A Mom's instinct

It's raining in White Rock where the Eagle's nest is.

Take a look at what the Eagle Mom is doing.

A photo I took of the eagle cam. - When you click on the cam, Expand the view to fit your entire screen!

On the nest, she spreads her wings out so the rain, when it runs off her waterproof feathers, will trickle off - rather than just underneath her - further away from her eggs!

Isn't nature amazing!

By the way, we were watching the eagle on the wide angle shot last night...and at approximately 8 pm, there was a gorgeous sunset!!!

Canuck Fever at an all time High. Will you catch it?

As you can see from this video on YouTube.... hockey is taking over the town.   The video starts out with the real live birth of the Canuck's mascot.....and goes downhill from there......

But - you have to laugh.

A parody of Ce-Lo's "Forget you" song.......(or some like his other version!)

My husband points out that the Canuck Hockey team has the same colors as his Seahawks team.....blue/white/green.......

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AND - I can't believe it. 

It's APRIL, Mother Nature!!! It's NOT supposed to snow!!!  What the heck??? The beautiful pink blossoms are all out and we're getting SNOW?????  This isn't Ontario, you know!!!!

Couldn't you have done this LAST week when we were -  say -  in Palm Springs??????

Well, I think we all knew this a long time ago...

Dr Oz is NOT a good information source.....article written by a reluctant former colleague.....

Even BETTER than the West Virginia Eagle Cams!!!! SOUND!!!



courtesy of free bird photography site

 On the news this am - was a story about eagle cams right here in British Columbia.  Digging further into the story - I found that it wasn't just the ONE cam that was out there.

Here is the site that not only gives a map as to approximately where the NINE streaming webcams at SEVEN different locations are - but they provide accompanying sound.  This particular site was created and is maintained by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) which is something similar to NPR in the USA.

The Organization that provides most of the cams is the Hancock Wildlife Org.

David Hancock is a local biologist and has been studying the bald eagle for more than 50 years - from Alaska to Florida.  He lives here in B.C.   He would lecture everywhere, trying to educate the public about conserving our wildlife and promoting science and stewardship.  The introduction of these eagle cams has reached more people and educated far more than all the lectures he has given throughout the years.

In his own words:

"Shortly after we first put the Hornby nest camera up and the public started watching it in truly staggering numbers, I realized that in one short week we had reached out and influenced more people than I had spoken to or lectured to or taught in all my years as a biologist and travelling lecturer. The Internet, and live streaming wildlife cameras is the way to go."

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The cam in White Rock (where I used to live) has two different views - the clearest - one up close and one that is wide angle.  It is the best cam for viewing by far - and it gives a great view of the setting also.  HIGH DEFINITION....amazing!!!


You can see much clearer than the West Virginia cam and the fact that there is SOUND - makes it much more interesting.  The first egg has just hatched yesterday  at the Surrey site cam, so if you missed all the excitement around hatching at the one in WV - you can watch the progress at this site!

Day 8....a little late......

Day 8... a day late

My girlfriend came over for the day yesterday whilst my husband visited the golf course for the last time.

Technically, she is my parent's friend, but through the years - I have been the one to keep in touch.  When I moved to California in 1989, it just so happened that she and her husband lived only several blocks from where I ended up renting.

Emmie and I sat in the sun and savoured my freshly squeezed lemonade.

It's amazing what direction our lives take when we aren't paying attention.

Emmie's husband passed away not long ago, while I recently acquired mine.

Emmie's financial status has gone downhill since her husband's passing,  while my financial situation has vastly improved.

She is both American and Canadian, and is hoping to move back up to Canada in the next couple years.  She will first have to sell her house,  whose value in the present California market has devalued so badly, she may be left with next to nothing - if she can even sell it.

Emmie and I talked about what it is like to get older and how the physical body just isn't the same - and how the deterioration was something older people and parents had happen to them - not us. 
 
Her health issues are declining and the only option she will have soon,  is to hightail it back to Canada and get into the system where at least she can keep what she has left, before the US government gobbles up everything.

Interestingly enough, in her younger years, she dated a very well-known man - net worth $5.3 billion - the fifth wealthiest man in Canada.  Of course, he wasn't wealthy back then. Just driven  and agressive, she says.  Apparently - not her cup of tea.

Because of choices she made along the way - she ended up in a totally different place than he.

But who's to say there weren't lessons learned on both sides of the fence -  and on different scales?    I am sure both had their own trials and tribulations and through it all, they came out on the other end of the tunnel of life learning what they were supposed to have learned?

We flew out today, and although it was a nice break......I am glad to be going home.

Day 7 ...

Nice day! Relaxing.  Visiting my girlfriend.  BBQ at her house. 

All in all, a great day!

Speaking of friends....there are a lot of furry and feathered friends around the place.

You have met some of them already.

Here are more photos of them:

Count them.  73 Canadian geese going home

Babies!

The hummingbirds are all over

There is a hummingbird feeder next door

Our little couple comes every day.  They even sit on our doorstep.

By the way, this is a retirement type of community. You can tell by some of the signs around town:

As much as I like it here, I am looking forward to going home.

One more full day.

Day 6...

Went caddying again with my husband.

He was so excited.  The golf course we  went to is the one that the Golf Channel had filmed - in January -   this April's edition of  "Big Break".

So of course, he wanted to play it.

There are 2 courses on the one property.  He played on the "prettier" one since I was coming along with the camera.

Unfortunately, sometime in the middle of last night, there were 65 mile-per-hour winds (how did I miss that??) and the debris all over the course was phenomenal.  Trees were down. Branches broken.

I am sure it doesn't usually look like this and definitely it won't look like this on TV.

We still had a good time despite, with two guys from the Philly area, and one from Maryland as my husband's golfing foursome.  My husband actually "birdied" one hole!

We didn't get back to our condo until 7:30 pm!

Needless to say, this is all I am posting tonight.

*Off to bed*

Pia is voted off.....

Really, I am not too surprised.

Her performances, although impeccable, have been - well - boring.

Yes, she is a good singer, but she isn't the best performer.

Think of all the best performers that are your favorite from years past........

How many of them have had "perfect" pitch....or the "perfect" vocals??


Very few of them.

I rest my case.

Day 5...

Japan is really going through the wringer.

Another aftershock, the same size of the one that I experienced in the Bay Area when I lived there in 1989.

There is a site that you can see the time sequence of aftershocks after the tsunami back on March 11, 2011.
Here is the page:  It doesn't include today's earthquake.

Incredible.   I can't imagine.  My heart goes out to them.

Meanwhile, here on "vacation",  this packaged soy sauce came with my order of sushi:

Maybe they should change the name....

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Today, I just relaxed by the pool and on our deck.   It's so pretty right outside our door - so why not?  Plus, I need to make another gallon of lemonade (yes, my husband has yet to make any!) and perhaps try out the new Mojito recipe I found on the internet when I discovered the mint growing outside our door!

Meanwhile, my husband went golfing.   I figured he could get through ONE game without me.

Day 4...

It was a quiet sort of day today.

Started off in a wonderful way:



Sunrise over our golf course at 6 am


It was a little overcast so we decided to visit a girlfriend that lives here in the desert - the next town over.

On the drive over - spotted a billboard :  "This year thousands of men will die of stubbornness".

The sign piqued my curiosity.  Of course, that's exactly what it was supposed to do.  Make a person wonder and make one look it up.

Which I did.

Apparently, it is a government sponsored ad that promotes male preventative health.

When you get a preventive medical test, you’re not just doing it for yourself. You’re doing it for your family and loved ones:

• Men are 24 percent less likely than women to have visited a doctor within the past year and are 22 percent more likely to have neglected their cholesterol tests.
• Men are 28 percent more likely than women to be hospitalized for congestive heart failure.
• Men are 32 percent more likely than women to be hospitalized for long-term complications of diabetes and are more than twice as likely than women to have a leg or foot amputated due to complications related to diabetes.
• Men are 24 percent more likely than women to be hospitalized for pneumonia that could have been prevented by getting an immunization.

The single most important way you can take care of yourself and those you love is to actively take part in your health care. Educate yourself on health care and participate in decisions with your doctor. This site will help you get started.

Source: Healthcare Cost & Utilization Project and Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data.

Good work.  I like to see patients encouraged to be proactive with their care.

And since we are on the subject of males:

Not even an hour ago, this was my husband in front of the pond near our condo:

We went for a walk around that lake you see.

I was trying once again to be creative with my photos and stepped into a hill of fire ants. Painful. Irritating.  Itchy.  Dang!!

Thank goodness I had some hydrocortisone cream that I bought for my husband's rash.

So ended the day:




Sunset - only an hour ago - note the little duck floating by