Whiskey, Texas: Sunday baseball, amateur ornithology

Mothers Day baseball

On Sunday, our friend Stephen joined me and Mom and the kids for a baseball game. We saw the Fort Worth Cats (our local minor league team) play the Sioux Falls Canaries. The Cats lost, but we had a good time, and we couldn't have asked for better weather -- sunny, light breeze, mid-70s. Aaahh, Texas in the Spring...

To celebrate Mothers Day, Dodger the Fort Worth Cats' mascot, sprayed Silly String on all the moms in the crowd -- including mine! M gives him a greeting between innings...

7th inning stretch

LaGrave Field is a great place to catch a game...

The downtown skyline as viewed from left field.

M runs the bases after the game...

Earlier in the weekend, M helped me build a block tower. We made sure to use every block...

Careful, she does all her own stunts...

Back porch bird watching

Last year, a family of barn swallows built a nest on our back porch. They were with us for a few months -- long enough to lay eggs, hatch them and raise the babies -- before they left us. This year, they came back and we got to see the process all over again.

The hatchlings were just a few days old in this photo...

They originally had six eggs, but only four survived... two others were blown out of the nest during a storm. Once they hatched, I was amazed by how quickly the birds matured... the timespan from hatching to taking their first flight was only a few weeks. Even more amazing is how they found their way back to the same nest after migrating thousands of miles south and then back again. I wonder if they'll be back next year...