"I'm going to speak my mind because I have nothing to lose."--S.I. Hayakawa
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Thursday, January 28, 2021

Nuttin' at All

 Nothing going on here.   Weather's okay.   Health is okay.   A little anxious about making plans to go to Africa this October/November one last time to celebrate my 80th birthday doing what I love in the best place to do it.


No, not drinking Amarula on the rocks.   Photographing birds and animals with my photo pals.   I haven't found anywhere else in the world where those subjects appear as frequently and reliably as in Africa.

 

Meanwhile, the redpolls are back at the feeders, bringing splashes of red to the winter landscape.

 

 



And the moon comes up every night.




Saturday, January 23, 2021

All is Well

 


Three days post Moderna COVID-19 vaccination and all is well.

As I was led through a  wide hall to an exam room at the Seward Community Health Center,  I passed several men sitting in socially-distanced chairs.   Once in the room, I asked, "Is that the recovery room?'   Meaning, of course, that is where one waits for fifteen minutes to make sure you don't suffer an anaphylactic reaction.

"Yes,it is," she said, "but it's more like the gossip area.   Those guys have been cooped up and haven't seen each other for a long time.   They're busy swapping stories."

So when it was my turn in the gossip area, no one said a word!   Darn it.


On to other stuff, because I know I've been quiet here for a long time:

Been a few years since we've had a big snow year.   This is one of the outhouses in Turnagain Pass. 



The cute little redpolls showed up at last.   They seem to be hanging out with other birds with red feathers--the pine grosbeaks.


This is a male pine grosbeak.   It's much larger than the redpolls.



A Murder of Socially-Distanced Crows in Seward



This is a fun jigsaw puzzle I finished recently.



These are some of the oddly-shaped pieces that helped make the puzzle fun.


Adding to the joviality, the picture on the box wasn't necessarily the same as the finished puzzle.   Things appeared or disappeared.  Colors changed.


Below is a close-up of one section of the puzzle.



And this is a close-up of the actual puzzle.   Notice anything different?




Other than that, rain and snow and rain and snow all January.