Sweet kitty

Alex, the almost-not-kitten-anymore, is being real sweet this morning.

On my days off, or mornings off as this one is, the critters all insist on being fed at their usual time -- around 6 am (if not before). So I get up, let Buster out, get his food, then get the cats' food, and go back to bed to snooze for a couple hours.

This morning, after I went back to bed, Alex started wandering around the house meowing. This went on for about 10 minutes or so, and I wondered if maybe she "lost" me since I wasn't following the usual weekday routine. So I called her, and she came into the bedroom and jumped on the bed, staying just long enough for a little head scratch. But she quit wandering around and meowing.

After I fell back asleep, I had a dream where I was visiting someone in a strange town with all the pets. Alex got out of the house. I followed her into the back yard, but she was already out of sight. I started calling her. There were plenty of cats around, but not her. I started to panic and ... woke up with a start. And there was Alex, in the perch by my bedroom window looking out over my back yard.

I don't know if she sensed the dream had upset me, but then she jumped up on the bed and lay down on my stomach, purring as I petted her and scritched her head. She doesn't do that very often any more, so it was a nice way to start the day.

Hot & dry

It has been extremely hot and dry here for more than a week — temperatures 100+ and last night was the first rain we've had in a long time. Lawns are turning brown, and even the creek I live along is just a series of puddles, really.

So last week, I set up a watering station for the birds and other critters. It's pretty simple. Just a dish from a clay pot. I put a few rocks on one side so smaller birds can get in and out easier. Then I cleaned out a milk carton, filled it with water and poked a small hole near the bottom and hung it over the dish on a garden hook. It drips into the dish, helping keep it filled while I'm gone. The sound of the dripping water is also supposed to attract birds, plus some of them seem to enjoy standing under the drips for a bath.

This little family seemed to enjoy it. I think they're young starlings.

This grackle took a long drink and then a little bath under the drips.

And I got some neat splash and ripple pictures.

Weird night

So imagine you have a colonoscopy in the morning. You have to drink a half a gallon of nasty tasting stuff in a couple of hours and spend the rest of the night with your colon clearing itself out. Then imagine what would be the LAST thing you'd want to do under those conditions.

How about get a bat out of your house?

Yeah, I've had a fun night.

I was just sitting in the living room, waiting for the latest round with the toilet bowl, when Buster suddenly gets up and slinks out to the kitchen like something's scared him. Before I can figure out if there was some thunder or what, I see this shape swooping around the corner from the kitchen. And it wasn't Christian Bale.

Fortunately, it flew into the exercise room, where there's not a lot of places for it to hide. I got the door closed, and called Mom to come help. Mostly I was worried about having an ... interruption in the middle of trying to catch the thing. By the time she got here, it had settled down and was hanging on the air exchange vent near the door. I managed to get a bucket over it, and while I held it there, Mom got a big piece of cardboard from the garage, which I was able to slip between the bucket and the wall, trapping it in the bucket. Then I took it outside and it flew away. And no sudden interruptions from my colon!

I just can't figure out how it got in the house. The dog door? Would a bat be strong enough to get through the door? Maybe it got in while I was going in and out last night while some friends were over for a cookout. But if it got in last night, wouldn't I have noticed it before now, or at least Buster should have been acting weird.

Thanks, Mom for helping out. And Buster got extra cookies for alerting me.

I just hope that's the end of the weirdness for tonight.

I helped save hawks today

This story actually starts yesterday.

I was walking Buster on our usual route, across the creek near my house, then following the dirt road as it goes around south, maybe a quarter mile or so, then back west over the creek again and back into town and then home.

We got to the bridge south of my house, and Buster was looking at something near the end of the bridge. He jumped back as a hawk flew out of the trees there and down the creek. I looked at where it came from and saw another hawk on the ground, maybe about 20 feet from the bridge. I thought maybe it was trying to protect its food or possibly had a broken wing. I was a little concerned, but after I got home, got busy and then had to go to work, so kind of forgot about it.

So today, we're walking by there again, and when I looked, there was a hawk, in the same spot, kind of flapping around.

I brought my camera with me today, and I thought I'd try to get closer — although not too close, in case the hawk wasn't really hurt or anything. I didn't want to wind up with those talons or beak in my face!

Here's what I saw:




It looked like it was caught in a trap.

And then I saw another one:


I'd also brought my cell phone, so I called a co-worker, Steve, who's an outdoorsman and works with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks a lot. He said he'd call the game warden, and called back a while later to let me know someone was on his way.

When Buster and I got back to the house, Steve drove up and I went with him to show him exactly where the hawks were. Being a trapper himself, he was a disappointed to see it. He talked to the game warden on the phone, telling what he saw and where we were, and dropped me back at home.

He called a bit later to let me know the one closest to the road didn't even have any wounds on its leg, so they released it and it flew away. The second one had some scrapes on its skin, so to be safe, the game warden was going to hold on to it for a couple days and make sure it didn't need any rehab, but it did otherwise look OK.

So all in all, this was a pretty good day.

Blue heron

blue heron
Originally uploaded by junogle.

At long last, I managed to get a picture of one of the blue herons that populate the creek. This was as close as I could get before it flew away.

Good morning!

geese
Originally uploaded by junogle.

Saw these guys as I was leaving for work today. There's been a pair of geese that nest somewhere near my house ever since I bought it. Actually, it was seeing a pair of geese on the lawn when I first looked at the house that kinda had me sold on it. I like to think it's been the same pair every year, but who knows?

Happiness

Saturday afternoon, I took Buster on a walk along our usual route -- over the bridge just to the west of my house, south down the dirt road, back east over another bridge and then back towards home.

Going over that second bridge, I noticed some blue-colored birds flitting back and forth between the branches of a tree that had fallen into the creek and trees on the bank. I figured they were bluejays, because we have plenty of them around here, although it seems during winter they usually take off for other parts. There was one thing a I noted a lack of, however, and that was noise. Bluejays are pretty vocal birds, especially when disturbed, and I should have been able to hear them even with my headphones on.

Then I noticed little flashes of orange as they flew. They weren't bluejays, these were bluebirds! I don't recall ever seeing bluebirds before around here, although where I live is included in their range.

Bluebirds are supposedly the bird of happiness, so maybe seeing them now, just after the beginning of the year, is a good sign of things to come! OK, maybe I'm reading too much into that, but I'm a creative person -- symbolism means a lot.

There's more interesting ideas about bluebirds here and here.

Birdbrain

Today started out oddly ... and ended oddly.

Today was my first 8-hour weekend shift at the new part-time job, so I got about 7:30 and got some breakfast and puttered around a bit. Then as I was getting ready for a shower, I looked out the bedroom window and saw something moving by the fence. I figured it was just the neighbor's little dog, but I put on my glasses for a better look and saw ... a chicken! It walked along the fence in the neighbor's yard, then around behind my back fence. I had to get a better look to make sure I saw what I thought I saw, so threw on some sweats and went in the backyard. And sure enough, it was a chicken. When it saw me, it went into the trees, but I hear it clucking softly. I told it if it's going to hide from something scary, it should maybe also be quiet, but it didn't heed my warning.

I went to work, which was very quiet and very boring, and when I got home, put all my things away. It was a bit stuffy, so I opened the windows in the dining area and, lo and behold, there was the chicken, in the neighbor's yard again. I just kind of shook my head. He wasn't home, so I couldn't ask him about it. It disappeared pretty quick. For a while.

I was eating dinner (not chicken) and catching up on some stuff on the computer, when I heard some loud clucking and squawking. Looking out the window, I saw the chicken had somehow managed to get on top of a plank of wood my neighbor had leaning up against the fence of his neighbor's dog pen. The three dogs were trotting around anxiously, occasionally stopping and giving the chicken a quizzical look or barking. It looked for awhile like the chicken was just going to hop down into the dog pen, then she'd look like she would hop down to safety. It went back and forth like that for a few minutes, then finally she tried to hop into the tree right in front of her, only the branches weren't big enough to hold her. I saw the chicken hit the ground running, then there were a couple squawks, a couple growling barks, and then silence.

I figure there probably wasn't much chance of a good ending to that. If I'd gone out there to do something, the same thing would have happened -- she would have gone for the cover of the tree. I had left the back gate open after I saw it this evening. Chickens eat grasshoppers after all, and there's still plenty of them around. I'm not sure what I'd do with a chicken though. They probably can't be housetrained, and I'm not sure it's legal to keep them in the city limits anyway.

I'm not sure if the dogs' owners are home. Guess they're in for a surprise.

Soaring

Just fooling around with video again tonight. I was grilling some chicken for dinner, hoping it wouldn't storm on before it was done, when I looked up and saw about two to three dozen turkey vultures soaring overhead. They roost in the cottonwoods just upstream from my place, and it's always fascinating to watch them. This video doesn't do it justice and naturally once I got the camera ready, they were heading back to their roosts, but maybe will give you an idea:

A couple photos

I finished off one roll of film last week of shots around the yard and garden, and found an old roll that I wasn't sure what was on it. Got them back today. The old roll was from January, after the end-of-the-year ice storm. Not any shots that remarkable on it, but the last one was of Nipper:

I guess I was going for a shot like The Dog. Sure shows off his pretty eyes.

The other, from a few weeks ago, was this oriole I managed to keep in the frame somehow:

Gamey weekend

The weather has been pretty nice lately; spring is definately on its way! The ducks and geese are visiting our part of the creek nearly every day and once in a while come up to the feeder just outside the backyard fence. It's an interesting site to see waterfoul dining next to squirrels.

Things are turning green as well. We have, so far, one blooming crocus, but many others are sprouting, along with daffodils, hyacinths, and I think even tulips! My mini-irises were the first to bloom, actually. I got a garden catalog a week or so ago that has a $25 coupon, so I think I might get a couple things to start a foundation garden between the porch and the garage. I was thinking a hydrangea bush, maybe white, and something tall and spikey like lupines or foxglove to get it started. Then we can get some landscape timber and gravel to make it match the bed where the yews are on the other side of the porch, and fill in with other plants we find at local stores. I'd love to be cleaning out my flower beds, but I don't want to get to it too early in case we get a late cold snap or snow.

This weekend has pretty much been a lazy one. We were going to take the Christmas lights down, but neither one of us felt up to it, and today it's gray and rainey, so I guess that will have to wait awhile longer. I've gotten most of my laundry done, started reading the latest Tony HIllerman mystery, and also playing some point-and-click puzzle games. The latest ones I've played and liked are Sprout where you're a little seed that has to get across the landscape to its own kind; Sphere, a room-escape game with great graphics; and Tork, where you have to figure out the local language and customs of a planet you crash-landed on. And then there's this site, with logic puzzles -- you know, where you have to figure out which person has which pet and lives in which house on which street or some such thing? Only this site has interactive grids to help you sort it out. I'll admit to using cheats and walkthroughs on the other games, but the logic puzzles I can always work out on my own.

Well, gotta get another load of laundry in. Later

Spring! (almost)

I saw a pretty cheery sight earlier this week. It was on Thursday morning, as I was getting ready for work I looked out my bedroom window, I could see swimming up the creek two Canada geese! My geese!

This pair of geese was one of the first things I saw when I first looked at the house, and they have come back every spring since then. I was worred I wouldn't see them this spring since the creek dried up pretty much completely last summer. But the big snowstorms we had at the end of the year and last month have the creek bank-full now. The geese even joined the squirrels at my birdfeeder briefly this afternoon. I don't think the squirrels were pleased, though. I also saw a pair of mallard ducks at the feeder earlier this week.

I can't quite call it spring, yet, though. Not until the turkey vultures show up.