Question:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – snipped Actually it was the combination square that got ‘em. Guess it looked kinda ominous on the baggage checker screen. That plus the satchel clanked pretty good when I set it down on the belt. Hugh Well, yes. One of those does look a lot like a large caliber automatic assault machine pistol – with an adjustable range of 0 to 1200 yards – and you could easily be thrown out of school if you held it the wrong way in 9th grade shop class. — bill Theory don’t mean squat if it don’t work.
You mean today. When I went to high school, we were still in the shoot um up phase from WW2 and the Korean War. Hugh
Response:
Change the brake fluid. Don in NH
Response:
Curt: In the present world of airport paranoia, a bag full of metal things may present a real problem. You might be better off shipping a FedEx box of stuff to yourself at the RV seller’s address. Should be quite an adventure – good luck Frank Damp Anacortes, WA
Kinda reminds me of the time I was working on the house we bought in Allen Park Michigan. I needed a bunch of tools from home and packed them in a satchel, must have weighed 30 pounds. Got to the airport, tried to go through the metal detector (this was back in ‘78) and they said "no way". Had to run back and check the satchel in. Don’t know why they got concerned, there were just some wrenches, slip joint pliers, combination square, wood chisels, hacksaw, 24" aluminum level shortened to 18" and some sundry items <grin. Hugh
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Curt: In the present world of airport paranoia, a bag full of metal things may present a real problem. You might be better off shipping a FedEx box of stuff to yourself at the RV seller’s address. Should be quite an adventure – good luck Frank Damp Anacortes, WA Kinda reminds me of the time I was working on the house we bought in Allen Park Michigan. I needed a bunch of tools from home and packed them in a satchel, must have weighed 30 pounds. Got to the airport, tried to go through the metal detector (this was back in ‘78) and they said "no way". Had to run back and check the satchel in. Don’t know why they got concerned, there were just some wrenches, slip joint pliers, combination square, wood chisels, hacksaw, 24" aluminum level shortened to 18" and some sundry items <grin. Hugh It was that evil sawed-off level that did it. You should have left it at 24" – they hadn’t yet started harping on long range sniper levels back in 78. — bill Theory don’t mean squat if it don’t work.
Actually it was the combination square that got ‘em. Guess it looked kinda ominous on the baggage checker screen. That plus the satchel clanked pretty good when I set it down on the belt. Hugh
Response:
Curt: In the present world of airport paranoia, a bag full of metal things may present a real problem. You might be better off shipping a FedEx box of stuff to yourself at the RV seller’s address. Should be quite an adventure – good luck Frank Damp Anacortes, WA
Response:
<< So, any pointers would be helpfull. This may be obvious, but don’t bring anything remotely flamable. No flares, WD40 or even tools smelling of the stuff. The airport inspectors have sensitive, if stupid sniffers. They do allow credit cards wiith high limits. Tom
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – After a couple of months searching I finally located a motorhome I’m comfortable buying, so the trip is set; fly from Anchorage to Iowa on the 20th of July, pick up the rig, go see Mom in Minnesota for a couple days, then haul out to Carson City Nevada to pick up a buddy, then back to Alaska. I plan on using my checked baggage to bring along some tools, jumper cables, tape, wire…things like that (I’d rather NOT check a bag, but don’t see a carry-n going through with these things in it). The rig is an 89 with 56k on it, I don’t expect any problems, but figure it won’t hurt to have some items along. I plan to stop by a NAPA and pick up some belts, hoses, plugs and what-not, figure if I don’t use them, I can probably return them to my local NAPA (I’ll check on that before I leave). Anyone have any suggestions on what else to have along? I’ll have my cell phone with me, but don’t know that it’ll do anything for me in Canada. If NAPA ok’s the return of the parts, I’ll probably grab an alternator and a water pump too. This trip is pretty much going to be a death march to get the rig home, I don’t plan on a whole lot of sight-seeing, or pleasure taking, but if anyone has info on a "must see" along the way I’d love to hear it. Campgrounds to avoid would be another bonus. For the most part though, we plan to split the driving, and not spend alot of idle time, as we are trying to meet friends in Seward for a week of fishing. Once we get there we’ll wind down from the trip. So, any pointers would be helpfull. BTW, I have a milepost, so I got taht covered. Thanks – Curt Quite an adventure. Hoses and belts are a good idea, but I’d be more worried about tires and brakes. They’re what’ll get you killed. Have the radiator checked and flushed. And you can leave the jumper cables and tools at home, they’re cheap down here. You can buy a whole set of tools for fifty bucks. Bring lots of money instead. You may need it somewhere around Liard Springs. Two words. Duct Tape. Talk about a leap of faith. Whew. Bob
Good advice, the tires are nearly new, but I had thought about brakes…a slight change in plans has me going to Idaho instead of NV, so I don’t have to do any huge mountain slopes…I was considering just changing all the pads and bleeding the system before I started back. Duct tape is definately on the list though. Yeah, it is a huge leap of faith, I’ve talked to the guy wqho owns it, and he assures me I’ll be happy with it…likely story I’m sure, but for now I’ll play the faith in human nature role, and hope it works out, if not, I guess I’ll fly back home and start looking again. Thanks for the advice, like I said, I’d rather fly down with just a carry on and no checked bags, we’ll see how it works out.
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -After a couple of months searching I finally located a motorhome I’m comfortable buying, so the trip is set; fly from Anchorage to Iowa on the 20th of July, pick up the rig, go see Mom in Minnesota for a couple days, then haul out to Carson City Nevada to pick up a buddy, then back to Alaska. I plan on using my checked baggage to bring along some tools, jumper cables, tape, wire…things like that (I’d rather NOT check a bag, but don’t see a carry-n going through with these things in it). The rig is an 89 with 56k on it, I don’t expect any problems, but figure it won’t hurt to have some items along. I plan to stop by a NAPA and pick up some belts, hoses, plugs and what-not, figure if I don’t use them, I can probably return them to my local NAPA (I’ll check on that before I leave). Anyone have any suggestions on what else to have along? I’ll have my cell phone with me, but don’t know that it’ll do anything for me in Canada. If NAPA ok’s the return of the parts, I’ll probably grab an alternator and a water pump too. This trip is pretty much going to be a death march to get the rig home, I don’t plan on a whole lot of sight-seeing, or pleasure taking, but if anyone has info on a "must see" along the way I’d love to hear it. Campgrounds to avoid would be another bonus. For the most part though, we plan to split the driving, and not spend alot of idle time, as we are trying to meet friends in Seward for a week of fishing. Once we get there we’ll wind down from the trip. So, any pointers would be helpfull. BTW, I have a milepost, so I got taht covered. Thanks – Curt
Quite an adventure. Hoses and belts are a good idea, but I’d be more worried about tires and brakes. They’re what’ll get you killed. Have the radiator checked and flushed. And you can leave the jumper cables and tools at home, they’re cheap down here. You can buy a whole set of tools for fifty bucks. Bring lots of money instead. You may need it somewhere around Liard Springs. Two words. Duct Tape. Talk about a leap of faith. Whew. Bob
Response:
After a couple of months searching I finally located a motorhome I’m comfortable buying, so the trip is set; fly from Anchorage to Iowa on the 20th of July, pick up the rig, go see Mom in Minnesota for a couple days, then haul out to Carson City Nevada to pick up a buddy, then back to Alaska. I plan on using my checked baggage to bring along some tools, jumper cables, tape, wire…things like that (I’d rather NOT check a bag, but don’t see a carry-n going through with these things in it). The rig is an 89 with 56k on it, I don’t expect any problems, but figure it won’t hurt to have some items along. I plan to stop by a NAPA and pick up some belts, hoses, plugs and what-not, figure if I don’t use them, I can probably return them to my local NAPA (I’ll check on that before I leave). Anyone have any suggestions on what else to have along? I’ll have my cell phone with me, but don’t know that it’ll do anything for me in Canada. If NAPA ok’s the return of the parts, I’ll probably grab an alternator and a water pump too. This trip is pretty much going to be a death march to get the rig home, I don’t plan on a whole lot of sight-seeing, or pleasure taking, but if anyone has info on a "must see" along the way I’d love to hear it. Campgrounds to avoid would be another bonus. For the most part though, we plan to split the driving, and not spend alot of idle time, as we are trying to meet friends in Seward for a week of fishing. Once we get there we’ll wind down from the trip. So, any pointers would be helpfull. BTW, I have a milepost, so I got taht covered. Thanks – Curt
Response:
Question:
Before I go off to bed – which I should have done a while ago – I wanted to just think of a nice thing to write about, just in case someone wanted to read about a nice thing – or later write about their own nice thing. Saturday my son and I went to a movie. There is one of those stores that has everything for a dollar near there, so we went there while we waited for the time for the movie. I found a necklace rack – and we make lots of jewelry, so lots of times we get chains from those dollar stores to hold pendants that we create from stones or coral or shells encrusted w/wired strands of beads and semi-precious stones, etc. Okay, so on this rack were also necklaces w/little openwork stars set in colored rhinestones, and also enameled dragonflies and enameled butterflies. We got them all. We like to take jewelries apart and put them back together in new ways with our own new components and it comes out to be a beautiful new things. We thinks that some of you would like to see how they are. If we knew what kinds of things you liked, we could even make some things for yous. Yes, we could and even would. That is what we get enjoyment from – we gives our things aways. Is it pretty to think of the stars w/rhinestones? They are small, the stars, and the rhinestones are tiny. Oh, and guess what? We were at a party on Sunday and there were lots of babies there, and there was one tiny newborn girl who was only three weeks old and her name is Isabella and she was so beautiful and we liked looking at her and she just looked as if her life is going fine. That’s a good thing, isn’t it? And my son swam in the pool and made friends – even though he won’t see them again, because the party was far away – but we are so happy my son can do that, because we didn’t be able to when we was of his age. Thanks for your listenings. Please to write nice things, too, if you feel like it – Beauty.
Response:
great post, Beauty. we, B and me (B being the fellow i care for), have had a busy week. he requested to go to several events this week, more than he ever requested before. one was a small festival by the river in a park that is low lying to the rest of the town since we have gentle mountians surrounding us. he requested a soft serve ice cream cone, and sat in his wheelchair beneath a tree as a local country band played music in the distance in an amphitheatre. we watched people walk by, and some who knew us stopped to chat a bit. the air this evening was warm and slightly humid, and the breeze from the river passing through the trees cooled us. as the sun went down, the lights from small children rides and food vendor’s wagons shown brightly, even with the ball field lights glowing high up above everything and everyone, high up on top of their poles. being a small community in this valley, i recognized many people walking by; people i knew over the past ten years. the younger folks looked so young and behaved in such a free spirited manor, some wearing clothes similar to the style i had worn in the seventies, but somehow more exaggerated. i noticed more jewlery, and piercings. the older women spoke of book reading clubs at the library, and cleaning crates of strawberries for the festival’s one day shortcake event. a few comments about ch*rch, and light humor were shared. B and me felt safe, and took in the varied sounds, and smells, and watched the world go by, as some would say. sometimes all is forgiven and forgotten, and life is breathed in and out of our lungs with welcome and ease. cliff
Response:
Oh, e, I have always loved hearing about your cats. There is a wonderful book I picked up on remainder called C*t K*ngdom, about a kind of experimental cat run some peoples created in Japan – I think it was Japan (I might be inventing that part). The cats had a huge barn and also a huge fenced barnlot, and the peoples just watched – watched how their social structure worked, how they interacted, how their hierarchies worked, etc., over a few generations. It is full of lots of pictures. That’s kind of what your story made me think of – except that your situation is much more free-ranging and – purposeful. And personal. Again, much respect for what you do – and it did give me a lot of pleasure to read about all the cat friends, esp. Ty who growled his way into affection. Oh, yeah, and Stella – that brave, wild queen. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – thanks, Beauty. i liked hearing about the necklaces. and about Isabella and about your son having fun. :-) thanks. the main nice thing in my life now is that my "wild" cats have gone outside, along with most of the older "domestic" cats. 
they’re all between about 14 mos. old. and 2 1/4 years old. the semi-feral cats and the domestic cats have become good friends. they all seem to get along well and enjoy each other’s company. an almost completely untamed cat, Stella, is their ringleader. (Stella is another story. we got her too late to tame well but she’s such a sweet cat who loved to be petted in her cage and "mothered" most of the other cats, that we had high hopes that she’d tame up; become our new "favorite, wonderful" cat; and sort of take the place of our old favorite, wonderful cat who died recently. but Stella never liked to be held and when she escaped from her cage late this winter, she was gone. except she comes in regularly to eat. anyway, the "house" cats have calmed down. the kittens are almost grown and so tear through the house much less frequently. they’re much calmer and quieter, although they still like to play. all the kittens are lap cats now except Becky who is afraid of the other cats and so mostly stays by the window. Puka, from the litter that came at the wrong time (i had too many other cats, some of them sick, and was out of it from the meds i was taking so i never paid enough attention to them when they were young and most tamable), is very friendly and follows me around like a puppy. but isn’t as yappy. she still doesn’t like anyone else, though so adoption is still a long way off. :-P~ her brother, Silver, was *very* friendly until i tried to get rid of his ear mites. now he only lets me pet him when he’s eating. but he had become so affectionate and he is so sweet that i still think he may eventually tame up better than Puka. we keep hoping that Sid (for Obsidian) will join the outside cats. he’s not at all tame and hides most of the time but i think he’ll be ok outside and will come in for food regularly. Ty, the formerly abused cat who’d lived outside or in our garage, is becoming a house cat. he still spends about half his time outside but he comes in often to be petted. he’s quite demanding. :-) when we first got him (as an adult) – right after he’d been neutered – i was afraid to touch him bc he growled so fiercely when i fed him or otherwise went anywhere near his cage. he kept it up the whole time i was near. after about a month or so, i decided i should let him go to become one of my outside cats. but i thought i should at least give him a chance at becoming domestic so i donned two pairs of leather gloves – he’s large and if he bit me i think it could have easily gone to the bone – and started to pet him. he backed up in the corner of his cage and faced me squarely. he was growling fiercely and loudly and looked poised to pounce. but i was determined to at least try to pet him. somehow i scruffed him and started petting his back. to my amazement, he started purring. when i stopped, he cried as if he wanted me to pet him some more. so i tried but as i reached for him, he growled and looked like he might attack me. but i tried again. and he purred again. this went on for a week or so. every time i’d get near his cage or feed him, he’d growl loudly and look like he was going to attack. but as soon as i began to pet him, he turned into a pussycat. and as soon as i’d stop, he’d cry for more petting. but when i’d try to pet him he’d growl and get in attack position as if he were thinking "if i can’t kill you, i’ll d*e trying." but as soon as i started petting him, he’d purr. after about a week of that (with both my kid and i taking turns petting him bc he was so demanding), he started crying soon before feeding time. and he’d cry for an hour or so after we’d left bc he wanted more petting. (we were usually good for around 30 min but rarely more. sometimes less.) but he’d still growl a LOT when we first began to pet him. it was funny. we’ve now had him around 10 mos. this week, he discovered the joys of laying on the sofa. 
at first he kept jumping up and running away every time someone or something moved on the sofa (which is frequently when you have lots of cats and a big, pushy dog , but he’s much better about that now. and last night, when i got a toy – one of those flexible plastic sticks that has feathers attached at the end – to play with Puka and Silver (bc poor Puka, who hadn’t been played with in a couple of weeks, was so desperate that she’d been chasing the broom all around as i swept , Ty ran most of the 10 ft. from the sofa, where he’d been laying, to the open door. but i called his name and he stopped and turned around. he didn’t come back but he watched from maybe 6 ft away from the toy. he seemed fascinated but scared as he watched Puka and Silver play. i sat on the sofa, which was next to where i’d been playing with the cats, and called him. he came right away bc he loves to be petted, even if he’s still very skittish around ppl. i petted him and put the feather toy next to him. he sniffed it a while then licked it. then he started batting it so i moved it a bit. he batted it more. then i moved it more and Ty started playing with the feathers. so did Puka. :-) anyway, Ty is still skittish but otherwise you’d never know that he’d ever been anything but a very affectionate, sweet, and demanding cat. and my dog is calming down and not chasing the cats as much. :-) so a few of them actually like him now. :-) he likes that. e Before I go off to bed – which I should have done a while ago – I wanted to just think of a nice thing to write about, just in case someone wanted to read about a nice thing – or later write about their own nice thing. Saturday my son and I went to a movie. There is one of those stores that has everything for a dollar near there, so we went there while we waited for the time for the movie. I found a necklace rack – and we make lots of jewelry, so lots of times we get chains from those dollar stores to hold pendants that we create from stones or coral or shells encrusted w/wired strands of beads and semi-precious stones, etc. Okay, so on this rack were also necklaces w/little openwork stars set in colored rhinestones, and also enameled dragonflies and enameled butterflies. We got them all. We like to take jewelries apart and put them back together in new ways with our own new components and it comes out to be a beautiful new things. We thinks that some of you would like to see how they are. If we knew what kinds of things you liked, we could even make some things for yous. Yes, we could and even would. That is what we get enjoyment from – we gives our things aways. Is it pretty to think of the stars w/rhinestones? They are small, the stars, and the rhinestones are tiny. Oh, and guess what? We were at a party on Sunday and there were lots of babies there, and there was one tiny newborn girl who was only three weeks old and her name is Isabella and she was so beautiful and we liked looking at her and she just looked as if her life is going fine. That’s a good thing, isn’t it? And my son swam in the pool and made friends – even though he won’t see them again, because the party was far away – but we are so happy my son can do that, because we didn’t be able to when we was of his age. Thanks for your listenings. Please to write nice things, too, if you feel like it – Beauty.
Response:
This is a lovely post, too, cliff. Thank you for sharing the beautiful evening. Your words really brought it alive to us. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – great post, Beauty. we, B and me (B being the fellow i care for), have had a busy week. he requested to go to several events this week, more than he ever requested before. one was a small festival by the river in a park that is low lying to the rest of the town since we have gentle mountians surrounding us. he requested a soft serve ice cream cone, and sat in his wheelchair beneath a tree as a local country band played music in the distance in an amphitheatre. we watched people walk by, and some who knew us stopped to chat a bit. the air this evening was warm and slightly humid, and the breeze from the river passing through the trees cooled us. as the sun went down, the lights from small children rides and food vendor’s wagons shown brightly, even with the ball field lights glowing high up above everything and everyone, high up on top of their poles. being a small community in this valley, i recognized many people walking by; people i knew over the past ten years. the younger folks looked so young and behaved in such a free spirited manor, some wearing clothes similar to the style i had worn in the seventies, but somehow more exaggerated. i noticed more jewlery, and piercings. the older women spoke of book reading clubs at the library, and cleaning crates of strawberries for the festival’s one day shortcake event. a few comments about ch*rch, and light humor were shared. B and me felt safe, and took in the varied sounds, and smells, and watched the world go by, as some would say. sometimes all is forgiven and forgotten, and life is breathed in and out of our lungs with welcome and ease. cliff
Response:
Hello, Beauty and J/c, I think your jewellery making sounds wonderful, Beauty, and I would love to see what you do with the stars and things. Sounds lovely! And J/c, you have done some interesting things and seen some, too. My nice thing is that today my pottery class went to a potter’s studio to see his work and where he does it. He has a restaurant there, too, and we all had lunch together. We laughed, and shared food, especially the desserts, and we wandered with the potter in his fabulous gardens. The spring flowers were blooming, peonies bigger than dinner plates, and lupins and iris. The fish were swimming lazily in the pond, and the water lilies were in full blossom. We saw his wheels and the kiln and everything. We watched him throwing, and he showed us some special tools he has devised for certain purposes. It was an afternoon when DID didn’t. Not much. Driving there and back along the country roads where the green grasses and the gardens are lush was wonderful to see and smell. A nice thing today. jane – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – great post, Beauty. we, B and me (B being the fellow i care for), have had a busy week. he requested to go to several events this week, more than he ever requested before. one was a small festival by the river in a park that is low lying to the rest of the town since we have gentle mountians surrounding us. he requested a soft serve ice cream cone, and sat in his wheelchair beneath a tree as a local country band played music in the distance in an amphitheatre. we watched people walk by, and some who knew us stopped to chat a bit. the air this evening was warm and slightly humid, and the breeze from the river passing through the trees cooled us. as the sun went down, the lights from small children rides and food vendor’s wagons shown brightly, even with the ball field lights glowing high up above everything and everyone, high up on top of their poles. being a small community in this valley, i recognized many people walking by; people i knew over the past ten years. the younger folks looked so young and behaved in such a free spirited manor, some wearing clothes similar to the style i had worn in the seventies, but somehow more exaggerated. i noticed more jewlery, and piercings. the older women spoke of book reading clubs at the library, and cleaning crates of strawberries for the festival’s one day shortcake event. a few comments about ch*rch, and light humor were shared. B and me felt safe, and took in the varied sounds, and smells, and watched the world go by, as some would say. sometimes all is forgiven and forgotten, and life is breathed in and out of our lungs with welcome and ease. cliff
Response:
Oh, it sounds so beautiful, jane. Gardens and food and pots and fish. What more could anyone want? Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, Beauty and J/c, I think your jewellery making sounds wonderful, Beauty, and I would love to see what you do with the stars and things. Sounds lovely! And J/c, you have done some interesting things and seen some, too. My nice thing is that today my pottery class went to a potter’s studio to see his work and where he does it. He has a restaurant there, too, and we all had lunch together. We laughed, and shared food, especially the desserts, and we wandered with the potter in his fabulous gardens. The spring flowers were blooming, peonies bigger than dinner plates, and lupins and iris. The fish were swimming lazily in the pond, and the water lilies were in full blossom. We saw his wheels and the kiln and everything. We watched him throwing, and he showed us some special tools he has devised for certain purposes. It was an afternoon when DID didn’t. Not much. Driving there and back along the country roads where the green grasses and the gardens are lush was wonderful to see and smell. A nice thing today. jane great post, Beauty. we, B and me (B being the fellow i care for), have had a busy week. he requested to go to several events this week, more than he ever requested before. one was a small festival by the river in a park that is low lying to the rest of the town since we have gentle mountians surrounding us. he requested a soft serve ice cream cone, and sat in his wheelchair beneath a tree as a local country band played music in the distance in an amphitheatre. we watched people walk by, and some who knew us stopped to chat a bit. the air this evening was warm and slightly humid, and the breeze from the river passing through the trees cooled us. as the sun went down, the lights from small children rides and food vendor’s wagons shown brightly, even with the ball field lights glowing high up above everything and everyone, high up on top of their poles. being a small community in this valley, i recognized many people walking by; people i knew over the past ten years. the younger folks looked so young and behaved in such a free spirited manor, some wearing clothes similar to the style i had worn in the seventies, but somehow more exaggerated. i noticed more jewlery, and piercings. the older women spoke of book reading clubs at the library, and cleaning crates of strawberries for the festival’s one day shortcake event. a few comments about ch*rch, and light humor were shared. B and me felt safe, and took in the varied sounds, and smells, and watched the world go by, as some would say. sometimes all is forgiven and forgotten, and life is breathed in and out of our lungs with welcome and ease. cliff
Response:
That is amazing about the other ducks, and thank you for helping the duck and we holding the duck in thoughts for healing best. And here is a strange and funny thing: we was watching M*ts and Or*oles game on television and there was a pair of mallards which came during about the 2nd inning and stayed through the 8th inning!!! They was just wandering around out on the field together all that time together, and we think that is so funny and amazing and funny and then they just flew off and the camera kept showing us them and they showed us them flying off together, too. Isn’t that funny and odd??? Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha
Response:
well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha
Response:
hey – we had ducks too! i did forget all about them until now you say you had ducks. we lived in suburbs too, but there was a little bit of woods and a lake behind our house, and the ducks did live there. they would come quacking up through our back yard, and we would give them bread crumbs or something, and then they would go quacking home. what i remember as good about childhood was the lake behind our house. we would go there, and there was a tree with a little clearing that we could sit under and be lazy, and then there was cattails growing by the lake, and we could walk all around the lake on a little path, and sometimes go down to the water and watch little fishes. and sometimes go fishing too. and i think it’s not allowed now but we would whack the cattails open and it would be like little feathers floating and falling through the air. and then also we would pick the blackberries that did grow there. yum yum and sometimes ouch. i remember now i really did love the lake. tv
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – We had ducks, my sister and I, when we were little. They grew up and got white and we gave them to a farm. They were cute ducklings – we had suburbs so we couldn’t have big ducks, it would have been stupid. Thanks for writing. Beauty. hi beauty, those ducks at the game sound really cute! i had pet ducks as a child, have always loved to watch them. all i know about my duck so far is the vet sent him to animal rescue, which i think means he could be saved. still trying to find out more. best, samantha
Response:
We had ducks, my sister and I, when we were little. They grew up and got white and we gave them to a farm. They were cute ducklings – we had suburbs so we couldn’t have big ducks, it would have been stupid. Thanks for writing. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – hi beauty, those ducks at the game sound really cute! i had pet ducks as a child, have always loved to watch them. all i know about my duck so far is the vet sent him to animal rescue, which i think means he could be saved. still trying to find out more. best, samantha
Response:
Thank you for the nice things. We will tell you of one magical morning. We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like? They are huge brilliant yellow birds w/parrot beaks and black markings. We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen. The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers: when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots. Amazing! I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures. There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are. But you know that. Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . . Best – Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha That was so kind of you, samantha. The duck was very lucky that y’all came along. Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot, both within 5 minutes . They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha
That was so kind of you, samantha. The duck was very lucky that y’all came along. Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot, both within 5 minutes . They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
hi beauty, those ducks at the game sound really cute! i had pet ducks as a child, have always loved to watch them. all i know about my duck so far is the vet sent him to animal rescue, which i think means he could be saved. still trying to find out more. best, samantha
Response:
Now we say funny – we had our ducks from when they used to have to be allowed to sell them in dime stores, back when the did still have dime stores, which they do not anymore, now they have dollar stores. But one night we all did go to the dime store for something we don’t remember what because we were only maybe four years old and we did see ducklings and chicks under warm lights and going peepeepeep like they do and we were so happy to see them and all of a sudden the fthr said we would get two of them, for my sstr and me and the mthr argued no it was crazy but he did make it happen, and we could hardly believe it!!!!! They did let us pick out our ones and we did, and they did get a shoebox with holes in the top for the ducklings to get air for us to take them home and then we couldn’t stand it for when we got in the car we just had to peek and of course out they did hop and all around the car and peep peep peep and under the seats and things but we did finally get them to get back to us and we got them back into the box and to the house and they did live there, inside and out, until they did get big and white. Beautys. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – hey – we had ducks too! i did forget all about them until now you say you had ducks. we lived in suburbs too, but there was a little bit of woods and a lake behind our house, and the ducks did live there. they would come quacking up through our back yard, and we would give them bread crumbs or something, and then they would go quacking home. what i remember as good about childhood was the lake behind our house. we would go there, and there was a tree with a little clearing that we could sit under and be lazy, and then there was cattails growing by the lake, and we could walk all around the lake on a little path, and sometimes go down to the water and watch little fishes. and sometimes go fishing too. and i think it’s not allowed now but we would whack the cattails open and it would be like little feathers floating and falling through the air. and then also we would pick the blackberries that did grow there. yum yum and sometimes ouch. i remember now i really did love the lake. tv We had ducks, my sister and I, when we were little. They grew up and got white and we gave them to a farm. They were cute ducklings – we had suburbs so we couldn’t have big ducks, it would have been stupid. Thanks for writing. Beauty. hi beauty, those ducks at the game sound really cute! i had pet ducks as a child, have always loved to watch them. all i know about my duck so far is the vet sent him to animal rescue, which i think means he could be saved. still trying to find out more. best, samantha
Response:
(trying to focus some, and hurting some too) writitng seems to be my salvaion, eventhough i don’t do it so well. good things, yeah, they happen. like last evening, watching the sunset from a higher point in the valley, before it dipped down low where fields, spotted with round bales of hey and cattle, little homes with white wooden siding and porches, barns and silos, rail and wire fences, and trees reaching the first mountain ridge, exposing the next ridge, and then the next, maybe four rows of mountains leading to the final horizon all in lighter shades of blue. warm air breezes carrying rich sweet smells of fresh cut alphalfa (sp) hey intoxicated my senses. i didn’t want to leave. thanks. oh, and Beauty. i sing everything, proudly, and badly! )) cliff
Response:
cliff, I have read the place where you wrote how much you want to speak/write – how you yearn to reach for language. Oh, you do have it, my friend. Your prose does sing – proudly, proudly – and w/strength. And the humility and pride, hand in hand, augment the strength. Peace – Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – (trying to focus some, and hurting some too) writitng seems to be my salvaion, eventhough i don’t do it so well. good things, yeah, they happen. like last evening, watching the sunset from a higher point in the valley, before it dipped down low where fields, spotted with round bales of hey and cattle, little homes with white wooden siding and porches, barns and silos, rail and wire fences, and trees reaching the first mountain ridge, exposing the next ridge, and then the next, maybe four rows of mountains leading to the final horizon all in lighter shades of blue. warm air breezes carrying rich sweet smells of fresh cut alphalfa (sp) hey intoxicated my senses. i didn’t want to leave. thanks. oh, and Beauty. i sing everything, proudly, and badly! )) cliff
Response:
Wow, what wonderful sightings, Beauty. Magical indeed! I love birds, too, as you might have guessed. My most exciting sighting this year was a pileated woodpecker. We get lots of red-bellied, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers, but this was a real treat. He was magnificent (and noisy, even tho’ he was pecking very slowly and deliberately). mdove Thank you for the nice things. We will tell you of one magical morning. We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like?
Oh, yes. But I’ve only seen one, many years ago. They are huge brilliant yellow birds – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – w/parrot beaks and black markings. We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen. The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers: when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots. Amazing! I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures. There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are. But you know that. Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . . Best – Beauty. well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha That was so kind of you, samantha. The duck was very lucky that y’all came along. Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot, both within 5 minutes . They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail: message
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
You would love it where we are – pileated heaven. Someone once counted 26 pileateds at once in a single site. And we have them living right around us – across the road mostly, in a big old rotten tree. Also, our favorite thing – once we saw a nest of baby ones – just barely fledged – sticking their silly little baby necks all out of the tree squawking for the mthr – and then the next day – they had flown the nest!!! We also had a phoebe who nested for years atop the light just outside our door, attached to our house – we passed w/in inches of her nest coming and going all spring and summer. The last summer she was here she raised two broods – they were *darling*!!!! when they were just to the stage of standing on the edge of the nest ready to fly – looking down at us with this completely unfazed gaze – just too, too baby even to care that we were another species – darling. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Wow, what wonderful sightings, Beauty. Magical indeed! I love birds, too, as you might have guessed. My most exciting sighting this year was a pileated woodpecker. We get lots of red-bellied, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers, but this was a real treat. He was magnificent (and noisy, even tho’ he was pecking very slowly and deliberately). mdove Thank you for the nice things. We will tell you of one magical morning. We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like? Oh, yes. But I’ve only seen one, many years ago. They are huge brilliant yellow birds w/parrot beaks and black markings. We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen. The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers: when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots. Amazing! I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures. There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are. But you know that. Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . . Best – Beauty. well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha That was so kind of you, samantha. The duck was very lucky that y’all came along. Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot, both within 5 minutes . They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail: message GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
P.S. – Did you know that pileateds are the only species of woodpecker who begin by pecking slow and get faster as they peck (that is, when they are pecking in rhythm, and not in that single-stroke, deliberate way you mention). So that’s one way you can tell if there are pileateds around even if you don’t see them – their pecking sounds like a ten-penny nail being driven into a telephone pole by an accelerating hammer. W**dy W**dpecker is a pileated. His crazy laugh is modeled on the actual sound they make, which really does sound like maniacal laughter. You can tell the males from the females because the males have crests which are entirely red and the females have crests which are red only along the top of the tuft. You probably know most of that, right? I’m just being excited, because I like to talk about birds. One winter I worked to get chickadees to land in my hands and eat. That spring, they still knew me, and they used to land on my head when I was sitting outside reading. That was one of my most magical experiences ever – the feel of their little feet – I can’t even begin to describe it – and knowing that they would come to me, let their little feathers and bright eyes live so close to my seeing. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Wow, what wonderful sightings, Beauty. Magical indeed! I love birds, too, as you might have guessed. My most exciting sighting this year was a pileated woodpecker. We get lots of red-bellied, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers, but this was a real treat. He was magnificent (and noisy, even tho’ he was pecking very slowly and deliberately). mdove Thank you for the nice things. We will tell you of one magical morning. We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like? Oh, yes. But I’ve only seen one, many years ago. They are huge brilliant yellow birds w/parrot beaks and black markings. We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen. The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers: when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots. Amazing! I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures. There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are. But you know that. Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . . Best – Beauty. well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha That was so kind of you, samantha. The duck was very lucky that y’all came along. Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot, both within 5 minutes . They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail: message GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
Hey Beauty Really enjoy reading your *bird* posts…..:o)) Thanx Those pileated sure are something aren’t they!! Don’t get to see very many of them up here.. In fact I think they are on the endangered list… Just a couple of years ago my p*rents stopped the government from building an access road to their secluded community because a mating pair had settled in the bush behind their place.. They live 20 miles to the nearest road and they like it that way..;) Gov. regulations forbade any construction within the area…. :o)) Cool birds to watch… too! :o)) J/c btw… we see a lot of evening grosbeaks up here too!! beautiful!!
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – You would love it where we are – pileated heaven. Someone once counted 26 pileateds at once in a single site. And we have them living right around us – across the road mostly, in a big old rotten tree. Also, our favorite thing – once we saw a nest of baby ones – just barely fledged – sticking their silly little baby necks all out of the tree squawking for the mthr – and then the next day – they had flown the nest!!! We also had a phoebe who nested for years atop the light just outside our door, attached to our house – we passed w/in inches of her nest coming and going all spring and summer. The last summer she was here she raised two broods – they were *darling*!!!! when they were just to the stage of standing on the edge of the nest ready to fly – looking down at us with this completely unfazed gaze – just too, too baby even to care that we were another species – darling. Beauty. Wow, what wonderful sightings, Beauty. Magical indeed! I love birds, too, as you might have guessed. My most exciting sighting this year was a pileated woodpecker. We get lots of red-bellied, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers, but this was a real treat. He was magnificent (and noisy, even tho’ he was pecking very slowly and deliberately). mdove Thank you for the nice things. We will tell you of one magical morning. We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like? Oh, yes. But I’ve only seen one, many years ago. They are huge brilliant yellow birds w/parrot beaks and black markings. We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen. The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers: when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots. Amazing! I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures. There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are. But you know that. Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . . Best – Beauty. well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha That was so kind of you, samantha. The duck was very lucky that y’all came along. Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot, both within 5 minutes . They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail: message GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
You would love it where we are – pileated heaven. Someone once counted 26 pileateds at once in a single site.
Yes, I would love that. I can’t even imagine a sight like that! About 11 years ago I saw a pair, but hadn’t seen any since, until this one. And we have them living right around us – across the road mostly, in a big old rotten tree. Also, our favorite thing – once we saw a nest of baby ones – just barely fledged – sticking their silly little baby necks all out of the tree squawking for the mthr – and then the next day – they had flown the nest!!!
Oh, wow!! I’ll bet they were cute (or so ugly they were cute.) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -We also had a phoebe who nested for years atop the light just outside our door, attached to our house – we passed w/in inches of her nest coming and going all spring and summer. The last summer she was here she raised two broods – they were *darling*!!!! when they were just to the stage of standing on the edge of the nest ready to fly – looking down at us with this completely unfazed gaze – just too, too baby even to care that we were another species – darling.
Wonderful!!!!! Once we had the privilege of watching a chuck-will’s-widow nesting in our yard (actually, there was no visible nest at all-she just laid her eggs on the ground. It was a wonderful treat because we had heard them at night for many years, but had never seen one. We got to see her and her three young ones up close and personal. An amazing bird–really put on quite a display if anyone got to close to the nest. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
P.S. – Did you know that pileateds are the only species of woodpecker who begin by pecking slow and get faster as they peck (that is, when they are pecking in rhythm, and not in that single-stroke, deliberate way you mention). So that’s one way you can tell if there are pileateds around even if you don’t see them – their pecking sounds like a ten-penny nail being driven into a telephone pole by an accelerating hammer.
Didn’t know that….or if I did, I forgot W**dy W**dpecker is a pileated. His crazy laugh is modeled on the actual sound they make, which really does sound like maniacal laughter. You can tell the males from the females because the males have crests which are entirely red and the females have crests which are red only along the top of the tuft.
Yep, knew that….this one was a male. You probably know most of that, right? I’m just being excited, because I like to talk about birds.
Several years ago I used to lurk at rec.birds……lots of bird talk there. At least there used to be. I used to know a lot more about birds than I do now. I kind of lost interest while I was really depressed, and have forgotten quite a bit, but my enthusiasm for birdwatching has been returning during the past couple years. I need to get some new binoculars and get back out there.. One winter I worked to get chickadees to land in my hands and eat. That spring, they still knew me, and they used to land on my head when I was sitting outside reading. That was one of my most magical experiences ever – the feel of their little feet – I can’t even begin to describe it – and knowing that they would come to me, let their little feathers and bright eyes live so close to my seeing. Beauty.
Oh, that is so cute…..<broad smile what a wonderful experience. Thank you for sharing this. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
thanks so much to tv, Beauty, samantha, mdove, and others who’ve talked about their experiences with birds. :-) i like watching birds but try to discourage them from being in my yard, partly bc of my cats and partly bc of the neighborhood dogs, including mine. but to have birds land on your head would be magical! :-) i can’t imagine how much work it must have taken. i’m reminded of Beauty from the story "Beauty" (IIRC) which was a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast". oh, and D*sney’s and others’ versions of the story, too. :-) e You would love it where we are – pileated heaven. Someone once counted 26 pileateds at once in a single site. And we have them living right around us – across the road mostly, in a big old rotten tree. Also, our favorite thing – once we saw a nest of baby ones – just barely fledged – sticking their silly little baby necks all out of the tree squawking for the mthr – and then the next day – they had flown the nest!!! We also had a phoebe who nested for years atop the light just outside our door, attached to our house – we passed w/in inches of her nest coming and going all spring and summer. The last summer she was here she raised two broods – they were *darling*!!!! when they were just to the stage of standing on the edge of the nest ready to fly – looking down at us with this completely unfazed gaze – just too, too baby even to care that we were another species – darling. Beauty.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -One winter I worked to get chickadees to land in my hands and eat. That spring, they still knew me, and they used to land on my head when I was sitting outside reading. That was one of my most magical experiences ever – the feel of their little feet – I can’t even begin to describe it – and knowing that they would come to me, let their little feathers and bright eyes live so close to my seeing. Wow, what wonderful sightings, Beauty. Magical indeed! I love birds, too, as you might have guessed. My most exciting sighting this year was a pileated woodpecker. We get lots of red-bellied, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers, but this was a real treat. He was magnificent (and noisy, even tho’ he was pecking very slowly and deliberately). mdove Thank you for the nice things. We will tell you of one magical morning. We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like? Oh, yes. But I’ve only seen one, many years ago. They are huge brilliant yellow birds w/parrot beaks and black markings. We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen. The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers: when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots. Amazing! I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures. There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are. But you know that. Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . .
– For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
Sometimes we pretend that when they say "dee dee dee" they are really advertising the latest in video recording technology (DVD). It’s funny when you think of it in chickadee talk. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – P.S. – Did you know that pileateds are the only species of woodpecker who begin by pecking slow and get faster as they peck (that is, when they are pecking in rhythm, and not in that single-stroke, deliberate way you mention). So that’s one way you can tell if there are pileateds around even if you don’t see them – their pecking sounds like a ten-penny nail being driven into a telephone pole by an accelerating hammer. Didn’t know that….or if I did, I forgot W**dy W**dpecker is a pileated. His crazy laugh is modeled on the actual sound they make, which really does sound like maniacal laughter. You can tell the males from the females because the males have crests which are entirely red and the females have crests which are red only along the top of the tuft. Yep, knew that….this one was a male. You probably know most of that, right? I’m just being excited, because I like to talk about birds. Several years ago I used to lurk at rec.birds……lots of bird talk there. At least there used to be. I used to know a lot more about birds than I do now. I kind of lost interest while I was really depressed, and have forgotten quite a bit, but my enthusiasm for birdwatching has been returning during the past couple years. I need to get some new binoculars and get back out there.. One winter I worked to get chickadees to land in my hands and eat. That spring, they still knew me, and they used to land on my head when I was sitting outside reading. That was one of my most magical experiences ever – the feel of their little feet – I can’t even begin to describe it – and knowing that they would come to me, let their little feathers and bright eyes live so close to my seeing. Beauty. Oh, that is so cute…..<broad smile what a wonderful experience. Thank you for sharing this. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
Oh, yes, the pileateds were purely cute. And we do love those ground-nesting "willow" birds – nightjars, are they called, as a type? Our favorite is the whip-poor-will – what a beautiful, beautiful haunting sound, which echoes from mountain to mountain through the early pre-dawn mists. And if you hear one close enough, you hear a tiny cough just before the call. Also reminds me – have you see the woodcocks do their mating dance? Or hummingbirds? We’ll explain, given the slightest excuse. Never did see a chuck-will’s-widow. Our other favorites are the little screech owls we get to hear in our riverine woods, and the pair of great horned owls also nesting along the river. The female of the species has the deeper voice of the two. Oh, and once a barred owl got tangled in some fishing wire and we got to help rescue her – and her eyes – oh the solemn depth of blackness – and the soft depth of feathers. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – You would love it where we are – pileated heaven. Someone once counted 26 pileateds at once in a single site. Yes, I would love that. I can’t even imagine a sight like that! About 11 years ago I saw a pair, but hadn’t seen any since, until this one. And we have them living right around us – across the road mostly, in a big old rotten tree. Also, our favorite thing – once we saw a nest of baby ones – just barely fledged – sticking their silly little baby necks all out of the tree squawking for the mthr – and then the next day – they had flown the nest!!! Oh, wow!! I’ll bet they were cute (or so ugly they were cute.) We also had a phoebe who nested for years atop the light just outside our door, attached to our house – we passed w/in inches of her nest coming and going all spring and summer. The last summer she was here she raised two broods – they were *darling*!!!! when they were just to the stage of standing on the edge of the nest ready to fly – looking down at us with this completely unfazed gaze – just too, too baby even to care that we were another species – darling. Wonderful!!!!! Once we had the privilege of watching a chuck-will’s-widow nesting in our yard (actually, there was no visible nest at all-she just laid her eggs on the ground. It was a wonderful treat because we had heard them at night for many years, but had never seen one. We got to see her and her three young ones up close and personal. An amazing bird–really put on quite a display if anyone got to close to the nest. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – And, p.s., we also have wild turkeys in abundance around here, and I saw a baby turkey once and it was *funny* *funny* *funny* looking. And we do love those ground-nesting "willow" birds – nightjars, are they called, as a type? Yep… Our favorite is the whip-poor-will – what a beautiful, beautiful haunting sound, which echoes from mountain to mountain through the early pre-dawn mists. And if you hear one close enough, you hear a tiny cough just before the call. Chuck-will’s-widow sounds very similar to the whip-poor-will, I think, except there is a little "chuck" sound before the call. I didn’t realize the whip-poor-will had the cough sound. Interesting birds. Maybe the cough was a chuck. Seems likely. Or a cluck. Or something. It was a very, very, very small sound, only audible because the bird was practically sitting on my windowsill. Well, under it. Also reminds me – have you see the woodcocks do their mating dance? I’ve never seen a woodcock in RL, only on television. They are pretty cool looking. That must be quite a sight. Here’s what they do. They like to live near wetlands that have adjacent meadows – they go into the meadows at twilight. The males fly straight up like rockets and then come spiraling down – and as they come down, special feathers in their wings cause a whistling sound!!! I’ve seen the females sitting on the ground, too – kind of looking like, "Get off it." You know.
Too cool. I’d love to see that. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Or hummingbirds? Have seen many ruby-throated, but none doing a mating dance, unfortunately. They are amazing. Male hummingbirds also have special feathers that cause a humming sound when they do their mating thing – which is a wide, swinging, pendulum motion in flight, before the seated female. We’ll explain, given the slightest excuse. Never did see a chuck-will’s-widow. Our other favorites are the little screech owls we get to hear in our riverine woods, and the pair of great horned owls also nesting along the river. The female of the species has the deeper voice of the two. You know, we have one of those bird clocks, and the 12:00 bird is the great horned owl. That is fine for noon, but if I am working at the computer at night, I need to remember to dim the lights in here prior to midnight, or the hoot resounds throughout the house. When we first got the clock, my son used to imitate the owl incessantly. Once I was awakened at 3:00 am by the sound and was just about to yell out at him to knock it off (I wasn’t quite fully awake), when I realized it was the actual bird, very close to our house. We had never heard one before we purchased that silly clock, and were wondering if perhaps the clock had attracted one (it is a really loud clock!) They have about five or six hoots per call – hoo! hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo . . . hoo – I never knew that until I read Peterson’s guide and then heard them.
Yes….this clock is very accurate, as was my son’s imitation. Now we call all do it, but my son’s hoo-ing is by far the best. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Oh, and once a barred owl got tangled in some fishing wire and we got to help rescue her – and her eyes – oh the solemn depth of blackness – and the soft depth of feathers. What an incredible experience that must have been. Was she calm as you helped her? They’ve got some pretty sharp talons. She was calm as a lamb. I think she was so frightened – she had been up there so long – and probably weak – that she had no fight in her. We have pictures of her, because the local newspaper was there and got color photos.
Wonderful… Thanks for reading. I like this talking about birds – they make me happy when nothing else does.
me, too. I like butterflies, too. I used to have 2 butterfly gardens, but surrendered them to the weeds during a couple years of depression. One is totally gone, but the other is probably salvageable. Maybe I’ll go out there one of these days and try to start rehabilitating it. Today, too, we saw a beautiful butterfly – I don’t know what kind – yellow and black on top with yellow and black and aqua underneath!
Sounds beautiful. I have a butterfly book around here somewhere. Haven’t looked in it in ages. And the black raspberries suddenly turned ripe – as my son discovered. He wrote a beautiful poem called The Garden: Like the garden of Eden it is. So vast, like the ocean. The hours fly like a bird in the air, when I am there.
Oh, that is beautiful beyond words! Can you see why I love him so much?
Absolutely! Oh, shoot….it’s midnight, and I forgot to dim the lights. There goes "Hoots"….. g’night mdove Beauty.
– For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
snip Thanks for reading. I like this talking about birds – they make me happy when nothing else does. me, too. I like butterflies, too. I used to have 2 butterfly gardens, but surrendered them to the weeds during a couple years of depression. One is totally gone, but the other is probably salvageable. Maybe I’ll go out there one of these days and try to start rehabilitating it.
do you have any recommendations for plants (for next year)? i love butterflies. i have since i was a kid. i used to know quite a bit about them but i’ve forgotten most of it. i’ve never known which plants attract butterflies. TIA (thanks in advance), e — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
What mdove said and also – bergamot, beebalm, monarda (all names for the same thing) – hummingbirds love those, too. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – snip Thanks for reading. I like this talking about birds – they make me happy when nothing else does. me, too. I like butterflies, too. I used to have 2 butterfly gardens, but surrendered them to the weeds during a couple years of depression. One is totally gone, but the other is probably salvageable. Maybe I’ll go out there one of these days and try to start rehabilitating it. do you have any recommendations for plants (for next year)? i love butterflies. i have since i was a kid. i used to know quite a bit about them but i’ve forgotten most of it. i’ve never known which plants attract butterflies. TIA (thanks in advance), e — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
snip do you have any recommendations for plants [that attract butterflies]? Well, keep in mind that I’m no expert, and it probably depends on where you live. You might try some verbena, buddleia (butterfly bush), pentas,
what are pentas? do they take much water? asters, and even marigolds. In my yard I have blue porterweed, pentas, day lilies, passion flower, lantana, and some other stuff I can’t identify.
i have day lilies. they grow well, although the ones in shade don’t flower much. is passion flower the same as passion vine (Passifloraceae)? thanks for the recommendations. i’ll try some of them. I know monarchs like milkweed, but I’ve never seen it growing around here, and haven’t tried planting any. Your local cooperative extension could probably provide you with information about what to plant for butterflies that are inhabitants of your area.
thanks. e — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:
Response:
