Peggy's Jibber-Jabber: Bad Bird Pics

“Peg, you didn't explain what Anon did to Ginger?” My beautiful cousin wrote after my last letter blog. Stacey is on the left and her mother is on the right in this picture.

I know, right! And do you know when I realized I hadn’t told you? That night, after I was already in bed, drifting in that zone between wake and sleep. That’s when! But, on the upside, it gives me something to start off with this week!

So! We were operating under the assumption that Anon was swatting Ginger while she slept. That’s what we thought. Then a couple of things happened that made me realize we might just be wrong.

Ginger was in Mike’s recliner. He picked her up, sat down and put her in his lap, was rubbing her head and ears when she started crying. And crying and crying. She wasn’t asleep or startled then.

I gave both the girls baths and haircuts this week. While washing Ginger I turned her and hurt her. While trimming her I turned her and hurt her again. And that makes me feel so bad! Since we never hurt her when we pick her up, I’m beginning to think that something’s wrong with her neck. I set her in my lap and gently stroked up around her mouth, in case it was a bad tooth, and down her neck. I think she might have a lump in her neck and when I felt it, she whimpered.

On Saturday Ginger did something she’s never done before. If I forget about her when I let her out in the dog run she’ll bark to let me know she’s ready to come back in. Saturday, she didn’t bark. She scratched at the door. She’s not eating well these last few days and she’s shivering a lot. I called the vet. She goes in next Thursday.

I heard something once that came to mind. I heard that removing one tumor will sometimes cause another tumor to grow someplace else. Fact or theory, I don’t know. Could this be what’s happened to my sweet Ginger? And now I’m worried about losing her. “I’ll tell you what,” I told my Miss Rosie. “If I do lose her, I’m getting another dog!”

Mike shook his head no.

We’ll have to wait and see who wins that one.

Something else I didn’t talk about last time but should have is a project we did. By we, I mean me and my beautiful friend Jody. It turned out so fabulous I just have to share it with you!

The ladies of our church wanted to do something special for the pastor’s wife, Miss Carolyn. She’s not only battling breast cancer, but it was Mother’s Day and all of their children are far away.

“Let’s get her flowers,” one lady suggested.

We’re all in a group on Messenger.

“And a card,” someone else said.

“I have poster board,” Jody said. “We can make her a BIG card.”

“Don’t forget,” Miss Sherri says, “I have to be able to pass it into the car for everyone to sign.”

Jody and I came up with an idea to do a jar overflowing with hearts. On the hearts the ladies could write their sentiment. Love, encouragement, a favorite Bible verse, a Mother’s Day wish, anything at all they’d like. I was in charge of the hearts and Jody, the card.

I spent a fun day cutting all different size and color hearts on my Cricut machine.

The ladies can decorate the hearts, I think. It’ll make it more personalized.

Not everyone’s into that kind of stuff, methinks.

So I spent another fun day decorating hearts. I used ribbon, little flowers, I painted some, and glued little hearts on some.

Sunday morning, before service, Barbra and Karis helped pass out hearts to those who couldn’t pick them up in advance.

Since a big card might be hard for Miss Carolyn to keep and store, we decided the hearts should be removable. That way they’d be easy to store in a little box or envelope and she could pull them out whenever she needed a little encouragement or just to remember how much she is loved.

“How are we going to put them on the card?” I asked Jody, who, by the way, did a fabulous job with the card! It was trifold and had a jar on the front with the name of our church on it. Inside was another jar and it said, We can’t contain our love for you.

“Let’s use thread,” Jody suggested. “And a gob of hot glue to hold it to the card.”

Robin helped to thread all the hearts and it just came out so stinkin’ cute!

The ladies presented the card, potted flowers, cut roses, and a flower box and flowers cut from wood and painted in bright colors to Miss Carolyn.

I think we made her happy.

That cat!

That darn cat!

Spitfire! He brought in another baby bunny. When he figured out I wasn’t going to let him in the house, he settled down on the patio and ate his prize.

I went out later to clean up whatever he didn’t eat and saw something I’d never seen before.

“What’s that?” you ask.

I don’t know what it is. It was a pile of… of… of white stuff! I don’t know what it is and I’ve never seen anything like it before.

“Eww! Are they worms?” you ask with a grimace.

I know, right! That was one of the thoughts I had. But no. No, they aren’t alive. Macchiato came out with me. He gave ‘em a sniff and tucked in to chowing down. I know it ain’t cauliflower!

Okay all you hunters out there. Any idea what this is?

Mike loves Facebook Marketplace. Mostly he likes to look at tractors and backhoes and cars. But occasionally other stuff comes up that he looks at. Sunday a week ago, a stained glass lot came up for sale. There was a lot of glass and tools. I messaged the lady, made a deal, and Monday we went to pick it up. I’d never been to Luzerne before so I was excited at the prospect of getting new road pictures.

Unfortunately, Luzerne is close to Scranton and I have been on those roads before.

We got off the highway, there were houses. We made a couple of turns, more house, and then we were there.

Kristyn is the lady I made the deal with but she had to take her dog to the vet. It seems he tore his toenail while chasing squirrels. She had everything on the front porch for me and told me her daughter was there to take my money.

“Make sure it’s a good deal before you pay for it,” Mike advised.

I knew it was a good deal before we ever got there or I wouldn’t have agreed to it.

“Wow.” I exclaimed. “There’s a lot of glass here.” I kinda know the price of glass. “It’s a good deal.”

I rang the bell and Kristyn’s daughter came to the door. I handed her the money and she thanked me. Counting money in front of someone can be awkward but I wanted her to count it. “You should count that,” I told her. “Make sure I didn’t give you too much.” That eased the tension. She laughed and counted it. Then she thanked me again and went back inside, leaving Mike and me to load everything into the Jeep.

We didn’t head straight for home. “As long as we’re this close, let’s go to Popeyes for a chicken sandwich,” I suggested. Mike has been hankerin’ for one of those for a couple of weeks now.

With all of this Covid-19 stuff, only the drive-thru is open. We knew we’d have to eat in the Jeep.

Waiting in line I see the statue of Liberty.

We ordered two of the classic chicken sandwiches and an order of fries. I was surprised at the size of fries you get for a buck!

Mike really likes the chicken sandwiches here.

Once we got home, I couldn’t wait to unload the Jeep and examine my buy a little closer.

All of the glass alone was worth what she was asking for everything. 50 sheets of 8X10 glass in varying colors. 17 sheets that range between 16X22 and 18X24. There was a grinder, pistol grip glass cutter, foils, solders, soldering iron, a strip and circle cutter, patinas and oils, breaking and running pliers, a pattern book, a cutting board, and a few other odds and ends.

I’ve never seen a cutting board up on a stand like this. “Is it to put a light underneath?” I asked Mike like he’d know. With a light box you don’t have to transfer your pattern to the glass for cutting. You just put the pattern down, lay your glass on top, and cut it.

I had that question and a couple more. I decided to contact Kristyn and ask if she’d be open to a phone call from me. She was.

“It was my mom’s stuff,” she told me. I had it set up because I always thought I’d like to make something again. I even started to cut something but never finished it. With this stay-at-home order we decided to go through and get rid of stuff we don’t use anymore.”

“How long has it been sitting?” I wanted to know.

“About seven years. I figured it was time to get rid of it.”

“Is the stand the cutting board sits on for a light?” I asked.

“Mom never had a light under it. I don’t know if that’s why it’s that way or if she just wanted it to sit higher. I guess you could put a light under it.”

Kristyn shared the very first project she made with her mother. “I was about 13 or 14 when I made it.”

I made pancakes this week. This recipe calls for buttermilk but I use my homemade yogurt instead. It really gives it a nice flavor. The batter has to be made the night before, which takes planning. You also gotta want this kind of pancake because it’s not like a traditional pancake that is all thick and light and fluffy. This pancake is more like a crepe.

Mike likes them and even asks for them sometimes. I like to make extra and freeze them. Then do you know what I like to do with them?

“Feed them to the critters?” you guess.

Good guess because nothing goes to waste in this house, but no. I’ll get one out of the freezer, warm it in the microwave, a schmear of peanut butter, a sprinkle of walnuts, and wrap it around a banana. That’s more than a snack, that’s a whole meal!

The lower bridge on Robinson Road is almost done. Come Monday they’ll be paving the approach then it’ll be ready for traffic.

The upper bridge, the one closest to my house, is getting his finishing touches. They painted the beams.

It got too cold for them to do it last fall. And they’ll pave the approaches to both bridges at the same time. And that’s a good thing. Coming off the bridge there’re a couple of nice size pot holes. Then again, there’re pot holes all up and down our dirt road!

When they leave here, they’ll be heading out to Turrels Corner to put in a new bridge out there. They’ve got the go-around ready for traffic.

Look what I saw! Or rather, what I think I saw. I was on the other side of our pond when I saw this guy land and even though I couldn’t really see what he was, I recognized that he was a different kind of bird than the ones I normally see.

“What is it?” you ask.

And that’s the what I think I saw part of this story. I think it’s a sandpiper. Pennsylvania has a kind of sandpiper called an Upland Sandpiper formerly known as the Upland Plover. The state government website lists them as threatened and all migratory birds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The website also says that they nest in western and central PA. But I know, and you know, that birds and other critters don’t pay any attention to where man draws the lines. (I put a star approximately where we live.) Hopefully I’ll get to see him again and get a better picture.

Bad bird pictures seem to be the theme of this week’s letter blog. Twice now the Baltimore Oriole have zoomed past me as one chased the other. A male chasing a female. He’s orange, she’s got like an olive green back. This is the best shot I got of them. If not for the colors, you’d never be able to tell what kind of birds they are!

Then there’s this one. Again at my pond. “I don’t think it’s a finch,” I told Mike. We were riding around on the golf cart, checking out the back 40, and Mike stopped so I could get a picture. I think this is a warbler.

And this one. This is a bad bird picture but not because it’s out of focus. He’s dead. I caught Smudge playing with him. I took him only long enough to get a picture so I could identify him. This is another warbler. The Common Yellowthroat.

Mike’s toes are swelling and turning red again. We called the doctor for another round of antibiotics. And that meant a trip to Tunkhannock to pick them up. We were stopped at a light and I hadn’t taken one single picture this whole trip. My trigger finger was itchy so I snapped a pic of the flowers on the corner. I takes it, you gets to sees it.

We got the prescription and a few groceries then drive through Burger King for lunch.

“Let’s find a place where we can watch them work,” Mike says seeing the equipment in the next parking lot over. We heard they’re going to build an Aldi’s here.

The weather was nice so our windows were down. The Grackles were landing outside Mike’s window and looking expectantly at him.

“Mike, they want you to toss them food.” I picked up a French fry. “Here. Toss ‘em this.” That fry no sooner hit the ground when it was scooped up.

I couldn’t get a good picture shooting across the Jeep so I started tossing bits of bread and fries out my window. There were a couple of Starlings and Sparrows mixed in with the Grackles. One piece of bread landed too close the Jeep and the Grackles just gave me the old stink eye. You could almost hear the Sparrow laugh as he bravely lands and claims the tidbit for himself.

Feeding the birds my lunch was the most fun I had that day!

Forget-Me-Nots! The colors should be prettier but I’m thinking our recent frost took their toll on them.

Wild strawberries! Okay. Strawberry. Singular. There’s only one blossom here. But I’m sure there’s a lot more scattered throughout my yard!

Unopened apple blossom. We’ve never had any apples but the tree is small and we’ve never pruned it. It’s fenced off to keep the deer from killing it until it’s big enough to survive on its own.