february 16th is the best day ever!

because it's my baby's birthday! miss flojo, love of my life, celebrates her hatch day today! she's six years old, and honestly, i have no idea where the time has gone. from the moment i laid eyes on her, i knew i was in love. she was three weeks old, completely bald, and had barely opened her eyes. many would say she had a face only a mother could love, and maybe it's true, but the fact is, i love her enough for a thousand people and know that i've never seen anything as beautiful as her. so, happy hatch day to my best friend, my partner in pretty much everything, and my reason for getting up each morning!

speaking of birds, chris and i went up to the blue ridge parkway today (in the blue ridge mountains) to watch the banding and release of a golden eagle. it first came into the custody of the wildlife center of virginia when someone discovered that it was stuck in a coyote foothold trap. unfortunately one toe was severely injured and needed amputation, but only after the eagle was stabilized because of anemia due to severe blood loss. after about a month of recuperating, it was released today. because golden eagles are so rare around here, there were TV and newspaper reporters there, along with a pretty sizable crowd! i took my half frame camera to hopefully get twice as many pictures (but because i'm short and there were so many people, i wasn't able to get as many as i'd hoped) so i'm going to show you those soon!

i hope you've had a good hump day!