Friendship prayer

Friendship prayer

Originally uploaded by susangetsnative.

I love FLickr and Flickers

I was good today. No below-freezing treks through an unknown bit of forest. All I did was drop the girls off and go to a park and sit in my car, returning RAPTOR calls.
I was so goofy last night. If I left a nonsensical comment on your blog, I apologize. And hopefully I made you laugh.
Word of the Day:

conflate \kuhn-FLAYT\, transitive verb:
1. To bring together; to fuse together; to join or meld.
2. To combine (as two readings of a text) into one whole.

Princess Dirty Face. She had snuck into the Cheetos while I was passed out on the couch this afternoon. This is one of her birthday presents. An Ariel (Little Mermaid for those of you without little girls in your life) wedding gown with a hoop skirt.

I have seen both yellow-tinged and orange-tinged male house finches at the feeders this winter. This one is leaning on the orange side. Red feathers are an expensive feather to grow if you are a bird, and the redness of the bird is in direct correlation to the fitness of the bird. I read an article today that suggests that orange and yellow house finches may be related to the occurance of avian pox in the population. Interesting.

“Nobody knows…the trouble I’ve seen…nobody knows…my sorrow”

“Peek-a-boo!”
I had a bit of joy arrive with a female yellow-shafted Northern Flicker.

I have always seen them in the backyard, grabbing ants from the base of our trees, but today was the first time I saw one at the suet feeder. Interesting fact: They have barbed tongues, to help them lap up ants. Yummy. And for Laura, our Spanish guru: Their name in Spanish is
carpintero alirrojo.

Fat Flicker.

They are so utterly gorgeous. This was the first yellow-shafted I have seen, also.

Those yellow feathers were mesmerizing.

She got spooked by the ginormous flock of starlings that wanted a piece of the suet too. So she sat on our sidewalk and glared at them.
But flickers also make me sad.
October 19, 2004 was the first time I saw a flicker in our yard. It was also the first time my Dad had ever been admitted to a hospital. And that was the day he died.
So when I see a flicker, I go back to that day, talking on the phone with my cousin Mary Lou, telling her about Dad going to the hospital because he had a fever. I was looking out the kitchen window, all excited about seeing my first yard flicker. And about 8 hours later, Dad was gone.

And just to end this post with a little brevity:
“A towhee says WHAT?”

I will be copying this post into my other blog to see how it goes.
What is keeping me from going back over there for good is the fact that some of you couldn’t view the WordPress blog. If you still can’t, let me know.

test upload

Testing

My last post here for awhile

 

 I had started this post last night, and didn’t want to scrap all the work it took.

 

Another try at fussing with photos.  Yesterday, while entering a park in Camp Dennison (Thanks, Katdoc, for showing me where the “legal” birding area was) I noticed a strange sound when I walked.

*Crunch…flippety-flippety…Crunch…flippety-flippety*

I looked down and the sole of my boot was slowly vacating the premises.  Good thing I had another pair of shoes in the car.

After all the healing this tree has been doing, why would someone carve the words “HOW DO I LIVE” into its tender inner skin?  I guess the dork was trying to be deep or something, but I think a person who does this needs a class in silvaculture.

I uploaded Firefox, because I heard in one of the forums that  it might work.

Back to Blogger…damn it.

Until I figure all this out…

…I will be posting back at Ye Olde Susan Gets Native.  I have lots to say and show you, and I can’t stand not blogging freely like before.  I haven’t even visited all of your blogs lately and I have a lot of catching up to do.

Bloody hell.

“Please stop staring at my butt.”

 I showed the GHO nest to Lorelei today, and since the sun was ACTUALLY SHINING, I couldn’t resist getting a picture of that glorious sun beaming through the owl’s ear tufts.

 The dogs are enjoying each other.  They also are attention-hounds and if one is doing something, the other has to be in on it.  Even when I try to get a smooshy-face picture.

Did you know that we actually had snow yesterday?  It was the kind of snow I like…big fluffy flakes that didn’t stick to the roads.  And I couldn’t resist leaving my mark at Kelley’s Nature Preserve.  Got a life bird, too.  A hermit thrush, who didn’t want his or her picture taken. 

I must be doing something wrong.  Pictures are not easy to post on WordPress.  I have read the forums and FAQ’s and resized them, and it’s such a chore. 

Sorry that I am not doing posts like I used to.  I get too bogged down fighting with these pictures and all the inspiration leaves me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love it when persistence pays off

 I have been checking a great horned owl nest at Lake Isabella for weeks…and today, it finally paid off:

 The wind was blowing so hard, her ear tufts were sideways.

For anyone in the area, here’s how to find the nest: 

In the park, there is a playground, with a house behind it.  To the right of the house, there is a large sycamore with a blue steel can about 30 feet up. 

This nest has been used for at least a few years, and I got to see the babies last year…baby GHO’s look like stacks of dryer lint.  And you know I will be posting photos when they arrive.  For anyone worried about me “disturbing” the nest:  The pair (I assume it’s the same ones) have nested here before, and they are very tolerant of visitors, as long as you don’t throw things at them.  I hear the banders have a fun time…they have to wear hard-hats.

 I am learning about WordPress, and having trouble with the photos…I will be back with more, hopefully later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello world!

I activated a new blog, and since WordPress promises that I can import my Blogger posts, I thought I would give it a whirl.

Guess who’s back (for now)?

Recognize that chin?

Boomer.

Here’s the story:

I got a call yesterday from the rescue who found a home for Boomer. The family didn’t want him anymore, and the rescue had to return him to us. (I had no idea that was an option…when I said goodbye to him, I thought it was forever)

The adoptive family said that he “tore up their laundry room” and had “separation anxiety” and “escaped from his crate” and “wouldn’t eat”. I don’t buy it. These people obviously didn’t know how to deal with a Boston Terrier (high energy dogs who need mental stimulation as well as exercise), and he has eaten 3 cups of food since he has been here today.

So I guess we are back to the “fatten up Boomer” diet. He’s not quite as bony as when I first saw him at the shelter, but he’s not healthy.

We are back to where we started. The cats are back in the basement, Boomer is sleeping on our bed right now (he loves Geoff) and we still have to find him a home…the rescue suggested a trainer who could help us introduce Boomer to cats and maybe help them all co-exist. I doubt it.

So here is what Boomer needs:

A home with no cats. Ever.

A family who knows about Bostons and their needs (exercise, companionship, brain work).

A lot of love.

What he has going for him:

He is a wonderfully loving little dog.

He is neutered and up to date on all his vaccinations.

He is micro-chipped.

He is ready for play at any time, or being a couch potato anytime.

I am willing to drive as long as I need to to get him to a new home. Anyone want to give him a try? He’s so wonderful. And he deserves a second (and third) chance.

He remembered me, obviously…he just about tore a hole in the woman’s car when he saw me.

I added this picture just because I was proud of it. I made homemade pizza tonight, and Isabelle helped (but she ate more pepperoni than she actually got onto the pizza) and I made a smiley face on it for her. And it was so delicious…an obscene amount of cheese on this bad boy.

Sigh…I love Boomer. The girls love Boomer. Nellie loves Boomer. Geoff even loves Boomer. (Geoff told me that he can stay as long as I can handle the cats being stuck in the basement)

Someone help!

Taking the long way

I’d like to think that my sense of direction is quite good.

I wanted to go back to the dam and estuary I visited a few days ago ( I hear there are peregrine falcons at the dam, and even though I work with Lucy all the time, I can’t count her). A morning bird excursion with Katdoc got rained out, so I thought I would roll the dice and see if the afternoon would be drier. I thought of a new way to head down to the estuary…Rt. 222.

I saw that Rt. 222 ends right at the estuary, and I knew where it started, up at Rt. 50. So I thought, “Hey. I’ll go down 222 and maybe it will be shorter.”

*Insert maniacal laughter from Kathi, who sees just where this is going*

Well, as it turns out, 222 goes right where I thought it did, but it took twice as long. And it’s not a short trip to start with, anyway.

Rt. 222 meanders through farmland, up and down hills…I was laughing out loud about it eventually.

I did get the opportunity to see some interesting road names.

“Bethel Hygiene” was a good one…but the one that made me almost run off the road:

“LAYCOCK CUT OFF”. I kid you not.

I didn’t get any life birds today, but it was a nice trip.

American kestrel: 2

American crow: 15

Turkey/black vulture: a lot

Pigeon: 50?

Pied-billed grebe: 6

Ring-billed gull: 20

Eastern bluebird: 4

A rest area near Point Pleasant has some info about Ulysses S. Grant, who was born across the street. And a list of all the presidents born in Ohio. I found my first “wild” pellet…presumably an owl’s. I couldn’t really tell what the animal had been, but it had dark fur. It was a BIG pellet.
And when I turned it over with my shoe, I found a pretty orange spider.
I watched and watched the pigeons on the dam, waiting for a peregrine to come rocketing out of the sky and pick one off.
You are here.