Sunday, November 8

Since I missed a couple of days exercise last week, I did a treadmill and resistance session this morning. Afterward, I did my usual Sunday activities, including programming the DVR for the week's shows and movies, and reading the Sunday newspaper.



For lunch, we had Mother's special barbecued pork chops...chops baked with a topping of sliced carrots, onions, and celery, and covered in sauce. They're really delicious. We had these with baked potatoes and cole slaw.



At 2 p.m., we went to the college for a World Bird Sanctuary program. This was a very interesting program that included a variety of live birds of prey that flew over the heads of the audience. At one point, a hawk flew so close to the top of my head that I could feel the air stir from his flapping wings.



One of the birds that flew over the heads of audience members was a huge owl that at one point decided he preferred to fly all around the auditorium, and then, instead of landing on the intended perch, flew up to a curtain track onstage. It took a while for the handler to coax him down with treats.



A less lovely bird on display was a turkey vulture, which also skimmed the heads of audience members. The speaker noted the thoroughly unattractive traits of this bird, which when irritated, vomits on the one who bugs him, a thing that once happened to speaker herself. Yuk. The vomit of a vulture is so strong that it can eat through a shirt, she said. The bird uses the tactic, though, to discourage enemies from attacking him.



Vultures, we were told, can eat virtually anything, no matter how rotten or diseased, and not be adversely affected, which is why they are so necessary to our world. They clean up the stuff that could hurt us. Thanks, Mr. Vulture, but do you really have to poop on your own legs to cool yourself?



A barn owl, with its cute, white, heart-shaped face, did not fly over the audience, but we learned his kind has eyesight that allows him to see a field mouse a quarter of a mile away, and when he flies, his wings are silent, so that prey cannot hear him.



A beautiful example of a prey bird today was the peregrine falcon. This little guy is the fastest animal on earth, the handler said, able to attain speeds of up to 270 miles an hour. He catches his prey (other birds) while in flight, and then he plucks the feathers of his meal and eats it while still in the air.



The tiny screech owl displayed is misnamed, since it doesn't screech, but makes a noise similar to a horse's whinny, the speaker said. Both this owl and the large one (I've forgotten what kind it was) were on display at the same time, and the screech owl kept his eyes on the large one, because in the wild, he would be prey for the big bird.



The final bird to be brought out was, of course, our national symbol, a bald eagle. This bird had twice been hit by automobiles, so that now he has detached retinas that impair him from being able to hunt. But he was gorgeous just the same.



We got back home about 4 p.m., and later, Hubbie and I had a sandwich supper, and then watched TV. Tonight, we saw a PG film called, "Luna: Spirit of the Whale." A lone Orca whale at Vancouver Island, dubbed Luna by the media, catches the imagination of the public. People of the local Indian tribe (or band) believe the whale to be inhabited by its recently deceased chief. So while some folks think the whale should be stirred back to it pod, the Indians feel the animal should choose for itself. Mixed into the plot is a troubled young teen, and the son of the dead chief, who is resisting his obligation to claim his rightful place as the new chief.