Broken Scales--Part 2

Broken Scales--Part One --Ward and I have been trying to figure out if out bathroom scale is broken.

The saga continues.

Our Christmas celebrations have been spread out this year and we had our final one last weekend. Even though we still have a few Christmas sweets around, we are trying to move onto more normal eating. In the meantime, Ward and I were curious to see what toll the holiday eating had taken on our weight. We weighed ourselves recently with debatable results.

We were gathered in our bedroom with Wally and Theo coordinating plans for the coming weeks. While he was listening, Wally stepped onto the scale and we heard a loud crack. We all thought that we might see the scale in two pieces because it was that loud. However, there was no visible damage and Wally and Theo both weighed themselves and said it seemed fine. But then Ward and I weighed ourselves and declared that something must have happened with that loud crack because the scale was weighing heavier than we thought it should.

I'm not sure what's going on here, but again I think the scale is broken. And I now have evidence in a loud crack to prove I'm right. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

A Second Look--January 7, 2015

Downy woodpecker, male

Yesterday we had a few inches of snow which brightened up the otherwise muted winter landscape of grays and browns. However before that, Wally and I had a good time exploring our muted yard when he did a Second Look with me last weekend. He saw many things he was interested in but I won't feature them here because they were mostly things that I have shown you recently.

The thing I got most excited about this week were claws on the toes of a female cardinal. I never thought about the details of their feet and didn't realize that they had claws sticking out from their thin leathery toes. Besides curling their toes around a branch, they use their claws to also help them hang on in a tree. Makes perfect sense, however I never noticed them before. Sometimes I get bored with the idea of doing Second Looks since I have been doing them almost weekly for 3 1/2 years now (time flies), but then I find something totally new and it makes it all worth while.

Here are some things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

It was hard at first to see this mushroom hiding in the pine needles.

This little plant in the fork of the maple tree is one of the greenest things around.

We saw lots of deer prints.

The hoof prints of this cow were at least 2x as big as those of the deer.

Blue Jay

If you look very closely, you can see the claws of this female cardinal curving out from its toes.

You can see the claws better from this view.

Wally, my Second Look partner this week.

Thankful Sunday--January 4, 2015

I am thankful that I found the charger for the iPad.

Ward brought an iPad home from the office to do some work at home. I was straightening up one day and put it away. Then when he needed it, we found the iPad, but not the charger. After some time of fretful looking, I found it under an end table. Whew! Now Ward doesn't have to go to work and say he lost the charger to the company iPad. And for that I am thankful.

Happy New Year!

"All old things must end, so new things can begin." 

James Russell Lowell*

That quote seemed like the perfect quote for the beginning of the year. Let go of the old things and welcome the new ones. I remembered it from when I used it in my high school graduation speech, another time when one lets go of old things and embraces new ones.

However, when I did a look for the quote on the Internet, I couldn't find it. Certainly, not associated with James Russell Lowell (or anyone else I could find.) Lowell lived in the 1800's and was an abolitionist, so it sounds like something he might have said. So I don't know if I am paraphrasing after all of these years, or I'm totally mixed up. Who knows?

But I do know that I'm ready for a new year and to see what wondrous things it has in store for me and you.

Happy New Year!

*James Russell Lowell may or may not have said it. :)

A Second Look--December 31, 2014

Crows

I took a break from the holiday celebrations and did a Second Look yesterday. And what did I see? Crows. Crows are abundant this time of year coming in flocks to see what tasty things they can get out of the ground.

I didn't really think much about crows until a few years ago when I heard how smart they are. Some consider them to be the smartest of all birds (including parrots). They are the only birds that can pick a person out of a crowd. Also, they use and make tools equivalent to the abilities of chimps. One group learned to drop nuts off an overpass and let cars run over them to crack them open. The crows then waited for a break in traffic and retrieved them. The stories go on and on. And now my own personal example.

Ward and I were on vacation in Yellowstone National Park and had stopped by the main lodge in hopes of seeing Old Faithful. Also stopping in the parking lot was a large group of motorcyclists who were traveling across the US. We watched from our car as the crows waited for the cyclists to get off their cycles and go inside. As soon as they left, the crows descended onto the bags that were strapped to the back, opened the zippers, and looked inside. Sometimes they found something to eat and sometimes they didn't. Let me go back. Yes, they unzipped the bags. And it wasn't random. They seemed to know just the right angle to pull for the zipper to open easily.  To tell you the truth, I was more excited to see this than I was to see Old Faithful. (Although that was pretty impressive too.) I wish I had time to watch the crows in my yard these days to see what tricks they are up to. But that will have to wait for another time.

Here are a few of the crows I saw this week

 during a Second Look.

Notice the little feathers around the crow's bill.

Notice the white patches on the wing of this crow. This occurs in about one in every hundred crows.

If you look closely, you will see white patches on the right wing of the bird in flight. I don't know if it is the same bird as above or not.

More Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvus_%28genus%29

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Crow/id