Dave was in Eugene all day for meeting for the 2012 Olympic Trials. Apparently, he is once again volunteering his time to help the United States select the best team for the 2012 Olympics in London. I'm holding off the divorce proceedings until I see that he gets me really good seats to the meet.
While DT was away today, I was entertained with local wildlife.
This was the view from my shower this morning. (Yeah, there is a great vista from the window in our shower.) And this deer is not dark. This deer is wet. It was raining this morning. The rain, this time, was a blessing. Forest fires are raging all over the state. Everything is so dry and - approaching autumn - the plants, grasses and trees are so dry (for Oregon).
This young doe, oddly alone, was munching away on berries, grass and weeds of all sorts. She kept away from our landscaping... because we never plant anything deer like to eat... because that would just be stupid.
This deer is looking very healthy and is busy getting fat for the lean winter.She will not be hitching a ride with us to Palm Springs.
This little gal needs to get her feed bag on. Pretty soon a young buck is going to have his way with her and she will spend the cold winter pregnant and alone. Dang. Mother Nature can be a bitch is cruel.Another Mother is living on our property (or are we living on her property?). "Our" Great Horned Owl is seen more and more often - so many times during the day! At night, she is busy teaching her baby hunting techniques and they spend hours each evening screeching to each other. Some may find the noise annoying, but I find it comforting. Much better than living in a city and listening to sirens and traffic.
This Great Horned Owl is about 22 inches tall (at least). The bird is absolutely massive and is much larger than the Red Tailed Hawks in the neighborhood. She is absolutely one of the most beautiful creatures G-d has ever created and the squirrel (I hate squirrels) population in our forest has been reduced to nearly nothing due to her hunting skills.I noticed the owl in a Douglas Fir (dugfur) behind our house at 10:30 this morning and she flew away at 2:30 (while I was on the phone with The Lovely Lisa who had just taken Little Leo into Dad's office to meet Lenny's co-workers). This gave me plenty of time to set-up the tripod and take a little video of the gorgeous animal:
Okay, so National Geographic will never ask me to film footage for a documentary. I do the best I can with what I have available and what editing skills I can figure out on the fly.
Check back - in the next few days I am going to write about our visit to the Trader Vic's that just re-opened in Portland and post a great zucchini recipe.
Until my next update, I remain, your "channeling Marlin Perkins" correspondent.