Red-shouldered Hawk on the Fence and a Bicycle

Day After Christmas Presents

Crane in my driveway enjoying lunch.

Red-shouldered Hawk just a block away.

It has been a very long time since I let myself take time and write about everything. Of course, everything would take a great number of centuries to document, so I will skip all of the weeks that I have missed and just write about today.

It is the day after Christmas. It is Monday. Brent and Nathan went to canoe on Peace River and look for fossils. Brent is, at this moment, on the internet identifying a Pleistocene hind deer leg bone. "Well, that was easy!" (direct quote). Nathan spent much of the day feeling frustrated since there were quite a few other groups also looking for fossils in the same bend of the river. Someone would yell "Hey! I found a megladon tooth!" "Hey! I did, too!" and Nathan would groan "Augh! I'm not finding anything." just loud enough for Brent to hear. They both came home with a large bag of odd-shaped black 'rocks'. Brent had a great time looking for fossils and using his new (used, but new to us) aluminum canoe. Nathan had a good time being with Brent and splashing about in the water and mud. He is 22 and a college Junior, but still, at heart, he is the boy who used to scout around each new house we moved into until he could announce "This is my mud spot! No one else can play in this mud." Actually, I think he is in his room right now, surrounded by tubs full of Legos--which, of course, no one else can play in.

Hibiscus acetosella full bloom that I planted from wild seed.

I worked on my Hibiscus acetosella project. It has been a wonderfully fun hobby this semester. Now, though, I am late in getting a finished project ready to submit to my horticulture professor. It is an independent study--under the guise of auditing one of his Botany classes--so I con't really even have to turn anything in. My pride pricks at me, though, having promised something solid and not yet possessing a finished product to turn in.

Wild Hibiscus acetosella--two blocks away.

After a few hours of that, I had to get outside. I took my bike and pedaled slowly around the neighborhood. I passed a huge bush with glossy, deep green leaves and some really cool coral red flowers. I didn't recognize it--so I will go back later and take pictures of it so that I can do what Brent does--he with dead bones, me with Florida fauna.

The most memorable part of my day was the chance to photograph a Red Shouldered hawk who was sitting on a chain-link fence at the side of the road. He watched me ride by. I watched him as I rode by. Then I rode home and got my camera. By the time that I had cycled back, the hawk was still waiting.

The hawk and I see each other--I am impressed by him; he pretty much ignores me.

At the end of the day, this is what I see before I go back inside for the night.

Of course I put my bike back into the garage, take the camera out of the basket and bring it in to get the photographs off of the memory card and into my computer. Also, the red Jeep is in the driveway as soon as Brent and Nate get home from Peace River. The canoe comes off the Jeep, Brent and Nathan come inside for dinner, and . . . well, I don't know exactly where the crane goes for the night. I know that she'll be back tomorrow. And tomorrow I can begin to work on the huge pile of laundry that Nate and Brent brought back with them from their trip.