Hawks and chickens

During the day, at work, I occasionally pull up the Raptor Cam and check out a Red Tailed Hawk nest in downtown Portland. This year a pair of Red Tails laid three eggs and they all hatched. While the little ones were still all fuzzy we lost one. The other two have grown and continue to develop well. At the moment they are busy flapping around the nest and hopping onto the railing and window ledge. It won’t be long until they take up flying. I can’t wait to see that!

If you’re interested in seeing them you can go to: http://www.kgw.com/community/blogs/raptor-cam/KGW-Audubon-Raptor-Cam.html

At this same site there are also some photos of the Peregrine Falcons that nest on the bridge.

I guess this is my year to be fascinated by birds. I go home every evening and let my chickens out to roam the back yard. I love watching them. I also love that as soon as they see me coming out the back door they all run to the end of their enclosure. It’s great to see six little faces all so happy to see me.

I’ve been giving them new and different things to eat: bread, grapes, strawberries, and peanut butter on bread. The last is by far their favorite! They like them all, but something about the peanut butter really get them excited. Wel,l that and the flowers in my containers along the edge of the patio. I keep a spray bottle handy, full of water to shot them with when they start wrecking havoc. I think they are beginning to learn not to mess with the containers, but at the same time they still need regular reminders in a liquid form.

The other day Sugar, who does everything first, started clucking. I mean really clucking, not just a screech as they have all been doing from time to time. The whole gang was all clustered up at the edge of the garden pecking away at grass and leaves, when she began to cluck. Cluuuuck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck……Cluuuuck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck …..Cluuuuck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck. She looked quite distressed, like she couldn’t figure out what was happening. She wasn’t the only one. All of the other girls ran across the yard, next to the run, huddled together and stared at her. They kept their distance for awhile after she had gotten over her little spell. None of them are quite sure what happened but they don’t seem to be looking forward to a repeat.

They are all taking their turns at flying. This usually happens when they have been spooked by something. This could be such terrifying things as a gust of wind, a falling leaf, a butterfly, or nothing at all. All the squawking starts, the running, the wing flapping, and then at least two or three will lift off. At first the landings were a bit rough, but they seem to have gotten the hang of it now.

People keep telling they will fly up into trees if I don’t clip their wings. I don’t have any trees in my yard, and they all seem determined to get back to the run as quick as possible when they get spooked, so I’ve decided not to worry about that. At least not until one of them actually flies up onto a limb of a neighbor’s tree. Then I will be faced with how to get them down. What fun!!

Craigslist and treasure hunts

I have a wire rabbit hutch for sale on Craigslist. This is the first time I’ve tried to sell anything on there, and I have to say I’m not having the best of luck. My ad says, “Rabbit Hutch, wire, $40.00. Wire rabbit hutch in excellent condition.” And, I’ve included a photo. I didn’t think I really needed to say anymore, you know a picture is worth a thousand words, which is a good thing because Craigslist won’t let me use a thousand word. Honestly I don’t think I could come up with that many words for it anyway.

So everybody that has emailed me, all 3 of them, have wanted to know something. Mostly the dimensions, or if it has trays in the bottom. I guess I should go in and edit my ad to include that info, but I can’t seem to find any of the 9 million tape measures I’ve bought over the years! I even buy them in neon colors so they will be easier to find!! I have been reduced to giving approximate dimensions.

My brother can throw up an ad on Craigslist that says, “Ratty old fencing and post, $50.00” with no pictures, and people will get into a bidding war. I am definitely missing the salesman gene!

My brother and his family are coming to visit next month and I sure hope I have this thing sold and off the patio by then. Of course there are other things I need to get off the patio as well, like what is left of the dresser I bought for the drawer to use as nesting boxes, and other parts for other things. Luckily the neighborhood cleanup is just around the corner and just before they arrive for vacation, so this could be a good thing.

Speaking of our soon to arrive family, my family is really heavy on boys, so these visits are always rowdy affairs. Over the past few years we have been doing a treasure hunt. Its great fun weather you’re a treasure hunter part of the planning and set up. Last year, the kids were all old enough to have our treasure hunt spread out over the neighborhood. It took them about an hour to make it through all the clues and arrive at the final location, the field behind my house. My sister, sister-in-law and I were all on the back patio watching them search for the treasure. For 20 minutes they crawled all through the grove of tree trying to find the treasure. They went around the tree the treasure was hanging in about a hundred times. It had a red rope tied to the tree to let it down. But, around and around they went. Those of us on the patio were laughing so hard we were in near hysterics. I’m already planning the hunt for this year, I can’t wait.

The sun is shining, the temps are up, the garden is growing, the chickens are happy and life is good… outside. Unfortunately I’m stuck inside at my deck wishing I was home and outside. Damn! Who came up the idea of work anyway?

Of course on wet and miserable days I don’t mind working inside, or on those hot and humid day. We have so few really exceptional days that I feel staying inside for them is just plain offensive. I’m in search of a car at this very moment so can do some site visits on some of my projects. I won’t even have to carry along my wet gear, just my sunglasses.

I’m in the market for a new warm weather drink. Yesterday I went to lunch with a coworker and she ordered an Arnold Palmer. I was a little taken aback thinking she was drinking during work hours, and she is so not the type to do that. Apparently an Arnold Palmer is half ice tea and half lemonade. Doesn’t that sound lovely? I’m going to mix up a batch this weekend with some good tea, and maybe even splash in a bit of something more potent. I’ll be on the patio if anyone wants to come try it out with me.

Just got back from vacation recently and I thought I should let you all know that my trips through the Kansas City Airport were a great improvement over my previous trip. I made it through without a single meltdown.

Time with the grandkids was awesome!! They’re brilliant, and amazing, and totally wonderful!! I wish I could have packed them all up and brought them home with me.

My daughter is so brave. I don’t think I could what she is doing. Starting college again, with two very small children while here husband is deployed and having no one close by that she knows well. She just makes me so proud! I wish she was closer, or that I could be there more often to help out.

I was driving down the road the other day when I saw one of those things that just make you scratch your head and say, what were they thinking? There is a road side business with a sign out front, and erected next to the business is a big billboard. Now these two signs were stacked on in front of the other, so the first is for the business and says, “XXX Adult Videos”, the billboard is for the Boys and Girls Club and giant letters is says, “Be passionate!” I nearly wreck the car for laughing.