The Empty Nest

Buckeye Butterfly

Another beautiful butterfly held still long enough for me to photograph it while I was out for a lovely walk at the state park this afternoon.

I also saw a nice assortment of birds, including a new one for my life list, a buff-bellied pipit.

We've been enjoying exceedingly wonderful weather this past week. Tonight a cold front came through with heavy rain just as I had to drive to the airport to pick up Gary, but we arrived home safely.

Confusing Fall Warbler

I sure wish I had some more know-how on bird identification. I'm not up to taking an ornithology class or anything quite like that, but I wish I knew what to look for when you can't hold a bird in your hand for detailed study.

Today I had to drive Rachel to another field trip, this time a dairy farm in Plano, so I passed the time at a nearby city park. It was a crummy park by all accounts, but there was a small wooded creek off to the side. I pushed my way thru the honeysuckle that was taking over, and was able to do a bit of bird watching.

I saw a yellow-rumped warbler. There was also a strange duck all my himself (maybe herself) who dived straight down and I never did see it come up! I have no idea where it went or what kind it was! There was also a sparrow with very clear gray and rust strips across its head, and a lightly streaked buff-colored bib, and a notched tail. Maybe Savannah sparrow?

Now that my patio door has been replaced, and now that the leaves are falling off the trees, I'm hoping to start seeing a few more birds in the back yard. On the other hand, the wooded lot behind our house is now starting to be developed, so I'm afraid the beep, beep of heavy machienery is going to scare all the wildlife away. :-(

Foxes

This afternoon and evening there were three (!) foxes hanging around our deck and back yard. No wonder I can't get any birds to come to my feeders--the foxes (and squirrels) are eating up all the food! The photos aren't that good because it was nearly dark, but these guys were only 10-15 feet away at times!

What's Your Marital Status?

I joined a thingy online today (http://www.travellerspoint.com/) and I had to laugh when I got to the question in the Profile about marital status. There was a drop-down list with these choices:

(blank)
Single
De Facto
Partnered
Engaged
Married
Divorced
Desperate

I thought it was pretty funny, but on the other hand, it does say something about life these days.

Speaking of getting married, we are looking forward to a wedding this weekend. I wanted to give the bride a piece of my mother-in-law's lovely pottery, but I didn't know which piece, so I sent this photo to the bride and asked her which one she liked.

Ain't technology great??

Today's Nature Walk

After lunch at church I talked Gary into going to Joe Pool Lake with me for a while. The weather was lovely--especially after so much rain. The birds at the lake:

Eastern Bluebird
American Crow
American Coot
Mallard
Red-winged Blackbirds
a rust and buff colored bird I couldn't identify
two other birds I heard but couldn't identify

Plus mourning and Inca doves in the back yard.

I did get a couple of nice butterfly photos, and there are still some wildflowers, but I wasn't able to identify this one--6 foot stems!

U2 Concert

I know it is hard to believe, but Gary and I attended a U2 concert last evening. It was the first and only rock concert I'd ever attended, unless you count the Amy Grant concert that was held after a Rangers' game many years ago. I'm not an absolute huge fan of this band, but I do like a few of their songs, and it was nice to hear them in person.

Or more to the point, I've had a new experience. :-)

The major reason I talked Gary into this outing was so that he could see the new Cowboys' stadium. It is huge! You can see my short online album about the stadium. The food prices were high, there was a beer cooler every 40 feet, and the toilet I used sprayed water everywhere. Other than that, the place was impressive.

My observations about the concert:

The opening act, MUSE, was terrible.
If you want to hear a concert, don't go to a football stadium. The acoustics aren't that great.
If you want to hear the music, buy a CD. Apparently concerts are more about having an experience, and less about hearing music.
The multimedia, and especially the light show, was dazzling.
Rock concerts are a great place for people-watching. My analysis of the demographics: lots of 30 year olds, a good number of parents with their teenagers, a few families with their younger children, a few pregnant women, and 8 people with gray hair, including one of the band members.
Dress code: women--lots of tight jeans, lots of cleavage, a few little black dresses, and lots of high-heeled boots. Men: jeans, sweaters, nice shoes. I was expecting more people in grubby jeans, tee-shirts and athletic shoes.
I was disappointed not to see the stadium's famed HUGE screen in action, but I guess that is because the band has its own elaborate spaceship stage.

Speaking of the band's screen, it was very interesting from a technology point of view. It was shaped like a loop that went over the band. It was made up of many small hexagonal shaped panels that either fit tightly together to make a solid screen, or separated (each piece being connected to an expando lattice structure that either held the pieces tight together or slightly apart. This photo shows them when apart:

The multimedia and light show was impressive. And it makes you wonder how they move all that equipment and structure from one place to another. They must employ a massive crew to do the logistics. Here is a collage of photos showing some of the light show.