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The Cruise From Hell: Day One	[Aug. 10th, 2009\|11:09 am]
1/24/09 Genn, Anita, Catherine and I are going to meet in New Orleans for a 7-day western caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Spirit. Ports of call: Costa Maya, Mexico; Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala; Belize City, Belize; and Cozumel, Mexico. Catherine and Anita are flying, but Genn and I take the van. It's not too far from Fort Smith to The Big Easy: we drive I-40 to Little Rock, then go south. Genn amuses herself with taking photos of the speedometer. She says that when I'm stopped by the State Police for going 75, she can show him this pic: "Officer, that was nothing, look at THIS!" This is my opinion: The drive is uneventful and pleasant. Near the Mississippi border we see thousands of Snow Geese, WOA #84, and what I thought was a Northern Harrier, but now realize is an immature Mississippi Kite: WOA #85. (Cornell photo credits) The snow geese in their thousands were an awesome sight: we braved the cold rain and wind to look at them. Genn was already feeling ill, and this was the beginning for me. We met with Catherine and Anita at the hotel, had a good dinner, and hit Bourbon Street. The evening was cold and wet, the music was really really good, the crowd was drunk. Because of the weather, there wasn't too many people. We saw many intriguing signs, but saw none of the actual World Famous Love Acts, and not one of the 3 Ugly Girls not to mention any of the 1000's of Beautiful ones. The Female Impersonators eluded us as well, so for us, Seeing was not Believing. sigh
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Fledglings 2009	[Aug. 4th, 2009\|07:56 pm]
My suet feeder has been the source of much entertainment this spring. The baby birds are fledged, and have been taught to feed at my window. I've been able to observe the parents' lessons -- in general the fledglings are quick to learn. This is how it goes: a parent will get some suet and fly back to the baby, who is perched on the maple tree. The baby is fed. Then the baby is expected to fly to the feeder, and get food himself. This is what happens, and they soon are feeding on their own. Here's a Downy Woodpecker male -- notice that he's red on his crown. Later he'll get his little red spot at the proper place, at the back of his head, like a yarmulke. Here's a young Red-Bellied Woodpecker on the maple tree. I don't know if the fledgling is a male or female, but it too has a little bit of red on its crown. So by analogy with the Downy, is he male? <-- This is a fledgling Starling: they're fairly gray, and are raucous. I witnessed a parent Starling try to teach this baby how to obtain food from the suet feeder. The technique was the same as described above, but when the mom (or dad, but I imagine it as the mom) brought the suet back to the maple branch, the fledgling set up a horrible racket. The mom was clearly agitated, and indecisive, but the baby managed to bully her with his cries into feeding him. Several times. The fledgling never did go to the feeder that time, but now he's feeding nicely, and I imagine his parents are much relieved. That poor mom was on the verge of a nervous breakdown that day. And here's a fledgling Eastern Bluebird. We get the whole family together at the feeders -- they're a tight group. There's 2 male and 1 female fledglings. This one's male: the little female is very gray-blue on her wings, showing blue only on her tail feathers. I've seen all three fledgling 'Easterners' (as Martin calls them) with their dad on the feeder at once.
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On The Way Home

[Jun. 29th, 2009|09:15 pm]

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Well, it's been a few months since the last post: Genn and I were sick as very sick dogs after the Cruise From Hell, Genn's husband Sifu Robert had flown to New Orleans and rescued us.

It took a few weeks to gradually get better -- I was as ill as I'd ever been -- and a few months to regain my energy. Genn said that it felt as if someone'd stuck a hose in her chest and sucked out all the energy. Yup, that's how it felt. We're convinced we actually had Swine Flu. Then HEDIS season hit, along with a worm that took out my tower PC, and propagated to a lesser extent to my laptop (via the router). I bought a mini to tide me over the work season -- it's very cute but slow. I want to add some RAM to speed things up a bit, but it will never be very fast (the processor). So I stayed off the net except for necessary work and brief emails. In the midst of all this, the roofers came and re-roofed our house -- finally done! -- and various other house chores had to be seen to: Jeremiah landscaped the front of the propery by the road, spring planting, the spare bedroom remodel (Martin and I demo-ed the fireplace front). Then I got sick again, a bad cold and upper respiratory thing, and that lasted for 3 weeks.

Just got back from Austin, where Ron rebuilt my ill machines, added my software and the anti-virus of his choice, and imaged all three. I can recover in 10 minutes now. All important files are bacdked up on an external drive. I already was doing that, so lost nothing when the worm hit. (Paranoia is good.) I've got my health and energy back, so will bring all up to date on my many adventures between February and June.

The above photo is from a little town on the way back home from New Orleans.

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WOA #77 and A New Suet Feeder Bird	[Jan. 17th, 2009\|04:39 pm]
#77 for Wings Over Arkansas is a Pine Warbler -- he is also a life bird, and another first for the suet feeder. The photo makes him look pretty big, but he's really a wispy 4 inches. The female comes around too, but I haven't got a shot at her yet. A Northern Flicker has also visited the suet feeder -- I've seen him twice, but as yet can't get his picture. He's very very shy and wild. I've seen him often in front of our house -- he seems to hang out in the woods there. I've been working a bit this week doing code review for the CAHPS surveys. We are almost done. I'm going to do a bit of application development as well before heading out on the NCL Spirit. I managed to find a Guatemalan company, Turix, who will take us on a boat ride up the mouth of the Rio Dulce, which is a canyon. We'll stop at a volcanic hot springs to swim, tour a rookery island in the boat, and stop for lunch at Livingston, a town founded by the Garifuna peoples, descendants of Caribbean slaves. We'll shop a bit, then head back to the port for more shopping and native dances. Don't tell Anita, but there'll be lots of birds on this excursion. Today is our 11th anniversary. Thanks for 11 great years, Martin -- may we have many more. XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
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New Birds, New Eyes, New Fascination; and Martin Has Gone Mad	[Jan. 11th, 2009\|05:38 pm]
NEW BIRDS More new birds at the suet feeder -- the Northern Mockingbird was shy at first, making aborted passes at the feeder, but soon settled in. He even let me take his photo, after eying me up, as you can see. I got a brighter shot of him on the maple tree -- he has beautiful yellow eyes. The other new bird at the suet feeder is the American Goldfinch. These don't winter here in my yard as they did in WI, but they've come back for an early spring, and have tried the suet. They prefer the finch mix and niger seed, though. The little Downey Woodpecker is of course a regular, and is not shy. He's a redneck, though. The other regulars are bold as well, and don't care if I peer at them close up. The Eastern Bluebirds are especially courageous, as well as the Tufter Titmice and Carolina Chickadee. The Yellow-Rumped Warblers are a bit more cautious, but will stay if I slowly draw closer. Another bird I haven't seen much, until recently, is the Purple Finch: here he is, diving fearlessly to the finch mix. NEW EYES I've finally got my contact lenses and new Rx -- my glasses have yet to arrive, but I've been enjoying my rejuvenated eyes. I can see SO MUCH BETTER now -- everything is bright and crisp. NEW FASCINATION Martin has been reading Martha Grimes mystery novels -- I tried the first in the series, Man With A Load of Mischief. (That's a pub: a lot of her books have pub names. I'm reading The Old Silence now, also a pub name.) The fascinating thing about these novels is the food at tea. Aunt Agatha downed a lot of fairy cakes -- some had coconut on top, and others currants -- so they had to be cupcakes, right? But how could Agatha down so many? Agreed, she's a woman with a hearty appetite, but STILL. It turns out fairy cakes ARE cupcakes, but are generally more light and half the size. Some have a scoop out the top, which is filled in with icing or jam, and then the cake scoop is cut in half and arranged in the center like wings. Then there's Fat Rascals and Rock Cakes. Fat Rascals aren't a type of Long John, but are cookies (apparently the British call cookies cakes, and cakes cakes) with currants and almonds arranged on the top. Rock Cakes are cookies too, and I've found several different recipes for them. They seem to vary in definition. There's more tea food in The Old Silence that I have yet to look up -- what is a maid-of-honor, for instance? I'll find out!! I want to make these dainties, so am looking for a fairy cake pan -- the others don't require special equipment. In googling these foods, I've found another cake: Brandenburg Cake. Will post as I make them. Martin, however, wants me to begin with Chinese Almond Cookies. I've been making home-made pizza (after a few tries, I've found the best dough), so he's getting demanding. MARTIN HAS GONE MAD In the 12 years (11 of marriage) I've been with Martin, never has he hung ANYTHING on the walls. Today he ordered 5 Kandinsky prints, and several framed portraits of early presidents, Alexander Hamilton, and the first chief justice. The revolutionary war era prints will go in the downstairs hallway, turning it into a gallery of sorts. I wanted to have the presidents and Brad Pitt, but he won't allow it. Oh well, it'll be pretty funny to have a hallway of presidents even without Brad Pitt. And I do like the Kandinskys, which will be hung upstairs.
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Fierce Tiger Squirrel	[Jan. 4th, 2009\|01:47 pm]
1.) Dog gets baby squirrel!!! 2.) Attack the monster!!!! 3.) Baby squirrel makes his break!! 4.) Mom helps baby back up the tree. Dog looks wistful. A friend sent these images. The Emerald amaryllis is all finished blooming now -- looked great when all the flowers were open. The roots had rotted, so I cut them off as well as the top, and am hoping that what's left in the bulb will survive for another day. Papilio is still growing. Home Depot had paperwhites and apple blossom amaryllis on sale, so I bought them and potted them up. I also re-potted Papilio, as the roots were growing out the bottom of the pot. Hope all had a good holiday!!!
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Bellies of Various Colors & Emerald Again	[Dec. 24th, 2008\|04:41 pm]
Emerald opened one flower. This amaryllis isn't very spectacular. I think it'll be more pretty as the years go by. It sort of looks odd without leaves. < Red-Bellied Woodpecker < Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
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Emerald	[Dec. 22nd, 2008\|02:49 pm]
Emerald began to open today.
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More Birds and Amaryllis	[Dec. 21st, 2008\|02:32 pm]
One of the amaryllis is about to flower -- I think it's the cybister variety, Emerald. The other is much much slower growing -- I'm thinking this one is Papilio. Genn's Papilio is growing with a thick stem, but mine is pushing up leaves. I don't think it will flower this year, as the catalogue warns, but it looks like Genn's will, so I'll be able to see what it will look like. More birds at the feeder: here's a Downey Woodpecker, distinguishable from the Hairy by his small size and beak. The Hairy's beak is about the size of his head. At left is the Yellow-Rumped Warbler at the feeder, but I got a much better photo of her on the maple tree below. Some day I'll be able to take a photo of the yellow rump -- I keep missing it.
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Suet Feeder	[Dec. 20th, 2008\|06:04 pm]
Here's some photos I took today of my feeder birds. I was mainly trying to capture the Eastern Bluebird pair, a first for my feeder. I'm hoping that they'll settle in my bluebird house at the foot of our 0.5. In order: Carolina Wren; Carolina Chickadee; Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker (I missed him on the feeder, but caught him in the white pine); female Eastern Bluebird; male Eastern Bluebird; White-Breasted Nuthatch. I really can't see very well still, so I'm pretty happy with the photos.
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Push Me Pull You	[Dec. 17th, 2008\|02:16 pm]
I saw my first coyote the other week. Coyotes appear to Martin -- he's seen them in WI and a couple weeks ago he saw two here, but I never seem to get to see them. Saw my first by the side of our road, Glen Flora, and stopped right by it. Cosmo looked out the window, and they studied each other for awhile. Then Cosmo let out one bark, and the coyote ran back up the embankment. < The coyote looked a lot like this one, red sable. His fur was all puffy, and he looked a bit bedraggled, like he really would like to live on our sofa with Cosmo. To me, they just look like dogs. Another first was a Yellow-Rumped Warbler at my suet station. I'd seem them at the dog park, but this was the first time at my feeder. The nuthatches and Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers have also appeared again. Eyes are getting MUCH better: they no longer feel like gummy contact lenses that must be taken out. I should get my glasses (very thin ones) in a couple of weeks. The surgeries were a very good thing for me -- I can now see pretty darn well without glasses. I can drive without glasses! The roof thing seems to (knock on wood) be winding down. I hope. We got a bid, picked the sample, and signed a contract to replace it. They swear they'll show up sometime in January, and not stop working until the roof is finished. They swear it'll be to code. They give a 7-year labor warranty, and are a local company. The guy, John from Colombia, seemed very sharp. So we will see. Martin and I spent last weekend de-brushing and cutting down small trees on our property between the road and the fence. It looks so much better already. The photinias on either side of the steps by the mailbox are chopped up -- they were way too wild. Jeremiah Wallace is going to put in stone and various evergreens, to make it look neater, yet still a bit foresty. Anita, Genn, Catherine and I are going on a cruise out of New Orleans at the end of January -- I booked it yesterday. Genn and Catherine (my birding friend I met in Fulton, TX) are the add-ons. 7 days on the Norwegian Spirit, ports of call: Cozumel and Costa Maya Mexico; Belize City, Belize; and Santo Tomas de Castillo, Guatemala. I can't wait! Gas bottomed out at $1.43 and is now 1.59 at CircleM. And Rebecca is back on LJ, a good thing, because Ken writes way too much, and Ev doesn't write enough. Ken's is part of his work, though, and entirely foreign to me. I met Ken in the old Aetna days, when he was a data guy crunching the mapping software. Now he writes things I can't really understand, something to do with gaming. Another Cosmo story: Cosmo and I go on twice-daily walks along our utility road. Cosmo's off-leash, and is generally reliable, but sometimes will take off into the woods, always around our house. He'll either go straight ahead, or to the right up the hill to our neighbor's (who have a very yappy small terrier of sorts). I generally have to go traipsing after him after fetching the Pupperoni package. I go after him yelling his name, crackling the package, and he shows up for the Pupperoni and walks with me to the house, where I give him some. I explain to him that he cannot have the Pupperoni until he's in the house. A couple of weeks ago, he took off into the woods. Tired, annoyed, and eyesore -- I knew it would be hard to slog around in the forest -- I yelled, "PUPPERONI!!! HOUSE!!" The dog burst out of the forest, and ran to the side door. Astonished and pleased, I let him in and fed him pupperoni. The magic words have worked a few times since then. I love Pupperoni.
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Lori	[Dec. 6th, 2008\|07:15 pm]
Lori's leaf art work in Crane Alley made the paper. Her stuff is ephemeral, sometimes playful, many times haunting. Lori's the lady with the rake.
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Suet and Amaryllis	[Dec. 5th, 2008\|10:11 am]
Yesterday I took the bacon drippings that I've been saving and made an adaptation of a recipe that I found in Birds & Blooms magazine. Here's the recipe: 2 c. lard (I use saved bacon drippings) 2 c. crunchy peanut butter 4 c. quick oats 4 c. corn meal 2 c. flour other stuff: oil sunflower, finch mix, raisins Line a 9 X 11" brownie pan with aluminum foil. Melt the lard and peanut butter in a pan, then mix it all with the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl, along with the other stuff. Pack it into the brownie pan and freeze. After the mix is frozen, turn it out and cut it into six pieces. I wrap them in saran wrap (you can see the one is already wrapped) and freeze them. These are just the right size for a suet feeder like the one below: this is a photo of a tufted titmouse right outside my kitchen window, getting ready to dig in. This recipe is way more popular with the birds than the bought cakes -- the store-bought one that I have hung by the pines has been there forever, and the birds are eating it, but I've gone through 2 of my cakes since I've hung it. I've had a truly naughty downy woodpecker (bad because he pecks on the house), chickadees, tufted titmice, and the red-bellied woodpecker so far. I'll blog as other species appear. This recipe is very forgiving, and will accept wide variation. For example, I only had a cup and a half of corn meal left, so added more oats to compensate, but not as much as 2 1/2 cups, so you can really play with it. You may also add your own other stuff ingredients, anything that you think your birds would like -- peanuts, safflower seeds, song bird mix (the birds will probably pick around the millet and throw it to the ground, where dark-eyed juncos will eat it.) Other news: The amaryllis that I'd ordered is actually growing. I am a skeptical gardener, and always amazed when a seed or bulb does this. << This one is just peeping up from old growth. The other is farther along. I get these bulbs from John Scheeper's, an excellent bulb house. One of these will be Amaryllis Papilio Improved; the other, Amaryllis Cybister Emerald. You can check the site out for the flowers. Papilio is under the Royal Dutch Hybrid Miniature category, and Emerald is under the Special Novelties category. Emerald is light and airy, more like a species amaryllis. Papilio is evergreen, and has a butterfly-like flower (hence the name), very dynamic, with maroon and cream and bronze. I'll post photos as they develop, although the catalog warns that Papilio may not bloom the first season. I don't get this magazine anymore, and don't any of you send it to me, although whoever sent it in the first place, thanks again.
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T-Day, Buddhism, and Family Drama	[Dec. 3rd, 2008\|06:52 pm]
Thanksgiving Day was busy -- I cooked the turkey according to Aunt Jean's instructions, made rolls and mashed potatos from scratch, and added stuffing and salad and cranberries. The turkey was pretty good, but we need a fresh one next time. The rolls also were pretty good, but they needed more rising time. So I think I could agree to do one more thanksgiving day. It's a lot of work, cooking and cleaning up. Still, I didn't have to hit Martin with a drumstick (per Jean's direction, the punishment for ingrates). Friday Genn and I drove to Chicago for Kenchen Rinpoche's weekend teachings. The venue was the Marriott O'Hare, so we got a room there. Very good teachings in the form of a poem, sort of a lyrical Cliff's Notes of Buddhism. Just the thing. The translator (Terence Barrett) did a truly great job -- the stanzas were reminiscent of Gary Snyder's translation of Han Shan poems (the Cold Mountain ones, found in Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems). So many translations of Tibetan song-teachings give the meaning (I suppose) but are boring, because they do not capture the original. We saw some old friends and met some new. Martin donated Robin's old bed: we dropped that off at the center, and Genn received the Refuge vows. Drupon RInchen Dorje is learning English, but Tracy here is translating (she visited from out of town to translate at the teachings). Here Drupon-la is cutting a bit of Genn's hair. I'm not sure what this symbolizes. Genn wanted to know what is done with the hair after it's cut. Good question! I've been googling the refuge ceremony, and getting all sorts of information except for that. All of us also took the 5 lay vinaya vows. These are: 1.) Do not take life. 2.) Do not steal. 3.) Do not lie. 4.) Do not engage in sexual misconduct. 5.) Do not take alcohol or drugs. Robin met us at the hotel on Sunday, and stayed the night; we left in the snow Monday am, hoping to get out of town before the predicted 3-5" arrived. After a long day's travel, we finally got home -- Cosmo had stayed at Genn's house, and was glad to see us. He bounded back and forth between me and the front door, clearly shouting, 'Let's get out of here!' I think he was tired of Genn's chihuahua, Gitzy, who actually bit Cosmo's ankles. Cosmo was wary of her, but not too: he'd roll his eyes around when he saw her coming, in big dog disgust. So Robin is staying the week, and I am back to doing errands etc. My eye surgery went well, I am not wearing glasses and can see well at least 15' out. I'll still need correction, but hardly any. Tomorrow I have another eye appointment. Robin and Martin are having long conversations -- very good for both of them. I like to see them together. My Aunt Ruth died yesterday. Jean called me today to give me the news: she's decided not to go to the family memorial to be held in January. I'm sorry Jean didn't get to see her sister before her death, but they were on the phone every day. I bought a card to send. Some of the sympathy cards were extremely absurd, so I had some good laughs as I searched for one. There was one which had a lengthy description of elephants and how they handle a departed herd member. It vagued out at the end with some strange new age comfort. I cannot imagine sending it to anyone who just lost a mother. Jessie's situation is a continuing source of heartache for me. Genn and I have been dedicating the Green Tara practice to her every day. Sadly, this is the best thing that I can do for her.
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Sunday Morning	[Nov. 24th, 2008\|08:37 am]
Yesterday I dug composted cow manure into the raised beds, and topped them with a 6" straw layer. So they are done for the winter. We're still eating peppers, both bell and jalapenos, and tomatoes. (I'd picked them green, and they're ripening nicely.) Seed catalogs are arriving, and I've already noted some varieties I'd like to try. One is a 1# acorn squash, just right for the two of us. I try to get 'refrigerator' varieties of cantaloupe and watermelon, as we need small portions. We pulled down the frame over the left-hand bed: I want to replace the legs with stiffer poles, and spray-paint all green. The old legs will be the top part of a frame for the right-hand bed. I figure these will be needed for July and August, when it begins to resemble Hell around here. Shade screening should reduce the temperature below by 10-15 degrees. Then I can put plastic up to hold plants through the winter. The yard is at last looking pretty darn good, and now I can have some fun gardening. I got an email from Sharon -- she'd found this owl -- as you can see she has not amended her evil ways. She tempted me with its purchase, and how could I refuse? Look at his ears!!! And the expression!! He'll be one of the more unusual pieces amongst the Chinese parrots, ducks, and phoenix. I've been looking up day excursions off Belize City and in Cozumel. Anita and I (and any of you who would like to come) are cruising NCL's Spirit out of New Orleans Sunday to Sunday, leaving 1/25. This is one of those vacations you don't need to take a vacation from, where it's pure bliss to hang around at the stern, sipping tea, reading a book, and watching the wake of the ship. No obligations, the world slips away. I do want to bird in Belize, so am trying to arrange to go to Half-Moon Caye Natural Monument, about 50 miles off shore from Belize City. This may not be possible, due to either timing or not being able to arrange an excursion remotely. It's hard to find information on who to call, where to email -- Belize's site just says you can arrange a trip through most hotels. Well, I'll be on a ship... Still, this is my first choice, as there is a Red-Footed Booby rookery there. Second choice is Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, only 30 miles from Belize City, so easy to rent a car or go by cab. I am trying to get a local birding guide, so far with the same lack of success that I have enjoyed trying to find a way to Half-Moon Caye. I've been looking up Cozumel too. Rather than paying the huge excursion price on the Spirit for a trip to Faro Celarain park, we could take a taxi or rent a scooter and just go ourselves. The park headquarters is an old lighthouse, very picturesque, and I could bird surreptitiously while Anita is not looking. (Anita does not bird, and probably won't go with me on the Belize day trip) That's an option anyway -- we will play it by ear for the excursions, perhaps opting to laze on the ship. The other 2 ports of call on our voyage are Santo Tomas de Castillo, Guatamala, and Costa Maya, Mexico. Gas at CircleM is $1.59.
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