Rather here than there

I was thinking of posting this on Facebook, but then ran into some issues with loading multiple pictures, inserting descriptions, etc, etc, so I said to myself, "Self, why don't you go post this stuff on your blog, it's been too long since you posted there, and it's easier to do the pictures bit on the blog than on that wretched mess they call Facebook."  So here we go.

These are some wildlife pictures I have been lucky enough to capture in the last couple of days/weeks/whenever.  Thought someone might enjoy them, so.  Descriptive info appears below each picture.

 

Cultured pigeons, Lincoln Center, NYC

 "You lookin' at ME????"  Pablo in the back yard, acting like a wild dog or something.

Bambi in the park.  She heard us, stopped, and posed.

This one's a little fuzzy, because it was almost dark out.   Cat bird sitting in the bush outside my bedroom window, munching berries off the bush, meowing his or her head off.  The bird is attitudinal.

Sunday afternoon, we heard a very loud, weird honking kind of noise.  Took the camera out to the back yard, and this is what I saw....the biggest freaking swan on the planet!  I didn't want to get too close, I might spook it, and then if it pooped when it was taking off (from fear, you know), I bet it could wipe out my whole house, or a good part of the neighborhood.

And so go my adventures with wildlife.  Pretty awesome, right?  Now I understand why so many people are so into wildlife photography.

Been too something to post

Not sure what the something has been.  Ennui, I guess.

So here, now, are some new pics, from the backyard when everything was blooming a week or so ago.

Prickly pear cacti on the porch in a pot - still considering where in the yard to permanently plant them. 

And the stella d'oro daylilies, which do have a permanent home in the yard.

In the newly done area, there is now a hydrangea for which I have high hopes.  I've never had any luck with them before, at the old house, but conditions here are quite different, so maybe I'll get lucky.

It's a little thing, and blue, and I hope it stays blue.  Hostas alongside for filler till the hydrangea gets bigger.  Then we also put in some bearded irises along the back fence, which aren't doing any kind of blooming, they were just adopted from the house across the street, where they were so crowded they had stopped blooming.  We'll see how that turns out.

I still have a large expanse of yard that is blank.  My son advised me to not get too elaborate with it, as a future buyer might not be interested in stuff that needs taking care of.  Considering I really don't want to be here for very long, I think his advice is good. 

Getting the back steps repaired this week, so we hopefully won't have anyone falling thru them, which is a danger at the moment.  Old cinder block is disintegrating.  It was all cracked and had been patched, and the winter was too much for it.

And the white breasted nuthatch from the previous post is still with us, living in the hollow of the mostly dead tree next door.  I think she has company, too.  Maybe babies, or a friend.  Hard to tell, because a branch grew up and covered my view of the entrance.  And she comes and goes so fast!

Weather has been horrendous today, hot and awfully humid, so we've mostly been indoors with the a/c on.  Spatters of rain on and off all day, thunderstorm now happening, so I'm going to post this and get off the computer. 

No park today, it rained just enough to make mud

But I caught this guy (or gal) watching me thru my kitchen window.  I don't know what kind of bird he or she is, but sure is a cutie.

I took the pics thru the window (with screen), so they're not crystal clear, but you can see enough of the coloring and shape that if you knew what it was, you could identify it.  Chubby little thing!  It was munching on some of the fungus that tends to grow on trees around here.

If anyone out there knows the variety, please let me know!

Sunday in the park - again

After a very rocky week with Pablo feeling very under the weather, he is acting more like himself today, so we went to the park.  Glad we did!  All sorts of wondrous things were there for us to see - probably because it was otherwise quiet, not a lot of people, and no barking dogs.  Pablo knows to shh when I tell him to shh, and he's getting better (finally) at staying put when I tell him to shh, not yanking too hard on his leash.  That helps more than one might imagine with my shaky focus.

So, here's what we found:

The deer looked like Mom and quickly growing baby.  Of course, once he caught their scent, Pablo wanted to go back and meet them.  I managed to dissuade him from that pursuit.  I have a feeling we would have lost the game if we got close enough to play it.

No signs of the turtles or snake today.  And lots of mud, after the deluge we had Friday nite. 

It's a pretty awesome park, especially for being in the middle of a suburban area, not out in the sticks.  But now I need to go clean the mud off my sneakers.  Yuck.

It's finally spring

Just wanted to put up some pictures from the neighborhood and the park.  Things are blooming, finally.

There were a lot of tadpoles in the pond, too, but they zoomed away before I could get a picture.  They're worse at posing than the birds are.  Maybe when they get legs, they'll slow down enough for me to catch them.

And then there was the snake, but we didn't see him (or her) today.  This is from last weekend.

As far as wildlife is concerned, if it's not a dog, Pablo doesn't see it.  Just as well, I think.

A walk in the park

Just at dusk yesterday, on my way to a meeting, I got to walk in Central Park for a bit.  Lots of people out, it was nice weather (the one day this week we get of nice weather), a bit chilly, but clean feeling.  By the time I left the park and went the rest of the way to my destination, the wind had picked up and it was getting downright cold again.  But for a while, it was just nice to be outside, the air felt fresh, and people all over the place, biking, walking, skating, boarding, riding in bicycle rickshaws or horse drawn carriages, kids in strollers, and dogs of all sorts. 

Make up your mind, already!

Last week we had temperatures in the 70s F.  Last night it was 11 degrees F.  My sinuses are throbbing with the change in temperature/air pressure.  Not having fun yet.

I really don't mind the cold too much, but I prefer that it be consistent, not bouncing up and down like this, from day to day.  To go from shopping for a light jacket to wishing my parka was warmer is not my idea of a fun time.

Then I worry about the birds.  The spring migration is in progress, and all sorts of birds are around, the air is full of chirping and singing.  This guy posed for me the other afternoon, right outside my kitchen window:

I know March weather can be crazy around here.  But I'm hoping for more sun than clouds, and no more snow, please.  Moderate, seasonal temps would be fine.  We don't really need 70s quite yet.  But pick a short range and stick to it!  And please keep the birds warm!

Fragile

Everything feels very fragile here.  The entire fabric of society is as thin as new ice, and liable to break down completely at the least incursion. 

Changes and more changes

When I get unhappy, or dissatisfied, or generally things are not feeling right, I have a tendency to tear into things and make changes until it feels better.  When I wake up in the morning and can't imagine how I'm going to get thru the day dealing with a certain person, that's a clue.  Been doing that lately, and got rid of a couple of my more agita-inducing clients.  I think it's better now.  We'll see.

Also trying to get outside more, but with the rain and snow and generally muddy conditions here lately, that's not working too well.  Pablo and I have found a park we like to go to, which, considering it's woods and no paved paths, amazes me. He usually doesn't care for woods type settings, he's more a pavement kind of dog.  But this park has deer, and skunks (we've smelled those but not seen any), and a little pond that, the first time we were there, had a great blue heron floating on it, who took off before I could get a picture because another dog barked at it.

Of course, when we get home, I spend the rest of the day cleaning the mud off shoes and paws and picking up park debris that tracks into the house no matter how hard I try to keep it out.  But that's mostly ok. 

I'm waiting to see if the pond really freezes solid.  So far, no, but we've been having these mild weeks in between the cold ones, so even if it's shallow (which is hard to tell, the water is mostly black-looking), it hasn't frozen solid yet.  Someone we met there told me the park used to be a Christmas tree farm, and the pond was built there so kids could ice skate.  The person who told me this is close to my age, I guess, and yes, when I was a kid, we used to have parks with ponds that froze solid enough in the winter to be skated on.  Pretty much doesn't happen around here anymore. 

I wanted to go to the park today, because it's warmish and I was off work, but last evening the rain came down by the truckload, so thinking mud, mud, mud, we pretty much stayed home.  Even my back yard is soggy.

So pictures are from a couple/few weeks ago, on a couple of dryish days. 

The trees are mostly younger than I would expect in the area, probably because it used to be a Christmas tree farm, rather than woods.  A lot of land around here was once orchards of various sorts.

Pond on a sunny day last month.  It's been more overcast the last few weeks.

 

Ice forming, I like the crackly texture.  And the water looks really black here.

 

Just this past weekend.  Solider ice in spots, but nowhere near frozen solid. 

So that's what we've been up to lately.  Nothing exciting, and still trying to organize the house and find stuff I haven't seen since before the move.  That's being a treasure hunt.  Keeps things interesting.