MikeandRong

Yep, all summer with a double goose down topspread over 2 different bed sheets (4 total) and I use only a sheet until wintertime. Glad to see it's not just me, haha.

I see that too even here. It's espically noticeable when worn inside the house. We can get done cooking dinner and the oven will raise the inside temp to 74 or so, and I'm ready to open some windows to cool off. I know it's hot, as part of the family is in shorts and tee shirts while the other part is wearing parkas and a hoodie with the hood up, while even at the kitchen table eating next to the open oven door. Sometimes I think it's more of a monkey see-monkey do subconscious thing rather than a physical I really am cold kind of thing.

Last we have the Brown Creeper inching his way up the tree. He rarely ventures into the sun and instead prefers to stay in the shade, using his natural camouflage to blend into the darker shades of the tree bark. If he doesn't move it would be hard to spot him as is shown in the second photo. They won't be here for long though, just passing through on their way down south a bit more.

This Male Red-bellied Woodpecker couldn't resist all of the action going on, and while not as quick as the Blue Jays he came right in to eat too. This is only the second time I have seen one landing in the grass to get food, and a first to coming to me, but I know for a fact that these guys really like the peanuts over all the other food that I offer them, so I guess he couldn't resist the temptation. His red mullet styled head feathers are really coming in nicely these last couple of weeks.

Yesterday it warmed up a little more in the morning and there was above normal activity of different species coming and going. I'm still not putting out food for them yet, just tossing out some peanuts in the shell one at a time when they come in begging. They are pretty used to me being outside and while they are still cautious, they know when my arm moves outwards that it's a quick and easy snack if they want it. The 2 Blue Jays are yearling brothers and always together. They hatched in the thick bushes at the far end of the yard this year and I was able to watch even the nest building take place. The Male Father Blue Jay always finishes the nest with a piece of something white, be it a piece of paper or cloth, or even a strip of Birch Bark. Why I don't know, but you always know when it's finished because of the white showing. These 2 guys go everywhere together and are fearless when chasing away the smaller Hawks from the nearby trees.

Even with all the rain over the weekend these guys were having a blast playing in the water bowl I leave out for them, each one taking a turn to drink and then a quick dip to rinse their feathers off. You can see all the morning condensation still on the grass, but the trees and their leaves were bone dry. Top photo is a yearling Blue Jay and the bottom is a yearling Male Robin.

Tuesday morning was again cold and clear. These 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers looked really colorful as they flew from the back tree to the front tree and then back again, it almost seemed like they were more playing tag than looking for food. The top 2 photos are of the Male and the bottom 2 photos are of the Female.

After getting over 8" of rain in 36 hours the temperature dropped from 78 down to 41. The grass went from crunchy tan to green again and 2 hours before sunrise the Hummingbirds were feeding like crazy in the dark, getting ready to leave at dawn on the strong North winds that were blowing for the start of their long migration South. The different species of Woodpeckers were talking up a storm and going from tree to tree looking for any food that may have been dislodged and cold blooded insects unable to move away in time were on the menu. The top photo is my local Male Red-bellied Woodpecker, and it's nice to see all of his red head feathers growing in nicely once again. The bottom 2 photos are of my local Female Downy Woodpecker. Once she got done checking out the tree she flew over to the Sparrows bird house and went inside to check it out. I've never seen her go inside before today and the Sparrows were away feeding, so maybe she was just curious or warming up, as she only stayed inside for a couple of minutes before leaving and not going back inside again.

It has been pouring rain on and off all day, and while we sure do need it, we don't need this much this fast. I moved the feeder back under the tree more to give the Hummingbirds a better chance to drink out of the downpours. At least it's not cold today and they seem to just brush off the rain and go right on drinking. This guy looks a little different on his chevron markings to me as he has a second one on his chest that is quite visible in the third photo, but it also may be due to wet feathers today and how the markings appeared.

I once researched a new medical technique that a Chinese doctor was preforming over there that some of the family wanted to try. He appeared quite famous and had published many many articles of his research and results. Now this was all written in Chinese and the medical translation words were very slow going for me. In the end it was just too much of a good thing and promised just too many cures for way too many things for me to believe it. Some people we know did go against my advice and were suddenly pain free and able to move better again. Of course I was called the doubter for going against the wise Chinese doctor who was held in such high regard. But strange things quickly started happening too. Lots of infections, and symptoms coming back rather quickly, but worse now. Best I could determine was he was using some kind of injectable steroid that wore off way too quickly, but worked short term to give the more immediate positive results. The 30 day tea concoction was more diaretic and laxative in nature and am told tasted terrible. When it wasn't consumed as directed for the full 30 days, that was declared the reason for their failure to be cured. While I am no doctor by any means, but I've been around the block a few times to know when if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, espically when it comes to medical claims in far away places.

Amazing what can get accomplished when OSHA isn't involved. I'm sure they have done that a 100 times over and it is quite natural to do repairs that way and they feel safe doing it too. The rope looked more than heavy duty, but like you said, it's all in the anchor point. At least he wasn't wearing slippers or barefoot while on the ledge. Sure can't beat that price. Great pics too!

Yes that is true about the milkweed. It used to grow wild all around me, espically at the backs of people's yards and lot lines, but not anymore. Now the grade school has some planted in their flower garden, but that is all I ever see these days. They only lay their eggs on the milkweed and that is what gives the catipellar the bitter taste to start off with as they feed off the milkweed sap. I remember as a kid it was milky white and really sticky too, but the pod was all fluffy and would blow around just like a ripe cattail top when you pull it apart and let it fly. It's too bad that kids now days can't see or experience the same innocent things we did as kids way back when.

A whole lot of Monarch Butterflies showed up today too. As a kid we used to see them everywhere all summer long, but the last 20 years or so we only see a few of them and it always starts a conversation that somebody saw one. These guys must be what they call the third brood, which are the ones who are getting ready to make their migration all the way to Mexico to spend the winter. They would spend a good 5 minutes drinking the sugar water out of the feeder before taking off. I know they have a very bad taste and nothing eats them, and even the Hummingbird would only sit on a tree branch nearby and not come in when the Monarchs are/were drinking.

After 3 days of rain and cold the sun came out and it warmed back up to the low 70s. I had the windows open so the fresh air could come in and heard this Brown Creeper calling outside. They are pretty tame and relaxed, but creep into the tree bark cracks while walking up the tree from base to top looking for insects in the bark cracks and scraping them out with their hooked beak. They are really very well camouflaged and if not for their calls or almost constant movement, you would have a very hard time spotting them while on a tree. And when they fly, they mimic a falling or blowing dead tree leaf. This guy just migrated down from Canada where they breed and spend the summer.

I thought the Chafee had just been in Hong Kong port? According to the nautical maps, water depth is 16-45 feet that close. This link shows the location to help put in perspective. https://www.google.com/search?q=paracel+islands+china&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#imgdii=LM3fxUjImJMiUM:&imgrc=2M7I-siYspBrPM:

They just had shown the glass crack on TV before I saw this. It got me too!

It can be feast or famine here when it comes to the unpopular species. This fall it's the couple of Skunks that showed up in the yard and it's not worth the dogs getting sprayed and me having to clean up the mess. My big guy really hates the Skunks and will corner them against the fence and kill them, regardless of the full face sprays. Then off to the vet and get the skunk tested and just in case shots, etc... so for now it's nice and safe Thistle and Nectar and I get to miss the early fall migratory species that are coming through now. There was rain in the forecast and the only thing flying were the Hummingbirds and Canada Geese, not even a squirrel was around. Could only mean one thing and I was catching shadow flashes up in the tree branches off and on. A short wait and this really pretty Red-Tailed Hawk came into the thick Oak tree between the houses. I took a test focus and got the tree branch instead. He's 20 yards away and I'm sitting totally still with the wind blowing, yet at the sound of the shutter he stared right at me and took off.

By saying "we want" does that mean both of you are needing the insurance? I'm guessing yes because you have been living in China, but you may be currently employed by a US based company and getting a transfer back to the states, thus currently on your employers insurance. If currently employed, just call your HR dept and add her, I did and no SSN was needed, just a copy of the birth certificate and marriage certificate. Both of hers are from China so the notorial translation books were accepted no problem (only xerox copies were needed). Added the SSN once we got it about 20 days after POE. If your buying private insurance I can only guess as each state and insurance company would maybe have its own set of regulations, but again I'm only guessing. You could always make a phone call to the state your planning to move to and they all have free help to sign up for the ACA insurance (Obamacare). 1-800-318-2596 Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. https://www.healthcare.gov/contact-us/

If you don't cut back the vine to around 10 foot or so, the vine ends up setting the flowers but no grapes appear as the vine puts all its energy to growing longer and zero energy to producing grapes. Only time I've seen producers on longer vines is when they grow straight up into a tree and are then limited by it's height and branch width, and those are maybe 20-25 foot high and only the very small clump black grapes.

Those sure are a familiar sight around here too, only difference is that it is called "woman medicine". Our jars get started the last week of August and they are all wild grapes that she uses. 3 different varieties with the small black ones being the most prized for flavor and medicinal purposes. We or I should say she has a good batch going right now too, looks to be 10 gallons in all. Ganbei!

Even after drinking he still took a rest without leaving, but no catnap. Instead, after a short rest he went right back to drinking again. These guys are now drinking just over 2oz of the sugar water I make for them each day now, getting fattened up for their 3 month migration down to the Carriban and Central South America for the winter.

He started his drinking cycle with his head in the shade again, which of course is back under the clothesline and on the other side once again. I moved slow but did not pay attention to how close I was really getting to him. I ended up only 3 feet away and it was tough to keep focused on him and in the picture frame as he moved back and forth. I just had to go with my camera settings that I had just used before on the other side with the sun at my back. Trying to adjust settings while this close to him would for sure of made him afraid with such close extra movements. So this is what I got after being downloaded to 2 different devices to get to this page. The original SD card looks amazing and will print some great pictures later on.

After lunch the sun was at a much more better angle and filtered through the leaves that are overhead. At first I wasn't sure if this was my regular chevron marked Ruby-throated Hummingbird, but he was so relaxed and taking his 1 minute catnaps on the clothesline I knew if I walked slow I could get close to him. By close, I'm talking about 5-6 feet away with the camera lens only about 4 feet away. I just moved real slow to get more of the sun behind us when his eyes were closed, and it worked. He didn't wake up until the sound of the camera shutter got his attention. The second picture catches him on his nap, he hears me taking the photos and awakes, but still lets me get even closer. At picture 7 the chevron is clearly visible, so he's used to me and not alarmed at all.

Sunday was so clear and sunny, it made it hard for me to get any good photos in the morning. The sun was like a giant spotlight shining right down on us and even this Ruby-throated Hummingbird would only drink on the shade side of the feeder so he didn't have to look into the sun while either resting or drinking. He is one of my regulars and is easy to tell apart because of the upside down chevron on the right side of his neck, almost looks like an upside down black capital V.

This looks like the same Ruby-throated Hummingbird that has been hanging around all day today. He's pretty relaxed as long as you don't move too fast while watching or photographing him.