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Post by mich64 on May 4, 2020 23:05:44 GMT
We picked up the birthday greeting proclamation from City Hall today! The doors are locked at City Hall, but there is a guard who opens the door to see what you need so he just had to ask for it from their reception desk while we waited outside. Very happy to receive it!
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Post by Kimby on May 5, 2020 15:47:41 GMT
I have a “new” bike! It’s a road bike, so I might finally be able to keep up with Mr. Kimby on his road bike. Mountain bikes have so much more rolling resistance.
We found this bike by accident, as we were taking a moonlit walk, and it happened to be trash day the next day and someone had actually put it out with their trash. It had two flat tires, so we had to walk it back (along the beach as we were looking for turtle crawls).
This morning, Mr. Kimby aired the tires and cleaned it up, and it’s a beauty! An aqua green Shogun Custom Sport with Shimano components. I’m in love!
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Post by bixaorellana on May 5, 2020 17:08:43 GMT
That's a fabulous score, Kimby!
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Post by Kimby on May 5, 2020 17:29:41 GMT
Another little thing I’m pretty excited about. A screech owl - or a pair of them - is using the owl nest box I put up several years ago. We hear them calling, but until a couple days ago, had never seen one on the box. Now we are seeing one perched in the opening, looking out, several times a day.
When it was gone, I listened to some screech owl calls on my phone, and an owl popped back up to see who was calling! Then that owl and another called back and forth a few times before settling back down.
I know there aren’t babies, because no one is carrying dead mice or insects to the nest box. Can I hope we have eggs? It could also be a roosting spot, I suppose. But, whatever, it’s nice to finally attract someone to the box.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 10, 2020 15:27:30 GMT
In about six hours, we will no longer be "confined" in France, well at least within a radius of 100 km. I know that a lot of you have not been officially locked down, but this means a lot to us, even though I don't plan to go out at midnight tonight (I feel quite sure that a lot of young people will have at least a symbolic outing.). France had fewer than 100 Covid deaths yesterday, and we just hope that it stays that way.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 10, 2020 16:34:15 GMT
Hooray for Marie! And happy mothers' day to Belgium, the US, Mexico, & wherever else it applies today.
Kerouac, that is great news, but I hope people remain prudent and don't immediately start gathering in clumps again.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 10, 2020 16:55:53 GMT
Or "clusters."
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Post by bixaorellana on May 10, 2020 17:03:54 GMT
I deliberately avoided that word, seeing as how it's so often teamed with another word when referring to human-created stupidity.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 14, 2020 10:38:41 GMT
I found a very nice mask lying on the seat of the bus I took this morning, a luxurious cotton model actually made in France with a label and everything. It has joined the dirty laundry on top of the washing machine until I have enough stuff to wash.
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Post by Kimby on May 18, 2020 19:53:38 GMT
A family of screech owls has been living under our noses in the owl box I put up several years ago.
A single adult owl appeared in the box opening a week or so ago, and then he was gone, or so we thought. We had no idea they were raising young ones in there, thought maybe it was just a roosting spot for him.
Yesterday, two little gray fuzzy baby owls were perched in the opening, staring solemnly at us humans standing 10 feet away on our screened porch. Mr. Kimby was lucky enough to be watching yesterday evening when an adult flew up with a lizard in its beak and gave it to the other adult who disappeared inside the box with it. He felt like he was watching “Nature” on PBS. (I missed it as I was in the kitchen rustling up our own dinner.)
I guess they do most of their hunting at night, and because they fly on silent wings, we are just not aware of their movements. Plus they are really well camouflaged. They are always around, though, as we frequently hear their trilling and whinnying calls.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 18, 2020 19:55:40 GMT
Lizards! Yummy!
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Post by htmb on May 18, 2020 23:44:24 GMT
That’s one of the nicest things I’ve heard all day!
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Post by bjd on May 19, 2020 5:58:04 GMT
Owls sound nice and exotic. The only young birds I have seen here lately are ducklings in the lake and some goslings (baby geese) in someone's garden. We do have two nests with eggs in them in our garden. One of them is "hidden" in some wooden crates with 4 eggs in it. Either blackbirds or a thrush.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 19, 2020 16:45:32 GMT
They are always around, though, as we frequently hear their trilling and whinnying calls. So nifty about the baby owls! Do you hear the adults during the day as well? When I lived in Nazareno there was a white owl who swooped through my yard at the same time every night & emitted a sort of shrill squawk. My back yard butted up onto an alfalfa field, but on one side there was a wall separating me from a small group of houses. Someone moved into one of them & put up a horrible bright outside light, whereupon the owl stopped its nightly passage. I talked to the owner of the "lighthouse" & he immediately agreed to keep the light off for the owl's sake.
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Post by Kimby on May 20, 2020 11:09:30 GMT
Another special moment on Sanibel.
Took a final beach walk after 10 pm last night and crossed paths with a laying loggerhead. Her “crawl” was as obvious in the starlight as a bulldozer tread. We continued on down the beach to give her space, and returned as she was covering the nest.
The turtle patrol scientists came along in their ATV with red headlights, and we got to watch them do their work. She had been tagged at least twice before. The no-see-ums were fierce, and we were being drilled, but we stayed to see her trudge back to the sea and slip into the waves. A pretty nice bonus day on Sanibel.
The owl family seems to have grown up and gone.
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Post by lagatta on May 20, 2020 11:32:14 GMT
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Post by mossie on May 20, 2020 14:36:18 GMT
They were excellent, especially the otter presenting the camera with some fish.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 20, 2020 14:50:24 GMT
I enjoyed the fish offering too.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 20, 2020 16:47:49 GMT
That was wonderful, LaGatta. And otter caught two fish at one time!
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Post by lagatta on Jun 2, 2020 15:44:12 GMT
A "two-fer", otter-style.
There are otters at our Biodome. They have quite a large area with a deep pool. So fun to watch them, though I suppose they'd still be happier (though not as long-lived) in real nature.
Today, I turned up TWO tiny transparent plastic boxes of saffron in my work desk. And no, I have no roommate with a saffron fetish. Mice and lizards, yes. I also have basmati rice, so I made a dish of saffron rice. Shrimp will be added later.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 2, 2020 16:45:27 GMT
The cinemas of Paris have begun to publish their programmes for their reopening on June 22nd. That's a little thing that means a lot to me.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 15, 2020 8:30:51 GMT
I finally went for a haircut this morning. I no longer feel like a wookie.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 29, 2020 12:46:27 GMT
For months, we have been listening to the recorded announcements on public transport and in stations: "Wear a mask! Don't get close to anyone! Avoid busy times! " -- that sort of stuff. But today there was a new announcement: "You have done really well for the past 3 months and covid levels are lower than ever. Thank you for all of your efforts, but please remain careful."
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Post by mossie on Jul 11, 2020 14:33:39 GMT
At last had my hair cut today, feel a stone lighter and a foot shorter.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 11, 2020 17:46:41 GMT
My mother would always say to a man or boy with a fresh haircut, "I see you've had your ears lowered."
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 11, 2020 17:50:20 GMT
A friend once said to me over the phone "why does it sound like you just had a haircut?" And I was just back from the barbershop.
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Post by whatagain on Jul 12, 2020 5:56:50 GMT
I am planni g on getting my second haircut by my daughter today. She said she would watch a tutorial this time... 🤔
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Post by Kimby on Aug 6, 2020 13:31:50 GMT
If there were a “Serendipity” thread on this forum, that’s where I’d put this.
I’m feeling lucky. A socially-distanced small group meeting that we held outdoors under the trees near the Iris Demonstration Garden at the local historical museum just happened to coincide with the annual division of the iris clumps. Normally the Iris Society holds an event and sells the divisions, from dozens of varieties of bearded irises. But because of the pandemic and the inadvisability of “events”, they were just GIVING them away! They even provided paper bags to carry them away. Serendipity, indeed!
Continuing this on the Garden Aspirations thread...
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Post by casimira on Aug 7, 2020 12:22:02 GMT
Nice score Kimby! And, serendipity indeed! I read the descriptions etc. in the Garden Aspirations... and the color combinations sound wonderful.
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Post by Kimby on Aug 7, 2020 12:42:59 GMT
The photos are gorgeous, though I’d hoped for some darker purples and maroons, to contrast more with the rocks and native grasses. These particular varieties are pretty pastel-y...
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