Saturday was the first time I've actually seen the dove off her nest. She has two babies and they are huge! They look like they're fully feathered and whenever the mama leaves the nest, they flop around and sometimes a wing or the tail feathers will be hanging so far out the nest that I think they're gonna fall. Then mama comes home and "chastises" them and they will be good lil babies until she leaves again. They're really interesting to watch. Makes me wish I had a camera with a zoom lens.

I went to yardsales with Richard and Tommy and Dan on Saturday and bought some books and a bunch of stuff for the babies to play with and also some bell pepper and banana pepper plants. I planted them Sat. and they look like they're growing already. My lettuce is thriving, but I still need some tomato plants. My strawberries are full of green ones. If I can keep Brittany and Anna from feeling of them til they ripen, I might have enough for a shortcake!

Well, I guess I ought to go to bed. After all, today is the day to go vote and I don't want to miss that!

This week was the first time we've actually seen the baby doves who were in a nest in my neighbor Chris' window. On Monday we saw two heads and as the day went on, we saw a little more of them and on Tuesday, they were actually sitting on the edge of the storm window frame.

She had been a good lil mom, sitting there through wind and rain and cool weather, never leaving to eat and I never saw the daddy feeding her like the rosy breasted nut hatches do.

Today when I went out on my deck, the first thing I noticed was the empty window. Both babies, and they were good sized, were gone and so was mama. The girls and I watched for them on and off all day, but they never came back. I hope they're smart enough to stay away from that hugh Maine coon cat who roams the parking lot.

I'm sad to report that another bird has also flown. Last night Susan came down to watch the Idol results and while we were watching TV, we heard a loud noise accompanied by squawks and a loud thump coming from the cockatiel cage. I didn't go to check cause it was dark in there and they are always making noise. This morning I found Trixie on the bottom of the cage and at first I thought she was on an egg, but when she didn't move when I moved the cage, I reached in and got her out and her lil head just wobbled on her shoulders. Somehow, she had broken her neck.

I decided I'd have her funeral when the girls got here. Brittany came first and wanted to know where "de udder bird is" and I told her and of course she wanted to see her. I let her look and she wanted to know if she was going up to heaven now. I told her that her body wasn't, but her soul would. Then she wanted to know where her body was going, so I told her that when Anna got here we would bury her in the flowers.

When Anna came, we went through the whole thing again and finally this afternoon, I dug a hole in my petunia patch and we buried her and planted a petunia on her grave. Brittany said a few words, "Twixie, we gonna miss you. You was a good bird" and Anna sang "Rockin Robin", which is her "Most favorite song".

Pixie hasn't seemed to miss his companion of the last seven years. I guess Sosa in the next cage is helping him to cope.

Bobby called me this morning and asked if I wanted to go with him to Greensboro after he got off work and get a perm. Seems he and Teresa have a friend there who is a hair dresser. Saturday, Rachel stayed with me while they went down there and had supper with him and his wife and Bobby mentioned to him that I had been fussing about my stick straight hair. He told Bobby to bring me down and he would fix it. He did, and I really like it!

He was really fast too, when he rolled it. He didn't fool around. He did all the curling part and then he trimmed it and it feels so soft and natural. Don't know how it's gonna look after I sleep on it, but I guess I can dampen it and run my fingers through it.

Thursday evening the "sweet ladies" are getting together to eat, play bingo, talk and generally just have a good time. I invited Teresa to go and she said she might. I think she'd have fun, cause we always do. I'm gonna make chicken salad and a real neat cake Sharon sent me the recipe for. For the cake, you buy an already baked angel food cake. Slice it into three layers. Mix a 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, undrained, with a package of instant vanilla pudding. When that's mixed well, add an 8 ounce container of Cool Whip. Mix that well and spread on the layers and restack. Put some on top, too. Then put fresh strawberries on top. Looks pretty, tastes pretty!!

Well, gotta go to bed. It's getting late and I have to get up early for my first baby.

Cindy had invited me down to visit her and since we weren't having an evening service yesterday, I thought that would be an ideal time.

Leaving a sunny Danville about 1:30, imagine my surprise when a few miles into the trip, the sky turned dark..as in black..and the rain suddenly poured. You could hardly see the cars in front of you and this went on for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then for a few minutes, the sky lightened and brightened and it looked like it would clear off. Then, all of a sudden, the rain came again, harder than ever. It finally stopped and it was sorta clear for a couple of hours.

Cindy has a really neat apartment. Much bigger than I'd been led to believe and arranged very nicely. I really liked the porch off her bedroom. It would be a good place to put a lot of plants and a comfortable chair for reading.

We went to a mall called Southpointe, I think, and ate either a late lunch or an early supper. I wasn't really, really hungry because Cindy had made spinach dip and I ate a bunch of that, but I was sorta hungry. I ordered chicken tortilla soup and ranch rings. The soup was soooooooo good. It tasted kind of like the tortilla soup that Fara brought when she came. But, it had a base of either tomato soup or Ro-tel that had been blended smooth, and melted cheddar cheese. It also had tiny little chunks of tender chicken and some kind of crunchy something.......jicama(?) maybe, and little pieces of tortilla chips. When it was brought to the table it had a little mound of chopped stuff on top...green onions, tomatoes and other stuff. I mixed that into the soup and it was delicious. I wish I had the recipe.

After we ate, we went to the cookie store and bought some goodies to take back to the apartment. Cindy made coffee and after I drank some with a cookie, we took Charlie, her beagle, for a walk.

Too soon, it was time to get back on the road and it rained, at least a little drizzle, all the way home. And when I got home, I found a bunch of beautiful flowers in my door.

I didn't realize how much I had missed taking Brittany or Anna to the dollar store or the grocery store when I only had one of them until I didn't have a way to take them. Today, I won a lottery ticket the radio station was giving away and Brittany and I rode over to collect it and when I scratched it, I won $20. First time I had ever one more than a dollar on tickets that I won. Now I have to find a place to take it and collect my cash.