Hedwig Drops in for a Visit

California miracle: a Snowy Owl

Nothing I love more than climbing on some boat and being taken out to stare at birds from a new perspective. Birds out on the water are a thing to marvel at. I mean, you see some 6 oz bit of fluff sitting happily in the middle of all that water, not a care in the world and unlike the humans staring at it – it isn’t freezing its adorable feathered arse off. 
Today I went on a new kind of pelagic trip and it was quite different from the usual; we sailed on a fresh water craft, and we were going after one specific bird that was not waterfowl – we went after - of all things - an owl .

In crappy years when the pickings are tough in the Arctic, Snowy Owls, especially the youngsters, fly south in search of nice fat juicy rodents. How far south the arctic raptors fly depends on how desperate things get up north. Last year a Snowy Owl popped up in Northern California – the first Snowy seen in these parts in about 30 years. I went to see the owl and take a few photos. It was thought it would be another 30 years before we’d see another snowy. Nope! Another youngster showed up last week. This beauty of an Owl is hanging out on a fresh water lake in private and public lands. At noon I climbed aboard the good ship California Sunset for a pleasant 2.5 hour jaunt through relatively narrow waterways, south. A local, Captain Dan Thiemann was nice enough to ferry - at a cost to cover his gas and a bit of profit which he certainly deserves - a lot of about 40 oh-so-excited birders (which included ‘moi’). As in all birding trips there is no guarantee whatsoever that you are going to see what you are looking for, but today, for the third day in row, Captain Dan delivered. Birders well armed with binoculars, spotting scopes and cameras while standing practicing their sea... river legs.

Miss Hedwig, wide awake, swiveled her head like a scene out of the Exorcist. Most exciting,her talons and her fluffy, white leg feathers were stained with blood so it is safe to say that someone has been finding enough fat little rodents to keep body & soul together. As the late great Steve Irwin would say, 'Isn't she beautiful!'

[UPDATE January 11, 2017: Lovely news, Snowy Owls that fly south are not doing so because of starvation & a lack of prey in the arctic. Recent study proves the snowy rascals are flying south. Here is a direct quote from a Cornell University publication:

 “We’ve been finding owls with significant fat stores, some so plump they can be classified as ‘morbidly obese,’ because they’re coming from a part of the Arctic that’s overrun with rodents and other prey,” says Scott Weidensaul, a Project SNOWstorm researcher. He says it appears that when these owls erupt and appear in large numbers in the U.S., it’s due to a bumper crop of young snowies during a very good breeding season—not a lack of food.
They're FAT and well fed! Young owls just venture south, more or less the equivalent of hitting the gym and finding a cool new place to hang out while waiting for spring to return. I have something in common with Hedwig. Now that is magic.]

Pissing Off the Dragons

My gut isn’t the only thing in want of being tidied up. I like the ideas of Feng Shui. No I don’t believe there are dragons out there willing to grant prosperity if I hang a mirror on my front door and a green plant in the northwest corner of my sitting room. I do believe clutter piled in corners and poor arrangement of furniture drags you down. I think change is wanted.

Normally my home is tidy enough that if guests dropped in unexpected, I could welcome them in and perhaps except for whichever of my projects-of-the-week is center stage in the living room, I would feel secure that my company could sit on the couch and enjoy the view or drink & eat on produce from my kitchen without fearing botulism or e-coli.

Uh… that is not quite the case these last few months. Mind, the clutter that has overcome my dining room is the end result of cleaning out the back two bedrooms without having made final decisions on what to toss/store/give-away. Still the clutter is destroying all ‘Chi’ and pissing off the dragons. And the kitchen is one rotting tangerine away from becoming the health department's case-of-the-month.

This must change. Stay tuned.

HAPPY 2007!

A Good Thing: I have not been in much of a writing mood but I intend to write more in 2007. Today’s good enough for a start.

A Bad Thing: Starting the year off with an unsocial move; turning down an invite to visit Barb and all, in Castroville (Monterey) for the New Year’s weekend. Instead I chose to hunker down, at home.

A Good Thing: 2/3 of the occupants at Barb's came down with the flu. Dang good thing I stayed home.

Jury's Out: For the second day in a row I have the fireplace going full blast. I love getting a good fire going. The log coals get so hot that each new log tossed on bursts into flames and it’s SNAP, CRACKLE, POP! Scads of glorious heat waves traversing the living room. I'm keeping the thermostat at 55 degrees again this winter. There is reason to believe I am likely the number one pollutant of the air quality in Fair Oaks. Tough ta-ta’s.

Just now I have three deer/elkskin drums lined up in front the fire. I’ve been told by Indian drummers that heating a drum changes its pitch. My drums all have poor pitch; sounding rather like they've been kicked in the nuts instead of sounding deep and sonorous as though well fortified with testosterone.

I made three of my four hand drums. They look lovely, but sound pitiful. So far, heating them and wetting down the surfaces did little to change their pitch. They still sound more like toy pianos than baby grands. Bugger.

New Year's Resolution - Get Fit: I was feeling rather proud of myself, exercising 30 minutes, three times a week. I decided to read the spread in Oprah's magazine on getting fit & discovered on a scale of zero to 5 on Bob Greene's 'Do You Move Your Arse?' scale, my 3 times a week only amounted to a paltry '2'.

How can so much pride and sweat only amount to a pissy little two points?

For getting into and maintaining one's shape, Greene (Op's fitness trainer) recommends exercising 6 days a week. That pissed me off, because that is what I had concluded for myself some months ago on my own, but now can't do without HIM getting all the credit. I know, I know, but you wouldn't understand why that annoys me. I haven't yet begun to exercise the additional three days per week. I have to pout and sulk for a bit more first. I have given myself a good deal of leeway before I expect myself to cave into fitness via actual movement - as opposed to fitness by imagining myself moving. I am shooting for a month of exercising 4 times a week for the month of January (3 days at Curves, one day jogging 30 minutes on my treadmill) , followed by exercising 5 times a week in February, and reaching full fitness exercising 6 days a week ( 180 minutes a week) in March.

I would like to find some excuse to progress at a much slower pace but honestly - I'm dragging this out as long as I can as it is. I'm not the least bit worried that I won't achieve my goal. I'm great at pattern forming; I took to my Curves exercise routine like an obese duck to water. I am going to actually achieve my fitness goals in 2007.

I have no idea why the very idea of achieving such a good goal is so dang scary - but it is. I mean, what's next? A successful & solvent household budget? EEEEEPPP!