I took myself to Kensington a week or maybe more ago, hoping to get some great bird photos. There’s always something to see out there, and the warblers are migrating, so maybe…I hoped.
This is one of my favorite trees, just before the nature center, a little island in the shallow end of the big lake.
But the entire time I was at the park I had camera lens focus issues.
The morning sun rose and lit this egret in the middle of his (or her) morning routine.
My images were so bad I almost forgot about them. But regardless of the quality, I’ll share with you the best of what I consider a pretty sad batch of images, just because no matter what I capture, even if it’s not much of anything new, I’m always glad I went to Kensington.
There was less light down on the water where I startled this young wood duck.
And I’m always glad to share with you my adventures, as tame as they often are.
The blue heron, drying off in the morning light wasn’t interesting in anything moving on the lake below.
A lot of the time on this walk I took pictures of plants. Because, as I told one photographer last year who was noticing me focusing on berries instead of birds, plants don’t move.
Thistle and cobwebs.
In fact, this trip to Kensington I spent most of my time looking at the way light played in the dark woods.
My artsy-fartsy image for this post.
Turns out it plays rather well, don’t you think?
But of course the birds kept bringing me back as they hovered over me, sometimes landing on my camera lens, asking for something to eat. They are very persistent.
Hey lady! Did you bring the suet balls or the peanuts today?
It’s pretty hard to ignore them, even if you aren’t happy with the images you’re getting.
A cedar waxwing kept his distance.
Sometimes I just feed them and don’t even bother trying to capture the magic.
Out of focus, but still fun.
Other times the birds and the light work together and I get something interesting.
A titmouse backlit by the morning sun.
I had so much trouble on this walk through the woods, capturing anything the way I wanted to, it got discouraging.
Early morning goldenrod.
Focusing on plants as a last resort I wandered some more.
More joe pye this year than I’ve ever seen before.
I eventually decided it just wasn’t going to be my day, and headed back toward the car.
Even the chipmunks turned away from me.
But just before I got to the parking lot I saw one more trail, one that headed out to where I sometimes saw unusual stuff. It wasn’t a long trail.
Noisy high iso, but the wings are still cool.
Maybe it was worth a bit more walking.
A whole family was enjoying a bug buffet.
And there I found a dead tree, quite a ways away, but full of some sort of woodpecker family.
I thought it might be a group of red headed woodpeckers. The light made it difficult to see anything but silhouettes. But looking at the images later I saw the yellow on the underside of a wing, and I believe this was a flicker family.
You took my gnat! I’m going to go tell mom!
Regardless, they were very busy hopping around the tree looking for bugs and flitting from branch to branch.
And while I was focused on them I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye, way down at the other end of the bridge. Something fliting around the touch-me-not flowers, far from where I was standing.
What is that, way down there at the other end of the bridge?
I shot blindly, not seeing anything in my viewfinder…
Why look! It’s a hungry hummer!
…but hoping for something. And the most beautiful female hummingbird showed up when I looked at the images at home.
I’ve never seen hummingbirds out at the park before.
She sure made me smile.
And then there was a noise on the other side of the bridge and I found this little female common yellowthroat. She made my day!
Isn’t she pretty?
So the moral of my story is don’t give up. Walk down that little extra trail even if all you’ve had before is disappointment.
Looking for lunch.
You never know what you’ll find. It could be magic.
I even found a chipmunk that didn’t turn his back on me!
I’m supposed to be sharing with you images of my short camping trip to Michigan’s UP. And I will…really. But this morning as I was busy washing dishes I happened to look out the window and, surprise, this guy was standing on our deck railing.
This is a green heron. They fish in the pond across the street, and they used to nest every summer in the vacant land behind us. But there’s houses back there now.
I haven’t seen the green herons all summer, nor last summer either that I remember. So this was really special and I just had to share him (or her) with you!
So when I left you last I had backed away from a crane scuffle and had resigned myself to photographing plants. But I really wanted to get great shots of birds.
I was feeling discouraged.
Bee balm and…well…bee.
I moved slowly through the wetlands, enjoying the wildflowers but keeping my ears open for bird calls. Eventually I made my way back into the woods where the light was dim but a few birds were happily fliting around.
The light was gentle under the old trees.
I felt a bit of hope. I decided that every trip out to this park taught me more about photography and even if I didn’t get my dream shot, the experience of just being in the woods was worth all the blurry bird images I was likely to capture.
Robins aren’t interested in oilers or peanuts but they are curious about what you’re doing in their woods.
I walked slowly, and didn’t offer any birds seed from my hand unless they were obviously asking for something. It was late morning and most of them would have finished their breakfasts long before I showed up.
In fact everything seemed pretty quiet.
Cleaning up after breakfast.
I used the Merlin app on my phone to listen for any interesting birds. I wasn’t hearing very much.
Hey! You’re not going to put that on Facebook, are you?
Then I remembered that I was going to try and stand still and wait while I was out in the woods. That moving around, even slowly, made most of the animals and birds skitter away.
A camouflaged titmouse asks for a treat.
So I stood.
And very soon, flying fast up the path at the level of my head, was a male red-bellied woodpecker.
Just toss me a peanut and nobody gets hurt.
I offered him something from my hand, but he wasn’t having it. He was, however, obviously wanting something to eat. So I tossed a peanut onto the trail behind me and immediately, even before the peanut hit the ground, he was on it.
Nom, nom, nom. Thanks dad!
And so was his youngster, waiting to be fed. They were in the shadows so the image of him feeding the young one is grainy. But it was so cool I wanted you to see it anyway.
Then they both flew up into the tree, dad on the front to ask for more food, and junior on the backside waiting for his free meal.
Come on dad, pour on the angst, she’ll give us a suet ball if you act pathetic!
Poor dad worked so hard. He’d grab something from the trail where I tossed it and fly to a tree where two young woodpeckers noisily followed him. I don’t think he got anything to eat himself.
Here you go, son. But pretty soon you’re going to have to do this for yourself!
The trio followed me for a good quarter mile. He’d zoom past my head and land on a tree trunk, and I’d toss him something that he’d take to his two freeloading kids.
The two youngsters were tag teaming dad.
Meanwhile other birds were gathering to watch. There was a young nuthatch who would have enjoyed an oiler, but was afraid to enter the fray.
Hey buddy! Some of the rest of us would like some attention (and food) too!
And a disgruntled blue jay.
This is ridiculous. Some birds just think they are all that.
And overseeing it all, strangely quiet, was the neighborhood blackbird.
So much ruckus. It’s not seemly at all.
Eventually I got away from the family of woodpeckers and started seeing other little birds.
Thanks lady! It’s always good to have a snack before our morning nap!
It was getting toward noon, the sun directly overhead, and most of the birds were settling down.
Nope, don’t want anything more to eat, lady. Time to rest.
They weren’t hungry, but if I was still I could see them tucked in among the branches.
A fluffy titmouse settles in for a snooze.
I figured it was time to head back to car. I could use a snack myself.
Everybody seemed ready for a nap.
But on my way back to the car my Merlin app said there was a common yellowthroat nearby. And guess what? I found him!
Way back in the shadows, such a cool looking bird!
And just up the trail, hopping around in a cedar tree was a female common yellowthroat! I’ve never seen one before, it was so exciting!
Everybody overlooks me, but I’m just as pretty and I don’t need to wear a mask to be cool!
But what about the yawning cardinal, you ask? Oh yes, he was settling down for a nap in a bush when I walked by.
Not singing, no sound at all, just a big yawn.
I guess I was boring. Or maybe he was just too sleepy to be polite.
Oh, and on the drive out of the park I stopped to watch the osprey and her 3 young.
There was much wing flapping, they’ll be out of the house soon.
It turned out to be a spectacular day. And I learned more about photographing birds. I can’t wait to get out there to try again.
One morning last week I gave in to my itchy shutter finger and went out to Kensington to try to photograph birds who aren’t the regular suspects.
A flicker hides from me.
I’ve been watching, on a Facebook group, nature photographers capturing some stunning images of birds from my favorite park. I asked one of the photographers if he was finding these birds on the nature trails there.
I stalked this yellow ‘bird’ until I realized it wasn’t one.
He said he was wandering around other areas of the park, and that made sense to me. Sure the titmice and chickadees and nuthatches were hanging around looking for a treat, making them easier to photograph. But what about other birds, those that aren’t into landing on hands or snacking on oilers?
While I was waiting for a bird to show up I noticed this pretty pink flower.
So I went out to the park and stopped at a picnic area quite a ways from the nature center. It had a picnic pavilion and a swing set and quite a large open area, surrounded by large, mature woods. I was the only person there. I used my Merlin app to find out what birds were near.
A very fluffy robin was preening.
The place was overrun with robins. But there was also a flicker singing right at the tree line. I followed him for quite awhile…but didn’t have the right settings when he flew up from a branch.
He was in decent light, but I needed to up the shutter speed.
Still, I sort of like the image. It would have been stunning if the wings were sharp.
I adjusted my settings.
I found a bluebird who agreed to sit still for me, though he was a long way away and cropping the image shows the noise. Still, he’s cute, and everyone loves a bluebird.
Hey lady! Get your shot quick, I’ve got to go pick up lunch for the Mrs.
Mostly I chased the flicker around, and never got a better shot of him. Eventually I gave up and drove over to the nature trails where I found myself walking behind this couple.
Just going for a walk.
They were in no hurry, so neither was I.
But then there arose a loud screeching of another crane pair coming in for a landing.
What’s that noise over there?
The original cranes were less than happy and much squawking and wing flapping ensured. The woman at the other end of the trail and I stood still, not wanting to get involved.
I was busy backing away so I missed the most exciting parts of the greeting between the two couples.
Eventually I backed up and headed down another trail where I found beautiful things to photograph that don’t move around so much.
The last of the spring irises.
It’s so much easier to photograph plants.
Joe Pye is just beginning to bloom.
And they make me smile too.
I don’t know what this is, but it sure was pretty!
So I wonder….did I ever find any more birds to photograph? Was I successful at getting any good shots?
Some of you know that I spent most of my career in banking. The last 13 years of it were spent in mortgage banking, but the before that, for about 7 years I was management in retail banking. IE, a branch manager.
I managed different sized offices during that stint, some really small, some really big. All of them were busy, back in the days before electronic paychecks and even before ATM machines.
I remember lines out the door on General Motor’s weekly paydays. And cars constantly lined up in the drive-throughs on Friday evening when we stayed open late.
Working with the public can be stressful. I get that. But somewhere along the line customers got cut out of the service equation.
This week I realized my credit card was expiring at the end of May and I hadn’t received a replacement card. I’ve had this card since 1980. It says so right there on the plastic, and I’ve never had an issue like this.
So I figured I’d just call in and find out when I might expect the card. It wasn’t like I had any grand purchases planned, but it’s handy to have. I called the 800 number on the back of my card, the number for Customer Service.
After listening to several instructions to push 1 or say yes or no, I listened to a few advertisements for things they could do for me, none of which I was interested in. And interspersed between the ads, were suggestions about how much easier it could be if I’d just download the mobile app. Or perhaps I’d like to go to their website where surely I could solve all my problems.
All of this repeated for many long excruciating minutes, with ugly background noise disguised as music enhancing my enjoyment. They were experiencing a ‘high volume’ of calls and the wait time might be unusually long.
Huh. On a Tuesday night at 6:30 they were experiencing a high volume of calls? OK, I needed to go to band rehearsal, so after waiting for 15 minutes I decided to try again on another day.
Early Wednesday morning I called again. The same irritating music, the same ‘high volume of calls.’ I waited almost 20 minutes and hung up in disgust. It was obvious they were not interested in talking to me.
So I decided, what the heck, I’ll just drive to my local branch with my expired card and have them help me figure out what to do. Seemed so simple I don’t know why I didn’t think to do that from the start.
This afternoon I stopped by my branch.
There was nobody sitting at any of the customer service desks. The lights on that side of the building weren’t even on. There was a stock broker in a suit sitting in his office, but he wasn’t the appropriate person to fix my credit card issue.
Behind the teller line was one man, talking to a customer about a problem. It seemed quite complicated. At the far end of the teller line counter was another man running money through a counting machine. I couldn’t see it, but I’ve been around equipment like that enough to recognize the sound.
He never looked up.
I waited at the “enter here” sign for the employee to finish with the only other customer in the building. I waited a long time. And I noted he did not provide a solution to the customer’s problem.
Finally the man with the problem left and I approached the teller window. “You’ll need to go down there,” said the employee, nodding his head at the man on the end, still busy counting money. “I don’t have any money.” And he began to walk away.
“I don’t need money.” I said.
“Then what do you want?” he asked.
Yep, I’m feeling really weird about this whole place now. No customers, no staff, not even a teller working the drive-through, the curtains there are drawn, there’s no equipment on the counters, something seems off.
“Are you still a full service bank?” I asked.
“Why do you ask,” said the guy still counting money.
“Because there’s no one here.” I responded.
“We just had a bunch of people call in sick.” he replied.
Sure.
Anyway, I told the employee about my expired credit card and he said he couldn’t do anything from the branch and gave me a phone number to call.
An 800 number.
Apparently it’s my responsibility to fix this problem. And I’m not going to get any help from my local branch. If they’re even a branch at all.
I know I’m not alone, but when did customer service stop being a thing? And why must we only deal with people far away in call centers which must be so understaffed that exceptionally high call volume is really the norm and not an exception at all.
Maybe I’m just an old baby boomer who likes to reminisce about the way things used to be. But you youngsters should have been around when customer service ruled. When you got to talk to people face to face. And when they did their best to solve a problem rather than pass it on.
Or back to the customer.
Yep, those were the days. You’d have been amazed.
Note: images are from a walk last month at my favorite park. I never got them into a post, so I figure even if you don’t want to read about banking, and who would, you might enjoy the birds.
When I left you last I was sitting on a bench, feeling defeated having walked a couple miles through the Refuge looking for great images and feeling as though I had missed the mark. I was tired and hungry and, slumped on a bench, was eating an apple when suddenly a bird flew low and fast, just missing my head, and landing somewhere behind me.
“Don’t call me a Red-bellied, lady!”
I didn’t know what it was, I thought maybe a Red-bellied Woodpecker, as those have been known to divebomb me during spring walks at Kensington. I grabbed the camera from the bench and got a couple of shots. Whatever it was was extremely noisy, but I couldn’t tell from the image in the viewfinder just what it was.
It was only after I got home and did some research that I knew there was such a thing as a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. So cool! This image is better than I thought it would be, and though not perfect, you can see the yellow and red on the bird.
From earlier in my walk.
I think I was very lucky to see two of these guys that day!
And then, then…..just as I was putting the camera back down a flash of something caught my eye back cross the trail. I heard the sound of wings and something landing in a bush just over there. Could it be? Even though it was mostly hidden behind the branches I was thrilled to see an Eastern Towhee!
What’s that back there?
I clicked off some shots, praying I had the bird in focus and not just the branches in front. Either way I was happy just to see him.
I rarely see this bird at home, I think in the 30+ years I’ve lived where we are now I’ve seen a Towhee twice. They’re supposed to be here in Michigan all summer but they’re rare in my world. I was thrilled to see him, even if I didn’t get a better look.
And then, as if he was reading my mind, he hopped out onto a branch and stared at me.
“What are you looking at, lady?”
He sat out there for a long time. I was shooting as fast as I could. He gave me a good look at both sides of his profile…
“Make sure you get my good side. Oh wait. Both sides are good sides!”
… and then he got bored with the whole model for hire thing and flew off for parts unknown.
“Well, that’s enough of that! Does she think I work for free??”
I looked at the images I had captured and tried not to squeal. This bird, this one little bird made my entire day. All the walking and lugging the heavy camera equipment, all the missed opportunities and focus issues, all the aches and pains were worth it for this one experience.
This is my favorite crop of him, including the graceful curve of the greening branches.
And, after a bit of reflection and giggling, I picked myself up and wandered happily down the trail, where I eventually found another bench and thought I’d try my luck and sit there for a moment or three, just to see what might stop by.
“Lots of people overlook us sparrows, but we’re pretty cute if you just spend some time with us!”
And this little guy, perhaps a swamp sparrow, graced me with his presence. I liked his (or her?) butch haircut on top. He didn’t stay long, so I moved along too. It was getting late and I wondered if the cinnamon teal was still in the pond back at the parking lot.
I was almost back to the parking lot when I saw this pretty mourning dove sunning.
“I know I’m beautiful.”
He or she wasn’t shy about showing off subtle colors in the afternoon sun. I appreciated the display and moved on toward the car.
I was almost back on the main drive when I noticed these two killdeer standing together in the road.
“Hey lady, we could use some privacy if you know what I mean?”
And then I realized they weren’t exactly innocently standing there.
“Geeze lady, give us a break!”
But rather they were enjoying a little afternoon delight. He seemed pretty happy and let me get one last shot. She was out of there, totally embarrassed.
“Hey! I get a cut of any profits you get selling my image…right?”
And when I finally got back to the parking lot and the pond? Nope, no cinnamon teal to be seen, but the turtles were fun.
“Those birding people have mostly gone home, thank goodness. We could use a little peace around here.”
And I met a wonderful nature photographer who happened to be up on the viewing platform looking for the teal too. We had a nice conversation and I told her where the towhee was and she headed off into the woods.
“Those photographers will follow you anywhere!”
I headed home, exhausted but oh oh so happy. And that, dear readers, is the end of this story.
An hour north of me is another magical place. I keep track of it on Facebook, where people, dedicated to photographing the wonders there post images and after periods of time away I am always itching to go back and see for myself.
I always try to arrive before sunrise, to witness the Shiawasee National Wildlife Refuge waking up. Sometimes it’s very noisy, but last Friday it was quiet, no flocks of cranes flying over, just some little birds and a couple swans.
Waiting for sunrise.
But the moon was coming up and that kept me company as I waited for daylight. I was there to see the cinnamon teal I’d been hearing about. A bird that doesn’t frequent our part of the country had been sighted regularly, in a pond right next to the parking lot.
Absolutely beautiful moonrise, big and golden, it came up just ahead of the sun.
Just as the sun rose a car roared into the parking lot, and a woman, dressed in waders and lugging a camera with a huge lens eased her way into the water beneath the viewing platform. I was still in the car.
Ummmm….what would this angle afford that standing on the viewing platform wouldn’t?
As the light brightened I figured if she was that prepared I didn’t want to disturb her or any potential shots, and I avoided the viewing platform in favor of the parking lot itself. And guess what? The cinnamon teal was there, with his lady friend.
Yep he’s out there, and not that far away from where the woman was standing.
But the light was still low and I was far away. Still…I have proof that I saw him and that was enough for me. I left her to her project and started down the road to the trails, intent on what other wonders I could see.
He really was beautiful.
There was this female merganser swimming all by herself in the ditch along the road. I wondered where her mate was.
Sometimes a girl just needs some alone time.
And this killdeer was be-bopping along in the wet grasses. He didn’t really want his picture taken but I got what I could.
If I hide behind this piece of grass she won’t see me.
Mostly I was just happy to be out there in the golden early morning light. But I kept thinking about that teal…and when another car pulled in and a guy clompped his way up the viewing platform I figured I had as much right to be there as either of them and I walked back, tiptoed up the viewing platform and saw that the teal, and his lady were nowhere to be found.
She’s still under there, and he’s stomping around up top. People…sigh…
I wasn’t surprised, with all the commotion. So I took a couple pictures and walked on back down the road. I was kind of disappointed that I didn’t have a clear shot of the teal. But I had a couple of tree swallows dive bomb me. They were so fast I didn’t get a good focus, but it was kind of cool.
People are kind of overbearing, don’t you think Harvey?
I resigned myself to the fact I might only get images of common birds, like robins who seems to pose for me as if to say they were tired of being overlooked.
Say lady! I’m sort of cinnamon colored!
And there was this little bird, that was cute, but I couldn’t tell in the low light what he or she was. I figured a sparrow and I wasn’t too excited. When I got home and began to process the photos I realized it was a phoebe with nesting material! What a cutie! But at the time I was feeling sort of sad.
I know I just look like a little brown bird, lady, but I’m really cute!
I trucked on, stopping when I heard something, looking for opportunities. I talked to a birder who was walking behind me for quite awhile. He said he was out there to see deer and eagles. I assured him he’d see eagles near the back of the trail, and there had been deer earlier, by the parking lot.
What’s that over there?
Just after he left me I noticed these guys in a field to my left. I wonder if the birder noticed them at all.
Shhhhh, don’t tell him.
I moved slowly down the path. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that when I’m walking I don’t see much, but the wildlife sees me. I’ve missed lots of opportunities by moving around too much. And by changing lenses.
No wildlife here. I just liked the colors.
I almost always think I have the wrong lens, and plenty of times on this walk I wished I didn’t have my long lens on the camera, but this hike I was determined to use one lens and stop often.
In the end I think it worked out.
Not in focus, but he was flying directly at my lens, so I just instinctively pushed the shutter. Kind of cool.
I noticed this little bird hopping along a big limb. Turns out, though I couldn’t tell at the time, that it’s a cute little junco. You can tell it from the phoebe by it’s pinkish bill. They should be migrating further north any time now.
He definitely wanted his picture taken.
As I moved closer to the back of the trail I concentrated more on the beautiful reflections in the still water.
Not everything beautiful here comes with wings or fur.
And the angles of the light and trees as another birder passes me looking for anything interesting.
What’s that up there?
About then I heard what I thought was a woodpecker right above my head. Well darn it, I thought, so far I haven’t gotten images of much of anything…where IS this woodpecker? And then…there he was.
Not a hairy woodpecker.
I thought maybe he was a hairy woodpecker, he was bigger than a downy, but it was hard to tell. Guess what? When I got home, and after looking at some other photographers’ work, people out there the same day, it turns out this is a yellow bellied sap sucker! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before. Or if I have, I didn’t realize what it was.
So exciting. Still, while I was out there I didn’t know what I had and I was still pretty discouraged. I trudged on, out to the eagle’s nest. I figured I’d at least see an eagle or two or three…and yes, way off in the distance, in a massive nest was one eagle, mostly cleaning the nest with his or her back to me. Hardly anything to look at.
Yep, there’s an eagle in there, tending to the nest.
But there’s a bench out there and I was tired so I sat and watched the swans chase each other around in the water just past the eagle’s nest.
Lots of angst, all in the name of love.
There seemed to be quite a rivalry going on. The light was still low and they were far away and I was having the hardest time getting a focus, but I tried.
And in between the swan shots I’d check the eagle. Finally I could see the adult eagle more clearly and I got the best shot I could.
…where I met another birder coming the other way. He told me that there were lots of little birds on the next section of trail. Kinglets, thrush, swamp sparrows, towhees, just lots of little birds.
He says he lives just down the road and does this walk almost every day. Lucky guy.
Great I thought, I’m having trouble getting BIG birds in focus, and I’ve never been very good at getting the littles. Those guys never hold still.
Plus, did I tell you that Thursday evening my husband and I, with the help of a neighbor and his tractor with a frontend loader, moved 30 yards of mulch? I was a little sore and a lot tired and I was double thinking even being out at the Refuge, much less walking the four mile loop. Especially when all I had so far was a bunch of out of focus bird shots.
Kinda like this one.
Or so I thought.
So I trudged on along the water, then turned to head back south for the last mile and a half to the car. I was starving. My back was tired. My eyes hurt from straining while looking through the viewfinder.
But there was a mama goose, all curled up on her nest. How pretty. How peaceful.
I’m watching you lady.
And there, up ahead was a bench. And I had an apple and a bottle of water in my camera backpack. I gratefully slid the backpack off and sat down. The camera sat on the bench beside me, backpack at my feet and I munched the best ever apple and contemplated my day.
No matter what it was still spring and the sky was blue and the trees were in bloom and the birds were singing.
I was still glad to be out there, but I was tired. I didn’t really think I’d see any little birds. I was pretty unhappy with the cinnamon teal image, the eagle image, the combating swan images. I didn’t know I had a phoebe or a junco or anything else.
But the apple tasted really, really good.
I could always call them artsy-fartsy images….right?
And the blue sky and warm sun made me smile too. Would it be enough, just sitting in this beautiful place? Or would I ultimately be disappointed by my hike through a Michigan wonderland?
It began, as these things often do, during an early morning wander with the puppy in the back yard.
My first glimpse from across the yard.
What was that flash of blue I caught out of the corner of my eye?
My wife likes these fixer-uppers. Personally I’d rather have a move-in-ready place.
Why look at that, a bluebird, shining in the early morning light, claiming ownership of an old bluebird house out near the road.
But you know how it is….happy wife, happy life. Right?
I hurried back to the house, got the camera and long lens, and tiptoed out onto the deck.
And besides, she says she’s going to do all the work, so whatever.
I got to watch for awhile as she worked hard to get new nesting material into the old box.
I told her the renovations were going to cost more than just buying a nicer place. But she insisted this one felt like home.
The story unfolds in pictures.
Things in the renovation zone are too noisy for me. I’m going to sit over here for awhile.Might as well take this personal time to spiff myself up. Maybe I can get a date night tonight, know what I mean?But wait. Maybe I need to woo her a little bit. After all she’s been working pretty hard all day.I don’t know where he is. Just like him to fly off when there’s work to be done.Best to just do it yourself, I always say.Just a few more accessories and it will be perfect.Hmmm….I should have measured the door before I brought this back. If I just push a little harder…Man, that was tough. But a woman’s work is never done, and this will all be worth it in the end!I’m so excited about this place. We got it for such a great price!OK! I found her a succulent insect, her favorite. Now where is she?Is she in here?Honey?I don’t get it. Where could she be?She’s got to be around here somewhere.I got her this great treat and she’s not even here!This bug is going to go stale if she doesn’t eat it soon. I don’t think she appreciates my efforts.Women! I’m going to go hang out with the guys down at the bar.
Change Is Hard 