Rabbits Don’t Live in Hats in Everyday Ramblings

You would need to zoom in pretty close here to see the gray brownish blobs to the far right in this shot I took yesterday are gorgeous Sandhill cranes. Kes wanted to go back to Sauvie Island where we used to go birding fairly frequently and where we took three birding classes.

I haven’t been birding with her in quite some time and it was great because we are both getting a bit older and our memories are not what they used to be and we were easy and unselfconscious asking each other questions that we would have probably been embarrassed to ask in a group or class situation. And together we still maintain a pretty significant body of knowledge.

It wasn’t particularly birdy out there as we went midday and the leaves are still on most of the trees but it is always such a joy to hear and see the cranes as they pass through. And the light was beautiful and the fog burned off and we could see both mountains that are now since the recent rains again covered in snow.

There was one viewing platform that is usually packed with birders or wildlife folks that was empty and that was way cool for an introvert like me. It was about as low-pressure bird watching as one can get.

We saw all the usual suspects, scrub jays, starlings, swallows, and blackbirds but then there were the cranes and herons and egrets. We saw four gorgeous snow geese flying in formation south. We saw kestrels, and wanted to see an eagle or a harrier and instead we saw a Peregrine falcon make a spectacular wings back gazillion miles per hour dive into a field in front of us.

And then after walking along a dyke and getting back into the car to have a snack a huge Osprey flew right over us. We thought they had all gone by now so that was a treat. I saw three in my neighborhood last week so they may be staying longer than usual because of the weather change.

It was a little odd for me to not be out hiking but I loved it. We have a date to go back out again next month and maybe Most Honorable will be able to come. He was riding his bike.

I was hosting Kes overnight so that gave me an opportunity to practice my domestic skills and feed her interesting filling meals that were gluten free. (We won’t count the delicious small peach tarts I got at the farmers market, right?)

Apparently I can tolerate gluten in modest amounts. I have a student who makes pastoral visits and eats whatever she is served in people’s homes but when she is in charge of her eating she eats gluten-free. That makes so much sense to me if one can do that.

I splurged and bought a Fitbit Blaze a few weeks ago and I finally had time to activate it on Saturday. It seems more accurate on steps and sleep. It even tells me when I am deeply asleep or in REM sleep! I am sure there is a lot more it can do that I have yet to explore. It buzzes me discreetly at 10 minutes to the hour if I haven’t gotten 250 steps.

Too bad I can’t get it to go grocery shopping for me… :)

My store doesn’t offer delivery. You can order food from there online and they have special pickup stations where your shopper brings all your food out and talks to you as you load your SUV but no delivery.

It doesn’t seem like very many people do that.

The title is a line I heard a diplomat say the other day and it made me laugh out loud. I am going to start using that.

Rabbits do not indeed live in hats.