Birds of a Feather - 1/20/15

Or - The Eagle Has Landed

It's been tough coming off the game winning high when the Super Bowl Champion Seattle SeaHawks beat the Green Bay Packers to take the National Football Conference Championship and earn a return trip to the Super Bowl.

It's been a lot of fun being available to join in all the action around the Super Bowl. Before I'd hear about the rallies, the events, the fun and then I'd have to go to work. Hahaha, Not long ago, I had to put in for the day off for previous year's Super Bowl six months in advance when I was still working. And I was lucky to get that!! This year, once again, my calendar is free for that special day and I can do whatever I want on Super Bowl Sunday.

We hibernated for the day yesterday to just relax. Plus, Carol had a wee bit of a sore throat. So we did a lot of nothing. And that was fun, too. Hahahaha, life is pretty uncomplicated . . . mostly.

But we ran out of bread this morning and we were both getting just a bit antsy and so we took off for the Wally . . . to get bread and to get out of the house.

We're veterans now, and by we I mean me, of the Shopping Wars at Walmart. Only the foolish or the hopelessly inept dare to go and shop there after 1300. Hahaha, I have some well-earned scars from previous battles there.

So we set out early . . . so early that the morning fog hadn't even burned off yet. The skies were gray and the visability was limited, but not so limited that Ol' Eagle-Eye Schubert wasn't able to spot this guy hanging out in one of the Eagle Trees.

These eagles are really creatures of habit insofar as they tend to keep coming back to the same 3 or 4 trees to sit, contemplate, and look around the AO. So Carol still scans all the tree tops, you never know when the out-of-the-ordinary will happen.

We're tooling down Rainier and she spots this guy sitting way up high in one of the Eagle Trees. So what can we do? We pull over and stop at our park.

We could see him, in the distance, sitting up there. He was about 400 yards away when I got this shot.

What a kick it is, seeing eagles when you drive to the store.

And then there's the lake, too. Ah, if only, I'd love to live by the lake and get this view each morning.

Looking north up the east side of Lake Washington. The skies were just beginning to clear. The lake was calm and the water was crystal clear.

So you're gonna get some pictures taken around our park. A favorite of ours for seeing waterfowl and just enjoying nature. 

And always the chance you'll get a peek at a bald eagle. Like this one. I had to go over to the fence and lean against it to get steady enough to get this picture.

Does he looks pissed?

Hahahaha, somethings never change, do they. Well, the sky and the weather changed but those boats? I think they're timeless. Hahahaha, I had several pictures of this scene but I'm only showing this one. I'm getting better, honest I am, at self-editing. 

Yeah, right.

Looking across the lake towards the row housing by Coulon Park.

No big jets taking off today. Ratz.

No, in fact, the whole time we were there, and we weren't there long cuz it was cold and we were going to stop at Vinny's before we went to Wally's, not a single plane took off.

Strange.

Just me trying for an Artsy-Fartsy shot. I keep on pitching . . . 

The I-90 Express Bridge from Mercer Island, to the left, towards Bellevue. Mind you, the bridge was barely visible when we first pulled up.

For you budding photographers out there here's the beauty of the wide angle. You get these dramatic and sweeping vistas like this looking south down the airstrip at Renton Municipal Airfield.

And here she is. The eagle is still up in his tree. See the fir tree in the center of the picture? The one with the pole going up in front of it. OK, look too the left of that and the eagle is on the fir to the far left, the one that is peeking above the roof of the apartment on the left. 

Yeah, see him?

And, thank goodness for the powerful and personal zoom lens to let you get up, get close and get personal with your subject.

Burned!! 

Hahaha, Carol caught me in a candid.

Well done, Schubert, well done.

                      CB with her cell phone!

OK, so we went to Wally's and got our bread, and a shirt for me, and a carbon monoxide detector and numerous other tasty and totally healthy yummies to eat.

Hahahaha, I am so full of crap. But, y'know, I'm beginning to appreciate a good turkey burger. And turkey bacon is definitely better than no bacon at all. Get my drift?

So we're home and Carol gets a package in the mail that is, wildly enough, just the right size for me to mail a lens to Michelle and Chris.

Hahahahaha, how great is that, eh!?!?!

Ka-Boom!!

I packed that bad boy up, got it addressed and we were off to the Post Office and then, cause we were going out again, to the bank for Carol.

Hahahaha, Karma, sometimes you're not a total bi...uh, meanie.

Love the Post Office. They had about 8 people in line when I arrived and almost the same number when I finally got through and for the whole time I was there they resolutely served each and every one of them with . . . one clerk.

One lady started crying because she had the wrong package and this one would cost her a couple bucks more. Then one guy had to find out why he was called about his POB bill being overdue and he pays it by the year but he can't figure out why it would be overdue. Neither could she and, after a bit of soul-searching on the handy-dandy government computer she finally found that, Gosh, I don't know why they would tell you that, cuz you're all paid up.

Then they palavered some more and, gosh, just before he left he remembered, I'd like some stamps, please. Oh, hey, you have them in your hand right there but, y'know, I think I'd like a roll, please.

Then he writes a check for it.

Hahahaha, love the Post Office.

Then it was over to the bank and, for the first time ever, a line there. Hahahaha, Karma was getting me back for that box thingie and doing quite a good job of it, too.

Finally, we were done. I don't know why I get so impatient because, honestly, I don't have a single other thing to do for the rest of the day.

And, I love it.

Since we were out that way, I thought I'd stop by the Old Book Store in Renton. It's gone out of business but I've been driving by in hopes of seeing someone there and getting in and helping them reduce their inventory a bit. No luck. And, even though they've been out of business for about three weeks now, there's still a slew of books strewn about the floor. 

So I called them and left a message if they wanted some free help in getting the books boxed and organized and whatever to give us a call. What the heck, we've got nothing else to do, right!?!

Then we went over to see what the Cedar River was up to.

This lovely cottage house is just off Jones Park along the river.  What a location, right? Just a hundred feet from the river and right in front of a park.

We'd gotten some books at Vinny's and one of them is a neat little book of just dog photographs . . .  It's called, appropriately, Dogs Dogs. The whole thing is B&W pictures, about two hundred pages, of dogs.  Carol had been thumbing through it before we got to the park and remarked on a picture of a dog. It was jumping in the water and I said, Oh, is that a terrier? and she told me it was of one of her favorite dogs, a Giant Schnauzer and then, as we drew up, we saw that same dog romping all around the park!!

Hahahah, small world!!

We thought the men sitting on the bench overlooking the river were with him but, no, we learned they weren't when one of them walked our way and demanded to know if that was my dog running loose. Damned thing is too damned big to be jumping up on people putting his muzzle in my face!!

I assured him it wasn't mine and then tried to ignore his griping as I watched this fun guy running around the park. Then Carol came over and he restated everything for her benefit and, of course, she had to point out to him the dog's muzzle was probably cleaner than most people's mouths. He wasn't impressed with that.

Hahahaha, we finally got away from him and watched the dog as it left his calling card at several bushes and trash cans. Then he took off around the corner.

Well, we continued our river watching now the dog entertainment had left when we saw this guy rushing across the park with a leash in his hand. We figured someone was looking for the dog. All we could do was send a private prayer up that he got there and got his dog before the street did.

And, TA-DA!! He did.

His name is Cole and he jumped out of the truck right after the leash was taken off and right before the door was closed in the truck. Hahaha, he'd seen another dog and, swoosh, he was off like a rabbit. A large, slobbery black rabbit.

He was so big that when the man needed to calm him down and keep him down, he had to grab one of his ears to control him.

Good looking dog, eh?

You really have to love dogs a lot to have one like this one . . . to feed and to, eventually, clean up after.

Fun Facts: The Giant Schnauzer is a working breed of dog developed in the 17th century in Germany. It is the largest of the three breeds of schnauzer, with the other two being the Standard and the Miniature Schnauzer. 

Numerous breeds were used in its development, including the Black Great Dane, the Bouvier des Flandres, and the German Pinscher. 

Originally bred to assist on farms by driving livestock to market and guarding the farmer's property, the breed eventually moved into the city, where it worked guarding breweries, butchers' shops, stockyards and factories. It was unknown outside of Bavaria until it became popular as a military dog during WWI and WWII.

The trunks of some of the more mature trees in the park.

Whup!! Where'd she go!?!

Hahahaha there she is, on the bridge.

And now we shift from our fine furry friends to our funny feathered friends.

Freddy and Freeloader.

Carol knows this one. A Common Golden-Eyed Merganser. This hen was out on a shopping trip, getting some take-out food.

And some Pigeons. Obvious, eh?

A Renton Street Scene. Hahaha, the zoom thingie again.

Ok, so we finally made it back on the road again. Heading down Rainier listening to the radio, The Michael Medved Show. It's a good show, you should all tune in and give hm a listen. It'll get ya thinkin' right.

Anyway, Ol' Eagle-Eye was at it again. 

Same species, different tree.

Nailed him.

Hahaha, I am learning!! He was backlit so I moved the exposure compensation from -1 over to +1 to get a little more detail in the shaded areas. Hahaha, I am totally rocking this photography thing!!

Bald Eagles

Fun Facts: Bald eagles are not actually bald; the name comes from an older meaning of 'white-headed'. The adult is mainly brown with a white head and tail. 

The sexes are identical in plumage but the females are about 25% larger than the males.

Wha . . . !?!

The bald eagle is both the national bird and national animal of the United States of America.

Hahaha, I bet you didn't know that, did you? I didn't . . . the part about the national animal. Nope, I did not know that.

Fun Facts: The Bald Eagle has, at times, been considered the largest true raptor (accipitrid) in North America. The only larger species of raptor-like bird is the upstart California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus), a New World vulture which today, by those of us in the know, is not generally considered a taxonomic ally of true accipitrids. Besides, it can't be that cool of a bird . . . his name ends with an anus! 

Hahahahaha, just like Ralph Malph would say, I still got it!!

What a neat day. Hahaha, we got done what we needed to do and had a doggone good time doing it.

And, really, how many folks get to drive around and spot bald eagles in the tree-tops just a couple miles from their house? And get to visit a lake and, well, just enjoy ourselves. And don't forget about the fun trip to the Post Office!!

Hahahaha, life is good.

     Hooah!!     

I exist and these moments are important to me as I enjoy life and make memories.