Happy Birthday Judy
In the olden days, telephones called from one place to another, not from one person to another. Local calls were free, but anything outside of your direct dialing area was a long-distance call and long-distance calls were not cheap; the greater the distance, the more expensive the call.
55 years ago today, Judy’s 16th birthday present from her mother was a 3-minute person to person telephone call to me on Okinawa. Corresponding only by handwritten letters, this was our first chance for a conversation in a year. The call had to be person-to-person, because the best she could do is call the Company Commander’s phone, they in turn dispatching a runner to find me, to escort me back to the waiting telephone call. It was an expensive call, but the 3-minute clock didn’t start until the correct person, me, was reached. This was no small matter. That 3-minute call cost 37 dollars, in 1964 money!
I picked up the phone, said hello, and listened to Judy try to talk through tears for 3 minutes, then the operator came back on the line, told us our time was up, and disconnected the call. Happy Birthday Judy. You can talk to me all you want today, and every other day, and rarely have to cry while doing it.
Poor Jesse
Mirrors, she can deal with, that’s a nice clean image of a puppy. Sometimes she plays with the puppy in the mirror and tries to hand it her toys. But her reflection in the glass patio door at night, a shadow reflection, that’s another thing entirely. There is a phantom out there on the deck that she can see, but also see through.
Very scary stuff. If we turn the porch light on though, that helps, so sometimes the porch light has to stay on until she goes to bed.
Traveling
Judy and I don’t usually take airplanes; we just go where we can in the motorhome. That trip to Florida was different though. Time is of the essence, so I flew.
Before I flew, I applied for the TSA Precheck. I got fingerprinted and survived a background check. I now have a Known Person Number that I’ve registered on my account at Southwest Airlines and I automatically get a precheck checkmark on my boarding pass. That made getting through security soo much easier. Instead of being treated as a person who might be a terrorist, I got treated as if I were probably not a terrorist. There was no line. I didn’t have to take off my shoes, go through the full body scan, or even take my laptop out of the knapsack. It was a snap.
The birding was fun. I started out with 450 species for the year and added 15 over the course of four days. I drove 500 miles, visited 18 different birding sites, and walked 27 miles. So now we’re at 465 bird species recorded. It’s not my target number of 500, but still it’s a pretty good number.
Now I’m back home with Judy.
And the puppies.
I often refer to Henry as the White Shadow, because we never get more than a few feet away from him, and then not for long. Now the White Shadow has a shadow.
We covered a lot of ground this year.
I’ve been meaning to write a summary of the Alaska Journey, but how can I summarize something like that? If I were to just write down the highlights, I’d end up listing every day of the trip!
A stakeout
Here I am, trying to get as many birds as I can in as few days as are left, and I end up on a stakeout. I spent two hours last night watching for the Antillean Palm-swift where it has been appearing on Marathon Key, and got nothing. Got a room, spent the night, and was back at it at 7:30 this morning. The guy from Key Largo was already there. The couple from Nebraska showed up a little later. At 9:40, the swift appeared! Year bird. Life bird. Antillean Palm-swift. It is a rare bird; not often seen in the U.S . It lives in the Caribbean:
Swifts are really fast and erratic flyers. No way I could get a good shot as it screamed past at hyper-speed, but Harold from Key West did and was kind enough to forward a photo.
I love that about birding; instant community. Thank you, Harold!
Worked my way back up The Keys.
Saw some great scenery,
The Keys always make me think about Hemingway.
Had a close encounter of the manatee kind. Saw what looked like a couple boulders partly exposed in the boat basin at the Deering Estate. There aren’t supposed to be boulders in a boat basin. Walked over to investigate and the boulder in front saw me, blew out through her nose,
…and swirled away.
The smaller one behind followed. Mama manatee and her calf.
Didn’t add any more year birds to the list.
Done for the day, headed north back toward Ft Lauderdale on Interstate 75, driving attentively but still scanning for birds too, I glanced to the right from an overpass and there amongst a bunch of wading birds standing next to a canal, 15 wood storks! I’ve been looking for that bird for four days! A drive-by year bird!
Headed home tomorrow am. The year bird count by day for this trip: 8,3,2,2. In that order. The year-list stands at 465. 35 short.
Here is a video Judy just sent me of the puppies playing.
Henry is safe on the couch; Jesse can’t get up there yet.