A day in Indiana

***This would have been posted last night, but we lost power for no good reason***


Going to visit my Mom at the old homestead is alway both wonderful and bittersweet. My Mom is a joy to be with, but around every corner is the ghost of my Dad. And I still get pissed that he isn't here.

In the front yard are ancient pines, twice as tall as the house.

Some ants were having a feast on the front patio.



The old pond, that has been here since the house was built in the 40's, is bone-dry. I haven't seen it dry...ever. My feet have touched every inch of the 14-acre property, but I had never been to the middle of the pond. I walked all the way out to it today. It was actually physically distressing.



We have never been able to figure out what the purpose of this pipe was...it sticks out of the water right in the middle of the pond, and examining it today gave no clues. A really old filling pipe? Don't know...but the pond has never been more than a few feet deep. It was used to water cattle way back in the day. But it's dry. That actually hurt me.




Whoever built the house put a very cool stained glass window in the attic. My room was attached to the storage portion of the attic, separated by a small door that looked as if dwarves could use it. It gave me more than a few nightmares.



Mom has very fluffy grass growing at the back corner of the house.




While we were there, strange liquid fell from the sky and splattered on the driveway. I took a picture in case this strange phenomenon never happens again.




We took pity on the local deer family and fed and watered them.



Mom and Isabelle watched from the kitchen. I just noticed that they have the same hair style.



My brother Steve stopped in for half a minute (he lives next door) and for some reason, Lorelei is uber-shy around him. Here she is crying into Mom's arms. I think that since the girls don't see him very often, they get shy when he is around. He's also scary-looking.
: )



For Lynne:
A vulture! Look alive!

Hummingbird 'tocks. I have been checking out Cute Overload and have picked up some of the lingo.
And to end this post with something cute (this post was sort of sour, and I didn't mean for it to be), I leave you with a picture my lovely cousin Cathy sent tonight.
This is my aunt Weez, Cathy and me, probably back in the late 80's, considering how
big my hair is.


Jeez...Thanks, Cath.

"Houston, we have a pupa..."

(I was so proud of that title when I thought it up, I had to call Geoff and tell him about it)

Snookie is wrapped up in a sweet, surprisingly tiny chrysalis. I was surprised at how small it was...in pictures on other's blogs, etc, they look big, like the size of a bowl of a spoon...but it's less than 2 inches long. And you can't really call them cocoons, because they don't spin silk like moths do. Chrysalis or pupa.

I wanted to be there to videotape it turning into a pupa, but we were gone.
But you can bet your bippy I will be there to videotape the emergence!

You know other birds point and laugh.


And a totally different bird:


I found this juvenile male cardinal yesterday (with just a beginning of sheathed red feathers), weakly "chipping" near the fountain. I had my camera, so I got one quick pic, examined it to see if it was flighted (it wasn't) and took it in to get a box and to call Marilyn, one of our RAPTOR rehabbers who also treats songbirds.
The poor bird died in my hands in less than two minutes.



This is one of two emotions that owls have.
One is disgust, and the other one is this...startled.
News: Our gray screech owl has made a full recovery from her foot infection, and should be back at RAPTOR tomorrow! Yippee!
Now the red SO won't be publicly humiliated anymore. He can molt in peace. And by the way, I have seen "Molt" also spelled "Moult". They are both correct, right? English is stupid sometimes.

Okay, birders...someone please, please tell me I can put these on my life list...


Guinea fowl!
They were out in the middle of nowhere (no house anywhere near them), and ranging free. Someone tell me that this is a well-established introduced species that is now part of our avifauna.
What do you think? Listable?



News:
My Mom, the woman who didn't get an answering machine until the late 1990's, now has a freakin' lap top.


...With a wireless connection, which I connected for her, I might add.
She's entered the 21st century. I'll be dipped.
(Look at the fingers sticking up...I think she is afraid that it might blow up if she touches it too roughly.




Can't find the ID for this moth.
You'd think those "T" shapes would be easy to find in a guide.

Mom's wrenlets are big and fluffy and strong. At least a few baby bewds came from that nest box.

Tomorrow, I get to meet a fellow blogger. Trixie is in Cincinnati and we are going to meet up and let the kids play (so we can talk, hopefully), and I'm sure it will be bloggalicious.

Happy birthday, Mom! (and Fan Mail)

Today is my Mom's 65th birthday. I can't believe she's 65. She can't believe it either. She shook her head on my 34th birthday and said to me, "How can you be 34??? I'M only 34!"
It's impossible to state in words what she means to me. Giving me life is one of the small things she has done for me.
Mom taught me the following things...and I am sure millions more!
1. How to iron
2. How to cook
3. How to laugh
4. She showed me what a great blue heron was
5. How to write a thank-you note
6. How to plant a flower
7. How to read
8. How to be a lady (Stop laughing)
9. How to love
10. How to be a good mother

The many sides of Mom:
She stayed at home with my brother and me until we were teenagers, to give us a good start in life. She made us eat our vegetables, then let us eat ice cream. She loved and respected my father. She didn't cuss around us until we were adults. She can make me laugh hard enough to almost wet myself. My first memory of her...I was three years old, and I was pushed down a flight of stairs by a friend of my brothers. When I came to, my Mom was holding me.
She did all the diaper-changing in the household ( I don't remember this, I was just told) (Dad never changed ONE diaper in his life!)
The scent that brings my Mom to my thoughts is Odalisque, even though she doesn't wear it anymore.
She somehow put up with my teenage-angst stage, which ended just recently. :)
Every day I would come home from school and share with her all that I had learned that day. She called all the tidbits "Susan's Pearls of Wisdom". Two Christmases ago, I gave her a box with a note on it: When I was young, I gave you pearls of wisdom. Now I can give you the real thing." A strand of pink pearls. She cried. It was fabulous.
She was there to witness the birth of both of my children. When Isabelle was born, there came a time when I started screaming that I couldn't do it anymore (I was in labor for 38 hours) and she had to leave the room. Lorelei slipped out like a peeled grape, and Mom was there to see it and stated that Lorelei looked just like me.
When she was delivering me 34 years ago, the doctor said, "I can see the head" and my Mom yelled for everyone to STOP so she could tell them about the dream she had. She dreamed that she had a little girl named Susan and she had black curly hair. The doctor said, "I don't know about the girl part yet, but you got the hair right!"
(I was born with black curly hair, by the way)
She gave me my green eyes and curly hair, my voice and my attitude. But most importantly, she gave me the whole world.
I love you Mom, with gaggles, and bunches, and flocks, and tons, and bouquets...times infinity.

*******

My job at RAPTOR, Inc. is rewarding enough, telling folks about birds of prey. I meet great people who are interested in learning more, kids who are awestruck by our birds. But what I love the most is the fan mail. I get letters from kids mostly,
thanking me for coming to their school.
Recently, I received a huge envelope with 50 letters and pictures from a school and the kids drew pictures of their favorite birds.
Here are my favorites: (Click to see the intricate details) :)

So what if I wasn't wearing any pants. She sort of got my hair right.

I love the little mouse on the right, under the heart.

It looks like they learned something. The large owl is carrying a rat (or is that a dachshund?) and the little owl is carrying a mouse.

Another likeness of me...Of course, the owl is three times bigger than I am. The red and blue boxes on the right are the carriers we use to transport small birds in (the kestrel and the screech owls).
Cute, huh?