no good with sparrows

I’m no good with sparrows. I can recognize the perky little chipping sparrow and I know the big house sparrow but that is the extent of my ability to differentiate among the species. Most  Ohio birds, I can name at a moment’s notice. Even if I only catch a glimpse of them I can make an excellent guess at what they might have been. But sparrows are just ‘sparrows.’ Now that might impress the backyard neighbor, but any true birding aficionado will be scandalized. I’m sorry I just cannot tell the difference between, or rather ‘among’ them. Oh yes, in the bird book I can read all of the info and say to myself, ‘next time I’ll remember this’ but it never happens.

( This isn't my own photo, but just so that anyone interested can see what a chipping sparrow looks like)

I got started thinking about them as I had lunch on the deck with the dogs and the birds today. Rachael has two bird feeders and several cakes of suet hanging on the little tree right off the deck. The sparrows did not appreciate my sitting at the table not ten feet away and having my cold pizza and apple slices. They all came flocking into the tree several times but never could work up the nerve to land at the feeders. Finally, wouldn’t you know, a cheeky little chipping sparrow hopped first to the big square feeder. When he found it was empty he flitted over to the smaller cylindrical one. It had a bit of seed left and he proceeded to help himself. No one else was brave enough!

I finished my coffee while I watched him and then began getting my things together to come inside. By the time my crutches and I had navigated from the door to the kitchen window, the feeders were flooded with larger sparrows, acting as though they owned the spaces. The little chipping sparrows flitted through the others still getting there share of the seed.

I enjoyed my time outside. If I had thought to bring my laptop along I might be there still. The weather is quickly down sizing into fall and the last few nights have been downright cold. Today it was just pleasant to sit out. Had I been in the sun it might have become uncomfortable but where I sat at the table in the shade it was really nice. Wish some of my kids could have been there with me.

On another note, Michael’s sister Megan and her husband left for Greece this morning at 9:00. They drove in last night to stay with us because we happen to be only about five or ten minutes from Port Columbus. How neat it is to think about going to Greece. I’ve never had any desire to go to Europe except to see Scotland maybe. But the more I think of Greece, the more I think it might be interesting. They are simply flying over and they must have reservations at a hotel, but from there they plan to wing it and do their own thing. That’s the way I think I’d like to go.

Rachael and Michael are hoping for a trip to Alaska in the next year or two. They’ve not had a real vacation for—well, since their wedding trip. The last two years, they have used most of their vacation time to come after me and haven’t had the money to do much else. Rachael begins her management job here in a couple weeks and Michael is looking at a really decent raise so they plan to stash part of those raises in a Vacation Fund. They have friends in Alaska who have promised a place to stay once they get there! WOW.

Okay, I’m all involved in looking at the birding guide I just found online so here it is: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search.aspx If you like birding, check it out.

Monday Evening

There was something wrong with the water this morning (Monday) . Kerra used the outside hose to water the roses early this morning. When I went to the bathroom after she left, there was no water. I sent Notah a text asking if I should turn off the cooler pumps. He said, “Yes!” When he called Kerra she remembered that she hadn’t turned the water off outside… That probably drained the pressure. So I went and turned that outside faucet off.

I got the bright idea of wetting a towel and hanging it over the fan-- same effect as the cooler, moving dry air over or through water. It cooled the living room comfortably

4:22 PM

Kerra got home about 230 and began fiddling with the water. She checked the irrigation lines and made sure they were off. She checked the cooler pumps and made sure they were off. Finally she trekked over to the well room to look at the actual water pump.

She found a reset switch! She wasn’t sure what it was or even if it was the right thing. She took the electric cord in one hand and turned the switch with the other, figuring if it was the wrong thing and the pressure started to go up too fast, she could yank the plug. Luckily, the switch was the right one, the pump came on; the pressure went up to fifty pounds and stayed there. The pump turned off. YAY. When she came inside we turned the water on and we had water!

Now she is busy cleaning up the sand and dust accumulated from a week of emptiness and two days of carrying in furniture. The house is cooler and it looks as though the weather outside is cooling off. There even seems to be a lot of sand blowing across the base of the mountains.

The day is winding down. I’m glad Notah won’t have to worry with the water when he gets home. I feel sorry for him. He seems to work really hard and no one seems to appreciate it. They just always want more. I felt real sorry for him this morning. Not only did he get up at five o’clock after working hard all weekend, but he didn’t even have any coffee made. He had to make his own coffee! I felt bad that I had fallen asleep last night before I thought of it. I used to make sure that he had coffee when he came out to go in the morning. I haven’t really been myself since last week when I got sick from being too hot. I should have wakened up long enough before him to put the pot on! But I’ll be gone next week. Who will make sure he has coffee then?

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Rachael arrives in only a couple more days. She and Michael will get into Albuquerque on Thursday. They are planning to celebrate their wedding anniversary by going up to the top of Sandia where they were married, hiking around there and then having dinner someplace nice. Then on Friday morning they’ll come after me and, I guess, head on out to Gallup. I thought that they wanted to drive through Chaco Canyon on the way, but maybe not… I’m along for the ride where ever they go.

I’m trying to soak up all the birds and sagebrush and yucca and sand that I can in these few days left to me. This new house is small and I don’t know exactly where they will put me next year when I come…if I can come. For these few days I don’t really have a room. I have my dresser in Keva’s room and my duffel and suitcase in the kids’ bathroom. I’ve been comfortable in the recliner but I don’t have anyplace that is organized and quiet. I’m stressed when everything is in a jumble and I have to watch where I put my crutch tips to be sure it doesn’t catch or get tangled or slip on something. And even though they have given Keva orders to keep a pathway clear, her room is in as much chaos as it was on Angelo. That bothers me. By next year Keva will be so well settled in that I won’t be able to stand it at all. I don’t think that even if they move her out for next year I’ll be able to get comfortable; she just won’t be able to move all her stuff so it can be the more organized kind of room I relax in.. I am not going to bug Notah about it though. He has enough to worry about. I’ll just pray that something happens before then.

Well, Seth is up. I guess it is ten o’clock! Didn’t realize time had passed so quickly. I was out in the east yard early, before K & K left for summer school. This morning I identified a western kingbird and a western flycatcher. There is another gray bird that seems too light for a mockingbird but I haven’t figured out if it is simply a different color variety or if it’s another species entirely. I still haven’t seen that Bullocks Oriole that Notah saw in the tree. The little Says Phoebe is getting used to having people out there and is now coming and going in her nest without too much trouble.