Where Does the Time Go?

My last post was December 19, and I don't know where the time 

went. 

My apologies. 

I still have this: 

I am a little over 3 weeks in, and will go until the 

15th, when it will be exrayed and the 

cast (I pray) removed. 

It is a pain in the TUSH.  I have trouble 

opening things, and holding things, but oddly enough, 

I can type. 

We did have this: 

Don't look at that gold Santa on the mantle, he was replaced by a white one.  

That's son Jim, daughter in law Amy, and then, from left... 

Chris, Nathan, Jacob, Madison, and in front, Paiton and Jax. 

So good to be with them at a time that was very hard for me. 

Our Yoder family Christmas party the previous day was 

snowed out by a slow-moving ice and snow storm, making driving 

dangerous.  I was so grateful Andrea called to cancel.  The pile 

of gifts on the wall by the door was collected by Amber and Jesse, 

and distributed to the family the following weekend. 

Here's the adjusted mantle, and I have to say, I liked it a lot better.  I was about the 

only one that enjoyed it, too. 

The reason for the season, early Christmas morning at church. 

Except for one year when we were literally snowed in at the old place, 

I have managed to go to church every single Christmas morning. 

Here was our family Christmas present. 

I went to see my dear Keith at the cemetery, and we 

got his beautiful stone for Christmas. 

As I laid the cross on his grave, a big flock of geese came out of the 

fog overhead, and went over his grave.  Keith loved to watch geese, 

this would have pleased him so much. 

I am still feeding on the deck, but am having to vacuum regularly. 

Not an ideal situation. 

Someone watches bird tv every morning. 

The three little Sheets boys came with their parents Amber and Jesse, to pick up all the presents. 

I could NOT get a good shot, they were moving so fast! 

Keith adored these little boys! 

(Hayden, Jace, Carson) 

I am seeing small ducks and geese all of the sudden, on all of the local small and large ponds. 

Geese are everywhere.  Tomorrow I am going to try to get to Wyandotte County Lake, where I understand there is a huge flock of snow geese right now. 

Could global warming be driving the birds south already?  

We are actually going to have some prolonged cold weather this week, starting tomorrow. 

I did see some snow geese way out in a field off the levee on Tonganoxie Road. 

On my way to church Saturday afternoon, I saw two crows in 

a field.  As I went by, they went up, but I caught another movement. 

Here is what they were watching: 

Then, Sunday, I came home to this: 

That's the Coopers Hawk that has been hanging around.  

First time I have seen it on the deck!

My new year's resolution is to blog more often!  

Back to the Cold For a Day

BRRRRR it's cold out there! 

Too cold for us to walk today. 

Yesterday, Hailey and Zaphod asked us 

"When is it too cold for us"

Lilly and I could walk in just about anything... except, she will be 

ten this year and is slowing down a little. 

Little Jester, however, 

is another question. 

(Jester's first Instagram photo) 

With his short coat, he is more prone to feeling the cold 

more when the weather is bad. 

I have ordered a nice coat for him, and it should be here later this week. 

So... the temp today is 25, with a wind chill factor bringing it down 

to 15.  Too cold for Jes. 

The sun is shining, and we DO warm up from the walking... but, 

I think it's just too cold for us. 

The next three days will be much better, temps are going up to the forties 

again before they drop to the teens. 

Look who came by this morning, early: 

(It was windy) 

I ran downstairs to see if I could get better pictures. 

(It saw me moving, I think) 

And it took off. 

I had to go to the post for my bi-annual mammogram this morning, 

and saw this one on my way back. 

That's a redtail, the other was the Cooper's hawk that has been 

coming here regularly. 

Back up to the picture of Jester on top.... that was done with 

Superphoto, which I downloaded to my phone.  (Android).  I did not 

pay for the full program, because I read some of the reviews and there 

are still bugs with it. 

So, I took a look online to see what some of the most recommended 

programs were... and Instagram was one of the most recommended.  I have not 

looked at it closely yet, but it appears to have lots of editing capabilities. 

Our little Christmas tree is now downstairs in storage... it has been stripped for several weeks. 

I left the one in the bedroom, it's such a nice tree and looks beautiful in there at night when I remember to turn it on.  

I did buy a few Christmas decorations on HUGE discount this morning, including a 

package of red and gold plastic bulbs.  Next year, red and gold is going to be the "theme" for the 

living room... the little tree will have our regular family decorations in the bedroom, 

the skinny prim tree in the bedroom will move to the tv rooms, and 

the bigger tree that we did not use this year will have red and gold. 

The mantel will have all red and gold, and I hope to have lights working on it. 

I am going to run downstairs and clean the windows down there, 

in case the hawk comes back tomorrow! 

Thoughts for Tuesday

I just read all the comments from 

yesterday's Mouse Post. 

I laughed out loud at some of them... 

Yes, Stella Rose Long... I would GLADLY 

take Kevin's 951 cats, I miss having a kitty... but

Lilly. 

She won't tolerate a cat.  She tolerated Nicky and 

Gwen, and ALMOST tolerated Josie and Jenny. 

When we lost Jenny, she ran Josie off when she 

got outside one day, and never let her come back. 

I found two dead half-grown kittens in the yard at the old place... 

not Josie... but my point is, she won't stand it. 

As she is ten this year, I am not going to bedevil her. 

Keith has found these: 

We tried them last night. 

Yes, I had to kill them, or facing driving out in the country 

daily to dump mice from the humane traps. 

It was finding "mouse pills" in the dressers that did it. 

So... we tried these, and they WORK!  They are a 

snap trap, the mouse dies pretty much instantly, 

and you pull back the lever and drop it out into 

your trash bag.  

We got three last night, and I have two 

baited traps up here right now, and 

Keith got me two more today. 

So... we are trying. 

Someone (Jaz?) mentioned the poison... we are 

scared the dogs will get the mice as they die. Three months 

ago I used the poison in the pantry behind everything, and two mice came out and 

died in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor. 

I'm hesitant to use it again. 

I also used expanding foam insulation to seal off one wall 

where we had to strip the drywall two months ago.  

I know some were coming through that way.  

We will get nephew Brandon here in a couple of weeks 

to re-drywall that wall for us. 

I can't put that (flammable) foam near the furnace, so I am 

putting chore boys around the pipe run there. 

We are not going to have many new pictures over the next few weeks... tomorrow we are going to have a little snow/rain mix... though we may get to go walking around noon. 

Rain the next 3 days... and then Saturday COLD and rain, and single digits at night. 

I won't walk the dogs in the extreme cold. 

I say this is a Cooper's Hawk, seen on a pole on Leavenworth Road.  What say you, 

Friend Jill? 

Here he is in flight, gorgeous! 

You know my favorite pond, and little herd of Angus cattle... 

I noticed today that 2015's calves are gone. 

However, I drove past all the cows, noted the pond was skimmed over with ice... and then saw Big Daddy in the far corner of the pasture by the road. 

You don't wanna mess with these guys. 

He almost seems to be saying that! 

Now I have a comment to make about our wide world, and 

how fantastic the internet is that has brought us together. 

Saturday night, I was sitting in front of the tv, but 

actually just reading.  

My phone pinged with a message on Facebook Messenger. 

It was my friend Nell, from New Zealand! 

8 years or so ago, Nell and I became friends through 

our love of theater, she is an actress, and I house-managed 

a theater in downtown KCMO.  We have stayed in touch all 

through the years, though on opposite sides of the world.  We 

don't "talk" regularly, but we do stay in touch. 

She knew I used to scrapbook (and am starting again), and 

had questions, so she shot me a message.  I was able to answer

her questions and send her examples. 

My point is.... this would never have happened without the internet, which can 

bring so much happiness into our lives if we use it wisely. 

Another case in point... 

I just read Dean Jensen's "Queen of the Air", about 

Lietzel, the top performer on Ringling Brothers Circus in 

the twenties and thirties.  

She married Alfredo Codona, who himself was a top star, 

and was the first to perform the triple somersault regularly. 

She died in a fall from her apparatus in Copenhagen at a music hall;  back 

then, when the show went into winter quarters, many of the performers went to 

Europe to perform.  One of her swivels crystallized, and came apart. 

She was famous for one armed planges, where she threw her body up and over itself, over and over, 

I think her record was 250 times at one performance. 

Her shoulder would dislocate, and then go back in.  She had NO fear of heights... 

and was an amazing acrobat.  I especially love how she descended on the web, got to the ground, styled... and wripped her wrist wrap off and threw it before she bowed.. Such a performer! 

(Alfredo Codona married again after her death, to Vera Bruce, 

who was in his act with his brother and he... and he 

shot and killed her in an attorney's office when their marriage broke up, and 

committed suicide the same time) 

I am going to TRY to embed a short video featuring her from You Tube... 

because here is my point again... 

I sat down at the computer after reading the biography... just out of curiosity looked to 

see if I could find a video of both the Flying Codonas, and Lietzel. 

Lietzel died in 1931. 

THERE WERE TWO OF LIETZEL.  

Here was this woman who died 88 years ago... and we can watch her, albeit on a scratchy tape... 

but we can SEE her.  

https://youtu.be/kermOBHeGUA

Lietzel tape

If you click on Lietzel tape, it will give you the option to go to the short video clip. Remember, there is another taken during a Ringling performance.  

Incredible. 

There are also several of the Flying Codonas.  The Codonas were in the Wintergarten in Berlin when Lietzel fell in Copenhagen. 

So... a third point, and 

sorry that this is getting to be so long. 

MDH Keith just walked upstairs to tell me he has 

just spent 30 minutes on the phone with a man with whom he served almost 30 years ago in the Army.  They got re-acquainted on the web about 2 weeks ago... and the man, a CEO of a huge major international corporation, just called Keith to yak about old times. 

It turns out the man grew up in KCK, where I did... belonged to a parish where I went to church for a while... so you see, folks, the world is a very small place.  Keith might never again have spoken to his friend , were it not for the web. 

Yes, it can be a wonderful agent for good. 

WOW!

Two days of beautiful birds! 

Wow! 

The dogs and I got to the old house this morning and set about doing chores... 

as we do every day. 

We have had VERY low temps the last two mornings, down in the fifties! 

I set about doing the chicken chores, because Troy was kind enough to

put the hens to bed while we went to the ballgame last night.  So, I 

filled water pans and got the feed out. 

It did not look like the raccoons had been there. 

I turned the hens loose. 

Then, Jester and I started for the garden to check on the tomatoes. 

I don't know what made me look up, but I gasped and ran back to the car to get the camera. 

This is what I saw. 

He is sitting on the feeder pole where the suet is hanging.  That plant 

hanger held a nyger seed feeder in the old days. 

That's a Cooper's Hawk! 

I did not try to get too near, but he let me 

take many photos. 

From all sides. 

And the back. 

They don't call them "hawk eyes" for 'nothin'! 

So guess what?  

He wasn't the only hawk I saw on the way... this 

red tailed was in a tree on the side of the road, and let me take 

it's picture several times.  I left it sitting there. 

Tonight, we saw this: 

It's an adult red-tail on a power pole, taken from a great distance.  Yes, I'm constantly scanning. 

I suspect the one above is a juvenile from his tail. 

What a hawking day! 

The Victor

Here he is, the Victor.

At least, we hope he will be okay. 

Here is the Vanquished:

It's an adult Coopers Hawk that's been getting our birds daily.  It got Little Boots, the lesser Mille Fleur rooster yesterday.

It landed in the wrong henyard today.  I was shopping most of the day in the heavy rain, in and out of the car, until I wore myself out, literally.  I got home at 3:15, and got out of the car and immediately fed the llamas. Still raining, I realized the birds were screaming in the big henyard, and those of you with chickens will know what I mean.  I ran over there, and found my big Rocky, my big beautiful rooster, in a heap, with blood under him.

I ran in the house, calling to Keith please to come help me with Rocky, that something was in the henyard.  He put a jacket on and came out in the rain.

And no, I did not stop to take that picture, but that blood was where Rocky was laying.

When we got out there, Rocky was UP AND WALKING!  Brutus and three of the hens were still making cries and Keith walked them all in, Rocky the last to go.  When we went around the back of the henhouse, we found the Coopers on the fence.  He could not fly out. 

We came in the house and called Operation Wildlife over in Linwood.  A volunteer in Shawnee picked the phone up, asked some questions, told us how to catch him... and then told us to leave a message with OWL in Linwood.  We did.  However, after we got the instructions, Keith and I went back out there in the dark, and found the hawk in the opposite corner of the henyard.  We think he is either in shock or wounded, and Keith thinks his wing is hurt. Keith was able to throw a blanket over him, and lifted him up and into a crate lined with straw.  The bird immediately slumped down and laid there.  I wish I could have taken pictures of the defensive stance the hawk took... he looked like an eagle in the flashlight's beam... beak wide and wings wide.  But Keith handled him quietly and firmly, and then lifted him gently into the crate.  He took him to the shop, where he will be dry and quiet the rest of the night. Again, Keith is my hero.  I can't believe how this man who spent his life in the Army (though he did hunt as a youth) and knew little about animals has jumped right in with both feet, maintains his cool, and does such great stuff for us here.  What did I ever do without him!

Tomorrow we'll get the hawk over to Operation Wildlife and hopefully they will be able to get him rehabilitated and released FAR FAR from Calamity Acres!