Fridays Are Golden

Labor Day Weekend is upon us.  The end of August and the accepted end of summer.  Our weather has been hot and very humid.  Miserable to say it in one word.  So the Golden Girls take advantage of the air-conditioned house.  They do not do well in the humid heat.

 

Last week it was a chair rung.  This week it's the stone hearth.

Makes you want to wake her up to prevent a crick in the neck.

 

 

 

Open-faced hot dog sandwich

 

 

 

For once Ellie has more than her share.

I hope you will enjoy this long weekend.  Even retired folks like us still love the three-day weekends.

In these days of hot rhetoric, it is wise to stay grounded.  Marcus Aurelius provides this timely quote:

"Everything you hear is an opinion, not a fact.  Everything you see is a perspective, not the truth."

 

 

HAVE A SAFE AND WONDERFUL HOLIDAY WEEKEND!!!

 

 



Important Anniversary

A march seen 'round the world.  And a speech heard 'round the world.

Fifty years ago today, the March on Washington brought together people of all races and riches.  To a person, the audience wore "Sunday best."  Men in suits and ties, women in dresses and hats, little boys in white oxford shirts, little girls in patent leather Mary Janes and lace-cuffed socks.  In spite of many hours of travel and little sleep, the people were inspired.  Change was in the air.  It was time.  There is little doubt that the 1963 march did more for advancing civil rights than any other single event.

 

 

The march and the gathering were peaceful beyond expectations

 

 

 

 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the man with a dream

Dr. King's moving speech is often called the "I have a dream" speech and those are the most quoted words.  Interestingly enough, the dream part of the speech was completely extemporaneous.  The prepared speech did not include the phrases so often repeated.

This part of the speech came about when singer Mahaliah Jackson said, "Tell them about the dream, Martin.  Tell them about the dream."  And so he did.  Unscripted and from deep within himself he told us about his dream for our world.  And all across America, we listened.

The dream has not been fully realized but those of us who remember the '60s know that great progress has been made.  We still have the dream, and we must continue to make it come true.  We have a dream...

Three On a Tree

The Pileated Woodpeckers will soon stop feeding their young and the little ones will have to fend for themselves.  Unlike most birds, the Pileated Woodpecker fledglings are almost as large as the adults before they ever leave the nests.  We can tell the difference between parent and child in their eyes.  The adults have a well-defined sclera while the pupil fills the entire eye on the juveniles.  In most instances, the adults have smoother top-knotch feathers while the juveniles appear in need of grooming.

This year, one of our mated pairs of Pileated Woodpeckers had two fledglings.  We have been delighted to see them in the area.

 

 

 

Father (on the left) and his two daughters

 

 

 

One click of the camera is enough to send one of them flying away.

Soon to be followed by the others.

It is really amazing to see the parent feeding two juveniles at once.

Fridays Are Golden

 

 

We thought we were in for some sunny days without any rain.  Yesterday dawned bright and gorgeous.  Finally we were having some typical summer weather.  And then at 1:00 the clouds came out of nowhere and poured rain down upon us.  Heavy rain.  As in two and a half inches in one hour!  Fortunately when the rain stopped, it stopped.  The rest of the day was beautiful and we are enjoying a sunny day today.

 

Our Lucy loves to look out the windows.  The dining room window makes a perfect spot to make certain no one is walking on her road.  She periodically "patrols" the house, looking out the windows in all directions.  (And yes, she must stick her nose on the window to look out.)



 

 

 

 

In spite of a long walk, Ellie flies down the driveway to greet me.

She looks a lot like Lucy in last week's post.

 

 

 

Lucy love to snooze with her head on the chair rail.  Surprisingly enough, she never uses my chair or my husband's chair.

 

 

This is the last weekend in August.  Schools are opening their doors once again and the tourists will leave us for a while.  But they will be back to see the leaves.

Today's quote is appropriate for our time:

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
Thomas Paine

The struggle to support our freedom these days is challenging and at times fatiguing.  And yet, if we do not respond to the call to action, many more freedoms will be lost.  So we keep up the faith and trudge onward.

HAVE A SAFE AND WONDERFUL WEEKEND, EVERYONE!!!

 

 



Another Little Woodpecker

Regular readers know that our woods are filled with several types of woodpeckers.  One of my favorites is the Red-bellied Woodpecker.  We have two pairs of them and love catching a glimpse of their fledglings.  The fledglings do not have any red on them, either on their bellies or their heads.  I assume this makes it all the better to hide from predators.  The little ones have gray heads and unlike the Pileated Woodpeckers, the Red-bellied fledglings are considerably smaller than the adults.

 

 

Little Red-bellied Woodpecker in the tree.

Oh, so sweet!

I hope to get a photograph of the parent feeding this little one.  But it's a matter of patience and luck, as are most things in life.

Birds Being Birds

 

 

 

We are by no measure experts on birds or bird life.  But we do have lots of opportunities to observe them in nature.  We have three pairs of Pileated Woodpeckers who come to our feeders with their young.  One pair has two fledglings in this brood; the other two pairs had only a single one.  Both parents assist in feeding.

 

This is not scientific, but we have noticed a pattern in their approach to feeding.  Our first indication that the birds have hatched are the parents; filling their beaks with suet and flying off quickly in the same direction each time.  Later, we see the parent and fledgling deep in the woods.  As time progresses, the woodpeckers bring the fledglings closer and closer to the house.

 

At first, the parent seems always to feed the little bird from above, dropping the food into its mouth.  As the little one grows, the parent feeds the bird in a more parallel position.  Finally, the parent feeds from below the bird, forcing the little one to mimic eating on its own.

 

 

Parent on the left, little girl on the right

 

 

 

The parent makes three trips to the suet.

Our most amusing observations are when the parent comes to the suet and flies past the little bird waiting on the branch.  The little bird invariably sits there in disbelief.  When it realizes the parent is not returning to feed it, the bird makes several attempts to get to the feeder.  Often the initial attempts are not successful but very soon the little bird is sitting properly on the suet feeder enjoying a meal.

Watching the birds simply being birds helps us forget about the world's problems for a while.

Fridays Are Golden

Here we are in mid-August and the afternoon rain continues.  Now it is accompanied by much cooler than normal temperatures.  Yesterday's high was only 62 and this weekend is expected to break records.  There is little doubt that this year's weather has been the strangest in my memory.

While the Golden Girls do not like the rain, they are delighted and energized by the cooler temperatures.  They wake up ready to romp.

Here they come running down the driveway.

 

 

 

Grabbing a few of the rays to be found

 

 

 

Lucy looking out at the rain

 

 

 

Lucy flying back in a recall

You have likely read about our fair state or seen us in the national spotlight.  Our governor signed the oppressive voting legislation into law.  (Thank you SCOTUS!  First you allowed Citizen's United to buy our State election and then you struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act.)  Fortunately, the people are mobilizing and the protests are turning into action.

A quote has been in my mind recently.  It is frequently attributed to Helen Keller and other times said to be an anonymous one.  The words vary somewhat, but it surely speaks to all of us:

"I am only one, but still I am one.  I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and even if I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do.

On this cool and rainy weekend, my neighbor is hosting her three grandsons (ages 7, 13, 15), each of whom is bringing a friend!  She is going to try convince them that Sliding Rock  (here) has been declared a Polar Bear test of courage for young men.  That mountain water is FRIGID in the sun and high temperatures.  I cannot imagine it in 60-degree cloudy weather.  So I'll not complain about being indoors knitting or reading this weekend.

Whatever your plans or weather:

HAVE A WONDERFUL AND SAFE WEEKEND, EVERYONE!!!