Madge The Badge Is A Model

May 17, 2024 Timothy Price25 Comments

Sandias at sunset

We ran in David, one of our ditch bank buddies, on the way down to check on the owls. We saw him again on our way back, and he mentioned that he saw Madge the Badge and attempted to talk to her, but she slipped into her hole. When we got to Madge’s mound, we said, “Hey, Madge! It’s us. Are you coming out?” She popped her head up immediately, crawled out of her hole, and posed. Laurie asked her if she was a model, and she was like, “Duh! Isn’t it obvious?” She recognized our voices and came out to visit. She’s very intelligent. If you are wondering how I know Madge is a female. I don’t know what her sex is. I’m gendering her as a female because I like the name Madge the Badge.

“You called?”

I thought Madge was talking to us without making noise. But when I processed the photos, I could see she was chewing on something.

A Black Headed Grosbeak (top) and a female Western Tanager (bottom)

Black Headed Grosbeak

Female Western Tanager

Western Bluebird

I’m not sure what Osric Owl had in his talons, but it could be the tail feather of a Cooper’s Hawk.

Nora Owl was on her favorite perch.

Willa looked disgusted that Water was nowhere to be seen.

We hadn’t seen Wile E. in a while.

Snuggle Kitties

May 15, 2024 Timothy Price35 Comments

Gwendolyn and Loki

Jumping spider

Loki was thinking when Cater Mortis set in. Luckily, he snapped out of it. That was close, Loki!

Iris before and after Laurie whacked back Dr Huey. Dr. Huey was getting out of hand with long canes that were getting blown around and breaking the iris.

Resa looked up American Badgers and discovered they are on the endangered species list. Tristan said that’s because they are dangerous, mean, and grumpy. Craig piped in, “They will eat your face off!” I told them our badger is sweet. She said that the Cheo in the Badger recognized the Cheo in me, so it saw me as another mean and grumpy badger. There are advantages to being a mean and grumpy curmudgeon (Cheo).

We saw the badger again tonight. It listened to us for a few minutes, decided we weren’t a threat, and headed off to the apple orchard to hunt gophers. I photographed it with my phone because I had forgotten to check the batteries on the Bazooka’s camera body. Stupid paparazzo, as the critters like to say.

Close to sunset

Walter Gets His Wings

May 14, 2024 Timothy Price41 Comments

When we checked on Walter and Willa tonight, all we could see was Willa. She was high in the tree, looking all around, hopping from limb to limb, climbing the trunk of the tree. She wore herself out, and Walter was nowhere to be seen. Willa laid down on the broken branch we first spotted her on, exhausted from her efforts. Then Walter flew in from another tree, all proud of himself. He was hopping and flying around, looking for Nora. They were ready for dinner.

Willa: “Hey, Paparazzo, do you see Walter anywhere?”

Walter flew in from another tree.

Willa: “Mama! I need dinner!”

As we were walking back, the badger made a mad dash from one hole to another hole. We stopped, and it came back out and listened to us for a bit. We were so close to it that I had to take a few steps back to get enough distance to focus on the badger.

Sunset

Tail In A Box

May 13, 2024 Timothy Price47 Comments

Spunk has been watching Vintage SNL Shorts with Justin Timberlake on YouTube and got the idea to put his tail in a box.

Our guard hummingbird is vigilant.

Søren: “I handled the drive into town better than you did, stupid, impatient, cranky paparazzo!”

Søren went to the vet today. He had an irritated and swollen eye last Wednesday, but after I got the appointment and paid the deposit for the appointment, his eye was normal by Friday and is still normal today. The vet could see where he had scratched it. She gave us some ointment to put on his eyelid. That will be fun.

Since he is neurotic and doesn’t like change, we thought the drive into town would stress him out. Turns out I was more stressed out with all the stupid, slow drivers than Søren was with the car ride. He was saying, “Hello!”, making noises, and then laughing at me getting after the other drivers. My original plan was to take him to work with me when I normally go early and then take him to the vet. Since we had decided it was best for both of us to take him to the vet, I didn’t mention my idea of taking him to work with me until we were in the car and I was yelling at traffic. Laurie asked Søren if he would like to go to work with me, and he said, “No!” He was much more entertained by my getting mad at other drivers.

Søren was proud of himself after we got back from the vet. He did good.

Nora was in her favorite spot tonight before taking off to find food for Walter and Willa. We did not see or hear Osric tonight.

Willa on a branch far away, peeking over a twig at us.

Walter on a branch about six feet below where Willa was perched.

Walter

Willa flapping and hopping her way down to Walter.

Willa eagerly looking for Nora to bring her dinner. Walter just looking.

Willa

Sunset

¡Hasta la Vista! Babies!

May 12, 2024May 12, 2024 Timothy Price44 Comments

Walter’s tail among the tatones in a different tree from yesterday.

We couldn’t find Walter and Willa in their cottonwood tree this afternoon. And for good reason. They were not in it. They had both flown to the tree to the west of their tree. It will be very hard to see them at dusk from now on.

Nora napping way up high in the cottonwood west of the tree she nested in.

Willa sacked out after making the flight to the new tree.

Western Tanager

Swallow, House Finch, Robin

Mother’s Day Flowers

Silver napping

Marina’s Incognito Pear tree has become rather sculptural.

Sunset

Solar Storm

May 10, 2024 Timothy Price47 Comments

Dawn

Flower storm

Sunset

Hint of the solar storm at 8:30 PM

When I walked out at One after 9:09, the lower part of the sky looked clear to my naked eye. But through the camera, I could see the solar storm.

The sky was purple, looking north.

The sky, looking west.

Sasha and Silver were impressed

Devilish Similarities

May 9, 2024 Timothy Price72 Comments

Dawn

I am getting so frustrated with WordPress’s constant idiotic changes I am ready to stop blogging. The issues the developers introduce are not worth the frustration of trying to comment, reply to comments, and put posts together. I just don’t need the added frustration right now.

Like the rest of our house, where there is little difference between outside and inside, so it goes with the temperature.

Yes! That is a badger about 15 feet from me listening to what I have to say.

When it first saw us, it hunkered down, but then as I talked to it lifted its head up to listen.

I got close to the minimum focus distance of 11 feet for the Bazooka lens on this shot. The badger looks like, “Yeah! Yeah! Ahuh! You’re so full of crap, paparazzo!”

Sunset

Sandias and Rio Grade at dusk

Sliver moon in the clouds.

Flowers, Skies & Owls

May 8, 2024 Timothy Price35 Comments

Nora Owl in on of her favorite spots. She was not hooting a grocery list to Osric tonight.

Meanwhile, Osric was hanging out on his gate when he got the urge to upchuck a pellet.

Walter was chilling and giving me Maddogs on a lower branch.

Willa was hanging out near the end of a branch about 10 feet above Walter.

Sunset

Eye Eye Mr. Bowie

May 7, 2024 Timothy Price43 Comments

Mr. Bowie giving me the eyes.

Distant Drums

Tiny toad

Nora waiting for Osric to bring food for Walter and Willa.

Osric waiting to take his catch to Nora.

Weird food pass-off.

Feeding frenzy

The Christmas lights of the mirror quit working. I replaced them with a neon rope.

Walter Is A Pig

May 6, 2024 Timothy Price49 Comments

Walter and Willa were out of the nest and up on the trunk of the tree tonight. They were peeping up a storm, especially Walter. Nora was a tree limb over the horse stall hooting a grocer list. At one point, I looked back at Nora and noticed she was in a different position. A few minutes later, she was feeding Walter a gopher, as shown in the above video.