This is a terrible place to try to concentrate on work. We did the Big Patio Day on the weekend. We spent a lot of the day outside and watched birds on purpose. So Monday, it’s back inside to get some work done. Except I think I did a Big Windshield Day while I was at it. Last week we had hummingbirds swirling all around the coach and the feeders. This week, it’s Orioles! Six or eight orioles at a time swirling around the coach and yard.
Baltimore Orioles galore.
and Orchard Orioles.
Yesterday was nothing. 22 birds. Today… from the patio…. 45 species!
1 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
2 Blue-winged Teal
3 Brown Pelican
4 Double-crested Cormorant
5 Great Egret
6 Snowy Egret
7 Little Blue Heron
8 Cattle Egret
9 Green Heron
10 Roseate Spoonbill
11 Turkey Vulture
12 White-tailed Hawk
13 Crested Caracara
14 Crested Caracara
15 American Coot
16 Killdeer
17 Spotted Sandpiper
18 Greater Yellowlegs
19 Lesser Yellowlegs
20 Laughing Gull
21 Franklin’s Gull
22 Least Tern
23 Forster’s Tern
24 Royal Tern
25 Rock Pigeon
26 Mourning Dove
27 Chimney Swift
28 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
29 Red-eyed Vireo
30 Purple Martin
31 Tree Swallow
32 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
33 Cliff Swallow
34 Barn Swallow
35 Wood Thrush
36 Yellow-throated Warbler
37 Northern Waterthrush
38 Kentucky Warbler
39 Common Yellowthroat
40 Savannah Sparrow
41 Blue Grosbeak
42 Indigo Bunting
43 Red-winged Blackbird
44 Great-tailed Grackle
45 Orchard Oriole
White-tailed Hawk
Red-eyed Vireo too tired to fly
Wood Thrush
Wood Thrush with his buddy the Kentucky Warbler
Annie, too tired to fly.
Judy and I are otherwise occupied, so Jon went on a Big Day without me a couple days ago. Last year our record was 191 birds. This time, he got 192!
In the spirit, Judy and I decided to do a Big Patio Day. The result, 22 birds:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Osprey
Killdeer
Lesser Yellowlegs
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Forster’s Tern
Black Skimmer
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Waterthrush
Hooded Warbler
Indigo Bunting
Great-tailed Grackle
Here is the Indigo Bunting.
Judy got tired of being shuffled from place to place, so she kicked her drug habit at 6:00 this morning. She’s down to Advil and is much more conscious and conversational; conversations she’ll even remember.
This is a good house for rehabilitation. The passenger seat swivels around to face the front room and is a full recliner with raised leg support. Shoulder surgery survivors can’t lie down for quite a while after; it’s just too painful. Judy can sleep in the recliner at whatever angle is the most comfortable.
We sleep with the air conditioner on this time of year, so I wouldn’t be able to hear her from the next room if she needed something, so I sleep on the couch right next to her. If she needs something, all she has to do is reach over and jiggle my foot so I can wake up and do whatever I can. The pain medication is effective but leaves her unsteady enough she shouldn’t walk unescorted.
There isn’t room on the couch for me and Annie both, but Annie sleeps there anyway. She picks a spot between me and the back of the couch, then relaxes and somehow doubles her weight to about a 40 pound immovable object. We’re not going to get away from Annie just by moving to a different room.
The surgery involves an arthroscopic exploration followed by an incision on the outside of the shoulder when they determine that work needs to be done. Judy got the incision.
I promised Judy I’d be nice to her for as many days as she had stitches; but there is a bandage over the incision. We don’t know how many stitches she got. I hope it’s not more than four. Meanwhile, she’s not that hard to take care of during the day. All I have to do is put her in her recliner lawn chair on the patio, surrounded by flowers and birds, and give her drugs.
