Western Tanager Heartbreak

 

I am crushed and can't shake off the heartbreak. I know how stupid this is going to sound to some of you but I can't help my feelings. The last couple days I've noticed a Western Tanager in our backyard. These birds are not a common visitor on our property and it's a treat to see them. I've been enjoying his visits to the oranges I put out for the Orioles. In retrospect, I noticed this bird was a little on the slow side but hadn't given it much thought. Perhaps it was already sick when my Emma (one of our cats) caught it and brought it in the house. I spotted it on the floor of our living room and her watching it when I came back through the room. She's a cat ... her brain is wired that way and I know it's not her fault. I know the consequences of having indoor outdoor cats. I don't need anyone giving me a noodle lashing here. We have a outdoor Lab that will catch and kill birds and rabbits. I don't like that either. But I know she can't help it .. her brain is wired that way too. I'm not getting rid of our pets. They are my babies. Most of you will understand my feelings here.

I picked the Tanager up (gloves on) and let it outside. It could only 'hop fly'. I just didn't have the heart to leave this thing on the ground so I put it in one of our unused bird boxes in the front yard. I didn't know what else to do. I searched on the net and found our nearest "Wild Animal Rehabilitation Center" which is in Tucson. Not really all that close. I called the number and got a hold of a woman. She really couldn't help me and in fact, made me feel worse than I already did by making me feel bad for having cats. Perhaps I had caught her at a bad time but I didn't feel any sympathy or any real kindness from her. I left the bird in the box and felt horrible for the poor thing. It got pretty cold last night and that killed me too. While in bed I thought to myself that if it was still alive .. I would put it in our cat carrier and bring it in the house. I should have just done that to begin with but I hadn't thought about it until I was already in bed. It WAS alive when I went back to the box this morning. Head tucked into the wings. So I went to the shed and prepared the cat carrier. I put a soft fuzzy pillow cover on the bottom of the carrier. I lined a shoe box with a soft dish towel and placed the bird in the box and put the box inside the cat carrier. I placed some water, seeds and half an orange inside the carrier. Then I put the whole carrier in our bath tub and closed the door to keep the cats away from it. An hour and a half later it passed. What a heart break. I just wish I didn't get so attached and so emotional. It's one thing to lose a close relative ... but losing a wild bird shouldn't do this to me! ugh. Below are pictures I had taken of the bird .. before all this happened.  More pictures here .. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/set=a.2025771089754.125238.1408339345

Local Art Show Coming Up -

Our local art show is coming up May 7th and I’m having a VERY hard time picking what three photos (out of a jillion!) I want to enter! What three would you pick from these??

On Laurie’s Farm

 

Wow, has it been a wild, crazy and fun couple months! I don’t even know where to start! It’s what I get for waiting so long to blog. lol. Keeping it short and sweet … I had a friend on my Facebook for a year or more before we found out we lived only 20 minutes down the road from each other. Not only that … but both our husbands were in FFA together as young boys!  Is that crazy or what? So Laurie called and wanted me to come out to her place. We instantly connected, enjoying each others company and are so comfortable around each other … so much so, that she has been to my house in her pajamas! lol. I love it! These are pictures of her and Barney’s farm animals that I took on our first visit together. I was lucky enough to also catch the birth of a goat! That was pretty wild because Laurie and I were standing next to the pen talking for like 15 minutes before either of us realized this goat was giving birth!  If you’re on Facebook you can check out the whole album of photos here … http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=1408339345&aid=108179

To top this off … Laurie and I went on one wild and crazy adventure helping her friends get on the History Channel’s tv show “American Pickers”! You can read all about it on my FB notes. Check it out here … http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150094722683178

but I will at least share my autographed picture from Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz here.   :)

Snow on the Chiricahua Mountains

      

We got our first snow on January 1st. Pat and I had to put on our heavy coats AND our gloves (not something we get to do often here in our part of Arizona) to go take a drive. Sure hope we get a little more before Winter is done. It’s so refreshing to see snow.  :)  Click on the pictures to see them larger.

Cooper’s Hawk

 

    

Was puttering around out in the shed yesterday and on my way back in the house I saw this beauty sitting on top of a bird box staking out the backyard. I know these guys are around but it’s not often that I get to see them this close. Was happy he didn’t fly off while running to get my camera. He allowed me about a dozen shots before he said enough of that. I believe he’s a young Cooper’s Hawk. Click on pictures to enlarge the photos.

Rustler Park Campground–Coronado National Forest

There is no excuse -

 

Going to Willcox today I see a horse standing next to a barb wired fence not too far from the road. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had to turn around and go see if what I really saw … was what I really saw. I was almost in tears and then became furious. I took some pictures with the intentions of coming home and reporting this horse. I pulled the truck up to turn around on a small dirt road. I noticed a mailbox there with a name and address number on it. I later jotted them down. Then I saw an older man coming down the road. I put the passenger side window down to ask him if he owned horses. He said he did. I told him there was a horse standing at the fence a few paces back and that it was very malnourished looking. I asked him if it was his horse. He was hard of hearing so I had to repeat everything. He fumbled with words for a bit and told me he did have some horses. Then he asked if the one I saw was out of the fence. He told me that he did have one horse that just wouldn’t eat. I hate to say this, not knowing anything about this man, but I didn’t feel like he was being completely honest. I’m not the type who likes moseying around in everyone's business. But I cant just see a horse (or any animal for that matter) looking like it is starving to death and not do something. So yes, I called the humane society who had me call the Willcox police department who in turn gave me a number that deals with dead or mistreated livestock. I just got a call back from a woman there who needed more information and wanted me to send her a few of the pictures I took. Hopefully someone will do something for this horse and I pray it isn’t too late.