Change of Seasons

Fall is different this year. With all of the rain throughout the summer, the grass and trees are still green!






Every fall the county mows the sides of the roads so everywhere it all looks neat and clean where weeds had been.






There are a few places where the trees are beginning to turn. Colors should be very nice this year.






I've never tried a fall garden before but we're growing broccoli, tomatoes, and turnips. It's a race to produce before killing freezes.






Fall wildflowers are blooming!








And fall bulbs are blooming. These Spider Lilys are in Bev and Alex's front yard.






You see more individual leaves on the ground that already have changed to the vivid fall colors.






And of course the pine cones are falling.







And the mums are bursting with buds.







All but a couple of the hummers are gone and we've seen a few other migratory birds that are different from our usual population.

I read somewhere that hummers that are not up to the trip sometimes get left behind in migration. This hummer fell from the feeder onto the deck this morning and laid there for a few seconds before scrambling to a nearby potted plant where she rested again for a minute before flying off. Hopefully she's OK. We'll keep feeding her and her companion as long as they're here.

Two more books:

I've gotta put a couple more book recommendations out here. I seem to be on a kick right now of reading books about subjects I originally heard or read about as "current events". In watching CNN politics, the opinions of David Gergen are always the most authorative. Part of that is his demeanor and a good part of that is his experience. I didn't know how extensive that experience was until I read Eyewitness to Power. Gergen worked in four White House administrations and in this book he details what he's learned about what it takes to an effective leader. Fascinating reading!

So is Thirteen Days, Robert Kennedy's account of the Cuban missle crisis in 1962. He details the difficult decision making process of the US response to the USSR's placement of missles in Cuba, how the sea blockade consensus was derived, how it was communicated, how it was executed, and how plans were put in place for the actions that would need to be taken if the blockade failed. One of the details of the plan that impressed me was the consideration that Russia might try to fly materials into Cuba rather than send them by sea. It was determined that if they did that, they would have to refuel in one of a couple western Africa countries. Those countries were contacted early on and a commitment obtained from them that they would not permit the refueling of any Russian aircraft. These were very detailed, finely crafted plans, designed to avoid provoking Russia and give them all of the room they needed to back down without losing face.

A Trail Through the Woods

Glynda's been working on a very long term project clearing out the wooded area just west of the house. I started to help a few days ago and got sidetracked clearing a path into the woods. Now we have two long trails that provide a quasi-civilized way to enjoy the trees, wildlife, and solitude. The first picture here, taken from the window in my study, is the beginning of the trail.



There are actually two trails. They start off together and then the "White Trail" splits off from the "Green Trail" and takes a longer path back. (Many years ago Daniel cleared a very long trail through the back of the property. He marked it with white paint on the trees and he called it the "White Trail". That's where the names came from.) The "Green Trail" stays in the woods and returns through the arbor by the pond. The "White Trail" goes out into the west meadow and then returns back behind the gazebo. I used the mower quite a bit in making them and that shoulld facilitate easier maintenance. I can just drive through with the blades on a few times a year to keep it clean - that, along with some trim work to keep down the overhead growth, should make it possible to keep it open without too much effort. I really enjoyed a nice walk there this morning before breakfast. Glynda "enjoyed" a trailer ride behind the mower through both of them yesterday.

Wildernest by Moonlight

The two pictures above were taken about 2:30 this morning by the light of a very bright moon. Full moon nights can be very spectacular here but it's almost impossible to make that come through in a photograph. The camera is trying to do what it was programmed to do - make it look lke a normal exposure. I've been wanting to try this for a couple nights now but bed has seemed preferable to the temperatures outside in the lower 60's.

This picture was taken at breakfast this morning. It's a picture of Glynda eating her oatmeal with her left hand - so Pancho can continue to occupy the right arm where he's pretending to be asleep. (Don't say anything about Aunt Linda!)

The Attack of the Killer Ruby Throat!

It was the morning after the night before – when the winds had come blowing fiercely and continued to do so for hours. Jim had cleaned up the debris on the deck but there was more to do in the yard. Before then, however, there was breakfast. Jim and Glynda filled their plates, poured their coffee and sat down to eat and watch the tiny Ruby Throated hummingbirds that visited their feeders, as they did every morning.

It soon became obvious that the birds they were watching were not the same playful birds they had watched the morning before. Perhaps it was the storm or perhaps it was because of the migration season but, for whatever reason, those birds were gone and this smaller, but fiercer group, had taken their place.

There are usually several males in a flock but this flock had only one. The marking of the male is what gives the Ruby Throat their name. The male has red feathers on the front of his neck that appear a neon orange-red when seen from the front. From other angles the red cannot be seen and the throat looks black. This male had an obvious red throat and neck and was red from whatever angle you saw it. This male did not approach the feeder but sat quietly watching the others. Something red dripped from his tiny needle pointed beak.

The rest of the birds continually attacked one another, driving them from the feeder, fighting in the air. One of them landed on the back of another and drove her beak into the back of her neck. As the others darted back and forth you could here the "smack!" of their wings as they ran into each other, sometimes falling back towards the ground, sometimes driving towards each other and upwards until they disappeared into the leaves of the trees. It was at this point that Jim made a casual decision that proved fatal. “I’ll have one more cup of coffee,” he said.

As Jim and Glynda sat and watched, the birds would swoosh across the deck above the table before them coming within inches of their face before turning away. The male did this too. There’s nothing quite as frightening as an incoming male Ruby Throat! One second he’s safely away in a tree, and the next he’s coming towards you at an astonishing rate of speed. Just when you know there’s no way he won’t hit you, he stops in midair and hovers there in front of your face! This male was coming straight for Jim in just that way! He knew that, logically, this bird was not going to run into him. But there was a fierceness in the way this bird looked! He was coming very fast! His beak was pointed straight ahead! For just an instant, Jim realized that, no, he was not going to stop! Then the razor sharp beak plunged deep into his neck.

Jim lay unconscious on the deck. A vast amount of blood poured through the tiny hole in his neck, pooling below him and dripping slowly onto the ground below. Glynda tried to stop it. She put a tourniquet around his neck but it was no use. Life was ebbing from his body. She looked up. The Ruby Throat was perched quietly on the corner of the gazebo, blood on his beak. Ruby Throats make a tiny quiet chirping sound but this one seemed to be chirping words. It was hard to understand, but it was words! To Glynda it sounded like “Which way to Austin?”

Here's my shot at a political cartoon

Ruby Throat 101

OK, I know I said that the post from a couple weeks ago would be the last hummingbird post but we were asking ourselves at breakfast a couple days ago about when the fall migration starts. The answer is that, in some parts of the country, it's already begun. The Ruby Throat Hummingbird lives in the eastern 2/3rds of the US and into Canada during the summer. They migrate to Central America in the winter. They are the only hummingbird found in Texas and in much of their habitat area. In North Texas they begin arriving in the latter part of March each year and, by mid-November, the fall migration to Central America is complete. So we'll only have our little visitors for a few more weeks.


A couple interesting facts I discovered while researching this: (a) To determine how many birds are visiting your property each day, you should count the most birds that you see at one time and multiple by five. Our picture above has nine hummers in it and when we made it there were more birds hovering outside of the camera range and perched in a couple trees so a total of 15 would not be unreasonable - times 5 is 75. That's a lot of hummers! (b) During migration the birds you see today are not the birds you saw yesterday. The ones that were here yesterday are gone. Both of these 'facts' are hard for me to accept but they're from published works!


Theres also a web site devoted to these little ones - http://www.rubythroat.org/

Sounds of Wildernest

Most of the folks that visit us will, at some point during their visit, remark about how quiet it is here. They're really only noticing the absence of noise. There's really a lot of "sound" here! This morning, with weather like that first day of autumn each year, I'm sitting on the deck reading and there are sounds all around me. The one sound I hear that's the results of the works of man is the sound of the wind chime - and there's only a gentle breeze so there's only the occasional single, pure, one note sound. Behind that, I hear the constant hum of our little flock of hummingbirds hovering around the feeder or dashing to or from it. Every now and then one darts by my head or hovers in front of me checking out my presence here. There's the frequent light-footed "thunk" of a bird landing on the wooden feeder a few feet to my right and the sometimes, but not too often, the "peck, peck, peck" of a bird searching for the right seed. There's always the sound of the birds, some I know, most I don't. The Cardinal is making his quiet cheeping sound, a sound you'd expect to be coming from a much smaller bird. The much smaller Carolina Wren is making a sound that would awake a sleeping person, a sound second only to the Blue Jay in the annoyance factor. We've been hearing an owl recently and he is around this morning. But the best bird sound is the "schree" of the hawk. It's best when they are up very high. The one this morning isn't.

Just then there was a heavy 'thunk". It was Morris (the squirrel) dropping from the tree onto the deck rail on his way to the bird feeder. I hear the frogs at the pond - not too loud this morning and the buzzing of the bees (bumble and honey) that also frequent the hummingbird feeder. This morning there's the sound of the breeze in the trees, it reminds me of a couple days ago when I heard the wind in the pine trees - a restful and alluring sound that needs an adjective that I don't have. Every now and then an acorn falls on the tin roof - much more resonant when it hits the roof of the carport. And always there is the sound of the waterfall in the pond. It's a natural sound but I guess that one is man made too. There is now the sound of a tractor far off in the distance. It's one of those comfortable sounds of country living.

For me, there is one other sound. Most of the time, like the man who lives near the railroad tracks doesn't hear the train, I don't notice it - but it's the constant little high pitch sound of my tinnitus that always with me.

Morris just jumped from the bird feeder to the tree making the chucking sound that squirrels make and then shook the tree branches rustling the leaves as he left. No, it's not really quiet here.

Coincidence??

Have you noticed the TV commercials for Reliant Energy? Have you seen the one about Jeanie who likes to read - "fiction, non-fiction, autobiographies about people"? This commercial made it right to the top of my Mute Button Commercials almost immediately but I didn't always mute on time and the "autobiographies about people" made me (and Glynda) cringe every time. One day I'd had enough and signed onto the Reliant Energy website and told them how stupid that commercial was and how the only things it said about Reliant Energy were not good - ALL of the autobiographies I'd ever read were about people. A few days after I did that, the commercial disappeared for a couple weeks and every time I saw one of their commercials, it was the second of the two they were running. I started telling Glynda that I had the power! Then one day Jeanie came back , just like before with one exception - she no longer says anything about "autobiographies about people".

A New Entry in Our Favorite Movies!

SKY CAPTAIN and the
WORLD of TOMORROW!

We missed this the first time around (2004) but got the DVD through Netflix and have watched it twice and once again with the commentary and will watch the second commentary today before sending it back tomorrow.

You've probably got to be my age to really appreciate the creativity and vision in this one although my kids can probably come close. I have no idea what the grandkids would think of it though. I love the humor in it. I love the way the photographic effects capture the essence of the 30's. And the computer graphics are not to bad either. As I was watching this the first time I was thinking that the whole concept had to come from one man and found out in the commentary that it did. One guy, Kerry Conran, spent four years creating a six minute video on his Mac and that was the concept he used to sell the movie. It was his first one and he wrote the script, had complete creative control, and directed it. The cast includes Jude Law, Angelina Jolie, and Gwyneth Paltrow - who was perfect and in her role of the reporter Polly Perkins! And the last line of the movie is priceless - a one word sentence - "Lenscap".

The trailer