Pop Culture Revue

I forgot to get a Mega Millions ticket yesterday. I hear that two people won the $370 million. We bought one when it was $256 million. I think a dollar for a dream is a bargain. Greg and I talked a little bit about what we would do. We've played this game so often that we don't even need to talk about what we'd do for US -- we found ourselves talking about what we'd do for others. Getting our sisters established in their own homes. Making sure that our parents were retired in comfort. Setting up a foundation for public education for the schools in our community. Funding the pipe dream real estate project for a friend that we believe in and have helped with his project for 3 years. Heck, that would barely put a dent in it. Fun to dream about what we'd do if money truly were no object! (Which is not to say that I don't have deep, dark fears about what that sort of money would do to me and my offspring as well.)

I forgot to watch American Idol last night. AHHHHH! Greg is out of town and my whole schedule is out-of-whack. I don't sleep well when he's away. Both kids are sick anyway so I wouldn't have wanted them staying up late. I avoid the mainstream media for the most part so it was news to me that Antonella Barba has some trashy pictures circulating the internet. I have to say in all the hype that I read last night, I kept thinking about her parents and how sad they must be to see their daughter selling herself so cheaply by allowing pictures like that to exist. I don't think the girl can sing well enough and I don't think she should still be on the show but I feel really badly for her parents. Also, in the course of my late night surfing, I stumbled onto the existence of a website called Vote for the Worst. They pick the one or two singers they think are the worst on AI and encourage people to vote for them to up the drama on the show. Antonella is their pick right now. All that aside, I didn't care for her attitude. It seems very clear -- from the way she interacts with the judges -- that she thinks she's doing just great and doesn't need to do anything different. Now, maybe that's a brave front and I'm misjudging her (remember that I haven't seen last night's show -- yay for TiVO) but add all this together and she is not someone that I care to watch much more of this season.

Blogger vs. WordPress. In my avoidance of work, surfing the internet to avoid missing my husband, blur last night, I decided to play with WordPress and see what I thought of it. I kind of like it. There are a few features that I like a lot better than Blogger. The most important to me is the ability to see your recent comments -- I'm forever stumbling back through posts to see if I missed any comments -- but I didn't like getting emailed everytime I got a comment either. So, that's a big one for me that would be useful. I'm impressed with how easy it was to set up and import all my old blogger posts. I think I could even import my really old posts from back when I used TypePad with no difficulty which would include my really, really old Blogger posts and give a complete history back for several years. That would be nice -- just for me, not for anyone else, probably. Anyway, my question is this . . . what do you like about the platform you are using? What do you like or dislike about reading blogs on the other platform?

Oh, and you can see what I've done so far -- should you have nothing better to do:

Egret's Nest
Chickadee Chatter

Quick child update . . . Gage is responding well to the antibiotics -- yay! Ruthie's cough is getting worse -- boo! And, I woke up with one eye gummed shut this morning -- boo! I hope we can hang on to some semblance of health well enough to get through this week. Fingers crossed!

Moving along the project

P1040222.JPG
Originally uploaded by egret's nest.

This morning, Greg asked me what I wanted to do about my birthday. His gift to me is still my camera! :) But he wanted to help the kids get something for me. My mind was still on the painting I did yesterday and I suggested getting the wine barrels set up. So, we did.

Of course, the kids had to tell me that they were going to give me some stinky, old, used socks for my birthday first. Aren't I raising little angels?

We went off together -- all of us, including Ruby. In one of the nearby towns, there is a nursery that sells wine barrels -- 2 for $40. I have been coveting them for years. Well, today was my day. We got two barrels, three big bags of soil, and some geraniums.

Fresh burst of spring color!

The barrels are real wine barrels -- the ones we got had red wine in them. They are fresh from the winery and just cut in half. That's it. So, there is still a strong red wine smell to them and they are full of mold and mildew that's been growing on them. But they are huge and beautiful. When we got home, Greg moved them to the backyard and I hosed them out and then bleached them and hosed them out again. They looked great but I must say the aroma of red wine and bleach is an interesting one.

I'm sparing y'all the picture with the green mold in the water!

The next step was drilling holes in the bottom of the barrels for drainage. Needless to say, I called on my big, strong, burly, manly men and told them to bring power tools. They came running!

Greg did the drilling. Gage tried to turn the barrel over for me. Not gonna happen. They are HEAVY!

Next, I filled them with the soil and called the kids to help me plant. We dug and planted the beautiful little geraniums (really pelargoniums rather than scented geraniums) and watered them in.

Throughout the day, I kept getting distracted by the birds. They could care less that I was out in the yard -- or even standing within arms reach of the feeders. The feeders are outside my kitchen window and therefore are very close to our deck and back door. These brave little birds were coming and visiting and chirping at me despite my proximity.

Ruby also stayed with me for the entire project -- Ruthie took this picture of her. She's wonderful company!

A great early birthday present for me. (Ruthie took this picture)
Tomorrow . . . 43 years old.

I love the Internet

Chickadee by Paula
Originally uploaded by momma_pajama_art.

So, I'm checking the responses to my latest poems on Chickadee Chatter and a woman writes that she thinks I'll like her latest painting . . . it's of a chickadee. And, I do like it, don't you? Her blog -- Momma Pajama -- is in my Bird Blog roll now. Her other bird paintings were just as charming!

I had a good day today. We did a lot of nothing much and I got a few projects done. The first one was to paint the ugly shed in the backyard.

Before:


After:


Thankfully, this was only phase one of beautifying this ugly shed. Phase two will be to get some wine barrels and some climbing guides and plant something pretty and climbing to hide most of it. The green is just to be a better backdrop than the ugly faded beige was. I hate spray painting though. It gets everywhere. Blech.

Still, it feels good to get a project done! The other one was somewhat less satisfying . . . we went shopping for some new pants for Greg. He's going on a business trip on Tuesday and I realized that he really doesn't have what he needs clothing-wise. We had fun though -- it's so nice doing trips like this with the kids now that they are older. When they were little we always had to plan around naps and moods and take strollers and diaper bags and . . . ahhhhh! I'm so over that now!

So, a quiet Saturday. I saw some great birds in the backyard -- nothing special just noisy, silly Chickadees, brave Juncos, California Towhees, and a Pygmy Nuthatch. So cute!

Liza's Bird Photography Rules #3

Varied Thrush
Originally uploaded by egret's nest.

Gentle Readers,

When one takes a bad picture through a car window when one should have gotten out of the car and taken a better picture, one can salvage the situation by claiming the picture is artistic and that one wanted that effect. It's so much better than admitting to laziness!

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In other news, Ruby is doing well. She's adjusting to life in our crazy home. She still finds the kids a trifle intimidating but, as you can see, is starting to see some benefit to them as well. I'm also glad to see her being a little naughty -- she is a puppy, after all. Today, she got toys out of their rooms and started chewing on them. Fortunately, I found her before any damage was done -- but she had gotten 5 stuffed dogs out of Ruthie's room and one from Gage's!

My girls: Ruby and Ruthie!

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Don't forget to check out another I and the Bird!

Quiet tonight and tomorrow

In our house, the heirarchy in computers starts with Greg. He brings home the bacon using his computers -- he is an architect and does all his drafting on the computer and the other half of his business is web development -- which, of course, means more computer time. So, we spend money on HIS computers! And, we did that about a month ago. He needed reliability and speed. So, we got him a new MacBook -- so he has a Mac and a PC in one little black box. Very cool!

I inherited his old PC laptop which has some quirky -- uh -- features too it. It won't start up with the powercord in but won't hold a charge either. So, you have to sit and watch it carefully during start up and plug it in at JUST the right moment. Then it works fine. Hey, that works okay for me but it was a bit of a problem when Greg was in meetings with clients telling them what a computer expert he was and he can't get his laptop to boot. Hmmmmm.

His G4 is the Mac I'll be getting and I'm thrilled with that. It's an improvement over my old pink iMac. Nothing major but a bit faster and a bit more powerful. So, that'll be good.

Why, on earth, do I need two computers? Much less a PC and a Mac? Well, the first answer is habit. I used to do a ton of web publishing when I worked at Stanford as a trainer/documentation writer and it was just way easier to work on one computer and view what you were doing on another. The other reason is a bit less serious.

Toontown. My family plays ToonTown Online. This is Disney's MMPG (Massively Multi-Player Game). We've played it for 5 years and we love it. It has always just run on the PC platform so I had a PC on my desk solely to play ToonTown (me and the kids). Now it runs on the Mac but not on either my old iMac or even Greg's G4 so I still need the laptop for the game. Silly but true.

So, I'm moving all my files (pictures, music, documents) over to Greg's old computer right now. The computer has come down significantly over it's early estimates of 2400 hours to do the job and is now thinking it'll be done in 6 hours. Hey, I have a LOT of pictures! :)

Getting this computer move done was quite silly. In order to do it, I had to clean up my desk but I couldn't clean up my desk until I cleaned up my office which is really the laundry/craft room (and no bigger than a poorly designed closet without enough right angles to function properly). In order to clean up the laundry/craft room, I had to clean up three of the big storage cabinets in Greg's office. In order to clean up the cabinets, I had to clear out a section of Greg's office. In order to clear out the office, I had to get Greg to help me. I spent all freakin' day doing this job. I don't tend to do well at this kind of work -- particularly when I realized that I had an entire cabinet filled with craft projects that I've bought all the materials for and never started. How insane is that? I have a couple of years worth of projects ready to go. Guess I know what I'll be working on in my copious free time from now on. I also found three boxes of stuff that I'd decided to sell on eBay and then it got buried in Greg's office (not to imply that Greg is a slob -- he's not at all but his office is a bit of a dumping ground for the house). I put those front and center in my office in an inconvenient place so that I've GOT to do something with them.

It's been a long day and I don't have much to show for it yet. I couldn't even get the laundry done -- even though I was working in the laundry room all day. My sad old washing machine (which is only 6 years old) is so LOUD that you can't have it on and be in the same room with it.

The computer still thinks it needs 6 more hours so I'm going to do the dishes, take a shower, and turn on the washer and the dishwasher and go to bed. The end of a long weekend and I think I need a vacation before I go back to work tomorrow!

A long day but a sweet reward

I'm exhausted! We spent the day working HARD. So, it's the good, satisfying, I-accomplished-something kind of exhausted.

We worked on Ruby-proofing the backyard. There are still two areas that need attention but we worked on the most important ones. I cleaned out the dog run, powerwashed everything, and we put a 1/2 yard of gravel in it -- nice and clean . . . see:


She'll only be in there when we are gone for a long enough time that we can't leave her in the house (like if Greg's out of town and I'm at work all day) The dog house is WAY too huge for her but we'll make do for awhile. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to go get a nice bale of pine shavings to fill the bottom of the dog house with to make it cozy for her if she has to be out there when its raining.

Greg fixed one gate that was broken and cut wood for the bottom of our deck (the one over the creek!) because the gap was fine for labs but Ruby could go right under it. I stained the wood and he'll put it up tomorrow morning.

Gosh, when I put it in a list, it doesn't seem like much but it was and it took all day -- well, just shoveling the gravel is a ton of work! (almost literally!).

Allens/Rufous Hummingbird
Originally uploaded by egret's nest.

When I was cleaning up and Greg was taking his shower, I saw this new friend at my feeder. We get Allens and/or Rufous Hummingbirds cruising through in late January and February. They are smaller than our normal Anna's hummers and have a bronzey-orange color to them. Utterly gorgeous. This one was VERY hungry -- he kept coming back and eating even though it was getting pretty dark. There was another hummer chirping at him from a tree nearby -- I couldn't see if it was another A/R hummer or if it was an Anna's who was miffed. But, from the size, I think it was an A/R. It's not a great picture but I was so excited to get it.

The kids had sleepovers with friends tonight so Greg and I went out and got Chinese food from our local, awesome Chinese restaurant. It's soooooo good! I order it online and we run down 20 minutes later and it's waiting for us and still hot when we get home. We watched National Treasure tonight (We love Netflix) and after we were done eating, we had drinks and popcorn. I figure after the amazing labor my body did today a martini is only fair!

And now to bed. Tomorrow is a big day and Greg and I are gonna be SORE!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Roses
Originally uploaded by egret's nest.

Our day was mellow. Gage woke up and sat bolt up in bed and said enthusiastically, "Happy Valentine's Day, Mom!"

Both kids had cards and chocolates at their breakfast places. Greg had a mushy card and chocolate on his keyboard!

When I got home from work at lunchtime, these were waiting for me on the dining room table. He also included 3 scratchers for the California Lottery and we won $3. Wheee! Break even deal! Still, it was fun to play pretend and think how fun it would be to win $50 or $15,000 or a chance at the Big Spin on TV where you win way more. So, I think that's pretty cool . . . roses and a dream! What a great guy!

Let the rain pour down

Driving in the rain 1
Originally uploaded by egret's nest.

Our local weather report says:

Today: rain becoming likely. Highs in the 50s to mid 60s. South winds 5 to 15 mph.

If rain is just now becoming likely, I'd like to know what the previous 24 hours of non-stop rain have been . . . other than very welcome to our plants and reservoirs of ground and drinking water.

I took the above picture to show you what rain is like in the mountains. And, then I took this one just to scare you with what driving in rain is like in the mountains.

Actually I took a bunch of pictures and some video (which I haven't had time to make into a movie yet) to share the whole experience. Guess we've been missing the rain, huh?

The birds were somewhat less than impressed with the rain. There was a general air of irritation and nervousness around the feeder today. I put out a lot of seed to soothe them . . . it didn't work. But I did enjoy watching them flit about irritatedly.

In that last photo, you can see the water beading up on her feathers -- click on it to see the detail. Have I mentioned lately that I love my camera? Kamerageliebterblogunpfaffers! These pictures were taken at low res because I was taking some shots for stuff to sell on eBay and I forgot to change it back . . . they are still great shots and show a lot of detail when you look at the larger sizes. I've started reading the manual to my camera -- it's overwhelming but I think it will encourage me to play a little bit with the settings.

In other news, I'm still not feeling great. But I'll live and I doubt I'll get much sicker, thank goodness! I'm trying to contact the other two breeders that we want to visit this weekend and it's not proving easy to manage that. I am leaning more and more towards Ruby but would really like to see some of the larger Ratties before I make a decision. We're getting ready for our camping trip and I'm excited about that but I wish that it would be a drier trip. I went shopping for food last night and bought a big box of hot chocolate. We haven't camped in the winter since before we had kids so it should be different. Long damp walks, card games, books, -- it'll be fun though. We're excited!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Oh, that's just perfect!

Maple Leaf with fungus
Originally uploaded by egret's nest.

This morning when I went out to go to work, there was a big poop on the hood of my car. I couldn't believe it. Honestly, I also can't believe that I didn't take a picture . . . Julie might have identified it for me. I'm guessing raccoon. I can't see a skunk climbing up on the car. I've cleaned too many cat boxes to think it was cat. So, what on earth was it thinking? Oh well, Gage loved it -- he got to tell me how disgusting it was all the way to school and I got to think, "I know exactly how disgusting it was . . . I cleaned it up!"

Tomorrow it's going to start raining. (Oh, I know, I know . . . we need the rain. Rain is good!). It's supposed to rain all weekend (also good!).

I'm getting sick. Cough. Snorfle.

We're going camping this weekend. (Did I mention its going to rain all weekend?)

So, I feel a bit like that fungus in the picture. I've seen better days.

Oh well, I'm resting today and hoping to fight off this stupid bug. I'd hate to ruin all our plans! (Especially getting to see more Rat Terriers!!!)

A quiet moment

Dark-Eyed Junco (Oregon)
Originally uploaded by egret's nest.

I took a quiet moment this afternoon and went out in the waning light. This junco knew that I was there and he wasn't happy about it but he did come out several times to forage.

It was wonderful to go outside with my camera and get absorbed in taking pictures. I took 139 pictures and 5 of them made me happy. I'm getting so picky now! Used to be if you could tell what bird it was, I figured it was a success!

The neighborhood was active but no one noticed me. My husband was hard at work and didn't miss me. My kids were playing a game together and didn't miss me. What a blessing to escape responsibilities and not be missed!

Enough of that. Just time for a quick dinner and then off to a Parent Club meeting. Oh Joy!

Sunday Blog Roll

I start each day by reading blogs and sipping my morning mochas. My blogging friends are amazing and diverse. Here are a few of the highlights today . . .

The Dharma Bums are thinking thoughts on the value of saving an individual bird. GardenPath shares a view of her kitchen window from her home in Maine. Julie Zickefoose uses the power of the blog to help save an awesome dog named Boomer -- by finding him a good home. (If you are near Ohio and want an awesome dog -- and don't have any cats!!! -- check it out!) Mary sneeks a peek at birds who are innocently bathing away, blithely unaware of the bird paparazzi posting their pictures on the internet. Outside In writes about the Big Weather they had in Florida this weekend. Somewhere in NJ writes about a very quiet day at Sandy Hook, NJ and shares some history with us -- scroll down and read an earlier post about the eagles she saw the day before! Susan Gets Native shares sketches of her week -- and displays her wacky sense of humor as well as a heretofore unknown artistic talent! More drawings, Susan! Rainbow Family of Four -- an online friend for more than 8 years -- shares a science experiment you too can do when the weather gets so cold that the schools close in Madison! And, What's That You Said -- an online friend for about 15 years -- shares more on her ongoing to efforts to learn American Sign Language and get in touch with Deaf culture. My Whim is Law -- also a friend for 8 years -- discusses what makes a great SuperBowl to her.

So that's what is going on in my little corner of the Blogosphere.

PS. Just surfing and looking at my Technorati results and found that people I don't even know are quoting me . . . look {here} and {here} and {here} and {here}. That is a little startling but okay! I think I'll have to visit back to some of these as well.

A Day of Dogs and RVs

On our way to visit Ruby, we stopped at our friend, Brett's house to see his Rat Terrier, Jay-Jay. We is a standard-size -- around 15". Very sweet -- as nice as I had remembered. I love this picture. Gage is not a dog person but he loves these Ratties -- they are such a nice breed of dog. The kids played with Jay-Jay for ages!


We went out to visit Wild Oak Ranch today in San Jose -- home of horses, chickens, a big white cat, and a whole passel of Rat Terriers. In the picture above, they are checking out a gopher hole. But best of all, they had a litter of puppies -- adorable, sweet Rat Terrier puppies. Is there anything cuter than kids and puppies?



So, what about Ruby? Well, we are thinking about her . . . a lot. First of all, she is very, very sweet. She's smaller than we'd hoped -- maybe 13" tall (at the shoulders) and delicate. But, she is also only 8 mos old so she has a bit more growing to do. I like the picture below because it shows her puppy-ness quite well.


So, pros and cons. Pro -- she was very sweet, very pretty, and very eager to please. She's a puppy and I'm sure she'll adapt to our life quite easily. She's not at all dominant - her mother is quite dominant, however. Cons -- she was a little concerned about the kids -- but all the dogs were at first. It seemed to mostly have to do with being protective of the puppies and they got over it nicely when Nancy told them to knock it off. She's smaller than we'd pick in an ideal world.

So, what are we thinking about? Well, we have had Labradors for the last 20 years and Greg had labs before that and I had a Golden and a Samoyed. We are used to big, exuberant dogs. Ratties are small and a trifle aloof with strangers. We have to keep reminding ourselves that we want a different personality type. We have always picked the dogs that sat up and said, "Pick me! Pick me!" and sometimes we've had a hard time living with that personality for the next 10 years. I'll have to share some stories about some of my past dogs. One of my BEST dogs was a rescue lab who wouldn't make eye contact with me for days. She was the epitome of aloof at first and then grew comfortable with us. She's been gone for 6 years and I miss her still. But that personality is not what we would normally pick -- but it's kind of what we want. So, we need to think about that a bit and wrap our heads around it.

I'm going to contact the local Rat Terrier breeder and talk to her this week and maybe go see her dogs if I can. And, then we'll decide.

Ruby clearly got over her aloofness with Greg and she did come up to the kids -- not that they could see anything but the puppies. Both kids talked about the puppies several times today. They just adored them.

So, more thinking. More research. I don't know if we found our dog or not. I know she would work for us but I want to make sure we aren't rushing in where angels fear to tread . . . if you know what I mean.

So, my dear peanut gallery, what are YOUR thoughts? Is Ruby to be or not to be?

PS. Oh yea, we went to the RV show too. Interesting but we've done that for the next several years. Tiring but we say some interesting ideas. Not sure any will help us with our big project of fixing up the FMC slowly and surely. Still, I'm glad we went!

PPS. Saw about 23 hawks today and about 50 Turkey Vultures. Before we left town this morning, we saw a Sharpie drop from a power pole down to the ground by the road RIGHT next to us. Amazing. I didn't see that he'd gotten anything but it was so cool.

End of the week

Gage Rocks Out!
Originally uploaded by egret's nest.

Friday is soccer night for the kids. We do indoor soccer in the winter as it rains so much here although this year I think we could have done outdoor without too much trouble . . . although it would have gotten too cold and too dark!

Soccer is from 5 to 6pm and when we're done the kids are starving! They work hard -- it's a weekly soccer clinic rather than a team. They are learning good skills and I suppose we'll have to put them to use in the future by having them play on a team at some point. I really hate the ugly side of team sports though so I'm not eager!

Often we decide to go next door and get pizza for dinner. We did so tonight. Greg let Gage listen to his iPod while we were waiting for the pizza. Here, Gage is rocking out to Crocodile Rock (oddly enough it was the Beach Boys version and not Elton John's . . . not sure what's up with that as we are way more EJ fans than BB fans).

Ruthie had a turn as well. Her favorite song, of late, is 1985 -- that song about a woman slightly younger than me reminiscing about her lost youth. Hilarious for an 8 year old with no clue to rock out to it . . . she doesn't know the bands and just says what she thinks they are. My favorite messed-up lyric is Matona for Madonna!

We had a good dinner and then came home to baths and relaxation.

Tomorrow we go see Ruby. Fingers are still crossed! I'll let you all know how it goes!

A Day at the Slough

The Adventure Begins!
Originally uploaded by egret's nest.

Well, an afternoon at the slough. Our school district gave us a semester break today -- and we took full advantage of it. We headed off on the hour drive to Moss Landing around 9:30 yesterday morning. All was well. Mom and I were chatting. The kids were playing with their Littlest Pet Shop Digital toys and happy as clams.

Until we got right between Aptos and Watsonville and hit a wall of traffic. "Oh, an accident," we said brightly. "Or roadwork." And we inched along. Past the last possible hope exit. Just as we got where we couldn't really get to it, I thought, "hmmm, wonder if I should have gotten off and taken that exit."

An hour later, we finally made it to where the road crew had been working about 1/2 mile beyond us over a big hill. Only they were done now. Unbelievable. As we got there, the traffic opened up and we flew on our way again. Trying to resist the urge to go 90 mph. After all, I suspect that "making up lost time" isn't a good argument in court!

So, we couldn't stop at the huge pottery place and price big urns for the backyard. Nor could we poke around in any of the antique stores in Moss Landing either. Sigh.

But, we did get to eat at Phil's Fish Market and Eatery. YUM! Utterly delish! I ordered their squid and chips. Both kids asked to try my squid which was amazing. I was pretty sure that Gage would try it but Ruthie did too -- her love of anything fried won the day, I'm sure. They both also tasted my mom's scallops. Also delish! But, I preferred my squid. I've been craving it since that horrible shoe leather (or overcooked shoe leather that tasted a bit off as my husband put it) I had in Monterey after we went to the aquarium. This was better!

And, then we were off to the Slough. Beautiful day for it -- overcast but not cold. Sweatshirts and light jackets were fine. We headed off in high spirits. The first bird we saw was singing away in a bush ahead of us on the trail. We stopped and looked through the bins and my camera. Couldn't tell what it was -- it was an unusual song though. Then Mom noticed it was blue through the bins. Hmmmm. We got closer -- brave bird, not concerned about us. The kids are being really quiet and good -- walking, not yelling. We get close enough and realize that it's a Western-Scrub Jay. Not even remotely rare or interesting. Nothing like a new bird for us. A common, everyday, rather annoying yard bird! Hilarious! Set us off on our adventures in good spirits!

We stopped at the overlook. Elkhorn Slough is a nature reserve that is being reclaimed. It was once a dairy and they have left the barns up. You see evidence of it's former life as you walk the trails. The Slough itself is where the fresh water drains down from the hills and collects and mixes with the seawater coming inland. Take a look at this map to see why this is such a special area:

Overview of Elkhorn Slough. The white rectangle in the middle is the barn where the barn owls live. The very regular inlets are part of the restoration effort. They are put in to give shorebirds a place to forage and rest while the slough is recovering from years of dredging. We walked across that causeway above the barn and around the south marsh there and back to the barns and then up to the visitor's center in the lower right corner.

Here is an overview photo I took:

Overview of the Slough from the lookout area. The barns are below us and you can see part of the South Marsh.

The first REAL bird we saw was tough to id -- largely because I forgot my field guide. Sigh. Anyway, we looked at it, saw field marks, and took pictures. When we got home and looked at them with the guides, we decided it was probably a red-shouldered hawk. Beautiful flying around kind of below us as we were still up high at the lookout area. And, off we went. We stopped at the barn where the Barn Owls nest but didn't see any signs of life -- other than about a bazillion owl pellets. We also saw about a thousand coyote poops on the trail around this area. Lots of life! (well, and, I suppose death! :)

Near the barn, we saw and heard lots of LBJs in the brush. They were adept at hiding and were probably mostly House Sparrows anyway but it would have been nice to know. Shortly after we got back on the trail, I saw this little lovely . . .

Hutton's Vireo

I believe it's Hutton's Vireo. At first I thought it was a warbler but looking at the field guides, that big eye seems more like a vireo to me. It was small but VERY close to us. Thank heavens for the burst mode on my camera.

Next, we walked out to the water and headed out on the walkway. We saw a ton of shorebirds. The tide was out so it was very different than the last time we were there. We were closer to the shorebirds which was cool though. Saw Willets, Whimbrels, and Marbled Godwits for sure and then bunch of other sandpiper-y darlings that we couldn't ID even with pictures.

Willet and Willet with wings open.

The Willets amaze me. They look like these non-describe LBJ's until they fly and then you are dazzled by this flash of black and white. The wing picture isn't good but it gives you the idea. The Marbled Godwits looked all warm and carmelly. Gorgeous.

Marbled Godwit foraging in mud and marsh plants.

We saw some buffleheads and eared grebes in the water nearby as well. And, then a very handsome bird of prey caught our attention. It was a White-tailed Kite. Amazing bird and not even remotely interested in letting us get close enough for a good picture. I snuck up on it but when I stepped out from the cover to get the shot, it was gone. I'm sure I will improve in this area but I did get this shots.

The White-tailed Kite who was camera shy.

We wound our way back from this point. It was lovely and we saw some more birds but not close up or I didn't get the shot. We saw two woodpeckers -- Acorn and Downy. The Downy was very close but the light was all wrong and we were hurrying back to the center at this point.

We got back to the center and got a couple of goodies at the gift shop. I got a little backpack sized bird guide (by the Stokes!) so I'll have SOMETHING when I go out next time and forget my good guides. And, I got a gorgeous pewter barrette with a feather on it for my hair. Next time, I'll get this one -- amazing, isn't it?

From there, we headed home, made it to soccer, had a great dinner, and crashed for the night!

Birthday Report and Catching Up

Watching the excitement unfold
Originally uploaded by egret's nest.

So, poor Gage had to wait until I got home from teaching my afterschool program at around 4:30 before he could open his presents . . . torture for a 7 year old boy but he handled it with good grace!

We all gathered in the living room to watch the excitement unfold. My mother is visiting which made it extra fun! She brought her gifts along so he had three presents to open.

We got him the RC Tarantula that I saw first on Julie Zickefoose's blog. Her son, Liam, is the same age as Gage and loved it. I knew my son would too. And, he did . . .

The only disappointment was that Ushki, my Mom's corgi, was singularly unimpressed with the spider. The RC car Gage got at his party was a great doggy tormenting device however. We think the spider just didn't move fast enough. Still the main goal was that Gage loved it and he does. He's being so careful with it -- putting it up high so it doesn't get stepped on. He didn't even show it to his friend who lives next door and can be rough on toys (broke one toy immediately upon being shown it -- sigh! I'm getting good with Crazy Glue!).

I think it was a satisfying birthday for Gage and I know it was for me!

With my mom visiting, my blogging/computer time is cut WAY down. But, it's nice having her here -- she lives so far away that I don't get quality time with her. I figure having enough time to get irritated with each other is a good thing!

Today, we have no school (end of semester break). We are thinking about taking a walk at Elkhorn Slough. I'll report back on what we ACTUALLY do with pictures and details tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Gage!

Step on a crack and you'll . . .
Originally uploaded by egret's nest.

My son turns 7 today. At 10:30 am or thereabouts, the actual moment of the anniversary of his birth will pass. He won't note it and I will likely be busy with other events and not notice at that moment either. But what a life changing moment that was when our family grew by one and we got a whole new injection of testosterone.

Gage has grown and changed so much this year. And, the picture here is the epitome of some of those changes. He is playing the "step on a crack and you'll break your mother's back" game. In the past, walks across campus were agonizingly slow when he was in this mode -- he couldn't possible step on any cracks (or lines) for fear of injuring my back (or spine). But now, he has just called me, "Hey, Mom . . . look at this!" Can you stand the glee on his face? Rotten little boy!

I love him so much! He is funny and smart and kind. He is argumentative and strong-willed and contemplative. He is a good friend, a good son, and a good brother. He is cautious and curious and crazy. He is my boy.

Lost in thought, playing a spinning game

Maybe it won't be at exactly 10:30 am, but at some point in the day, I"ll be thinking about those moments of his birth and the joy that he brings to my life everyday.

Newborn Gage - 1/24/2000

A Family of Four

Progression
from two
to three
to four
Whole becoming a whole lot more.

And so we add more
more smiles
more funny hair
more belly laughs,
Little Baby Bear

Welcome to our family,
Mister Boy
Little brother, darling son.
We welcome you with endless Joy.
© 2000, Liza Lee Miller

Mostly Miserable Day

Blah! Without going into details, yesterday we had a family party for my mother-in-law's 75th birthday. My MIL is an amazing, fantastic woman and we all wanted it to go beautifully. But, it was a recipe for disaster and as far as I am concerned that's what we got. Thankfully, most of the guests won't agree but for me and my family -- awful. I had to take Ruthie home sobbing uncontrollably early after an ugly scene with other family members. Just awful.

The cure: after calming her down and letting her vent about it all the way home, we changed into comfy clothes, ate some chocolate, and watched America's Funniest Pets and People on tv. It worked! As Greg said, I trained her! And, I'm good with that. I trained her that real women feel emotions, stand up for children, and then come home take off their panty hose and take care of themselves! I'm okay with that!

I still feel all singed by it but thankfully Ruthie is moving past it all quickly. There were so many things that went wrong and it felt pretty much like a train speeding toward a cliff that I could see but not stop effectively. Sigh.

One good thing was seeing this cute little bird. I did get a few minutes out by the hostess' bird feeders and that was nice.

Black Phoebe checking out the meadow for flies!

Definitely glad to be going back to work today. Maybe teaching kids division will be a good distraction for stupid family drama.