The Wild Life. . .

It was hot and humid (for Utah, anyway), but we had a great time at Patti's. And lots of new critters to get acquainted with! Ben came to Patti's directly from doing an education show with some of his birds, so he had some we'd never met.

Shannon and I fell in love with Takal and Savannah, a macaw and a cockatoo. They both loved attention, and say some words in addition to the loud SQAUK that parrots are known for. He is very interested in that shiny silver necklace Shannon has on-



Both birds had spectacular coloring. Takal is in-your-face bright, with several shades of blue and turquoise, bright golden yellow, and some green. Savannah is a much more subdued creamy peach, with some yellow on her tail feathers.



Ben and Savannah have a little show they do, and they entertained us later in the evening. Savannah has a crest, which you can see in the next photo. She gets to talking, and her head bobbing up and down, and we were all on the ground laughing.



We helped Patti feed some of the birds. She had just gotten a baby Swenson hawk- you can see he still has downy feathers on his head. Bentlee helped feed him some meat- he was hungry!



There were also two birds I asked to be able to photograph up close. This harrier (hawk, I think) fascinated me the first time I saw him. He has a hawk body, but a small owl's head- his eyes are on the front, not the sides. The blue band is a splint for his broken tail feathers.



The other is the raven, aptly named DB Cooper because he is an escape artist. He also talks, but not when people are around. He has picked up some interesting phrases from Patti's teenage sons- "I didn't do it", for example. He loves water, and we got the hose in his cage to cool him off.



Patti is starting to take bears as part of her wildlife rehabbing. You don't get close to them, but I managed this shot of him through the fencing.



I spent some time with Takal on my leg, having an interesting conversation. I tried to get some photos of him up close, and he was fascinated with my camera. I got a lovely blurry shot of him going after my lens with his beak wide open! This is the best shot, you can see his wonderful coloring.



Lastly, Shannon got out the young (descented) skunk that Patti now has on an education permit. He is just so cute!



Good food, good friends, what better way to spend a hot summer evening!

Crunch Time . . .

I have been working on a piece- my journal quilt piece, which I can't show pictures of. The background is assembled, mostly what I have left to do is the quilting. While I do understand the rationale behind the 'no pictures' rule, it is hard to not show the progress!

We are off to our wildlife rehabber friend Patti's home tonight, for a barbeque. Last I heard, she had a young bear- if he's still there, hopefully I can get pictures. And it's also the annual Llama Fest at the Hari Krishna temple, so I'm sure we'll hit that before we head for Patti's!!

Next week is a holiday weekend for Utah- the 24th is Pioneer Day, and I'm taking the 23rd off work too to make it a 5 day weekend. I'm starting the quilting this morning, but my goal is to have it completely done, bound, photographed, and the entry submitted by July 28. The deadline is August, I'm hoping to not be dealing with it the night of the 31st!!

Hope your weekend is fun, I'm off to the studio--

Winding down. . .

The weekend is about over, I'm just playing on the computer waiting for dinner to finish cooking. The ironing of the work clothes is done, my hair colored for another six weeks, even the dog is freshly bathed!!

I do have some sewing content, just not quilt related. I had TWO coupons for JoAnn's that had to be used this weekend, so I got some cottons to make a couple of shirts. One of them is almost done, just need to do the hems, buttonholes, and buttons. Shannon snapped my picture trying it on- all with a look on her face that said "I can't believe you are going to wear that in public!!"



I love red, I love batiks- so why not a red batik shirt? It will go great with a red necklace and earrings my daughter-in-law Marly made.

Our friend Patty, the wildlife rehabber, invited us to a barbeque at her house last night. DJ couldn't go, so Shannon and I went, with Sadie in tow. She love playing with Patty's dog Jackson, and feels right at home with all the animals.

Ben was there with his new golden eagle. This one is young, and only a month out of the wild. He handled all the people around him very well. I never cease to be amazed at how magnificent eagles are when you have the opportunity to see them up close.



Ben also brought out the ring tail cat, as they are commonly known- don't ask me the official name. These are actually native to Utah, unlike racoons.



But the best of all was the fawn, brought in from a small town to the south after she was found on the side of the road, a dead doe not too far away. She is less than a month old, and smaller than Sadie, our border collie.



She was a little skittish of all the attention she got, but took to the bottle with relish. I'd never heard a deer make any kind of noise, but she was making little squeaking noises while she nursed on the bottle. I'm not sure what will happen to her, but it doesn't seem likely she'll be able to be released.

And it's not just the animals at Patty's that are interesting, I also learn a ton just by listening. Never a dull moment there, and good food to boot.

After a long, cool spring, summer has finally hit here with a vengeance. We had 90 degree days most of last week, and the same for the coming week. What I would love, a long stretch of 80 degree days. Not too likely now.

Days Three and Four

I obviously was delusional thinking I would get any studio time before Christmas. If I'm lucky I'll get a shirt cut out tonight, but no quilting stuff done yet.

Yesterday we went over to a friend's for Dutch oven dinner with a group of people who do wildlife rehabilitation- mainly with birds. When we got there, the first thing I saw was this golden Eagle on a perch near the cooking. It is hard to imagine how magnificent these birds are until you have been close to one.



Before we ate, Greg showed us his falcon, and turned him loose to do some hunting- first with a sacrificial chicken, then with a starling. I'd seen some falconry years before when I was in Peace Corps in Africa, and I've always found it fascinating. Being friends with Patti, we've been lucky enough to see how beautiful these birds of prey are.



We cooked and ate outdoors, and it was COLD!! Hovering around the fire was the only way to stay warm. I decided to play with my camera after it got dark and the full moon was out, and got some interesting shots. You can see just how smoky it was! We all smelled like a campfire by the time we left.





Patti also showed us some birds she is rehabbing that are indoors. I love owls, and have seen many of them close up thanks to Patti. Otis the sawwhet (?) was adorable, and I thought the tiniest owl around- until last night. Patti has two pygmy owls that are even tinier! One consented to leave the cage, and sit a bit on Patti's finger- I tried, but he would have no part of me. But you can see just how tiny he is!!



Tomorrow- pick up photos for one Christmas present,and get the very last one. Hope your holiday preparations are coming along or are done!