Tuesday, March 3…All By Myself (Eric Carmen)

 

   Another late night which meant not an early morning. Despite being up since 5:30 a.m. yesterday, I just wasn’t tired last night; I did take a nice snooze on the way back, so maybe that took the edge off any need for an early bedtime. Kim and Gabe played a rousing game of UNO on the Switch, then both settled into reading until the morning hour caught up with them and they needed sleep. I stayed up another hour or so. My introverted soul enjoyed the quiet time alone at the table, looking at pictures I’d taken and getting caught up on reading what’s going on in the world. Criminy, that alone would be enough to keep a person awake for days.

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   The lunar eclipse, a.k.a. the Blood Moon, was supposed to be visible about 4 a.m. out here. Kim was up to see it, but Gabe just couldn’t get up to see it, despite setting his alarm and Kim saying something. I had no plans to get up, although I heard Kim quietly opening and closing the door. I fully participated in last year’s lunar eclipse, setting my camera on a tripod to get pictures of it. My attitude about this one, although maybe faulty, was seen one, seen ‘em all, so I stayed buried in the blankets.

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   OMGoodness! The Orange Menace is back in the tree, doing his best to protect ‘his’ feeders. Thoughtfor sure he was gone because I saw no sign of him last Thursday.  Ha! I say that like I know it’s the same one, and in all reality, the one from last week could be in Oregon by now and this one is Menace #2 that appeared in our absence. Whatever…this one is super feisty.  I sat out on the picnic table and watched it take on three other hummers at once, keeping them all from the feeders. All his chasing and chattering at the others must use up a lot of energy but he spends more time sitting in the tree and watching for intruders than he does at the feeder. But when it stops to eat, it takes some long gulps. It even chased off a butterfly that was sitting in the crook of the tree, minding its own business.  Haven’t seen it take on the bigger birds coming for the suet and seed cake, though. Playground bully, for sure. But I’ve also noticed that the other hummingbirds don’t give up…they continue to try to sneak in for a sip of nectar.

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   It’s interesting to watch birds after they’ve been on the feeders…whether it’s a suet cake, a seed ring, or the nectar feeders. A majority of the time, they flit to a nearby branch where they swipe their beaks back and forth in an effort to clean it.  Some just fly off, maybe not caring if they have food on their beaks. Or maybe they prefer to clean up in private. This observation comes from having nothing else to do but watch the birds…at home, I don’t have this kind of free time to take note of the little bird behaviors.

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   This afternoon, Gabe wanted to take a few hours and walk around Coolidge…by himself. This is how he explained it: “It’s not that I don’t enjoy hanging out with you guys, but my social calendar is drained. I need some time alone.” Say no more, young man, I understand completely! Why do you think I stayed up a couple of hours after you and Grampa went to bed? I was recharging my battery after spending all our time together over the weekend..

   So, we drove to Coolidge and dropped Gabe off at Wal-Mart, after telling him that there’s not much to Coolidge. It didn’t matter; he just needed the time away. About 3 hours later, he texted that he had seen all he needed to see…Kim went to pick him up, I stayed behind to attend to the laundry and compose letters to send to Jack Bergman, Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters, my representative and senators in Congress.

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   Temperature was in the mid- to high-80’s today. But sitting outside in the shade, it was fairly comfortable.    

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   Kim wanted Gabe to have the Hot Dogs Alvarado experience. We both enjoy the way the Sonoran hot dogs are prepared at our local food truck. That’s all they do and they do it good. It’s one of those things I’d never try to duplicate back home…the other thing is a Piggy Cookie.  Anyway, Kim asked Gabe what he thought and his response was that it was good but he didn’t think it was anything special but maybe we oversold them a bit so his expectations were too high. What?! This from the kid who thinks nuking a pre-made container of mac ‘n cheese is supper?  Went on to say that he likes how he cooks them on the grill. I agree that grilled hot dogs are good…there’s something about those grill marks.  However, these are all about the toppings and the way they toast the bun on the griddle.

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   The telescope came with us to Texas, although there wasn’t an opportunity to set it up. So, after supper, in the dark, Kim and Gabe set up the scope down on its cement pad. Supposed to be a clear night…and clear nights shouldn’t be wasted.

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   Last year we didn’t see any trace of Dean, the neighborhood bike rider…a.k.a. Sam Elliott. Didn’t drive, only rode a bike and would stop to talk if he was riding to town when we were out walking…interesting man. So, this year, when I was out walking a day or two after we arrived, a bicycle riding man was heading in my direction. Sam Elliott! Nope, it was a heavily bearded Native American or Mexican based on the brownness of his skin. I really couldn’t see if it was Sam Elliott in the second it took for him to pass me. Saw the same man again but couldn’t say for sure if it was or wasn’t him. Kim was with me the third time and thought it might be him, but I still wasn’t sure. But we both agreed that the real proof would be hearing him talk. So, we have the month of March to determine if the bearded, possibly tanned bicyclist is Dean.

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