Red-Tailed Hawks in the Backyard

So I was lying in bed the first morning we were back from Seattle and kept hearing this bird outside crying like a kitten. At first I thought it was a kitten. Then I decided, "that's a really loud kitten." It was so close, and went on for like a half hour, that I finally got up and turned the blinds to find a red-tailed hawk sitting on the railing of the deck off our bedroom.

It was so beautiful and I just froze because I didn't want to scare it off. I backed away from the window and grabbed our camera, which luckily was in our bedroom. When I got back to the window, it was gone, but because I had heard it off and on so much that morning, I decided to pull the blinds up and sit and wait. Sure enough, in just a minute it was back.

I think it realized I was there and jumped from the railing to the nearby tree. My eyes were still blurry from having just woken up, so I had a hard time focusing the camera, but I did manage to get a few shots before it flew away. I came closer to the window and realized it had left its breakfast - some sort of bloody, furry lump - on our railing.

The next day the hawk was back. Only this time it had another hawk with him. They were hanging out in our backyard, mainly on the swing set, but sometimes just playing around in the yard, kind of chasing each other. One was larger than the other, and after I'd done some reading up, I realized the larger was a female, and most likely the mama to the other one. The smaller one kept spreading his wings slightly. At one point they both just lay down in the grass next to each other.

I don't really know anything about hawk behavior, but I'm guessing the mom was trying to teach her offspring to hunt.

I haven't seen the hawks behave the way they did that day, but they are still around. I hear them and see them all the time. They come swooping across our backyard into the trees. One day I saw three of them all on our swingset. Another day, I watched one of them shred a robin and eat him for lunch.

I really like wildlife stuff, (see post below with video from our Costa Rica honeymoon) so this has been very cool for me. I have the binoculars hanging in our kitchen, waiting for my next chance to catch a glimpse of them. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get any more photos, but I've borrowed Charles & Dawn's telephoto lens and I'm ready.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation - by Donna-Marie Rothnie

A long post, but with pictures!!



Mark, Gwennan and I took off for the great Northwest a few weeks ago to visit the fam. Most of Mark's siblings and his mom and stepdad (as well as Catri) live in the Seattle area, and we hadn't been up to see anyone in two years. Which means that most of them had not yet met Gwennan. So we took Gwennan on her first Big Trip - cross country, at that! - and she did amazingly well. Catri was finishing up her last coupla days of school and then she joined us for the rest of our stay, which meant we were with her on her 15th birthday. Happy Birthday, Catri!!

Our trip was broken up into three segments: the first with Mark's brother John and his family, the second with Mark's mom, Kathy, and her husband, Don (with whom we went to Whistler, BC), and the third with Mark's sister, Kristi and her family.

While we were staying at John & Shirley's house, Mark and I took a day and drove down to Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument. I was 10 years old and living in Atlanta when Mount Saint Helens blew in 1980, and I have vague memories of it being on the news, but when you're 10, you don't really get the significance of the big news stories of the day. Mark was 18/19 and living in Seattle and he remembers where he was, what he was doing, and he remembers hearing the "boom!"

Anyway, Mt Saint Helens was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Ever. It's been 27 years since it blew, and it's still quite an active volcano and the landscape around it is still surreal. Following are some images (click on them to make them bigger) ...

Mark and Gwennan on the Johnston Ridge trail.













The ridge and the observatory there are named after David Johnston, a volcanologist whose last words were "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!" just before he was incinerated by the blast. All the geologists, including himself, thought the mountain would blow vertically, but instead it blew laterally, killing over 50 people.

It was really overcast and rainy the day we were there, but it cleared enough to get this really cool shot:



















As you walk up to the observatory, you see dead, weathered trees, still lying where they were blown over:













It's just all pretty amazing when you consider that the landscape at Mt Saint Helens used to look more like this picture Mark took on a hike with his brother and nephews a few days later:













Anyhow, moving on to Whistler ...

Mom & Don have a time-share condo in Whistler, British Columbia, a ski resort in the Canadian mountains, about an hour east of Vancouver. We rented a second condo and went up for several days of mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, and other activities.

We went with Mom & Don,













Catri,













and Catri's cousin, Marta.













Note Catri's cool new haircut.

Here's Gwennan with her "I'm too cool for you" look.



















Whistler was really beautiful with mountains and lakes and streams and the occasional bear crossing the path THREE FEET IN FRONT OF YOU while you're biking around. But I have to say, I really got annoyed with how religious everyone was. Their religion, of course, being environmentalism. It gets shoved down your throat up there. Commercials on the tv urging everyone to help curb global warming by turning off lights. Gimme a break. You wanna curb global warming, talk to Corporate America and Corporate World about their tendency to build oil refineries and other various facilities in countries with lax environmental regulations just so they don't have to go to the expense of NOT polluting the environment. Don't nag me about my lights.

Sorry, I digress ...

Mark and I went kayaking one day on the "River of Golden Dreams". (Yes, that's really what they call it.) It's a small river that flows from Alta Lake to Green Lake, and although it wasn't white water by any means, it was a quick flowing river with lots of sharp turns. At first Mark and I kept getting forced into the bushes on the banks of the river, but finally we got a hang of it and navigated just fine.

Here we are about to start out:














We had to paddle to the end of Alta Lake to get to the river, and the water was placid and lovely.

























Here's Mark, looking all river-guideish.



















One day Mark and I went to the top of Whistler Mountain and went on a glacier hike. It had been really warm and sunny in Whistler for a few days, so the snow was mushy and we didn't need to wear crampons on our shoes, which disappointed me a little. Still, we had to rope in to our guide and each other to hike up the glacier.

Here's Mark and the rest of our group, consisting of a couple from England and a guy from Australia. Our guide was also Australian.



























This is the view once we got to the top. The rock formation in the distance is called Black Tusk, but I thought it should have been called Middle Finger.













And now moving on to the greater Seattle area once again. Chris and Kristi were kind enough to take a few days off and indulge our interest in Seattle's main tourist attractions.

We went to the Seattle Aquarium ...













where Gwennan got to touch starfish ...



















and I got my fill of the heebie-jeebies by looking at octopus. Those of you who know me are aware of my extreme dislike of the octopus. Nevertheless, I did take this picture:

















This one was only about as big as your fist. They had much, much larger ones, which we watched them feed. Uuuuhhhh. Gives me the shivers just thinking about it. Evidently there are large octopi all in Puget Sound. Kristi said she caught one while fishing with her dad and brothers when she was little.

Charles and Dawn, this one's for you:













They like to mock my octopus aversion.

After the aquarium, we went up to Pike Place Market. One of these days I'm going to spend an entire day at the Market, instead of just an hour. The place is such a feast for the senses, with lots of interesting characters around and some of the yummiest clam chowder I've ever eaten.






































The next day, we left Gwennan with her Aunt Kristi and Mark, Catri, and I went to Seattle Center (home to the Space Needle) to tour the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum. We ate lunch before we got there in a trendy little area of Seattle with lots of used record stores. We went to a couple of them and felt very cool hanging out, looking at CDs. It was all very Hi Fidelity. Except I couldn't escape the self-consciousness of being a mom and carrying my mom purse. I mean, I don't have any piercings anywhere other than my ears, you know? Nevertheless, I did make a CD purchase. Crosby Stills and Nash Greatest Hits. Plus a t-shirt with one of the stores' logo on it. There. NOW I'm cool.

Here are Catri and Mark, looking ultra-cool. The tilted angle of the shot makes them even cooler.



















And here's a nearby street sign I thought I'd share with you:



















Look at those school kids RUN!

The Experience Music Project's building was designed by Frank Gehry and is an interesting mish-mash of metal. From the sky it's supposed to resemble a mashed up guitar.

Here's a detail of it:




















I did not take this picture. Some other chick whose photographic prowess far exceeds my own took it. If you want to see more, go here.

They didn't allow photos in the Experience Music Project, and now that I think about it, they were probably verboten in the Science Fiction Museum as well, but that seems to have slipped my mind. The SFM was doing an exibit of costumes, mainly from Star Trek, Star Wars, and Blade Runner, with a few others thrown in. In touring this exibit, I totally geeked out.

Check out the Darth Vader costume:



















I was 7 years old when Star Wars came out, and Darth Vader totally spooked me. Those old spooked-out feelings came back when I stood in front of this costume. I totally expected him to extend his finger toward me and for my trachea to suddenly close up.

And check this out:















Luke Skywalker's severed hand. Cool.

Here are Mark and Catri outside the museum, standing amongst some art by the car park.



















That pretty much sums up our trip, I guess. We got to see and visit with all the family and do a bunch of cool stuff. Gwennan was pretty happy having the Catri around. She looks at her picture now and says, "Da-ti!" which sounds a lot like Daddy, but is slightly different. It makes me sad that G's not able to see Catri as often now, but I'm glad for the time she does get to see her. There's a real bond between the two of them, despite their 14 year age difference.

For Jessie

Jessie and Mark -
This is one of my fave videos from our honeymoon in Costa Rica. (Turn up your volume.)
Ditch the California idea. Go to Costa Rica.
Oh, and I asked Mark what he thought, and he says doing the California coast thing IS a really fun vaca, but for a honeymoon, he would still choose Costa Rica because it was more exciting and romantic.