Bird Sightings – Page 3 – The Hermits' Rest

Truly Enjoyable Day

Every so often you get to enjoy a whole day where there’s peace, beauty, fun, humor, and a little accomplishment thrown in. Today was such a day. Why was it so good?

Walking! I didn’t walk all that far today, but I enjoyed it. On my first walk I noticed all the grass and such is already crunchy and brown thanks to scant rain and that freeze a week ago. But there were white evening primroses, which are even more delicate than their normal pink friends.

These are just pale versions of pink evening primroses, not a different species.

Later in the afternoon I went out again with Kathleen, since walking is helping her recuperation. I showed her how big the puffball mushroom in the front field has gotten, and we found a thick patch of verbena next to the rye crop across the road. Apache would sure love that field.

Calves! There are many cow-calf pairs in the field behind us right now. The babies are getting more adventurous and frisky, which is always entertaining. I love the brave and curious ones who try to get the dogs to play. This one with the white spot had a lot of fun with Penney and let me talk to her a while.

Crafts! We watched some television this afternoon and evening, which gave me time to work on my patchwork blanket. I got through all but one square on the fourth row. It looks pretty cute. I have some ideas for it once I join all the squares.

Funny things! I have two funny things to share. First happened yesterday. I went to the birding hut to re-start Merlin after it had been running a while. I wanted to write down the new species in my notebook but I couldn’t open it. That was odd. I finally peeled the pages apart, and I really perturbed a bold jumping spider who had managed to build a web nest in the book in just over an hour! I encouraged her to relocate.

Second story was from today. When we went to feed the poultry, I once again found no eggs in the boxes. You could see someone had been sitting in them. But none were chosen for egg laying.

You may remember that last week Kathleen cleaned the henhouse. New pine shavings were put in the boxes and on the floor.

Before we went to the horses, I got a notion and had Kathleen wait while I checked something. Sure enough, there were four eggs in the old nest boxes we still have up for when we get new hens. I guess Cindy and Cathy don’t like the pine shavings. I’ll have to get them some straw. No photo because (gasp!) I left my phone in the house!

We prefer the little nest boxes, with no nesting material.

Well, okay, Cochins. Lay wherever you want to.

Blam blam blam

I had exactly ONE important meeting today where I had to pay attention. That is when some folks off somewhere adjacent to the people across the road decided it was time to break out the rifles and start with the pew, pew, pew. Only it was much louder.

I should have run outside and blinded them with my nails. This stuff is incredibly reflective outdoors.

Of course, while I had my camera on, Penney had to try to insert herself into my arms, Carlton started shaking under my desk, and Alfred stuck his giant head under my free arm. My headphones disconnected, things fell off the desk, and I kept trying to act professional. At least I wasn’t leading the meeting.

Why couldn’t those woods be all peaceful, like yesterday, when it was just me and the orange cat?

Let’s hope they don’t start up again tomorrow when I’m leading a meeting with bosses in it. Apparently, yesterday the blamming was during my lunch with friends.

I’d have been trying to hide like this raccoon was during today’s noise.

The good news is that there was no massacre. Once the meeting ended and I walked past the bridge, I could hear them yelling, “pull,” before shots rang out, so I figured out they were skeet shooting. That’s a new one.

There are the shooters. They also mowed an entire field of bluebonnets.

The shots sounded really close from our house, and my neighbor said it sounded like it was in her back yard. Her dogs were also terrified. The shooters were very close to her property line. Well, I hope they got lots of skeet.

I also enjoyed banter about skeet and what they could be hunting in response to my Facebook post about the noise. That made a weird day a bit better.

Getting to enjoy the bridge turtles on their new sunning log also cheered me up.

In the end, I enjoyed writing for most of the day, and had a nice rest on the porch with all the flowers after work.

Then all but one horse got some vigorous currying, because it’s shedding time. Mabel, as usual, also has mud clods that I’m gradually scraping off. She can really collect mud. I’m in charge of the horses for a while, since my helper has had a setback, but I’m on it! I just want no nearby shooting during horse time.

Bored of Self

I’m only writing to keep a blogging streak going. I was so boring yesterday that only 36 people visited the site. It’s a good reason I just like to hear myself talk, or read my writing, or something. And I’m only going to get more and more boring if I keep working so many hours.

I’ll still try to take a few nice photos when I can get outside.

To put a positive spin on things, if I’m being boring, it means I’m not letting outside events upset me, I’m enjoying my family/pets, and my dull hobbies are satisfying me.

So if you got this far, feel free to suggest something interesting to write about, or I’ll do the wise thing and not blog until I have something blog worthy.

This could be a painting, too. So many greens.

PS: don’t watch Lost in Space (new version) if you’re one of those people who expect their science fiction to be at least somewhat plausible.

Idiot Wind

My mom would have been in a tizzy by today’s end. She really hated wind. She said it made her hair hurt. I’m not fond of it either. Fine old lady hair and wind are an aesthetically unappealing combination.

Artistic rendering of annoyed me in wind

The wind wasn’t as horrible as yesterday, but since it was uncharacteristically cold for mid March, going outside was a brutal experience. Even the birds were hiding—only 26 species today were heard over the wind by Merlin. Needless to say, my exercise goals were not met!

The best thing about today was that it made for crazy colors in the temperature blanket. Yesterday was red (90s) and Kelly green (low 50s). Today the green was the high temperature. Tonight it might freeze! This is not usual.

Yesterday and today. Sweat followed by chills.

Being indoors all day left me a little grumpy. It didn’t help that I spent 2.5 hours trying to get my monitor situation for work under control. Two IT guys and much brainstorming later, I’m all set, though I changed to a different monitor. It turned out that it didn’t need new drivers (but has them anyway). Instead, the setup I had where each monitor was attached by an HDMI cable, which had worked since last June, suddenly was no good. I guess a recent update changed it. So I had to find a Display Port connector and use it. Lucky for me I have many extra display cables gathered over by the extra work monitors. The right one was there.

I have to give IT guy #2, who was in Oregon, credit for troubleshooting with me. I sent him many photos and screenshots for diagnostic purposes. He liked that I understood all his questions.

He promised not to laugh at my docking station. But it showed the problem. That empty slot should be attached to a monitor.

I’ll spare you the story of how I muddled up my web-based training file. But at least I had two giant monitors to screw up on!

A Different Kind of Day

I didn’t work but a couple of hours today. Instead I drove Anita to Georgetown so she could have a medical procedure. It was good to spend some time together, even if she wasn’t 100% at her best.

While she was at the snazziest medical facility I’ve ever seen, I went out in the beautifully landscaped area to see what native plants I could find. I discovered that whoever did the landscaping used primarily native plants, which pleased me.

And I heard many birds, including some Sandhill Cranes, which pleased me greatly. I didn’t even mind that the procedure was delayed, because that gave me time to walk to the really beautiful grocery store next to the surgery center. It must have replaced the old one that was there when I had a child in college there.

Fancy roundabout leading to what I assume is a nice new neighborhood.

I got a tasty Mexican torta, plums, a dessert, some snacks for later, and my favorite bread. Of course I got Anita some flowers.

Then I came to the empty waiting room and took a nap. Yes, in the chairs above. What a treat!

Getting Anita home was challenging thanks to the after-effects of the procedure and anesthesia, but we made it back to Cameron, fed the ancient dog, and got food into Anita. Success.

Late afternoon trees greeted me at home.

Tomorrow is ranch chore day, since what I’d hoped to accomplish this afternoon didn’t happen. And I’ll have a book report, too.

Thanks again to all who read and comment!

Happy Homecoming

We were able to stay at our campsite until I was finished working for the day, which was very pleasant. I got a bit of walking in, but mostly worked, even on the drive home. You have to help users with questions!

My favorite bird photo of the day. The chickadees were everywhere and had a lot to say!

We had a couple of adventures on the way home. It appears that the motor home was low on all fluids, so the oil we’d added earlier was not sufficient. We also needed coolant and wiper fluid. We got those at a gas station where Lee also enjoyed a chat with a nice female trucker, who he was able to convince could tow a car like we do. She had such a sweet smile. Sometimes chance meetings can really make your day.

There was another fluid low, the DEF you have to add to diesel vehicles now. As Lee was valiantly trying to pull into the Milano Cefco gas station that dispenses it from pumps, I had to inform him it was closed for remodeling. Now I’ll get to pour some in manually. It’s interesting that they are remodeling the gas station, because it’s only a couple of years old. I guess the newer fancy gas station just down the road is big competition!

Fictional image of Lee handing me the stuff to pour.

As nice as the trip was, it was also good to get home. I was pleased to hear Kathleen’s stories about how she’s been working with the horses and what she accomplished in just a few days. She needs exercise, so she’s whipping them into shape.

She sent me this to show how shiny she got Drew.

She told me that Mabel hadn’t liked being in the round pen today and she jumped it to get to the other horses. I guess that’s proof she isn’t crippled. So Mabel got to spend some time hanging out in the pen by herself. She does look beautiful, though.

I got to work with her a little going back to the pasture, she has work ahead of her but Kathleen says she’s already making progress.

I guess the pen isn’t very high if you’re tall as her.

I also enjoyed my reunion with the turkeys. Darryl Junior was all puffed up and impressed with himself, showing all his glorious tail feathers to impress Connie. I’m glad he doesn’t realize how skimpy his tail feathers are. He will look better when new ones grow in.

Well, I’ve put off election results as long as I can, so I’d better check out the primary results. And I need to see how the war is coming along. As always, I hope the civilians just trying to live their lives can stay safe. I know people on both sides whose homes are shuddering when missiles land. I am so tired of bloodshed.

Work and Life, Balanced

I must congratulate myself for creating such a pleasant outdoor workspace today at our campsite that I didn’t have to move inside at all. I guess I should thank Mother Nature for providing pleasant temperatures and no crazy winds.

The portable table makes a great and spacious desk. I could watch Cardinals and Carolina Wrens bopping around while I listened to meetings. And thanks to the awning, I was in shade most of the day. It helped that I didn’t need two monitors for anything today.

I took a short walk in the morning and was able to get photos of a few more birds, some of whom I’ve been hearing but not seeing. The light was bad, but I could tell what they were!

Lunch hour gave me time for another walk at 2 pm (lunch Pacific Time). I enjoyed shady paths and some ups and downs. The highlight was finding the incredibly beautiful cream wild indigo (Baptisia leucophaea). The blossoms are breathtaking.

Leaf-cutter ants decorated with juniper berries rather than leaves

I couldn’t NOT go look at the waterfowl, but I mostly watched ducks dabble and dowitchers dig. Dandy! The Ibises were also present.

I worked pretty late so that was it for hiking. I still got 10,000 steps, and the big camera gave my arms a workout, too. I think I balanced work and life pretty well today. Now enjoy my “artsy” photos.

Joy! Twice in One Day!

The world is so complicated. There’s a lot of negativity going around. So the fact that I was able to feel real joy twice today is a sweet and precious thing. What does it say, about, well, everything, that the source of my joy both times was birds?

It’s because birds are tiny (or larger) packets of joy.

I’m sure thankful for my animal friends, my birds and horses especially, for helping me get through the weirdest of times! Today was a great example.

I took my morning hike today to a part of Nail’s Creek (Lake Somerville) park I never made it to before. It was pretty in a dry, post-oak Savannah kind of way.

I followed the path of Cedar Creek, which was mostly dry, and saw lots of wetland plants and hog damage. I saw hogs there last year, so I wasn’t surprised. I was hoping to get a better view of the pelicans and snow geese we’d seen earlier (and heard—much honking).

I heard snow geese, but when I zoomed in I realized that both geese and pelicans were flying around

I did find them, but still couldn’t see them much better.

As I was taking pictures of ducks, sandpipers, yellowlegs and such, some big birds showed up. They were black, but I had a hard time figuring out much about them, even through binoculars. Were they Anhingas? Black geese?

Finally I got close enough to see their bills. They were ibises! They eventually started making sounds, so Merlin confirmed they were white-faced (there are other dark ones). They dug in the shallow water and hung out on a snag in the water. It was most entertaining, and I was thrilled to get to watch them up close. By the time I heard Sandhill Cranes again that weird feeling in my chest that could only be joy burst forth.

A friend asked me if I felt any other emotions along with joy. Yeah, there’s a poignant sadness when I realize joy is just a momentary feeling. I had tears looking at the birds. But that’s what makes joy so special — its rarity and fleeting nature.

Phlox brought happiness! That’s good, too.

Anyway, the day continued and we took a drive around the area. We visited Yegua Creek Park, where Catherine from the comments section’s husband was camping. We missed him but did enjoy checking out the campsites and views.

We then drove to where the dam for Lake Somerville is, which has many camping areas. After going over the whole dam, we took the scenic route back. There are some nice properties in the area.

Back at our campsite, I wanted to take the good camera out to try and get better pelican pictures. We went to the day use area, where lots of birds were gathered. I helped a young man find his first Northern Shoveler ducks, and his excitement was fun to observe.

Then I got all excited because I spotted a Black-necked Stilt. The second joyful moment.

I jumped up and down and made happy noises, which Lee enjoyed. He said that’s why he likes to go with me sometimes, just to see me all happy. Aww. Here are a few more photos from the day.

The day ended with salmon patties made into sandwiches with really good potato salad. Lee got to cook on his little grill outdoors, so he had fun, too.

Thanks to all of you who’ve been reading the last few days. It’s encouraging to think I entertain you a bit. At least it’s a brief diversion!

A Beautiful Day if You Ignore Current Events

I’m gonna say it: I don’t like wars. I don’t like killing innocent people. So, when yet another one is started, apparently quite well planned, and no one tries very hard to stop it, it’s hard to enjoy a lovely day in nature.

This beautiful checkered skipper on a gorgeous smooth phacelia (*Phacelia glabra)* flower tried to distract me.

I wanted to enjoy the outdoors, though, especially after missing out on hiking and birding yesterday! Nature has her way of sneaking into my psyche and making me forget everything except what’s happening where I am in the current moment. I’m so grateful for that!

Carolina Wren serves to amuse and entertain

We enjoyed a quiet morning watching wrens investigate the underpinnings of our vehicles. I sure hope they aren’t nesting in there! Having a second morning with few neighbors was a real treat.

At last I was able to walk down the familiar trails of Lake Somerville State Park. It’s fun to explore new trails, for sure, but it’s equally interesting to see how places you’re familiar with change from year to year or in different seasons.

Today there were many shore birds on the lake, which is still quite low. Hundreds of White Pelicans, various sandpipers, dowitchers, and ducks entertained me. I was proud to ID Northern Shovelers, Green- and Blue-winged Teals, and Mallards by sight. Glad for the binoculars!

The pelicans were too far away for good photos until they decided to change location, when I could get some flight photos. These are all from the phone camera.

I was delighted to find more early wildflowers in bloom than I expected. There was even at least one I’d never seen before! It was like walking through a fairy garden with all the small, bright flowers along the path, including my beloved spring beauties. Ahh. Pink perfection.

I didn’t see any wild mammals but people with fancy trail horses showed up across from us, so I got to enjoy them getting tacked up. The park did fill up today. I sorta got PTSD from my last trip where I chastised Scouts when I saw a big gathering at the next camping area. Thankfully they only had one screamer.

With all the bright, blue sky and pleasant warmth, we ended up staying outside most of the day, just enjoying the peace. It was just what I needed! And to add icing to the cake, Sandhill Cranes decided today was migration day (they are legal migrants) and regaled us with calls for a long time. Safe travels!

Ooh I’m tired. I’m just going to photo dump the butterflies and other birds. See if you know what they are. It’s a quiz!

A Significant Milestone

It was a different kind of day, all around. I’m at a campground and I didn’t even go for a walk. Too busy working and thinking. I did go out to dinner at the scenic Bush’s Fried Chicken in Brenham, Texas. When we celebrate, we go all out.

That is supposed to be 8 fried chicken livers but I think it was more. So good with okra. My gall bladder would not approve, if I still had one.

I did something I never thought I’d do today. I turned down a job offer that would pay more than I’ve ever made and last more than a few months. I finally made it to the point where I chose my mental health over my fear of poverty.

I’ve been heavily recruited for a job at a very large corporation doing pretty much what I do now, but with a staff. I wanted to know more about it, especially when they kept raising my potential income. I did let them know I was happy where I am, especially with the new opportunity that came up.

I agreed to interview, and that happened yesterday. The funny thing about it was that three of the four of us in the meeting had similar Teams backgrounds and were wearing nice quality zipped hoodies. It’s like we had a uniform. The other woman had a pink top, giant trendy glasses, enhanced pink lips, and very yellow hair. Her fancy lighting system kept showing up in her background. Her name was Barbi. I kept my sexist prejudices to myself.

Just thought I’d slip in a picture of my bedroom window with a crow curtain I made.

They all asked good questions and didn’t make me repeat my résumé. I gave good answers, because in my advanced years I no longer get nervous. I figure I’m interviewing them as much as they’re interviewing me. And I have so many stories of success and failure implementing this software. A good time was had by all. Much nodding and laughter occurred. That’s good. I hate a dour interview panel.

The job offer came a couple of hours later, which surprised me. I was flattered to think I did so well. I’ve certainly flopped enough times to feel like I deserve to feel proud.

So Lee and I talked about it. There was much of interest at the big corporation, but I got hints of a lot of bureaucracy. And I vowed never to be anyone’s boss again after my time at Planview. Plus, I really don’t want to still be sitting at a desk when I’m 70.

So yeah, I said no. The reasonable corporate culture where I am now, combined with the great group of smart and collaborative people I work with means more to me than money. I can see a good path towards winding down my career where I am. So I’m staying. That’s worth celebrating.