Joy that a bluebird brings

05-11-2009

I was raised on country sunshine,

I'm happy with the simple things,

A Saturday night dance, a picture show and the joy that a bluebird brings...... Dottie West

I've watched the bluebirds out of my window from the time they were hatched until today when they left home. I started noticing them flapping their wings inside and knew they were getting ready to make their first flight. They have been nesting about twenty feet out of my back window and every day when I get home from work I'll set up and take their pictures. On this morning they started sticking their heads out and pushing then pulling back in. Finally the one on the top hole pushed and flew my way, made a left turn and was gone. The second one did the same and when it dove out it came my way and never made the turn. It flew right in my window, brushed my arm and landed on the floor beside me. I watched it a few seconds and turned my attention back to the other two as they each made their journey into the unknown. After the last two were gone I turned my attention back to number two bluebird that was still sitting in the same spot. I took a few photos of it, reached my hand under and scooped it up. I sat it on the window sill and as I reached for my camera it made a couple of short hops, chirped and away it went.

I felt like I had just witnessed a miracle to watch all four of these baby bluebirds make their first flight and I guess the number two bluebird will have some stories to tell of its own about its first flight.

Bruce and the skeeters

05-06-2009

This morning while out on the banks of the Satilla River taking pictures and fighting more "skeeters" I saw a man in a boat fishing around the bend. He came nearby and asked if I had any bug spray and I told him "yea, I think I've got the flavor they like!" He pulled his boat over and grabbed hold on a limb and asked who I was and I told him. "You are Bruce's buddy right?"

"Bruce who?"

"Bruce Davis, he's my nephew."

"Sure am."

I've known Bruce since the first grade but Sammy told me things I'd never known about him. When he was born he had an enlarged liver along with his blindness. The doctors told the parents if he lived until he was six months old to bring him back and they would see what they could do to help him. He rode a bike when he was young and about 1983 Sammy passed a car on a dirt road that was driving fairly slow and saw it was Bruce behind the wheel with his dad sitting next to him. He was determined not to let a little thing like being blind stop him from doing things. Now he is the Brantley County dispatcher for the road department and I don't think you can find many people that can give you better directions in this county and most anywhere else. He is also a great musician and when we get through with our conversation he will always say "see you later!"

This is one of the photos I got this morning while feeding the skeeters and one of Bruce awhile back when he was "showing" me a pretty place on the river.

Skeeters and leaving the nest

04-28-2009

The skeeters have been so bad lately. Yesterday when I was grilling pork chops one landed on the aluminum foil about the size of a small chicken. Probably could have flipped it a few times and had it for supper but instead flipped it into the coals. One co-worker said they were so bad where he was working that they buzzed around his neck and flipped his hood over his head. When moving locomotives the method of communication is hand signals and flashlight at night. Mitch and Derrick were making a move with Derrick receiving the signals. All of a sudden the light started going in directions that were just not right so he stopped to find out what all of that meant. Skeeters causing problems. The area where I work is called the drop pit (which is where we change the wheels and motors) and that is another place they seem to really love. Some of these stories may be stretching it a little but not much.

The bluebirds are raising in my backyard again and the parents are taking turns feeding and hauling off the waste of the little ones. I can see them flapping inside poking their heads out of the hole so I know they will be leaving the nest very soon. Graduation is just a few weeks away now so that is a lot like what us parents are soon to be experiencing. Young leaving the nest. These are a couple of my bluebird shots. The wing spreading one from a while back and the other is a new one.

wayne

Lead man & white egrets

04-16-2009
My first day on the new job at the railroad I was told by my co-workers I’d be the lead man. I thought that was kind of nice of them being the lead man job I’ve been around in other places was right there with a supervisor position. When we got over to the locomotive one of them handed me a small tray with tools on it and pointed at a small opening behind the wheels and above the electric motor and said “There are four wire leads up there that has to be disconnected.” Seems the “lead” man job has very little to do with supervising and more to do with low man on the totem pole. Paper coveralls are provided and you work your way up into this small opening as you twist and turn in the right direction, then unhook these heavy duty wires that are a few inches from your face. All the while the others are unbolting parts and saying “making noise” followed by the bam of a rather large hammer on the outside getting ready to change the wheel assembly. Everyone that works this job knows how aggravating it can be and give all the moral support they can.
“If you need anything just let us know.” “Take your time.” “Don’t let it whip you.” “You’re doing a fine job.” “This is why I bid off of this job the first time.” “All of them are not this bad.” "Hang in there."
When I finally finish and come out I look like a raccoon from wearing the safety glasses and dirt everywhere else. Sometimes I come back out with the coveralls still in tact and sometimes not.
Yesterday was my day off from the “lead man” job so I went bird hunting and found these white egrets nesting.
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New pet(s)

03-09-2009
A few days ago I saw an ad hanging on the bulletin board at work about Labrador retriever puppies with their website at www.stephenslabdepot.com. Being our long time pet bulldog Dagger was no longer with us I decided to ride over and check them out. Bonnie had already said she didn’t want another dog because it hurt so bad to lose a pet that we had raised from a little pup. After having a look-see I couldn’t resist picking one out. Then another. One is a totally white lab and the other is all black. She fell in love with them right off the bat and now it appears we are once again back in the pet business with these little rascals and I have me some new models to work with. We still are working on a name for them - Ace, Bandit, Noah, Moses & Max are some of the top ones so far.
wayne

Dagger - man

04-03-2009
A couple of days ago I said good-bye to a dear old friend. When we got him as a puppy he had a white mark on the back of his neck that resembled a dagger and was just six weeks old so the name stuck. He has always been the most gentle pet anyone could ever have even though he was a red-nosed pit bulldog. I’ve watched him pick up baby kittens in his mouth and clean them off like they were his own. My ducks would eat out of the same bowl while he was eating and I’ve watched him lay down and let small kids and babies crawl all over him. Dagger had his way of laying his head down on his front leg and just watching you with his eyes, raising up his ears and dropping them back down. Sometimes he would fall asleep laying flat on his back and spread out without a care in the world. He would howl when a train came by and had his way of almost talking to Bonnie when she would get home from work and I used him as my model on many occasions when I first started with my photography. He has been sick for awhile it finally got to the point where he was starting to suffer, we said our goodbyes and I had to put him down.
We are all going to miss you Dagger-man.

80 in a 35

04-01-2009
This morning I received a call from Bonnie. Kyle had been stopped by the Georgia State Patrol inside the city limits of Nahunta doing 80 in a 35 mph zone on the way to school. We’ve had about four inches of rain in the past twenty four hours, everything is wet and slick and he is seventeen years old! I was going down to pull him out of school and put a foot in his behind and tell him how wrong he was for doing this. After about five minutes of raising cane Bonnie calmly said “calm down it will be alright, we’ll handle it.” Another minute or two she let me go on about how it will not be alright and then “April fools…….. Bye” and hung up. She got me good. Apparently Kyle had just pulled it on her and she was so nice as to pass it on to me.

After my blood pressure settled down and I was coming back to the house I passed by a neighbors that had these flowers behind her mailbox that I really liked.