Picky Little Peckers

   When I moved to my new room I hung a bird feeder outside my sliding door to the courtyard.  It was a type that had attracted dozens of finches when I was living in Hesperia, CA.  But here in Merced, not one bird has come near it.  Why?

   I put some in an elevated bird bath.  No takers.

   So I spread wild bird seed on the bare ground and a few LBJ (Little Brown Jobs, chickadees, I am told) came and pecked cautiously at them. 

   Next I spread more seed, this time throwing it under bushes and trees. This time lots of little birds came.  It is tough to be a little bird. You don't dare feed anywhere in the open.  I guess they are afraid of bigger birds, or cats, or humans.  They will only feed where they can remain mostly out of sight.  They are picky where they peck.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION: I have been told that only hummingbirds can fly backwards. Not so.  Finches and bigger birds do too, When finches were feeding from a hanging feeder, the would approach, hover, and drive off whatever bird had perched on the feeder, and would fly backwards when perched bird refused to move. It aint graceful, but it does the trick.

Tags: flying backwards, feeding habits of chickadees

Passing into New Year

   Everyone should have something deep and philosophical to end a year.

   It was a good year, because I got through it.  When I was a young man and all the years started with 19, I looked forward, and decided I just MIGHT make it to see the year 2000.  How wonderful, I thought.

   I programmed myself to reach 2000. 

   Then 2000 came..and WENT.  I had no program beyond that.  I felt a little lost. What was my scenario for this subsequent years?  I have spent them all living in an old folks home.  Here I live my life, investing in tiny little projects like playing the harmonica, keeping a blog, smelling the roses.  I eat and sleep and grouse about the limitations of old age

   For 2008 I resolve to find SOMETHING exciting to do, a project that makes use of my wisdom and sense of humor, and love of music and art. (I love 'em, even though I am amateurish.)  I will write a book or a play, or paint a masterpiece, or compose a sonata (or jingle of some kind),

   I will sleep eight hours a day, seven at night and one in the afternoon.  I will eat sensibly and lose weight (oh, yeah), exercise on a stationary bike, or maybe a real three wheeler. I will write, write, write. 

   And what I can't do myself, I will inspire and encourage others to do.  My son-in-law needs to get those Christmas records on the market. Wandering Dave will be home from his trip and needs a kick in the butt to get started on his next career. Grand kids need encouragement. Everybody at the old folks home needs cheering up. The management of the old folks home needs to settle down to the business of assisted living.

   Hillary will need guidance, as will our senators and congressman, but maybe I'm looking too far ahead...I have to get them all elected first.

   There will be Valentines to deliver, Easter eggs to color, fireworks to ignite, and rainbows to be painted.

   A busy time ahead.

Tags: New Years resolutions.

Keep Dancin'

   Keep Movin'.  Don't stand still, or they'll get you.  And don't turn your back.

   I looked out my courtyard door today and.... whoa.  Our favorite yellow rosebush, Jude, had been cut off at the knees.  She had been cut back to three feet in height. 

   Alas.  And yet, I know it was the right thing to do.  It is COLD out there, and she'll sprout again in February...at least, Twiggy did this year.

   The cuttings lay on the ground and I wheeled out and saved some for a friend's garden.  Now Jude will have off-spring to beautify other parts of Merced, our town.

Tags: Rose trivia

Conseptual Art II

   I wanted a project or two to spice up life at the old folks home. 

   What if I set up my laptop, camera, and printer somewhere for free portraits.  Residents sit in a chair, I focus the digital camera on them and snap, and show the results on the laptop screen.  If it is a pose they like, I press PRINT and here comes a copy.

   What if I make an award of some kind for people who do kindnesses for others.  A huge poster saying something like "THANK YOU, EARL, FOR PUSHING WHEEL CHAIRS TO THE DINING ROOM."  It might say, 'THANK YOU, MARY, FOR HELPING SET UP THE MUSIC ROOM FOR OUR VOLUNTEER PIANO PLAYER." Or even, "THANK YOU, KAY, FOR LOOKING SO GOOD AND RAISING OUR SPIRITS."

  

Tags: conceptual art

Things I Take for Granted

   Thank you, Society, for the things I can take for granted. People have not always had these wonderful conveniences.

   Light at the touch of a button, or in my case, the clap of my hands.  No need to fumble in the dark for a match to light a candle. I even have a back up, a couple of flashlights within reach.

   Shelter and warmth.  I set my comfort level and forget it.  I recently upped my comfort level from 73 F.to 75 F.  Baby, it's cold outside...but not in here.  And I don't have to shovel any coal into the furnace.

   Hot or Cold water right in my room.  Thirsty?  Put a cup under the tap and voila! Hot water or cold.  Did I forget to mention a microwave for my tea or coffee or cocoa in a minute?

   Human waste disposal at the touch of a lever.  Off it goes to I know not where, and I am have a fresh white receptacle for the next use. Children wonder as they learn to press the lever and say, "There goes the poo."  But I take this convenience for granted.

   Instant communication with friends, family, paramedics.  Telephone, cell-phone, email...I love 'em all. Never out of touch. I have an hour long visit with Cousin Bertha every morning...and she's in Texas, two thousand miles away. 

   Quick pain relief.  Tummy ache, headache?  I have a choice of aspirin, Tylenol, Ibuprofen all within an arm's reach.

   Food.  No, I don't remember ever feeling really hungry.  Food is always within reach. I have crackers in the cupboard, muffins and sandwich in the fridge, and fresh oranges on a tree just outside my room. 

   Is this a great age, or what.

Tags: Modern times

Ham Hawks?

The staff of the old folks home is willing and able, and bit dyslexic.

Notice on todays menu:  Pinto Beans and Ham Hawks.

Holiday schedule included a Staff Christmas Pride at 2 PM. At 2 PM I was startled to see the staff parade by my door.

Residents may not be much better with linguistics.  One resdent was helping prepare the bulletin board and declared she had to "Rat the Bird before we wash the Momenites."  I translated that to mean she had to write on the board before we could watch the Mennonite Choir.

Tags: dyslexia

Thinking Caps Please

I need an idea for a conceptual art project for the Old Folks Home where I live.  Christmas is past, and we are about to grow stale. No one likes stale old people.

Conceptual Art can be anything inspirational, and unusual is better.  Think of Christo and his hundreds of umbrellas dotting the hillside, or his arches in Central Park, or his miles long Running Wall of Muslin.  Totally useless, except as an art project. 

A New York artist conceived the idea of having a crowd of viewers gather on his Manhattan rooftop one morning to watch for his conceptual art.  When they had gathered they noted at a woman had come onto a rooftop of a neighboring building and begun hula hooping.  Then another appeared on another building, hula hooping, and then another on a third. The hoopers kept appearing on various rooftops until twenty were visible, all hooping merrily. 

That's conceptual art.

Now, what in the world can I do at the old folks home?  I have already done Mudpuddle Art.  Thinking caps please.  We need an inspiration.

              

                     An example of conceptual art

Tags: conceptual art, Christo