(6/20/21) Sunday Sprinkling rain off and on all day. Not nearly as much rain as predicted. There were birds all over the back yard all day. One perched on top of the clothesline pole turned out to be a mockingbird. Later another, looked like a sparrow. A brown thrasher on the other clothes post. A very small bird that looked like a goldfinch but not as much yellow as the pictures show. A gray/brown bird that looked like it had a blue tail, but sometimes black feathers have a blue hue in the sunlight. Lots of sparrows. Then about 4:15 pm it happened... A male bluebird landed on his usual spot on the deck post!!! So I think you were right, Beth. I believe both parents may still be around. Dehydrated mealworms left on the deck railing disappeared later. Now thinking about putting up a bluebird house attached to the deck post, where it's not so exposed. And get a thistle seed feeder. I draw the line at live meal worms.
Oh fun! You like watching birds? That's the big activity here. Except I get mad at the squirrels that rob the feeders. They can be pretty inventive.
These two bluebirds started it all. I've never seen bluebirds in town before. A large flock of them moved in out in the country, when our planted pines got wiped out by beetles. I think the neighbor's back yard, which has grown up in weeds, and the arrival of chinch bugs (which ate up my lawn) attracted them. I saw both the male and female today. I've been searching for a bluebird house online, but none of them look very good. Maybe I'll cobble something together from the scrap wood in the basement, just for the remainder of this season. Need to go find my binoculars. They may not be any better than the smartphone now.
(6/22/21) Tuesday There are dozens of plans for bluebird houses online. Each a little bit different. I finally went with parts of several plans. Swinging front door works well. All using scrap lumber and screws. I wanted an oval hole. Now they say bluebirds prefer it. Practiced making one but it was too hard and came out ugly. I filed a round one down some. It's slightly oval. It has a back separate from the mounting board. Now where to put it? I was planning on mounting it on one of the deck posts. At least the hawk wouldn't get a clear shot at it. But I won't be able to see it from the kitchen, and there is always a lot of bird activity on the deck. They may not like that. There are two more clothesline poles. One in front of the azalea bush that used to have a bird feeder. Another one has been hidden in the hedge for years. It is solid, 7' tall. I could wrap flashing around it. The tree next to it is not good. Went back out and cut down the tree. The only downside is it's right at the neighbor's property line. Depends on who moves in next. Nobody there so far this summer. Both bluebirds were hanging around today. I suppose they have already picked a new nest site. I think I'll just hang it on the pole tomorrow morning and and see what happens, before screwing it in permanently.
I hope it works. Is there anything special about bluebirds? Don’t see blue birds in my part of the country.
They like to nest in holes in trees. When we had the 5 acres of dead pines out in the country there were plenty of places, as long as the dead trees were still standing. They like open fields next to woods. Prefer not to nest within 100 yds of each other. Like insects and berries. Not as many insects, berries, fields, or holes, in town. Sparrows usually try to take over their nests. I've been reading a lot about them lately. The box is temporarily mounted. Five feet is minimum height. Same as their other nest. Will try to notice what goes on for a few days. Maybe put it somewhere else, depending.
(6/23/2021) Wednesday Back on the mower wheel project ... If I couldn't mount this wheel, I would probably give up on ever mowing with the tractor again. I may do that anyway, but I want the option to choose. Brush and trees are going to grow up along the roads and dam, and that can't happen, not yet. Besides, it's something interesting to try and see if I can do... just once. The old mower wheel is like a toy compared to the new one. The new wheel came with only one washer because 2 of the same size would not have fit. Had I been able to unlock the garage door last time, I would have known this and not ordered more. But that's washers under the bridge. I may make a necklace out of them. I put a thin one from Lowes on the bottom, and the thick one that came with it on top. It seems like a thin one on top would eventually bend under the stress of hitting the pin that holds the wheel in the frame. But when I overthink things this much, I usually get it wrong. The hardest part was lifting the new wheel perfectly straight up 6" into a tube, when it isn't balanced to do that, then holding it there between your knees with one hand, while trying to poke a screwdriver through the hole on top with the other hand. The most time-consuming part was the last step, getting the new roll pin (covered with grease) in the top. You had to beat the heck out of it with a heavy duty hammer. Couldn't get it started in the hole, and was afraid of mashing my fingers trying, so I finally performed a slight attitude adjustment on it. Took the tractor out for a short run around the house. After the frame on the mower is lowered to make up for the larger wheel it should be just the right mowing height. I'd never want to mow lower than 6 inches on this rough ground, usually higher. By the time I got it on it was 7 pm. I have to call the HVAC man. He put Freon in the AC system out there last year and said it might only last a year. That's what it did. Will see if he can repair it one day next week, and I'll finish lowering the mower on the same trip.
Some activity on the Ford Order Tracking site. Status is now "In Production." My understanding is that step doesn't take long, unless they count parking it somewhere waiting on semiconductor chips. Depending on where it's headed, they may ship to the dealer first by train, then by truck. In that case it might wait until there is a trainload of cars headed in the same direction. Could take 3-6 weeks. What a complicated process loading and unloading must be. It would be interesting to watch.
After laying off the harmonica for 3 days I actually did better than before. Go figure. Hit one note at a time cleanly on... 59th Street Bridge Song (lip pursing), and Shenandoah (tongue blocking). So the next step I tried was holding the harmonica the way you are supposed to, with your left hand, so you can form a cup with your right hand. My left hand cramped up and I couldn't let go of the harmonica. The pain caused me to forget everything I learned. There is no YouTube video on that.
Today the Ford tracking site had the window sticker for the Ranger. According to discussions about sticker codes on Ford forums, it will be built Friday (7/2). Takes about 18 hours. Provided it doesn't have to wait for chips, it will be shipped by rail. To where? Could be a lot of places. Maybe even SC. Could have been a mistake ordering from a smaller dealer. But what's a few extra weeks. I really don't care when it gets here as long as my truck holds out and the AC keeps working. Right now it's loaded with a chopped up tree from the back yard. Means fewer scratches on the new one.
My left hand still cramps up occasionally when I play more than a little. I'm not surprisedyou sound better after laying off the harp for a few days. I prabably should think you because I am playing so well and have such control. I used to wonder how it was possible to have and maintain so much control with the harp but after going over every thing i asked you to do several times and practicing more myself I am honestly amazed how well I am playing, so 'thank you, for helping me to play better. Even my son noticed and commented. I would suggest you keep going over the basics, reading up on what others do and trying as much as you can. Listen to music, play along with it, especially the sax and the fiddle, how do the sax get those snappy come at you snippets and the fiddle get those long slides.Can you do that on the harmonica. Maybe not exactly but it will help your playing.
Of course my ability to play depends on my shortness of breath. If I am the least bit short of breath I sound like a starter on an old Ford pickup that is grinding away yet not making contact.
It has been so hard just to learn to cleanly play the notes of 2 simple songs. There are so many things to remember to do all at the same time. Please tell me it doesn't get much harder... that it's all down hill now. It's easy to hit two notes at once, even when you're trying not to, and since the thing is set up so you almost have to hit a decent chord if you hit 2 or 3 notes at once, what else could go wrong? As long as you're playing a song in the key of C with no sharps or flats (bending)?
Playing two or three notes is fine. Play one note the best you can and don't weary about it. Tap your foot, put some timing to youjr playing. It will sound better. Be a good idea now to forget one, two, or three holes. Play so it sounds good to you. When it sounds good to you, it will sound good to others. Two notes at a time sounds great. Play two notes on the low end then jump to the high end of the do ra me and play two notes. Change like you woiumd on the piano. How do that sound?