Sunday, December 27, 2015

TODAY WAS FOR THE BIRDS

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Our Saturday winds reached a fever pitch around mid evening & so much so it was coming down our chimney & rattling the closed heavy iron damper in the fireplace. Good thing we didn’t have a fire going or those winds would have filled our house with smoke, soot, & burning embers.  A few heavy gusts seemed to shudder the house.  Sometime in the night those seemingly relentless winds diminished down to a stiff breeze & when I took Pheebs out around 6 it didn’t even blow my housecoat over my head.  Within a few hours that cool breeze was barely a whisper leaving our wind sock hanging limp.  Clear skies with temperatures coming back up made for a mighty fine Arizona day.

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For whatever reason I couldn’t seem to get myself interested in a Jeep ride this morning.  It’s not that I didn’t try.  Pheebs & I did head out but only went a couple miles before I turned around & headed back home.  Couldn’t make up my wind where to go & didn’t seem to have the energy required for going anywhere anyway.

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Plopped myself in a comfy chair on our front porch & sat in the warm sun reading for a bit.  Maybe I was just needing one of those kinds of days for a change.  Hadn’t taken any bird photos for awhile so I set up my chair near the feeder & tilted myself back & ……………..dozed off.  A small Sparrow alit on my shoe as if to say, “wake up Mr. Cameraman we’re ready for our pictures now”.

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I THINK THAT’S BATBIRD COMING TO GET ME

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THIS WAY, NO THIS WAY, NO NO THIS WAY………..

We watched a movie this afternoon called, ‘Out Of Africa’.  Kelly picked it up the Library after I expressed an interest in seeing it.  Based on a true story I was familiar with some of the real life characters this movie portrayed as I am currently reading Straight On Till Morning which is the biography of aviatrix/horse trainer extraordinaire Beryl Markham.

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I learned something about Rock House Road at the Clark Dry Lake Bed near Borrego Springs this morning.  Ed in a comment said in part,”Rockhouse Rd. turns into Rockhouse Trail as it skirts the actual dry lake further north”.   And Ivan sent this in an email, “I see that Google Earth has Rockhouse labeled as trail rather than road, thus the confusion”? …………. Thanks for clearing that up guys.  And Stephen you might be interested in a drive we took down Rockhouse Road almost a year ago to the day.  If you click on this Clark Dry Lake Bed link you will see photos of 2 cement structures I took that day & I also have additional info on the history of what was once down there.  Interesting area for sure.

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Well I’m hoping my energy levels come back up over night & Pheebs & I can get ourselves out for a morning desert walk.  Weather forecast is looking good with warmer temperatures, clear skies, & no winds.

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GROANER’S CORNER:(( A bus load of politicians were driving down a country road one afternoon, when all of a sudden, the bus ran off the road and crashed into a tree in an old farmer's field.  Seeing what happened, the old farmer went over to investigate. He then proceeded to dig a hole and bury the politicians.
A few days later, the local sheriff came out, saw the crashed bus, and asked the old farmer, "Were they all dead?"  The old farmer replied, "Well, some of them said they weren't, but you know how them politicians lie."

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A New York City yuppie moved to the country and bought a piece of land. He went to the local feed and livestock store and talked to the proprietor about how he was going to take up chicken farming. He then asked to buy 100 chicks.
"That's a lot of chicks," commented the proprietor. "I mean business," the city slicker replied.  A week later the yuppie was back again. "I need another 100 chicks," he said. "Boy, you are serious about this chicken farming," the man told him.  "Yeah," the yuppie replied. "If I can iron out a few problems." "Problems?" asked the proprietor. "Yeah," replied the yuppie, "I think I planted that last batch too close together."

10 comments:

  1. Fantastic photos of the birds. About the only ones I see here are Cardinals on my fence post. They drive the bloodhounds crazy when THEY see them. I know what you mean, turning around after a couple of miles ... the story of my life lately.

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  2. Desert winds are preferable to the winter storm we have been going on RIGHT NOW. Don't even want to stick my head out the door.

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  3. Love your bird pictures, if I had a better camera I would take more.
    sure was a beautiful day after being assaulted by those brutal winds.

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  4. Awesome group of bird pictures Al!

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  5. Wonderful birdies - especially batbird!! I think we were so glad to be out of the winds, we too just lazed around and watched football after we got set up in Indio yesterday. That is a great old movie! Enjoy the sunshine.

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  6. You always have such good photos... they make me like even that pesky house sparrow.... well, almost.

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  7. Glad your shutter finger was motivated! Those are some great birdie photos, Al !

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  8. As always beautiful photos, thank you for sharing. We are presently parked in Tonopah, AZ and we felt those winds on Saturday. Our 5th wheel did a lot of rocking.

    Celebrating the Dance

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  9. We too suffered rockin' wind in the camper. Sparrow on your shoe would have made an awesome shot. Maybe you should fake sleep with the camera on. ;) The rest of those closeups are great.

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