venuscat

I also slept very badly. I had awful nightmares.

And I keep waking up thinking it is still bed time.
Thankfully, the cold is finally over here and every day I will be able to do lots of outside stuff.

Cityboy

My sleep has been off the last two nights also. Moon phase perhaps.

Stuffed squirrel in the eagle's nest is funny, unless it fed stuffing to the chicks. Sounds like the work of some prankster boys.

SoberLeigh

Must have been something in the skies, MLD, Suze and CityBoy.. I had crazy, unsettling dreams so it wasn’t good sleep for me, either.

Awoke to the news that my daughter’s city is on a new COVID hotspot list. Her lungs are very susceptible to viral and bacterial infection. Their state has just loosened restrictions, too . . . . . May not be a good combination.

Good to see you, SW. Will check out the video in a few minutes. Hope all is well with you.


We are going to try and find a quiet beach spot this afternoon, enjoy sandwiches and catch the sunset.


Bim, do you think that you will be able to find the eagle nest again? Do you carry binoculars when you walk?

biminiblue

I don't know where it came from, but the female did bring it into the nest and attempt to feed.
The chicks have been using it for feeding practice, but it doesn't appear that they are fooled for one minute. The squirrel has been in the nest for weeks and is still mostly intact after mom took a few patches out of it in the beginning. I am sure she was perplexed! There is video of it.
Stuffy now serves the purpose of all stuffed toys. It's a pillow, a comfort, something to prop up against - and I'm sure it smells.

SoberLeigh

Hard to fool those eagles! . I bet that she was very perplexed, indeed. She may have suspected that the ‘catch’ was too easy.

 Bim, I was watching an Eagle Cam years ago, in Newport News, I think.  One of the parents brought a live squirrel to the nest.  The feeding wasn’t pleasant to watch.  But that’s nature in its purest sense. Â

MLD51

My boss just dumped a bunch of work on me. No cat naps today, I fear. She is having me do work that I have never had to do before. I'm highly annoyed. I get that we all have to pull together in these strange times, and all that, but I'm being forced to take a furlough, I already make a ridiculously low per-hour wage, and I already do things that are way beyond my pay grade. It's wearing thin now.


To add to all that, I just found out my tax preparer messed something up, and I have to wait for a letter from the IRS to find out what the issue is, and why I have not gotten my tax refund yet. I checked the IRS website this morning looking for an update, and got a message that they need additional information. This is the first time I have not done my taxes myself using Turbo Tax. I have not had problems before. Now, I pay someone a lot of money to do it for me and there's some sort of issue??? I'm really not happy. I called the accountant's office and the lady I talked to basically blew me off. I have to wait for the letter. I also have not gotten my stimulus money yet. Between those two things the money I'm going to lose on the furlough is more than covered, but not if I never get them.

venuscat

I am so sorry dear MLD. That sucks. Big time. s xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

biminiblue

Ah, yes. The bane of the workplace, "Here, I know you can do this work, so do this work. No, it's not your job. Sure, there are 19 hours in your workday, you don't mind, do you?"

MLD, eagles.

Think about eagles...flying free right down the road, catching fish.

Moar eagle stories: (TL;DR all babies live to fight another day)


I sit here in the mornings at the computer when all the water fowl are busy outside. I've mentioned before that the eagles take the young ducks and geese right off the water. So the other day I have the window open and hear an eagle. Perfect, I'll go outside on the deck and see what happens. Maybe I'll keep one eye closed...There is mama duck RIGHT below my balcony with her 13 ducklings paddling along behind.

So, the eagle calls out, I jump up and go out, the mama duck squawks, the ducklings dive, the eagle appears at warp speed five feet above the mama duck, and on its tail is a red-winged blackbird, dive-bombing and yelling at the eagle.

Breakfast foiled. Ducks 1: Eagle 0



I love this time of year.

SoberLeigh

Three cheers for the red-winged blackbird!!!!

I have tried to scare off crows waiting for an egg laying turtle to return to the water. I have yelled, banged lots and pans, waved my arms, etc. - all to no avail. I have driven to the other side of them narrow lake, only to arrive and watch the crows fly off with the beautiful, pearly eggs in their mouths. Painful.Â

MLD, your situation is painful, too. Â I hope that your IRS situation is resolved quickly and in your favor. Â I hope that your boss recognizes your work and provides a raise; one negative of doing a great job is that you will get more work. Â That shouldn’t be the case without added compensation. Â Oh, if only the workplace was perfect and always fair. Â Sigh.

venuscat

I bet someone got a video of you doing that and it is all over YouTube.

SoberLeigh

Ha! That would be my luck! Wild Woman on the Loose!

biminiblue

Oh, for sure the red-winged blackbird was the hero that day.

Normally the eagle would just circle back and grab a duckling when they pop back up. This time the eagle had to get the irritating dive-bombing screaming meemie off its back. I was so glad, I really didn't want to see the eagle get one. Not sure why I jumped up. I probably won't do that again.

Cityboy

An eagle was trying to get my kid's chickens once when I got home from work. I ran it off and didn't see it again, but the raccoons, possums, owls, and hawks eventually cleaned them all out anyway.

MLD, I do my own taxes also ever since I fired my accountant. Hope you get your issue straighten out easily.

venuscat

Blackbirds chase eagles? Wow.......I was really into that story bim. s xx

Cityboy

I could not be a photographer for natgeo and just watch as some frigate bird picks off the puffin chicks.

biminiblue

Venus, the best way to spot a raptor is when the smaller birds are dive-bombing a tree. If you see that, look for a raptor in the tree.
It was really a NatGeo moment, though. I have a snapshot in my mind of that picture.


Pop in at the 55 sec mark on this vid:

venuscat

Wow.....such a fascinating country.

We have a red tail hawk here who tries to eat the (baby) squirrels. It is huge.....it keeps coming straight into my yard.

SoberLeigh

CityBoy, your kids must have been so upset. Nature’s lessons are hard.

saoutchik

I cannot seem to switch forums, is anyone else having this problem?
Good to see you Soberwolf!
Sorry about your work situation Marty, it looks like I am going back this week. I have a nagging fear that the lockdown we have been through in Britain will have been for nothing
Saw a documentary once where a stuffed fox was remotely positioned in foliage about 20 metres from the roost and field of a flock of chickens. They were not fooled for a second - they looked at it once and then completely ignored it

MLD51

I swear. If I could, I'd retire right now. This whole pandemic has taught me some lessons about how to change my life from here on out. I really do not want to go back to the ridiculous pace I was trying to keep up before all this. I have to figure out a way not to just go back to what I was doing before. I have to (or should) work at least 5 more years, I figure.