From New Mexico's Adventure

When Steve and I went on our photography/birding adventure in New Mexico in January we got to watch Mother Nature at work when a coyote decided it was time for dinner.  This little story, told from the coyote's point of view, is the way I chose to use some of those photos.

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Don’t Mind Me

“What’s this I see?  Looks like dinner, just waiting to be caught.  Surely with all these tasty morsels available I can have my pick!”

“Don’t mind me, I’m just passing through.”

“Don’t believe a word he says!  Be vigilant, friends, or be dinner!”

“Uh-oh!  That one didn’t work!  Guess I’ll have to try another way.”

“Maybe I can sneak up on them if I just scootch down in this ditch and peek up at them now and then, they won’t notice me.”

“Charge!  Over the top!”

“Dinner at last!”

“This one’s mine buddy, go get your own!  And good luck!”

A Snowy Day

So what does one do on a snowy day that has cancelled one's plans for a lovely tea with a friend?  I wasn't in the mood to read or to do anything truly productive.  A case of the winter blahs, I suppose, after a week of bone-chilling cold and a couple of snows (and one more predicted snow that didn't materialize).  My oldest digital camera now lives on the dining room table, and when I noticed a robin on the (heated) birdbath, I grabbed the camera and took its picture.

In the next few minutes I began to notice the variety of guests who were utilizing the birdbath and taking advantage of the extra seeds I had scattered just outside the door on the deck, and the photography began in earnest.  Here are just some of the guests who visited my yard this afternoon.

Another American robin posed for me, although I think he was actually giving the camera a dirty look to persuade it to go away.

 A hairy woodpecker joined the club. It was nice to see him, since he hadn't been around lately.  His cousins, the downy woodpecker and the red-bellied woodpecker also showed up, but I was busy doing something else and wasn't quick enough to grab their pictures.

The Carolina chickadee has developed a taste for safflower seeds and he was sharing with Mrs. Cardinal.

 Mr. Cardinal was off doing his own thing, foraging on the deck.

Even the local mockingbird decided to come in for a drink.  He didn't look too thrilled with the snow or the ice on the rim of the birdbath.

The Carolina wren seemed to prefer to share the suet with the woodpeckers.  Since he can go through the mesh to eat, he doesn't pay much attention to the larger birds.

The area was filled with dark-eyed juncos, which is appropriate since they are colloquially known as "snowbirds" because of their coloration--leaden skies above and white underneath, like a snowy day.

 Not all of my guests were avian.  Mr. Busy Tailious thought I provided a nice afternoon snack, too.  Voracious little dickens!

But the bunch that gave me the biggest laugh was the conglomeration (convocation?) of robins at the birdbath.  They weren't interested in the seed, but they certainly did gather in numbers for the water.  I wonder what their topic of discussion might have been.  My guess would be, "Where the heck is spring!"

Law of Multiplication Regarding Job Completion

I learned (or re-learned) a valuable lesson over the past two days about estimating the time it takes to do a simple project.  Just a five-minute deal?  Maybe--but usually not!

The clothes hook on my closet door pulled out about six weeks ago.  No problem, think I, as I go round up some of those little anchor posts and put it back in.  Sorry--wrong number!  It lasted about two weeks.  By then the holes had enlarged so I couldn't re-use them.  Next up, a larger hook that would have holes in different places and still cover the other holes.  After a bit of a search (Bed Bath and Beyond was useless), I found just the thing at Home Depot, and the construction of the mounting plate was such that it would spread the stress of hanging up bathrobes better.

Now for the installation, and here's where the five-minute job turned into two days.  A quick read of the directions pointed out that it would be nice to use my drill and cordless screwdriver.  Both were supposedly hidden away on a top shelf in a closet (this is a small house--you use the space you have!).  Finding the drill was easy, but the screwdriver was hidden.  It required a step stool and a complete reorganization of that shelf to see that said screwdriver was nowhere to be found there!  Rats!

Down into the toolbox we go, searching for hammer and manual screwdrivers, which were right where they should be--as was the cordless screwdriver, which shouldn't have been.  Now we're back in business--NOT!  The screwdriver hadn't been used in ages and required charging overnight, so the project is back on hold.

This morning the screwdriver was ready and the drill had the right bit inserted.  Ready to work.  Except the cord on the drill was too short to reach the nearest outlet and the closest extension cord was too flimsy to trust.  Out to the shed for the rolled-up 100 foot heavy-duty cord.  A word to the wise.  If you have one of these long cords, it pays to have both ends accessible so you don't have to unroll 100 feet when all you need is 10 or 15 feet.  It isn't quite as neat a roll job, but it works better.

Five minutes has morphed into much longer, but finally the job is done and the tools stowed neatly where I hope I can remember I've put them next time I need them.  The satisfaction comes in knowing I was able to, as one little grandniece tends to put it, "do it self!"  Next time I'll take the time requirement for a job and multiply it by three or four.  It might come closer to reality.

Renaissance Festival, Part 2, 2012

I love the Renaissance Festival, primarily for the interesting photography subjects that frequent it and are just SO happy to let you take your picture.  After all, what's the point of spending all that money on a very special costume if no one cares enough to want to photograph it?  Some folks go for simple, while others go for rich and beautiful.  I can't vouch for authenticity, but I can appreciate the results.  Here are some of my favorites from Saturday's visit. The first couple was trying to give the impression of woodsman and companion.  The rest were showing off their fancy finery.

Children seem to have so much fun, whether it be gnawing on a turkey leg (usually with some help), getting their hair braided, or blowing bubbles. Some of them even get into climbing the rock wall.  The bubble blower and rock climber are the same person.  She put her heart and soul into all of it!

Face painting isn't just for the children, however.  Some of the most elegant ones I saw were on adults.  I thought this young lady was especially lovely.  It turns out she is newly married and still reflecting that glow.

And probably my favorite one of all was the man who had a cat-like image on his face.  Smoking his pipe so that the smoke partially obscured the handiwork, I was reminded a bit of the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland!

So ends my ventures to the Renaissance Festival for the year (unless next weekend's plans go awry, in which case, who knows?)

Happy Birthday, Jake!

Last weekend my grandnephew Jake celebrated his fourth birthday.  Jake is into super heroes now, and his cake reflected it.  The cake, by the way, came from Clay's which makes really wonderful cakes!

When it comes to blowing out the candles, Jake has his own method.  Blowing from far away didn't make sense, so he just got up close and personal with it.  (It didn't help that unintentionally the candles being used were trick candles, so when he blew them out they just relighted themselves until Jake's mom worked her own magic and extinguished them.)

Jake and his guests (mostly his siblings and three cousins) had fun entertaining themselves with pumpkin decorating.  No carving was necessary, and the results were cute!

Jake's family has a new puppy.  Daisy is an adorable lap full of wiggles and fur, and she loves to play tug of war.  Emily was all too willing to oblige.

Cousin Mason was intrigued by both the puppy and the tug of war.

On another day, Daisy came with the family to visit the grandparents, and she was practicing being a good pup while wearing her Halloween costume.  She's going to be a ladybug.

While the children were visiting the grandparents, we took on a couple of craft projects.  Abby is just getting old enough to join in the fun.

 Elizabeth, Jake, and Ava are old hands at it, but Jake was willing to have a bit of help from Auntie Em.

 Emily was very proud of her door hanger.  Ava is an excellent overseer for projects by the younger ones.

 Ava also got into the decoration of the smaller pumpkins and was very pleased with her creations.

Even children with lots of energy wind down, and then it's handy to have a mother's lap for rest and soothing.

A boost from dad was welcome, too!

It was a great trip!

Renaissance Festival in Maryland 2012

I love to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival.  The opportunities (and challenges) for photography are many and varied.  This year it was a little harder to go.  The friend with whom I indulged in a friendly competition to find different subjects for photos passed away this summer.  So John, some of these photos I took just for you.  John had a quirky sense of humor, so the first of these shots were for him.

John would have noticed the boat on the hat long before I did. 

 John and Joy, his wife, were always on the lookout for interesting places to buy different types of chocolate.  This stand is new this year.  John would have just had to have one of the chocolate skulls or centipedes, whether he actually ate them or not.

 Now I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't even SEE the hands on this one until I got home and got the pictures downloaded into the camera.  John wouldn't have been so blind.  I was intrigued with the headdress.

The fellow on the "horse" has a variety of strange costumes; the horse is one of the smaller ones.  John was always on the lookout for him and his flights of fancy.

 

I'm not sure which caught John's  fancy more, the metalwork creations or the people creating them (and occasionally modelling them).  The supply of wares is strong this year.

Children are more in line with what I look for--interesting expressions and costumes.  I call this one my pensive princess.

This young lady is amazingly agile, especially since she is so high in the air. 

I loved the face paint job on these two children, and apparently they did, too, although one was busily adding adornment to enhance her look. 

I'm hoping to make one more trip to the festival before it ends later this month.  It tends to be much more comfortable this time of year than when it opens in late August!