The View from Here

Confessions of a Blanket Baby

When you reach my age, you may find that random memories pop into your head, and are often triggered by the most mundane actions. That happened to me in the middle of the night. Because of several conditions, I never sleep all night in my own bed. Sometime between 1-2 am I move to my recliner in the living room and sleep until 4-5 am. I’ve kept similar schedules since my shoulder surgery four years ago. The recliner was purchased at that time and I slept in it all night for about six months. Sleeping in bed again was a reality for only about six months more, and then other problems eventually resulted in my current schedule.

As I settled into the recliner this morning, I pulled my cotton blanket over my body and tucked it under my chin. The thought, “I’m a blanket baby!” popped into my mind. I smiled, but quickly realized that is quite true. I AM a blanket baby and all of my children were…intentionally.

When I was a child there was little or no consistency in my environment. The only constants were my family, some family traditions, and the lovely linens and blankets made by nearly every woman who shared my bloodline. I was especially fond of my grandmother’s quilts and recall having at least four on my bed because we had inadequate heat in 90% of the places we lived.

Our usual routine was to leave the house sometime just before sunrise to arrive in the pale first light of dawn at the vineyard, cotton field, or orchard where we would work for the day. That helped us work longer before having to leave because of the heat. Our standard “out the door” schedule for cross-country trips was 2am. Both of these schedules meant I, and my siblings, often grabbed a quilt or blanket so we could wrap up in the car and sleep on the way. Long trips meant taking a dozen blankets with us because we usually slept in the car on the side of the road. Seriously.

When I first started sleeping in my recliner, I bought a cotton blanket with a basket-weave texture. It was the perfect size and weight (folded in half), and I chose a pastel green that I liked. I’m now on my third, so this is obviously my favorite blankie. And I must admit that I seldom, summer or winter, sit in my recliner without it at least draped over my lap to help elevate a book I’m reading.

The inner child in me would not let me throw or give away my two previous blankets. One is in the back seat of my truck in case I need it. I’ve used it many times to cover items, cushion fragile things in my truck bed, move paintings from one place to another, etc. The oldest one is at the foot of my “work-out” cot in the spare room and keeps my feet from sliding during some of my back routine.

When my first child was born, I immediately recognized the value of a “security blanket” and often took the same blanket with us if we visited anyone or traveled anywhere. Later, she chose her own blanket, one crocheted by my grandmother. It had to be dried on the clothesline and one of my favorite photos of Karen is of her waiting patiently for it to dry. I had to coax her into waiting in the house! My other two children also had blankets. Robert carried his until it was a 1’x1’ square tucked into his daycare backpack. Simply a “touch of home” if things got stressful. As a teacher I noticed that many of my kindergarten students, male and female, also carried blanket squares for at least the first semester.

So…for whatever amusement or reassurance you might glean from it…that is my story for today.

Diet Transformation

I’ve waited to post a short update on my weight loss. You may recall that my doctor told me a month ago that I am “too smart to stay fat”. Apparently, he was right! I returned for my checkup today and I’ve lost 22 pounds. He was so stunned that he weighed me himself to confirm the numbers.

I share that not to brag, but to also share the three things that I believe have made me successful:

1. I carefully examined my current diet and examined portion, calories, carbs, and overall nutrition value. My question was “is this worth eating?”.
2. I bought a pretty set of measuring cups and began measuring everything I ate, comparing those to listed serving sizes, and reading the recommended American Diabetes Association portions for each one. I’ve found that the ADA seems to have the most basic and useful information and I’ve purchased three of their books. I’ve reduced all portions accordingly.
3. I’ve eliminated some foods, and made some substitutions for others, but have retained at least a taste of anything I truly love, including dark chocolate. I felt that was essential for this first phase and I have not felt deprived at all.

Over the next three months I plan to lose twenty more pounds. Then I’ll meet with my doctor and we’ll discuss my health again. I have no plans to post a photo of myself before then. I hope you find this helpful.

Amazing Feathered Friends

Knowledge has a way of changing my thinking and attitude from time to time...as it should. 

This week:

10 Amazing Facts About Birds (out of hundreds!)

Source: The Bird Way by Jennifer Ackerman (9 items) and The Genius of Birds (1 item- because I just started reading this one) by the same author

1. Chickadees have a prodigious memory. “They stash seeds and other food in thousands of different hiding places to eat later and can remember where they put a single food item for up to six months.”
2. “Several birds that nest in cavities, both nestlings and incubating adults, hiss like a snake when disturbed by predators. Carolina chickadees will imitate the sounds of a copperhead. The northern flicker makes a buzz like a hive of bees to deter predatory squirrels.”
3. “The Australian magpie can find the buried larvae of scarab beetles just by detecting the faint scratching sounds made by the burrowing of the larvae.” “American Robins search for earthworms by sound…Mask all sound with white noise…and the robins are not nearly as successful.”
4. “Humans have three types of color-receptive cones in our retinas, blue, green, and red. Birds have a fourth color cone that is sensitive to ultraviolet wavelengths.” They are able to see colors we can’t distinguish and to spot camouflaged prey. This is currently being studied by Mary Caswell Stoddard, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, who studies avian color vision. She and ornithologist Richard Prum developed a computer program called TetraColorSpace.
5. Ravens use “playful caching, also known as ‘stupid’ caching - caching inedible play items such as small stones, twigs, colorful plastic objects - gives ravens a chance to evaluate the pilfering skill of other ravens without risk of losing valuable food, information they can later use in genuine food caching.”
6. New Caledonian crows are the “only species other than humans, to make and use hook tools, little sticks with a hook on the end, which the birds use to extract grubs and other invertebrates from tree holes and the nooks and crannies of plants.”
7. Herons have learned to “bait their catches, carefully placing leaves and dead insects on the surface of the eater to lure fish.” Some birds in parks will do the same with bread thrown to ducks by visitors. They steal bits of bread and use them to bait fish.
8. “Zebra finches can tell their young while they’re still developing in the egg that it’s hot outside…In response to these ‘hot calls’ chicks will actually curtail their growth and emerge smaller – an adaptive advantage in the heat.”
9. Hummingbirds are champions at “spatial location”, and scientists still aren’t certain how they do it. They can not only remember the location of a flower, but also “when they visited that flower, along with its nectar quality and content (different flowers vary in their sucrose concentration), and how quickly its nectar refills”. However, if the flower is moved even one meter (using a fake flower) they can’t find it and after a brief investigation, will move on to another flower.
10. Northern mockingbirds appear to learn mimicry from other mockingbirds, not from independently listening to other birds, which they failed in tests. “The mockingbird mimics only those songs similar in pitch and rhythm to its own vocalizations. It may be physically unable to replicate certain features of the other species’ songs”. For example- they can mimic Carolina wrens, tufted titmice, blue jays, and cardinals, but not mourning doves and chipping sparrows.

Happy Fourth of July!

Have a great weekend, but do your best to stay safe and healthy!

Hypocrisy

We are a vain, selfish, and hypocritical society.

We tolerate abusive, even criminal, behavior in order to watch our sports “heroes” throw a ball.

We condone obscene, sinful behavior for the sake of “entertainment”.

We accept people as leaders who profess to be Christians, yet clearly prove otherwise by their actions.

We ignore the personal lives and values of men who are serving us well in a “professional” capacity.

We respect the wealth of a man more than his character.

I assure you, God has no such problems:

Romans 2 (NKJ)

⁵ But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶ who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: ⁷ eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; ⁸ but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, ⁹ tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; ¹⁰ but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹¹ For there is no partiality with God.

A Day of Discovery

I am currently using a cane for any activity outside of the house that does not involve a mower or shopping cart. Right now, it isn’t an absolute necessity, but rather a precaution against the possibility of stumbling in the back yard and damaging my knee, or encountering a stray dog while in the front yard (something that has already happened once here and once in our previous yard). My cane is metal and has a wrist strap, so it’s sturdy, lightweight, washable, and manageable even when I’m using the camera.

I tell you that to explain how I made a startling discovery this morning.

I was making the rounds, feeding the birds, and frequently glancing down at the lawn for any new hazards (we have moles or voles or something). I was about to move my cane forward when I realized I was about to place it on a small light brown snake. I stayed where I was and began to take a few photos. As I adjusted the zoom, I noticed that it had ants on it. It also appeared to have a damaged tail.

I went inside later and did a Google search to try to ID the snake and determine if it was venomous. Curious about the ants, I also searched for information about whether or not ants would eat an injured snake. I was stunned to read the answer and realize that they were not only eating it, but KILLING it! I didn’t know they were capable of killing a snake. Apparently, f they perceive one as a threat they will attack it as a group, bite it, and then continue until it dies. Ant venom contains neurotoxins that induce paralysis.

I went out to the yard to confirm. The snake was dead and covered with ants!

Lesson learned: beware of small snakes in the grass, but also avoid any contact with angry ants!

Flowers 2019

As promised, you'll find a new photo album link in the left column. Just a few of my favorite flowers. Enjoy! 

What Do They Tell Their Children?

Gary and I went to Walmart yesterday, and as expected, there were a number of shoppers without masks. Like any risky action, from smoking to texting while driving, I’m sure people have reasons for their decisions, just as I do. However, one trend that really interested me is the increasing number of young parents shopping with their children…without masks.

I spent about twenty-five years of my life teaching children of all ages. Fifteen of those were spent in kindergarten, so I know that children are intelligent and inquisitive. My experience makes me question a lot of current parental behavior. My question yesterday was what do the parents I saw in Walmart tell their children about masks?

I went through the following options in my own mind, followed by what I imagine a child’s responses might be:

1. Those people are sick. Why are they shopping? You won’t even let me go to school when I’m sick. Why are so many of the workers sick? Won’t we get sick?
2. Those people are afraid. What are they afraid of? (I you are honest in answering then be prepared for your child to be afraid and perhaps also a afraid to admit it.)
3. Those people are protecting themselves and us. Then why aren’t you?

Since there were also a few parents who were wearing masks and whose children were also wearing them, I also wondered how the others explained that.

I’m sure I’ll never understand this any more than I understand anything else humans do. On the way home we encountered a woman talking on her phone while navigating the highway. We frequently see someone’s hand, holding a cigarette, extended out the window of a car in traffic. A local judge was recently arrested for driving with a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit. People can be warned. They can be given guidelines, and even laws. Compliance is another matter.

Bird Brain

 

I recently finished reading Jennifer Ackerman’s book, “The Bird Way” and it has given me a whole new perspective of the insulting nickname of “bird brain” we often used with each other when I was in school. It was meant to imply that someone’s decision or actions had been less than intelligent, scattered brained, or foolish. It seemed appropriate, considering birds diminutive heads and their often-confusing behavior. How could they possibly be smart?

Well, as it turns out I was paying my friends a compliment! I’m currently reading Ms. Ackerman’s first book, “The Genius of Birds”. Does the title make you curious? It should.

While I was always aware that birds have amazing survival skills and interesting habits, I prioritized them into a few limited categories. I knew parrots could “talk” and my own grandmother’s parakeet could recite three or four phrases, but I assumed that was just a memory skill and they needed a human to teach them anything. Birds in the yard seemed to act on instinct. To my young eyes, one sparrow seemed to be acting the same way as any other. It never occurred to me that birds actually did any independent thinking or possessed the ability to actually learn from other birds, solve problems or make tools. Now I know better and I’m astounded by the results of recent observations and testing.

To me, the most fascinating chapters of both books are those on communication. Ms. Ackerman also covers the topics of work, play, and parenting. If you have even a mild interest in birds, I think you will enjoy either book. I have to warn you though- once you read one, you’ll feel compelled to read the other!

Read an excerpt.

Wet Morning...

It rained again this morning! We've received nearly three inches in the past few days, Any time it rains between the first day of summer and the first day of September is usually a blessing here. This morning Gary and I were sitting on the patio drinking our tea and he remarked that it felt "just like Monterey".

And of course there were also new lilies...