Advanced Studies in Bird Feeding

Or at least one step beyond 101. I've been reading a book about bird feeding and it's a lot more involved than I thought. Mike and Missy gave us the bird feeeder we have on the corner of the deck so I just bought a couple types of bird seed and we throw that in there and watch the birds. Fortunately it was the right type for most of the birds we see here. But there are special feeders and special seeds to attract particular birds. The easiest for us was to try a tube feeder with nyjer seed to attract goldfinches. It worked!! We've got four feeders now plus a suet feeder and we've got four kinds of seeds. We put the sunflower seeds in a squirrel proof feeder and use safflower seeds in the platform feeder and that cuts down the expense of feeding bird seed to squirrels. In the cold of winter, the birds appreciate the diet supplement and we've always got a bunch of them.

There is Always Always Always Something to be Thankful For

So says the wall hanging in Beverly & Alex's dining room and, of course, it is true. Here, in no particular order, are some of the 2008 things I'm thankful for:

1. Retirement
2. The timely selling of the condo
3. Our unmortgaged house and it's character
4. 401k out of the market
5. My camera, PC, & Picasa
6. Time
7. Birds in our backyard
8. The yard & garden to work in
9. The tools it takes to do so
10. The trails to walk down
11. Netflix
12. Our big screen TV
13. Quitman library
14. Ancestory.com
15. The internet and the answer to everything I want to know
16. The maturing of East Texas (restaurants, coffee shops, etc.)
17. Xander & Blake
18. Justin's graduation from the fire academy, his election to Captain of the class, and his new job
19. Magen's graduation with honors from NTCC and her passing of the state certification exam
20. Aaron's graduation from International College of Bible Theology (2 years of study) and his pending homecoming
21. Judge Jill
22. The Patriot Guard Riders
23. The USMC Honor Guard
24. In East Texas you have to mention electricity which you learn to appreciate when you don't have it.
25. And family!

A Lunchtme Surprise

Anytime a deer comes to see you it's a pretty neat event! We were eating lunch a few minutes ago and these two deer trotted across the field and then paused at the edge of the woods to graze for a few minutes. (It's a long lens (300mm) picture taken from the kitchen.)

The Patriot Guard Riders

The Patriot Guard Riders - "Standing For Those Who Stood For Us" - These are the guys that stood at attention for 45 minutes in the cold of yesterday. They are the ones that rode the bikes, and flew the flags. Right now, there are nine pages of posts on their website honoring Jacob. Here's the link to those posts.

http://www.patriotguard.org/Forums/tabid/61/postid/1045859/view/topic/Default.aspx

Another Judge Willis!

If you didn't get the word today, Jill has been appointed judge of the 429th Judicial District Court of Collin County. Here's the link for the press release about Jill's appointment!

See the announcement for December 22nd.

Jacob & Jimmy

What Do Antiques & Sunrises Have in Common?

They say that the time to buy an antique is when you see it. The same is true for taking pictures of sunrises. The bottom picture was taken less than five minutes after the top picture!

Don't Look Julie! It's Another Bird Post!

With the very cold weather we're having (in the 30's all day today) there's been a lot of activity at the feeder, on the deck, and the birdbath. All the pictures were taken within 5-10 minutes.

Cardinal

White-throated Sparrow

Another Cardinal

Chickadee

Junco

Another Junco









Mockingbird

Titmouse

And we had some Flickers and a Hairy Woodpecker. Some of these are just here for the season.

Who is Jonathan Carter Cudd?

A few days ago I gave myself a project of finding a Civil War ancestor for the Hayes family. I didn't suceed. I'm at a real dead-end on Jimmy's grandparents and I'm going to have to talk to Jimmy and see what he can tell me to get me by the impasse. I didn't find a Civil War ancestor on Margarets side either but I did work back to Jonathan Carter Cudd which is from Margaret's mothers family. The relationship is:

Jonathan Carter Cudd
> Carter C. Cudd
>> Joshua R. Cudd
>>> Robert Goodloe (Goodlow?) Cudd
>>>> John B. Cudd
>>>>> Elsie F. Cudd
>>>>>> Margaret Ann Miller
>>>>>>> James Roy Hayes

Jonathan Carter Cudd is a Revolutionary War ancestor for the Hayes family. His pay records appear in Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War by Mutie June Clark published in 1981 by the Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. of Baltimore. In the earliest record, the six month period ending in December, 1780 he was listed as serving in "Colonel John Cotton's Regiment, Stevenson's Creek Militia, Ninety Six Brigade, Captain John Cotton's Company, those who came to Orangeburgh, SC, with Lieut. Colonel John H. Cruger"

The links to him aren't certain enough to get you a membership in the DAR but I'd say they have a better than 90% chance of being correct. The family is from South Carolina and the earliest primary source record I can find is the listing for Jonathan's grandson Joshua Robert Palmer Goodlow Cudd in the 1840 census of Union, South Carolina.

A Tough Leaf!

A couple days ago at breakfast I looked out the window and saw this leaf hanging hanging on to an otherwise bare branch in the sweet gum tree by the deck. For three mornings I told myself I should take a picture - but didn't. Yesterday I saw it flailing in the heavy winds, standing straight out being whipped like a flag, but hanging on. At lunch today I decided to take a picture and interruped the meal to do so. It's not as pretty as in the morning with the sun behind it but it did prove to be the last chance. I just looked out at the kitchen window and saw a bare branch.

Black & White Photographs

When the photograph is the right one, rendering it in black & white can create an image that just works better than the same image in color. I find that, in most of the portrait photographs, I usually like them more with a little soft focus added. The two below are from Thanksgiving weekend. Mary, Wendi, Levi, and Laney spent the night with us and we were going to take pictures of the kids outside on Friday. However, the rain kept us inside but we took a lot of pictures anyway. Later, when they were about to leave, Laney wasn't feeling well and was lying on the chair in the entry. That's when I got the picture below. I think it's the best one of the day. Young love is always a good subject and is the topic of the other one.

OK! This was a Really Good Thanksgiving!

I don't know about the rest of you, but this just felt like a really good Thanksgiving to me! I gave Glynda a thumbs-up a couple times during the day. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we were expecting a cloudy day at best and rain at worst but the sun came out and stayed with us and the few jackets that were being worn started to come off. Our preps seemed to help - more deck and the trails seemed to make the whole space bigger and let the kids (and others) get out into the woods. Maybe we're just getting the whole thing more perfected. I guess the essence of what I'm trying to say is that everyone just seemed to feel really at home and did what they wanted to - and there were lots of things happening and they kept happening a lot later in the day than usual. Anyway - I had a great time!

Here's the very wet deck the morning after. (There's always, always, always, something to be thankful for.)

[ A supplement to the post - With the rain and wind we've been having, the weather on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday would each have been a very uncomfortable day for celebrating outside.]

I Know It's Just a Buzzard . . .

or Turkey Vulture to be more precise. But, from a distance, they're pretty birds. This one is one his way to join six others in a treetop here last evening.

Mom Would Be Very Pleased!

Pearl Cleveland Wilson, 1882-1976

The lady in the picture is Pearl (Cleveland) Wilson. She was a "pen-pal" of mom's. I believe that the arrangement started before mom married and I believe that it happened through Christian Science - but am not sure. Later, I also exchanged letters with her. Mom, of course, saved them and they're readily recognizable in stacks because of the blue stationary that she used. A few days ago I was going through some of mom's things again and came across one of these letters written on Jan. 1, 1970. In it, she updated mom on a book she she was finishing about Socrates. I decided to look up the book on the internet, found it, and bought it! The title is "The Living Socrates, The Man Who Dared to Question, as Plate Knew Him". I knew a bit about her but not much so looked her up. She never married. She taught "the language and works of Homer, Plato, and the Greek tragedies" at Hunter College in New York City. She wrote several books including "Wagner's Dramas and Greek Tragedy", demonstrating a serious interest in opera as well. There is an article from the November 11, 1912 New York Times (Julie-please note) announcing a series of lectures on the opera in conjunction with the opening of the opera season including four lectures on the works in Wagner's Ring Cycle. Pearl was giving two of these. Another in the four pages of hits on Google list her as being treasurer of the American Philological Association. She's listed as Dr. Pearl Cleveland Wilson in this one. On another she is writing about Greek gods in Eastern Star (don't know if she was a member). She's listed in the Who's Who of American Women in the first, second,and tenth editions.

Pearl's book on Socrates was published five years after the letter in 1975. She died the following year. In the jacket notes it says that her former colleagues and students "admire her almost classical serenity, glowing warmth, and unflagging concern with humanity". Mom - I think I'll even read the book!