top and rested in my cleavage on the drive home. That's when they started chirping. I got them into a laundry basket and kept them in, yes it's true one of my softest and oldest bras. It was warm from the dryer. I put a lamp over them and now they are five of the happiest birds. I don't let them get too warm. Now they eat and poop constantly. I can only thank Heavenly Father for this miracle, because I prayed for these baby birds at lunch. I prayed that I would know what to do, and that if it was His will, that they would live. I know we are not out of the woods yet, but I really think they are going to be okay. They just needed a little TLC. This is going to take patience, hard work, persistence, and love. I know I can do it, because my own Mom was amzing at it. I watched her do it. I can't wait for the day when I can take them back to the Manti Temple grounds and release them back with all their other brother and sisters. I really hope they make it. We'll keep you updated on their progress.

Ephraim, Utah has reached some record highs. I'm told this is because of all the negative temperatures in our bitter, cold winter. I'm a little more than half way through this pregnancy, and living in a house with no air conditioning. However, I'm here to tell you I'm glad we moved into a house. Our apartment would have been way worse. We were on the second floor and heat rises. Besides making home improvements along the way will be all part of the fun. Especially since we just met with our landlord and she loved that we had done so much thus far, she gave us permission to do almost whatever we wanted. That being said, and going back to the heat we decided that a pool was a must. Mom and Dad chipped in from California and so off to Walmart I went. Several nice people helped me load the beast into the car. Andrew and I hosed the majority of the rocks off our patio, and laid down a tarp. The next steps were installing and filling the pool. The side of the box said ready for water in just ten minutes. I assure you even if you are a professional that is a vicious lie. It was a lot of hard work, but we both knew it would be well worth it. A few of the neighborhood kids had jealously pooling in their eyes, and for that I felt a bit of sadness. As we began setting it up, the neighbors cats came to watch, and give their approval while resting in our shade. Soon it was time to fill it with water. A task which wasn't easy because of the extreme water pressure running through our tiny hose. Luckily we had patio chairs and plenty of OFF insect repellent. This doesn't seem to help me any. We looked it up and soon discovered mosquitoes like pregnant women twice as much. However, the cold water feels great on our bites. Our neighbor has the exact same pool only bigger, and she said she noticed no difference in her water bill. This was great news to us, and made me relax more as we pumped almost 1,700 gallons of H2O into our pool. She also bought a tarp and covered her pool because it's so hot her water temperature got to be 92 degrees. We only had the tarp on ours one day and it was already swimmable. We bought a raft, and a yellow jacket catcher since we noticed they seem to be building a hive near our pool. Finally ready we got in and enjoyed many hours of our new luxurious pool. We couldn't be happier and we know we'll get many years of happiness. Please enjoy our pictures and videos below. Happy Fourth of July to all. Andrew and I will spend a quiet day at home. There is a brilliant firework show not far from our house, but we decided to stay here, barbecue, swim, and set a few of our own fireworks off in the street by our house. Adding our pool will only make this a great day! If you're feeling hot and want to come take a dip, please come and stay anytime.