I Caught a Couple Birds

On film, er, digital image today.  First, a hawk!  I think this is one of the hawks that

were hanging around earlier this summer.  I saw it land and it didn't have a red tail but it was big enough to be a Red-tailed Hawk so I'm thinking it's one of this year's hatchlings almost grown up.  And even though it was in a tree pretty far away, there were no chipmunks or squirrels in the yard while it was up there.

These House Finches came to the platform feeder and the one behind this one was crouched and fluttering and peeping like it was hoping to be fed.  This bird paid absolutely no attention.  Good job.

 

I picked this tomato today.  Once again all of the others are still all green so I'll be keeping an eye on them for signs of pink-ness.

I'm sad to say that I won't be picking this cucumber.  Over the last couple days it has started to shrivel and I don't know why.  I guess I'll be happy with the three I've picked--and eaten.

Today was lawn mowing day.  The grass and weeds were tall enough that I could tell where I was going, most of the time.  It was only about 73 degrees and really windy which blew the Burger King aroma away fast.  I don't think I could have resisted a trip to the drive-thru otherwise.  I should have gone to the Farmer's Market this afternoon for some burger patties to grill.  Maybe next week I'll remember.

3 September--Barbara Malcolm, Better Than Mom's. 

Luckily he kept a supply of replacement glass pots for coffee because all three of the ones that had been out in the diner were broken.  All they found were the metal and plastic handles; the glass had been crushed and ground into the mess on the floor.  As they worked their way toward the front of the diner so did the window installers, so it seemed as though they were working themselves out of the darkness of despair into the light of hope.  They reached the waiting area of the diner at sundown.  Brady went and found some thick leather gloves to protect his hands as he carefully pulled the shards of broken glass from the bench under the window.  That was the one without tempered glass.  He watched carefully and double-checked before the installers lifted the giant pane into place.  He even got out a flashlight to examine the tiny sticker in the corner that identified the glass as tempered.  He ignored the impatient sighs of the glass guys and made certain that this time he got what he paid for. 

While Fay and Naomi tackled the job of picking up all the gelatin molds and deciding which ones were too crushed to be hung back on the wall and shook the dirt from all of the silk flowers that used to be arranged in the corner, Brady when in back and called to have a couple pizzas delivered.  Even though they were in the middle of a restaurant it had been too long and upsetting a day to think of cooking a meal. 

While they waited for their food to be delivered, Brady sadly picked up the pieces of his brand-new cash register.  The vandals had wrenched out the drawer and then, finding no money inside, had flung the entire machine on the floor and stomped on it until parts flew everywhere. 

“It is a good thing I saved the old till,” he said as he carefully laid the pieces in a garbage bag. 

“Do you think it can be fixed?” Naomi asked him. 

“No, I do not.  It is smashed beyond repair; I am certain of it.  The old one still works.  It is just not as fancy.”  He looked at Fay. 

“You and Taffy will have to use a calculator to add up tabs.  It will be slower, and you will have to remember the prices like waitresses did it in the old days, but the job will still get done.”  He shook his head. 

Fay could not decide if it was because she was notoriously bad at addition or if Brady was mourning the loss of his shiny computerized cash register.  She decided that it was the latter; she was not that bad at arithmetic. 

Today's toss was a metal file organizer and four cafeteria-type trays I got when I dealt Tupperware in the seventies.  I think my days of potluck dining are behind me.  I need to find some boxes to put my quart canning jars into.  I asked my renter and she said her mom might have some.  That's a good thing.

Tomorrow I get to go to the dentist.  I have a sore tooth.  And I burned the roof of my mouth on my supper tonight. *sigh*  It's always something.

--Barbara