For Lent this year I am doing Pray40, which is on the Hallow app. On Sundays, Father Mike Schmitz gives a Bible reading and homily. Yesterday, the theme was “Looking for Joy.” Father Mike mentioned the following quote:
“Suspicion often creates what it suspects.” C.S. Lewis from the “Screwtape Letters.”
My major takeaway was that if we often find what we’re looking for. If we’re looking to be disappointed, most likely we will be. Distrust can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I realized that life truly is what we make of it. It’s was a reminder that our attitudes can be our destiny. If we look for joy, we can find it.
I’m sharing some bits of joy I had this week, birdwatching at home:
The joyful couple together at the Bird Buddy AI feeder.
I watched as Red fed Mrs. and then gave her a turn at the feeder, but I wasn’t fast enough with the camera to capture it. It was heartwarming though!
Quail Egg Update:
I’ve only peeked a couple times on our quail nest. Last week I said we had four eggs. We’re now up to a dozen! I wrote about our quail nest HERE.
I was so excited to capture this photo of Red taking off the Ocotillo!
I’m going to the Bay Area to take care of my daughter post shoulder surgery. She has a repetitive use injury from swimming from kindergarten through college. Her practices in college added up to 12,000 yards of swimming per day.
I’ve been especially nervous and haven’t been sleeping well. There’s a back story to that, besides the anxiety and worry. (Ever since our last thunder and lightning storm our house alarm has been going of at 3 a.m. Now that I figured out how to get it to stop, my body is programmed to get up at 3 a.m.) Once awake, I worry about my upcoming trip and my daughter.
Mrs. giving a side-eye to another bird at the birdseed block.
I had an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon to take a last look at my ankle. I discussed my other foot with the doctor. My first visit to her was about the left foot, but she discovered my “sprain” was a break in the right ankle — and I was scheduled for emergency surgery.
Now we’re back to the original issue and I’ll have surgery after taking care of my daughter!
Here are more photos from my backyard buddies:
Gila woodpecker taking a turn on a flamingo.
I learned my chipmunks are really Harris Antelope Squirrels! Who knew?
Red’s turn on the flamingo.
The Beavertail sculpture is another favorite perch for Mrs.
This father quail keeps watch over his flock from the tree.
Red ignoring both flamingos and other backyard birds.
I’m afraid I’m at that age where my future will be lots of doctor visits. Hopefully no more surgeries.
No surprise. Red is at the top of my list. I was getting a little worried. Mrs. and Red didn’t show up for most of the week. I sent my husband to the hardware store for sunflower seeds. Their favorite. Voila! They both arrived, although separately which makes me believe there is something going on in the nest.
Mrs. made a few appearances. The sunflower seeds did the trick!
Red sharing his favorite rock with a quail. Did you notice I caught a bird in flight? It’s a blur in front of the saguaro.
A male quail keeping watch over his family. Momma and baby below the bench.
A Cactus Wren on a cactus! This is the state bird of Arizona.
What a surprise. Yesterday two cacti bloomed.
Aren’t these gorgeous flowers?
This cactus is next to our driveway.
I had to get photos of the flowers because they only last for a day.
We planted a few bougainvillea. This one is purple and the others are pink. I can’t wait to see how they grow throughout the years
The bougainvillea add such a nice touch of color.
One more favorite photo of Red.
Do you have a favorite photo? If so, which one is it?
Any exciting plans for the weekend? We’ll be celebrating our 40th anniversary!
Friday I went to see my surgeon and she removed my cast! YAY! Then she put me in a heavy duty boot and told me to use my walker and walk around the house and outside with 50% weight on my right leg. The other thing she said was I could take a shower beginning Sunday with no huge plastic sleeve topped with saran wrap on my leg. WOOHOO!
It’s the little things like semi-walking and taking a shower that are making my days!
Part of my morning routine, after coffee and writing three pages, is to venture outside. I sit for about 45 minutes to an hour watching and listening to my birds. I also listen to the Hallow app on my phone. I’m listening to a podcast on it called “Bible in a Year.” I’m on day 180. I find this to be a peaceful and helpful way to approach my day. I was so over being laid up last Thursday that I didn’t want to do anything. Getting outside plus listening to this app and my birds has helped me over the hump.
Here are a few sights from my backyard:
Here’s a honeysuckle I took with my iphone while sitting outside.
Here’s a selfie of me in my sundress and boot with my walker.
Aloe in bloom next to honeysuckle.
One lone blossom on top of a saguaro.
What little things or moments in your day make it special?
One of my blogging friends, from Brilliant Viewpoint, suggested that I put water out for my backyard birds. I told her that the doves like to get on the pool float and drink water. I said I’d post a photo, so here it is! FYI, I also ordered a bird bath from Amazon, but so far no birds have used it.
I was distressed the other day because it was a rare day that I didn’t see Red at all. He made an appearance the next day. Talk about relief! However, he didn’t stick around like he usually does and I didn’t see Mrs.
I read about cardinals and their mating and nesting times. I believe they have a nest in a Teddy Bear cactus (cholla) in the wash behind our house. I’ve seen them fly in and out. It’s a very protected space with the prickly plant offering a barrier to predators.
It’s the right time of year for Red and Mrs. to have babies. They start building their nest as early as January and start nesting and laying eggs as early as April and as late as August. June seems ideal. The female builds the nest, lays the eggs and incubates them. The male forages for food. Part of the mating ritual is the male feeds the female. I’ve seen a lot of that lately. Red looks like he’s kissing Mrs. but he’s giving her a nice sunflower seed — one of their favorites.
Red feeding the Mrs.
Here’s a cholla in the neighborhood that has a nest tucked away inside it. You can see how protected the nest would be. You can’t see the nest, unless you’re in person, looking closeup.
Other interesting things I learned about Cardinals: They mate for life. The female lays from one to five eggs, usually three. She may lay eggs three times a year. Also, the male feeds her and the babies up until two weeks after they leave the nest. The males sing or chirp loudly to define their territory and to ward off other cardinals.
Yes, I think I’m not seeing much of Red and Mrs. because they are starting a family.
Here’s a video of Red and Mrs. You can see Red feeding Mrs. a sunflower!
Here’s to week two post surgery with a post op appointment on Friday!
I spotted these blooms in the backyard which is amazing for July. They only lasted a day or two.
A few days before our trip to New York, our AC went out in the master bedroom. Now that it’s more than 100 degrees outside, that was not a good thing. We slept in the casita for a few nights until a repairman fixed the AC. One night, I got up to use the bathroom and smacked my toes on the bed post.
It was loud! It really hurt! I woke my husband up obviously.
So, off to New York City and Connecticut, where I could barely walk. Once home from the trip, I realized I still couldn’t make my morning walks. I’m still in pain. It’s frustrating as I sit looking out the window.
I’m not one who gets bored easily. I’m usually content reading or writing. But the lack of exercise isn’t helping. I have jumped in the pool to kick. It’s better than nothing. Plus, I’m lifting weights.
My biggest thrill right now is birdwatching.
Here’s a video of my baby quail:
How do you entertain yourself, if you’re injured? Any suggestions?
“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” AA. Milne
Bird Buddy updated their app with a new feature. On live streaming on my phone, I can now snap photos. That’s how I got the photo above. Before, the app took photos on its own and for some reason, the Cardinal wasn’t getting many photos. I mostly got Mourning Doves and a Curved Bill Thrasher. My Cardinal couple probably flit away too quickly to get their pics taken. Now, when I spot them at the feeder, I can take their pictures. FYI, that’s a sunflower seed stuck to the bird’s beak or he’s in the process of chomping it down.
Enough with birds. This post was meant to be about changing my schedule back to being an early bird. It hit 90 degrees last week, which meant after I woke up between 6 and 7 a.m., wrote my morning pages, Bible readings, shower, etc. it was too warm outside. Although I still walked, I needed to make a change. The answer was to flip the script, get out of bed earlier and straight to walking. The rest of my morning routine could wait until after our walk.
The temperatures dropped to a low of 50, high of 70 degrees, but I decided to stick with the new schedule. I found it hard enough to get out of bed an hour earlier for a few days until I got used to it. Now that I’m used to it, I’ll stick with it throughout the summer.
My husband decided to make our morning walk more challenging by rucking. What is rucking you ask?
Rucking is the action of walking with weight on your back. Walking with a weighted rucksack (aka backpack) is a low impact exercise based on military training workouts.
Hiking is rucking in the mountains and urban hiking is simply called rucking. You’ve probably even spent time rucking – traveling, bringing books to school, or on your commute to work. Carrying weight is a necessary part of life, and as it turns out, humans are naturally good at it, too.
ACTIVE RESISTANCE TRAINING™
Rucking builds muscle and strength while improving cardio and endurance. Bringing both types of exercises together provides a fuller range of benefits to improve your health. You can burn up to 3x more calories than walking.
I don’t know why, but he’s embarrassed about his new rucking hobby. I think it’s too cute. Rucking is a popular thing now, not quite like pickleball, but more and more people are doing it. But hubby is motivated to get out the door early to avoid any neighbors seeing him with a rucksack on his back. Today, we saw ran into someone when we were less than a block from home.
“Five minutes earlier and we would have made it,” he said.
How does your schedule change with the seasons?
Have you heard of rucking before and do you think you’ll try it?
