Daylight Savings?

What exactly is saved by "Daylight Savings?" It's not a bank where I can go and get more of it if I get overdrawn. I cannot borrow on the account. I cannot deposit anything. And why did the Powers That Be decide we have to start doing it earlier and later than ever before? Is the earth shifting on its axis and they don't want us to see the changes and think we won't discover that change by forcing us to get up earlier and encouraging us to go to bed later? Who knows?

On another subject, my friends from O'Brien, Florida dropped in today to show me their latest acquisition... Bingo Birdie!!  Bingo is a cockatiel, and will potentially live more than two decades - that could be a lot of fun as they can also mimic sounds and sometimes will talk. Just a baby bird, hand-fed, he was already very comfortable on hands and shoulders. They were excited about getting him, but my big African Grey was sitting outside when they arrived and he was jealous!! Normally Tabou welcomes them, but this time he was acting sulky and actually tried to bite my friend's husband's finger - something he's never done before with him.

Do It Anyway

The two-box cold is pretty much over. (Two boxes refers to the number of tissue boxes required to get through it.) But as I was checking various blogs I realized that many of us are 'out there,' speaking our minds to whomever cares to read/listen. To all the bloggers, this song is for you:

Anyway by Martina McBride (2006)

It's a lovely day here in Florida, and I am blessed to be healthy once again.

Not only flighty subjects....

   Today I had to get my car serviced and I was sitting working on a slide show about Alligator Lake (previously mentioned) and this fellow came in to sit and wait. He was so uncomfortable that he kept getting up and looking at things; incredibly restless. I said, "Would you like to see the slide show I just finished putting together?"

    He was stunned and came over to sit next to me and watch my little presentation. Afterwards he said, "Can you send something like that to someone?" I said, "Sure." He gave me his e-mail address. He actually didn't see it as the final product (with the music added) so I am curious what his reaction will be.

   Later I realized that in this busy world of ours, we really don't take enough time to "BE" with our fellow travelers face-to-face. We send messages, call, text, blog, but do we touch enough?

Family ACCIPITRIDAE are my neighbors...

   Refers to the formal name of the bird I was trying to identify. I was pointed to a website about hawks and found out that my recent visitor was a Red-Tailed Hawk, and my guess that it was a juvenile was probably correct. If you click on the link, you can hear their call... I get to hear it pretty regularly without doing that. I looked for it today, but only heard the cries off in the distance. Perhaps the hunting wasn't all that great - it was pretty cold all day.

   So it is not the Osprey, which sort of de-mystifies the whole event a little, but doesn't take away from the rapture of the raptor... sorry, readers -I couldn't resist.

   Tomorrow I have errands to run and will take my camera down by the lake to see what it going on in that neighborhood. I think the ducks are hatching now. 

Ollie, Ollie, Osprey...?

   If it got up over 40 degrees today, I never knew it... I stayed 
inside working on becoming germ-free and making sure this cold didn't do to me what it's done to so many - gone into the lungs. About lunchtime I decided to go into my office (15 or 16 steps away) and actually got some work done for awhile. When my son showed up, he plunked himself down and then gasped,"Mom, lookit!" When I followed his pointing finger, I saw this lovely young raptor, an Osprey-looking bird perched on a limb about 200 yards away. I carefully moved and went to get my camera. Here is what we saw....        According to my limited research, it is a juvenile, but on closer looks at the photos, I am not certain it is of the Osprey family. I really need to have someone with more experience evaluate the shots. At any rate, the youngster stayed on the limb for quite awhile, preening its feathers and watching us watching it. My son left after the bird flew off and called me when he got home. "Mom, you might not believe this, but that bird is sitting in the tree right outside my house and it is screeching!" I could actually hear the noise through the phone. Same bird? He only lives about 4 miles from me.... so it could be.

   What adds to the wonderful mystery of this story is that back in the fall, we were biking around the local Lake Dupont and came upon a downed Osprey (this really was one) in shock. No one wanted to abandon it to dogs or mischievous humans, so my son and I were nominated as "bird people" to get it into a transport cage (because I have one at home for my Gray) and get it to a rescue group the next day. Although we tried to find someone to take it that evening, no one was available. So I brought it to my house and covered the cage (I don't have a garage.) and checked on it once or twice until about 1 a.m. I went inside and woke up at 5, but the bird had died.

   I was desolate. I followed all the guidelines for rescue (don't give it any water or food, protect it, etc.) but the truck that hit it, had done it's damage. The bird never cried out when we moved it from the road to the transport cage, and never cried out when I approached the cage later that night. Now what? I have a 25 pound bird to deal with. Not your little parakeet.

I called Florida Fish & Game and someone there said, "Just dump it. We don't want it." It deserved better than being pitched in the garbage.

   A few of my Native American friends were interested in having some feathers, but had no ideas of what to do. So I found a place in my garden that the ground was soft enough to dig in, and I got some cedar chips. I laid a bed of cedar chips, put the bird on top of them, sprinkled some more on top and lit my sage incense wand. Walking quietly in a circle around the spot, I urged Grandfather to take the spirit of this bird with Him, and to let it soar. I asked forgiveness of the man who drove off without stopping his truck and forgiveness of all of us who tried to rescue it.

   When I was at peace with myself about it, I piled the dirt on top and around and then found some leaves to put under some more cedar chips. I set the leaves on fire and watched the chips burn down. When the fire went out, I put more dirt on the spot and added some heavy branches to keep animals away. 

   Today's visitor was sitting on a branch almost on top of the spot where the Osprey is buried.

Exposure...

   Here is a view of the marsh the SideTrackers group visited. It looked more exotic in person.  Today I am still recovering from the cold. It is probably a cold derived from germs I received from a small child, but it was curious how it 'blossomed' almost immediately after I got home from the hike. I spent most of yesterday wishing I'd had a bucket I could attach under my nose and today my head is all stuffed up. I'm drinking lots of water, eating good natural foods and taking every opportunity to use this as an excuse to be pitiful.

   Actually as I have a SIL with Multiple Myeloma and I follow a number of blogs from men and women who are challenged by this disease, my momentary dis-ease is nothing compared to the issues presented by MM. Compared to the various roller-coaster rides they are on, my cold really is pitiful and I am, too, for even making the comparison.