final

  

Puzzle.  999.

 

Puppy.  1.

 

Now we're at Choke Canyon State Park.

 

 

 

 

Going to go a little farther north tomorrow and hang out around San Antonio for a few days.

 

 

 

 

Almost there

  

 

But this puzzle; every piece almost fits even if it doesn't.  When a remaining spot has pieces on three or four sides, but none of the ones remaining fit, it's time to re-examine our "progress" and find the piece that fooled us.  We've been through that cycle several times already.

 

When all the shuffling is done, we'll have the final tally of how many pieces the puppy actually ate.  We know it's a number larger than zero.

 

 

 

I was admiring the Star-Spangled Banner played at the AFC Championship game

  

It was not normal.  It was fresh.  I listened to it again on YouTube.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bw-vloX7n8

 

 

That got me to thinking about Lady Gaga's version for the Inauguration.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HezPdHTwdGA

 

 

Then I landed on this video; a moment-to-moment analysis of her version.  I loved what she did but didn't know why.  This guy explained it to me.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_GY3DB8pL4

 

 

 

The end of an era

  

The end of an era

Remember the charming little church I sent out photos of; Guadalupe Toreros; the bullfighters church, constructed of adobe and completed about 1920.  It served the small community of San Luisito, which no longer exists, for decades.

 

map view

 

street view

 

 

It was already crumbling when I first saw it.

 

Last time I passed by I saw that now the bell tower has fallen down too.  Time and weather have had their way with it.

 

There are people that still care about the church, but by they got around to a campaign to renovate, it was too late.  There are plans to rebuild it on the original footprint though.

 

 

 

Hidden in the back

  

 

 

Of this mess of red-winged blackbirds.

 

Lurks a yellow-headed blackbird.

 

Birds remaining.  190.

 

 

 

Year bird!

  

 

 

A three screech-owl day.  Daytime sleeping eastern screech-owls.

 

 

Yes, I had help knowing where to look.  They were all on the same property, each within a few hundred yards of the other.

 

 

The one in the thatched roof palapa was particularly tricky.  I never would have found it if I hadn't had the heads-up to look there.

 

 

 

Did you see the boat crash?

  

All hands survived and they kept the boat from sinking, but it was a real mess.  In the leadup to the America's Cup, there is a Prada Cup sequence of races between three boats to determine who the challenger will be.  The American boat hadn't been doing well in light winds the previous two races, and hadn't accumulated any points, but this day the wind was up.  American Magic was way ahead and screaming along at about 40 knots, but rounding the final mark before the downwind dash to home, they ran into a puff; the windspeed suddenly doubled, they couldn't depower the main fast enough, the boat went airborne then crashed down hard and broke.  The American boat couldn't make it back for the remainder of the round robin part of the Prada Cup.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I595VdiBLRo

 

American Magic is not totally out though.  They think they can be back in the water for the Prada Cup semi-finals at the end of January.  If they're the fastest boat out there, they could still be the challenger to New Zealand for the America's Cup.

 

Stay tuned…

 

 

 

A better look

  

 

at the elegant trogon.

 

 

 

 

 

Resistance is futile!

  

 

We stare, we fit a piece, we stare…

 

 

 

Togetherness

  

 

Green Parakeets.

 

Bird number 200.  Halfway to 400!

 

 

 

January 20, 2021

  

A very good day.

 

Positive.  Hopeful.  Honest.  Riveting.

 

A new beginning.  Again.

 

 

 

 

 

These jigsaw puzzles are so easy

  

Stare at it.  Fit one piece.  Then do that again about a thousand times.  Brilliant!

 

 

 

 

Up at 4:00

  

Gone by 4:30.

 

We weren't out for a great birding adventure though, but for Judy's cataract surgery.  At the surgery center by 5:00.  Back to the car by 6:30.  Home by 7:00.  Her right eye has a new lens.  A little drowsy for both us the rest of the day and I didn't even have the two margaritas Judy got in her arm to begin it!

 

 

 

Another woodpecker

  

Red-headed.

 

 

 

 

 

You're not going to see much of this guy if you're a westerner.

 

 

 

Possum

  

In the failing sunlight at the end of the day, a possum approaches the tree I'm watching.

 

It climbs up the trunk onto a large horizontal branch, mostly obscured by the scant foliage in the evening light.

 

Approaches a large cavity in the limb.

 

And disappears inside, its rat-tail momentarily still visible.

 

One might think it's in for the night, but possums (opossums) are nocturnal, so it was probably just a late day nap in preparation for a big night.

 

 

 

The Reddish Egret

  

This is what it looks like.

 

 

What it looks like when it's white instead of red, and running around the shallows like a madman.

 

 

 

 

And what it looks like when it's scratching behind its ear.

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile

  

The holiday jigsaw puzzle roars toward completion.

 

Look.  It's almost done!

 

 

 

Arizona birds

 Acorn woodpecker.

 

Arizona woodpecker.

 

Bridled titmouse.

 

Loggerhead Shrike

  

 

It's a small songbird, but it's carnivorous.  It's known as the "Butcher Bird" because it catches its prey, normally small mammals like mice or large insects like grasshoppers or beetles, and skewers them on thorn bushes or barbed wire fences to hang there until it's time to eat them.

 

I thought this prey was probably a mouse because that's what they normally eat, but no.  It's a warbler.

 

It's eating a warbler!

 

 

Count remaining.  221.