Bought me a man-tool!

Well the weeds have finally won out. I can't keep up with the ones in front much less in the back so I bought me a 'man tool', a high wheel trimmer from Craftsman. I hate motorized tools, except my drill, but I had to bite the bullet and try this monster out. After reading the directions and familiarizing myself with the many parts, I added the oil. Went to the gas station and bought some gas too. It's a 4-cycle engine so no 2-cycle oil needs to be added to the gas.

OK I chickened out and didn't put gas in the tank. Figured if I did that, I'd have no excuse but to try to start it. Then I'd actually have to USE it....ugg. Right now, it's looking new and pretty sitting on my back porch. Maybe tonight? Definitely by this weekend as I have guests coming to dinner on Saturday. First BBQ of the summer!

Baby owls take flight

I was out last evening and saw 2-3 owls fluttering around near the ground. In addition 2 larger owls were flying around them calling out. I have to assume these are baby owls that fledged from my nest box! I'm so excited. I tried to take some video of the one baby flapping it's wings probably trying to strengthen them for flight. He/she is hopping from tree to bush to ground to tree, etc. Fun to watch. the video is bad and you need to enlarge to fuill screen to see anything and it's well into dusk but you can see the owl in the lower center of the video as it flaps its wings and hops from tree to post.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1791555192408&comments

I'll try to get a better video tonight if they are still around.

Summer Solstice

Today is the Summer Solstice, the first day of summer. One of the enlightening moments I've had living in my home was experiencing the sun as it moves across the sky during the year. I knew it did but never realized how wide an arc it made. Actually it's the Earth that's moving, I know.

Starting today I plan to take a photograph of the setting sun every day possible for the next year. At the end of a year I will combine them into a movie so anyone can watch this event. Now I just have to learn how to make a movie from photographs! I think I can do this in Flash, just need to brush up on it's software.

Baby owls have fledged!

I'm a proud momma of 3 newly fledged baby owls! Last night there was a flurry of owls swooping from tree to tree. I realized these babies learning to fly must be from my nest box! I saw the big daddy owl and momma owl swooping around them, keeping an eye on the three tree jumping babies. One would get ambitious and fly from the neighbor's Eucs to my Oak then back a few minutes later. The other two would fly to the ground then back up into the Euc. but mostly stayed in the Euc. They were so cool to watch! After an hour or so, one flew back into the nest, calling up a storm. I think it was either the Mom or Dad. Sweet!

Cliff Swallows

I'm sure you've heard of the Swallows of San Juan Capistrano returning every March 19 to the Mission. These are Cliff Swallows. They make a very pretty mud nest that are like cement when completed. How do I know...I have my own Swallows...nesting in the entry way of my front door. I didn't even notice them until a couple days ago! I get home late, usually after dark so that my explain why I didn't notice them before...now what to do about it?

Since they start laying eggs before the nest is finished I'm sure there are eggs so I can't destroy the nest at this point. From what I've read, the eggs incubate for a couple weeks then it's another 6-8 weeks before flying off. Once they migrate back to Mexico for the Winter, I'll be able to destroy the nest and hopefully get all the mud off the stucco. I'll just have to stay vigilent next year since they 'return' to the same nesting spot! Until then, they are pretty to watch as they fly around the front yard.
Here are some pics of the nest and the birdie inside...

and of course, last night's sunset...

Sue