Catch up

 "The only thing that stays the same, is that every thing changes". Prior to this date I had nothing to say that was worth putting to print. Some of you were checking on me to make sure that I hadn't croaked, which was much appreciated. Now however, I am too busy to stop for even a second until I can get caught up again.

The "vacation" to the coast was the beginning. Let me see if I can catch up at bit.

I have had at least three people who had asked me about Connie. I have purposely left out most mention of her as I didn't feel that I should be exposing her life to public scrutiny. So last night I asked her if she minded,  she replied that she was fine with it, so she should remember that conversation for the future.

 We have been seeing each other for about three years. In essence we both have our separate lives, She lives in Burns, and comes to visit when she can, or when I need her or have something fun to do. She likes all the same things I do, has the most fun getting dirty running around in the desert. She is an extrovert, and fills the gap in my behavior. She has a great sense of humor, and most important, can laugh at herself. for instance-

While at the coast, I bought a shellfish tag, and at low tide we went to Charleston slough to dig some clams. Unfortunately our choice of footwear was pretty dismal. We had "watershoes" rather than boots, so our progress was severely reduced because the muck kept pulling our shoes off. 

I was the only one with a license, so I kept moving from place to place, trying to locate a good spot for raking clams. I told her to amuse herself and I would be back when I had a limit. When I returned with a full limit, she was laughing. She related that she had to pee, and as there were hummocks of land that blocked the view from the rest of civilization she decided to squat on the backside of one of them. (the only problem with that theory is that the mud up close to them is soft and gooey.)  When she straightened up to pull up her pants the mud gave way and she sat down in about a foot of water. She had a walking stick and a clam shovel with her, but neither was capable to helping her stand up. She said that she yelled for me to help her, but I was too far away to hear her calls. After about 15 minutes of trying to get her feet under her, she finally had to roll over in the water and get on her knees to get up. We had a good laugh about it, and went on back to the trailer.

Our coast trip was scheduled around an appointment with her Gynecologist in Salem. So we went a week early and ended it in time for her appointment. I guess you tend to have a different sort of relationship with the guy that looks up your butt, and this guy was a hoot! Her first words to him was "If you find rocks and sand up there, I can explain"!  All was well with her check up, She didn't bring any crabs, or other flora and fauna home after all.

While we were on the coast, I had been in contact with a friend of mine who breeds falcons, and had made a deal to buy a hybrid falcon from him. The only problem was that shipping was screwed up, due to the paranoia of covid. So I was going to have to drive to his facilities, which is located about a mile from the Canadian border.

The navigation feature was belly up in my 2017 Subaru, and I had an appointment to replace it last Thursday. While I was waiting for them to finish the installation, one of the salesmen had worked up an offer to trade up to a current model. I had 77500 miles on the current car. After I retired I had kept a current car because I live so far from help, and more importantly a repair shop capable of keeping a car running reliably. I found that a good car is just going to be one of the monthly necessary expenses, and have budgeted accordingly. I had not traded the 2017 in because I was a bit behind the "money curve" in that I would have added more to the total cost of a new car. This time however they were hungry enough that they gave me more than I owed on the old one, that needed tires, I might add, so I left for home with a 2021 Subaru. That was Thursday.

Friday morning at 7 AM we started for Washington. Before we got to the Oregon border and with only 251 miles on the new car a farmer in Wilder Idaho inadvertently pulled in front of us. When he realized that he had cut in front of me, he punched it letting loose a small rock that cracked my brand new windshield. Which by the time we returned home from the 1300 mile trip, the crack is now halfway across the screen. At least I don't have to worry about the first scratch now.

Suffice it to say that the Friday trip through Seattle's rush hour traffic was a nightmare that I do not ever want to experience again. 

We spent Friday night with Dan. Leaving at 6 am to pick up the new bird, which was at his partners mews, an hour South. It was a bit of a cluster ****, and I ended up with a lot of scratches on my hands and arms, but with a hawk that I was satisfied with. The problem was that the two hybrids were in a group of Gyrfalcon young with a very protective Gyr mother. I had two band numbers that indicated the hybrids that I could choose from, and the first candidates band was covered in crap and couldn't be read. I didn't like it anyway, and when by pure luck I found the other Hybrid, I found that "he was comely, in my eyes". I didn't even try to put bracelets on him, as he was traumatized enough by that time.

Another 13 hour trip got us home. The Hybrid which will now be known as "Bud" was let out of the dog kennel that he had made the trip in, into a playpen that has served as a falcon playpen for more than one falcon. I fed him with a pair of 14 inch long set of forceps, so as to not scare him. He ate without any  problem.

Yesterday I rolled his pen outside and he spent the day looking at his new home. 

I fed him with the forceps several times, and by evening he was taking food from my fingers with no sign of fear. When I brought him in for the night, he was restless and nothing I tried seemed to satisfy him. I put a box in the pen upside down to give him a platform off the floor of the pen. The next time I looked he was perched on the top rail. I left him there, and he did well all night.

I fed him with my fingers this morning and he ate well, not trying to bite at all. He was very delicate, picking the tidbits from my fingers and only the tidbits. I was a bit surprised. I picked him up on the glove for the first time, and again I was surprised at his willingness to do what I wanted without evidence of fear. Connie and I put his bracelets on this morning with no fuss at all.

As soon as I get a new windshield, I can try to catch up on all the things that went wild while I was goofing off somewhere else. The tumble weeds are rampant from all the rain that we were deluged with last week.