Cardinal Fledglings!

Mom noticed a lot of fluttering of adult Northern Cardinals near our little Japanese Maple recently.

Lo and behold, we had another Cardinal's nest in our yard, just like last year!

June 6 - AM - mom found a nest with two little Cardinal babies in it!  It was just about 2.5 feet off the ground, which is the place of choice for Cardinals to build their nests.

June 6 - PM - peep, peep, peep!

June 7 - AM - every day the mama Cardinal would stand at the edge of the nest watching over her babies to keep them safe. (this photo was taken through a window from our house where we could watch what the mama and daddy Cardinal did in their feedings too)

June 7 - PM - waiting for their mama to feed them.

June 9 - look at the hair-do this birdie is growing!

 June 10 - AM - it is remarkable to see how fast this baby is sprouting feathers!

June 10 - PM - still sporting the cool punk hair-do!

June 10 - late PM - where did the two little birdies (fledglings) go?

June 10 - later PM - Fledgling #1, trying to fly!

June 10 - later PM - Fledgling #2, took first successful flight up to a nearby bush!

June 10 - a little later PM - we saw one fledgling up in a tree with his mama. 

.....And then soon after that they were gone.

For a look at the interesting life cycle of the baby Cardinal all the way from egg stage to fledgling, please view my post from May 2010 here.

Before you go, please sign my GUESTBOOK here, and stop by JB's SMALL WORLD too, thanks!

Sweetness in Switzerland!

Continuing on from the last post, Little Miss Leslie, guest Big World Reporter has a second Big World Report, and it is about Swiss Cows!

MooooooOOOOO!  We are Swiss Cows!  And we are Sweet!

Miss Leslie reports that she saw lots of Swiss Cows on her way to the Cailler Swiss Chocolate Factory in Broc, Switzerland.  I guess you could say, that these cows in the Swiss Alps are the workers of the Chocolate Factory!
This is because the fresh milk from the cows is used in making the sweet scrumptious Cailler chocolate!

And what a lot of chocolate these cows make every year!

Mom can just taste it now!

One other interesting note, did you know that we have to wear these noisy CowBells so we don't get lost out here in the Alps?  

 If we got lost, then we could not make sweet chocolate!

MooooOOOOO!  We are Swiss Cows, and we are Sweet!

Thank you very much to Miss Leslie for this wonderful and sweet Big World Report!

Before you go, please sign my GUESTBOOK here, and stop by JB's SMALL WORLD too, thanks!

Swiss Saint Bernards - Now That's a BIG DOG!

Now I have something very exciting to share with you, submitted by my guest Big World Reporter, Prints the Cat's mom and his sister, Miss Leslie!

Initial details were sent to me by postcard, so I could start compiling the material they gathered in their Big World Assignment.  They visited a Saint Bernard Museum, in Martigny Switzerland, which is in the French speaking part of Switzerland in the canton of Valais.  They found me some Saint Bernard Dog friends!  
How many dog breeds do you know that have their own museum?

Here is a portion of their report, and if you read this postcard, you will see that Miss Leslie told these big dogs that she was on Big World Assignment on my behalf, and they had heard about me because I am famous!

Here is the drive on the way to go see the Saint Bernards.  What beautiful Swiss Alps in the distance!

Here is Miss Leslie hard at work on her Big World Assignment.  She patted and greeted each dog and found out that they all gladly wanted to be friends with me, the famous Texas cat, JB!

Miss Leslie reports that Saint Bernards are very large working dogs from the Italian and Swiss Alps, and they were originally bred for alpine rescues.  Saint Bernards have become famous for these rescues, and for their large size, as they can weigh from 140 to 264 pounds!

Wow!  Now that is a BIG DOG! 

Great report, Miss Leslie!  There will be a second installment of Miss Leslie's Big World Assignment, which I will post next, and I hear there is something really "sweet" about it, so stay tuned!

Before you go, please sign my GUESTBOOK here, and stop by JB's SMALL WORLD too, thanks!