more of the usual suspects

Yesterday I was sitting on the sofa looking out to the south, where there are several bird feeders. I saw a male cardinal and a male goldfinch in full summer plumage - and no matter how many times I see these very familiar birds, I am still stunned at their vivid beauty. Near the birds was at least one carpenter bee and then I saw another bee, hovering and flying vertically, but slowly. Then I noticed that bee was large, and had a tail. Then I saw the flash of ruby red - the first hummingbird of the season, and right about on time! hobbitt put the feeders out last weekend. We won't see much of them for a while. Actually, we won't see much of them again at all. I suppose we'll have to take the feeders down next week, rather than let them get moldy.

Jill and I were driving on 571 today when we saw a snapping turtle on the roadway - actually, it was right in the middle of the roadway. She made me stop and try to escort the fellow to the other side of the road. When I say she made me, it's because she's approximately 10 months pregnant and is having more than a little difficulty moving around, so the prospect of a waddling beach-ball dealing with a rather large snapping turtle in the middle of a roadway right near two curves - well, there's the gentleman in me coming out. What can I say? So while cars honked and drivers yelled that I could cause an accident (as if they didn't notice the flashers) I attempted to herd the turtle. Let me say this about snapping turtles: their claws are sharp, and the sound their jaws make when they click shut isn't something I'd want to simultaneously feel. This old fellow had a lot of moss on his back. I finally had to flip him over with my shoe and gently kick scoot him across the pavement with my foot.

Of course, as soon as he was on the other side of the road, he was facing back towards the road. He was probably basking, the poor fellow. So Jill got out of the car and tried to move him down the embankment some, and in the process she twisted her ankle and fell. I didn't see it. I only found out about her fall when she got back in the car and was crying. I certainly felt like a heel by then, but let's face it, she's the turtle freak, not me.

But a nice Indian buffet lunch cheered her immensely, though Dylan was only impressed by the mango lassi. Insistent, actually. And not a little crabby, too. I don't believe Jill even got a single sip of the lassi, but that's about all that would keep Dylan from going postal, so it was a fair trade.