Jilda's iPhone

Jilda got her new iPhone today. I wasn't sure she would like it. She's not really that into technology but something about the iPhone interested her.

We discussed it and after I ordered it last week, I've been showing her some of the features. She could care less about some of the stuff, but being able to check her email, take pictures and video, carry her favorite music with her was appealing.

It came today but we haven't had a chance to switch her old phone over yet. She sounded really excited when she called today to tell me it came this afternoon.

Hopefully she will enjoy it as much as I enjoy mine.

Not much else happening on the home front. We're headed to the funeral home shortly as mother of one of her cousins passed away earlier this week.

Have a great Thursday.

Wildlife Week

It's been a wildlife week here in Empire. First we got new peeps, then our bluebirds hatched out the second bunch of chicks of the spring/summer, the baby sparrows left the nest yesterday and today when I looked out the garden doors toward the barn, we saw a little deer checking out the progress of our apple tree. By the time I grabbed the camera with a telephoto lense, she was gone.

Normally I would have been at work both yesterday and today, but I've been on call this week and worked Monday night and last night so I decided to work from home these last two days and that proved to be fortutious. Had I been at work, I would have missed three of the four sightings mentioned above. It's a gift.

And on the Crazy News Wire:

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire - A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over 23 quadrillion dollars. Josh Muszynski checked his account online a few hours after the purchase and saw the 17-digit number — a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500.

I had heard cigarettes were going up, but this has to make a lot of folks stop smoking :)

Flew the Coop

In my column in the paper this last week I wrote about the sparrow who built a nest on our screened porch. We saw her several weeks ago one morning while drinking our coffee.

I thought she had somehow flown in through the door which we often leave partially open, and she could not find her way out.

When I stood to open the door to let her out, she dropped to the floor and scooted out a small rip in the screen that I haven't repaired yet.

I thought to myself, she didn't just discover that little opening, so I began to look around the porch. When I looked up on the rack where I store my fly rods, there is a little wicker basket that Jilda had hung there. Out from the edges of the basket I could see bits of straw.

I pulled up a chair to have a look and made a tweeting sound. When I did, tiny heads poked out.

I worked from home today and I always spend the

mornings working from the porch. This morning I heard fluttering sounds and the fussing sound of the mama sparrow. When I looked over, the baby sparrows had left the nest for the first time.

One flew to the floor in the back corner. Ol Buddy spied it and went in for a snack. I snagged him by the collar just in time to overt an aviary catastrophe. After putting him inside (he was not a happy pup) the tiny creature flew to the screen and scooted out the slit at the bottom.

Another one followed close behind.

A third one freaked and tried to fly through the screen. No matter how hard I coaxed, it would not go to the door or to the opening where to other two siblings escaped. I reached up and gently captured the little bugger in the palm of my hands and set it free out the door. If flapped for all it was worth and joined up with the rest of the fam.

The attached photo is not that good but hopefully you can see the baby sparrow.

What a gift.

New Peeps on the Block

We have new peeps. I've tried to get pictures but the mama hen is so protective. Each time I get close enough for a photo, she clucks the little ones under a bush or some other cover.

One time when I persisted, she came racing out from under a shrub to flog me and all the dogs that happened to be nearby.

I've been flogged many times so I knew what was coming but the dogs were ill prepared and she sent them scurrying in all directions.

I know there are some dogs that would simply turn on her and eat her like a biscuit, but most of my dogs are older and for the most part they are wussy's.

I've counted seven, so far. Two black ones, two brown ones and three yellow/white ones. They are about two inches tall and weigh about the same as a hummingbird.

The one picture I did manage to get is fuzzy but it's the best I've been able to do so far. Hopefully in the next day or so I can get a decent picture of the little tike's. We don't plan on keeping them all so anyone out there who'd like to own a cute Watson chick, just let me know.

Rain

We got rain this evening and it was a wonderful thing to behold. It's been hot here in Empire for the last week. Today the humidity began to build and I knew rain would not be too far behind.

We invited my nephew James and his family over to eat hot dogs and homemade ice cream. The middle child, Breeze loves blowing bubbles and she wanted to go on the deck and blow some.

She went out for a few minutes, but then I heard rain rattling on the roof and we had to shoo her inside. She was not happy.

I looked out the door to the garden and it seemed to be rejoicing. This evening after the rain stopped, I walked down to survey things and it looked like the okra had grown. I expect to see blooms this week and hopefully we'll be eating fried okra by the weekend.

Have a great week.

Weight

If you remember my New Year's resolutions from last year, one of my goals was to lose weight. I've read a great deal about goal setting and one technique is to create reprocussions in the event you don't meet your goals. I decided to give this technique a try. At the first of this year, since I did not meet my goal to lose weight, I ate anchovies. I HATE ANCHOVIES.

So I learned that the reprocussion technique didn't work for me so this year, I made a non-public goal to lose weight.

I've been walking and getting more exercise this year and I've really raised the bar the last month or so.

When I got on the scales today, I weigh less that I've weighed in years. I still have a way to go, but at least I feel I'm headed in the right direction.

I really want to retire from my day job. So, to that end, we're working hard getting all needed repairs and improvements to our home. I also want to get to a more healthy weight because what good is retirement if you're sick.

June Bugs

I went down to gather the last of the blackberries this evening. The berries on the top of the bush are already turning brown and dying and one might be tricked into thinking that there were no more good berries to be had. Being a blackberry picker from waaaay back, I knew that the biggest and sweetest of the season are in the bottom, shady part of the bush.

Apparently June bugs are hip to this fact too because as I reached for a particularly plump cluster, a big ol' honkin June bug was squatting on one of the berries.

I shooed him away and picked the cluster and moved to another one. On this bunch was several bugs. I conjured up my Moses voice and said flee you vermin or I shall smite thee.

The June bugs either didn't fathom the gravity of the Old Testament language or they simply thought they could take me out staff and all, because they didn't budge.

When I thumped one, it didn't fly away as I expected but flew straight toward my head. I dodged and it headed for my ear. It felt like it was as big as a hummingbird.

Now having a June bug on a string when you are ten years old (as I often did in the summer) is one thing, but at fifty-eight, having one fly into your ear canal and perhaps eating out some things in there that you could need later, is a totally different matter.

I backed away from the angry bugs and looked for other clumps down the path. I decided that there was enough to share. That's probably all the bug wanted to convey to me. Anyhow, I got plenty of berries for another cobbler.

I'm so excited.