birds — Page 67

Random on Thursday

May 19, 2011 at 11:08 am by Claudia

I don’t know if I’ve ever done a Random post on a Thursday… it usually seems to fall on Wednesday or Friday. Time to shake things up a little. (This is about as daring as I get.)

:: Chloe is with me on this trip. For those of you who are newer readers of this blog, Chloe accompanies on all my longer coaching stints. A few years back, I had to be away from MHC for 6 months. Yes, you read that correctly. I was a mess at the thought of being away from my husband and dogs for that long. Don, knowing me all too well, decided that Chloe should go along for the ride. I don’t know about you, but I need something to cuddle.

:: Chloe is sitting on the sofa in the above photo. Our company manager has done a nice job of temporarily decorating this apartment and I’m grateful. But all these beigey earth tones are getting to me. I miss my colorful home. (It ain’t so easy styling a photo for the blog, either!)

:: Big news: I am now driving a new rental car. It would be impossible to underestimate how this has changed my life here. No more obsessive looks at the gas gauge. No more wondering if the car will start. No more driving with the windows shut so I don’t have to smell the exhaust pouring from the rear of the car. The theater really listened. Thank you.

:: Because of this change in car status, I drove to a neighboring town yesterday. I didn’t have to worry about how much gas would be sucked out of the tank on a 19 mile jaunt. There were supposed to be 3 antique shops there. Farming seems to be the lifeblood of some of these towns and I fear the economy has taken its toll. Only one was still open. I saw a few interesting items and the owners had two dogs which always makes me smile. I may go back. Once again, I didn’t take any photos because it was raining. Someday… I promise you.

:: Speaking of farming, this morning I saw a lone golfer on the course. He was probably in his seventies. He had on one of those John Deere-like caps, a flannel shirt and overalls. He looked like he’d just climbed down from his tractor and decided to hit the links. Adorable.

:: Mama is still sitting on the nest. Any day now. I’ll keep you posted.

:: I couldn’t get to sleep for a long time last night. We had evening rehearsal, so I didn’t get home until late. Then I proceeded to read my mystery in bed. I read too long. I find that I cannot go past a certain moment of all-enveloping sleepiness. If I do, then I’m suddenly wide awake. That’s what happened. All the images from my reading were racing around in my head and just wouldn’t go away.

:: Thank you for all the wonderful comments about my last post. I love hearing your thoughts. I’m wondering if I should add a new category to the tabs at the top of my blog. Perhaps it should be called ‘Rants?’ Or maybe I should go with something less obvious.

Nesting

May 15, 2011 at 11:09 am by Claudia

And by ‘nesting’ I mean the real thing. This morning I took advantage of Mama’s momentary absence to open the net curtain so that I could get some photos. We’ve had an erratic weather week here. Earlier in the week it suddenly got very hot and humid. I noticed that Mama’s beak was open for long periods of time and she seemed to be flying on and off the nest more often. After googling for some info, I learned it’s a sign of stress. I have a feeling the stress was caused by the hot temperatures and the need for Mama to regulate the temperature of her eggs. I snuck outside and put a dish of water on the deck in case she needed it. Once the evening came, she calmed down. This went on for a few days. It is much cooler now, thank goodness.

She often turns the eggs before sitting back down on the nest.

This is Dad. He sits in this small tree and watches the nest, staying at a distance so as not to encourage predators. Every so often, Mama flies out to meet him. They sit in the tree together or hit the ground on a worm search.

According to my research, sometime later this week the eggs should start to hatch. Then both parents will be on feeding duty. I will, of course, have camera in hand.

I’m enjoying the scrappy randomness of my throw:

Actually, I suppose this is more of an afghan. It’s pretty wide, which can be daunting when I think of how long it has to be. I’ve made one this size before and it lives on our bed. This will be for the den. I try to crochet at least 2 rows every day.

I have rehearsal this evening. Then a day off. By the way, my class with the apprentices went very well. I’m working with them on Shakespeare’s verse – how to analyze it and how to use all that information to make the verse come alive when acting. The apprentices are very engaged and a lot of fun.

See you soon!

A Momma-to-be on Mother’s Day

May 7, 2011 at 6:36 pm by Claudia

It’s Mother’s Day time again. I will call my Mom today and tell her how much I love her. She’s getting frailer all the time. She very seldom gets out any more. Doing something like going into the other room to read this blog on the computer is too exhausting for her. It makes me very sad. I wish I could give her a big hug today.

As I was thinking about Mother’s Day, a mother-to-be came to mind.

Yes, it’s true. Momma Robin has taken over the nest. That glimpse of a bird I mentioned to you the other day has become a fairly constant presence. She leaves the nest for a few minutes at a time but that’s all. In the beginning, whenever I walked by the door, she flew away. I didn’t want her panicking so I draped a net curtain over the door. I came home between afternoon and evening rehearsal today, carefully moved the curtain back, crawled along the floor so she couldn’t see me, and took these photos.

So, do you think they had just built the nest when I arrived here? If so, my timing couldn’t be better. I will have a ring-side seat while Momma sits on her eggs. I’ll get to see the babies. I’m thrilled.

Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom, my sister and to my little Robin Mom.

Random on Thursday

Nesting

A Momma-to-be on Mother’s Day

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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