(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Street Prophets Friday: One More for the Birds [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-03-31 Last weekend was a cozy one. I was out in the country with Mrs the Werelynx and Fabulous Mother-In-Law. The weather was mad as a March hare. The strong winds blew broad bands of dark cloud overhead and it was anyone's guess at which form of water would fall. Mostly rain, to be honest, but there was sleet and some pea-sized hail in there. All kinds of things fell from the sky A sunny moment got me out to try to get some pictures of the crocuses I did manage to inspect and repair a couple of the birdhouses I’d built ages ago. All of them had fresh nests inside, each had some of Fabulous Mother-In-Law’s hair lining the nest. I'd given her a haircut a few weeks ago and tucked the clippings into a large bush in the yard. In the photo below you can see some of her gray woven into the moss and grasses— spotted with white bird droppings, of course, and something else ... I found lots of sunflower seeds in this one. I'd never heard of birds gathering and storing food. Biologist #2 Son informs me that it's not that uncommon a trait and that studies have shown that birds who make caches of food have brains that show greater object permanence. Makes sense, gotta remember where you've buried the goods. We'd been putting out sunflower seeds for the birds all winter. After I did my repairs, I closed the houses and hung them back up in their original places. While I was at it though, I made a new one. Old, unfinished spruce boards, a few nails, some wire around the hole to discourage bigger birds from expanding the hole to suit their needs, a slab of old vinyl flooring to cover the roof, and a length of wire to hang it from a branch. I now have four of these triangular houses around the yard. My favorite tenant, the Blue Tit. Things are usually a couple weeks behind up there in the northern foothills. I took a photo of our Forsythia: Maybe, almost a hint of yellow— not quite showing. Meanwhile, this week in Prague: In the background, bright yellow Forsythia bushes in full bloom. A neat little street, with some smaller houses. I took those last two photos while I was on my annual tax and insurance form drop-off run. I’ve got the Federal tax form, the Czech equivalent to Social Security form and a form for my health insurance to complete every year before the end of March. Then, with a bit of clever public transportation hopping, I can visit Fabulous Mother-In-Law on the other side of town and drop off all the forms on my way home. And because I was a good lad, I deserved a treat. For me, there are a few things I consider treats. Books, music, pistachio ice cream — and art supplies. A couple of my students had shown me sets of watercolor cakes, colored pencils and sketchbooks that they'd bought at a new store in a mall about a 20 minute walk from my apartment. I ended my long day of running around by stopping by the store and checking it out. A large sketchbook of acid-free, 130g paper, a set of 36 watercolors and a set of 10 cheap brushes for about $10 later and I was ready to put my feet up for awhile. This morning though, I got out my treats and played for a couple hours. My work in progress: The paper is too light weight for proper watercolor painting, but a gentle bit of wash here and there— sure. It takes ink quite well. The brushes have been remarkably good. Had one wobbly ferrule that needed a bit of a squeeze from a pair of pliers, but otherwise, the rounds can keep a point— what else do you need? I think dragons are my default drawing subject. Thanks for stopping by. This is an open thread. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/31/2161354/-Street-Prophets-Friday-One-More-for-the-Birds Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/