October 25, 2018

The Birds Migrating Through
TEXAS
Are Getting WET!

October 25, 2018

Female Lesser Goldfinch

What amazing weather we have had for the last couple of months.  It always seems to rain in late August or early September about the time school starts.  The last few months have been very wet for South Texas while in other parts of the state that have been suffering from long term drought, now, flooding rains just keep coming.  There are so many jokes on Facebook about Texans and the way we deal with the rains; the jokes have been funny, and almost true.

Male Wilson's Warbler

If you know much about Texas, you know that we love our What-a-Burger hamburgers.  There are photos (altered photos) that may show a submarine, or a canoe, or a row boat, in an apartment complex parking lot with a caption saying something like, "Anybody need anything?  I am going to What-a-Burger."  The losses that people are suffering may in some cases take a lifetime to recover from, but sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from crying.

Gray Catbird - There have been several 

of these in the yard recently

For the last week, our area has had some rain and lots of clouds and cooler weather.  This is rare for October in South Texas.  Trees are rapidly growing.  They think it is spring.  I saw several that are in full bloom which normally happens in the spring and here we are in the middle of autumn.  One of our sons and his wife have a home in San Antonio, which originally had a small oak tree in the front yard, as did most of the homes in their subdivision.  It has been VERY slow growing as they have had years of little rain.  This year the tree is suddenly taller than their 2-story house and is casting too much shade on the neighbor's front porch.  Our son needs to trim it as soon as the yard dries out enough to let him put a ladder up without it sinking into the very moist soil.

Juvenile Baltimore Oriole

Here, every time I look out into the backyard, I start singing a line from the theme song for the TV series Monk, that says, "It's a jungle out there!"  We just keep trying to trim trees and shrubs when it is not raining, and during that chore, we battle the mosquitoes.

Yellow-throated Warbler

Bird migration has been a little different this year.  The birds seem to like the weather.  Currently none of our waterfalls are operating and they really miss those.  There are several types of warbles that love to just play in the water for what seems like hours.  Instead they are having to settle for the bird bath which is fine with me since it is closer to the house and I can enjoy watching them.  A couple of weeks ago it seemed like the yard was filled with assorted little yellow birds.

Female Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Our daughter-in-law from New Mexico has just left after being here for the last two and a half weeks.  She spent time with my mom while my mom's helper was out of town.  Then spent time with our daughter-in-law and our grandchildren in McAllen while our son was out of town.  Then came to our house and spent her days with Ron's mom while I was at work.   This past Saturday, we took her to San Antonio to catch a much cheaper flight to her home and spent a good part of the day there with our son and his wife who live in San Antonio.  We are so blessed to have spent time with so much of our family during these last few weeks.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

In addition to our children and grandchildren, my brother and his wife have been in and out of town a lot recently and my sister from Ft. Worth has made several trips down here to help Mom out and to visit.  This time of the year is filled with birthdays and assorted celebrations and we have done lots of eating out and birthday dinners.  There are still a bunch to come in the next few weeks.

                         

Juvenile Blue Grosbeak

All of that brings me to dealing with my hearing limitations.  We are a big, happy family.  We love to chat and laugh.  We seem to all do it at once.  That is overwhelming to me in my hearing situation.  I am so very thankful for my Cochlear implant, and never want to seem ungrateful for it restoring to me, so many of the sounds in our world.  I just can't take ALL of them at once.

Juvenile Baltimore Oriole

Sometimes I retreat to the kitchen to work on the dishes when the house is filled with sounds, and normally one person at a time will wander through and stop to chat for a while.  Currently our 15 year old granddaughter loves to come help in the kitchen.  We have had some wonderful talks in the last few weeks.  She is such a joy to be around, as are all the grandchildren.

Yellow-throated Warbler

We just don't see how the weeks can get any busier than they are, but they do continue to get jam packed.  The weeks ahead will be busy, but it is a great time of the year and a time for hearing from friends who are scattered and who are also sometimes too busy to write.  I am already wondering where my sewing room Christmas tree will go since I added a piece of  furniture in its spot recently.

I will be going to Houston the end of November for my annual check up with the audiologist.  I feel that the quality of the hearing is not what it was in the beginning with the Cochlear implant, but maybe it is other factors going on that make it seem that way.  I find I don't want noise lots of time, and just turn off the sound on the TV or remove the sound processor.  Maybe that is a factor; I may not be using it as much as I should.  I don't know, but we will see what she has to say soon.

Yellow-throated Warbler

My computer at home died so I can only write my blog when I am at the office.  I need to find time to replace the computer at home.  The week following the computer crash, my phone died and it has really been challenging to learn a new one, but I like it.  I guess I can still learn a few new tricks, thanks to our family members who have better technology products and skills than I do.

Juvenile Baltimore Oriole

As always, if you think I have the wrong identification on one of the birds, let me know.