Tag: Great Horned owls

A Long Talk With Nora, and Tea Toast & Trivia

Timothy Price87 Comments

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.

Dancing Daze

Timothy Price45 Comments

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

 

Ether Blue Spaghetti

Timothy Price47 Comments

I moved our 48 port switch to the new building today. I got 3-foot long patch cables because I didn’t know where in the rack I was going to put it. The screws that were left in the rack are slightly too small, so they pulled out of the holes under the weight of the switch. So the switch is on top of the rack for the time being with a mess of spaghetti-like patch cables all over it. We also got Internet installed today and the alarm techs were installing new alarm equipment since the old alarm was old and the person who installed it is long gone. The old alarm system didn’t call out to anyone, so if it got set off, then only people who would know about it are the tenants on the west side of the building. We will be able to monitor and control the new alarm system from our phones. I got Bruce’s desk built between working on wiring, answering questions for the alarm, and tracking down the wiring for the WiFi.

A wider view of the wries, surveillance monitor, the new alarm controller on the right, the old telephone system punch blocks, and the electronic access box.

Bruce’s desk that I was using to test the Internet.

The Internet we installed is 50MBps up and down highspeed wireless. The test is showing faster speeds.

Loki is a bit dazed by all the tech talk.

Guess who?

Daddy owl looking like a king with a royal robe wrapped around him.

Mama Owl was peeking over the edge tonight.

The forecast is for snow tonight. I believe it.

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.

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.

Wood Duck Daze

Timothy Price62 Comments

When I went out on a walk this morning, I found Daddy Owl in the tree he sits in when he watches over the owlets. Mama Owl’s ear tufts barely stuck up above the edge of the hole in the tree. A few cranes flew over close to the tops of the cottonwood trees. Most of the cranes have headed north. Only a few cranes are holding out.

Then I saw something moving in the cottonwoods. It was a female Wood Duck hopping and flying around between branches. A male Wood Duck soon followed. That was the first of three pairs of Wood Ducks I saw in the cottonwoods as I walked in the bosque this morning.

A couple of months ago there were some birders looking for the elusive Wood Ducks. I told them they were too early. They looked at me like I was crazy. The birders acted like the Wood Ducks are rare. Well, they were quite rare in the middle of the winter, but they are not rare now.

I took a lot of photos of the Wood Duck pairs. I was thinking about the best way to show a lot of Wood Duck photos and decided I’d write a song and put the photos to music. The song is not very polished, but I had fun doing it. I hope you enjoy Wood Duck Daze and the all photos of the Wood Ducks.

La La La La Llorona

Timothy Price70 Comments

I presented my paper Quinientos años de lágrimas: The persistence of La Llorona — 16th Century to Present at The 52nd Annual Convention of the Northeast Modern Language Association this afternoon. The convention was scheduled to be held in Philadelphia, PA, but like so many things in our world of covid cooties, the organizers decided it was best to do a virtual conference. That was a wise decision, but it certainly changes the dynamics of a conference. I thought it was fitting to add the above parody I posted last year.

The last warning sliver moon in March.Sasha: “Do you like my La Llorona eyes?”

Marble: “No Sasha! This is how you make La Lorona eyes!”

Neither of you has it right. You need to be crying. Sasha & Marble: “Cats don’t cry! Stupid La Llorona!”

Silver: “La Llorona? Meh!”

Spunk: “No stinking La Llorona will get to me behind these bars!”

Glenda: “What’s that you say?”

“La la la La Llorona?”

Loki: “I’m not impressed!”

“Talk to the paws and claws La Llorona!”

Gwendolyn: “Yeah! Talk to the paws!”

Daddy Owl: “I don’t see no stinking La Llorona! What’s that you say? La Llorona can shapeshift into an owl? Ha ha ho ho hoo who. That’s a Hoot!”

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.