I bought two hanging ferns for our front porch just before Easter, but unfortunately I put them out a little early and a cold night got to them. I was taking them down to replace them when I found a bird nest with a single egg inside one.
So much for replacing that one, lol! I couldn't do that to the mama bird. I just had to do my best to nurse the fern until the egg hatched and ready to leave. For 4 more days, mama bird layed another egg each day.






We found that bird eggs take 2-3 weeks to hatch, so I carefully watered the brown wilted fern every day and waited with excitement. Finally, the big day arrived and all five baby birds hatched. They were ugly little things, but we enjoyed watching them grow and turn to fuzz balls and eventually to birds big enough to leave the nest.




Through it all, my pathetic fern has survived, and may even be begining to thrive!

Wow

I always loved the rare summer afternoon storm we'd get in WA. On our move out here, we encountered our first real storms. In Wyoming, we weren't sure we'd be safe through the night. The thunder sounded like a train, the hail was pounding, and the lightening was constant. In Nebraska we saw a couple thin twisters in the distance and learned that public safety brodcasts really are made and not just annoying weekly tests. Since being here, we've been through several severe storms and tornado warnings, but last night was the first time seeing a funnel this big forming.



Luckily it moved over us very quickly (10 min) as the clouds rotated and churned, and never dropped. I'm pretty sure as big as this formation was, it would have caused some big damage. To get a feel for the size, Blake is that little stick of a figure to the left of the fence. There were a couple tornados confirmed in central NC last night, but as far as I know, everyone is safe. The weather folk weren't kidding when they said it would be an active weather week!