As you might have guessed, this blog features a couple of ..... (drum roll, please) ..... Ospreys.
And we have plenty. Here, in LCO. And they tend to like building their nests on top of light poles and communication towers. There's a nest over by the Dollar Tree Store in the north end of town. Then, there's another one by the ball fields a mile or so south of that. Finally, there's a third one in the parking lot of the Outlet Mall near the center of town.
There are probably more, but these are the ones we know about and tend to slow the mini down for a look-see whenever we go by them.
OK, let's get started as to why we were out and about. The other day, as you might already know, there was a water rescue near where we live and, while I wasn't able to assist, I was able to get some pictures. So I thought the men involved would like to have the pictures of them in action. I know I'd like to have some pictures taken of me while at work, ("Slow speed film will be OK .... just don't wake him while you're taking the pictures.")
Thinking they might like them, I downloaded them onto a memory stick and Carol and I walked on over to the Fire Station to give them to the guys. The fellow I spoke to, the one driving the first truck on the scene, said they'd really enjoy having them. But, unfortunately, he wasn't able to download the pictures and I wasn't ready to give up the memory stick right then. I talked to him and since he knows our neighbor, Corey, who is also a member of this volunteer fire department, I made arrangements to give the stick to Corey and he would bring it to the guys involved on Monday.
Well, that seems complicated, doesn't it? To simplify, I decided to just buy a small stick and give it to them with the pictures on it.
Whew!! That long, long lead-in is just to explain why we were driving over to the Bi-Mart, behind the outlet mall, this morning. And so there we were, finished with our shopping at the Bi-Mart and we can see the Osprey nest about a tenth of a mile away and they were out and about.
So we dropped by to say hello .... and take a couple of pictures. Cuz I am, after all, a picture-taker. An avid picture-taker.
And we got there in time for lunch.
Look to the immediate left of Mom's left leg and you can see Junior there with his eye on the prize, lunch. And he looks a bit hungry.
Feed me, Seymour!!
We parked a good distance away from their light pole. I've mentioned it before, the folks that run the mall have roped off the area underneath the nest....a dangerous place to park the car at. And so, there isn't a lot of traffic nearby.
However, while we were there, some folks parked rather close to the base of the nest and Mom, well, Mom wasn't real happy with that.
And she let them know.
Eventually, she got so upset with them that she took off from the nest and circled the light pole.
And she took lunch with her!!
We watched her for a while and then we decided to leave and let her settle down.
But while we were there, it was fun to be able to see them in their nest.
And as we were making our way back home, we decided to stop at the Farmers Market at LC3. It is, if that is possible, growing in size. It seems there are more booths now than when we first came here.
First stop for us was, ta-daaaaa, the food court. Hahaha, we have our priorities, we do.
And Priority #1 was a stop at the Bakery Booth.
Mmmmmmm....
And difficult decisions. Ah, the rigors of modern life.
This .... or that .... or .... !?!
I opted for a Sourdough Baguette. It was about, I guess, three feet long.
Es muy delicioso, y'all.
And Carol selected one of those miniature, small Chocolate Chip Cookies. Seen here is a fourth of the cookie.
We have our standards, y'know.
Fed and feeling good, we took a walk through the Market. Carol went to the stalls and I went to the Chessman Gallery to see what was up in there.
And it were 'Red'.
I was, after reading the title, expecting things with a common theme of, well, 'Red'.
There was a lot of good stuff there, some interesting exhibits, but I didn't pick up on that theme everywhere.
Some, of course, really worked it .... the theme, I mean.
And others were, well, interesting, but not quite as 'Red' as I would have expected.
Like this guy....
Fun Fact: Bald Eagles aren't actually bald!! Hahaha, I know!! News Flash!!
The name for America's National Bird AND its National Animal derives from an older meaning of "White Headed".
Merriam-Webster, in one of its definitions of the adjective 'bald' is: marked with white.
Hahaha, there it is.
Let's get back to the 'Red' theme, shall we? OK, challenge!! Can you pick out what was my favorite in this exhibition?
Ready?
Go!!
Hmmmmm, interesting.
I can see the red, here.
And here.
And here and down there.
Oh, yeah!! Kayaking is big here in the Great American Pacific Northwest.
All kinds of media were presented.
Hmmmmm, interesting.
This one was mixed media and had some kind of paper used in it to create this scene.
There's a good picture of the Four Brothers from Siletz Bay there, upper right.
OK, did you get my fav? Hahaha, it was the tomato. That was a simple subject well done. You knew what the subject was; it was presented well and it really hit the theme square on.
What was your favorite? Let me know in the comments.
Now, let's get back to the Market.
Plenty of opportunities to decorate the ol' Casa or get some home-grown fruits and vegetables.
And, the food court, again. Hahaha, we had to because we were parked just behind it. Tempting.
Since we'd seen one Osprey nest, we decided to stop by the other one at the baseball field. And they were having the absolute last day of league play today.
It was a serious case of deja-vu for us as the same teams that were playing when we stopped by yesterday were playing, again, today.
Whoa, dude!! What's going on, Man!?!
And the Ospreys were at home, too.
This game today was the semi-final. The winner would advance to the Championship Game.
The Boys in Blue won...by one run.
And Ol' Jackie won, too!! They had the same delicious Polish Sausages for sale today....
....and they were half-price!!
And, naturally, I took way too many pictures of the Ospreys.
Here's the immature osprey. I don't know that he has fledged, yet.
Fun Facts: Terminology is important in whatever endeavor you're involved in and so it goes with birding. The term, Fledge, is an important phrase to birders and it is used to describe a period of the young bird's development and it has several usages.
Fledge: A bird is said to fledge when it is able to fly.
Fledgling: A young bird that is partly or wholly covered in feathers. It is also used of a young bird when it first begins to fly.
I am coming to understand that to fledge, or to be a fledgling, means they are now able to fly and are not bound to the nest anymore. Another step in their growth.
While we were there, not a heck of a lot was going on.
Still, we were having fun. Who wouldn't with a ball game and some Ospreys to watch!!
A magnificent bird.
Ah, that was fun. The game was over and my body was telling me it was done with sitting on the metal bleachers and so we headed on back to the Mini.
Which was, conveniently, parked by Ol' Abe.
And some flora behind him.
Speaking of flowers (hahahaha, neat segue, eh?), we took a walk in the late afternoon.
To start with, we have a couple of ornaments we've gotten from the Dollar Tree sitting out in our yard. You can see that living this close to the ocean is not good for the health of this little piggy.
Nor for Old Glory.
We've passed this place many times before andI had the idea that I'd like to see what the Game Over Arcade and Sports Bar had to offer. It advertises itself as a Sports Bar and Arcade and so I was going to check out the Sports Bar part of it.
And, along the way, see myself some sights.
One of my favorites, the humble Daisy.
Whup!! Time for some Fun Facts: Daisies represent purity and innocence (not two words normally associated with me, unfortunately). They belong to one of the largest families of plants in the world making up almost 10% of all the flowering plants on Earth. Impresivo, y'all!! Daisies are found everywhere on Earth except Antarctica.
The name "daisy" is thought to come from the Old English 'daes eage', meaning 'day's eye', for the way in which it opens at dawn each day.
A daisy is actually two flowers in one: the white petals and the cluster of tiny yellow disc petals that form the 'eye'.
And they're useful too!! Daisy leaves are edible and can make a tasty addition to salads as they're high in Vitamin C. Plus, daisies slow bleeding, relieve indigestion and ease coughs. In homeopathy, the garden daisy is known as the gardner's friend for its ability to ease an aching back.
We're gonna look these guys up but I have no idea what they are right now. Still, they were there and so they were fodder for my camera. Plus they have a wee, little buggie on them.
And we haven't figured out this one yet, either. Still, it's a striking plant, n'est-ce pas?
AND, you get a BumbleBee with them, too!! Win, win here, folks!!
Plus a HoneyBee!! Whup!! I was on fire!!
Hmmmmm, I feel they are trying to tell me something!?! What is it!?!
Hahaha, it's a shame that they have to post this.
We were walking up 33rd Street today. It's a bit quieter than the other streets we walk on.
You know I've been on a lighthouse kick lately. I like to have a small sense of direction when I'm out and about. Shooting flowers is fun and it helps me focus and to that I've added lighthouses.
In all their many, many permutations and presentations, it's fun looking for them, now.
Carol is attuned to stained glass and spots them around the 'Hood. Here's some used, ingeniously, in a fence of all places.
Whup!!
Tiny weeds!!
And I spotted this street number. Nicely done.
Notice, please, the lighthouse.
'Nuff said.
Alongside the Feed Store on The 101.
Some salmonberries.
And Honeysuckle...
and...
Finally, we got to the Game Over Arcade and Sports Bar.
We are, like most others, discerning consumers. We have our personal standards of what constitutes adequate service. And we do expect, when we're spending money, to being served in a polite and interested manner.
Neither of which happened here.
Oh, the young lady was semi-polite. But, doggone it, once we were seated, we were forgotten. Well, there was more to it but the Game Over Arcade and Sports Bar left us both cold.
However, that is the first Beer Dispenser I've ever seen at a table. Can you see it? Just to the left of the man on the left. They filled this up at the bar and then these guys walked it on over to the table so they could pull their own beers!! Neat idea.
But, for us, it was Game Over for this place. We'll keep on looking elsewhere.
To recap, a whole bunch of raptors, some baseball, taking care of business with the memory stick and we found another place we won't go back to.
Whew!! Busy day!! Plus we got in a good walk and I had the chance to take a couple of pictures.
I'm gonna do some bragging here because, if anyone knows me, they know that I am notoriously lousy at self-editing my pictures. I hate to throw any of them away because, well, you never know but that one might be the one that wins the Blue Ribbon at the State Fair, y'know.
I've been working on it and gotten, I think, pretty ruthless in my approach to editing the pictures I take. Today, case in point, I had taken 311 pictures total between the two episodes with the Ospreys, the Farmers Market and the ball game. After editing ... cold-hearted, bloodthirsty editing, I got them down to a healthy and trim 110 pics.
Woo-Woo!!
Hahaha, you take the little victories where you can.
Because, even with the editing, life is good.
Hooah!!
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