Have You Ever Seen The Rain

The other morning on my way into work, the sky was ominous and beautiful. I took a photo with my cell phone...

And since I am feeling somewhat dark today, I wanted to use it as my desktop picture but I decided I didn't like the telephone pole and all the lines. Hey who needs fancy-schmancy Photoshop?! I played around with MS Paint and voilá!...


This morning is was pitch black dark out when I left the house for work... at 4:40am. Too damn early. Trying to get too much work done in too little time. Quarter close. Again.

Weird morning, too. Not much traffic on the road at that early hour. Surprisingly, I saw not even one semi-truck. That was odd. I did see 1 guy on a bicycle and 2 school buses. Also odd. Plus a couple of assholes who wouldn't turn their brights off. Not at all odd.

And as usual, I had a song stuck in my head. Actually just a small part of a song, because I can't remember all the lyrics to "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"... only here's what I found myself singing in my head and humming out loud in the car this morning:
Oh, I want a hippopotamus for breakfast. Only a hippopotamus will do. Hmmm hmmm hmmm [can't remember anymore lyrics]...
Oh, I want a hippopotamus for breakfast. Only a hippopotamus will do. Hmmm hmmm hmmm...
Oh, I want a hippopotamus for breakfast. Only a hippopotamus will do. Hmmm hmmm hmmm...

Yes. For breakfast. Tapping my fingers on the steering wheel along with it. So... also odd.

A Very Odd Morning.

When I finally realized what I was singing in my head, I was like, what?!, jeez, who the hell are you/am I?... Turned on the radio to an oldies station and got me some CCR going. Got into the office and got me some coffee!

you must learn to eat time

We're in the midst of a big snow storm, and word is we're supposed to get about a foot of snow; it's already begun... snowed through the night. Sammy has a snow day today. Which actually disappointed him a great deal... for one thing, I was taking him to Espresso Milano for breakfast, and for another, it's the last day of school before Christmas break, which is always a pretty fun day. Since I somewhat expected it to be a snow day, I packed heavily at work yesterday and brought a ton of work home with me. But first thing this morning when I logged onto our company network, I had to do an update to my laptop. So I kicked off the update and filled up my coffee cup, and I went and sat down in the recliner & turned on the TV... flipped to Fox Movie channel and there was an old movie on with a very, very young Joan Collins and Richard Burton, I think, in a raft on the ocean, shipwrecked. I watched for a little while. It must have taken place in WWII, because they came across a surfaced submarine with Japanese soldiers. After some debate, the Japanese gave them water and food, but left them. One guy in the raft hollered out something like, "which way is land?" The Japanese captain said, "Land is all around. Open your mind. You must learn to eat time."

You must learn to eat time.

I am so swamped right now, as usual for this time of year, busy with 4th quarter and year-end close, along with still tons of backlogged work and other special events causing nothing but work, work and more work... I need more time, and I need more energy. Can you imagine...??? You must learn to eat time.

This is how fast time has flown by. Yesterday it was mid-October...





And today, it's almost Christmas...





Notice all the stacks of wood Kevin has cut, split and stacked. They're beautiful setting out there by our red pole barn. The stacks go on and on; you can't see half of them in the photo above. The amount of wood dwarfs the barn. We are warm and toasty in the house, even though the temperatures this week have occasionally hovered around zero. Kev takes very good care of us.

And speaking of Christmas... ugh. Thank goodness for plastic, eh. *flinch* Sammy and I went shopping together last weekend. From the long lines to check out at the registers at Kohl's, you wouldn't think there's any kind of economic slump. It was amazing. And Kohl's, as usual, had some amazing sales.

Sammy and I were looking at a couple of things there, and a phone began ringing. It didn't sound like a typical cell phone jingle; it sounded like an old-fashioned telephone ring. It was quite loud. So I, of course, looked around. There was an older gal pushing a Kohl's cart, and she looked at me and said, "Doncha hate that?" I looked back at her, head cocked, with a puzzled expression... huh? "You know," she says, "when your boob starts ringing." And she reached into her bra and pulled out her cell phone. I about pissed myself laughing! She was adorable! Sammy cracked up, too.

On Wednesday I had a PT appointment at noon, and then afterwards, I met Joyce in town for the 2 of us to do some Christmas shopping. It was a nice couple of hours together. Then she booked back on home, and I continued to shop... and I think I'm mostly done now. Just have to wrap, and I think I will make time for that today so the kids can wonder about the gifts under the tree for them. Otherwise, what's the point... I've been running pretty late at Christmas every year for the past few, and next year, I'm looking forward to feeling better and getting on top things. I will eat time.

I have only one New Year's Resolution this year, and that is to do more blog posts. Because really, if I do more blogging, that means I am more organized and energized in my life in general. I don't blog much lately because I'm too busy with work and then I don't have the energy for hardly anything else. So I will concentrate on one thing, and all the other stuff will fall into place. That's my plan.

Hey, it's nice to have a plan.

A long post, just like make-up sex

So I haven't been posting much on my blog lately. I think it's not only because I'm so swamped at work and then so tired out when I'm home, that the little free time I seem to have at home, I end up doing work at home, and then my brain is too tired to feel creative at all... so writing a post, even logging onto my home computer seems like too much work... And I enjoy this blog, so then it's just more negativity in my life. And then it seems like just one more thing on my 'to do' list. And then I feel like I miss it. And then... well, ya get the picture.

So here's a long post for today, and I promise a joke at the end. A joke! At the end! So maybe not so much like make-up sex (I hope, for your sake).

My dear, dear Sony is currently sitting in my LaSabre at a garage while my car is getting repaired... we took it in for a $400 pump thingy and it's turned into a $2,000+ whatever thingy. Shit.

We dropped the car off yesterday afternoon late, and I was home before I realized my camera was still in it. I am missing my Sony. I take it with me everywhere I go, usually. Since I've had it since May of 2006, it's basically a really old fart of a digital camera now... and she's been through some rough times. I lost the button to push to take a photo over a year ago, and handily set up a paperclip to work instead. Works fine, and cheaper than what they wanted to repair it. But this past Saturday morning, while at Sammy's last football game of the season, I dropped my Sony. From the very top of the bleachers all the way down to the bottom underneath onto pavement. So now I'm missing the wheel to change selections and the push thingy for zoom. But the stem of the wheel thingy is still in place, and I can turn that, so that's ok. And another paperclip can be utilized to zoom in and out (I used a safety pin at the game).



Seriously, is that one helluva camera or what?! Still works great. I took a ton of photos at Sammy's game... here's our Big No. 68 on the team...





And in this one, he's the one nearly horizontal, next to No. 24 on top of some opponents dressed in blue.



Go Sammy! It was an awesome game. The team they played has remained undefeated for the past 3 years we've played them and all this season... until Saturday when our boys beat 'em. Whoo hoo.

After the game, Sam and Kev left for Ann Arbor to go to the U of M and State game. They had a blast. Kev wore his Michigan garb and Sammy his State, and they watched State win. I stayed home, alone because Joycie & Mike were with Mike's family at a wedding in Kalamazoo. So I made a cake for Sammy...



Then Sunday, Kathy called me on her way home from Mt. Pleasant, heading west on a rainy, stormy cloudy day, shot with sunshine here and there. She was fortunate to see one of the most outstanding rainbows she's ever seen, vibrant colors. Plus a triple rainbow, and then further west, the vibrant rainbow from end to end, the whole arc. I told her, see that's why I take my camera with me everywhere I go! And I ran outside into the cold wet grass and out by the pond, but no rainbows to behold at our house. It was pretty, though, and windy. Sunshine came through for a little bit.



And Reilly came out to greet me...



But I could almost hear him thinking, are ye daft, girl? it's freezing out here. Right you are, old boy. In we went.

Kev bought me a present this past week, as a sweet surprise. This is my new CO2 BB gun.



Works great and I can pop those chipmunks and squirrels in the butt and they know I mean business now. I love it.

And I have a funny story with Kev... the other evening we sat down to watch a recorded episode of CSI, it was Episode 2 of Season 9, and I was reading the description about it, how a girl jumps to her death from a tall building and lands on a bus... and I said something like, well, this sounds... and before I could finish, Kev says, "flattering?"...

Well, it cracked me up.

The other day, I had this e-mail conversation with a guy I work with... something else that made me laugh...
      ____________________________________________
      From: Julie
      To: JT
      JT & A. , I need to skip today's update meeting. Sorry for the short notice. I was out sick yesterday & Tuesday, and now have some urgent catching up to do.
      Thanks,
      Julie
      ____________________________________________
      From: JT
      To: Julie
      Hi Julie - I hope you're doing okay now. Was your dementia acting up again? Ugh :(
      Try not to press yourself, k?
      I know I have a ton of things to respond to you on; just have to unbury myself from qtr end & that transfer I did for ya.
      Talk to you soon
      ____________________________________________
      From: Julie
      To: JT
      Oh, JT, you just provided me with what will likely be my only laugh of the day!!!!!!
      I have vertigo, not dementia! Though maybe dementia ain't that far away in my future.............
      I think I had a stomach flu, combined with the still present vertigo. It was yukky.
      I owe you stuff, too. Maybe we can talk one day next week.
      Have a good day!!!
      Julie
      ____________________________________________
      From: JT
      To: Julie
      Y'know, as soon as I sent that reply, I knew it was wrong - duh!
      Hee-hee; glad you're better though :)
      You have a good day too!
      ____________________________________________
      From: Julie
      To: JT
      I wonder if I could retire early if I have dementia..........
      What were we talking about?
      Who are you, again?
      Where am I?
      ____________________________________________
      From: JT
      To: Julie
      Can you hear me now?


And now for the joke I promised:
A cabbie picks up a Nun. She gets into the cab, and notices that the VERY handsome cab driver won't stop staring at her. She asks him why he is staring. He replies: 'I have a question to ask you but I don't want to offend you.' She answers, 'My son, you cannot offend me. When you're as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I'm sure that there's nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive. ''Well, I've always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.' She responds, 'Well, let's see what we can do about that: first, you have to be single and second, you must be Catholic.' The cab driver is very excited and says, 'Yes, I'm single and Catholic!' 'OK' the nun says. 'Pull into the next alley.' The nun fulfills his fantasy, with a kiss that would make a hooker blush, But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying. 'My dear child,' says the nun, 'why are you crying?' 'Forgive me but I've sinned. I lied and I must confess, I'm married and I'm Jewish. 'The nun says, 'That's OK. My name is Kevin and I'm going to a Halloween party.'

Feeling blue

The little guy below, an Indigo Bunting, has shown up at the feeders... still trying to get a better photo of him, but here's my best one so far...

Tonight's rising moon

Early this evening, before Kev and Sammy got home from Sam's basketball game, I walked by some of our windows that face East. I noticed a full moon rising... so I grabbed my trusty Sony, threw on a coat and put my bare feet into a pair of Kev's big ol' boots by the back door and I WENT OUTSIDE ALL BY MYSELF. And since I'm typing this blog post at close to midnight, you can plainly deduce I survived!

I got several horrible shots of the gorgeous moon rising through the trees across the pond, and just a few passable ones...





It was damn cold out there!

I woke up about 20 minutes ago, and it felt like the middle of the night... like the wee hours of the morning... imagine my surprise that it was only 11:38pm. Strange. I haven't been keeping to much of a routine, so now I'm up and back down sleeping or napping at any ol' time.

In lieu of taking some more pain meds, which I'm not due for until 1:00am at earliest, I decided to see what my camera had in store for me. It's worked to keep my mind busy and off that strange pain on the left side of my neck. But now I'm done, so... Oy, enough with the poodles already!

In a brass bra...

Kathy is helping us out so much with getting Sammy to and from where he needs to be... When she found out I had this surgery scheduled, her offer to help, especially in regard to transporting Sammy, was immediate and genuine. Also, Kathy is the type of person that thinks about the complete picture, and the resulting picture after that... I mean, she will figure out the details and ask questions or provide answers to questions I didn't yet realize needed answers. The number of times I've needed her advice and insight and her help is too numerous to count. I'm smart, but I can be scatterbrained & at times too impetuous & shortsighted, and my sister Kathy has saved my butt over and over again. I love that woman!

Kathy offered to take Sammy to school this week for us because Kev is working afternoons. Yesterday morning, Kev had to work over, and he didn't get home until around 3am or 4am. I had my cell phone alarm set for 5:50am to wake me so I could wake Sammy. This is our usual routine. I call him on his cell to wake him up in the morning so that he can get into the shower, and so that I don't have to walk up the stairs to wake him. (My ankles hate stairs first thing in the morning... they're too stiff to work well on stairs.) Sometimes I have to call Sammy 3 or 4 times before he actually wakes and answers his phone. Then sometimes he'll fall back asleep, and I have to start calling him all over again. I've taken to making him get out of bed and stand up while he's on the phone with me.

Yesterday morning, I distinctly remember my cell phone alarm going off. I called Sammy on his cell. I remember it took 3 calls to wake him and get him going into the shower. In truth, I barely remember any of this... it’s all a pain pill induced fog. Kathy arrived at about 7:00am to pick Sammy up, and he wasn’t ready. I talked with Kathy on the phone, while she was sitting in her car in our driveway waiting, & told her that I called him when my alarm went off and I didn’t know what the heck was taking him so long, and I was yelling at Sammy to hurry. Sammy being late made Kathy late for work. Dammit! I know Sammy felt awful about being late. In the car with his Aunt Kathy, Sammy told her, "I know my mom thinks she called me at 10 to 6, but she didn’t call me until 10 to 7, I swear!" I had to check my 'calls dialed' on my cell, with which I intended, of course, to prove him wrong... but it proved him right... my first call to him was a 6:49am. Somehow, I lost an hour between my alarm going off and calling Sammy. Weird. Poor Sam.

Sammy and his Aunt Kathy made a plan on the way to school. From now on, when she is to pick him up and drive him to school, Aunt Kathy will call Sammy on his cell phone at 6:00am. It’s a good plan, but I wonder if Aunt Kathy knows that it sometimes takes 3, 4, 5 or 6 calls to get the boy to answer...

This morning, I vowed to make sure Sammy was up and ready on time, so as to not make his Aunt Kathy wait for him. Sammy and I talked about it last night. He told me of his plan with his Aunt Kathy. Since I wake him at 5:50am, 10 minutes earlier than the planned call from Aunt Kathy, Sammy’s plan was to be up and out of the shower by the time Aunt Kathy’s call came through. Sammy is very aware of what a huge favor his Aunt Kathy is doing for him, carting him around so much while I still can’t drive & his Dad is working, and he doesn’t want to make her late for work again.

My alarm went off at 5:50am this morning, and Sammy answered on my first call. He was in the shower when Kathy called me... no school today.

I heard Sammy’s shower stop, and I hollered up to him, as quietly as I could holler (coz Kev was still sleeping), “Sammy, no school today.” I expected a rather unhappy reaction due to having already gotten up & taken a shower, but all I heard was a heartfelt “YES!”

And now as I sit here typing away, the house is dark and I can hear the wind outside. It’s a very strong wind. I know it’s super cold out, because I had to let Reilly out to take his morning pee. Which probably froze as soon as it left his body! Yes, it’s that cold. It's colder than a witch's... well, you get it.

I’ve got the local news on, and it’s all about the weather and school closings. It’s around 7:00 am now, and the temperature is 9 degrees F., with the wind-chill factor, it’s -19 degrees F. with the wind at about 20 mph, with gusts approaching 50 mph. Words like “fierce arctic winds” with “blowing snow” are being splashed across the TV screen.

Yesterday afternoon and early evening, we had a lot of rain, and then as the evening progressed, the temps dropped, the rain became frozen slush, then lots of snow. The wind picked up, and the roads are now treacherous... ice covered and lots of drifting snow with the high winds. There isn’t a school open anywhere near us. They’re listing the school closings at the bottom of the TV screen, and I’m reading school district names that I’ve never even heard of before... the list just keeps going and going and going. CMU is also closed this morning; Joycie said they will decide by 10am if classes will be called off for the entire day. There are a great many people without power, also. Quite the storm, and it looks like a lot more snow and super cold temperatures are in store for the rest of the week.

Along with the wind outside I’ve heard about 3 big bangs so far this morning. One seemed to bang against our house. I have a feeling that the oak trees in our yard, which always have dead branches in amongst the live branches, are fixin’ to let go some of those dead branches, because the wind gusts I’m hearing sound pretty darn persuasive... One big gust just made me feel like our whole house was fighting it. Lots of noise. House won. Thank goodness.

It's frozen, it's white, it's...

finally falling from the sky! SNOW!



Those are Kev's tracks in it out to the pole barn to go hunting this morning. And back again to get his rifle, which he forgot. Rich fodder for long-term teasing, that. He's going to get plenty tired of me asking him if he remembered his gun.

So already that's two things this morning that make me happy, happy, happy!

Thank you.

Oh, and coffee. Coffee makes me happy. I stepped outside onto our porch barefooted to take that photo, which meant stepping into the dusting of snow on the front of the porch and the steps... my feet got cold & I rushed back to my nice wonderfully hot cup of joe. I briefly considered pouring it on my feet.

Frosty Moon of November

Last Thursday, Opening Day, when it was starting to get dark and Kevin and Sammy were not yet in from the woods, I could see the moon in the sky through the south-facing window of our dining room. This is my view when I'm sitting at my computer. It was a beautiful, chubby crescent moon, and the sky was still very blue, but getting darker by the second. I grabbed my camera and got 2 photos during those few moments before it was too dark. This jpg file doesn't do it justice, so you'll have to use your imagination...



As I walked back into the house, niggling at the edges of my brain was a poem, or nursery verse or something that I knew as a kid that was about the moon... but I just couldn't recall it. I sat back down at my computer and started searching. I never did find whatever it was I was looking for, but I found some old memories anyway.

And I found this web site, Ongoing Tales, which is really neat. Old-time poetry set to old-time music, which you can turn off if you want. I think kids would like it, and it would introduce them to some lovely old poems.

This is the poem I found about the crescent moon, and though it isn't a poem I could recite, even bits of, it seems familiar to me. And another cool tidbit, my photo is of a waxing crescent moon... a new moon...

   THE NEW MOON
   by Eliza Lee Follen

   Dear mother, how pretty
   The moon looks to-night!
   She was never so cunning before;
   Her two little horns
   Are so sharp and bright,
   I hope she'll not grow any more.
   If I were up there,
   With you and my friends,
   I'd rock in it nicely, you'd see;
   I'd sit in the middle
   And hold by both ends.
   Oh, what a bright cradle 't would be!

   I would call to the stars
   To keep out of the way,
   Lest we should rock over their toes;
   And then I would rock
   Till the dawn of the day,
   And see where the pretty moon goes.

   And there we would stay
   In the beautiful skies,
   All through the bright clouds we would roam;
   We would see the sun set,
   And see the sun rise,
   And on the next rainbow come home.

Beautiful, isn't it? It got me wondering who Eliza Lee Follen was and if she published many poems. It turned out to be a bit difficult to find information about her, though I finally found this small bit, and now I would like to read her book. I could find much more information on her husband, Charles. Reading about the 2 of them just made me like her poem, The New Moon, even more.

I like taking note of the moon phases. The difference in how the moon's phase provides light at night out here in the country is noticeable. I've been out walking in the yard or the woods (no, not alone) a time or two during a full moon when it seemed almost as bright as day, well, a cloudy day anyway. I like to know if the moon is waxing or waning. And while I was on the Star Date site, I found this interesting article... so a "new moon" is technically a "none moon" and not a crescent at all. Hmmm...

This list of names for each full moon is also interesting... so we are coming up on the Frosty Moon of November.

Good news & a cold morning

Kevin got that lab tech job!!! Actually, the official job title is “quality assurance analyst.” He worked his last midnight shift last night. No more midnights. Ever again, I hope. Kev was in such a good mood yesterday evening. That was very nice. Weekends off. Yes! He’ll be on the new job beginning on or before Nov. 7th. I am so, so happy he got that job.

A friend of mine, whom I work with, is out of town this week, attending a conference in sunny smoky California. I e-mailed her earlier today about how we had a pretty cold morning this morning... about 35 degrees! Beautiful, though... partly cloudy with a big ol' full moon setting in the west, made the clouds look purple against a navy blue sky. But... brrr! My friend is in the Hunting Beach area, so not real close to the fires there. Thank goodness. I visited that same area a few years ago, also to attend a conference, and now, as then, I just don’t get it... The fires, earth quakes, mud slides, incredibly high cost of housing/living, traffic, gangs and the freaks, and the crowds of people... ugh! I'd hate to live there. Though California does have the Pacific Ocean, but I gotta say... I much prefer the Atlantic. Kev & Sammy went with me on that trip, and I remember when we arrived and went down to the beach, the first thing I noticed was, well, actually the first thing I noticed was how crowded it all was, and then the 2nd thing I noticed was how the ocean smelled bad. In fact, I remember I did a blog post about it. We did walk the beach, though, and we found some really nice pieces of beach glass. (Though I’ve found nicer ones on the Atlantic shore.)

I’m not totally biased... I’d also hate to live in Florida, Arizona & Texas. Lousiana, Alabama, Georgia, too. Any of those hot states with large bugs and snakes, alligators and muggy weather. And hurricanes. I know I'm usually in the minority... all those warm states are loved by many. Guess it’s a darn good thing I live in the sticks of Michigan, eh. And for the record, I just love a cold October morning.

Football Saturday, the score

Isn't this a gorgeous sky?



A beautiful day for football. We played over in a town nearby, and the day went great. This is Big Sammy No. 45...



Looking tough on both offense and defense... he played almost the entire game...



Hot and sweaty, and in great form...



Our boys won the game...



The sky had predicted the outcome...

Finally Friday

I've had a pretty rough week, ever since that MRI... and I saw the doc yesterday morning... turns out, I was totally wrong. That's what using the 'net to diagnose a medical problem will get ya. I don't have a pinched nerve, that's true, but I also don't have a herniated cervical disk. The doctor I saw, a rehabilitation specialist, doesn't know what it is I have, but whatever it is, the MRI showed it is pressing into my spinal cord, not by a whole lot, but it's there. Which also explained why the MRI was so painful and set me back so much... I'm still feeling awful from it. So now I have a CT scan Monday morning, and the doc referred me to a surgeon. Reminds me of a song... the long and winding road...

Like our driveway, and this is what I saw on my way home yesterday.



Aren't they pretty? I watched them for quite a while, and took a lot of photos.

Later that evening, Sammy came up to me and said something like, "you wouldn't wanna take me over to Aunt Kathy's swimming, would you? Oh, nevermind." And away he walked. So many times this summer he has asked me to take him over, and it seems like I always have some reason (lately my neck) for not going. So I took him. And it was a beautiful evening...



My sister, Janet, arrived at Kathy's on her 4-wheeler with her grandson, Rogan, and soon-to-be-step-grandson, Austin. The 3 boys had a blast together in the pool. By the time I took this photo, I had to use my flash, it was starting to get dark...



3 gorgeous boys.

April 30th

This was the sky on our way home from the soccer game this past Monday evening, a few hours before sunset. It had been nice & sunny, but the further northwest I drove, the darker it got. The clouds were beautiful.

Springtime in Michigan

Yesterday:





And today:



Gotta love it!

Stadium lights in the morning

Hey, here's a post that's not about birds!

Yesterday evening, Kevin & I finally dropped off all our paperwork to the accountant who does our taxes. It was still cold outside, and still a little bit of snow falling here and there, mostly the fainthearted kind. Not much oomph behind it. We were heading West, and there were dark skies behind us, as well as some dark skies in front of us... but way to the Northwest, we could see a hint of blue skies. The further we drove, the closer we got to the dividing line.


After dropping off the papers, we stopped at our favorite little Mexican restaurant for dinner. We have never had bad food there. Last night was no exception. Though the Coronas could have been a little bit colder... It was nice to have some time with just us 2. I didn’t invite the kids. I needed some time away from them and some time alone with Kev. We took home some tacos for them, though.

I remember hearing or reading somewhere once that your teenagers start acting so nasty that you become glad to get them out of the “nest.” I am having that kind of week with Joycie. That girl can be such a sweetheart one minute and then SAB the next... *sigh* I know I will miss her living with us come August, but yesterday evening, I could not wait for August. And I strongly suspect she was feeling the same.

Taking photos of the birds is definitely like OCD with me. I never get tired of it. While writing this post, I have stopped several times already to take photos. I was up well before 7:00am, and have been for the most part, sitting here at my computer and watching and photographing the birds while Kev and the kids slept. Well, Kev got up about 8:30am, and the 2 of us just put a couple of roasts in the crockpot. (Kev trimmed them up while I got the sauce ready... our plan is to have it over egg noodles for dinner.) I also talked with Sandy on the phone for a while... so it’s not like I’ve been sitting here for 2 hours doing nothing but taking photos of birds and drinking coffee. Ah, well, it’s kinda like that...

I also watched 2 doe walking on the far side of the pond come into my view. This was just as the sun was starting to come out of the low cloud cover this morning. I watched them walk along the far side and around the end of the pond, grazing all the while.

Then they crossed the driveway and grazed into our front yard for a long time.

Kev woke and I called him off to see them... when he approached the window, they perked up and stood there for a minute, then took off.

I love living here.

Right before the deer took off, a brown-headed cowbird showed up at the feeder. I’ve seen one before, I suspect this is the same one. There has only ever been one. Thank goodness. This is the male.

I have to admit, I don’t like the cowbirds. For one thing, that dull brown head stuck on that shiny black body looks like the result of one of those children’s books where the head, body and feet are different pages, so you can create all kinds of creatures or funny looking people. It just doesn’t look right to me. Also, female cowbirds don’t sit on their own eggs, instead they will lay an egg into an existing songbird nest. One female will do this to 4 or 5 different nests. Sometimes the songbird mother will get rid of the foreign egg, but often, she’ll just add it to the lot and hatch it with her own. But then the baby cowbird ends up being the pig of the litter... as my bird book states, “The young cowbird grows quickly at the expense of the young of the host, taking most of the food or pushing them out of the nest.”

Well, ok, this post had a little bit of bird in it.

Industrious

Crossing 3 seasons... 1 week of Michigan weather

Winter Snow on Monday




Spring Rain on Tuesday


Spring Sunshine & Blue Skies on Wednesday...
and the snow was hiding a feast for the vultures along our road, so now that their feast has thawed out, I've been seeing them daily in the same spot... the clean-up crew, always somewhat annoyed at my interruption...


And today we're having early Summer Sunshine... it's really warm outside right now, and the pond ice is finally melting away...

Spring has sprung... a leak...

After I picked Sammy up this afternoon from the Roll-A-Rink (the Middle School had a rollerskating party this afternoon), I took him to get his hair cut. His hair's been getting kinda long and shaggy. Apparently, just the way he likes it. Twenty bucks on a hair cut, and he still looks like he needs one.

Since the salon is on the other side of town, we went home the "back way" through a small town we don't usually get to... there's a ball park there with a bunch of baseball diamonds... good thing it's not ball season huh...






There are quite a few places around our county that are flooded. All the usual spots. Once the ice goes out of the rivers, it's pretty common to have the spring flooding.

Since I had my camera out, I started taking photos of Sammy in the car during the drive home. Yes, while I was driving... all back roads, though, and pretty much no traffic. Note the shaggy hair.


Sammy was talking on his cell to his friend, Zack, the whole time, so I was annoying him in a most satisfying way... as he let me know...