Today is the 16th anniversary of life without
Jeff. He wanders through my thoughts every day, sometimes he just passes
through and sometimes he hangs around for a while. This is one of those hanging
around times and I can’t let this day go by without including him in my
journal.
This past
December, Levi wanted a copy of that photo without giving an explanation beyond
he had a project in mind. No matter…I’m not into hoarding pictures of Jeff.
Then at Christmas, he gave me “the project”: a lithophane (a translucent
picture lit from behind) of Jeff and all five boys.
Levi had sent the
picture to each of his brothers, asking them to send him a picture of
themselves in the same pose as Jeff, right down to ballcaps and glasses, if
applicable; they all complied, some of them even sitting in front of a picture
as Jeff had been. Jeff was 45 at the time of his picture; Ezra is now 39,
Marshal 41, Tick 43, Levi 45, and Zac 47. Their ages at the time of his death ranged
from 23 to 31 years old.
So…I took the
original picture; twenty-five years later, Levi had an idea of what to do with
it; and his brothers did their parts. It’s a weird kind of collaboration, waiting
until the moment was right to come to fruition. Levi created it with his 3D printer
and Marshal helped him build the frame.
The result now hangs in my sewing room on the wall opposite from where I
sit so I can see it when I work.
Getting up at
6:30 a.m. is getting easier, but…oh, goodness, was I tired last night! Yesterday’s early morning combined with all
the fresh air and walking made it difficult to stay awake last night as I was
typing. I picked 6:30 as a wake-up time because the sun is shining its light
into the sky above us by that time 😉, but the birds are still hiding in the bushes. If
it was still dark at that time, I’d still be in bed. I understand the draw to
starting the day early, I just don’t see the sense of doing that when it’s
still dark.
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When we got back
to camp yesterday, the sun was setting and the tree was already settling into
the oncoming darkness. However, I noticed two hummingbird feeders were empty
and refilled them so I wouldn’t feel compelled to do it this morning when I was
supposed to be observing bird behavior. What I hadn’t noticed was that the suet
cake holder and the platform feeder were empty, also.
This morning
when I went out, the birds were still chirping from the bushes. I filled the
platform feeder with mealworms and peanut butter crumbs, then put a fresh suet
cake out. Then I scattered bird seed on the ground as I’d done yesterday
morning. Then, wrapped in a blanket because it was 48o, I waited for
the birds to arrive.
The sparrows
were on the ground eating bird seed at 6:40. None were on the suet, though; it
was all ground action. The first time I saw a sparrow on the suet was at 7:01
a.m. I figured the preference of seed
over suet was simply because multiple birds could eat at once. Food is food,
right? Especially when it’s time to replenish energy first thing in the
morning. Eight or nine birds were eating
bird seed at the same time on the ground this morning, whereas it requires a
bit of juggling for two birds to get on the suet cake. There’s usually an
impatient waiting line.
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Hummers came at
6:41 a.m. No squabbling over the
feeders, just getting down to the business of filling up those tummies. Something
I’ve been wondering about hummingbirds when they’re at the feeders: It’s known
that high heart rates and rapid wing movements cause them to burn through
energy quickly. There’s nothing they can do about the rapid heart rate, but it
seems that perching would be the most efficient use of energy while refueling. Sometimes
when they come to the feeder, they sit still on the perch and drink the nectar
but sometimes they hover while eating or perch yet continue fluttering their
wings. Moving their wings while eating seems like a zero-sum outcome to me…burning
the energy up as they’re taking it in. I understand the hovering when they’re
feeding at a flower; however, if there’s a perch, slow down and take advantage
of it.
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Kim has spent
several hours trying to learn a video editing program, playing around with some
of the drone footage. Last night he went to bed pleased with how it was coming
along. Today there was a crisis…his whole project had disappeared! I’ve used a
different editing program for years but there are similarities to Kim’s and
I’ve had to retrieve footage that I’ve lost. He gave me permission to poke
around in the program and his computer to see what I might find. It was just dumb
luck that I was able to find where projects were automatically backed up and
got it restored. It needed a little tweaking until it was back to the way he
wanted it, but it was better than starting from scratch.
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KOA representatives
do an inspection every year and owners are given three years to fix any items
that are flagged. This is the year for renovating the pool. The last couple of
days there’s been a lot of jackhammering up in that area. Stopped at the pool today
to check it out and had the opportunity to talk to Felicia. After the plaster layer
lining the pool was removed, it came to light that some of the jerry rigging
done when the pool was installed was a little suspect and some minor repairs
through the years weren’t exactly up to standard either. Felicia didn’t elaborate
on that but said it’s going to have a pebble coating this time, not plaster. Water
softener and new heater are on the docket also. Right now, it’s looks to be down
to concrete. I certainly don’t know what it takes to get it from its current
state to people being able to jump in, but the pool lady claims it’ll be done
by the 17th. And just in
time, because the temperature is supposed to be 99o by Tuesday, the
18th. Whew!!
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Took an e-bike
ride into the IGA because…Piggy cookie day!! Took the time to sit on the curb
to enjoy a cookie before heading back to camp. I’ve been doing the majority of
my riding on zero pedal assist. I’m enjoying the exercise and the fact that I’ve
ridden over 30 miles and my battery power is still at 5 bars. I’ve used pedal
assist when traveling on the overpass just to get across it quicker and when
the wind becomes a bit much.
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He was showing me the results of last night’s session…the Monkey Head Nebula. I find some of the names to be spot on and some hit me as “Huh?” I just wasn’t seeing the reason for calling it the Monkey Head Nebula until Kim turned it 90 degrees. Then I could see it.
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