Nature And Conservation...

This morning we went with Mom and Pa to the local Department of Natural Resources Center and saw a presentation on eagles - specifically, the bald eagle and the golden eagle.  This included getting to observe, up close and personal, two captive eagles that were injured and wouldn't have survived in the wild, so live in a habitat and go on tours to teach about their lives.  It was very interesting and we had an enjoyable day with Mom and Pa. 

This is Aquila (which means eagle in Spanish). Aquila is a golden eagle and got caught in a coyote trap in 2005 and required 3 surgeries to learn to fly again.  However, because of his injury, he cannot fly far ,so he now lives in a special raptor habitat at the Zoo in Springfield Missouri. He is about 8 years old.

This is Phoenix. When she was very young, her transmitter didn't move for 3 days so the DNR folks went to check on her.  They found her lying on the ground, barely alive, for no reason they could discern. Because she required round the clock care, she imprinted on the humans, and so cannot survive on her own.  She is 26 years old and also lives in the raptor habitat at the Zoo in Springfield, Missouri.    

On the way home, we were passing a field and saw two coyotes.  This is the male.  He took off (after lifting his leg on a bush). Then he paused and watched us for a good 2-3 minutes before finally loping off into the underbrush.  We weren't able to get good photos of the other coyote as it went into the brush very quickly.

We've been busy...

The summer was super busy for me.  Mom had a medium stroke on June 28 while she was visiting my brother in another state.  After she spent a few weeks in the hospital, Richard and I drove up there to escort her and Pa home.  They'd gone in their truck, and we brought our 4Runner so Mom could lay down in the back if she got tired.  We had a leisurely 2 day drive home, enjoying the sights, and taking our time.

For the next six weeks, many family members came to stay with me so they could see Mom for themselves and know she was doing good.  It was very enjoyable but also very busy! We had company clear into September.

In that timeframe, Richard also had cataracts surgery and his yearly checkup on his esophogeal issues.  Everything is fine, throat is looking good and he's doing great.

Christian the cat ended up having to go to the vet because he was bitten by something and the bite got infected.  He's fine, now.

Christmas came with visits from the kids, we enjoyed their stay.  Mom and Pa went to visit my brother again for Christmas and had a great time, this time!

A few days after Christmas, Richard had terrible pains in his stomach so I tok him to the ER.  They checked him out and determined he needed his gall bladder out.  He had to go in for a few more tests before they took it out, to make sure all was well with his liver and kidneys.  They took his gall bladder out on 2 days ago, and released him to go home yesterday. He is recuperating well and there are no issues.

I am still working on my goals of finishing up all my craft projects, and cleaning out my craft closet and room.  So far I'm doing pretty good, I've catalogued the things I've finished on my sewing blog. In addition, I have also passed on some things that I finished - several people got some of those quilts and some Christmas presents I made. Everyone is happy!

My goal for this year is to continue working on last year's goal of decluttering all the stuff we have.  I've made a grand start - I got Richard to build more shelves in our closet a few months ago, and we re-painted the closet, too.  We donated about 1/3 of the closet's clothes we no longer wear. We also invited the kids to take some of the clothes, and surprisingly, they did find a few things they wanted. It helps that we're all the same general size!

As I was putting all the Christmas decorations away last week, I decluttered them, too.  Threw out all the broken ornaments and lights, got rid of bedraggled decorations, and boxed up all the non-sentimental ornaments to pass on to family members or to donate.  

Today I attacked my dresser and got rid of a black garbage bag full of socks, T-shirts, tank tops, swimsuits, shorts and jammies I no longer wear.

Here is a gratuitous picture of Christian doing his favorite thing...sleeping.

I hope everyone has a blessed new year and that you and yours will prosper!