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Journal of a Sabbatical |
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June 18, 2001 |
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after the rain |
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Today's
Bird Sightings: Today's Reading: Tibetan Trek by Ronald Kaulback 2001
Book List |
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Lots of things are in bloom this week. I couldn't begin to photograph them all. There's way more of that birds foot trefoil this year than I remember from past years. Yellow flowers are starting to nudge out pink ones, blue ones, and white ones as the jillion different species of goldenrod are just starting to bloom. I've had no luck in getting hold of the refuge plant checklist, which was alleged to exist at some time in the past. The staff at headquarters says there isn't a current one, so I have no guidance as to what to look for that I haven't already photographed. I started going through A Flora of Essex County and noting which species had been collected from Plum Island but that method of compiling a list could take awhile. Another project for when I don't have enough to do for the cats, piping plovers, and Hungarian dendrologists... not to mention the opportunity that's knocking my door down ... Now about that tab key... |
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Copyright © 2001, Janet I. Egan |
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It's
a bright sunshiny day after all the rain. Pajama Woman is
sunning herself on a chaise lounge in her tiny back yard
(tinier than mine but jam-packed with patio furniture). It's
Bunker Hill Day so she's got the day off. I of course am
still trying to get a tab key for the Hungarian G4. To each
her own. Oh, and she doesn't wear flannel pajamas for
sunbathing - she's actually got a swimsuit, which I suppose
is good because flannel pajamas would be kind of difficult
to swim in.
My
bad luck with ATMs continues. Today I managed to deposit the
check I couldn't deposit on Friday. However, on my next
transaction - cash withdrawal so I can ransom my laundry -
it told me it was temporarily unable to dispense cash. Uh,
the machine is empty? At least that's better than Friday's
temporarily unavailable and sorry for the inconvenience
message. What's even weirder and causes me to doubt my adult
competencies even more than I already do is that when I told
my therapist about the ATM frustration I experienced on
Friday she thought I was telling her my card didn't work -
nope, nobody's card worked - and then when she finally
understood that the ATM itself didn't work she said she had
never experienced that nor known anyone else who had. This
is like the Post Office only running out of customs forms
when I'm trying to mail something to Europe. It never
happens to anyone else. And now today here we go again with
the dysfunctional ATM. Luckily, there are two of them in
this particular place and the other one was able to dispense
cash and I was able to redeem my laundry.
Given
that this may one of the last nice days before I become
gainfully employed in a real office during real daylight
hours, I blew off struggling with all the frustrating chores
(maybe I'll hire someone to make the bittersweet and sumac
go away as well as fixing the fence) and drove up to Plum
Island to look for birds. Mostly it was the usual suspects,
the only new addition to this year's year list is the blue
jay - hardly a "good bird" but one I don't see on the refuge
much and certainly the first one I've seen there this year.
A gang of kingbirds were giving a crow a very hard time. The
crow couldn't seem to get away from them. Willets were all
over the place making lots and lots of noise. They were even
louder than the killdeer. Mosquitoes of at least two species
were very active, plus those tiny no see 'ums kept flying up
my nose, so I skipped walking on the Hellcat dike.