Water polo is finally over. We were in Grand Rapids Friday night and Saturday for the State championships. The Okemos girls took fourth place. Water polo was great for Molly but it took a toll. Except for Memorial Day, I don’t think we have had a free weekend since mid-April.
Today was an unwind day. No tournaments, no photography, no birding. On ship we had days called Ropeyarn Sunday. It was a day with no operational commitments. Traditionally it was used for patching clothes and mending your hammock. We still used it for clothing repairs but it has expanded to getting other chores done too.
So today was a Ropeyarn Sunday for me. While we were in Grand Rapids for the tournament I bought a set of studio lights for portrait photography. So this morning I got them out of the box and all assembled. The hardest part was wading through all the packing material. There were enough silica gel packs in the box to sandbag New Orleans. But now I can do senior portraits for Molly and Lindsay.
I got the pool table felt all brushed down and then used furniture polish on the sides and legs. So the pool table looks right spiffy and nobody can say I don’t help with cleaning the furniture around the house.
Another job was finishing off some garden work. I really don’t know why I do it. My garden is essentially a wildlife food plot. Every year I start with great intentions of feeding my family but usually end up just feeding the local wildlife. We found an animal skull on some hike. I put it on a stake in the garden, hoping it serves as a warning to the resident varmints. It may keep neighborhood property values down a bit too, so we’ll save some on property taxes.
Welcome to Mr. McGregor’s garden, Peter Cottontail.
Fido has had a busy week. She finished her excavations under our patio and made herself a little hideout. She gets pretty filthy after her excavations so we throw her in the shower. She loves romping around in the warm shower. Kind of humorous to watch.
Digging away.
Fido in her hiding hole under the patio. She’s happy now.
So between a hectic work week and water polo tournaments, we haven’t gotten in much birding. We did get grasshopper sparrows and yellow-throated vireo the past week. While we were in Grand Rapids Friday night, a report came in of a snowy egret in a close by city park. We headed out to the park Saturday morning before the first game but couldn’t find the egret. Others were looking unsuccessfully too. At least Lise got a rough-winged swallow at the park. Then today I saw on the listserve that the egret was re-found this morning. Just couldn’t get up the gumption for the hour or longer drive back over there.
Looking for the snowy egret.
So right now I’m at 185 species and Lise is at 178. There’s a whole lot of summer residents we are missing so we better get cracking.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 