scuba icon

I just completed my latest Icon. This one is a scuba diver icon. It seems most of my scuba buddies has had a run of bad luck so hopefully this icon will bring good luck for the upcoming diving season.

every one is Irish on St paddy's day!

Oh come on! I HAD to post my "Irish" troll on this St Paddy's post!

Gotta love my husband.

He cracks me up.

 He wanted to 'dress up" in "Irish" wear, go to an Irish pub, drink Guinness beer, eat Irish fare (a boiled dinner) and listen to Irish music for St Paddy's day. He is fascinated with the whole Boston's Irish heritage and culture. He thinks "Southie" boys are cool and wicked tough. 

I tease him  sometimes and call him "a fine Irish lad". And he loves it too!

It fascinates and interests him kind of like, a lot of Americans are interested in (for example:)Asian culture. It's different and exotic to him.

The stereotype of the tough-guy-no bull-shit- 'fighting Irish" intrigues him

 We went to a place in Epping called "the Holy Grail". It is an old church converted into a pub. It was actually really nice.Most people patronizing there wore green. There were a few characters that had big green leprechaun hats, flashing shamrock headbands and all kinds of "proud to be Irish" wear.
Everyone there seemed to be having a great time without any rowdiness!
So yes, my husband was "Irish for the day"!

the wild pigeons of Salisbury beach part 104

Saturday morning was a decent day weather -wise.
 I went down to the beach as usual, and the pigeons were sitting on the telephone wires above where I usually feed them. I put the food down and they came down to eat.
All of sudden, I heard this ungodly screech and the pigeons scattered helter skelter.
I thought to myself, "jeeze, there must be a ..."
And before I could finished that thought I turned to my right and there was a sharp shinned hawk less than five feet from me standing on a hapless pigeon.
I gasped and froze in horror.
The hawk hopped onto the street with his victim still in his clutches.
A car was coming up the street.
I ran past the hawk and waved to the car to "stop". I didn't want the hawk to get hit by the car.
And I didn't want to scare the hawk off either because that would mean he would be on the hunt for another pigeon.
Thankfully, the car stopped.
This small hawk then carried this now dead pigeon onto a picnic table to eat. next to a discarded pizza box.
Oh, that poor pigeon.

the wild pigeons of salisbury beach part 103

It has been an especially harsh winter this year for both man and beast.

As you can see from the photo, my pigeon is taking advantage of the "solar" heat coming through the window.

He is a resourceful little guy. After I emptied the dishwasher and placed the still warm plates in the cabinet. Craow Dum hopped up in the cabinet to warm his feet on the plates. 

And of course, my husband freaked out when he saw the pigeon in the cabinet.

It has been a bitter season for the beach pigeons. Some days I could not get to beach for various reason to feed them. The days that  I did get down there I would not see the pigeons in their usually spots but flying around. The places they usually perch were covered with snow and it seems this year there were more hawks than usual making their entrance.

I found one lone pigeon nesting in above the pizza shop where I usually see them. This one was alone and had been alone for a while. I thought to myself, "oh I hope you don't have babies. It is too harsh. The poor little things will not make it".

Sadly, my fears were correct -except it was not the elements or predators that did the babies in.

This morning I found a pigeon nest next to a bucket. This nest did not fall down but was ripped off the perch. Near it I found a viable youngster stomped on.

A horrible vile cretin stomped on the live 3 week old baby.

I felt sick to my stomach.

Why would somebody do this especially in the dead of winter?

I have my suspicions of a particular individual who might have done this but I can't be sure. 

This isn't the first time I found nests tossed to the ground with chicks inside.

Terrible