Not Quite Digiscoping

If I were rich, I'd buy myself some good optics to watch birds. Like a spotting scope. And then I'd hook my camera to the scope and take bird pictures like the pros. They call it digiscoping.

In the meantime, I'm trying to take photos through one side of my binoculars. Here's the photo without the binoculars:


Here's the same photo through the binocular lens:


Of course, trees stand stiller than birds, and trying to make this technique work with a real bird is quite a bit harder! If you look hard, you'll see a chipping sparrow.

A Full Nest (but Abandoned)

I hope this post doesn't gross any of my readers out. I have a fairly strong stomach and also a strong curiosity, so I'm posting these photos of the abandoned bird nest.

You may remember that not too long ago I posted a video of two wrens madly building a nest. Shortly after that video was taken I noticed there were no birds around anymore--apparently the nest was abandoned. I wasn't too surprised, actually, because at the time it didn't seem like the best place for a nest. Yes, it was well protected, but I knew it would be very HOT inside there once the weather warmed even a little.

I still waited two weeks before I peeked, but today I opened up the cover to the gas tank. I found a huge and messy nest with 5 eggs inside.




I'm pretty sure these eggs overheated, but another problem was obvious too--there was a smell of gas when I opened it up. That can't be good for baby birds, and not good for my gas bill, either!



I looked up photos of Carolina Wren and Bewick's Wren eggs, and I'm wondering if these are Bewick's? I think both wrens are in my area, and they look pretty similar.

The babies inside were about an inch long:

Birdwatching on My Way to Chruch

There were a pair of scissor-tailed flycatchers just in the church yard this morning. First I've seen this season.

How to Fix a Toilet in Three Days

I've been at it again--fixing toilets. Why do I do these things? I guess because people ask me to!

On Day 0, my coworker described a puddle of water behind her toilet which sounded like a little thing to fix.

On Day 1 I went to her house to examine the situation. It didn't take long to realize that at least two things were wrong with her toilet. I removed two faulty parts and headed for Home Depot. This is trip number one, if you're counting.

At Home Depot I let that cute young salesman talk me into buying the whole repair kit. Which really was the right thing to do, but it wasn't my original plan. "Oh, it's easy!" he said. This video claimed the same thing. Yeah. Right.

On Day 2 I took the tank off the toilet. From past experience, I expected this to be difficult, but the nuts weren't actually rusted onto the bolts, so it came apart pretty easily. The perishing rubber parts assured me that the entire guts DID need to be replaced. I followed the instructions carefully, as best as I could. I hit a small snag when one of the new bolts was too big to go thru the premade hole in the bottom of the porcelain tank--odd that one went through but the other wouldn't. That meant I had to reuse one of the old bolts and hope that the old washer had enough life in it to do the job.

I got to the point to hook the water supply back up and discovered that I had broken the plastic coupler the day before when I removed it. I removed the faulty part and headed to Home Depot. This is trip number two, if you're counting.

I must have looked like a true oaf, standing there with my faded kerchief and ragged jeans, there in the toilet parts aisle, because some other customer took pity and "helped" me decide which braided pipe was the right one. I smiled charmingly and said, "OK, if this is the wrong one, I'm going to blame you."

On Day 3 I installed the braided pipe to the inlet using that white tape stuff. Took all my muscles (and two pipe wrenches) to attach it firmly, but I finally got it. Then I went to attach it to the toilet flush valve, and, of course, it didn't fit. It was the wrong size. I removed the non-fitting part and headed to Home Depot. This is trip number three, if you're counting.

This time I found the one that said "For Toilets." Now why didn't I see that sign the first time??

I managed to get through all 27 number instructions and turned the water back on. Yes, there was a leak. Of course there was. I tightened the braided inlet hose even tighter, and it quit leaking. At least I think it did. I made a few more adjustments and left.

My friend will have to use this toilet for a few days and let me know if it leaks or if it doesn't flush well. Then, I'll start over again. Or, I'll call a plumber.

Fail. Or is it Epic Fail?

I'm an oaf. Here is a list of my recent failures:

1. I tried to file our income tax form tonight using the Free Fillable Forms process. Not only was it too much work, one of the forms didn't work right and stalled the process. I sent an email to IRS. Yeah, like they're going to read it.

2. Speaking of the government, I can't believe I put the WRONG AGE for both myself AND my spouse on the recent census form. (I did put the correct DOB.) Besides my failing memory due to this extra large number, I blame this on the fact that I use my age as part of one of my miserable passwords (ihatepasswords) and when the website forced me to update my password, in response to my griping my HELPFUL friends told me to just add one to the number. So I did, and then after months of using this new password, I just assumed X was my age, instead of X + 1. AAAAAARRRRRGGG!

3. My Easter dinner. I decided to be cool and buy goat to roast for Easter dinner. You know, just like the Israelites at Passover. It turned out the texture of kid leather! Impossible to chew. Only good thing--I DIDN'T invite anyone over for dinner! After dinner I boiled it for 3 hours, and then at least the meat was soft enough to remove from the bones.

Let's see. Is that all? Well, it is enough for now.

Ducks and Turtles

I made a quick trip to Lakeside Park today on my way to the Mexican grocery store. The weather was perfect for a little stroll around the lake.

Missing

Some day, near the end of time, some mother is going to find all those unmated socks, missing pen tops, and single earrings.

Building a Nest

This is the world's greatest video, but it was fun watching these two Carolina wrens start a nest inside my propane tank. I hope the truck doesn't come until after the birds have fledged. And I hope it doesn't get too hot inside there.

Sandwiches

Once a month our an elderly gentleman in our church drives the many dozen sandwiches that church folks make to a homeless shelter in Dallas. I hope none of the recipients is allergic to peanut butter.

Knowing vs. Believing

Those of us who think sometimes think about thinking too much. We want to know. We crave to know. Trouble is, knowing isn't what God asks of us. He asks us to believe, and believing implies not knowing everything. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Seems I've imagined Him all of my life
As the wisest of all of mankind
But if God's Holy wisdom is foolish to men
He must have seemed out of His mind

For even His family said He was mad
And the priests said a demon's to blame
But God in the form of this angry young man
Could not have seemed perfectly sane

Chorus
When we in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
When we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong
And so we follow God's own fool
For only the foolish can tell-
Believe the unbelievable
And come be a fool as well

So come lose your life for a carpenter's son
For a madman who died for a dream
And you'll have the faith His first followers had
And you'll feel the weight of the beam
So surrender the hunger to say you must know
Have the courage to say I believe
For the power of paradox opens your eyes
And blinds those who say they can see

Chorus

So we follow God's own Fool
For only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable,
And come be a fool as well

Spring

My Christmas gift from Maureen is blooming again--gorgeous!



We had a nice picnic last evening (see my family blog). I took Christian birdwatching, which turned out to be bird chasing, and I realized why I didn't take up birdwatching until my own nest was empty. :-) He enjoyed looking through my binoculars and discovered the red on a red-winged blackbird.

Beautiful Day for Birding

I'm off to bed soon, but I should mention that today was a beautiful clear and warm spring day. I spent about three hours slowly wandering around Joe Pool lake and watching birds. At one point I looked up and this bird was watching me! Of course, it doesn't look like I was very close since I only have a cheap camera, but I did get a good look at this bird thru the binoculars.

Need Help with Bird ID

Our son, Andrew, who lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, sent me this bird photo. He couldn't find it in his bird book. Anybody have any ideas? You can get an idea of the general size of the bird as it is standing on the ground near their garden hose.

24 Birds in 24 hours

I have been trying since December to observe 20 bird species in one day in my backyard. I keep a checklist on the frig, and tick them off as I see them each day. Many times I've seen 17 or 18 per day, and more than once I've seen 20 in a weekend. But today I saw 24 different species in the backyard! Of course, it is migration season, so that's why I'm seeing so many different ones. The only ID I was a bit uncertain of was the Bewick's Wren. I also saw a Carolina Wren, but I'm not sure if I know the difference between Bewick's Wren and House Wren. Here's my list (which I'm keeping on Birdstack):

1. Chipping Sparrow
2. Bewick's Wren
3. Brewer's Blackbird
4. Common Starling
5. Common Grackle
6. House Sparrow
7. Brown-headed Cowbird
8. American Robin
9. American Goldfinch
10. Cedar Waxwing
11. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
12. Carolina Wren
13. Carolina Chickadee
14. Blue Jay
15. Downy Woodpecker
16. Tufted Titmouse
17. Field Sparrow
18. Red-bellied Woodpecker
19. Dark-eyed Junco
20. Yellow-rumped Warbler
21. Mourning Dove
22. House Finch
23. Northern Cardinal
24. American Crow

Apparently I have not enough to do. And spend too much money on bird seed!

Birdstack: +1

I identified a new bird yesterday on the way home from a pleasant 24-hour stay in Granbury. It was a ring-necked duck, though I did not see a ring around its neck. (I guess the same guy who named the red-bellied woodpecker named this bird too.:-) Not a rare bird, but a new one for my life list. There was another duck species in this particular pond, but I was unable to ID it.

This morning I saw an Inca Dove in my back yard. I bet that is a sign that spring is coming. I keep hoping to get up to 20 species in my back yard in a single day. Many times I've hit 17 or 18, and a few combined weekend totals were up to 20, but I'm trying for 20 in one day.

Remove Grease Stains from your Favorite Tee Shirt

New Bird? and Broken Marina

One afternoon this week was warm and sunny so I took an hour out of my busy schedule and ran over to Cedar Hill State Park. Wow, the water level was super high, and you can see the damage that last week's snowstorm did to the marina. I imagine several boats were damaged.

I saw quite of few birds, including this song sparrow:

I spent quite a bit of time looking a the gulls that were sitting on the breakwater. There were hundreds of ring-billed gulls, two double-crested cormornats, and one gull that looked different than all the others. It was noticably larger, had a black or mostly black bill, and a soft buffy mottled coloring, with the tail pretty much the same color. I looked hard in my bird book but the only bird that looked like that lives way north in Canada, so I doubt that was the correct ID. Herring gulls are in this area, so I guess it must be one of those, even if the photo didn't really look like that.

My backyard was a bird heaven today--lots of birds and for the first time we've had a large flock of yellow-rumped warblers. Usually I just see the odd one or two in the tree but today they were swarming the feeders and especially the suet. Stocking up to head north, I guess. Gary also put up a birdhouse for me today. I bought it at our church's Christmas bazaar, and I have no idea if any bird will like it.

A Little Bit More about the Opera

By popular demand (yeah, right), I'm going to say a bit more about the opera.

If you read my family blog, you'll have seen my post and photos about going to the opera last Sunday, Valentine's Day. This outing was pay-back: After making Gary go to a U2 concert with me, he said I had to go to an opera with him. The tickets were actually a Christmas gift from Andrew and Laura--I guess Andrew was in cahoots with Gary to make me go.

I did my homework ahead of time to make sure I got the most out of the outing. I read the Wikipedia page about Cosi Fan Tutte, and we listened to an audio explanation about it from the Opera House's website.

So here are my observations:

• The building was impressive, worth seeing even if you don't go to an opera.
• Most of the patrons were older than me.
• Most of the patrons were dressed better than me, even though I actually bought a new dress for the occasion and wore heels. I had the wrong coat, dontcha know? I left my mink at home.
• The seats weren't that great. I didn't mind being up high, but we were on the leg of the U shaped seating, so we had to lean over the wall to see the stage, and couldn't see left stage at all. I'm very glad I brought my bird-watching binoculars!
  
• I was surprised that the costumes were not from the period like I was expecting. Instead, the costumes were maybe 1930s style. Nice costumes, but not what I was expecting.
• I really don't like high, high sopranos. These are obviously talented women, but those high notes make me shutter.
• I really do enjoy musical theater, which is really what opera is, but not having it in the language of the common people prevents easy understanding. Continuing with that thought, I guess we can thank John Wycliffe and his successors for the Bible in the vernacular. :-)
• I guess I was a bit surprised at how "ungodly" the actual message of the opera was. Its big idea was "reason and balance wins out in all things, including relationships. Don't expect too much goodness from your spouse/intended, because they won't have it, just like you won't. Be reasonable, and don't expect too much." Somehow, I thought that something written 250 years ago would have been less cynical. Silly me.

All in all, it was a very nice outing, but I'm not likely to go again. Unless Gary forces me to :-)

Is This a Coyote?

My photos are not very good, but if I'm not mistaken, this is the reason the birds all disappeared for a few minutes!

New Bird!

OK, it wasn't a fancy or rare bird, and it wasn't the flock of robins in the above photo, but today was the first time I've identified a White-throated sparrow in my backyard. That brings my life list up to 212.

I got too disorganized to participate fully, but I did manage to send in one list to the Great Backyard Bird count today. I cheated just a little by including species I saw both yesterday and today instead of submitting two lists--I hope that doesn't skew the statistics for all of the scientific world of ornithology!

Ruby-Crowened Kinglet

I have pretty much been neglecting this blog of late, in favor of my other one.



There is a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet that I see in my backyard a couple times a week. Today I actually saw the ruby crown! It is just a small strip of red on the very top of its head and often is hidden. They are tiny birds, and I've never seen more than one at a time.

I continue to have lots of birds in my backyard. Some weekends I've seen over 20 species. Lately the flocks of robins and Cedar Waxwings have been stopping by.

Birdstack announced a beta test of a new feature to upload photos to their site. I think I'm going to try to upload the best photo I have for each species. It will take me a few days--too tedious to do all at once. It will be a good excuse to go look at my Ethiopia bird photos again.

Acts of Service: the Dishwasher

I know he loves me because he empties the dishwasher any time I ask.

Today he did it without me asking.

I am loved.

Robins

For the last 3-4 days there have been swarms of robins hanging around. In the back yard they seem to be looking for worms, but in the front yard they are eating hackberry seeds.

Useful or Used?

Once upon a time there was a very clever man. He knew lots of things about lots of things and he could do lots of things and fix lots of things. This man liked to help his friends and family when they had broken things or were stranded with some emergency. He gave his services for free or at least for cheap. He became well known among his friends and family as a man who could be a very helpful problem solver. Very useful. Yes, very useful, indeed.

Then one day he began to notice that no one every talked to him except when they had a problem. He noticed they never called to chat or asked how he was. They never suggested he join them for dinner and a movie. The man began to wonder if his usefulness was the only reason people liked him. He wondered if anyone liked him because he was kind, or nice, or just because they should. He began to wonder if they liked him only because he fixed things for cheap or rescued people from emergencies.

So then he had to decide: was he being useful or was he being used?

The End.

Double-Crested Cormorant

OK, it is a horrible photo, but it is proof that I saw this bird at Joe Pool Lake today. It was sitting on a line of tires that they use as a breakwater near the harbor. (It is the one on the right, in case it is so bad that you can't tell the gull from the cormorant!) I got Gary to go to the park with me after after finishing the plumbing project at Rachel's house and after the Cowboys' humiliating loss. It was the first day of nice warm and sunny weather we've had in some time.

Reconciliation

Today I got an email from a friend who is my age saying her daughter had phoned and is seeking reconciliation after several silent and absent years. This is an answer to prayer and it made my friend so happy. I'm asking God for complete healing of their relationship.

An Afternoon at the Zoo

It has been many years since we visited the zoo here in Dallas. Today "the girls" went to the zoo while "the boys" went to the Cotton Bowl. The weather was cool but sunny which turned out to be quite pleasant.

Baby loved the animals, especially the birds. I'm training her to be a bird-watcher, you know. She helps me put out the bird seed and gets quite a kick out of it.

If you have a strong stomach, you can view this video we took in the Wilds of Africa Lowland Gorilla exhibit. It points out the difference between Gorillas and Humans:

Christmas Birds

I'm too tired to write much tonight--it has been a big day what with opening all those presents and being married for 34 years and all.

We got an unusual snow storm on Christmas Eve which made driving to church interesting for me and terrifying for our Caribbean guests. The snow stuck around for part of today and that meant the birds could see the seeds I put out for them and they seemed to be hungry today! I saw 12 species without even going outside, and another one when I took a short walk around the neighborhood.

I broke my trusty little camera the last minutes we were at my mom's in MI, so I was disappointed to miss some shots the last few days. It served me well for 5 years. Lucky me, I got a new one under the Christmas tree! It was the same kind I had before, which is good, because I liked that brand/kind/size (Casio Exilim). I'm anxious to try it out on my backyard birds, because the quality is lots better than the old one.

Winter Solstice 2009

I participated in Birdstack's Winter Solstice 2009 Bird observation today. I wore my binoculars around my neck as I walked to work and someone asked me about them. I mentioned what I was doing and they wanted to know if the Christmas Bird count had become now the Winter Solstice Bird count. I told them that that is a different thing altogether, and perhaps the person was making a comment about modern society's current fad to remove all the religious terminology from everyday vocabulary items.

Anyway, I did see a few birds today and made my list. I wish I could have used yesterday's list, because there were even more birds in my backyard yesterday.

I like birding in the winter--I can see the birds because the leaves have fallen off the trees.

Another Birding Post

We just got back from a short three days in Michigan to visit my mom and other family. It was COLD! My mom has turned into a little bit of a birder in her old age, and she faithfully refills her feeders. While there we saw American Goldfinches, Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, a Northern Cardinal, and some others. We also visited my Aunt and Uncle, and they had even more at their feeders: Downey Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Dark-eyed Juncos. I took a walk in the park and saw a Belted Kingfisher up in the tree above Fish Creek.

Today seemed like a good birding day in my backyard. The leaves are off the trees, so I can see the birds easier. I recored 10 species in just a few minutes, including a House Wren and Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. I hope the birds are that cooperative tomorrow, since it is time for the Birdstack Winter Solstice count:



Baby Isabella talks about "bird food" and watches the birds with me--that is a lot of fun. I got a nice bird book from my sister for Christmas. I'm sad to report that I lost the nice "How to Identify Birds" book that I just received from my father-in-law--I left it on the plane--so sad! I really wanted to finish reading it.

And another bad thing happened on this trip--my camera (which I received exactly 5 years go) got wrecked as we were leaving. I must have leaned against the rental car while brushing the snow off and cracked the display. Oh, well, I was wanting a new camera anyway!! :-)

Candy Cane Wreath

I got the pine branches for free at Home Depot, the trimmings off of someone's Christmas tree. I attached them around a wire coat hanger with green florist wire, then added a bow and candy canes.

High Chair Makeover

I've been doing all sorts of things to get ready for our granddaughter coming to spend Christmas with us. The latest was to dig out the old wooden high chair and give it a make over.

As for the chair, I cleaned it carefully, washed the fabric retainer belt, and put wood cover up oil on the blemishes. The tray was more of a challenge. It took two coats of stripper to remove the rest of the old finish, then Gary sanded it with three levels of sandpaper, then I oiled it with mineral oil as you would a wooden cutting board.


It doesn't look perfect, but it isn't too bad, and of course, baby looks cute as ever in it.

And Then There Was One

Often there was a pair of Inca Doves that came to feed with the larger group of mourning doves each morning at my house. The last few days there has just been one Inca Dove--that makes me sad.

This morning the rest of the leaves fell off the trees in our back yard and suddenly I can see the birds a lot better. Today there were lots--cardinals, tufted titmice, three kinds of doves (the above two plus white-winged doves), a warbler and a Carolina wren all in the back yard within a few minutes of each other.

What Is Wrong With This Picture?

You guessed it--papayas do not grow where it snows. That, and papayas should not grow in my compost pile. And don't forget that it isn't supposed to snow here either. Another sign of global warming??

This poor blog isn't getting much action these days. I'm mostly posting at my Family News site, and I guess Facebook took some of my blogging steam away too.

Yet Another Way to Cut the Cheesecake

Yesterday I baked two cheesecakes for the Thanksgiving dinner at church. This was my first time to try pumpkin cheesecake. It was pretty good, but the gingersnaps I used for the crust were kind of strong and almost bitter.

For years I've been trying to perfect my cheesecake attempts, including how to cut them cleanly. It isn't easy, and today I tried a new method using thin florist wire.

I set the cheesecake on a pedestal made from a bowl. This enable me to pull the wire completely downward to cut thru the crust.

Don't worry--I washed the pliers first.

Disappearing Diving Duck

Well, I think it was a duck, but I'm not even sure of that. Twice this month I've seen a water bird sitting alone in the middle of a small pond, mottled brown in color, smaller than a mallard and quite shy. Both times this bird has dived straight down. I patiently wait and wait and wait and wait, and the bird never reappears! Logically that can only mean that it dove down, swam to the rushes and then resurfaced where I could not see it.

Anybody have an idea what bird that might be?

I need a bird-identifying buddy!

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.