Birds and Blocks

Looking back, it seems I get around to a new post about once a week or so.  It isn't planned that way.  It just happens. 

I have to tell you about an exciting adventure while birding last week. We were ostensibly looking for ducks on this outing, so we headed toward a lake up in Blackwater forest.  Not a duck in sight -- well, one  female bufflehead, but that was all.  

HOWEVER -- as we were watching the cormorants fishing, a bald eagle flew over.  That's not uncommon for our area, but it was noted.  A few minutes later a second one appeared, this one a juvenile.  Again, nothing uncommon.   Then a few minutes later, the most amazing thing occurred!!  Within less than five minutes, there were seven (yes, 7) baldies circling around overhead and skirmishing. Two adults and five juveniles.  Now that was truly an amazing sight for our part of the world.   I think one of the adults wanted to teach a juvenile the meaning of boundaries, so it attacked the youngster.    They were way too far away for my camera to capture much of them, but they were truly magnificent to watch.  

Our outing yesterday was unremarkable in both variety and quantity.  Birdlady friend called this morning very excited.  A red throated loon was in the sound behind her house and since it is a rare bird for this part of the country, she wanted me to come over to see it.  I went, but didn't get there before it had already moved on.  However, we spent an hour or so moving down the beach trying to find it.  No luck, but saw lots of brown pelicans, jillions of buffleheads and lots of common loons, along with the regular sea gulls, terns and such.  That's the thing about birding -- you just have to be at the right place at the right time.  You can improve your odds sometimes, but ultimately it all comes down to luck.  

I've started on my aunt's quilt, only to discover that I really dislike one of the fabrics I had chosen.  It's a nice fabric but it just didn't work with the others.  So I spent a couple of days thinking and figuring a new arrangement.  I'm winding up using the same pattern, but using only two fabrics in the quilt instead of three.  I think it's going to turn out well.  Here are the blocks which will be arranged alternately to make a king sized quilt. 

Thank goodness I had bought a considerable amount of extra fabric or I wouldn't have enough.  I'm scrimping even now to make sure I have enough.  My thought is to have the quilting done in a curvy, floral so as to soften up the lines.  And use a green/blue variegated thread.

Our weather has been so strange.  Right now its in the mid 60's outside at 10 p.m. However, I took my plants out of the garden house only today after having them there for the past several nights because of below freezing temps.  Hopefully there will be some rain tonight.  But, they'll have to go back in tomorrow afternoon because we're expecting temps down into the mid 20's for the next three nights.  Then back up again.  It's hard to deal with this stuff when the temps fluctuate so much.  I hate to leave them in there so much due to the lack of light, but it's too much to haul them in and out every day.  Sometimes we just open the double doors and let the morning sun shine in on them, and then close the doors later in the day.  

A few weeks back when Birdlady arrived to pick me up for one of our outings, this is what greeted her at the front stoop.  

See?   It doesn't take much to please me sometimes!!! 

That same day, she drove me by this tree stump that had been transformed by the ranch owner. 

Y'all take care.