Just Another Day At Game Fair
Huge sigh of relief at the Stiteler household that Chet Baker is on the road to recovery and back home.There's been a request for another photo quiz, that will come next week, I am just too swamped with Game Fair this weekend. I am learning that on the fourth day of being next to a shooting range is not as fun as the first day. It's so hard to explain a diopter between bangs.
Who knew weimaraner puppies had blue eyes? Yeah, the puppy dealership booth across the way brought out some heavy ammunition today at Game Fair. Cute little weimaraners--so, tiny, so irresistable. The man running the booth was very clever by saying, "Go ahead and take the pup back to your booth and let it bring in customers." He smiled, knowing that I will instantly fall in love with said puppy and feel an urge to bring it home. He even offered to trade the wee weimaraner for a pair of binos....processing...tempting...processing...no, no I can't. I can't trade binos for puppies and I can't have puppies in my apartment. So there. No puppies for binos...
"I don't approve of weimaraners!"
So, at the end of the day all these little bugs started flying around. I noticed that quite a few had originated from my booth. All the ant mounds in the area were crawling with ants with wings. I wish I was an entomologist, some kind of hatch or dequeening was going on. The winged ants were different sizes and their silver wings made the grass blades dance. One by one they took to the air. Cool. I wonder what was happening, almost all the mounds were exploding with them.So, still on edge from the sword incident last week, I must be a little more sensitive than usual. When I came home from the fair tonight I noticed this in the bushes in front of our building:
Is that real? I don't know guns at all. I called Non Birding Bill down, he was in the Reserves, he would know. He didn't. We decided to not touch it and flag down a police car (we live near a police station, they pass by frequently). I felt so stupid asking, "Excuse me, officer, is this a real gun?" He took photos, bagged it and said it was probably a toy and took it away. It was probably just one of those stupid lighter guns--which I'm relieved that it was a toy and not a real gun.And now I leave you with a funny series of photos of the ferruginous hawk at the Falconry Booth. I don't know what it was doing today or what was going on in its head...or with its head.
Anyone got a caption for this last photo? All I can come up with is "Urrrrrp."Really, dude, how do you expect prey to take you seriously as Nature's Perfect Killing Machine?
posted by birdchick at 10:04 PM
11 Comments:
"If I turn my head this way, maybe I can see up her skirt."
"A ball?? I don't remember eating a BALL!"
Chet Baker's done been chasin' bennehs already. He tore through the yard like a streak of licorice last night, rounded the garden and circled the house, ears flat back. Bill looked at me and said, "I think he's better."
That lovely ferruginous hawk looks like he's about to cough up a serious pellet and is trying to get it out of breech position!
I can't imagine working four days at a hunting show. You amaze me. I'm surprised you didn't come home with the whole litter of Weimeraners, just to make yourself feel better. Consolation: They can be a little mental as adults. Or a lot. Hang tough, BC.
Weimeraners are CUTE as puppies and big bouncy high energy adults and not suited to the apartment bound lifestyle. Well done for not taking one home.
We have seven buzzards (British buzzards) circling the house at the moment. I think a family has just fledged. Lots of screaming and my chickens are nervous.
I am also glad that Chet is back on form.
I think that whole series could be titled, "I'm bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Can't we dooooooooooo something? I'm bored."
:)
puppies, swarming ants, and a great gawping raptor -- all that, plus a gun in the bushes!
you certainly don't lead a dull life!
the ants are swarming -- just like when bees swarm. most of the winged ones are drones, but many new queens, too. they'll mate in flight, then the drones die. the newly fertilized queens will go off and make a new colony -- laying thousands of eggs from that one in-flight mating. talk about a mile-high club!
"I disapprove of disapproving cockatiels"
"I can't...quite...get this...kink out of my neck...aaaaahhhh, that's better!"
Listen to Cinnamon's disapproval and don't fall for those baby blue eyes. You really don't want a Weim. Oh, I admit, they are lovely dogs and adorable babies, but they are also high-energy working dogs completely unsuited for apartment life, and, truth be told, for most people with 9-5 jobs. Weims need work, and lots of it. Most of the ones I see get too little exercise and have nothing useful to do. This makes them a little (or a lot) neurotic. In fact, the only completely mentally healthy Weim I have ever treated was a dog who had been shown in Conformation and received his championship, and was in the process of competing in field trials. This guy was a great example of the breed.
Also, (cover Cinnamon's ears for this part) Weims have a high predator drive, and you, if you will forgive the turn of phrase, live with prey species. I would never trust a Weim around birds and wee furry beasties like bunnies.
So, congrats for resisting the cute little baby face. I wish more people would think it through before getting a dog on a whim. Many problems would be avoided if people got the right dog for the right situation, instead of choosing a dog on looks alone.
Kathi, stepping off her soapbox and thanking you for allowing her to make this Public Service Announcement
Ohhh that puppy picture just makes me want to snuggle that little guy, I can imagine the difficulty in resisting in person. I think part of my fondness for smaller dogs is when they do act spazzy, you can pick them up and have an eye-to-eye conversation with a 5 pound misbehaving imp instead of one that weighs as much or more than you do.
If you need a Weimeraner fix, there's always the William Wegman books.
The reason hawks turn their heads like that is in the retina of their eyes. Birds, like humans and other primates, have an area of the retina called the fovea, where rods and cones are especially concentrated. In birds of prey, the fovea lies above the midline, giving them their sharpest vision below, where their prey usually is. When a captive bird is displayed at or below the level where we are, and it wants to see us sharply, it rotates its head to get us in the fovea.
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