Shelly Snapper
Doves on a gopher mound
Freddy Fly Catcher
Cinnamon Quacker
Harry Headbanger
Shirley Snapper, Shelly’s sister
The other side of Shelly Snapper, Shirley’s sister
Fish
Fish fart
Barney Bullfrog
Bob Bullfrog’s Back
Bethany Bullfrog, Barney’s sister
Peter Porcupine sleeping
Doris and Diesel Duck checking out the ducky looking grass.
Gabby Grebe in hiding
Eye of Spunk.
Claws of owl.
“Mad Dog” from rear view of Robbin.
Not Even Sparrow looking coy.
Towhee mooning setting sun.
pTerodactyl basking in light of dusk.
Reflecting water Muskrat ponders.
Nora Owl deciding what to think about the chatty paparazzo.
After I got home from work, I left the laundry for tomorrow, gathered up all the energy I could, and walked the mile north to check on Nora. I ran into Leslie who was also checking on Nora. Leslie said Nora was hunkered down in her nest so she could hardly see her. When I got Nora’s tree she was pretty hunkered down in the light of the setting sun. I started talking to her and asking her if she had any owlets yet. After about ten minutes she started responding and sat up a little. Then she sat up more and look different directions. Her breast feathers looked pushed up as if she had something under them. At one point she tilted her head back and pushed her chest out, but I couldn’t really see any owlets yet. After 30 minutes of pestering poor Nora Owl with my pesky paparazzo chattiness, I left so she could sit in peace. I think the owlets have hatched, but they are still too small to poke their heads out. I think Nora Owl made her best attempt to show them to me. Osric Owl started hooting behind me. When I found him he gave me “mad dogs”.
Rebecca at Tea Toast & Trivia interviewed me on the subject of Blogging, Photography, and Connecting. You can listen to my attempts to impart words of wisdom about blogging, photography, and connecting at https://wp.me/paMWWK-Cs. I really had a great time with the interview. Rebecca and Don, who does the recording, are two of the loveliest people I have ever met.
Still giving me steal eyes while starting to sit up more.
I think this was Nora’s best attempt to expose the owlets.
Osric Owl giving me “mad dogs”.
The pTerodactyl watching the sunset.
It was quite a sunset the pTer was watching.
The Dance Floor Lyrics and Music by Timothy Price
The Dance Floor is an original song I wrote and recorded recently. It’s a song reminiscent of the days when people could gather together, dance, and put on whatever charm they could muster in attempts to go beyond the dance floor. Maybe Dancing Daze will make a comeback.
After another long day of dismantling the old office, configuring VPNs, and breaking into the WiFi units in the new office building and configuring them, I did manage to get out to see Mama Owl and Daddy Owl after I got home at sunset. I couldn’t see Mama Owl in her hole when I got in view, but I called her, and she gave me an ear tuft up to let me know she was still steadfast on her nest. Daddy Owl was gazing out at the bosque and gave me half eyes over his shoulder for my calling out to Mama Owl.
Speaking of chicks, I did see a few on my way to and from my visit to the owls. Our mini daffy’s bloomed.
Towhee
Sparrow
After spending five hours dismantling desks, tables, and chairs and moving them to our new office building, I went on a walk to check on Nora Owl. On the way, I saw sparrows, a muskrat, an echelon of cranes, a cinnamon duck. No owlets popped their heads, up and Nora Owl gave me “mad dogs” when I called to see if any owlets were around. One good sign that the owlets might have hatched is Osric Owl was watching over Nora Owl from a nearby cottonwood. On the way back I saw a Flicker, a squadron of crazy Cormorants, a bluebird of some type, and another sparrow feeding on buds in Marina’s pear tree. The clouds were beautiful in the low sunlight about 30 minutes before sunset.
Muskrat nibbling on grass near its den.
Muskrat swimming with its mouth full of grass.
Nora Owl giving me “mad dogs”.
Osric Owl on his lookout branch.
Cinnamon Duck.
Sandhill Cranes still hanging around.
Intermission: My desk we moved from the office downtown to the new office. I build the desk in 1990. That is a light table on the left-hand side I used for sorting slides and transparencies before digital cameras. The desk on the floor is Dede’s desk that she designed and I built for her in 2007, I believe. it will go in the corner to the right of my desk. I will build Bruce’s desk in the corner to the left of my desk.
Flicker
A squadron of crazy Cormorants.
A hover dove.
Barney Bluebird
Jack Sparrow
Clouds over the Sandias.
Nora Owl is still sitting. Either her owlets have hatched and they are not showing their cute faces or they will be hatching very soon.
Nora Owl in side-view.
Crane gliding above the Sandias. We saw a handful of cranes tonight.
A cute bunny greeted me when I got home. He was still hanging out when I left to check on Nora Owl.
Moon intermission.
The Sandias from the Beach at sunset.
Daddy Owl was hooting when I walked up to the tree he was in. Mama Owls was answering him.
When I walked over to Mama Owl’s hole in the tree, she stopped answering Daddy Owl and ducked into the hole. If you look carefully you can see the tipity tips of her ear tufts.
The painter was working on a soft sunset for Marina.
A storm rolled in this afternoon whiting out the Sandias.
The Sandias are somewhere in the whiteout.
Daddy Owl found a nice triangle in the cottonwood that offered a little protection from the wind and sleet.
I called to Mama Owl and she put up an ear tuft for me.
There were about a hundred Robins hopping, lying around, and foraging on the levee.
A pair of Robins.
I could only get about a dozen in the telephoto frame. They were tiny dots with wider angles under the drab light under the clouds.
Squadron of fighter ducks.
The pTeradactyl in the clear water ditch.
He decided I was too close and flew a few hundred feet down the ditch.
He felt he was at a safe distance obviously not wanting to leave the Clearwater ditch and the cover of the trees.
Dawn on daylight savings time
A pair of Wood Ducks in water.
Crazy clouds just before sunset on daylight savings time.
Daddy Owl looking jolly on his new perch overlooking Mama Owl.
Crazy clouds just before sunset with various faces and critters.
What was left of my Yamaha 250cc Enduro after I crashed doing an Evel Knievel type jump in 1973.
While I was looking for some photos I had sneaked in the Sistine Chapel many years ago and did not find, I found the above photo I had been looking for for many years of my motorcycle after I had a spectacular crash doing high jumps. I thought the photo was lost. What happened is that after flying about 15 feet in the air, I landed on the front wheel first. Surprisingly the impact didn’t bend the front wheel, but it did torque the front forks, broke the frame under the gas tank, and bent the downtube on the frame by the engine. If I had collision insurance on it back then it would have been considered a total loss. What was even more surprising is that I was relatively unhurt by the incident. If I remember correctly, the impact split my helmet, which would have been my head if I wasn’t wearing a helmet. My friend, Mike Rhoades, who was watching from another vantage point rode his motorcycle over and said: “That was cool. I want to see you do that again!” There was no replay, as we had to find a few strands of baling wire to twist together so he could tow me home.
One of the first stories Joel Lewis will tell people about us is how I rode up the dunes with Joel on the back of my motorcycle at full throttle (about 70 mph) and how we flew through the air like madmen. The first story Mike would tell people was about my spectacular crash, also. My wild motorcycle riding gave people lasting memories.
After the crash, I took the motorcycle to Mr. Haagenson’s shop and he helped me bend the frame back into shape, line it up, and weld it back together. Then I took the engine apart, rebuilt it, souped it up, painted it black, got a tuned exhaust, a desert tank, new fenders, and made it into a really fast and cool-looking dirtbike for the time. It wasn’t long after that Yamaha introduced motocross bikes with mono shocks that we taller, faster, and much better at high jumping. A few years later I got a Yamaha 500cc Enduro and then graduated to a 750cc street bike.
The same motorcycle after I got the frame straightened out, and rebuilt it with new hardware.
I also found this self-portrait from 1979. I had a lot of muscle in those days.
Nora, the mama owl to the north, still sitting on her eggs, which should be hatching out soon. I did not see Osric, daddy owl to the north.
Moma Owl showing the top of her head and her ear tufts this morning.
Daddy Owl giving me a one-eyed look this evening.
Daddy Owl watching over Mama Owl.
Off Center & Not Even 