The RJ Ranch

My brother is building his house (having it built, actually). Check out "Chuck's Place" and watch the walls rise. Maybe we can all go pay him a surprise visit when it's done...

We have such a variety of birds in our area. Besides the pheasant and quail, we see returning flocks of robins and red winged blackbirds. The smaller birds are too quick and too small to capture easily. A few mornings ago we watched these beauties land on the bridge that crosses the creek in front of our home. They strolled across the bridge and wandered down to the road before disappearing. I would have been great to catch them in flight but we just weren’t quick enough. It seems that we weren’t the only voyeurs that morning.

One never knows what one will see here in our bit of Paradise. One morning while eating breakfast we spotted what first appeared to be a decoy; like those placed around the Koi pond to keep away predators. This handsome young bird stood as if frozen long enough for us to take this photo. The photo is a bit fuzzy but it was taken from more than 100 yards away through a window; not a very clean window. Evidently he was as intent on breakfast as we were that morning.

As many of you know Roger bought a generator to use as backup power for the house during power outages. Not that we’ve had many (one to be exact). You might ask yourself what does this have to do with the photo? I’m getting to that.

Roger’s installation of the gas pipe, started from the fireplace in the living room. From there, the pipe went under the house; up to the attic; across the top of the pool room and down to the generator on the far side of the house. He put pressure on the pipe as he went along to test for leaks…way too much pressure from what the inspector said.

Anyway, the fireplace refused to start once the installation of the pipe was completed. The inspector check the fireplace for any damage to the starting mechanism made a few adjustments and pronounced it be safe to run without fear of blowing ourselves up. Once blessed, we resumed our morning coffee and paper in the living room.

Some days later we began to hear this chattering in the fireplace; much like the sound of vibrating metal in a windstorm. Roger took the lower panel off the fireplace and inspected the connections and could find nothing wrong. We went outside to see if there was loose metal flapping in the breeze (it’s been breezy here) and also found nothing. The intermittent vibrations continued.

Then this morning, after hearing the now annoying chattering again Roger quietly (this time) went outdoors to see what was happening. It appears that this amorous woodpecker is trying to attract a mate. Apparently he feels that the noise he creates from striking the metal on the chimney is much more alluring to the ladies than the noise emanating from his tapping on a tree trunk. Hopefully he will find his lady friend soon or we may be forced to fricassee a woodpecker.

I found some lights like these last summer when we were at Priest Lake. I thought they were very pretty and thought they would go well in our yard. I didn’t get them because I thought they were a little “pricey”. Roger surprised me last month with these. They are smaller but oh so much more affordable.

With all the excitement of preparing for Mom and Dad’s 65th Wedding Anniversary I didn’t get a chance to show them off to anyone…so hear they are. I haven’t decided just where they will reside but for the time being they “live” in our rose garden in front of the house.

The weather is changing; still cool but warmer during the day with longer periods of light. It will be nice when it warms up enough for me to get out and cull out some of the dead plants in the flower beds. We are seeing more birds now; lots of robins and red winged black birds; even spotted some quail and pheasant. We haven’t seen many deer yet. I do hope they return this summer. It was nice watching the fawns play.

I think we’re confusing some of our neighbors. Roger took two of our new solar powered lights and put them up on the hill behind our house. When it’s really dark the lights appear to be stars shining low on the horizon.

We live in a pretty rural area. There are no street lights so the only lights at night come from our home, Everett’s home, the moon and the stars in the sky (and of course our solar lights). Not much changes from day to day (except for the solar lights). The moon goes through its phases and the stars shift with the tilt of the planet. Sometimes clouds obscure these celestial bodies. Fog sometimes obscures the light seen from our house by the passing motorists. Usually the tired driver, trekking home from a hard day of fishing, gives little notice to our house lights or the phases of the moon as he passes through our little part of paradise. That is, until a couple of nights ago.

That’s when Roger decided that the two little stars on the hill were not enough. We now have part of the Milky Way just above our house, complete with the Big Dipper and a smattering of other “stars” across the landscape. I wasn't sure that the display could be photographed but look what Roger caught on his camera this evening. I guess you could say the moon in the photo is a "solar light" but not one of ours.

One might ask, “Is it noticed by the passing motorists?” Well, let’s put it this way. On my way out to the Koi shed (AKA tool shed) one evening I happened to glance out toward the road as a car was passing. Brake lights came on for about two seconds, the car visibly slowed and then continued on its way. If Roger is not careful, they’re going to take his helicopter away from him because he’s not old enough to fly.