You rock, you do

While I was watching the Sidney live cam on the eaglets I saw typical husband / wife situation.

At first the nest was empty of any parent eagle. Soon I could hear what seemed to be two different eagle calls from above.

The male flew into the nest, the female joined him in less than a second later. She was doing the talking. He had brought home a small fish, she had nothing. She continued to talk to him and he flew off again while she stayed on the nest.

This is what I'm sure she said -- read the following in the voice of Marisa Tomei as her "My Cousin Vinny" character.

"Oh, you're the man, you are. You are so good to catch that fish and I didn't find anything. You rock, dude. Go out there and do your thing."

I'm sure after she left she was thinking: "Good, now I can rest my wings and watch Oprah. Where did I put that remote?"

rita

Off the top of my head

Remember the days when there was always a surprise element in picture taking? We would point the camera the best we could, snap the shutter and hope for the best.









We would take several shots hoping that one of them would "turn out". Then rush the film to the drug store and wait 3 to 5 days for it to return in the form of finished prints. Remember the thrill of finding that one good shot in the batch? The one that made all the others worthless.








My mother would always ask my father, "Why do you always cut the top of the head off?"

Well, here is Uncle Rascle with his head cut off because your father took this picture.

We always thought it was because he wasn't careful enough when he looked through the viewfinder.


I'm now thinking that Dad was just ahead of his time. I was cruising on the Internet today and saw these professional photos.











Poor Dad. I wish he were around today to be vindicated.
rita

This week . . .

The land of the office cubes use to occupy 40 hours a week for me -- before I retired in October of last year.

It was a good living but retirement is a good life.

Last January, when the weather was dreary and drippy I was asked if I would return to the office to complete a project that would need doing in late April. It seemed like a good idea, at the time.

It is time to fulfill my commitment -- now that the weather is nice. I'm sure the weeds in my flower beds will wait a few more days while I return to the world of cubes.



It was great to see so many of my old co-workers and get caught up on the office gossip. All the same coffee stains were still on the floor, and the office had a familiar smell.
rita

Meanwhile on Vancouver Island

I'm still mesmerized by the bald eagles and their three eaglets. Two of the little ones are strong enough to walk around in the nest. Their heads and necks are still a little heavy for them and they fall forward after a few steps.

Just now as I was watching the live cam one parent was feeding what looked like what used to be a bunny. After all the meat was picked off of the critter the last eaglet was still hungry. The parent was looking around for the mate to come with more food. It is a full time job keeping those three stomachs full.

Hope you are having as much fun as I am at peeking into their family life.

rita

Sadie the nice lady

A few years ago the Cottage Master and I had the opportunity to visit Orlando, Florida. Since we were going to have to be at certain places at certain times, like a wedding, we wanted to avoid our usual "we're lost" episodes so we rented a GPS system with our rental car.

We fell in love with the system the first time we failed to follow the directions and the kindly male voice merely said, "Recalculating" and in a few seconds continued to tell us how to reach our destination based on the direction we were currently traveling.

Wow. No one was yelling at anyone! No one was implying that the driver was incompetent! No one was feverishly flipping a map trying to figure out what should now be done. No one was almost in tears! etc.

I believe we were the first people to sign up for the service when Verizon offered it to be available on our telephones. We knew this was going to SAVE OUR MARRIAGE.

The voice on Verizon is female and I've named her "Sadie the nice lady" because she never yells at me when I make a mistake. She always knows where I am and is always looking out for me.

However she and I had our first bit of trouble this weekend in Portland. I asked her how to get back onto the freeway when we was ready to leave but she couldn't find me and she kept asking where I was but I didn't know.

I drove for a few blocks and she locked onto me and began to tell me where to turn. It wasn't long before I realized that she was leading toward a bridge that according to the morning news going to be closed until Monday morning (and I wasn't willing to wait that long).

We continued to drive while she continued to suggest that we turn around to get onto the bridge.

I finally turned her off. I thought I could hear a note of frustration with me in her voice. After a couple of miles we saw a sign stating our destination -- only to discover that once again it was leading to the SAME CLOSED BRIDGE.

By that time I was laughing. Oh my, stuck in Portland and can't get out!

We continued to drive east until we hit another freeway heading north and then we just had to treat ourselves by stopping for lunch and shopping.

Poor Sadie. I hope she's still speaking to me after this.

rita

Portland

I don't get out of town often. I'm not a world traveler. I am easily amused and entertained.

Our trip to Portland was wonderful. We stayed in a very nice hotel in the downtown area. I was entertained by the innovative way the space of the room was used. Here you see what appears to be the doorless bathroom.

But the door to the closet doubles as a door for the bathroom!!!!!


When we opened the drawer to the bedstand between the beds, expecting to find the proverbial Gideon Bible we discovered a safe instead! Actually we were looking for the remote control.


So much for the concept of "In God We Trust". As I said, I'm easily amused.

I fell in love with the wonderful pillows -- each of us had FOUR of them. They were fully stuffed and much better quality than the ones I own. The bedding was the European type (I know this only from what I've read not because I've experience it) and the television was a large flat screen model. All much nicer than I have at home. I felt very pampered.
rita

More on the eagles

Here is a link to a 6 minute piece about the bald eagles that was on the Discovery Channel.

My wonderful thoughtful daughter, knowing that my craft room is in blue and white, gave me this beautiful picture for an Easter gift. It is framed in a brushed silver and happily it exactly matches the curtain rod. I love it when things work like that!

She also noted that my ironing board in that room needed a new cover. She gave me the most wonderful blue and white cover.

I bought my ironing board the year she was born, which I'll only disclose was sometime during the 1970's.

When I attempted to put the cover on I discovered that my ironing board is larger than the boards now being sold. Not much larger, but enough so that the cover is about two inches too short.

However, that will not stop me from using it.

I have plans to undo the elastic around the edge and "make" it fit. It's much too nice not to make the effort to get it to fit.

Beth Moore

Tomorrow and Saturday I will be in Portland, Oregon enjoying Beth Moore and her Bible teachings. If you are not familiar with Beth you can find her web site here. I've gone through two of her Bible studies through our church and am looking forward to seeing her in person.

My friend, Sherrie, will be with me. That translates to lots of silly times and laughter!

rita

Spring Surprises

I realize that these flowers are considered weeds to some people. But I take great delight in them. There are patches of them throughout the garden area (yes, like weeds).


When we moved into Quirky Cottage two years ago the previous owners left this sweet little bird house hanging in the tree. Earlier this week I was thinking that I should move the little house to a more accessible location since I've never seen any birds attempting to make it their home.

And then, this afternoon, a pair of chickadees flew in and out, testing it out, rearranging the furniture and all the other things we potential home buyers do before we settle on a location.

I'm hoping that they found it to their liking and I'll be able to watch them raise a family just outside my favorite window.

rita

Beanie Babies

While wandering around Value Village the other day I turned the corner and at the end of the aisle was this large display of Beanie Babies.

Each one was selling for $3.00 to $5.00.

I didn't participate in the Beanie Baby rage and don't remember what they sold for when new. If any of you remember and can tell me, I'd appreciate it.

They are listed on E-bay for 99 cents. Of course, the mailing fee is $4.00. Apparently the only people who made real money on them are those who produced them in the first place.

Maybe they will be worth real money again 100 years from now. I'm sorry I won't be around to see that on the "Antiques Roadshow" program.
rita

A Birthday Project

I buy hard cardboard books at thrift shops for 59 to 79 cents each. The kind that we read to babies and toddlers. I don't care what the book is about -- I buy it for the size and shape. Here is one that I recently used.

I carefully peel the shiny paper off of each page and the cover. It usually comes off rather easily but I've had some that were a challenge.

This particular book was easy! I'm left with an empty cardboard book.

Our grandson's first birthday was on April 11th. His older brother and I put together a "one of a kind" book for him. Kyle took the pictures, picked out the paper to use and wrote a caption or a quote for each page. He had to learn some computer skills while doing this project and deserves to be proud of his accomplishments.

We downloaded the pictures into PowerPoint and applied the words and then printed the pages. We spray glued each page onto the cardboard book and this is the finished project.

An almost free book.

rita

Another eagle nest

There is a second bald eagle nest with a live cam. It is in Sidney. This couple had three eggs but only two hatched. Today was the first sighting of the new borns.

The web address for this one is this

rita

Eagle Family

As Ellemenope pointed out yesterday, I can't tell the male from the female bald eagle. At 5:15 Pacific time I had the streaming cam on and got to see the changing of the guard!



One eagle flew in and relieved the one that had been sitting on the nest. What a thrill.



As the evening sun was setting the wind was starting to pick up a bit and the eagle sat with its back to the wind.

Hope you are enjoying this as much as I am!

rita

Bald Eagle Watching

One of several Live Streaming Wildlife Cams is located so that we can watch a female Bald Eagle tend to newly laid eggs in her nest, click here to see. The nest is in Western Canada. I've been watching it on and off for the last couple of days.

I don't know when her eggs are expected to hatch. She sits high above the trees and watches. She calls out occassionally and flies off but never for very long. I'm looking forward to seeing her bring food and feed her young ones.

It is possible to hear the other birds, airplanes and tree movements. It's like you are right there with her.

rita

It's Springtime

Spring has sprung in my neighborhood. We've had three beautiful days in a row. The sound of lawnmowers, garden tillers and children laughing while they play outside have filled the air.

To celebrate I hung a spring hat on the front door.





I went around Quirky Cottage enjoying all of the blooming flowers.

I don't know what this white flower is but it smells wonderful.

The weather girl promises that tomorrow will be nice, too, at least until late afternoon when a swirl of clouds filled with rain will swoosh into our area.

rita

A Free House

I got to babysit our sweet grandson all day last Friday. A few days before, I went to an appliance and got this box . . . I painted it and cut a door for it . . .

When the paint was dry I cut a whole in one side . . .

I cut the end off of an oatmeal box and slipped it into the hole.

EJ and I had so much fun passing small toys back and forth through the oatmeal box I didn't take time to stop and take a picture.

His delightful giggles were so sweet when he looked through the round box and could see my face. Of course, opening and shutting the door was amusing as well.

Gotta love a free toy.
rita