A room with a view
Carolyn has joined the 20th Century! Today, I showed her how to email. She likes to keep in touch with our grandson whom lives in Atlanta, and email is much cheaper than using a land line. Next thing I know, she will probably be wanting to learn how to turn the computer on!
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I received this link from my friend in Portland, Oregon; it is an self-evident truth. Thanks, Kevin.
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Been a tough day; I helped Carolyn clean carpet in the office. You're darned right; holding up the edge of my chair mat while she pushes the cleaning machine around does constitute manual labor! I'm worn out ...
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Following is a draft of an article I wrote many years ago:
The Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus) is usually seen in flocks, sometimes with Goldfinches. It is a small bird, gray-brown with a streaked breast, the males having yellow wing bars and various amounts of yellow on the rump. The females are less colorful. One can approach to within a couple of steps of these friendly birds when they are feeding.
On Christmas eve morning 1989, the day of the tragic John Sevier Center fire, I found a male Siskin on the ground at one of my feeders. It is unusual for the bird to be here in midwinter. I picked him up without him resisting and brought him into the house. He felt cold to the touch. I placed him in a shoe box and after a while he became more active. I fed him some peanut butter and soon he was out of his box running through the house, though he never attempted to fly. Everywhere I went in the house, he was scrambling along right behind me. Later, I left to see my grandchildren open gifts, and he bird was perched on a small limb that I had placed in the box. He seemed to be much better.
On Christmas morning, the special edition of the local paper was full of stories of the fire; many dead and injured. The Siskin was still on his perch with his head tucked under his wing, but my stirring about finally awakened him. He spread his wings, fluttered them, looked around ... and fell dead. The joy of being with my family the night before was quickly replaced with a deep sadness. I realize the loss of one small bird is nothing compared to the overwhelming grief and misery that the families of the fire victims endured; but still, I felt a heaviness in my heart for the bird. Tragedies come in various sizes and I buried him under a pine tree.
Spring, After an awfully cold winter, the Pine Siskins were back as usual, but something was very wrong. During the few weeks they were here, I found seven of them dead on my small lot. Many more were flying erratically and doing things they normally don't do such as perching on the ground. Neighborhood cats took a few; possums and skunks probably took some more.
No Siskins showed up in the spring of 1991. What had gone wrong? Was it a disease that caused it? Could it have been man-made pollution or poisons? The weather? It didn't seem to affect the remainder of the bird population.
It is now May, 1992 and I saw my first Siskin in nearly two years; a lone female at one of my feeders. Are things returning to normal? More birds of different kinds are around this year than since I moved here. I guess there is always hope.
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Here is the regular The Smoking Gun's Mugshots of the Week!
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Carolyn has joined the 20th Century! Today, I showed her how to email. She likes to keep in touch with our grandson whom lives in Atlanta, and email is much cheaper than using a land line. Next thing I know, she will probably be wanting to learn how to turn the computer on!
----
I received this link from my friend in Portland, Oregon; it is an self-evident truth. Thanks, Kevin.
----
Been a tough day; I helped Carolyn clean carpet in the office. You're darned right; holding up the edge of my chair mat while she pushes the cleaning machine around does constitute manual labor! I'm worn out ...
----
Following is a draft of an article I wrote many years ago:
The Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus) is usually seen in flocks, sometimes with Goldfinches. It is a small bird, gray-brown with a streaked breast, the males having yellow wing bars and various amounts of yellow on the rump. The females are less colorful. One can approach to within a couple of steps of these friendly birds when they are feeding.
On Christmas eve morning 1989, the day of the tragic John Sevier Center fire, I found a male Siskin on the ground at one of my feeders. It is unusual for the bird to be here in midwinter. I picked him up without him resisting and brought him into the house. He felt cold to the touch. I placed him in a shoe box and after a while he became more active. I fed him some peanut butter and soon he was out of his box running through the house, though he never attempted to fly. Everywhere I went in the house, he was scrambling along right behind me. Later, I left to see my grandchildren open gifts, and he bird was perched on a small limb that I had placed in the box. He seemed to be much better.
On Christmas morning, the special edition of the local paper was full of stories of the fire; many dead and injured. The Siskin was still on his perch with his head tucked under his wing, but my stirring about finally awakened him. He spread his wings, fluttered them, looked around ... and fell dead. The joy of being with my family the night before was quickly replaced with a deep sadness. I realize the loss of one small bird is nothing compared to the overwhelming grief and misery that the families of the fire victims endured; but still, I felt a heaviness in my heart for the bird. Tragedies come in various sizes and I buried him under a pine tree.
Spring, After an awfully cold winter, the Pine Siskins were back as usual, but something was very wrong. During the few weeks they were here, I found seven of them dead on my small lot. Many more were flying erratically and doing things they normally don't do such as perching on the ground. Neighborhood cats took a few; possums and skunks probably took some more.
No Siskins showed up in the spring of 1991. What had gone wrong? Was it a disease that caused it? Could it have been man-made pollution or poisons? The weather? It didn't seem to affect the remainder of the bird population.
It is now May, 1992 and I saw my first Siskin in nearly two years; a lone female at one of my feeders. Are things returning to normal? More birds of different kinds are around this year than since I moved here. I guess there is always hope.
----
Here is the regular The Smoking Gun's Mugshots of the Week!
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