the wild pigeons of salisbury beach part 102

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoV6RLyP3qk

I just saw this commercial on TV with pigeons. It is hilarious!

mas buhos blancos

big birds on the rooftops in Salisbury

"Budgiezilla" of  Salisbury beach

Teddy" is minding a local lobster shack

A snowy owl on the rooftop of a Salisbury cottage

let it snow..snow...y owl, that is!

* I took this photo two hours ago! This is a snowy owl on Salisbury beach!

God gave me a "hall pass" today.
I was pain free and my head was clear.
I had been on methylprednisolone (prednisone).
It' s a miracle medication. No pain today. Yipee! I can do math equations.La la la~!
Thankfully (so far) I had not dealt with any of it's nasty side effects.
Anyways, Since I felt so good today I wanted to go out and "play".
So I went out looking for snowy owls since the NBPT daily news reported many sighting of them in both Salisbury and Plum Island.
Within five minutes of entering the reservation I saw two of them.
 I saw bird watchers with their big ass scopes looking at something in the marsh. I scanned the marsh in the direction of where they were looking. The owls mostly look like a big clump of snow.I pulled out my binoculars to check out blobs of snow on the bare marshes and there they were!
The weather report said it was suppose to be 50F but with the wind blowing out from the NW so I am guessing the "real feel" was closer to the 20sF. I tried taking photos of the owls but the wind was blowing my hands and arms around.
I called my cousin and husband to tell them about the owls and then drove over to Plum Island to see if I could find more.The Parker refuge was open and charging $5.00 for admission. It was a good opportunity for the refuge to capitalize on the influx of bird watchers to see the snowy owls. There was a line of cars entering the park like you would see in the middle of the summer (Except for July,. it's green-head season)
I spent two hours at the refuge looking for snowy owls and only spotted two.Maybe with a high powered scope I might have seen more but all I have is my binoculars
I went back to Salisbury and then saw four more! Two of them were perched on trees and another one was sitting on the roof of a cottage. They are really beautiful birds.
I saw EIGHT snowy owls in total today! Wow!
What a day!

happy new year 2014

It's hard to believe that it is 2014.
 As a kid growing up in the 60's I would fantasize that by the year 2000 we would be living a lifestyle like George Jetson. And yet, some of that is true with all the pervasive electronics that has made our lives so dependent on.
Christmas and all it's preparations are over now that nothing remains now except limp dirty decorations still hanging around. I get so depressed this time of year when Christmas ends. Yes, I am "one of those" who loves shopping, wrapping, decorating , sending cards and going to parties.And now it is over.
I am now reflecting on the past year with it's ups and downs.
Let me look back on 2014.
On a positive note:
1-This year I brought in three new 'additions" to our flock: Charlie, Teddy and Sal.
Most of the birds had remained healthy. Eddie had to be rushed to a "new vet" in Gloucester with a bacterial infection.(My vet was on vacation at the time) Eddie was saved and this new vet seemed very capable.
2-I met Jodi from Cape Ann Wildlife. She taught me a few things about saving pigeons.
3-I went to the NHPSCA gala event.I love dress up events. It was especially wonderful that proceeds from the event go to the animal rescue.
4-I went on two nice trips which turned out better than I had expected: a cruise out of Boston to Bermuda and a bus trip to NYC visiting the troll museum, statue of liberty and the 9/11 memorial.
5-I have been diligently trying to learn to speak and understand spanish-thanks to mi prima.
6-I've enrolled in tai chi classes.
7-I've completed a a couple of new icon paintings.

Reflecting also on the negative notes of this year;
1-The marathon bombing.
 It really makes me sick to my stomach. Arghhhh....Enough said on this subject....
2-The steady decline of mental, physical and emotional abilities of my father. Dementia is just an awful affliction on both the victim and the family.
Enough said on that subject as well.
3-I had an injury flipping over off my deck causing me to break my foot in four places and messing up my neck. This happened  in the beginning of the summer that had me laid up most of the year  No diving, and no running, I was lucky that this was all that happened. However,.I continue to be in chronic pain and my business has suffered. I am working through it with therapy and pain management. I've honed my business down to just birds and reptiles.Thankfully, I can now run again finally.
 The "negative" things have made me appreciate what I do have.
As I tuck the birds for the night I  thank God every night for a hot bath, a warm bed, hot coffee and nice husband,.and the fact that I can walk around to take care of my birds.
This year, I will try to stay mindful of all the positives and strive to be the best that I can be.:-)