Friday, August 22, 2014

BINGO!


We can add another animal to our "Wildlife Bingo" card. We never know what will make an appearance in our yard.

The Colonel was mowing the grass and called me over to see the bird that was hanging around the base of one of the smaller oak trees in our back yard. He thought it might be one of "Spanish Man's" (the neighbor behind our house) chickens.

I went inside the house to get the binoculars so that I could get a better look. I came back outside and looked at the bird from a comfortable distance (for both the bird and I). I was calling, "here, chick, chick, chick", as I brought the binoculars to my eyes.

I told The Colonel the bird was not a chicken (although it seemed to react positively to my chick, chick, chicking) and that I thought it was some kind of pigeon.


The bird did not stray from the tree the entire time The Colonel mowed the grass, causing him to cut a wide swatch around it.

When the grass was mowed (all except for that swatch) and the yard work all done, The Colonel came in to shower as I went back outside to see if the bird was still there. It was gone.

The Colonel, freshly showered, took a seat on the couch as I was looking up what kind of bird I thought our visitor was. I had an image displayed on my iPad and turned it towards The Colonel, asking him if he thought this looked like the one that was in our back yard.

He said, "I'm not sure, why don't you compare it to the one looking in the window right now."



Seems our little visitor was still with us. I do not know how it knew to come to this window in particular.

I noticed the Rock Pigeon (I had correctly identified it) had a green band on its right leg. From what letters and numbers we saw on it, the pigeon was part of the National Pigeon Association and probably banded or hatched in 2013.

We went outside to see if we could help the pigeon in any way, as it seemed to want something from us. Spud got some water for the pigeon.


It sucked the little bowl dry in seconds, so Spud had to refill the bowl. It nearly sucked the second bowl dry too. We did not have any birdseed to offer the pigeon, so Spud poured some panko bread crumbs on a paper plate and sprinkled some on the window sill. The pigeon pecked once or twice, but didn't show much interest in the crumbs.


Spud slowly inched his way closer to the pigeon. He wanted to touch the bird.




Spud finally was close enough to touch the pigeon. The Colonel and I also touched the bird.


The Rock Pigeon, I named Mr. Balboa (Rocky...get it?), was still camped out on the window sill by the time it was dark and I went to bed.




When I woke up the next morning Mr. Balboa was gone (but he left us little presents on the window sill...if you catch my meaning).

Further research on the National Pigeon Association's website made us believe that Mr. Balboa was on his way back home and was in need of some rest and water before he continued his trip. We all hoped Mr. Balboa made it home safe and sound, wherever that may be and we were happy to have been able to help him out in his time of need.

Monday, August 11, 2014

South Beach?


The other day I decided to re-stain the seahorse that is part of my decorative post ensemble.

About a year or so ago, while cutting grass, I hit the seahorse with the handle of the push mower as I was backing up.

The seahorse broke at its thinnest point (between the belly and tail) but thank goodness it landed in the grass, so it did not shatter or break further.

The Colonel carefully drilled a deep hole in both sections of the seahorse and then squeezed construction adhesive into the holes. He placed a short piece of rebar inside the glue filled hole of the lower part of the seahorse and then fit the two seahorse parts together.

I took more construction adhesive and spread it all around the seam of the crack site. It was like working with peanut butter.

I had planned (all those months ago) on staining the adhesive, once it was completely dried, the same rusty-brown color I had used to stain the seahorse before it broke.

I was finally tired of seeing that construction adhesive enough to do something about it! It looked like my seahorse was wearing an oversized, waterproof Band-Aid. That look was totally clashing with the visuals and statement of my decorative post.

To my chagrin, we did not have any more of the concrete stain left.

I rummaged through the garage and came up with some colorful spray paint.

I blocked off the post with a large piece of cardboard box and began to spray away, feeling like a graffiti artist.

When I finished, The Colonel said it looked nice and it also looked retro, circa 1950-ish Miami. I agreed.

I like the way it came out. I am really liking the retro paint job that goes very nicely with the retro style of the concrete seahorse.

My breaking the seahorse eventually turned out to be quite the happy, little accident.