Day 18.337: A cappella nella cattedrale

This evening we met some friends for dinner in Portland and then walked down the street to St Luke’s Cathedral for the Christmas concert by Renaissance Voices. It was a lovely evening. 

Day 18.329: Friday night lampshade

Don’t ask me!

This actually happens last Sunday night. 

Day 18.313: What is it - icy?

Taken today - another sign of the changing seasons. 

Day 18.164: Too hot for ME?

It was hot here today:

I coped OK but it was hotter than we’re used to in Maine. 

Day 18.110: Duo: wren

We’ve had two Carolina wrens hanging out around our feeder and brush pile in recent days. If they are nesting nearby, we haven’t seen any real evidence of it. 

Day 18.040: Snow where to sit down

In case anyone was wondering what several weeks of fairly minor snowstorms with little in the way of melting but plenty of compression and a bit of sublimation results in on the ground,,;

Picnic table at work - the snow is up to the level of the integrated seats 

 Of course, in places where it has been piled up, we have a lot more.

Day 17.313: Door; bell

After the football game, while we were waiting for E5N1 to emerge from the band room, we witnessed the ringing of the victory bell - something we had heard on previous occasions but never been in position to see. 

The cheerleaders arranged themselves near and in front of the doors to greet the players as they arrived. Once all the team had assembled, I assumed that the cheerleaders were actually preventing them from going inside as some kind of ritual but - as we were informed by a more experienced parent - it was just that, as usual, no one had arranged to unlock the door for them. 

Day 17.282: Pep, pep (and away)

This evening we got to hear E5N1 play in the pep band while standing in front rather than behind them. It was at a new event as part of the Homecoming weekend with food trucks, a dance troop performance and a fund-raising raffle. 

The band did their full repertoire of short jingle-like tunes and their brisk rendition of a verse of the school song and the rest of us (including Exile #3 and Exile #4) were there to cheer them on. 

When we got home, E5N1 reminded us that although he had nominally been at school all day today, he hadn’t actually attended any classes. The first part of his day was a trip to Augusta to audition for one of the All-State festivals and when he got back, they had the pep rally.- an all-school event with the band and the cheerleaders preparing the students for the Homecoming game tomorrow. Although much of that event is a mystery to me, we  discovered this evening that one thing that happens is the announcement of the “most spirited” student in recognition of their participation in the various daily costume challenges during this week. Not only did we find out that this award went to E5N1 - apparently it was for the third year in a row. 

Day 17.278:Owl: barred

We were only allowed to record bird species observed from inside our 17 foot circle so this one didn’t count. On a short walk away from the circle at one point I surprised a large bird that flew a few feet away and landed on a branch a little way into the woods. I could hardly believe my eyes. Fortunately I had my camera with me so I didn’t have to tell a “one that got away” story. 

Barred owl

Barred owl giving me a hard stare

Day 17.247: Feeling hawkish?

My birding photos for today were predominantly of two hawks. A red-tailed hawk who seemed to be playing peek-a-boo with me from the top of a nearby tree:

and a Cooper's hawk that seemed to not care about us at all:

but did decide to exit in the other direction:

I did photograph a distant common grackle again for some non-raptor balance:

Day 17.245: Volunteering at church

This is one of the beds outside the front door or our church building. It has been completely taken over by a pumpkin vine. No-one admits to having planted it and I have confirmed it is a single vine, so we all believe it is a volunteer grown from a presumably discarded seed. 

In any case, it is quite impressive, and - now - fruitful. 

Day 17.230: Fun guy photos

…or something like that. 

From our hike at Agamenticus:

And as a bonus, this is what I found under one or  Exile #2’a bean plants. It’s a bit hard to see, but there is a ring of foil around the plant to discourage various nibbling creatures.m and there are several large mushroom caps poking out of it.

Day 17.218: Soar; loser

There has been a shortage of exciting things to write about this week. Life is like that sometimes.

In desperation I found myself looking at photos from a month ago (the same day we saw hawk vs turtle) and saw these photos that had not made the cut.

I'll admit that I was temporarily stumped especially by the second photo before realizing that - like the star of the other post, it was likely an immature red-tailed hawk.

Day 17.026: Red shed intention

It's only fairly recently that I caught a first - rather fleeting - glimpse of a red squirrel from our own window - just a couple of trees deep in the woods. Yesterday, Exile #3 beat that with a few photos of one seemingly taking a great interest in our shed. I have no idea what it's intentions are - maybe it has a larder under it or is casing it for that purpose. Exile #3 thinks it may just be moving in.

And yes, it's a pun for the video-gaming word-play aficionados.

Day 16.337: Brush; off

I took the afternoon off work and ended up with an unexpected daylight hour or so at home, so we built a brush pile. 

This is part of a citizen science experiment for Cornell Ornithology. 

It was also the second instrumental concert which went great once again.

Day 16.269: Murder in the street

Exile #3 witnessed a murder right outside our house yesterday, but it's pretty much a daily occurrence.

 

Day 16.070: Fussiest titmouse

Sorry I spelled "tufted" incorrectly.

On the other hand, I watched this one several times search for a specific seed, turn around and hit it on the rim of the trough to open it before eating.

Day 15.330: Don’t fear the word game

I sometimes play this mobile game - Wordscapes. Each puzzle is an anagram of a 6 or 7 letter word and then various other words made from a subset of the same letters. 

I usually enjoy it but this one was the prescription that nearly cured my fever:

(If this made no sense to you, this may help)

Day 15.325: Snow month? Like it!

Now it’s December, the snow seems both inevitable and appropriate. We had a little flurry at lunchtime today:

Although it didn’t come to anything, I wonder how much longer before we have to submit our FeederWatch results with something other than “none” for snow and ice cover.