I woke up today feeling lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut and so, poor ol' Jackie gave himself bed rest in the morning with a light duty chit for the remainder of the day. And, by afternoon, I was feeling semi-human again and so we took off to run some errands.
One of them was to go to the Post Office which is, conveniently, close to the Bi-Mart, which was opportune, because I was feeling like wasting some time wandering around a store looking at all the stuff I wasn't going to buy.
Well (and finally I am getting to the point of this particular tirade), as we were passing the Post Office and nearing the Bi-Mart, Carol whooped about the raptor in the nest.
Right! Over! There!
Hahaha, we knew about the osprey nest in the parking lot of the Tanger Outlet Mall, we've seen it before, but today Carol saw the ospreys were at home.
So, naturally, we parked at the Bi-Mart and walked on over to get a better look at the nest.
But as we neared the nest, the Momma gave out a series of calls and then took off from the nest. I guess we made her nervous. She flew off towards the trees and, after a couple minutes flew back with her mate. The two of them flew over our heads for a while and then he took off. Momma kept on soaring around overhead and so we decided to move back so that she could go back to her nest.
Speaking of nests, here's a close-up of the osprey's nest. Quite an elaborate abode....for a raptor.
The folks that manage the parking lot for the mall have roped off the area underneath the nest...it's a danger zone.
Evidently, these birds have some really powerful bowels.
La Casa de agulia pescadora.
We backed off from the nest but the Mom kept on flying overhead. At times she would, in a fashion, make a pass over our heads.
Quite an impressive show.
Fun Fact: The wing span of an adult osprey is between five to six feet.
That's one big Tweety-Bird!!
And so we decided we'd go on over to the store and leave her alone. We could check back with her when we were finished. As we were leaving the parking lot, I got this picture. It shows the environment around the nest.
The nest is on the second light pole from the left.
After shopping, we drove back over to the parking lot and pulled up a respectable distance away so as to not spook the Mom. And she was back in the nest again...with Junior.
We parked there for about 10 minutes and although I got plenty of pictures, this is about all the action that happened. Every so often, Junior would pop up for awhile and then Mom would show herself and so on.
So, reluctantly, we left them to their sunbathing and headed on toward home.
And we spent a lazy afternoon. Rest is important when you're as active as we are.
Hahahaha, I couldn't keep a straight face with that line.
Speaking of being active, I whipped up dinner again tonight. It was Crockpot Salsa Chicken. It was muy facil, muy.
I put a bunch of boneless and skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot and then poured in a bottle of salsa, added some sriracha and some green hot sauce for a little bit of flavor, set the crockpot on high and the timer for two hours and then I went to Fort Couch and relaxed.
After two hours, I put the chicken into a casserole dish, poured the salsa on top and then covered them with shredded cheese and popped them into the oven for 15 minutes (at 425 degrees). While that was cooking, I made up some rice and mixed veggies to go along with the chicken.
And it wasn't bad. The chicken was semi-moist and tasty.
If you can't already tell, I stumbled onto a blog full of three-ingredient crockpot dinners and I've been playing with them. So far we've had Kalua Pork, Ranchy Chicken and Potatoes, Coca-Cola Drumsticks and now this, Crockpot Salsa Chicken. And we've got plenty of left-overs too.
This "Let's be a cook!!" phase won't last with me. But, hey, it's fun while it's here.
After dinner, we decided to go for another walk. The weather has been really great the past week. The mornings have been cloudy but the afternoons have been pretty much sunny and bright. Mostly. We've had some great weather for walks on the beach.
So we were fed, full, happy and ready for fun.
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Looking north up towards Cascade Head.
And looking south towards Taft and D River.
The whole character of the beach has changed since we got here in March. The little creek that runs by our house used to run, pretty much, straight on down to the ocean. Now it takes a hard right and runs parallel to the ocean for a good distance before it peters out. The creek has created a shallow freshwater wading pool for the kiddies.
And the beach has changed. This used to be a smooth slope from the bluffs to the water and now there is this definite drop where the waves wash up onto shore. I don't know if this is an annual thing or not but it sure is odd, at least to me it is.
And the texture of the sand seems to have changed as well. I don't know how that could happen, but this sand is darker and coarser than what I remember it was like when we first arrived.
The happy couple.
And the afternoon sun over the Pacific Ocean.
I know you've seen the Cascade Head before but, doggone it, it is still worth another look
The Happy Girl!!
And a quick segue from happy to....
The Dreaded Knoll.
AKA Mount Doom.
Hahaha, no, it wasn't that bad. It's just that I'm so out of shape, besides, it's fun picking on it. Who knows, maybe I'll be back up there someday.
Interesting note, they have a lot of signs indicating Tsunami evacuation routes all around the city. When we went up Roads End the other day we saw a sign on the road that skirted around the base of The Knoll that said it was a Tsunami Evacuation Point. So if there is something coming and we only have a couple minutes, we're heading for The Knoll as fast as the Mini will take us....and then we're gonna run....as much as we're able to, anyway!!
I've mentioned, briefly, the changes I've noticed in the physical appearance of the beach...the small creek changing direction and the sloping of the beach where the waves crash into the shore.
But there is also the changing moods of the beach, and they are many and varied, that come with the new seasons, the position of the sun, the weather swings we've gone through. While none of these changes are sudden and abrupt, they are, if you're looking, noticeable and they do flavor the atmosphere of the beach. Like a light change on a movie set, the day is set by the changing of the sun and the weather.
No big surprise there, right? No, this is just an observation of the contrasts between the walk today and the one the other day. And if I ever get enough energy to get up early and go for a walk in the morning, I am sure I'll find a completely different scene along the same stretch of beach.
You can get an idea of how dramatic that slope down towards the water is from this picture. Oh, that's Carol, throwing a rock back into the ocean. In her Jammy pants.
When we turned back, we stumbled upon this happy trio of Western Sandpipers.
Haven't seen too many of these or the plovers.
And from those to this happy little creature.
Jumping for joy!!
And she got some air, there, too!!
Woo-Woo!!
And that was that. A nice end to a lazy, do-nothing day. And just before I hurried off the beach heading home, the sun broke through a bit and the mood changed, again.
Life is pretty easy along the coast.
The times are gentle and the mood is mellow.
You should stop by for a visit sometime!!
Because, y'know, life is good.
Hooah!!
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