Tag: birds

Spring Walk

Timothy Price55 Comments

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.

Eye Eye Nora

Timothy Price46 Comments

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.

Whiteout

Timothy Price66 Comments

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.

A look Back

Timothy Price51 Comments

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.

Dusk View

Timothy Price42 Comments

There are fewer cranes as they are starting to head north.

pTerodactyl at dusk.

More hangers-on

Daddy Owl is not perching for long at dusk. He is flying off in search of food for Mama Owl.

The pTerodactyl looking beautifully blue-gray in the twilight.

Are you there in the darkness Mama Owl?

Yes, she is there sitting on her eggs.

Through The Humidifier Stripely

Timothy Price59 Comments

Spunk: “It looks like Beaker got a new humidifier.”

Beaker: “I’m looking through it all stripely.”

Gwendolyn: “Quick change Spunk! Ha! Ha! Ha!”

Beaker: “Thanks for the new humidifier! I can breathe again.”

Spunk: “How did you do that you little brat?” Gwendolyn: “Ah ah ah ah…”

Gwendolyn: “Magic!”

Spunk: “I look great reflecting on the phone.” Gwendolyn: “I’m outta here.”

Beaker’s old humidifier started leaking, so I got him a new one. No sooner had I taken the humidifier out of the box, than Spunk jumped in it followed by Gwendolyn. Beaker gets his own private humidifier to help him breathe better. It’s so dry here that Beaker wheezes without the humidifier.

Persistence of Pigeons Parking

Timothy Price48 Comments

Every morning during the week I park my car in the same spot as I am usually first to arrive in the parking lot. Recently, when I get out of the car, pigeons fly in and gather around me. Last week three or four would gather, but this morning 14 pigeons flew in and stood in front of me. I assume they are expecting a handout like most people I encounter early in the morning downtown. Since I had nothing to offer them other than a few words of encouragement, like Saint Frances of Assisi, I gave them a short sermon. Then I gathered my things out of the trunk of my car and headed to the office.

Fourteen pigeons hoping for a handout got a short sermon instead.

Beaker Loves Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Timothy Price53 Comments

“Where’s my blueberry buttermilk pancake PapaRATzo?”

Breaker, our 29-year-old Gold Cap Conure, goes nuts over blueberry buttermilk pancakes. He also loves Susan’s blueberry pound cake. I’m thinking that Beaker has genetic memory of his feathered forefathers going out to treetop IHOPs for Sunday breakfast or Sunday Brunch where they enjoyed blueberry buttermilk pancakes. Beaker also loves coffee, donuts, hamburgers, French fries, pizza, huevos rancheros, and similar fare, all of which he rarely gets. But still, the fact that he likes those various types of foods so much leads me to believe he has a genetic memory of a whole feathered fast food industry high in the tops of rainforest canopies.

Beaker’s pancake is the little one on the lower left side of the griddle.

“I’m still waiting!”

“About time you got my order off the griddle.”

“Yum!”

“Yum! Yum!”

“Yum! Yum! Yum! Yum!”

It’s been a few years since Laurie made blueberry buttermilk pancakes. Beaker thoroughly enjoyed his pancake as I did mine. The pancakes were delicious.

Glenda and Gwendolyn were not impressed with blueberry buttermilk pancakes. They were more interested in lying around and looking cute.