Ready for spring....

I want to see the tulips pushing up through the ground...
I am ready to travel down country roads and see the red bud in bloom....
I want to walk outside and see the dogwood full of blossoms
I want to look across the alley and see my neighbor's bush colored with flowers....

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It has been pouring the rain for a while now. It was dark and dreary all day, and sprinkled a little here and there. I have piddled around...on the computer, cooking, and finally I did a little sewing. I have so much more to do and have to make a couple decisions before I go any farther.

I am hoping that the Toot makes it over this way this weekend...if not we will be traveling over there next week. I just get so lonesome for her.

Birds...

Other than the crazy birds in the previous post, everything else seemed normal at the strip pits last night. The first thing I saw were male pheasants, but alas, no photos. Just a bit too far away. Almost every time I am out there I see several male pheasants but not females...
last night that streak of luck changed. I spotted these four hens together. As you can tell by the photo they were skedaddling away the minute I slowed down. Not a great picture but at least proof that I saw some....and I saw some more in the distance.
Then there were the swans....these were at the pond the geese in the previous post were attempting to land in.
And there were a couple Northern Harriers...I was surprised to see them. What is so strange in regards to them is this though. When we first started noticing them, it was not uncommon to see a dozen in the air at once...and it was very common to see them hovering in the air. Like a hummingbird. Now, we very seldom see more than two or three out there...and I cannot even remember the last time I saw one hovering in the air.
Of course there were the red-winged blackbirds....always fun to see them.

I am trying to patiently wait for the dickcissel and the bobolink...I will be a while yet before they show up. Still, I look for them every time I am out there.

If you need a laugh

I give you my word this photo is not photoshopped...nothing done except I cropped the original some and re-sized it. Do you see what I am talking about? Enlarge it for better viewing.
I made a run through the strip pits late this evening...it was just one of those evenings where I wanted to be out a little, but didn't want to go far.

I don't have any prize-winning photos, except this and only those people that know me would believe me when I say I didn't alter it. I have more pics to show you, but not today. I saw pheasants, and ducks (no pics of ducks) and swans and Northern Harriers...

Anyway, to the story of this picture. I was at this one pond where there were at several swans...I was focused on one group but did not even count them because the pics were not at all good. Well, I was getting ready to get back in the Rav4 and here flew these three geese...and they started to land. Just as I took the picture they did this crazy break up...kind of like someone starting to land a plane for the first time and pulling up just as they are about to touch down. Only the geese were not really close to the water.

Well, I shot this one pic, and while getting in the Rav4 continued to watch them. They regrouped a couple more times to come in for a landing on the water, only to put on the brakes and do that crazy break up.....almost as if they had never landed on water before. They never did touch down, but regrouped and flew off.

I did not realize I had capture them quite this way till I downloaded them to the computer. And even then when I first saw it, I thought it was my imagination...then when I opened it up big, I saw that I wasn't seeing things. I sent it to Sarah and she got the giggles about it, and I laughed till I cried.

Reminded me of a kid doing something and saying, 'Wheeee! Look what I can do ma!'