Aerie Report, October 19, 2011

Stepping out on the deck yesterday morning I spied two large does bedding down on the trail about 40-50 yards from the house. The wind was in my favor and they didn't seem to mind the sounds of the sliding door opening and closing or my being on the deck. We watched each other for over half an hour before I got bored. Ten minutes after I came in side, they disappeared.

I noticed a lot of little birds flitting through the trees and assume they are migrants heading south. Some may be Gold Finches but in their winter plumage, they are terribly olive drab in appearance. They all disappeared later in the day as if they had places to go and things to do off to the south.

I then went out and ran some errands.

My first stop was at the orthopedist's up in Corning to report in on my progress post surgery and get some answers about my arthritic knees. The knees are doing as well as can be expected considering the lack of cushioning cartilage. Ms. Ryan, the PA (physician's assistant) to whom I report, is a personable young woman who provided plenty of information as to what I can expect in the coming years. She is the one who would be giving me cortisone shots (insurers want patients to go that route first because it's cheaper, she says) and, if they should fail to provide relief, Synvisc shots (much more expensive but more effective, she says). She seems somewhat disconcertingly enthusiastic about administering shots but is willing to hold off until they become necessary (it's just a matter of time, she says). Good thing she's so easy to talk to--and cute as well--or she might be scary.

Anyway, Ms. Ryan did answer all my questions, including under what circumstances I should be calling her again to get those shots. (Short answer: When the pain--and there will be pain--won't go away after taking some Tylenol for a day or two.) Knowing how I will likely push myself (the Bolt Hole roof still needs to be finished and firewood needs cutting, splitting and hauling), I expect I'll be calling her sometime in the next year or two.

BTW As usual when visiting a doctors office they take your vitals. BP reading: 111 over 81 with a pulse of 51.

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My next stop was at the propane supplier to find out when I could expect my next delivery. If you remember, I had to call them several times at the end of last winter to get them to come up because we were running low on fuel and their new method of determining delivery dates was still being tweaked. The gall at the desk told me that the delivery ticket would be printed the last week in October (That's next week? Time does indeed fly!) and we should get delivery no later than the end of the first week in November. As long as we don't have a hard frost yet, that's an acceptable time frame since we've just recently gone below 20% on the tank's gauge. I'm not looking forward to that bill.

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Then I went next door to Agway. I picked up a nice sized pumpkin for the front steps to go along with the mum that Terry purchased last week. It's not Halloween/Autumn if you don't have mums and pumpkins on your steps...even if no one ever visits.

I also asked about the price of black oil sunflower seeds. Talk about sticker shock! Last year we paid in the neighborhood of $16-17 for a 40 pound bag. This year seed is up to $27-28 for the same size bag. Ouch! The clerk said, being Tuesday, there was a 10% discount. Oh well, it's only money.

Last year we went through 10 bags of seed (plus about 50 pounds of thistle and many, many blocks of suet) and I was of a mind to purchase that amount but needed to check with Terry and clear out a space in the garage to stack the bags. After doing both, I went back and picked up my 10 bags of sunflower seeds. Now I've just got to get the feeders cleaned up/built and I'm ready to go.

We get too much entertainment from watching the birds, squirrels and chipmunks NOT to put feed out. And the bears that occasionally visit make life...interesting.

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This morning we're back to overcast and cloudy with a bit of mist in the air. The forecast had been for rain overnight and through much of the day--up to an inch according to AccuHunch--but, so far, that's been incorrect.

Never got above 60 degrees yesterday and probably won't today either. yesterday, Terry slow cooked some ribs in the oven and then baked brownies for a church function today. That helped keep the house warm. Today we'll be burning up some of that propane we still have since the sun's not likely to make an appearance.

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We've an Tiadaghton Audubon Society meeting tonight. Two of our club members went on a river cruise in Peru last winter and they will be reporting on that. Should be interesting.