Cormorants are NOT early birds

The past two mornings there has not been a single bird in the cormorant tree. Do they not like the cold weather? The roar of bike week? Perhaps the opposite is true and they have been out partying. What a relief when I drove by at 6:30 (PM) and the right side of the tree (they're conservative) was decorated with more birds than I could count while operating a moving vehicle. (yes, green light and yes, if you hear of a rear end collision at that intersection start praying it isn't me.) When I am not dodging cars, I am staring at bird beaks and I tell you I cannot see the cormorant hook. I had a light bulb moment - binoculars! OK, I can see it now and already it feels awkward. I park the car at the 7-11 and walk down Nova on the sidewalk, camera on my wrist, b'nocks around my neck. Oh, wait, I don't own binoculars - I'll have to borrow mom's. Ahh, I'll be stopping traffic for sure!

And a cormorant in a bare tree

Every day, on my way to work, I check on a special tree. It is near the intersection of Nova and Big Tree and is is a cormorant hangout. In the mornings it is lightly inhabited, maybe 6-10 birds, however, one morning recently, the dark birds stood out eerily against a thick morning fog. It was mesmerizing and I stared at it as long as I safely could. My favorite time to see the tree is at dusk when the birds dark colors have the perfect background, a twilight blue. It is also when the most birds adorn the branches, sometimes as many as 25.

The tree has only recently caught my attention. I believe that is either because the birds have only recently discovered it or its winter bareness has just made the birds visible. It is my goal to photograph the tree but I will need to do it soon, before the tree is leafy green and possibly before time change Sunday, March 14. I anticpate that it will feel awkward because I will have to park the car and walk down the Nova sidewalk. We'll see if that happens. I already scoped out the view from inside the mobile home park and it is not photo worthy.

Finally, to all my birder friends, my humblest apologies if I have, once again, incorrectly identified the anhinga as the comorant. Please go see the tree for yourself.

Last Night Launch?

I did not get up to see the last night launch but I was awake. I laid in my bed, feeling the earth tremble as the shuttle lifted away. How magnificent is that machine? I will always remember when we had two Tanzanian pastors as our guests at the church. They were amazed by hot and cold running water, the garage door opener, and the selection at the grocery store (among other things). I told them about the Vertical Assembly Building. The interior of the building is so vast that it has its own weather, including rain clouds forming below the ceiling on very humid days. The pastor's response was not what I expected. How difficult is it to believe in God, he asked, when you are able to build a building with weather. How difficult is it to believe in God, I wonder, when you can launch a shuttle into orbit?

In reality, the bigger question is posed in Psalm 8:4 "Who is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

Watching the Rolex

Comfortably ensconced in my big blue tv chair, watching the race on SPEED, I can now look back on my afternoon of adventure. Armed with the best advice I could find, Mom and I planned to arrive at the track at about 1:30 for the 3:30 start of the race. Terry called around 12 noon and said thousands of people were already enjoying the pre-race festivities, touring the garages, meeting the drivers and strolling down pit row; activities only available for a limited time before the start of the race and only available to those with a fanzone ticket. I called Mom, suggesting that we head out as soon as we were ready, while it was not raining. Mom and I both packed a thermos of coffee, sandwiches, cameras, phones and umbrellas. We planned to park in the infield but when we pulled in the Williamson infield entrance we were told the lot was full. "Know where the dog track is, ma'am?" I responded in the affirmative, confidently turned the car around and headed to the new Kennel Club. The parking lot was full, no tram in sight, but there were people headed for the entrance so we parked and followed the crowd. We asked a uniformed man about the tram and he curtly said "There's no tram" and returned to his phone conversation. One other couple we asked knew nothing about the tram. Then the light went on...the old dog track next to the speedway. Duh, I felt pretty silly. By the time we parked at the dog track it was raining but that was ok since we had our umbrellas, right? Leaving behind our hot coffee and sandwiches, we had the choice of taking a tram to the infield or walking a few hundred yards to the grandstand entrance. The grandstands, a stranger told us, were a good place to watch the start of the race. Next we were told that you could not take an umbrella into the grandstands. Ahh, infield = umbrella, grandstand = seats. Hindsight allows me to say we made the right decision. We took our umbrellas back to the car. Now it was pouring rain. The jacket I wore was water repellent but no match for the rain and pretty soon I was wet down to my underwear. We emerged out from underneath the grandstands into the open and headed for the covered rows, climbing wet wooden stairs with no handrail. Slowly, carefully, Mom grabbed the empty aisle seats to secure her footing. Perhaps due to the lack of pre-race entertainment, spectators cheered her on! Finally, the brightly colored (dry) metal folding chairs invited us to sit down. My jacket felt more like a clinging wet blanket than protection. I was so thankful that mom was warm enough to offer her waterproof windbreaker so I could trade it for my soggiest layer. It was my lifesaver.
The covered grandstands were a good place to watch the start of the race. Terry's team had two cars, starting positions 5th and 15th, and we found them in the line up. After a less that stellar rendition of the Star Spangle Banner, we heard "Gentlemen, start your engines! We had the best view of pit row and two exciting turns. In the first 80 laps we saw fire spitting acceleration, cars spinning out of control, and one car hauled away by a tow truck. It was my goal to stay until dark in order to experience racing under the lights but I was concerned about us descending the wooden stairs in the dark. So, at dusk, we exited the grandstands to walk along the concrete sidewalk next to the track fence. The noise level there was deafening and the perspective skewed because the cars were so close. They sped by so fast that we could not even pick out our cars. But while we were at the fence, cars 95 and 55 both pulled in for a pit stop and we were able to watch Terry at work. That was our last lap and then we headed toward the parking lot. That hot coffee was calling my name! I got turned around but mom didn't, so I guess she "heard the coffee calling" as well. We washed down tasty sandwiches with hot coffee. The fact that we in the front seats of my car in the track parking lot only added to the ambiance. I was home and in my pj's by 8, already making a to-do list for the Rolex in 2011.

VTB: Visiting the Blog

I started blogging for two reasons: to communicate better with my friends and family and because I needed the creative outlet. I stopped because I got out of the habit. I have been feeling the need to blog again. At this point it is not a lifelong commitment or even a 2010 New Year's resolution, but here I am.

It doesn't seem possible that Mom has been in Port Orange for 8 months. This was definitely a good decision. Mom had the second surgery on her wrist, removing all the hardware that was originally put there and she has regained as much use as possible. Adjusting to apartment life was made much more difficult by a troubled upstairs neighbor who has now been evicted. Of course, Mom easily made friends at First Baptist and is now teaching a Sunday School class. She has continued to travel, making numerous trips to Vero and Palm Beach Gardens. Her big trip this year was a Christmastime trip to Williamsburg and Jamestown. On the same trip she spent time with friends and family. Perhaps our biggest "adventure" has taken place since she has been home. Mom had not been feeling like herself since she returned from her Christmas trip. She had a dry cough and no energy. Believing that she simply needed a course of strong antibiotics, she made an appointment with her general practitioner. He discovered she had an irregular heartbeat, sent her to the ER for a work up and warned her to be prepared to be admitted. Monitors revealed that her heart rate was 130 (normal is 70-80) She was treated with medication and, at first, did not respond. After a a second medication which did lower her heart rate, she was discharged. Fortunately, she also left with an appointment with a cardiologist for the next day. That was Monday, December 21. At 2:30 AM on Tuesday, December 22, Mom called to say that she was worse and felt she needed to call 911 and go to the ER. I offered to drive her - the hospital is basically "across the street" from her apartment complex. I am still debating that decision. She was in the ER for about 7 hours and they contacted her cardiologist at 4AM. he saw her in ICU at about 8AM and because the meds still were not doing the job. she was scheduled to move to Halifax Main campus for a test that checked for clots and then shocks the heart back to a normal rhythm. She got her ambulance ride but did not have to have the test. The meds finally did their job and her heart converted back to a normal rhythm. She was discharged by mid afternoon. I spent the night with her that night. She has gradually regained her "perkiness."

Which One Did She Choose?

DeDe heard back from the realtor for the Villagio that there was a three bedroom, two bath condo available. Although much like apartment living,this choice provded a maintenance free lifestyle. DeDe would have to do some downsizing and rent a storage unit while waiting for a garage to become available on the property.

Choice number two is the house on Crown Lane. DeDe would have her hands full caring for the house and yard this size but the rent was reasonable, the location perfect, and she could move right in with storage space to spare.

The lovely townhouse in Indigo Lakes was the newest and cleanest option but it was also the most expensive and the farthest from her daughter. Any adventure very far from home would involve high traffic roads.

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!

DeDe chose the Villagio Condominium. Let the moving begin!

Two More Choices for Consideration

We contacted a realtor only to learn he had nothing available in our "neighborhood of choice." He did, however, offer us a Port Orange alternative. The three bedroom, two bath house on a corner lot had a formal living room, dining room, family room, porch and a two car garage. I could never get over the feeling that the house and yard were too big but the rent was reasonable, the neighorhood attractive and the location close my house, the post office, the bank, Walmart and PUBLIX. It seemed like the scale was tipping heavily on the "pro" side when weighed against the cons.

Wednesday morning at work Kathy Smith mentioned that a "For Rent" sign had gone up in her neighborhood. These are adorable 2 car garage town homes with lawn maintenance included. This particular address had bedrooms and 2 baths, a glassed in airconditioned porch, an eat in kichen