Rugs, birds and surgeons

Two more of my rugs arrived and I love them both. The living room rug matches our furniture and finally gives me an excuse to get rid of the orange accents I wasn't really attached to. Now I'm making Savannah a new blanket for her chair in cranberries and pale khakis to match and eventually new accent pillows, but that will be after I discover which box my sewing machine is in and have the room to sew in.

One of my new Chob Rang rugs - yes, it's off center but when you see the unique angles of this house in person, it makes sense. Our living room is actually shaped like a trapezoid.

Another angle of the living room that doesn't look so off-centered.

I tried to have Savannah help me smooth out the wrinkles in the rug since for shipping it had to be folded and rolled but she was too busy performing surgery on Mantis, who was very sick and required her talents with the knife.

Here's the happy surgeon after a successful operation. Not only did Mantis live, but he recovered so well that I found him the very next day being rascally in my apple basket.

We've also begun a bird book to identify all the birds that have been coming to our feeders and pond. Savannah also loves to bird watch so the bird book is somewhat of a science project for her. She's still learning how to use her binoculars though.


Every morning and lunch we can watch the birds at both the pond and feeders from the dining room. They don't mind Sage in the least since she's way past her prime. She seems to be mildly entertained by their songs and comings and goings as if it were the nature channel.

My favorite kinds of birds so far (besides the blue heron and crows) are the Downy and Red-bellied woodpeckers. These birds look much more like mechanical wind up toys than actual live creatures from nature as they hop up and down the trees on straight vertical and horizontal lines. Their favorite way of traveling is backwards, which seems to take much effort on their part. Why they don't just fly to where they need to be baffles me. They will stop along the way to the suet feeders to eat up little goodies found along the branches and trunk.