Friday, June 01, 2007

It's so random, it's scary. (And Happy June First!)

While going through some of my Flickr photos, I noticed a few pics I hadn't posted.
Back to my bird trip at the beginning of the month:
This is Mona Rutger, a wildlife rehabber who has helped countless animals, along with her husband Bill, in Castilia, Ohio for the past 15 years. And she was also name Animal Planet's Hero of the year for 2006.
I waited for a quiet moment, then stepped up to introduce myself. What a nice woman. Unbelievably knowledgeable, passionate. Nobody does it like Mona.

Mona Rutger and Baby
This is Baby, a four-year-old bald eagle in training for education programs at "Back to the Wild". Blinded in one eye after being hit by a train, she is doing quite well. A very well-behaved bird, considering she just started training. And watching little Mona (who is all of 5 feet tall) handle this huge eagle....it made me want to go lift weights and quit whining about how heavy our red-tails are.
Flying squirrel
Back to the Wild not only rehabs raptors, but other critters, too.
This is a flying squirrel who is a permanent resident there.
Did you know that, at least in Ohio, flying squirrels outnumber red and gray squirrels combined?
I would wet myself happily if I ever got to see one in the wild.
Big huge waiter
This belongs in BOTB's "Big Giant Things" file.
This giant waiter stands beside a BP station on the Marblehead peninsula. Whatever he used to be carrying is lost to the annals of time.



And to the present:
A cedar waxwing:

Cedar waxwing
And he was LOOKING at me!
Are they not just about the most regal bird ever?
And so polite. They SHARE food with each other. Such nice manners.

Blog update for Kathi:
It's actually working ( I see that some of you have already discovered it)
Go to KatDoc's World and show her some of that Blogging support!

The weekend cometh...and I am so ready to bird-party.
"Throw your hands in the air...like you just don't care..."

Update on my womanly woes...
The medication prescribed has finally worked. As in, my cycle has been kick-started again.
And boy, is it PISSED.

The Menstrual Cycle
Yep. I'm proud of that one.
Admit it. You have missed my sketches.

In closing, a little song from Kermit:

bull frog

"Have you been half asleep
and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same.
I've heard it too many times to ignore it.
It's something that I'm supposed to be.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.
La, la la, La, la la la, La Laa, la la, La, La la laaaaaaa"

7 comments:

NatureWoman said...

Oh, I would love to see a flying squirrel, too!
I wonder what the big man at the BP station was carrying.
I love cedar waxwings. I will photograph one some day.
Oh my, I missed your woman's problem post (sorry) - argh - so sorry to read about it. And to hear that it's pissed now. That's why I so don't understand the pill that people take to purposely stop their period for a while. Wouldn't it come on with a vengence? I don't know, I'm not messing with my body like that.
Oh yeah, I missed your sketches.

Unknown said...

Cedar Waxwings are on my MUST see list. They (like Wood Ducks) look like living paintings and I just want to see that with my own eyes.

I have, indeed, missed your sketches and this one is your best yet.

I'm sorry about your womanly woes. I have been having some myself as I reach those peri-menopausal years (the advanced age of 43, after all). But, luckily, using "the pill" (or at least "the patch" in my case) helps tremendously! Obviously, your situation is different but I'm hoping this leads to a more regular you. :)

Glad to see KatDoc has submitted to the peer pressure and gotten her blog up and running! :)

Anonymous said...

I.Want.To.See.A.CEDAR WAXWING! That one looks so fine looking at you.

Aren't hormones just great? (she says sarcastically. . .)Good luck with that.

Hey, over at GardenRant.com they have an article on the making of a meadow (and at the bottom they talk about how to do it without Roundup.) A lot of work and many pesticides later... I like the idea of yours being a piece of unmown grass that you and the critters can enjoy. Hope your side meadow is blooming as well.

Heather
Wayne, PA

NatureWoman said...

Oh, and I *love* your frog photo, and Kermie. Not as much as Miss Piggy loves Kermie, but still, he's the best. I miss Jim Henson's Kermie voice, though.

Maureen said...

susan, i love that sketch of your cycle -- shows you haven't lost your sense of humor about the whole hormone thing. I'm done with hormones and TGID!

I didn't know you cared for redtails. I have to go back and look at your previous posts more carefully so I can read about that part of your life.

I was just out in the mountains all day this past week and came on a pair of nesting raptors who did NOT want me around. They vigilantly stayed right with me, calling and threatening to bomb me until I hiked over in to the next drainage and even then, they'd come over the crest of the ridge every few minutes to make sure I wasn't thinking about heading back their way. I couldn't get a good enough look at them to know what kind of raptor they were -- I'm thinking peregrine, but their nest appeared to be in a tree-top, so now I'm not so sure. Anyway, I was wondering if you would be able to identify the birds by a silohette? If you could, I'd email you a couple of not-so-great pics I took without the aid of a telephoto. Would you let me know by emailing me? maureenshaughnessy(at)gmail(dot)com. I'd really appreciate it.

Flying squirrels ... when I was 10 years old, I fostered two orphaned flying squirrel babies. that was so cool, though I know now we probably should not have taken them in. Their nest blew out of a tree during a big storm and my siblings and I found them on the ground. Dad built a very large enclosure in our carport when they were old enough to be out of the box-with-blanket. We let them go at the end of the summer. They stuck around in the woodland next to our house. They were really cute, especially as babies. I remember taking them to school with me in a basket, so I could feed them every hour. One time I had them out of the basket sitting on my desk and one of them pee'd on the desk -- will never forget the look on the teacher's (a nun) face when everybody was laughing about that. ;-)

Mary said...

Your attitude towards hormones is great, Susan. After the cycle ends, the hormones still peck away at you but in a kinder way...

Will I see a flying squirrel??? Probably not. That's why I love having you to visit each day. Keep exploring and sharing. It makes my day.

Cedar Waxwings were my highlight so far. They are portrait material.

Anonymous said...

All these photos are always worth taking the time to wait for them to load! How wonderful with the monarch :) !!