Weather whiplash, Part II

If you remember, a couple days ago we were expecting some weather whiplash in the form of dramatic temperature swings between Thursday and Friday.

I was marveling at the prediction of a thirty-five degree variance between one day and the next. Well as it turns out, the predictions were off. We had a forty-six degree variance between Thursday and Friday.

Thursday was a sizzling 93F at our place.

By afternoon, we suspended all outdoor work.

Songbirds were lifting their wings and opening their beaks to cool off.

Mr. Darcy stayed flat on his side as much as possible, trying to keep cool.

Clouds moved in by evening and it grew very humid.

Then the thermometer plummeted overnight and we woke up to rain and cool temperatures. The day never warmed up beyond 47F.

Yep, weather whiplash. Not that we mind the cooler temperatures; 93F was just too warm for early May.

Happy birthday, Younger Daughter!

Today, Younger Daughter turns 23!

Poor kid is "celebrating" her birthday by launching on a six-month deployment from her overseas duty station. Such is Navy life.

So, while it hasn't been much of one, happy birthday dear daughter. We love you.

Keeping out the little things

It’s the little things in life, y’know?

We have some glass doors opening out onto a lovely deck with a beautiful view. As the weather warms up, we've been leaving the doors open to invite the spring inside.

But there are other things besides the spring weather that can come in through those open doors. Aside from mosquitoes and other pests (wasps!), we also have songbirds. ...

...and hummingbirds.

These critters do best outside, not ricocheting around indoors and smashing into impenetrable windows.

What we needed was a screen door of some sort, but those aren't readily available for double-door setups. So we ended up purchasing one of those hanging magnetized screen panels. Frankly we didn't hold out much hope it would perform well, but decided it was worth a shot.

Despite measuring, the screens were a touch small for our double doors. Don solved this by building a frame to place over the doorway.

The screening came with a roll of sticky-backed "hooked" Velcro that glued to the frame.

It took no time to get the "hooked" side of the Velcro up.

It took even less time to get the screen up, pressing the pre-Velcro'd "looped" sides to the corresponding "hooked" Velcro on the frame.

The center seams are magnetized, and gently snap together when the panels fall closed

There was just one glitch in this set-up. "Let me in!"

Fortunately it took Mr. Darcy no time at all to figure out how to go back and forth through the screen panels. And wow, does he love lying out on the porch, watching the world go by.

These panels are a game-changer. They fit perfectly (thanks to Don's frame) and work beautifully.

Now the spring can come into the house.

Yep, it's the little things in life.  Or in this case, keeping out the little things.

Weather whiplash

Spring is here. The trees are blooming...

...the grass is almost neon in color...

...and the temperatures are balmy.

Until they're not.

Seriously, this Thursday they're calling for a high of 83F. A little warm for this time of year, but nothing unusual.

But Friday, the temperature plummets – drops like a freakin' rock down to a high of 48F. Ouch, weather whiplash! A 35-degree drop in one day? What's up with that?

Spring, I guess.

Geek Day!

Coming as I do from a family of geeks, I'm always amused by geeky celebrations. Today is International Star Wars Day because -- are you ready? -- it's May 4th. As in, "May the fourth be with you."

Here's a little history behind the quasi-holiday.

So Happy Star Wars Day! May the Fourth be with you!

The Mystery of the Little Brown Jobbie

I have a bird feeder and some spilled seed on the deck of our new house, and I've been enjoying seeing what kinds of birds show up.

Taking photos helps me identify some of the birds, because many are what my ornithology professor used to call LBJs (Little Brown Jobbies) since they all kinda look the same and can be difficult to identify.

By far the most common visitor is Cassin's finches:

We get pretty little lesser goldfinches (green-backed form):

 Oregon juncos, which seem to be more a winter bird:

Evening grosbeak:

And sometimes a bunch of Steller's jays show up and dominate the scene.

Just today we had some lovely new visitors, lazuli buntings! Gorgeous little things.

Here's another new arrival just today, an LBJ with a very striped head:

I'm thinking it's a white-crowned sparrow.

But oddly, it was this drab brown bird that had me most puzzled.

 

 

Earlier, readers had corrected my mis-identification of this bird (which at first I thought was a song sparrow) as a pine siskin, but that  just didn't sit well with me. I knew pine siskins had dull yellow on their wing tips and tail, and come what may I could never see any yellow on these birds. And they were at the feeder all the time. They were as common as Cassin's finches.

Then just this morning, a tiny LBJ – significantly smaller than our mystery bird pictured above – showed up at the feeder. Whatddaya know, it had yellow on its wing tips and tail. Hallelujah, pine siskins! Lots of them.

Look at the size difference between the petite pine siskin (at bottom) and our mystery LBJ (at top):

I finally had a head-clunk moment. The mystery LBJs – which were as common as Cassin's finches – were ... Cassin's finches! Females, that is. Facepalm, why did it take me that long to realize it?

Now I'll be able to sleep at night.