the owls

Remember this guy?

Last February I wrote about my discovery of the Great Horned Owls that were living in our palm trees. You can read about it here and here. (Click on the words "here" that are highlighted to read those posts). That particular owl was really photogenic and would sit and stare down at me while I had my camera pointing up at him. I figured out that there were a pair of them and hoped that maybe we would see some baby owls. We never did but they stuck around for quite a long time and "whoo'd" us to sleep at night. Sometimes they would get pretty noisy.

So, research says, they mate for life, but I am not sure if they come back to their same nesting trees. I'm not really sure if they even have a nest in our trees or if they just sit up there and hang out. I do know that when they get startled and fly off, if you are not ready for it they can scare the heck out of you. And, I also know that there are two back again this year. I don't know if they are the same two or not.

During the day, there is only one owl that is usually up in one set of trees. Just at dusk the other owl shows up and sits up in the other set of palm trees. I assume that the one that is there during the day is the female. She's not been as photogenic as those that I captured on my camera last year. In fact, she has been really frustrating me. Every time I hear her whooing, I sneak out with my camera. When I get just a wee bit close to the tree she takes off with a big flap of her giant wings. Then, later, I would hear both of them "talking" back and forth with each other. By then, it would be too dark to get any pictures.

If you have been following this blog you know that we have had our share of desert creatures visit our yard. It's creepy enough during the day, but the creep factor gets bumped up a notch at night. We hear the coyotes all the time and of course the owls. There was another squawking sound at night that we just couldn't figure out. Last winter, I could hear a faint owl hoot after I would hear the squawk. So I googled and found out that the squawk sound is actually the female and the hoot that follows is the male. They do this "talk" during mating season and also when the female has a nest of owl babies, or "kids", as they are called. She makes this noise to let the male know he needs to bring food. These two owls this year have been really "talking" it up like this every night.

So, since I hadn't been able to get any photos of this pair, I decided to try and get a night recording of them chatting back and forth. Besides, I wanted to make this owl post really thorough AND really long. For your listening pleasure, click on the black screened video below to hear these two call out to each other. The screen is black because it was at night.

Pretty cool isn't it?

Now, I was very determined to get a picture of this elusive female owl. So, the next time I heard her I went out with my little camera and put it on record. I thought maybe it would look less intrusive then my large lens pointing up at her. Up until this point I had not even gotten this close to the trees before she would fly off. I could hear her whooing up there, but I could not see where she was at. This next video is that moment when I was trying to at least catch her on tape if she again flew off right away.

Yep, she flew off pretty quickly, but as you heard...I was pretty happy to at least see her and where she was sitting. That "meeting" was enough, I guess, for her to be more comfortable with me being close to her. So, a couple days later I tried again. This time, with my big zoom lens in hand I snuck over to the tree. I knew right where to look and she stayed right there and let me snap a few pictures before she flew off. She wasn't going to look at me though, so I tried a little "talkin' " of my own.

"Whoooo".
"Whoooo. Oh hello owl".

It worked. She looked right at me and I snapped the picture. Then, off she flew. This gal is a real chatty one. Every day she is out there, so I decided to try to get another video of her chatting. But, every time I pushed record she would be really quiet. Patient and determined, I tried a new tactic. I decided it was time to "talk" to her again. Ahem. Don't laugh. Okay, you probably will.

Yes, that is me.

The Owl Whisperer.

Now, because you are interested. You've heard of owl pellets, right? Every day the owl eats some little yummy rodents, birds or rabbits. The stomach separates what can be digested into digested waste that comes out the... waste end. Then, all the undigestible stuff, like fur, feathers and bone gets regurgitated or "coughed" up in a pellet. And yes, it is evident that they are coughing up these pellets and dropping them down to our yard below. It seems that the male, if I am assuming which one is which correctly, coughs up more pellets than the female.

I thought you might like to see what one looks like. Some of the furry stuff had probably been "washed" away by the sprinklers. But, this way you can see what's inside. Yummy huh?

You're welcome.

Fondly,

The Owl Whisperer

note: special thanks to my daughter Rachel for teaching me some new tricks with this post. It wouldn't have happened without her help.

kaleidoscope part two

You knew it would happen. One post with pictures using our new kaleidoscope would just not be enough. And, I told you it was somewhat addicting... taking pictures through the tiny eye hole of our kaleidoscope we bought in Jerome.

One of our favorite things to photograph are the palm trees in the backyard. So, having not tired of taking pictures of them yet, and finding the fractured images that the kaleidoscope makes when pointed their way interesting, I say...why not more palm trees?

Here, at sunset, the before or without kaleidoscoping. I wonder if that is a word?Kaleidoscoping. I say sure, why not.

And after.

Just to mix it up a bit. Here is the kaleidoscoped image first. Can you guess?

Yep, it is the sunset reflecting in the pool.
No before here. Just straight up palm trees. Literally. Looking straight up at them.
And another with the pool. Doesn't it look like an island resort somewhere that you would love to escape to?
Problem is...there are those darn sharks again. Or are they whales?
Well, we can all dream of laying on a beach somewhere. No cold weather, no laundry to do, no worries. Hello? Anybody still with me here or are you all just daydreaming?

Ahhh.

musical instrument museum

Want to know what kind of guitar fits into this case? Keep reading and I'll tell you.

The MIM, as they call it, opened in Scottsdale recently. We went for a visit while my sister and brother-in-law were here. They say that there are 10,000 instruments, from all over the world, in the museum and... we saw them all. Do you want to know how long it takes to look at all 10,000 instruments? Four hours. We were exhausted after our four hour tour. They give you head sets to wear that are attached to a little unit you wear around your neck. As you come up to a display, it picks up a signal and plays an audio recording of the sound or music that the instrument makes. It was really pretty nifty. The funny thing was, all the people had these head sets on and would talk really loudly to each other because they couldn't hear themselves very well. There were a few gentle "shhh, you're talking kinda loud" reminders going on.

Even though I took pictures of all the different types of instruments, I'm just sharing a few of the guitars and other string instruments. We have a few stringed instruments in our house so they were of interest. Although, my favorite thing that I saw was not a string but a key instrument. It was an old player piano and also the machine that was used to make the paper rolls that went into them. They had a video showing the factory and assembly of the paper rolls. I found it to be very interesting.

So, on to the guitars. We were in this first room with a variety of guitars on display. There were a sampling of some from all countries, a bit of an overview of what we would be seeing later in the full museum.

There was a floor display in the middle that had a few guitars on stands. An original Les Paul guitar from the early 50's was one of them. It was one of the first 50 produced. My husband is a fan so he was pretty interested in it. Just as we were standing there a little boy came charging up to the display shouting "a guitar" as he shot right through the barrier and landed his hand right on it. The whole guitar started to teeter back and forth on its stand as his mother grabbed him and whisked him away. You can imagine the look and audible gasp that we all made as we watched that guitar slowly rocking until it settled itself back into place! I think Chuck lost a little color in his face. We didn't see the boy and his mother ever again as we toured the museum. She may have taken him home.

There were many interesting shapes and sizes. Including the one that fits into the mystery case in the first photo up there. Did you guess what kind of guitar goes in it?

Well the air guitar of course. I guess there really is such a thing. And here we thought people were just being funny!

Here are a few other interesting string instruments.
Lots of detail.
Really intricate detail.
This is just a small sampling of all the string instruments. We saw some unique pieces that people make out of discarded items like old oil cans and such to make a guitar or other instrument. People are pretty inventive when they don't have much to work with. Music really is a universal language.
If you are ever in the area and have a full afternoon open, I suggest visiting the museum. It was really fascinating to see all 10,000 instruments and hear the music that they make.

Remember when we were in Jerome and we spotted a young couple and I mentioned that we had seen them earlier in the week? Here is the guy. He had a "retro" outfit on and a little knitted pink hat. It was a little pig hat complete with snout and ears. They were a colorful couple and we were so surprised to see him as soon as we pulled into Jerome. We knew it was him because we was wearing the same funky jacket and hat! They looked like they might be residents of that eclectic little town.
It's monday. Why not play a little tune on your air guitar. It will make you happy!

kaleidoscope

One of our stops, while visiting Jerome last week, was to a really great shop called Nellie Blye. It was filled with kaleidoscopes and crystals and lots of sparkly things. We all had a really great time looking through all the different kaleidoscopes. The way they make light and colors fragment and form into new shapes, is really quite fascinating. They had really big ones to sit on a table and really tiny ones that you can wear on a necklace. We were captivated for quite some time.

As we were just about to end our tour of the shop one of the employees taught us a little trick. She said you can take your phone camera or digital camera and hold the lens up against the eyepiece of the kaleidoscope. Let it focus and snap a picture.

How cool is that?

And then we took some of each other. Rachel.
My sister Karen and myself.
Leah.
Rachel again.
And that is when the shop employee had us hooked. Both my sister and I had to purchase one to take home. And that is when the fun began.

Leah got creative and showed the kaleidoscope in her hand and what you can see through the tiny eye hole.
And then, this is what you see when you hold it close to the pink flower and snap another picture.
Here is another before picture.
And now through the kaleidoscope.
It is very addicting as you will see. This one is through Leah's window with one of her heart shaped crystals and the palm trees in the background.
You guessed it... piano keys.
Fruit bowl with apples and little clementines.
Chuck's painting of the other woman.
Part of an antique lamp.
The bottles on Leah's windowsill. There are paper flowers in the bottles...here they look like butterflies.
And some of our favorite shots... the palm trees.
Someone's very own little island. Look really close and it almost looks like sharks swimming in the "water".
And then the palm trees at sunset.
As you can see, we spent a lot of time playing with our new kaleidoscopes.
I suggest you pick up a kaleidoscope and take a peek.

You'll be glad you did.

Just be sure you have a little time on your hands, because you will have a hard time putting it down. Seriously.

note: photo credits again go to Leah, Rachel, my sister Karen and myself.

jerome

It's been a little quiet here on the blog this past week. My sister and brother-in-law were here visiting and we were a little busy...not keeping quiet. We explored some new things that we had not done before. One of which was taking a drive to Jerome. Interesting, eclectic and puzzling are a few words that come to mind to describe this town.

It is called "America's Most Vertical City" and "The largest Ghost Town in America". The name for the most vertical city is obvious as you wind your way into town. It is located at the top of Cleopatra Hill and was once known as the "wickedest town in the west". We can believe that.

Jerome was a copper mining camp once bringing in 3 million pounds of copper per month. At its peak, in the 1920's, the population was 15,000. Today it is just 450. From their web site they describe those 450 people as " artists, craft people, musicians, writers, hermits, bed & breakfast owners, museum caretakers, gift shop proprietors and fallen down building owners".

Four disastrous fires destroyed many large structures of the town in the early days. Most of it was re-built but there is evidence of some buildings that never were. The 30 degree incline of the mountain actually caused some buildings to slide down the slope. One of which was the jail that ended up on the opposite side of the road from where it originally stood. That fact made us wonder if it is really safe to live there.
There were stairs that were pretty steep taking you from one street level to the next. We only climbed them once.
In between buildings were alleyways that were pretty interesting. This one had a locked gate that said "enjoy our garden from here". The more you looked, the more you saw. There was a garden hose meandering it's way through all this stuff which gave you the impression that some watering is done, thus making us believe that it really was a "garden".
They say there is a "crib district" that was a street for the ladies of the night. I'm not sure if we actually saw that street or not, as it seemed that the whole town might have been in that "district".
It looks like at some point over the years they were ready to fight crime.
The streets were narrow and the buildings truly were built straight up. No room to even spread the electrical lines out a bit.
Some were a little more fancy than others.
This vintage bus either belongs to a musician, artist or the couple we saw earlier in the week at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Funny thing...we saw him this day too, walking around Jerome. I do have a picture of him that I should have put here. I'll show you it another time.
This may have been one of the burned out buildings, or something that just didn't survive over the years. But, add an old outhouse and a couple of toilets and people will throw their pennies down hoping to make a whole-in-one. Sure, it cost us a few cents!
Actually, the fencing around it made for a great photo.
We drove up to the area that is the ghost town. It is just up the hill from the main town. It was a cluster of old small shacks that we decided not to tour. We just stayed in the car and drove through. Mostly, there were hundreds of old cars, busses, trucks, tractors, and any other vehicle you can think of just sitting around. Ranging from really old to just old. We joked that they were all the vehicles of the people that parked and decided to get out of their cars and tour the ghost town. "You go in and you never get out". I'm glad we decided to keep driving!
Another old building along one of the main streets that didn't quite make it. Great for a photo though.
Even the manholes were worth a photo.
The whole town was interesting and we were fascinated by its buildings and general landscape. It is a place that we will visit again, perhaps taking in the museum and maybe even the ghost town tour.

If we do tour the ghost town... I hope we can get our car out of the parking lot!

note: photo credits go to Rachel, my sister Karen and myself.