Day 83, Year 8: Bluebirds Return
Date: Friday, January 25, 2013
Weather: Overcast and Cold, 20’s at Night and Barely 40 degrees F Today
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
This was the coldest day we have had here this winter season and the bluebirds chose today to return. They leave for the winter and why they would return on the coldest day is beyond me, but they are here. Patsy and Joe have a bluebird house in the backyard and this afternoon we saw bird activity out there. I got out the camera and caught a male perched on the top of the house looking much as if he thought he were king of the castle. Joe doesn’t remember them returning this soon before. They usually arrive later in February, so he needs to go out and clean out the house to get it ready for a new nesting season. Normally the birds return and get ready for nesting, but don’t serious about it until April. We’ll watch closely to see when the nesting begins this year. It seems to be an early year for everything. Today’s uncharacteristically cold weather for this season should slowly get back to normal by the first of the week. It has successfully killed all the blossoms on the tulips trees, but we hope they will make a come-back. The two little wrens, we think winter wrens, that have been sleeping on a post on Patsy and Joe’s front porch have left. They leave and the bird birds come. And there were loads of other little birds pecking at the ground this afternoon looking for food. I have no idea what they were. I have a lot to learn about birds.
While all of this bird watching was going on, my sister and I were supposed to be going through old family photos and scanning them into the computer. We finally got down to business and make some progress, but I can see that this little task is going to take hours and hours. We hope that our Aunt Ethel, who will be 98 in September, is coming to visit in a few weeks and we want to have all the photos scanned so she can help us name some of the people that we can’t identify. Lots of work to do.
Mark and Joe spent the morning delivering Mobile Meals. I said in yesterday’s log that they were delivering Meals on Wheels, but that was wrong. That is a government program. Mobile Meals is an all-volunteer organization. Joe prepared the bags of food and Mark delivered them to the doors of 28 homes. Mark said it felt good to do something nice for people and the recipients seem very grateful. The people pay on a sliding scale, so they are not free for all. Patsy and Joe have been doing this for a few years now. It sounds like a good program. Patsy and I went to Costco and once again I spent too much money. I think I have enough food for the next six months, not including fresh fruit and veggies, but certainly enough canned goods and meat that is now in the freezer. I can buy hormone and antibiotic free meats at Costco and frozen Alaskan sockeye salmon, so I stock up when I am there. And today I got an extra bonus in the clothing area. The type of jeans that I wear, and had just gone to Sears to buy earlier in the morning, were on sale at Costco for $10 cheaper a pair than at Sears. So I bought two pair and will take the more expensive ones back to Sears.
Tomorrow we take the day off to go to a Power and Sail Squadron luncheon at a hotel on the waterway in Myrtle Beach. We were going to go by boat, but it is just too chilly for that. So this will be an auto excursion.
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| 130125 Day 83 South Carolina, USA–Birds Come, Birds Go |
