Time for fun!!

Ok, enough of the heavy stuff!! It’s spring, it’s birding time, and it’s time for some fun!!

Alright, sure, I’m still unemployed, but Kelly is working now, so that’s half the battle right? She is doing swimmingly, despite occasionally being a little hard on herself. But being able to carefully examine her own strengths and weaknesses is a great skill.  That’s what makes her such a great teacher, her ability to tune into her students and constantly adjust and re-adjust her methods to suit their needs.  Watching her grow into her new career is truly a blessing, and I thoroughly enjoy my supportive role.

Yesterday was completely nuts around this house. It was like a 3-stooges episode. In the morning a string broke on my mothers mini-blind. While she was trying to get it off the window frame, it broke loose and smacked her in the face. She was startled more than anything, but it did smart for a bit. Later while her and I were working at trying to re-string it, I looked over and noticed she was getting a black eye. I couldn’t help but laugh. She was not amused.

Then last night as I was about to go to bed, I heard a loud “boom” coming from my parents room. Worried that my dad had fallen, I rushed to see what was going on. Again, after making sure everyone was fine, I had to laugh. My parents bed collapsed. Nobody was hurt of course, it’s pretty low to the ground, and it was only my mother’s side that collapsed, so my dad just did a bit of rolling.  After trying to figure out how it happened (it’s a good sturdy piece of furniture) we gave up and they moved to one of the spare bedrooms in the basement.

It seems like its been one thing after another around here. The leaking shower (still not fixed) the broken oven (digital control will not go above 350), the leaking dishwasher (fixed) and on and on. Being unemployed is a full-time job.

Speaking of which. Now that Kelly is working, I’m really feeling like a slouch. This is a good thing. It’s gotten me motivated to finally start looking seriously for work.  I made some calls today, sorted some paperwork, checked some web sites. It’s a start.

But there is always time for birding. As you know, if you read Kelly’s blog, we went to Point Pelee last weekend for the annual festival of birds, the two-week period where the Point is active with more migratory birds than you can shake a giant camera lens at. The day we chose to go was not the best weather-wise, but we still managed to see enough to make the outing worthwhile.

One of the highlights, and Kelly mentioned it on her blog too, was a pair of baby great horned owls in a nest atop a tree stump. I was able to get this picture.

Yes, I know. It looks like a stuffed animal. What you can’t get a sense of from this picture is the size of it. This thing is bigger than my head! (yeah I know, that’s big eh?)

Also, this past week, there have been reports of a White Faced Ibis in a marshy area near here. (for those local, on county road 20 at the Big Creek bridge in Amherstburg) This is not something that is normally seen around here. So on Monday, I drove out there myself (100km drive round-trip) on the odd chance that I might be lucky enough to spot it. On arriving, I knew it was there, as evidenced by a half-dozen birders with massive scopes and camera lenses huddled at the edge of the water.  I found a spot to park my van and hurried across the road. As I readied my binoculars a fellow birder asked if I had seen it. I looked way out into the water at the sea of ducks, swans and herons. I admitted that I could not see it. He pointed to a lone bird about 60 meters from us.

“It’s right there, see it?”

“Oh wow! Uh yeah, wow, there it is!! Thanks!!”

And there is was, close to shore, as though it had been waiting for me.

Once I’d had enough, I packed up my camera and binoculars and got back into my van. As I drove away and other vehicles pulled up, the Ibis had had enough too. It spread its wings and flew towards the other side of the pond.  My timing had been perfect.

I can’t wait to get to Point Pelee again this weekend!!