Feeling Better - Birding

I walked outside yesterday.... I just need some sunshine and fresh air. I looked up and a Turkey Vulture was flying overhead. I was beginning to think he was circling for me. Today I feel that there really is hope that I might live :-)) I'm feeling much better.

I spent most of last night in bed. I got up several times coughing and came to my recliner at about 5 am. I got up and made coffee at about 7am. I could actually smell and taste coffee this morning. Frank is making chicken & rice today and it smells great!

I thought dressing would make me feel better yesterday, but I think that I felt cozier when I was wearing my pajamas. I don't think I'll get out of these flannel pjs until after lunch... then maybe I'll dress and walk around the yard... split the difference today.

I took the picture above a long time ago with my Sony f717. I think now with my Sony Alpha 700 and 300 mm lens that I could get a better picture.... but maybe not.. I'm just not very good at taking pictures of birds. I remember someone asking what camera I use and don't think I answered that question. I also have a Sony pocket-size camera model P200.

So I have three cameras. It started off being Sony brand because we have a Sony video camera and the Sony f717 uses the same battery and such.... so shared items. Then the Sony f717 had to be repaired... a free repair. While it was off being repaired I bought the Sony P2o0 because it was marked down and it would use the same memory stick as the other Sony camera and it was pocket-size. Then comes the Alpha 70o. I decided on it because Frank has a Minolta film camera. Lenses and external flashes could be shared. It's the domino effect ;-)

I hope one day to get better at taking bird pictures. It will just take practice and so many things have happened with my body since I got the Alpha 700 and I have not been able to do a lot of practice. Birds see the camera in my hand and they hide :-( I won't get discouraged though.

The picture below was taken with my Alpha 700 camera... not long after I got the camera. I was trying different settings with my camera and this style is called Neutral. I wish I had the camera set on normal settings, but the little flycatcher only gave me this one shot... so no time to change settings.

The flycatcher is an Ash-Throated Flycatcher and it is unusual to see them in our area. I had trouble IDing the flycatcher, so someone suggested to call the local Audubon Society. They did help me with the ID, but it turned out to be a mistake in calling them... I'll let you look at the bird before I tell the rest of the story.

The picture was taken on my parents' old homestead. For further ID the person that ID the bird for certain wanted to take a personal look at the bird. We had something going on and couldn't meet the person down there, but gave him directions.

After his visit he wanted other members of the Audubon Society to see the bird since it was so unusual. For some reason I couldn't go, but Frank had work to do down there and met them.

One of the birders was former Lt. Governor of Georgia, Pierre Howard. Frank said that he was just really a nice person. He sent us a very nice thank you card.

Frank warned the birders that there are rattle snakes down there and sink holes and things hidden in the leaves to stumble over and to be careful (this was the end of February last year). Frank said that I should have seen those crazy birders running after that little bird trying to get pictures. After Frank's warnings the birders were not looking where they where walking and running. Fortunately no one hurt themselves, but we decided that it was just too dangerous to allow them to continue to come.... so we put a stop to it. I was also feeling sorry for the poor little bird too.... who would want to be chased around like that and by a lot people (well a half dozen or more would be a lot to me). One birder even played a recording of the bird's mating call to get its attention.... just cruel!

Our neighbor said that for a couple of more weeks that people came and lined the edge of his property with cameras with long lenses chasing that bird from a distance. Amazing what a stir a little bird can make.

A couple more of the birders sent us thank you cards and one sent us a framed picture that she had taken of the bird.

If ever I see this little bird on the property again... or another bird that I can't ID... I will keep my mouth shut. It is just not worth it worrying if someone is going to get hurt or worrying if the bird will survive the stress.

I would love to be great at taking bird pictures... like my friend Didi . She is just super at it... my favorite are her hummingbird pictures.

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Have you ever observed a humming-bird moving about in an aerial dance among the flowers - a living prismatic gem.... it is a creature of such fairy-like loveliness as to mock all description. -- W.H. Hudson, Green Mansions

We're Slowly Getting Better

Just thought I would let y'all know that I'm still alive. Our head colds are still hanging on. We are slowly getting better. If the cough would just go away. Frank went out and bought some Mucinex Dm and hopefully that will help. I have spent most of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights and all of last night in my recliner. We are taking it as easy as we can.

I hope to read some of your blogs this afternoon.

Meme -- Letter G

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Leave a comment on this post and I will assign you a letter. Write about ten things you love that begin with said letter.

Post the list on your blog. When people comment on your list, you assign a letter, and the game continues. I will only assign a letter if you request it, so don't hesitate to comment ...

Dorothy over at Counting My Blessings assigned me the letter G.

1. God. He is in my life every second of the day.
   
   
2. Goff Family. Frank's parents are my second set of parents.
   
   
3. Gadding about the countryside. It feels so relaxing to just ride and look at the fields, old farm houses and animals grazing.
   
   
4. Gardens. I like the flower garden and Frank the vegetable garden. I'm not able to garden as I use to. I now grow what perennials I can in the flower beds that don't take a lot of care and grow flowers in pots.
   
   
5. Garden Mums. After about eight years the ones in my flower pots looked scraggly and so I discarded them. I just couldn't keep the aphids out of them the last two years of their life. I like the red-orange ones and they were not available locally this year... so I missed seeing a lot of fall butterflies. You can see the mums in a couple of the butterfly pictures here.
   
   
6. Genealogy. In school I was lousy at history. Now that I've worked on our genealogy I know a lot more world and USA history events than I did in school. I love the smell of the old musky books in the court houses. I love reading the records even when they aren't to do with my family so I help others out when I can... and for free within reason.
   
   
7. Giggling. It just feels so good to get them out.
   
   
8. Grilled shrimp. Frank just cooks them to perfection.
   
   
9. Getting Frank's Goat. Some of you may not be familar with the phrase "get one's goat". Here is an explanation from World WideWords:
   

Though the phrase is recorded from near the beginning of the twentieth century, nobody seems to know where it comes from.
We do know it’s American. The earliest known reference to it is in a book, Life in Sing Sing, of 1904, in which goat is glossed as meaning anger. Examples begin to appear in the following years, with its becoming more widely known by about 1910 (an article in the Washington Post in September that year about superstitions connected with goats calls it “the modern slang expression”). Also in that year, Jack London included it in a letter: “Honestly, I believe I’ve got Samuels’ goat! He’s afraid to come back”.

The most common story to explain the phrase relates to horse racing in North America and to the common practice of putting a goat in the stall with a skittish thoroughbred racehorse to help calm it. Enterprising villains capitalised on this by gambling on the horse to lose and then stealing the goat. A substantial desire to suspend one’s disbelief is needed to accept this story at face value.

Other people have tried to identify it in some way with scapegoat, have seen it as a variant form of goad, and have linked it with an old French phrase prendre la chèvre (to take the goat). But evidence is lacking for all of them.

I like to irritate Frank just enough to get a smile out of him. He knows it is just something that I can't help. I have a bit of devil in me.

10. Georgia. I love living here. We have so much variety and beauty in Georgia... we have mountains and sea shores. ... we have pine tree forest and live oak tree groves. Most of the time our winters are mild and our summer are hot.

Please leave a comment. I will only assign a letter if you request one.

I may get behind on reading your blogs. I have a head cold. Frank has it worse. These are the first head colds we've had since January of 2004. I'm so glad they don't come often with us. When we had head colds last time we had to buy a new vaporizer and the date on the receipt is 20 Jan. 2004 and that is how we remember when :-)

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How about a poem? In honor of the letter G...

Greatness
Edgar A. Guest

We can be great by helping one another;
We can be loved for very simple deeds;
Who has the grateful mention of a brother
Has really all the honor that he needs.

We can be famous for our works of kindness --
Fame is not born alone of strength or skill;
It sometimes comes from deafness and from blindness
To petty words and faults, and loving still.

We can be rich in gentle smiles and sunny:
A jeweled soul exceeds a royal crown.
The richest men sometimes have little money,
And Croesus oft's the poorest man in town.