The widening of the main road in front of our house started last week with the felling of two big trees on both sides of our driveway. It was sad to see them go, and even stranger still, turning into a driveway at night without the trees that had stood as markers of time to an entrance of the property that's been in the family for 189 years.

Ron is talking about planting Blue Spruce every twenty feet along the side of our property line. I don't know how many trees that would be, but I think it's a beautiful idea.

I'm glad his dad had the foresight to plant beautiful trees 40 feet back from the main road. Across the front yard are three big maple trees that take your breath away when the autumn sun shines through all the red, gold and purple leaves. There's an Elm and Pine on one side and maples on the other. In the side yard he planted rows of pecan and walnut trees, but I haven't the slightest idea of how or when to harvest the nuts on those. Aldi's makes it so easy to buy a bag for $3 without all the work.

Today the momma Cardinal is back checking out the nest she built last year in our pre-lit evergreen tree on the front porch. She laid four eggs there last year and it was so delightful to watch her, the eggs and the father with their different duties. When the momma was out, the father would guard the nest from about 10 feet away. When the babies hatched the father never left the mother or the brood. We could learn a lot from watching the birds. I think I'll take some bits of ribbons and such and drop around the yard to see if she uses them in her nest.

Yesterday I saw the first blue jay, and today there were robins everywhere. The starlings are back and the Canada Geese are coming and going on the pond. They are so fun to watch as their beaks go down hunting for food and their feathered bottoms stick up in the air. There were probably fifty of them out there yesterday.

We haven't heard our two owl friends all week. I guess I'll have to check out their habits and see if they flew off because of the weather changes or something. I've really grown quite accustomed to their chatting with one another in the dusk and late night hours.