More to the Story

Ok ok ... stop the nasty-grams! I'll tell you ... I give!

Pretty tree, eh?

A few weeks ago, I met a wonderful man. Yes, his name's Mitch. He's a long-haul truck driver, owns a house about 5 miles from me, and is one of the nicest people I know. He has a very kind and gentle loving nature, yet is able to pick up Kirk's slack of giving me a hard time. The more I get to know him, the more I like him. Wrapped up in his arms has become my favorite place to be; it's the only place in my world where nothing else matters.

Why did he stick around and continue to slowly chip away the wall that's been there for quite some time now? I have no idea, but I sure am glad he did. I'm still having a hell of a time identifying and expressing my feelings, or even allowing myself to have them, or admitting to myself that they exist at all, so I hope he'll have the patience with me while I get through it. (If he were here, he'd probably pat me on the head and tell me my medication will be here soon.) 

So anyway ... there it is. Back to your regularly scheduled program.

Here's Sam.

Before Mitch left for Florida yesterday, we went over to the lake's visitor center on the opposite side of the lake.  I wanted to find out where the osprey cam was, and also the bald eagle nest I've heard is over there. 

Well, the first thing we stumbled upon was the Osprey nest...

I really need to go over to Kirk's house and steal his lens while he's not looking.  It would have to be a very sneaky covert operation.  And hell ... he'd NEVER figure out it was me.

Here's how the Osprey cam is set up.  That's the camera on the left.

I dropped Mitch off at home so he could get ready to leave for work, and I came along the southeast side of  the lake on my way home.  Saw a pelican.  My bird book says this is an adult breeding pelican.  Seems the difference between the breeding pelican and the non-breeding pelican is that little sticky up thingie on its preboscis.  What do they do with that thing?  I'm afraid to ask.

 

I completely missed the focus on this next shot, but kinda cool all the same.  Remember the red-tail hawks from across the street?  One landed in my tree, and I caught him just as he took off.

And I think the bird that took chase is a blackbird, but I could be wrong.

It was like a dance in the sky, though.

My neighbor has a big, green tractor.  Hee hee.

These purple wildflowers are so beautiful.

Bird on a wire.

Ok ... here's where I need some help figuring out what this is.  There's a bird that comes to the feeders (several of them actually) that have some interesting color on them.  I initially thought they were just some sort of sparrow, but now I am wondering.

(That's not a really long beak.  It's a sunflower seed in its mouth.)

In trying to identify it, I initially thought it was a dark adult American Tree Sparrow.  But the markings, particularly around the eye, look more to me like an adult male House Finch.  Any idea?

Jodi