Thursday, May 14

Again, a thunderstorm woke us up around 2 a.m. I fell back asleep right away, but Hubbie came downstairs to check the TV weather report. There were severe thunderstorm warnings, but no tornado alerts.



Hubbie was glad that he took advantage of the sunny warm day yesterday to mow the yard. Except for one section that is still too wet for the riding mower, he got the lawn in good shape again.



We got up fairly early this morning, so Hubbie could get ready to go to a Master Gardeners meeting at 10:30, where he was the featured speaker. He talked about bromeliads, their ancient history, and some fun facts about them, as he demonstrated how to divide the plants and care for them. Over the years, we have acquired lots of the plants, since each year several of them have to be divided. So Hubbie was glad to offer one of them as a door prize.



I busied myself with household tasks while he was gone, and when he got back at noon, we settled for PB&J sandwiches for lunch, with fresh oranges for dessert. Hubbie's and my plans for the afternoon went awry, and since we didn't make alternate plans, we ended up being unproductive.



Hubbie had planned to work in the yard, but the thunderstorms this morning left the lawn in puddles. So he kicked back and read a novel.



And in my stupidity, I had recorded our scrapbook club meeting on my calendar for today, when it is actually supposed to be on the third Thursday. Yesterday, I had already called one member to remind her of the meeting, and she didn't question it, but the second member I called pointed out my error. I felt pretty silly when I had to call the first member back and advise her of my mistake. She said she thought I was calling the meeting a week early, but decided not to dispute it. I wish she had...it would have saved me some trouble. Oh well, it'll be something for us to laugh about when we do meet next week.



Anyway, I didn't have an alternate plan for this afternoon. So I just started a grocery list, gathered birthday gifts for honorees who will attend the family get-together at camp during the last weekend of this month, put together a Mexican casserole for Hubbie's and my supper, and read the evening newspaper.



I also took a little time to watch a live web cam of an adult eagle guarding her baby in a nest high up in a tree. It's at a website that was recommended by one of the members of the arts council during our Tuesday night meeting. The website is at http://www.hancockwildlifefoundation.org/. Even though there isn't a lot going on in the nest most of the time, it's still mesmerizing.



The member who recommended it to us said the eagle pair were feeding a fish to the baby when she watched it, and later in the afternoon when I checked the site, I also saw the adult feed a fish to the baby. It looks as though she has food stored under branches and grasses around the edge of the nest, because she dug around in the nesting matter to pull the fish out. After she fed the baby, she rearranged the nest matter, maybe to protect other buried food, which by now is very ripe carrion that is drawing flies. The baby, tummy full, and shaded by his mother, snoozed.
The eagle pair originally had three babies, I'm told, but one died, and one fell out of the nest (or, I suspect, was pushed out by the remaining sibling).

Later, Mother came over to see the eagles, but the mother eagle had her back to the camera, which hid the baby. The mother moves around the nest as the day progresses, so that she is always shading the baby. As the sun went down, the nest became totally shaded, and the baby got up and wobbled around, exercising his gangly legs and fuzzy wings.

Anyway, after Mother watched the eagle's nest for a long time without seeing the baby, she went on home, and Hubbie and I had the Mexican casserole for supper, which was very good...this is a keeper recipe that I'll post in another blog later.

We spent the rest of the evening watching favorite one-hour shows.