Showing posts with label Great Horned Owls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Great Horned Owls. Show all posts

Saturday, March 21, 2020

Day 3740

The baby owls have really grown since I saw them last. I initially mistook one of the babies for the mother this afternoon. A closer look quickly revealed that I was looking at one of the babies, but it was still surprising to see how quickly they had developed. Evidently, young Great Horned Owls eat four times as much as adults, causing them to grow very quickly. The mom isn't around as much these days, but still returns almost every day to feed her children mice and encourage them to fly.

I think there are a lot more doomsday preppers than I ever would have imagined. I can't believe how much food people are buying. When I went to Sam's Club this morning to get some necessities, I saw people with enough food to last them for an entire year. Several people with large SUV's had the entire back of their cars stuffed to the ceiling with food and paper products.

It's easy to see how panic buying escalates. Literally everyone in the store had a big package of paper towels in their buggy, so I got one too. It wasn't a brand that I usually buy, but who cares when you are facing the apocalypse. I certainly hope people don't decide to start using paper towels as toilet papers. If that happens there are going to be some major plumbing problems.

I finally found some distilled water, oatmeal, and blueberries. I never realized that so many people need distilled water. I use it to prevent mineral scale from building up in my coffee maker. Other people use it for more important things, like preventing their Dalmatians from developing stones and keeping CPAP machines running properly.

I wonder when these Spring rains are going to end? I spent so much time clearing the roof of water yesterday and now it's raining again. Water on the roof is my own private version of the Sisyphus myth. The gods who condemned Sisyphus thought that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor. They were probably right. At least the roof isn't leaking.

I think dogs are loving this pandemic. I've never seen so many people walking their dogs in the park. It's good that people are becoming more active. They seem to becoming kinder too. I wonder how long this will last when the pandemic is finally over? I think the panic buying will finally subside when people realize they have more food than they could possible use. Maybe people will continue to drive less as well. One can only hope. I hope some of these new behaviors become permanent.

It's a shame that I won't be able to go to the gym tomorrow. Our options for doing things away from home continue to grow smaller. Janet and I did do our part to support local restaurants by ordering a pizza from a little neighborhood restaurant that makes a good pie.

My dealer told me that I sold a few more brass trains today. It's kind of astonishing that anyone is still buying railroad collectibles during the apocalypse, but it's fine by me. Today's sales almost paid for my trip to McDonald Observatory. I still don't have the nerve to look at my brokerage account. Janet and I have both lost a lot of money, but it's better at this time not to know how much.

The lesson of this week is that life goes on no matter what happens. We adjust to things and establish new priorities. I hope you guys are all doing well. Nobody I know has died yet. I hope I can say the same thing next week.

Big Boy is today's Dalmatian of the Day
Watch of the Day

Monday, March 2, 2020

Day 3721

We were pleased to discover that Lord found a home this weekend. Since Janet and I are still fostering Dawn, that leaves only three Dalmatians remaining at the kennel. Charlie, Hank and Larry are all doing well and we enjoyed spending time with them this afternoon. Hopefully, they will find their forever homes soon. This has been a good year for adoptions.

Dawn got another long walk this morning. She's getting a lot better on a leash. She learns quickly and is eager to please. I think it has been good for her to be out of the kennel. Her wounds have almost healed and she is much more confident now. Dawn has had a hard life, but she's ready for something better. This girl deserves an amazing forever home.

It looks like it is going to rain on Wednesday, so it was now or never for roof repairs today. I applied more silicon material to the roof in a few suspicious areas, but had a hard time finding places where water might actually get in. The new patches should have plenty of time to dry tomorrow and then we'll see if I have been successful. After all I've done recently, I can't imagine how water could still get in the house. Water is persistent though. Water has definitely won this ongoing battle before.

Where has the time gone? I thought I had plenty of time to get my taxes ready to take to the accountant, but all the sudden I'm up against the deadline. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow. I thought taxes would become simpler after I retired but that has not turned out to be the case. Hopefully, I'll do better this year than I did last year.

I saw the owl family on my walk this afternoon, but took no pictures today. The way the nest is situated, it looks like photos might look nice around sunset. It looked a little dismal today. The skies were heavily overcast and the birds blended into the trees. I need to try to get better pictures though. There just aren't that many opportunities to photograph an owl family.

Facebook is still giving me problems with uploading links. It took me forever to post yesterday's blog entry. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the trouble. I don't really have that much to say anymore. I'm still determined to reach Day 5000 but it might be an uphill battle. I'm going to be real mad if Google decides to abandon the Blogger platform before I reach my goal. It certainly could happen. They pulled the rug out from under me with Google+. I liked Google+ and used it a lot more than Facebook, but Google didn't care. They abandon lots of things.

Why is there a run on toilet paper? They say that along with surgical masks and Tamiflu, stores are running out of the stuff. Is toilet paper what we're going to need most in a pandemic? Who knows. Truthfully, I don't think anyone knows. That's the problem. Fear of the unknown can be a powerful force. People tell us to wash our hands, but we've all seen to many zombie apocalypse movies. We need something more powerful than soap.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day
Watch of the Day

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Day 3720

Today was busy. I kept moving and ended up with 22,000 steps. I didn't feel as tired at the gym this morning and did surprisingly well on the basketball court. Maybe this is a good omen for March.

I checked the roof again this morning and discovered one small damaged spot that I forgot to seal. Damn. This means that I will have to deal with the messy silicon coating before it rains again. I wasn't in the mood for roof repairs today, so maybe tomorrow. I wish I'd noticed this spot when I was up on the roof on Friday. It woulds have saved me a lot of trouble.

We took Dawn on another long walk today. She is strong and has no problem walking several miles. She still seems a little nervous when we begin a walk, but quickly overcomes her fear and just enjoys being outdoors. I have a feeling that she was never taken on walks before. This is all new to her. Whoever ends up adopting Dawn will get a very well socialized dog. She is learning new things every day.

Since I walk much longer than Dawn these days, I just keep walking after we return to the house with Dawn. Today on the second leg of my walk I ran into Treasure. I recognized her right away and introduced myself to her new family. I had never met them before and they were initially surprised that I knew so much about their new dog. Treasure definitely found a great home. These people love her.

On my way back to the house I discovered a Great Horned Owl tending a nest with two baby owls. Great Horned Owls don't build their own nests and sometimes steal them from other birds. This particular nest used to belong to a Hawk. I hope the Hawk doesn't want it back. Hawks are predators and are known to come after nestlings. This nest seemed too small for three owls. I hope the babies don't fall out before they are ready to fly. I got a few pictures, but I'll have to return to this tree if I want a picture of all three owls. I only managed to capture two today and the mother was partially obscured by a twig. You have to be very patient to get good bird photos. I don't know if I am patient enough.

I'll be really glad when my seasonal allergies go away. Every year it's the same thing. My nose runs and my eyes water for weeks at a time. Sometimes I take Allegra, but I don't like the way decongestants make me feel. Given a choice, it's almost better to have a runny nose. At least I don't have the coronavirus. From what I've read, the coronavirus doesn't cause congestion or a runny nose. It goes straight for the lungs.

We'll probably visit the kennel Dalmatians tomorrow. Dawn is comfortable in the house now and mostly just sleeps on the bed while we're gone. A visit at the kennel is definitely preferable to applying liquid silicon on the roof. I have a feeling I'll be doing both though.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day
Watch of the Day