Last day of May

Been a fairly quiet day. Beautiful weather, that's for sure. Did a little reading, a wee bit of knitting, took some photos, played with the dogs, and did a pretty major cleaning of the living/dining room areas. Mind you, the *rest* of the house is still a disaster, however it feels good to have the main area tidy. I can't believe how quickly it gets looking bad--I suppose it's to be expected with four animals shedding on the rug, and Zoe pulling out at least six toys before she finds one she likes, and Zoe leaving stuffed animal fluff all over the place.

My appetite has definitely returned. Fixed myself a breakfast sammidge around 9:00 am (honey-wheat English muffin topped with honey ham, swiss cheese & a fried egg) which tasted scrumptious. Around 3:30 I suddenly realized I was exquisitely hungry, and craving Taco Bell like there was no tomorrow. Had a burrito supreme AND a steak quesadilla, and by 4:30 was ready for dinner. Psychologically I know I shouldn't be hungry yet so haven't eaten anything since that late lunch, however I don't think I'll be holding out much longer.

Ralph's fishing trip didn't go quite as planned. They hadn't even gotten out of the harbor when the boat's engine seized. They tried fixing it, to no avail. Ralph even jumped in the water to see if he the prop was tangled on something. They finally ended up getting towed back to the dock. All was not lost, though, as Ralph said he enjoyed his time "on the water" and with the guys, even if they didn't do any fishing. I'd ask him for more details, but he's sound asleep in his big comfy chair :-)

Had a frustrating photo moment today. During the summer we get great flocks of swallows chasing mosquitos & gnats. They usually hunt about 20-30 feet above our backyard for 30-40 minutes at a time. A flock came by as I was sitting outside reading & began their usual acrobatics above the yard. I picked up the camera, set it to "movie," turned it on, zoomed in--and the entire flock flew away. They weren't even there for one full minute. Bunch of teases, the lot of them. . . . (thinks evil thoughts about birds).

This blue jay was far more cooperative. I got a total of eight shots of him, including a couple with another jay. I posted them all on flikr, neatly cropped & color-adjusted so I suggest you check out the pictures there. They came out better than I anticipated; the zoom on our camera is pretty darn good if I do say so myself, plus the severe cropping brings the bird into sharp focus.