GREAT GALLOPING GOBS OF GHOSTLY CRANES

A glance out the window early this morning told me it had been a frosty night. Rays of sun breaking over the Swiss Helm mountains cast an eerie yellowish  pastel glow over the valley through a low hanging bank of fog. The day later dawned clear as a bell & all the magic mushroom like clouds of the past couple days were gone. The big blue Arizona sky was back.....and so were the welcome cooler temperatures:))

There was a continuous sound coming from high overhead that lasted the whole morning. Great soaring formations of Sand Hill Cranes circled on the air currents rising to heights only seen with binoculars. Round & round they went on the thermals. Some formations sweeping in one direction would intersect with other formations going the opposite way. The sky was alive with a 'weebling' sound. It never let up. At times the birds appeared dark against the blue sky & other times as they swooped into a turn the sun backlit the whole feathery flock giving them a massive ghostlike appearance. Laying back in a chair with my 8 x 50 binoculars I was reminded of film clips I've seen about the Battle of Britain. Formations of Cranes looked like squadrons of British Spitfires spiraling, diving, tightly turning with near collisions, & close formation flying. Some flew in large groups, others as pairs intermingled with single flyers. Some groups criss-crossed others, some followed, & some seemed to make head on passes. And all the time came the steadily weebling sound from the sky.  There was a definite intelligence in the air & it was an entertaining morning with a grand stand seat to a free & well co-coordinated air show.

RICK had another very informative post this morning talking about Verizon (& other) air card usage & how to wisely keep from blowing through the monthly 5 Gig cap. I suggest anyone using an air card read Rick's blog & file it away for future reference. In last night's blog I had mentioned about listening to Old Time Radio on Saturday nights but I don't do that while we're on the road because streaming audio like that really chews through the bytes. I only do that while at home with the desk top computer. 

Going to keep this blog short. One day to go before we roll into a new Verizon coverage month & then we will start anew putting some of Rick's air card tips into play.

Sorry about the quality of the Sand Hill Crane photos.  I was trying to stretch my 200mm lens with a 2TX converter & the results were less than poor:((

GROANER'S CORNER:(( I once worked in the woods as a Lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the axe!!

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