Silos, birds and that dang wire

There are times in life when a missed opportunity or special moment gone wrong just can't be corrected or recaptured.  Sure this could be one of those emotional, sappy or philosophical posts that has everyone all misty eyed but that is not going to be the case.  What you have instead is a mini rant on my problems with capturing a bunch of starlings on the wire of a silo.  

Several years ago one of my friends moved to an old farmhouse in the country.  I visited her often and many of my barn shots have been taken on the drive to her home.  I always have my camera in my lap when I am the passenger.  One day two years ago I noticed the birds liked to congregate on the wire above her neighbor's silo and took several shots.  This was the best of the lot and as you can see I zoomed in too close and cut of the top of the shot.     

I have been trying to recapture that shot ever since. I have taken dozens,  of shots that end up like the one above. Seems that every time our car gets anywhere near the farm in question, and I raise the viewfinder to my eye, the birds take off and I end up with lots of small black dots in the sky. 

A few weeks ago my friends moved back into town. I will probably never have the need to travel to that part of the country again so my hopes of recreating this shot will likely never happen.  

This experience however, has me checking out the tops of all the silos I come across.  I've noticed that most don't have this wire circle on them. I did come across this silo with a bent wire (and not a bird in sight) during a recent drive in the country while searching for an estate sale. 

Our old beater needed new car tags this month and in order to pass the emissions inspection, our state requires, we had to replace a sensor. In order to get the sensor to reset and allow the wagon to pass the inspection I needed to take it for a long drive.  I decided to use the trip as a photo opportunity and headed to a rural area I seldom visit.   

I finally, as my little brother once said, "lucked up."  I captured the above shot of birds on the wire ring of a silo. Not near the number of birds I was hoping to find but a decent shot, just the same. 

Like I said at the start of this post  "There are times in life when a missed opportunity or special moment gone wrong just can't be corrected or recaptured."  And, I guess I will close the book on trying to recapture a silo wire full of birds.   

Linking to Rural Thursday   

Mockingbird in the Birdbath

During my last visit to my Aunt's house I noticed this little Mockingbird having a great time in her birdbath. 
  

Linking to:
 Nature Footstep Winged 
Wild Bird Wednesday 

Color Carnival #66 --- Birds of the Back Yard Puzzle

Two weeks ago today, our cable service went out and we lost both the TV and the internet. The company was unable to replace our faulty receiver box for five days. So what do you do when you are without any external form of entertainment?

The Old Salt had recently purchased this (very pricey)1000 piece puzzle of "Birds of the Backyard"; which he thought would be a good reference source for bird watching, once framed and hung near the patio. He also mentioned that it would be a good shared project for the two of us this winter. So, I dug it out of the closet and started putting it together.

This is as far as I had gotten by the time the cable service was restored. So the puzzle lay on the dining table for the next nine days and I would stop and play with it for a few minutes each time I walked past. Finally, yesterday I finished it.

Here we have the completed puzzle. But, it will not be glued together and framed anytime soon.

Turns out that somewhere over the previous two weeks a couple of the pieces went missing.

Heaven only knows where the missing pieces went. Will I find them in the tool box that sat under the table for several days? Are they in the box of Christmas decorations that also shared that same space for a while? Did the two year old who visits often carry the pieces into another room or put them into the toy box? Are they in the vacuum sweeper?

For now the puzzle still covers the dining table waiting for the miracle return of the Blackbirds body and the baby chickadee. Oh, by the way, next time you see the Old Salt, ask him how much time he spent on this great shared activity?

I am linking this post to Color Carnival

To join the fun or to check out all the colorful entries of other players, visit Maria and her friends at Color Carnival.

Round Robin Photo Challenge --- Birds

Welcome to this week's edition of Round Robin Photo Challenge. This is a Saturday meme that comes around every other week.

It has been awhile since I posted to this meme. I haven't had the right photo for it. But, this week's theme is Birds and I have the perfect shot in my archives. This photo was taken at the St. Louis Zoo. I don't recall the name of the little bird but it must like the cold to share its space with the penguins.



You can check out the photo's posted by the other Robin's or join the fun by visiting roundrobinphoto.blogspot.com

Mellow Yellow Monday ---- trio of sunny summer

it is time to visit Mellow Yellow Monday and see what sunny captures all the participants have to share this week. As for me, I have chosen three very yellow and very summery shots for my entry. First I have a bright sunflower that is growing beside the stairway leading up to the porch of a house down the block.


Next is the sunny eating area outside of a small deli next store to my camera shop.


And last, we have a tiny goldfinch that likes to visits our bird feeders.


To join in the fun visit Drowsey Monkey and the Mellow Yellow shots here

Mellow Yellow Monday---

Mellow Yellow Monday is not one of the memes I normally follow but I could not resist posting this week because I have what I think is a interesting yellow shot.



If you will backtrack to my post for the Round Robin meme last Saturday, when the theme was numbers, you will find that I spent some time in a thrift store collecting my pics for that meme. When I asked the owner if I could take some pictures, I noticed  she had a yellow cockatiel sitting on her shoulder. I asked about the bird and this is what I learned: 

The bird is called Baby and the lady raised it from a hatchling. Baby has never been kept in a cage. Baby goes everywhere the lady goes including work and her grand-children's sporting events. Baby loves to ride in the car. The only other person that Baby will go to is  the lady's husband. Baby had its wings clipped so she runs wherever she wants to go.  Baby walks around the table during meals choosing what she wants from the couple's plates or her seed dish. Baby sleeps between the couple in their bed. When I asked about the sanitation or cleanliness factor I was told they just accept cleaning up behind Baby as part of loving her. The lady did tell me that she has to keep extra blouses handy and her grandchildren sometimes whisper to her that she needs to change her top. She often wears vests as a poop catcher. 

While I like birds and have had a few parakeets over the years I don't believe  I could live with a bird that sleeps with me or eats from my plate, not to mention doing its business all over my work place, home or me. How about you?


To join he fun or just enjoy all the mellow yellow shots visit http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com