At times we see no wild turkeys for weeks-on-end. Sometimes we see 3 or 4 turkey nearly daily. Then there are the bonus days when we see a whole flock. For the past few days a flock of 10-16 turkey who seemed to have escaped being someone's entrée for Thanksgiving or Christmas have visited us. If they cross the creek that borders our lot they are subject, during season, to being shot by humans - with bow & arrow or shotgun.
The photos were taken on the 10th of this month and are in order from earliest to latest. There are no photos of the turkeys while they were near the house (on our patio and in the planting beds) because, to get a decent photo, I must open the sliding glass door. Obviously, that is most likely to flush them.
I just recalled that, last evening, as Hunky Husband and I sat chatting in the living room, I caught a glimpse of two turkey fluttering down from having flown over our house to settle in our back yard. I didn't get up to see them and it would have been too dark for me to have caught photos. They sometimes roost in the trees of our (or nearby) woods for the night. I have sometimes thought that some of them roost on our roof, as well.
The local weather guessers told us, last night, to expect fog out there today. In general, our fog hits us in the wee hours of the morning and the sun dissipates it by 10:00am. Today was different.
At 10:00am, today, I was in an eye surgeon's office - expecting Dr Leitner to give me one, final exam of the site in my left eye where a hemorrhage had occurred next to the optic nerve at sometime (probably) in early 2020. I had seen Dr Lightner last July, and again in September. In July, Dr L was reluctant to perform surgery because of proximity to the optic nerve. In September, she found that the hemorrhage was healing itself, nicely. Today, she said that the hemorrhage had resolved itself - that she wanted to check on it, again, in six months. By 10:45am, we were on our way home, we being Hunky Husband and me.
The facility in which I saw Dr Leitner was an office (in Wichita - about 11 miles from our house). Because they would be dilating my eyes, I had asked HH to take me. On our way home, I was amazed that my eyes seemed to still be fully dilated - everything looked foggy. Recalling the forecast of fog from last night, and seeing that the McConnell AFB beacon (on the water tower of the above photos) was flashing, I asked HH to affirm that it had become foggy while we were in Wichita. It had.
Arriving at home, I made an early lunch and took a nap - activities for which I didn't need to see well. Amazingly, when I awoke from my nap, nearly five hours since the dilating drops had been introduced into my eyes, my eyes were still nearly fully dilated. Checking with Dr L's team (I didn't want to be left in a lurch, with tomorrow's being Saturday - surely an "off" day for Dr L), I was told that a long-lasting agent had been used. My eyes may be dilated for as long as 24 hours! Thanks for the "heads up", team. That would have been a nice piece of information for me to have had. When I took a selfie (below) to show the dilation, the flash forced the pupils to contract. Great thinking - lol. Next time I'll do the flash bit sooner.
For a few days the weather guessers have been telling us to expect snow and freezing rain this past Wednesday. By the time it got closer to Wednesday, the nasty weather had been pushed forward to Thursday - then to Friday. As it turned out, AFAIK, the rain/freezing rain that was to precede and proceed the snow and was to have started at around Midnight last night did not show up. When I trudged through the accumulated snow and blowing snow to retrieve our morning paper, there was no sign of slipperiness as I expected from a coating of ice. But...the world from our house, looks fresh and clean with its white coating. It is still snowing, but only half-heartedly with tiny flakes. The sun has been trying to peek out for the past hour. I've already had my first bowl of snow ice cream - for breakfast. (I'll take a small break, here.)
The first photo was taken at about 8am (the camera's date/time was off) at which time I measured a bit over 4 inches of snow on the patio table. At about 11:30am, I measured 5.5 inches. The sun came out just before noon and the snow had quit. By hovering your cursor over a photo you may reveal the caption to each photo.
When the weather turns bad, we always have a bountiful number of birds at our feeders. This morning, we've had European starlings (ugh!), a passel of slate-colored juncos (with one pink-sided amongst them), a handful of house finches, a like number of American gold finches, a few tufted titmice, one white-breasted nuthatch, one red-bellied woodpecker, a couple of downy woodpeckers, and a female cardinal - that I recall.
Please note the blue feeder in the above two photos. I have a hook on a pole that I use to retrieve/replace feeders through one or the other of the living room windows during weather such as this. A bit after these photos were taken, I tried to retrieve the blue feeder for re-filling. Unfortunately, I used one hand/arm in the process and fumbled the feeder when I took its full weight at the end of my pole, dumping it off onto the ground. I replaced it with another tube-type feeder rather than going out and trampling about in the snow. The snow looks better without my footprints.
Added at 3:33pm - No more ice cream
It warmed up, quickly, once the sun came out. About half of the snow has already melted. What is left wouldn't be fit for snow ice cream. It is 35 degrees Fahrenheit.
Around the world, the deaths due to COVID-19 or the effects of the pandemic have been horrific. No one could fail to be saddened by those deaths. On a more personal note, I have been saddened by deaths among work friends and social friends of years gone by.
The following listing includes those deaths that occurred in the past year or so, of which I have learned. May each rest in peace.
For years I've reported seeing female purple finches at our bird feeders only to be met with skepticism. A couple of years, when I've reported seeing them during surveys (Christmas Bird Count, for instance), my sightings have not been counted because I could not produce backup photos. Finally, a few days ago, the stars aligned and I was able to photograph our visitors. Passing the photos to my birding gurus, Elder Brother and Bogie, for confirmation, I am ready to post them here for all to ooh and ahh over. (Thank you, Bogie.)
The first photo, below, was taken at full zoom with my little point-and-shoot HP R817 Photosmart camera - through the kitchen bay window. The second photo was taken at no zoom with that camera - through the living room window. For once, the sun was in a position that allowed me to photograph through the window glasses without the birds' being spooked.
Male House Finch (nearest camera) & Two Female Purple Finches
Two Female Purple Finches & a Male Northern Cardinal
The purple finches were at the feeders, again, the next day (Christmas Eve), during which visit I was unable to take more photos. As is usual, they have not been seen since. The purple finches that I see are always females who don't stick around very long. I don't know if the male house finch(es) with which I see them are fellow travelers or local residents that happen to come to feed at the same time.
Since mid-March, I've been grocery shopping at the small WalMart Neighborhood Market that is just a mile (as one walks or drives) from our home. In addition, I set up an account with walmart.com and have been having delivered to us things that the small store (or, even, that WalMart) doesn't carry. On the 22nd, I did our normal grocery shopping at 6am (which the store sets aside to allow us really old people shop on Tuesdays, before they open to the public). As I walked toward the store from my car, I noticed a large notification sign about their newly instituted shop online/pickup service. With the 100% occupation of COVID-19 ICU beds in all Wichita hospitals, the new variant of COVID-19 that spreads more rapidly, and the schedule that seems to place HH and me in line for getting vaccinated no sooner than early April, I decided to take advantage of no-contact delivery to my car. OK.
Yesterday's being my established grocery shopping day, I tried to place an order for pickup last night. Nope. They weren't having any of it. Some of my order they would ship to me; but, most of my order was "buy in store, only". Grrrr. I gave up and toddled off to bed. This morning, while waiting for it to be time for me to go to the dental office, I decided to try again. I switched from using IE11 to using EDGE to try to place my order. I can't remember how I got there; but, I do recall searching with DuckDuckGo on how to pick up groceries from WalMart. Eventually, I did get my order placed - for pickup between 1pm and 2pm.
At 1:00pm, WalMart sent me an email to let me know that my order was ready for pickup. They wanted me to text them or to download their app on my phone to let them know that I was heading out to make the pickup. Well...that doesn't work. I don't have either capability. I tried to call the store, but received no answer following 10 rings. I drove the mile to the small WalMart store. Upon arrival, I couldn't find any of the specially marked parking spots that I had been advised to use. Around and around I drove. Eventually, I tried calling them, again. Fortunately, I received a prompt response, and they told me where to find the special parking stall - around the corner at the left side of the above photo - up against the building in the employee's parking section rather than in the customer parking lot (foreground of photo). A special phone number to call upon arrival was listed on a sign at each of the four parking spaces.
Jay brought out my groceries, loaded them in my trumk, and I was on my way home.
Now that I know how to work with the system, I like it. I may never go inside another WalMart store in my life! BTW: WalMart does not allow its employees to accept tips. I had learned that some time ago, but I tried to tip Jay nonetheless.
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Disclosure: WalMart has no knowledge of my blogging nor am I encouraging people to patronize the company stores or online presence. While I own a few hundred shares of WalMart, that holding does not comprise a significant percentage of my net worth nor produce a significant percentage of my annual income. I do not/have not/will not/shall not receive remuneration from WalMart for my posting(s).
Scene: 6:40am I am abed in my basement bedroom, listening to the news on the radio. Hunky Husband is abed in his bedroom that is directly above mine. I do not know whether my eyes are open or closed as it is dark. I see a bright flash ("explosion") of white light either just inside or just outside one of the small, high windows on the wall against which the headboard of my bed nestles. Immediately following the light flash I hear a muffled, light "thud" - rather like the thud of a rolled, small newspaper's landing in a grassy yard after being thrown by the paper deliverer.
Action: Quickly, I arise, check out my bedroom, turn off the two radios that are playing in my bedroom and the heating pad that is warming my knees, and run upstairs to check with HH. He has also arisen and is outside his bedroom, in the hallway, with the light burning. When I ask if everything is alright upstairs, he says it is. He saw the light flash, but did not hear the noise. Hmmm...he thought the flash was inside his bedroom, toward his bay window (immediately above my bedroom windows).
I scanned the back yard, then turned on the outside floodlights to scan, again. Nothing.
Mulling: There is no odor of ozone as an electrical arc, inside the house, might produce. Besides, I would not expect the flash of an electrical arc to be visible in both bedrooms since all electrical lines in that wall of each bedroom are within a foot of the respective floor.
Possibility: I can only think that we were hit by a micrometeorite or a tiny piece of junk falling from the sky. As it is raining/freezing raining outside, and somewhat windy (30mph), it may be a day or two before I can do any searching. For such a small flash and such a small noise, it probably will not be possible for me to find the micrometeorite or junk, even if the possibility is a fact. It's a mystery for HH and me.
Invitation: Any thoughts?
This morning at 7:11am - We call her Venus.
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