Yesterday I saw two bald eagles chasing and bullying an osprey to give up his catch (I was too far below to see it - perhaps a fish?). The poor osprey finally gave it up and the eagles left him alone. I think eagles are faster, but ospreys are more maneuverable. Eagles are mean - this isn't the first time I've seen it! But it is neat.
Megan, this is one of those moments when I wish I had your job, though I know we've got totally different lives and it's a package deal, and I can't just experience your most interesting moments to the exclusion of all other duties that you've mentioned on the board.
I've been thrilled by several osprey sightings along the coast of Connecticut while driving into work in the morning. Mostly when they're flying directly overhead when I'm on I-95 and I see all the white markings and the "bracelet" at the elbows of its wings. I haven't checked out any of their huge messy nests lately.
I'm going to be looking for black-and-white warblers flitting around the bare tree trunks sometime this weekend, if the weather cooperates. I have such a strong hankering for being someplace rural. When things blow up in cities, and people die, I seem to want to hightail it out of here. Security is visibly stepped up here along the commuter rail lines and a lot of us are flashing back to the post-9/11 period in our lives.
That cat is clearly thinking "idiot." I love Nicole Hollander's Sylvia cartoons, especially her cats referring to the "big, bird-brained golden retriever." Even my laid-back kitties think they're smarter than the dogs who sometimes visit us.
The Boston bombings - gah, so awful. I too felt bad for the runners who couldn't finish, even though their damage is much less than that of the people who were killed or injured.
I have been failing at maintenance lately but I have managed to exercise 2 days in a row, so maybe there's hope for me yet. My dad's stroke was almost 5 weeks ago and I need to adjust to the new reality of my life without using it as an excuse to eat all the things.
Megan, this is one of those moments when I wish I had your job, though I know we've got totally different lives and it's a package deal, and I can't just experience your most interesting moments to the exclusion of all other duties that you've mentioned on the board.
I've been thrilled by several osprey sightings along the coast of Connecticut while driving into work in the morning. Mostly when they're flying directly overhead when I'm on I-95 and I see all the white markings and the "bracelet" at the elbows of its wings. I haven't checked out any of their huge messy nests lately.
I'm going to be looking for black-and-white warblers flitting around the bare tree trunks sometime this weekend, if the weather cooperates. I have such a strong hankering for being someplace rural. When things blow up in cities, and people die, I seem to want to hightail it out of here. Security is visibly stepped up here along the commuter rail lines and a lot of us are flashing back to the post-9/11 period in our lives.
Even though Toronto is a big city we have retained enough natural green space that we have a lot of birds here. I am now serenaded by a cardinal each morning when I open the door for our cats to go out. BTW my cats have no interest in birds, other than watching them.
So the 3 of us pause in the doorway and listen to the cardinal's early morning song. Such a nice way to begin the day.
I did see this osprey/bald eagle chase while at work, but I think it's the combination of my job that lets me be outside a lot to observe these things and where I live that gives me a chance to see them. Living in the middle of nowhere surrounded by water and forest in Florida makes for great wildlife viewing. My BF and I often remind ourselves that we may not be rich in money, but we have a great quality of life here. But of course there are trade-offs to living here. Since I can't really afford the boutique prices, if I need clothes I either order online if I know my size in a brand, or make the 1.5 hour trek to the city. I'm envious whenever you talk about going to see multiple independent films in one weekend. I really enjoy visiting cities and taking advantage of the opportunities they present. But... I'll take the birds.
If you're interested in much better photos of this area than I can take, check out this photographer Richard Bickel or this one, John Spohrer. Bickel takes more people photos but with amazing backgrounds that give you a feel for the local culture. Spohrer takes more nature photos.
Steph, great job for exercising 2 days in a row! Spring is coming, just hang on a little longer.
Alison and Jessica, I'm very glad that Emma doesn't get freaked out by storms for the simple reason we can't always make it home for them, and we get some doozies. My parents lab/retriever ripped up cardboard for fun when he was a puppy. My mom gave him old cereal boxes out of the recycling as toys. A friend says the thunder shirt helps her dog somewhat - either of you tried that? Love the expression on Misty's face.
Last year we were camping and had hiked most of the day. We were sitting by the campfire and all of a sudden could see a storm coming towards us. We were camping right on the edge of one of the Finger Lakes, so the storms rush through those valleys like crazy.
So it starts to rain and we're grabbing all of our stuff and running for the tent and we get both of my dogs in and DH and I zip everything up and all of a sudden the wind picks WAYYYYY up and our tent is like bent over in half and the rain is coming down in SHEETS and then there is a HUGE thunderclap and DH and I come halfway out of our skins and are just looking at each other and hoping the tent doesn't collapse!
I look over at our dogs and they are SOUND ASLEEP and our brindle boy is snoring to beat the band.
You don't need to buy a thunder shirt - just wrap your dog in one of your long sleeved tops (I find knit t shirt material or similar works best as it has stretch) and tie it in close to their body. Even better if you've worn the top for a day or so and your scent is on it.
My cats are opposite in everything. Mud you'll find in the basement cowering in the smallest space she can find if a storm is imminent. Mish will be snoring on the couch, belly up.
I look over at our dogs and they are SOUND ASLEEP and our brindle boy is snoring to beat the band.
Love it! The only thing that slows Emma down is the downpouring rain during storms. She wants to go out - so I open the door and let her go out. She gets about halfway out the door before the rain hits her and she turns around pretty fast. She doesn't mind a little wet but a downpour is too much for her.
Car trouble must be catching. In the grand trifecta of car problems my battery has had it. It was killed twice due to lights staying on etc before I could get them fixed with all my problems in the last two weeks. (Not that I left the lights on - my brake lights were stuck on, a piece of the circuit fell out - probably got knocked loose when we bypassed the clutch safety switch.) I think with the battery that will make it over $600 spent on my car in the last month. I'm hoping after a new battery today this will be it for a while. Glad I got that tax return early.
And my PSA for the day: If you don't have jumper cables in your car, I highly recommend carrying them! I bought the cheap pair from WalMart 9 years ago and have used them numerous times on my car and on others. They're really not hard to use and can be a lot faster than AAA.
Instead of dwelling on my car I'm going to turn around and look out my office window at the water for a minute to see if I can see any ospreys. Positive thoughts.
Yesterday at yoga our instructor showed the book she is reading re: using tuning forks for healing purposes and did some "tuning" to us during our meditation at the end. The scientist in me is skeptical, but then I thought about how music has shown to be an effective therapy in medical settings. Tuning forks create sounds waves too, so I tried to be more open minded. At least I got my usual relaxation effects from the yoga.
Tuning forks in yoga? That would get the skeptic going in me too! But you never know, right?!
Sorry about your car issues Megan.
I was so sad to see the news out of Texas last night. Such heartache and tragedy in the world. Makes me appreciate what I have even more and realize how precious life and family are.
I need to remember that while I grumble about all of the $$ I'm spending to help dd. If you recall, she had a horrible trip to Texas for job hunting (culminating in my mom-in-law going berserk and throwing her out of the house due to her undiagnosed Alzheimers). So, she is planning a trip back there. She has to take the Texas test (in Texas-- she can't take it remotely) to get their stamp of approval to teach. Then she can start interviewing again. She wants parental support this time. Makes me realize she is and isn't an adult still. She refuses to stay with my in-laws and I don't blame her. So, we have now booked flights for her to go from Washington to California, then she and I fly to Texas for a week. After the week, we fly back to California, she stays a few more days, then flies back to Washington. In Texas, we've booked a hotel and a car. Going to be a pricey trip to say the least. I made sure we booked a suite hotel so we have a kitchenette as I refuse to eat out for a week! That being said, if she can land a job, I will treat her to any restaurant she likes!! I will also have to take off a week from work which will be very complicated as school will be winding down and I'm always tracking down hundreds of overdue library books.... sigh.... we leave the end of May so I'm focused to get below my redline before then if it kills me!!
Megan~I have something one step better than jumper cables. We got them for the kids, too. battery jumper. It has come in handy for DS at least once.
I watched a video this morning that some guy sitting in a truck took of the explosion last night. I'm thinking he was just taping the actual fire and didn't really expect the explosion. He had kids in the car with him and after the explosion all you can hear is a little girl telling him to get out of here. Very scary! They said that the explosion could be felt 50 miles away. So sad.
Megan - we just had to buy jumper cables a couple of weeks ago to jump off my MIL's car and have already had to use them three times. Sorry about your car troubles.
Megan, I thought of you during one of our prenatal classes when two of the other couples happened to have the same vacation spot they always go to -- I'm pretty sure it was the place you live. Maybe some day I'll make it down to Florida!
We tried the thundershirt on Carter with mixed results. It doesn't calm him down during a storm at all, but it can calm him down in other stressful situations (like strangers coming to the door).
Speaking of storms, apparently we're in for some severe weather here today. There's a tornado watch for almost the entire state in effect until 5pm, plus a wind advisory, plus severe storm warnings. Of course this would be the weather on the day my mom is supposed to fly out to visit for the weekend! Last I checked her flight from LA to Denver is slightly delayed but the one from Denver to Indy is still on time. I'm crossing my fingers that the weather will have passed by the time she gets to the area, and that Denver's recent winter weather won't make her miss her connection.
At the moment though, it is lovely outside other than being extremely windy. I am feeling supremely useless because I want to go outside and pick some of our tulips and daffodils before the storm hits and destroys them, but just going out front to look at them for five minutes tired me out. I'm looking forward to the day when I can start working out again and get back into shape! Maybe I need to buy a jogging stroller.
That being said, if she can land a job, I will treat her to any restaurant she likes!! I will also have to take off a week from work which will be very complicated as school will be winding down and I'm always tracking down hundreds of overdue library books.... sigh.... we leave the end of May so I'm focused to get below my redline before then if it kills me!!
Oh, Michele. I wish I could grant you a month in which 1) you did not have to worry about either of your daughters, at all, EVER, not even in the slightest, and 2) you had more than enough time with your husband, so that you could take him for granted a little & you didn't feel as though you had to dine out together or do anything special at all to make up for all the time you have to spend apart due to his job.
I wish I could give everyone on this board a week-long reprieve from any cares that may beset them. Health, cars breaking down, financial fretting, children, spouses, partners, stepchildren, exes, in-laws, whatever. No stress allowed for seven days.
Jessica, now I'm going to think of you the next time I run in the park on the weekend. I'm always seeing jogging strollers there because the pathway is many miles long & it's paved over. On weekends, there tend to be couples or families on bicycles and families with jogging strollers.
You are not useless.
You in fact are making use of a body part that I, for one, have left alone and now feel is vestigial as an appendix: Your uterus.
You're a container, among other things. But not so inert as that. You're right now serving as a kind of raised garden bed with some seedlings growing in it. Pumpkins, I guess. ;-)
saef, I like the imagery of the babies as pumpkins.
Jessica, my few tulips didn't bloom this year so I guess the squirrels finally ate those bulbs. I have 6 daffodils (I've planted hundreds of bulbs - but those squirrels!) that have been happily blooming for a couple of weeks. And now a few hyacinths are blooming. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been great here and I haven't spend much time in the yard.
michele, I've forgotten - why does your daughter want to work in Texas? I hope this job hunting trip is more successful and less stressful for her. You're a good mom for going with her.
Jen, I loved your story about your dogs.
Shannon, my father grew up in Brooklyn and says he saw Jackie Robinson play. It's such an inspiring story, I'm glad the film is doing it justice.
Megan, did you see an osprey? I envy you your window and your view.
I have exercised 4 days in a row! Nothing spectacular, since my leg is really really bad lately, but 30-40 minutes each day. I've taken a couple of days off from visiting my dad this week and am trying not to feel guilty about it. I'm getting a lot of pressure at work to get everything done at once and am struggling to find some balance.
I am feeling supremely useless because I want to go outside and pick some of our tulips and daffodils before the storm hits and destroys them, but just going out front to look at them for five minutes tired me out. I'm looking forward to the day when I can start working out again and get back into shape! Maybe I need to buy a jogging stroller. 
