Birding at the Ballpark

I don't really know for sure if these two birds were Common Nighthawks or a Lesser Nighthawks, but they definitely were nighthawks of some kind. I saw this pair all during the game at Rangers' stadium, buzzing madly above the game, snatching up moths and other insects. There was also a big moon, very beautiful, and perfect weather. (The photo below is stolen from the internet.)

When I mentioned to Gary that I saw some birds, he said, "Yes, there are 9 Bluejays down on the field. And Marlon Byrd is here too." Yes, he's an oaf.

New Clothes?

When I did the laundry on Saturday my favorite shirt came out with a hole in it. When I put my favorite nightgown on last night, I noticed a tear in it. And today when I put my cell phone in the pocket of my most comfortable pants, it slid through the hole in the pocket, down my leg, and landed on my toes.

I wonder if it is time to go shopping? Nah, probably not. After all, I have more shirts, another nightie, and other pants. I just need some new favorites.

Time For Sleep

I'm off to bed soon, but had to post this photo of the beautiful bird that I didn't see in Ethiopia. But Andrew did, and he wrote to brag! It is the white morph of the African Paradise Flycatcher.

In other news, Gary is enjoying cold weather at the Puget Sound for a week, while I'm still sweating here in Dallas. Rachel's kids start school tomorrow, and Andrew and Laura have applied for her green card. I'm still working on posting my Ethiopia photos, and for my trouble, Google has informed me I'm using up too much of the cloud and will not have to start paying $20/year! Here's the link to my latest album.

Eating in Ethiopia

Injera is the staple food of Ethiopia. We ate that, and lots of things from lots of cultures. Click here for photos.

Left Out

Wow, I've been neglecting this blog in favor of my family blog.

Time for a small gripe: I'm feeling a bit sorry for someone because she didn't get invited to a wedding that many of her friends went to. True, she wasn't really close to the bride, but she did know her and she was part of the group that this woman used to hang out with. She made comments like: I wish I could have been there, but they said they didn't have enough money to invite me. I wonder what to buy them for a gift? Just because I wasn't invited doesn't mean I can't buy them a gift. Wow, they posted photos on Facebook already--looks like I missed a good one.

She is such a giving and generous person that it hurts to see people treat her selfishly. (Though from their point of view I'm sure it wasn't selfish; it was just the way it had to be.)

Birding in Ethiopia

I had such a good time birdwatching while we were in Ethiopia. My son joined me when he could--that was fun too.

I ended up tentatively identifying 83 birds--all but one were new ones for me. To see my full Ethiopia list, check here.

I took photos of as many as I could, and with a crummy camera, that isn't' easy. But click here to see my online album of Ethiopia birds.

Jungle Safari Cake for Isabella's 1st birthday party

We're back from our wonderful trip to Addis Ababa and I'm starting to deal with laundry, mail, and photos. Here is the first album. Click on it to see larger photos and captions.

I'm planning to post about our trip mostly on my family blog, so set that to your RSS feed if you want to keep updated.

My Brother

The nest is a bit emptier; my younger brother passed away last night. I'm glad I went to Michigan last week to see him before it was too late.

I've Hit a Stone Wall

This photo is for MaHoyt, the side wall of the barbershop. Click on it for a better view.

I haven't really hit a stone wall, maybe just a snag. It is less than a week before we leave for Ethiopia, and I feel like I"m getting sick! Sad.

If anyone reading this wants to see photos of my Michigan trip, I've posted two albums. You can find the links here.

I'm Home

I'm too tired to write a decent post, but I did think this photo was a good illustration of what I saw in my small hometown (from which I've just returned)--the new and the old. In so many ways it felt like nothing except me had changed in 40 years. But then, lots of folks have these little dishes sitting on their homes and businesses, so I guess something has changed.

Oaf Child

Yesterday, as I was driving past the high school, I dutifully slowed to 20mph as the flashing light instructed, in spite of the fact that we all know school is not in session. But it turns out there were a couple teenagers leaving the building because one of the started to cross the road in front of me, dropped to the ground in my lane, and did a pushup before completing his journey to the other side.

A New New Testament

I kind of pride myself in making something out of nothing, but in this case, we could hardly say I started with nothing.

Rachel wanted to buy an NIV NT, but it need to be one with larger than micro print and smaller than a fortune to buy. Turns out we had an old NIV on the shelf with the glue disintegrated. I removed the NT and added a cover made of card stock, and bound it with a heavy-duty stapler at the office.

She says she's going to use this NT to read along while listening to the digital NIV NT that she got for her birthday.

Mr. and Mrs. Red-bellied Wooodpecker

Today I repeatedly saw this male woodpecker break open a sunflower seed and then feed it to his mate. That was sweet, don't you think?

It's So Hot...

...even the cat is drinking ice water.

If It Weren't for TV Sports...

...Gary would never get a nap.

Or, TV news. Or TV movies.

Multiuse Tools

In the same way that a dry wall knife can be used to cut cheesecake, a Pampered Chef spatula can be used to spread grout.

No Good

This giant watermelon cost $6 on sale, but I just couldn't bring myself to drag the rotten and dripping specimen back to the store to get my money back. I guess that is a sign that I'm rich. Or lazy.


The solution to a spring poking through the top of the matteress might be to turn it over. Except when I did that, the other side was worse!

Michael's ordination

Michael's ordination

The photos aren't that great, but it was a good occasion. We've known Michael since he was about 3 or 4 years old.

Sleepin' in the 70s

Did anyone else married in the 70s receive bed sheets like these for wedding gifts?? We've got so many visitors staying with us tonight that I"m down to my last set of sheets. And they aren't really my visitors--my best friend's house is full so she sent her extra friends and relatives over to sleep at my place. Everyone is here to celebrate her elder son's ordination tomorrow morning as an episcopal deacon.

Fingerprints?

If you read my family blog, you'll have heard that our place of work was broken into on Monday night. The CSI unit (or whatever they really are) came by to look for finger prints, but I think all they found were mine. They left fingerprint powder all over my desk. One blessing: the multipage printout of my password list I keep in the drawer was actually not in the drawer, but rather at home, at the time. My petty cash envelope didn't fare as well.

12:01

Yay, it is midnight on June 1, and I've just turned the air conditioner on for the first time this season. I plan to sleep better tonight!

A Few More Cards

Next weekend we have two special events to attend--Michael's ordination as an Episcopal Deacon and Carolyn's graduation from HS. I've got my cards made a whole week early!

Now I need to finish getting the guest rooms in the apartment ready for Michael and Suzanna and their friends and relatives who are coming to Dallas for the festivities.

Mysteries of the Universe

One of them is soap scum--if soap makes you clean, why does it make the shower dirty?

Slide Scanning is Finished

I'm done with my slide scanning. Now I have to finish organizing them and then make a nice backup for safe keeping.

Along the way I scaned this photo from a negative strip--remember those? When Andrew attended Taylor, he was often told he looked like James Dean, whose museum was in a small town nearby. (Click on photo for a better view.)

Buffalo, Girls?

When I saw this ad on the bulletin board at work today, I had to go buy some:

For Sale: Buffalo
$3/lb, sold in 4 lb. packages
Call Bob.

This will be added to my notes for the book I'm going to write someday: Only At My Place of Work.

Hmm, I wonder if I have any buffalo recipes in any of those cookbooks I own ...

Update

Not too much to write about at the moment. Life goes on, and many days I think life is too good. Why is my life good, and the lives of so many others, not so good? I don't know.

I've been posting a few things on my family blog; check it if you are interested in my day to day life, or at least parts of it. I've been enjoying a few birds that I hadn't seen in Dallas before this year, and a pair of spiny lizards has laid its clutch of eggs just under the edge of the sidewalk. I've ordered myself a new bird feeder, so no doubt I'll have photos of that up when it arrives.

We're praying about options for Rachel for housing after her current apartment contact expires. Lots of options are possibilities, so pray for God to give her and us wisdom as we process this with her.

Also, still no decision about where to settle for church. Lots of good churches around, but I confess, after our last church we're finding it hard to be satisfied with with less than high quality music and musicians. Most small churches try hard, but often with amateur results. And I admit, it is hard to not have a "consumer" mentality. Sigh.

Gary recently got a new computer for his home office, but I fear it is going to take weeks to get it set up such that he will get rid of the old one. He's happy to be getting a new large flat monitor.

Sweet and Beautiful, but...

The smell is sweet and seductive, especially after dark. The flower is beautiful. It even tastes good.

But, this is what it does:


Not hard to think of ways to apply this concept to real life.

(Click here for more info on the invasive species, Japanese Honeysuckle.)

Life Goes On

I'm plugging away at with my slide scanning project. It is so tedious that I try to do one row of the tray per day. Many of these slides are totally useless, but a few will be worth making a web album of for the sake of posterity (ha, as if anyone really cares about that!).

We've had lots of rain lately, and the lake level has even risen noticeably. But today is clear and sunny, one of those days that makes you glad you're alive.

Our renters plan to move out soon, so I'm hoping they finish painting the outside of our house before they go. It has been nice to have them doing this work instead of paying rent--jobs that are hard for Gary or I to do (or else, we're too lazy to try).

Speaking of renters, Rachel is actively looking for new accommodations--the apartment she is in now is great in many ways, but the 2nd-hand smoke is intolerable.

Buntings

These are not my photos, but a handful of indigo buntings have been hanging around my backyard, and twice this afternoon I saw a painting bunting there as well. Yay, two new birds for my life list.

Big Birds

Yesterday I forgot to mention two other birds I saw on our trip. These two are big birds, but they weren't in the wild. They were inside a very large pen. The two baby emus were rather cute, don't you think? Even though these specimens are captive, I have seen both of these species in the wild, so they are on my life list.

Some Additions to My Life List

We had a splendid time at Cherokee Trace Reserve Bed and Breakfast this weekend to celebrate our 1/3 century anniversary. I'll post all my trip photos eventually, but I first will start with a blog about the birds I saw. I was able to add a couple birds to my life list. We stopped along the road in East Texas to observe a colony of Cliff Swallows. We crawled under the bridge to see their mud nests.

They are hard to photography because they move so fast!

I also got a nice roadrunner photo, but, of course, this bird is not a new one to me.

This one was a new one for me. I didn't get a photo, but I did get a good look at a huge pileated woodpecker. He looks just like Woody.

One Third of a Century

Tomorrow is our 1/3 century anniversary. Yes, that is 33.3333333333 years. Or 33 years and 4 months if you don't like decimal numbers. I must be married to a mathphile to take notice of this event. Or, maybe he's just making up for the fact that since we were dumb enough to get married on Christmas Day, we must face the fact that our anniversary is just going to be trumped by the birth of the Holy Christ Child.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, we are driving to the middle of nowhere in east Texas, someplace south of Tyler, to a Bed and Breakfast Safari Park called Cherokee Trace. And the best part of this is that Gary figured this out all by himself.

I'll no doubt post a bunch of photos of zebras and alligators on my next blog.

Another New Bird

I seem to have a difficult time finding anyone to go birdwatching with me. But today the weather was so lovely I just had to go. I often go by myself, but for safety I try to tell someone where I am going. Tonight I called Rachel to tell her I was headed for Joe Pool Lake and ended up taking her into going with me. Didn't she take a lovely photo of the sunset?

We watched a pile of terns flying around and diving straight down into the water. I saw one catch a small fish, then toss it, or maybe it dropped it, but then it caught it mid air again. I'm not certain, but I think they were Forster's terns, so I'm adding that to my life list.

Happy Blog Birthday to Me!

I nearly forgot to celebrate--this blog just had its 5th birthday this past Friday. In blog years that makes it ancient, you know. My first blog was a test message; the one later that day was about my grandma's funeral. I still miss her.


In other news, there's a lizard in the back yard who seems to like bird seed--I'm not sure the cardinal appreciates that. (Click on the photo for a better view.)

In even more news, I bought three tickets to Ethiopia a couple days ago. It wasn't easy convincing the credit card company to let me spend my money, but finally I succeeded in getting tickets for July 13-29. Baby Isabella will postpone the celebration of her 1st birthday until we arrive. The third ticket is for Rachel--she hates being left behind, you know. And since she has her own job, she can buy her own ticket. Next thing to do in the preparation list: get 5 immunizations! Yikes!!

And still yet more news, I'm proud to say that on Thursday my baby David passed his oral qualifying exam and is now an official Ph.D. candidate.

A Little Help From My Friends

Today I was doing a little community service by pulling weeds at the entrance to my neighborhood. A group of young boys came by, ages about 4-10, and started helping me. It was nice to have the help. It was also amusing to hear them discussing among themselves the pro and cons of homeschooling vs. public schooling. And, like typical males, they all wanted to use the heavy tools instead of pulling the weeds out with their hands.

Birdwatching on Easter

We went to church with the Martins in Arlington, then had a wonderful lunch with them and other friends. After we came home, I went to Joe Pool lake and did some birdwatching. You already know my camera isn't that great, but here's some birds I saw today:


At least two pairs of scissor-tailed flycatchers. They seemed to be playful and enjoying the nice weather.



I saw three great egrets, and got this one in flight.

I also got to add a new bird to my life list--a bluegray gnatcatcher. They are tiny, but I got a good look so I think I made a good observation.

Happy Easter - Easter Song

This is from a live recording, so the mixing isn't as good as in a studio, but this is the YouTube version of my favorite Easter song.

A Song for Good Friday

This week the mail brought us (and by "us," I mean Andrew the scalper) a gift from the U2 fan club. And since the CDs can't be of much use to Andrew in Ethiopia, I just took the liberty of adding them to my iTunes folder.

The song called Jesus Christ just seemed like a good song for today. Here's the lyrics:

Written by Woody Guthrie

One, two, three, four

Well Jesus was a man
Who traveled through the land
A hard working man and brave
Well he said to the rich 'Give your money to the poor'
For they layed Jesus Christ in his grave
Hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
For they layed Jesus Christ is his grave

Well he went to the preacher
He went to the law
And told them all the same
He said sell all your jewelery and give it to the poor
For they layed Jesus Christ in his grave
Hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
For they layed Jesus Christ in his grave

When Jesus came to town all the working folks around
Believed what he did say
Well the bankers and the preachers
They nailed him on a cross
For they layed Jesus Christ in his grave

And [hard] working people
They followed him around
They sung and shouted gay
Well the cops and the soldiers
They nailed him in the head
And they layed Jesus Christ in his grave
Oh, hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
For they layed Jesus Christ in his grave

Hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
For they layed Jesus Christ in his grave

Well this song was written in New York City
A rich man, preacher and slave
Well if Jesus was to preach what he preached in Galilee
They would lay Jesus Christ in his grave
One, two, three, four!

Hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
For they layed Jesus Christ in his grave
Hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
Hale, halelujah
For they layed Jesus Christ in his grave

And here's a couple links if you want to hear it yourself:

• A YouTube video
• Download it to Real Player

This song makes no mention of the resurrection--there'll be a different song for Sunday.

Smoky Skies

There are wild fires west and north of the Dallas area, so the skies were full of smoke this afternoon and early evening. After a quick dinner we drove to the dam at Joe Pool lake and wandered around. I may have even spotted a new bird for my life list, but I"m trying to get some help identifying it first.

Birds of the Equinox and My Personal 100

Several days ago I participated in Birdstack's community event to take note of birds during the spring equinox. I didn't really see many birds that day, but if you click the photo above, you'll see some reports of what we all saw along with a couple of cool bird photos and one evidence-of-bird photo.

Birdstack helps you to keep track of all the different species you've seen (called a 'life list') so I'm here to tell you that my list is up to 100. That sounds impressive until you realize that there are at least 10,000 different kinds of birds worldwide (in other words, 100 is pathetic!). Also, I'll readily admit that I might not really have identified all those 100 birds perfectly, because I'm strictly an untrained amateur. But I have fun trying.

Speaking of having fun, today I stopped off at the local duck park and immediately regretted not bringing my camera with me. There was a great egret that seemed quite tame even though lots of people were around. I saw it spear a rather large fish, maybe 6-8 inches long, and swallow it. I'm not sure, but I think it got stuck in the egret's throat for about 5 minutes. The bird just stood there with a big, uncomfortable looking bulge in its long and skinny throat.

Then as I walked around the tiny lake I saw a mama mallard with 15 miniature ducklings swimming at the mucky end of the lake away from everybody else.

Grooming

Did you know that my name in Malaitan languages means 'louse egg'?

Two Pizzas for Two People

The problem an empty nest has is that when one makes homemade pizza, who's to eat it?