Tag Archives: red bird

Friday Flora

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Happy Friday! I was excited to see a few plants in bloom. Because it’s so hot — it will top 100 degrees today — I had to snap photos before the blooms wilt. I was especially excited with this red bottlebrush that was attracting multiple bees.

This will be something else when all those buds bloom.

More busy bees on the bottlebrush!

On another note, I was scheduled for a colonoscopy Monday. I had a referral from my primary to a specialist. When I made the appointment, I asked the scheduler about prep. I’ve done this before and there’s more to it than just showing up for the appointment. She said she’d text me the instructions. Well, I was texted the name of the doctor, address and phone number.

I tried unsuccessfully to send a message through their patient portal. It asked for an office location from a drop down menu that said “no location found.” Without that field, I couldn’t send the message.

Since it’s fast approaching my appointment, I called and left a detailed message explaining I never received any instructions for colonoscopy prep. I got a call back. I learned that I was scheduled for a consultation PRIOR to the colonoscopy. I asked why did I need a separate appointment since I my referral spells out the procedure requested by my primary. Consultation cancelled. Waiting for my colonoscopy date in April. Medicine these days!

Here’s the bottlebrush bush from a few steps back. I can’t wait to see this in full bloom!

And a photo of Red to go with the red bottlebrush photos.

Have a great weekend! What are your plans?

A New Pet — Sort Of

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I’ve been heartbroken since I had to say good-bye to Olive, my daughter’s cat, who I adopted after she left for college. Olive was a highlight of my quiet life in Arizona. Since we said good-bye to her in November, I’ve noticed a Bird Buddy who is wiggling into my heart.

No, I’m not getting another cat or dog. My son has asthma and allergies. I wasn’t getting rid of Olive because our son seemed okay in our new house — until his last visit. I guess a few years’ worth of cat dander added up. I won’t subject him to a new cat or dog. If I did, he’d probably skip visiting us altogether.

So here’s my new pet. Like I said, sort of. He waits for me every morning to fill the feeder. He’s first to rush in for his fill of seeds. Then I hear him sing and flit around the yard for a few hours. He comes back at the end of the day. We spend time looking at each other. I find myself imitating his tilt of the head and he tilts back at me.

My husband asked what I was going to name him. I chose Ollie but my husband thinks it’s too close to Olive. Which was the point, I might add. His idea was Kramer due to the Cardinal’s hair do. I might settle on Cosmo, which was Kramer’s first name in Seinfeld. Or, I’ll stick to Ollie. Time will tell.

We used to have a Cardinal couple who frequented the bird feeder. The females are not as colorful is how you tell them apart. This Cardinal is alone all the time. I don’t know if he was part of the couple who used to stop by. Cardinals mate for life, so I sure hope he didn’t lose his wife.

Cardinals have a beautiful song and I always know when my new sort of pet is near.

Here’s a video from my Bird Buddy AI feeder:

What do you think of the choices of names for my new bird buddy?

What frequent visitors do you have from nature to enhance your lives?