Four hands later, we finally uninstalled the blind. I got a text this morning from Home Depot, asking if they could move up their new window installation date to tomorrow. Sure. Our responsibility in this project was to remove all obstructions to the windows to be replaced. Upstairs the front window was no problem. In the back up there, Anne wanted to clean off the back porch roof before the workmen came. Back in the day, that back window was how we got 4’ × 8’ sheets of wallboard into the upstairs for our big DIY project of finishing the upstairs. Back in the day, Bob and Chris helped us, with Bob doing the heavy lifting of pressing the wallboard over his head. I wonder if being suborned into this work had anything to do with them both shortly afterward leaving town? I digress. Anne wanted to clean off the porch roof one last time, while we still could. Moving downstairs to our bedroom, the big deal was removing the Levolor blinds on the windows. A couple of YouTube videos made it sound like an easy job. Something that I could do with one hand tied behind my back. Like I said, four hands later, we uninstalled the blinds. So much for YouTube U.
On my way home from work tonight, I was driving by the airport, on the way to the highway. As I slowed to a stop, a raptor floated down from the adjacent noise abatement berm. It was much larger than the Red-tailed hawks that I usually see along this stretch of road. It passed in front of me, between an already stopped car and myself. It floated roof-height across the road, lifted over the double chain link fence and then the security berm and disappeared into the airport. I considered calling Homeland Security, but since the bird was a mature American Bald eagle, the symbol of our country, I figured it was alright.
The airport is a ways from the rivers, where these eagles usually are found, but they are occasionally seen in Forest Park, which is also as far from the river. The picture of Liberty, the Bald eagle, was taken last January. He (she?) was on display at the Mel Price visitor’s center. Perched in front of a uniform green wall, it made for the perfect green screen shot. I added the winter woods background from last weekend, and voilà! Today’s momentary sighting epitomized the spirit of the day. Work went well, anyway, much better than yesterday. Customers were in and they left satisfied, but more importantly, so did my management.
Liberty in a Winter Setting
Anne worked 2nd grade in the morning and then took the afternoon off to attend to a contractor. Our front door has been sticking, really badly. So bad that it has become almost impossible to open or close the door. Our neighbors recommended this guy and Anne was home to greet him. At first it seemed that he would not be able to do anything, or worse, he had succeeded to make the problem worse. In the end though, he fixed it. Now it is so easily opened that one has to guard against flinging the door wide open. We are very satisfied with “Get It Done”.
Finally, I’ll leave you with the following YouTube video, from Russia with love. Crows and their larger cousins, ravens, are the most intelligent of birds. A PBS “Nature” episode, “A Murder of Crows”, has documented this. Hat tip to Dana Steven’s of Slate for this twin steer. They can recognize a human individual’s face. So, you better be nice, because they are watching and they can tell who is naughty and nice. They can also use a selection of tools to perform a sequenced task. In this video a crow is filmed “roof tubing” or sledding. All people dream of flying. Flying is freedom. Crows can fly. If crows who can fly, can take such obvious joy in sledding, then sledding must be as much fun as we think it is. Let it snow!
