More good news !

Today I received a photo of the newest addition to the bird and falconry world. Little Ashley Grace won't be donning a glove for a few years but you can bet she'll be out in the field one of these days. Celeste gave birth to this little bundle of joy just before Thanksgiving.

You see her dad, Nate, is the fellow who drove here from Cheney, KS to pick up a baby golden eagle, CHOOY. The trip was a long one but he was helped by his sister, Elizabeth. It made it so much easier on the bird as it was too hot to fly her there.

Hopefully the entire Matthews clan will be coming to this area next summer so I can meet this littest falconer, and her mom, in person. Congratulations you three!

Will she or won't she?

That's the question about the flying ability of this adult female kestrel. OLIVE arrived at IBR with a fractured left wing but as it was repairable, Dr. Pedersen did so. That was about two months ago and this morning I put her into a larger enclosure so she could exercise and get stronger. Even before the pin was removed she was almost flying in her smaller cage. The minute I put her in this room she flew to the side of the wall and hung there until I quickly slipped away. She has a bit of a droop in the wing but that should improve to about normal as she gains strength.

Black & white all over

This is WHISKY, a black-billed magpie. Oops, they're now called American magpie. I believe this is a young female that showed up in a yard with a broken wing. Luckily the owners found her and called me. She's since gone through repair surgery on her right humerus. Normally I leave the support bandage on for at least a week, WHISKY left hers on for approximately two hours. As she's a pretty quiet bird in the cage I opted to let her remain bandage free. In the photo it appears she has no tail but she does, it's just canted off to the side. Hopefully she'll be able to fly in a couple months and she can join all those other amazingly intelligent corvids in the wild.

Happy Thanksgiving ! ! !

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. Right now it's very cold here, was -15 this morning when I got up. As I heat with wood, one of my cats and I spent the night sleeping, sort of, in my Lazyboy so I could get up every couple hours and add wood to the stove. At this point I'm thankful for having a large supply of wood stacked inside and easily accessable.

I've reached an age where I'm also very thankful for all the wonderful people I've met in my life including the best relatives in the world. It's at this time of year when I remember back to all the great Thanksgiving meals my mom cooked for our family and friends who came to the door.

Thank you everyone for being a part of my life and bringing such joy into it. Eat lots of turkey and fixings, enjoy the holiday.

Photo: (l-r) Dorothy Sr. on Sheik, Susan on ?, Dorf on Bluebell, Tommy on ?, Shafer on Lord Jeff. ca. 1949 or 50

Brrrrrr cont.

Okay, this morning it was 5 degrees out when I got up. I did chores and then put water out for the wild sparrows and pigeons. It took a while for them to come to the pan but they eventually found it. It's there all year around but they were shy this morning. What I want to know is????? Why don't their little bare feet stick to the side of the metal pan? As you can see in the shot of the pigeons, one of them is standing in that very cold water. Eeeeeeeek!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I started chores this morning and the temperature was a whopping 10. Later this morning I headed to town to take in our annual November craft fair so I could stock up on goodies for presents. This is also the Cody Turkey Day where there are lots of games and chances to win turkeys and cornish hens, fun for the kids in lots of ways.

I'm now back in the house after putting everything to bed and it's not quite 5:00pm. I checked the temperature and we're now at 9 so my truck is plugged in as I'm sure it'll be below zero tonight. With the wind and some snow it's really not a very pleasant time to be working outside. The chickens have unfrozen water in their pans but all the others are solid. I keep telling the birds when I refill the pans to drink while it's soft but then they never listen to me.

And this is a prelude to our cold days coming the beginning of next week. I'm sure glad I have my five cords of wood under cover and close to hand.

Happy Birtthday !

This is my mothers birthday, she would have been 99 years old today. This necklace is one she wore on special occasions. I don't know where she got it but I always remember seeing it in her jewelry box. The stone on the bottom is a topaz, her birthstone. I wear it almost every day now. I love you mom.

Opinion expressed!

Okay, some days my dog, Sophie, wants to let me know just what she thinks of things. On this occasion I had given her a large rawhide chewy and after a couple licks she looked up with this opinion..... Even dogs can stick their tongues out at people.

Then & now

THEN: My godson, Ian, on the day he was born, September 27, 1978.

SORT OF THEN: Susan and Ian's mom, Linda, in YNP. (Note the dark hair on both of us)

NOW: That same baby all grown up. Ian and his friend Annie.

I have known Linda since the early 70s when we were both boarding horses in the same stable in Boulder, CO. Shortly after Ian was born she moved back to her home town of Austin, TX. The last time I physically saw Ian was when he was eight years old and I went there for a visit. I just received the newest photo of Ian and wanted to post it. His mother and grandmother also celebrate their birthdays this month.

My new door

Quite some time ago I decided I wanted to replace my old front door to match the one on the sunroom. A friend of a friend had just the right board, a huge piece of oak. And she works for a man who builds cabinets for kitchens and bathrooms. In the past they built a wonderful small double mew for a couple of my school birds.

I decided on the design and I'm happy to say it's more beautiful than I ever imagined it would be. The bottom panel is a duplicate of one on a 100+ year old dry sink in my great room. Thanks Ken Rey for your work. Also thanks to Susan Osborne for giving me the glass, Stacey Huston for sandblasting the oval, Tiffany Olson for designing the lettering and silhouettes, Gerald and Grant Shippen for lugging it into the house from my truck and John McGee for installing it today. It's huge, weighs a ton and will last for the rest of my lifetime.