Saturday, November 17, 2007

Sometimes the best things are right at home

I split my Saturday into two sections: Cleaning and Birding.
I went to a few nice spots to look for birds, but things are pretty quiet around here.
I headed home to do some heavy cleaning in preparation for out Christmas tree (Yep, we will be putting it up Thanksgiving weekend) and as I cleaned, I watched our feeders.

titmouse w peanut
Ever notice it's like impossible to get a good picture of a titmouse? They are so darn flitty and fast. Setting the camera on rapid fire helps. I need one of those motion-sensor cameras.
chicky baby
Chickadees can be tough to catch, too.
gleam downy
I was smart to put the woodpecker feeder right outside the window. I could see the gleam in this downy's eye.
teenage possum
I've noticed that possums aren't the most observant animals. Quite a few times at RAPTOR, I've watched one walk right next to me and they don't notice me until I clear my throat.
I walked right up to this one tonight in the front yard. It was a medium-sized one, maybe the baby we saw earlier in the year.
Reminds me of a funny story:
A while back, Swami and Swamette saw an animal in their backyard. They took a picture of it and sent it to Rachel, the family's animal expert. She wrote back that it might be an ROUS.
An R O U S . They had no idea what that was. (Not Princess Bride fans, I guess)
Turns out that the animal was a possum.

Reminds me of another story:
Today, while Geoff and the girls were at the Yurt, a woodpecker flew into the yard. Swami and Swamette asked the girls what kind it was, and Lorelei piped up, "It's a downy!" Atta girl.

One more story, and that's it. I promise:
A few years back, my Mom gave Swami and Swamette a flower arrangement. It was a clay pot with Cosmos in it. They had it for weeks. One day, Swamette asked me what kind of flowers they were. I said, "Heck, Rita, I don't know. They're fake."
Turns out that they had been watering this fake thing and placing it in the sun.
You know, to keep it looking pretty.

A juicy tidbit about Geoff's book:
It has been reviewed in the Washington Post.
Hot damn!
Click HERE to read!



5 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Yes I've noticed how difficult it is to take a picture of a titmouse. Nearly impossible. I see these nice photos of them on other blogs and whine to self about it.

Funny about watering a fake flower.
I think that they can make fake silk flowers look so real now days that is until they put weird colors on them or try to match the "in" colors of interior design.

NatureWoman said...

Yay on Geoff's book!!
OMG, watering fake flowers, that's a funny story!
Where is Swami anyway? Haven't heard any funnies from him in a while!

The Swami said...

Well, smarty-pants, thanks to dedicated care, the Cosmos is still blooming and doing quite well!

Mary said...

Geoff must be so pleased with the thumbs up! Yay!

Oh, boy, I've been fooled before but not like Swami & Swamette! I howled at that one!

Titmice, titmice, titmice. In a year, I've taken about 6 photos of them and they're all crappy.

Susan said...

Ah- the house cleaning before the Christmas tree - I hear you! We bought our tree already, but the task of decorating it (which I love) is my reward after the serious house cleaning is done. And it's not done yet!
Congratulations to Geoff on that great review!