Bird Nut?

I was just sitting here loafing at the computer, when thoughts of my school daze drifted through my mind. I have always had a fascination/respect for birds, I guess.

I remember a time back in Iowa when I found an injured bird. I think I was in elementary school - not sure which grade. I lived in the Cedar Falls area at the time. Anyhow, this bird had an injured wing and couldn't fly. I took him in and kept him from further harm until he showed me his wing was strong enough and well enough to fly. I fed him whatever I could find - bread, bugs, etc. Turns out he preferred the bugs, being a Northern Flicker.

My efforts were not in vain, as he was soon strong enough to fly. I let him go, with the satisfaction that I may well have saved him from the neighborhood cats.

**********

Another time, on a summer work crew during my High School days, I came across a couple of orphaned pigeon squabs that needed a parent figure. I took them home as well, and cared for them. One did not make it long because it was too weak from the start. The other did, and became a close-knit part of my life. After all, I became his foster daddy.

I kept him in my bedroom, pretty much unrestrained other than at night and when I couldn't be there, I'd keep him in a large cardboard box. I couldn't feed him with the same stuff his momma could, nor could I do it in the same manner, so I used plain old white bread soaked in water. I'd roll it in little balls and pop it in his little beak. When I thought a little extra water was in order, I took a small eye dropper and gave him a drop at a time. I would "coo" at him as I fed and watered him. Damned if I know what I said, but he didn't seem to take offense to it.

As time went on, he lost his down, grew feathers, and got to being a right handsome young man. The more his feathers developed, I developed a little problem. His diet changed. I began feeding him berries - raspberries, mulberries, etc. His favorite were the mulberries, but Mom didn't like them. They have to come out, you know - and with him having free reign of my room, it made kind of a mess. I got over that obstacle after a while, and it got to where I would take him outside a lot more with me - to eat berries and relieve himself.

When flight training came up, I'd at first tether his leg on a string so he wouldn't get away before it was time for him to be on his own. He did well. I would take him to the mulberry bush so he could freely dine. After eating, he would stretch his wings, practice take-offs and landings, do his business, etc., all the while being tethered.

One day I got the notion to remove the string from his leg while we were out. It's gotta happen some day. I don't know why I picked that day/time. He took flight on his own, flew around the house a few times, and returned. That was the end of his leash. I let him have his freedom. Like a little puppy, he kept coming back. He would fly around, do his pigeon thing, and return to my shoulder. If I would want to go in before he, I would let out a couple of "coos" and he would return like a dog being called. He would ride on my shoulder when going into town or just walking around town. I got some real interesting looks. :) He would casually fly around when he wanted to, and return to his place on my shoulder.

One day, he took off on his own. He had his own life, with his own kind. I don't know if he ever came around again. After a certain age, most pigeons all look the same. Regardless, I felt a sense of accomplishment. At that time in my life, that's something I needed. I needed him as much as he needed me.

This is what he looked like when I found him:


This is what he looked like as an adult:

(Note: None of the above pictures are of the actual birds.)

Trick-Or-Treat!

When I got home today, I carved our pumpkin. Trick-Or-Treat is on Halloween night here. Unfortunately, it may not be dark this year because DST doesn't go away until Sunday morning – the 4th. I hope I'll get to terrorize the little kiddies when they come to the door for their goodies. It works so much better in the dark. :-) Here is the result of my handiwork with the knife.

Balloons Aloft

This weekend, the Pirates of The Canyon is going on. It's a balloon festival of sorts. Last night, they did a night burn, where they lit up the balloons but didn't launch them. They looked like someone was switching light bulbs on and off.


Today I got a phone call from our neighbor, telling us that there were some balloons flying over the house. We grabbed our cameras and headed out the door, just in time to see a strange-looking yellow balloon. It resembled an upside-down pyramid. There was a couple of normal ones that had already passed overhead, and more followed the upside-down pyramid.



There were brightly-colored ones and one or two black ones with some colored sections. There were none of the real fancy ones like you'd see at Albuquerque's balloon fiesta – except the one that looked like an upside-down pyramid. Even so, it was a good showing for Amarillo. I've enjoyed it so far. I don't know if we're going to get out to the canyon in the morning or not, since the winds they are forecasting may be a bit too much for a launch.


ooO0Ooo

I forgot to mention that one of our "boys" (cat/dog named Bat) brought us a little present. I came up to the door with him on my heels, and I noticed something sticking out of his mouth. Before I opened the door for us to go in, I made sure what it was. It kinda looked like a mouse tail. Ya know what? There was a mouse attached to it - still alive and unhurt! Bat put him on the porch at the door, and looked so proud! The mouse tried to run away but he was caught again before he got 12" away. A couple rounds of catch-and-release, I gave him a bunch of "atta boy's" and told him he'd have to keep his toys outside. He conceded and let me go inside alone. Bat took his "toy" away while seeming a little disappointed that he couldn't bring it in the house. He's such a good boy! We've been feeding him for so long, and I guess he figured he'd return the favor and bring us some food. Didn't have the heart to tell him that we prefer to get all of our fresh meat from the store. What a nice boy!

Hello, My Little Friend!

Monday morning was an interesting one, to say the least. It started out like normal, nothing unusual in the air. I got to work, checked in with the boss like always, grabbed my clipboard full of jobs and headed out in the truck. A coworker joined me when I got to my appointed rounds, since we've been working together repairing lights all around campus. As we were sitting in the truck making our game plan for the day, I noticed a little squirrel scampering up the tree next to where we parked. As we conferred on the coming day's events, the squirrel started down the tree, stopped and looked at us. That's when it got weird. I swear to God, this part really happened – and I had a witness!

Well, as the squirrel was perched on the tree trunk no more than 6 feet from us (head down, tail up), he lifted his right front leg and waved at me/us! He raised it up and lowered it 3 or 4 times in succession. Yes, he waved at us! And, yes – I waved back. After this little incident, he moved down the trunk a few paces, stopped, and raised his left front leg once as if to say “Good Bye!” He held it long enough that he could have been waiting for me to high five him. Well, I waved back again and that seemed to satisfy the little guy. He then proceeded to go about his business.

I've never had anything happen quite like that before. Rest assured, that sociable little fellow was the talk of our day!

Sold!

Today was my first experience at selling on eBay. My auction ended today. I sold my old Pentax A3000 film camera with all its lenses. It felt a little strange for the week it was up, but it turned out to be a pleasant experience. I was a little apprehensive as to how the money would change hands through PayPal. It was pretty much on autopilot throughout the transaction. All I had to do was transfer the money into the appropriate account. I could have left it in my PayPal account, but I don't buy that much online where I can use them. I suspect that I will be selling more in the weeks and months to come.

That Just Burns Me!

Yesterday at work, I was helping a buddy with some soldering he needed done on a handicap door switch. It had been a long time since anybody used the soldering iron I needed. Like a dummy, I picked it up and ran my fingers down the length of the iron. Big mistake. Some Bozo left it plugged in. Smoke rolled off the iron, and I felt that burning sensation aross the tips of 2 fingers and a thumb. Boy, did I feel stupid! I took proper immediate action and ran cold water over my little fingers for about 15 minutes or so to remove the heat before it got too deep. So far, no blistering or anything - and I can still type just fine! :)

Update - Monday, 17 September 2007
Fingers are doing great. I never got any blisters or anything. Healed up really good. All it took was a little first aid - running cold water over them right away. The cold water or ice treatment is not to be trivialized. It works!

Sea Of Flags

Sea Of Flags
Originally uploaded by HighPlainsDox

A memorial was held where I work today. One flag for each victim created a sea of red, white, and blue. The names of each victim is under each flag. It brings a sense of magnitude seeing all of them n one place like this. This is a small section of the sea. May they rest in peace, and may we never forget.

The Nutcracker

Grocery Shopping

Interesting evening at the supermarket. We (my female best friend and I) went after some bath soap, hot dogs, dish soap, etc. - just a few things we were needing. As we were meandering through the aisles of the store, I noticed something a little out of place. One of the other patrons had some loose-fitting, rather short shorts (or maybe culottes) on. Seemed a little inappropriate for the grocery store. Anyhow, I got a bit of an awakening when she took a step or two forward. As she did, a wrinkle (fold?) appeared, and OMG! Her butt cheeks were sticking out!


I started chuckling, and promptly told the story to my shopping companion. Laughter ensued...and of course we shared comments fueling more laughter....followed by more comments. (I thought I could eat two hot dogs, but maybe only one after seeing that.) We got into an endless cycle of laughter as we finished gathering up groceries and proceeded to the checkout counter. As we made the final turn to get in line, we saw the same lady with the butt cheeks - coming towards us. Poor thing. Time hasn't been the best to her - but she had a pair of young-looking butt cheeks! ;) Anyhow, we got the truck loaded, fired it up, and started to pull out. Uh-OH! We forgot something! You'll never believe this. We forgot hot dog............BUNS! (ROTFLMAOPIMP!!!) How could that happen?! How could we possibly forget buns - after half a loaf had just been unwrapped in front of us?!

I backed back into the parking spot I just pulled out of and proceeded back into the store (LMAO the whole time with tears running down my cheeks, BTW). Went past the same young lady that just checked us out (had to tell her why all the laughter when we first went through, so she didn't think we were laughing at her), and she asked me if I forgot something. I quietly told her, "You're not going to believe this! We forgot hot dog buns!" Now she was laughing, and commented, "You've made my day!" She couldn't help laughing any more than I could when I bought the buns through her register.

Timber!!!, Addendum

I hadn't really been hurting at all from my bout with the tree limb, just a little soreness one could expect. Night before last, I must have laid on my right side (the "wrong" side), 'cause I got to hurting a bit more. I took off work today to get it checked, just to be on the safe side. Turns out I cracked the 9th rib on the right side. Got some meds to help the healing, but I guess it will take time. This is my first cracked/broken rib...and it only took me 53 years to do it!