A fuzzy, fluffy Roadrunner. I found out this is a juvenile because of his dark eyes, small crest and yes, fluffy feathers.
With my stressful, busy week that included worrying about my dad in ICU, an Xray, an eye appointment, dinner out with the ladies and two PT appointments, I can’t think straight. That’s why my posts this week consist of photos.
I found photography to be especially soothing and grounding this week. I took more pictures I’m proud of and happy to share. One of my favorite bits of photography is connecting the SD card to my laptop and looking at my captures. I never know what I’ve gotten, because I don’t look at the photos on my camera. I did get one new lifetime bird, so I’ll be working on a “Bird of the Week” challenge next week.
Another photo of the Roadrunner.
The squirrel is a talented climber and somehow avoids the cactus spikes on his tummy.
Mr. Squirrel likes to eat his birdseed on a bench where he leaves quite a mess!
A male House Finch is a pretty red and settled at the birdbath for me to get a few photos.
This was one of many U.S. flags at our favorite beach. Many of the homes fly them daily.
Remembering 9/11:
I was getting my kids ready for school. Our son was in third grade and our daughter in kindergarten. They were in their Catholic school uniforms of khaki shorts and a white polo for our son and a forest green plaid skirt and polo for our daughter. I was glancing at the TV in our bedroom, waiting for them to brush their teeth when I saw the first plane crash into a tower. I had no idea what was going on. I thought it was an accident.
Then the second tower was hit. I didn’t know if I should keep my kids home from school that day. I was scared to drop them off. But in the end I decided to try to keep the day “normal” as possible for them and not interrupt their routines.
My husband worked for Merrill Lynch in Palm Springs at the time. We had a close friend, who was his former boss, who worked in an office next door to the Twin Towers when it was bombed in 1993. My husband knew many people that he talked with daily who worked on Wall Street and in the Twin Towers. September 11 was a scary day while he tried to account for people he knew.
We soon learned a parish member from our church was aboard the plane from Boston.
I see a divide in my life before and after 9/11. Our world would never be the same. My heart goes out to everyone who lost family members on that tragic day or from the results of health issues caused by the terrorist attack.
Red Update:
Before we left for our beach vacation, I noticed a few changes in Red’s appearance. I wrote about the black spot on his head HERE.
We got back from vacation and Red was in the back yard singing to me. I was thrilled of course, but you can imagine my surprise when I saw Red looking like this:
It’s called molting. Red is losing his feathers and growing new ones. He needs a high protein diet so I’m feeding him his favorite peanuts and sunflower mix.
Another strange thing I noticed was Red hanging out with a juvenile bird. I used my zoom lens and saw that it was NOT one of his fledglings. It was a Bronzed Cowbird! Why was he feeding a species of bird that was not his?
I read that Cowbirds are “parasitic breeders” and they don’t build their own nests, but lay eggs in other birds’ nests including Cardinals. A brood parasite is an animal or bird that tricks a host parent into incubating and raising its young. The Cowbird lays it’s eggs in a Cardinal’s nest because they are similar in size and color.
Red’s juvenile Cowbird. Not only is Red a delight to listen to and see, he’s a generous adoptive dad. I remember an odd looking baby cardinal. At first Red and Mrs. had two babies, then a third one appeared that didn’t match the others.
Momma quail with a few babies. We have three different quail families visiting our backyard every day. The tiniest ones are a family with three babies. I spotted them for the first time Friday. They are so adorable! Then there is a family with seven babies and one with eight.
Aren’t they cute?
Today we left the house at 5:15 a.m. to take my husband to surgery. I spent Sunday stressing about it. Not only am I worried about him, I’m worried about my own anxiety getting out of control. I have to drive him home from surgery, plus to follow up appointments and PT. I’m not a fan of driving here and once in a while I get a bout of driving anxiety. I think I’m talking myself into it as I sit and worry.
Hence, I’m focusing on cute baby quail.
Here’s to a speedy recovery for my husband and no driving anxiety for me!
A Gila Woodpecker in our backyard. This photo has nothing to do with my story today, but I thought you might enjoy it.
I received a strange envelope in the mail with a black and white flyer inside. It said, “Thank you! Thank you so much for your purchase! We truly appreciate your support and hope you enjoy your product.” Then there was a logo and the company name, which I didn’t recognize.
I looked through my Amazon orders to see if I purchased anything from them. I did not.
I went to their website and didn’t recognize it. It had a variety of tabs across the top for products, shopping, etc. I wanted to know what products they sold, so I clicked a tab and nothing happened. Then I clicked on another. A scary thought dawned on me. Maybe they sent me the strange envelope and flyer to get me to visit their website and click! I used my map app to look at their address. It didn’t exist.
I called my brilliant son and thankfully he answered in the middle of his work day. I explained, while freaking out, what I had done. He googled the company and said it came up as a known hacker site.
I told my son I had purchased Malwarebytes to scan for malware. He said I also needed to use a password manager, which he has been telling me for years. He did set one up for me years ago but I must have made a typo in the master password and I was never able to use it.
By using Facetime, my son accessed my computer and took over. We spent the next three hours on my computer updating passwords. He had me practice the last hour and I’ve spent the better part of the weekend working on this tedious but well-needed project. Next, he’s going to take over hubby’s computer and help him through the same project.
I read a page on USPS.com about scams. Usually the scammer mails merchandise to the unsuspecting victim. The person who receives the package knows they didn’t order whatever is in the package and wants to return it to the sender. The scammer uses the recipient’s name and address to create a fake “verified buyer” account, posting glowing reviews to boost their product ratings. USPS says to throw the stuff away or keep it. Buy do not engage with the sender. They call this scam “brushing.”
My husband said he’s so thankful he’s not the one to click on a potential dangerous site, but that it was me. That’s because we’ve always been wary that he would click on an email or link that he shouldn’t. It’s been a running joke in the family.
My son says AI is going to bring scams to a new level and that as boomers we are targets.
Needless to say, I’m behind in my reading and commenting on blogs. But as this project winds down, I’ll catch up!
Have you heard of my scam or been scammed yourself? If so, what did you do?
The Curve-Billed Thrasher at the bird bath.
I thought of this song when I wrote my title for today.
This was the entrance to our Palm Springs home of 28 years — inside our courtyard.
The courtyard photo above is inside this big gate.
We do have wonderful memories living there. When we moved in, I was pregnant with our first child. We raised our kids here and it was the only home they had growing up. We had swim banquets in the backyard. Plus, lots of kids over to play hide and seek and a game called sardines. We had several prom dinners and get togethers, too. So much good stuff.
But the last two years, 2019 and 2020, things changed. I was reminded of this with the creepy videos from Nancy Guthries Nest camera.
We had our own creepy guy. This is him. We called the police when we found him asleep in our courtyard on the steps to the backyard. For the first time in 26 years, we had to close our wooden gates daily and at night. They had metal rods that fell into the ground and could only be opened from the inside — or so we thought.
The police said his name was Marco and that he was harmless. But he thought he bought our house and left us notes that he’d physically remove us. My thoughts were that he was harmless until he wasn’t!
The pounding you hear is Marco breaking through the gates. Then he’d move to the steps and archway and pound on that lock.
He was relentless. Once he moved a barbecue into our courtyard. Every time we’d travel, I’d check the Nest feed and there he was. I’d go for walks to the park and when I’d return, Marco was in our yard. We had a friend’s daughter house and cat-sit for us while we were on vacation. She found a pile of blankets and called to ask if they were ours. No. She was terrified and her dad took over.
A neighbor helped us install padlocks on the gate. This is Marco checking out the gate in the daytime.
This was not top of mind until the Nancy Guthrie videos were shown. It’s scary to think there are so many people wandering around people’s houses at night. The police felt sorry for me because I was so frightened. They’d take Marco to jail and he’d be right back within two days. There wasn’t anything the police could do.
I prefer visitors like the bobcat above entering my yard, compared to Marco. I’m happy to be out in the wilds of Arizona with wildlife and not living downtown in Palm Springs.
Have you had strangers in your yard like Marco? If so, what did you do?
What are your thoughts about the Nancy Guthrie story?
Five years ago this week we moved from sunny Palm Springs, California to sunny Arizona!
I wrote several posts about leaving my home of 28 years. It was stressful, sad, yet exciting. We had some snafus along the way. The movers didn’t bring a large enough moving van for all our stuff. They had to rent a U Haul. With everyone leaving California, they couldn’t find one close by. They had to rent one from San Diego.
We arrived in our new home without our stuff. (But we had a sedated Olive kitty, who was not a good traveler.) Fortunately, we had purchased the furniture in the casita from the prior owners, so we had a place to sleep! And I smartly packed bedding in one of our cars, plus overnight bags with changes of clothing.
Our stuff eventually caught up with us.
Here’s one of the posts from five years ago:
Moving On To Excitement
The past month, I’ve been all over the place emotionally. I’ve been through shock, disbelief, sadness, regret and anxiety. But I woke up today and I’ve moved on. I’m feeling the anticipation of a new adventure. I haven’t moved since 1992 and I’m excited for a new experience.
I don’t know what happened to change my point of view. It may be that the escrows are going well and it looks like all will close this week on both ends of the move. So that takes a chunk out of the anxiety. We worked really hard the past two weeks, packing, throwing stuff out and making daily trips to Angel View Thrift Store — and the end is in sight.
I wish my daughter would come and help us move. But with the state in a new COVID shut down until after Christmas, she viewed the flight home and driving one of our cars to Arizona for us as not “essential.” Of course, I viewed that differently. But I do understand. She doesn’t want to get us old folks sick. She doesn’t want to get her brother and significant other sick, either.
We were surprised by one of our dear Piranha Swim Team family friends who offered to help us out. They volunteered to drive one of our cars. We didn’t even have to ask. That makes me appreciate the life we’ve had here, the friendships that are so true and valuable.
We’ve been blessed and I am ready to move on, knowing those friendships will continue.
Our Palm Springs yard all prettied up for sale.
What moves have you made? Did you experience mixed emotions?
Now that the Thanksgiving Feasts are over, we turn the page to Black Friday. Why is the Friday after Thanksgiving called Black Friday? It’s a term from the 1960s coined by police in Philadelphia according to my searches on the internet. They used Black Friday to describe the increase in heavy traffic due to shopping. It also is the day that red ink turned black for stores thanks to shoppers.
I have found this week to be one of the most stressful thanks to my dad being admitted to the hospital last Friday. He’s a “Surviving Sue” person in my life, as a comparison to Dr. Vicki Atkinson’s book of the same title. You can read more about Dr. Vicki and her book on the blog Victoria Ponders.
I am the person in charge of talking to doctors, nurses, family members, selecting a skilled nursing facility, looking for assisted living, selling my dad’s house. Fortunately, by Thanksgiving, he was coherent, moved from the hospital to skilled nursing and is doing better.
We had one snafu. Years ago my dad and I went to his bank to put me on his account so bills could be paid in case he was in the hospital, unconscious, etc. I went into the bank in person with my notebook with his trust, will, power of attorney documents and learned that I was not on his account. I was added as a successor trustee, which means I can pay his bills after he dies. The bank didn’t accept the power of attorney documents and wants them to be redone.
All I can say is from my broken ankle and surgery, my kids’ two surgeries and now my dad, I’m ready to turn the page on 2025!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
What Black Friday deals are you looking for?
Are you ready for the holidays or wishing for a new year altogether?
