Nature Nut

For starters I’m still volunteering my time with ARK. A mobile veterinary service that comes to our area twice a month. This is such a wonderful service because so many people live so far from a vet they can’t get their pets spayed, neutered or vaccinated. ARK was here this past Wednesday and I worked 8 hours. Four of which I did by myself. That was wild and crazy because it was my first time being left alone. Made me realize I really need to get my ducks in a row. People wanted to know what towns and the locations ARK goes to and the cost of some of our services. I felt silly not knowing the answers. So I asked the vet and I wrote everything down. When I came home I typed out the price list and locations. I’ll put this stuff in a folder to take with me next time but hopefully wont be left alone again!

I also spent some time rebuilding a MySpace page. (If you have a MySpace you can check my page out HERE ) Something I never thought in my wildest dream I would do again. I had deleted my old one about 6 months ago and was happy as a lark to be done with it! Then my son Jason (26 and from a previous marriage) got a hold of me after the both of us played ‘phone tag’ with each other since his birthday in February. He told me that he and his wife Dana finally got on the internet. I’d been waiting forever for them to get on it! Dana created a page on MySpace and added several albums full of photos of all of them. So ... In order for me to see the photos of them and my grandkids I had to join MySapce again. Below is a collage I created of all of them from a few pictures Dana loaded in her albums … Dana is a real sweetheart and I’m enjoying the time we have been spending together on the net, phone and messenger.

I already knew my daughter Lacey had a space as we were keeping in touch just before I deleted mine. What I didn’t know was she was about to give birth to her 6th baby in July. Another girl! Her first child, Shayne Luke, is the only boy she has. All the rest of her kids are girls. That poor boy! lol. Below are photos of them. Not all of these photos are up to date.

Other stuff going on with me …

In April I entered our local art and photography show in Wilcox .. a town about 30 minutes away. I took the first place ribbon and the best in its category ribbon plus 50 dollars cash (for the picture on the top left - shown below) I also took a second place ribbon for the photo of the pinecones and acorn one on the top right.

This month, I entered 3 more photos in the Elfrida art show. I sold one of them (the white and yellow tabby on the bottom left) for 45 dollars! I took second place on Emma on the bottom right! My third photo didn’t place anything in that show. It was so much fun - I really enjoyed both shows. I had no idea that there was so many wonderful artists and photographers in our area!

Pat and I went up to Cochise Stronghold to do a little bird watching a couple weekends ago. We've been there before and it's becoming one of my favorite places to go. We've seen the Acorn Woodpeckers there before too but this time ... I was able to get them to come to the peanuts I laid out on the picnic table. There was a family of 6 of them and some would stand guard and run the blue jays off when they tried to take the nuts. They were flying right past my head in their battles and a couple times I felt the feathers brush across my face! The woodpeckers never actually took any nuts from my hands ... but as you can see they were very close. We left after hearing thunder but I have no doubt that if we stayed longer … I could have gotten one of them to eat from my hands. Maybe next time! Still it was AWESOME!! Hope this slide show works.  :)

 

 

Pat watching the birds.  :)

Windy as heck here today and frustrating. Can’t enjoy my walks. I’ve gotten 7 laps in and still have 10 to go before the day is over. Not sure I’ll make it with the wind acting up. My pedometer reads 3,915. I’m trying to stay at 10,000 total steps a day. I’ve got quite a ways to go  yet.

This little guy is called a Bullock’s Oriole and he’s the one I’ve been waiting on to arrive. We’ve had the Scott’s Oriole here for awhile. I managed to get a fairly decent video of this guy looking out my kitchen window. I’m thrilled that I’m having such good luck with the birds coming to the oranges this year and being so close to the window at that. If the kitchen wall wasn’t in my way, I’d only be 3 steps away from the deck rail where the oranges are. The birds are skittish of me and my camera at first but settle down after a while. It’s a very rare treat for us to get the Western Tanager here but I have seen this bird a few times over the years. Wish me luck that he shows up again this year.  :)

Notice in the third photo I captured a bee too. You’ll see it in the video as well. He was pretty miffed that the bird flew in on his orange. lol. We’ve got to keep an eye on the bees here. They are the Africanized ones.

It appears that the mockingbirds like the oranges too! That’s the first time I’ve ever seen them eating one. It’s been fun seeing the different birds come to the deck rail since I’ve moved the oranges here but they’re sure making a mess of it. And a mess of my photos too. lol.Guess I should get out there and give the rail a good scrub with a brush and hose it down soon. Is it just me … or does this guy have a string on his head? Guess there’s something he doesn’t want to forget! lol.

Coming back home from the post office today I see these two large birds way up in my neighbors tree. I’m stunned beyond belief because I’ve never seen these birds before and don’t know what they are! They’re maybe about the size of a crow. I can’t locate them in my Audubon Handbook. Funny thing is … just a month ago I was talking to my neighbor and asked him if he knew what bird made the large nest that was in his tree. He didn’t have a clue and I don't know if the nests belongs to this pair or not. I wish I had gotten better photos of them but my camera was zoomed to the max. The beak and long legs make me think that this bird should be closer to water. A shore bird perhaps? Anyone know what this beauty is??

*Post update … After some more researching I did find this bird in my Field Guide. He’s a Black-Crowned Night-Heron. You can read about him HERE. You can see more images of him on Google HERE. Guess I better keep a watch out for the fish in my little pond!

A couple photos taken today…

Female Goldfinch

Male Pyrrhuloxia (Related to the Cardinal family)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhuloxia