WARNING! Severe whininess ahead. If you wish to ignore it (and I don't blame you), skip ahead about nine paragraphs. Yes, that's right, nine paragraphs of whining--wanna make something of it?
Technology-wise this weekend bit the big one. The cowbird of life laid a big fat egg in my unknowing warbler nest.
Every time I could see hope, the rug was quickly pulled away. First, there was the initial powerbook wipe out. Then Non Birding Bill seemed well on his way to recovering things. Almost all photos from 2002 until April 2006 were spared.
I did find this this photo from last week. That's Mark holding an unhatched osprey egg and Amber holding a five week old osrey. Imagine going from the size of that egg to the size of that chick in just five weeks! I thought this wasn't so bad, until I started reviewing the blog and discovered all the banding photos missing--all my precious Harris's sparrow photos--gone! What was odd was that some photos were found, but the really super cool ones are just gone. The only photo I have left as a souvenir of Maine is the open mouth of a dead sooty shearwater. The upside is that my best photos I put in the blog, but they are not print quality. So, I can visit them in the blog, but I won't be printing them out any time soon.
NBB is doing his very best to find anything that may be archived. He found half of my calendar. However, all appointments and meetings I've made are gone--festivals and conventions are still in. I know I have three meetings this coming week, but I'm unclear on the times...If anyone reading this has an appointment with me in the next couple of months, I'd email to clarify the time.
I thought my music was spared, because of the new replacement iPod had a full backup of my music. Saturday night while driving to a friend's outdoor wedding (in 100 degree heat), the iPod froze--FROZE! When we got home, NBB was able to load all the music onto the USB drive but the playlists appear to be gone. I'm not sure what will happen with the iPod, it's barely used. I hope my warranty will let me get a replacement iPod for the replacement iPod.
Did I mention that we discovered a mouse in the home this weekend?
Sunday, I woke up to our neighbor who decided to rev and ride his motorcycle at 5am--even his own house mates yelled at him for that one.
I started to doze off again, only to be woken by the young blue jay (above) that has been driving us nuts as he learns to fly and learns to convert his begging calls into the raucous jay calls his species is known for, thereby setting off the cockatiel alarm. This morning even his parents were avoiding him. He's so loud and obvious, I'm really surprised that he hasn't been eaten by the area Cooper's hawk yet.
NBB and I were going to film some video for online segments today. We are on a timeline because we have to return the camera to Sam Crowe so he can use it to film puffins. NBB made me a fantastic breakfast of pancakes and we set out on our way. We stopped to gas up and when I went to put the key in the ignition, it would not go in. We tried my key, we tried NBB's key--it just wouldn't go in. I check the Saturn handbook--nothing. I called the Saturn roadside service. Since it was Sunday, no mechanic was available and the person answering the phone had no idea. Our Saturn dealership was closed, so the only option was to call AAA. We had it towed to our mechanic (who was closed). Our tow truck driver said that it was a Saturn--this happens all the time and all we needed was a locksmith.
It was iffy as to whether or not AAA would cover this because we are only allowed one call per car problem, but if they are going to diagnose it as something they take care of and it's in our coverage, we should get that coverage--shouldn't we? AAA agreed and the first thing the locksmith said when he pulled up was, "Yeah, you're going to need a new ignition." He squirted something called "true flow" (not WD40--it doesn't do the job as well) to lubricate the ignition. Apparently, this is a common problem for Saturns, the ignition plates get stuck and you can't get your key into your Saturn, call a locksmith and then make an appointment to get your ignition replaced.
Ugh.
We finally got on our way and were able to get to our filming. Part of the filming included working with a couple of The Raptor Center birds. When we were finished filming them, I had to feed them.
And you know, I can have the worst day possible and things can be just going completely wrong and then I get to feed a peregrine falcon on the fist. I felt all the stress of the weekend disappear. Haaaaaaaaaaa. There really is nothing quite as soothing as the rending of flesh.
I have gotten some really great emails over the weekend from friends. Susan Gets Native sent me this note:
Sharon, Wanted to write to someone who understands the horror that is vulture vomit: I have been training to be the new education director for RAPTOR, Inc and yesterday I got to hold Earl, the resident program education vulture. And she( yes, she's a she) barfed on me. I didn't even care, really. I must be smitten.
You can see her account in this entry--congratulations Susan! Take a look at that albino red-tailed hawk. We have a Krider's red-tail and a dark morph red-tail but not an albino like that.
Amber sent me photos she got of our osprey adventure last week:
This coming week is going to be great--I know it. It has to be.