The staff of life ... also makes a good ham sammich

I have a bread recipe honed over the last couple of years. Makes really fine thick-cut breakfast toast. I look forward to waking up just to eat this stuff.

To quote a wise philosopher:

They're so light and fluffy white
We'll raise a fortune by tonight
They're so light and fluffy brown
They're the finest in the town

It's seriously NOT gluten-free, so you celiacs should just look away. In fact, you need to add gluten to get the protein cross-linking required to promote the fluffiness that floats my morning boat (in addition to high-protein King Arthur bread flour!). Sorry.

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Even more feckin birds

Zip-tied my old GoPro to the shepherd's hook holding up the bird feeder, which allowed me to click pictures from my couch via bluetooth.

It was a cloudy day, so the shutter speed was slow, resulting in some blur for these fast-moving subjects. Also, there's a half-second lag 'twixt me clicking the screen button and the actual "click."

However, I think this technique going to bear fruit in coming sessions, because I can get some outrageous closeups. The birds don't seem to notice the little camera box six inches away.

About as close a look at our red-headed woodpecker as you'll ever get.

This guy doesn't spend a lot of time at the feeder; I think he's too 

heavy and can't get a firm grip on the perch.

A black-capped chickadee enjoys a seed. Once I get the hang of the 

GoPro for this application, I suspect I'll get better shots.

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More bird pictures from the old guy, by popular request

Here's Mrs. and Mr. Cardinal, mentioned in an earlier post. Mary and I have both witnessed the male feeding the female — he'll bring her a choice sunflower seed and place it gently in her beak. We have not, however, seen the female taking any such actions toward the male. Harrumph.

There are a few of these rose-breasted grosbeaks hanging around. I hope they stay for a while; they are beautiful birds. I'm working on getting a better photo, perhaps one in flight where you can see the complex white wing bars against the black main feathers.

This gray catbird is my new favorite. I like the subtlety of its grays and blacks, and it's a nicely proportioned bird as well. It reminds me of a Boeing 757 in that its form perfectly follows its function.

OK, maybe I'm overthinking this a tiny bit.

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Idiot figures out his camera after 10 years

 This is why I bought a Nikon D7100 anyway:

OK, whoop-de-doo, Orion. But I finally studied the manual and the field guide. I put some time and effort into the project. Also, I bought a cable release. I practiced a couple of times, and Voila! An astrophoto.

Can't wait to get to Wisconsin, where it's actually dark.

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Bird pictures from the old people

So now that we're old, we've taken up bird-watching. We've set up the feeders right outside the living room window and we have his-and-hers binoculars so we can view the birds during commercials. ("NCIS," and "The Office," mostly. NCIS is a pretty good show, given its unlikely premise and characters. Seriously, none of those people, except maybe for Gibbs, would be working in a responsible position in law enforcement at the highest levels, right? Right? Anyway, I love the theme song.)

We've even started a log of bird sightings, God help us, and so far it's in a small notebook.

We have a few actual non-sparrow sightings and are some highlights so far:

We have a nesting pair of cardinals in a pine tree in our backyard. Mrs. Cardinal has taken to pecking at her reflection in our right-hand living room window every day at about 11 a.m. She's not overly enthusiastic about it, so we're not worried she'll hurt herself. Mary and I hear the tapping, look at each other, smile and shake our heads.

 

In the winter, we get lots of these Juncos. I don't know where they go in the summer. Probably Monaco, for the gambling and the women.

These pretty little downy woodpeckers (You could also call them "peckwooders." It's the same meaning, try it. You'll like it.) are a common sight when Mary puts out a suet feeder. They also attract these guys:

That right there is your basic red-bellied woodpecker. He's twice as big as the downy. At our Wisconsin place, I've seen a pileated pecker, which is larger still. Sounds like a machine gun when he's hitting the trees — you can hear him from half a mile away. I'll get a picture of him one of these days.

Also, anhinga doing a mating dance in Georgia and we've been told a lie about egrets our entire lives, but that's a post for another time.

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