Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Update

Today would normally have been a Wordless Wednesday, but it snowed this morning.  (I have no idea what the connection is, but there is.)

So, what have I been up to?  Nothing.  Same thing as the last time.  My second quarter at Strayer is over and I earned 2 more As.  This quarter was extremely simple, at least for me.  I now have a 2 week spring break.  I'll be doing all the stuff that I haven't gotten done in the past 11 weeks.  Like dusting.  I think there is a 1/2 inch layer of dust on everything.  I was planning on doing some yard work, but it doesn't look like it.  My daffodils and hyacinths and tulips have started to bloom, but I have yet to be able to get out there and clean out the beds.  

My next quarter is going to be a bit harder.  I guess that's a good thing, it will finally be challenging.  Now that I got all the fluff classes out of the way, I can go on to learn something.  

Still looking for a job.  I have picked up the job search.  It would have been nice if I could have found something and moved into it during the 2 weeks I have off.  Jobs are few and far between out there.  I'm really trying to avoid going back to Knoebels.  It's more important to me and Bill that we get our lives back together.  We are better together than apart.  

Bill's job is going fine.  He's been there for a year now.  The current budget stuff in Harrisburg is going to affect the department he's with, but he should be fine.  He really likes Mansfield and the Twin Tiers of PA/NY.   And I like it too.  Not my ideal place to settle, but it will work for a while.  (Better than where I am now.)

The dogs are doing good.  Meika will be 7 tomorrow.  She is no longer shy and stand-offish.  She is now into telling you when she wants something.  Loudly.  Eugene plays ball continuously.  He now has a large ball to go with his smaller Jolly Ball (the hard plastic balls made for horses).  Apparently the smaller ball is better in the snow.  The bigger one is better in the mud(!).  

So, live goes on.  Slowly.  Just taking things one day at a time, hoping something better comes along.

On the birding front:  I have a gang of House Sparrows.  A LARGE gang.  Depending on the day, I can have 65 birds at the feeder.  I also have a few Mourning Doves that come by, and of course, the pigeons.  Once in a while a House Finch will come by.  And this morning, I spotted a Dark-Eyed Junco flying out of the grass.  I haven't seen the hawk in a while, so it must be finding food elsewhere.  I live in the middle of town, and there isn't really anything to entice other birds to come to my feeders.  When I do a couple of streets back, in the alley that backs up to the woods, I can hear Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and even the occasional Thrush (not a Robin) in the summer.  

Last week when I went to Mansfield, I stopped to look at a field just filled with Snow Geese.  Thousands of them.  And then spotted a flock of Trumpeter Swans in a flooded field.  But those are the only other birds I've seen other than the daily dose of sparrows.

So, on that note, I'm off to do my taxes.  (Paying the government this year, not in a rush to finish them.)

So, may your next bird be a lifer!!