Home again Home again

On the way to the airport we diverted off to White Rock Lake in Dallas. I finally got to see the infamous Monk Parakeets!!!! I don't care how sick I was, that was very cool.

The plane ride home was mostly uneventful. I didn't get stopped for having an expired driver's license. I only had a couple hour delay at one airport. Jessica and Doug picked me up in SLC and drove me to my car at Rebecca's house. I drove home in a very calm state of mind, reminiscing about all the birds and the lovely family I have in Texas.

Note to self: Don't go to Texas in the Springtime when all the flowers are in bloom. They are lovely to look at but you are really allergic to them.

Birding, Birding, Birding

Mom, Melinda (driver), Nanette and I went birding all over today. We were in Italy, Hillsboro, Waco and the back of beyond. We saw field after field of gorgeous wildflowers. The weather was gorgeous and it was lovely. I don't care how sick I was feeling. Thanks Melinda!!!

1. Mocking birds
2. Barn Swallows
3. Eurasian Collared Doves
4. Starlings
5. Lark Sparrows
6. House Sparrows
7. White Winged Dove
8. Eastern Phoebe (Wood St. Italy Tx)
   
9. Scissor Tailed Fly Catchers
10. Turkey Vultures
11. Black Vultures
12. Dicksissel
13. Cardinals
14. Mourning Doves
15. Great Blue Heron
16. Eastern Meadowlark
17. American Crow
18. Brown Thrasher (new)
19. Painted Buntings
20. Bob White
21. Red Tailed Hawk
22. Western Kingbird
23. Cowbirds
24. House Finch
25. Inca Dove (new) (Waco)
    
26. Common Grackles
27. Great Tailed Grackles
28. Rock Doves
29. Golden Fronted Woodpecker (new) (Cameron Park Zoo)
    
30. Pileated Yellow-Striped Flat-Billed Sparrow Eagle

Wild Grapes
American Gourd Flowers
Water Lilies
Basket flowers
Indian blanket
Sunflowers
and more...

Airplanes, Errands and Doctors

Take Erika to airport
Shopping (or rather quick pickup of Tshirt) in Hillsboro
Lunch at the Lone Star Diner
Doctor's office (cause I've gotten dreadfully sick)
Purple martin in Italy with dad!!
Day After Tomorrow movie

Not feeling well

Hang out, sleep in, read,
Mom went shopping

Probably the laziest day I had on vacation.

I didn't go birdwatching today

I did get to sit in the living room and watch the wind, clouds and pond.

Workout!

Working out with Mom at her gym. First time I've been swimming in awhile. It was sooo much fun!

Ice cream, pre-workout (gotta have fuel, HONEST) I'm really glad we don't have as many ice cream stores at home.

Grocery shopping
Stop at Kay Jones'

Supervolcano

I know I saw birds, but none were new. Still I'm getting better with Eurasian collared doves, and Scissor tailed flycatchers are sooooooo cute!

Out and About with Jeff, Randi and Melinda

Melinda and I drove up to Dallas to the Arboretum. Melinda has seen all kinds of birds there in the past and I was really looking forward to seeing the common blue jay again. We just don't see those birds out here in the west. Stellars jays, Scrub jays, Gray jays but no plain beautiful Blue jays.

On the way there we saw:
House sparrows
Scissor-tailed flycatchers
Great tailed grackles
Common grackles
Chimney Swifts
Eurasian Collard Doves
Mourning Doves
Rock Doves
Turkey Vultures
Red Tailed Hawk
Great Egrets

We arrived a little early so we grabbed some breakfast from the local shop and sat at one on the outdoor tables to watch and wait. Right away we were greeted by a Baltimore Oriole and some Mockingbirds.

Jeff and Randi go there. They look so good, happy, healthy. I miss having them in Idaho! Anyway we went strolling through the gardens. It was just GORGEOUS! We didn't see a lot of birds but I did get to see some new ones and some old favorites. I just can't get enough of the Cardinals. We don't have them in Idaho either.

Baltimore Oriole
Mockingbirds
Blue Jays
House Wren
Eastern Phoebe
Starlings
Cardinals

Cottontail bunny

Plants of interest:
Red Yucca
Hibiscus Syriacus
Tanzania (native shrub)
Vitex Agnus-Castus

Leucophyllum frutescens
Chilopsis linearis
Citronella
Hydranga
Angel Lace (Hydrangea macrophylla)
Lavendula
St. Oechas

After wandering we decided to drive out to their house in Plano so I could see it. It's a beautiful ranch style home in a nice neighborhood. For lunch we went to a nearby Mexican place and made more plans

It began to rain a little, but not too bad

We thought we'd go back out to White Rock Lake (by the Arboretum) and see if we couldn't find the Monk Parakeets that nest there.

Only one problem with this plan. Rain. Lots of Rain. I've never seen a gullywasher before, but now I truly know what it means. We did not see any Monk Parakeets and Melinda is one of the best and bravest drivers I know.

We canceled our plans to go out to the zoo and drove back out to Plano and dropped Jeff and Randi off. It really was nice to see them.

I had every intention of getting together with them again. But that was not meant to be.

In any case, Melinda and I headed for home. Through rush hour traffic. We changed our mind and got off the wet, crowded freeway at this very Tony and upscale mall. We went into a Nordstroms the likes of which I had never seen. The necklaces on sale on the aisle filling tables were marked down to the low, low price of $247.00. The really cheap ones were around $78.00. EEEEEEEEEE

We went and looked at all of the gorgeous dishes. There were plain ones, and fancy ones; classy ones, and whimsical ones. There were dishes for every occasion and recipe. It was a wonderland of dishes!

It was a great day. I can't thank Melinda enough for coming and especially for driving.

Church, Birds and Chaos

I haven't been to church in a very long time. I wasn't sure this morning if I wanted to go, but I got up and got ready. I was rewarded by seeing a Eurasian Collard Dove on our way to the car. The drive to the church included more birds. The service itself was nice. Kinda fun to watch Dad officiate.

The best part was on our way home we saw two strange birds in a field. Mom and I both guessed common and wrong birds. Melinda turned the car around and was right there were two Crested Caracaras. WOW! (see list below for full birding info)

I made dinner (with assistance from Nan and company) and Mike, Tessa and their 4 kids came over. Chaos ensued. It's a good kind of chaos that only 5 small children (Mikey, Sydney, Katy, Evie & Frankie) can make. Of course it didn't help that Nanette the instigator was egging them on to louder and funnier antics. I have the cutest nieces and nephews.

After later
Jenny

Eurasian Collared Dove (new)
Dicksissel
Cardinals
Painted Bunting
Barn Swallows
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Doves
Mockingbirds
Common Grackles
Great Grackles
Eastern Meadowlarks
House Sparrows
Scissor Tailed Flycatdcher
Western Kingbird
Crested Caracara (new)
Green Heron
Starlings
Cliff Swallows
Red Bellied Woodpecker (new)
Red Tailed Hawks
Black Vultures
Snowy Egret
Great Egret

Birding

Melinda, Mom and I went birding today. It was marvelous!! I saw lots of new species.
Our total list includes:

1. Downy Woodpecker
2. Cardinals
3. Great Tailed Grackles
4. Common Grackles
5. Mourning Doves
6. Mockingbirds
7. Black Vultures
8. Turkey Vultures
9. Barn Swallows
10. Carolina Wren (new bird)
    
11. House Finch
12. Caroline Chickadee (new bird)
    
13. White Winged Doves (new bird)
    
14. House Sparrows
15. Starlings
16. Yellow Billed Cuckoos!!! (new bird)
    
17. American Crow
18. Scissor Tailed Flycatcher
    
19. Killdeer
20. Chimney Swifts
21. Cowbird
22. Song Sparrow
23. Mallards
24. Muscovy Domestic Ducks
25. Eastern Meadowlark
26. Dicksissel
27. Eastern Kingbird
28. Snowy Egret
29. Common Night Hawk
30. Great Crested Flycatchers (new bird)
    
31. Pileated Woodpecker (new bird)
    
32. Western Kingbird
33. Black Throated Blue Warbler (new bird)
    
34. Lark Sparrows
35. Guinea Hens (domesticated)
    

7 new birds out of a total of 35. That's an amazing number of birds!
Jenny

Sleep and the big dinner

Spent most of the day hanging out, catching up on sleep, and talking. For dinner we went up to Waxahachie to a place called Fire Mountain with all of the family. In attendance were:
Mike & Tessa + their kids: Mikey, Katie, Evie, and Frankie
Nanette + her kids: Sydney and Erika
Mom & Dad
Melinda, Myself, Andrew, and the guy from Bulgaria who's visiting to talk about Domes
I'm pretty sure the Bulgarian hadn't seen an american all-you-can-eat place before. I hadn't seen anything like this either. It was PACKED! And they had a huge variety of food. So Mikey could have pizza and Frankie could have pudding and all the rest of us could eat whatever we wanted.

Go me, for having small portions and no seconds. :) :) I gotta say I'm proud of myself.

After Later
Jenny