The Common Yellowthroat

Geothlypis trichas

This little bird has occupied my life the last few days. My sister-in-law, Marcia, told me it was a Common Yellowthroat warbler. Unconvinced, because the web photos I saw showed a little fluff of feathers with a black mask, I posted this bird to Google+ and got a mess of responses. But I now agree with Marcia because of this photographer and comments by other birders. This is an immature Common Yellowthroat. These photos were taken on a beautiful August morning when the cats and I were taking our daily walk.

The little bird followed and watched us closely.

I caught it flying to another perch.

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Good. Bad. Worse.

Good News! I have finally, finally finished unpacking! It only took about a year but I did it. I had another allergy attack from the mice detritus that John had to clean up because the fat, lazy cats couldn't be bothered to do their duty this autumn. But the allergies weren't as severe as the week long asthma problems I suffered from in the winter.

Bad News (But not for me.) There was a tiny snow squall this afternoon. It made me very happy and took my heart back to northern Vermont where snow squalls can happen any month of the year (that is not exaggerating) (the link is to my favorite Barton, Vermont snow photos). John began growling at it. Seriously growling. And I began singing. Quietly. No need to rub snow happiness in! You can't see the snow too well in the photo, but it was a pretty decent squall.

The Worst News. I may be a great baker and bread maker. But I'm still learning some of the rest. Like (above) frying pork chops. John ate the mess graciously and even told me it was great stuff. It looks disgusting, doesn't it? (And yes, I actually pick up a camera to photograph my disasters. It's better than crying, right?) So for those of you who cook and bake and your loves won't eat it (thank you for the recipe in the mail today, Marcia!), just be grateful that you are not feeding them this fried cholesterol.


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A Weekend in Old Saybrook, Connecticut

The Girls

On a weekend in September, John, Amy and I drove down to Old Saybrook, Connecticut to spend a weekend with Anna, Aaron, Aaron's family, Marcia and Suzi (Andrew and Dan couldn't make it this time.) The weather was good half of the time. The food was great and the company wonderful. Here are my girls: Daisy is Anna and Aaron's tiny dog. Anna is taking a picture of me taking a picture of her. And behind Anna, Amy is taking off her shoes to wade in the surf. It never got warm enough to go swimming. I'm posting sunset photos of this weekend on my Photo A Day blog. In the near future there will be birds, scenery, and sea life posted.

A Weekend in Old Saybrook Set

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Lost weekend

I've been working on the computer for two days now, just cleaning things up and playing around. Friday Camille and I went to Montpelier and went to two bookstores (Rivendell Bookstore and Bear Pond Books) and had lunch. I had the most wonderful strawberry shortbread cake. I can't forget it. We had a wonderful, quiet time. We took the wrong road out of Montpelier (Rt. 12 North) but found our way home very easily and made a trip over Stannard Mtn.

My car went to Taylor's Thursday night so that they could find the leak. And they did! The problem is that I don't have the car back yet and don't know when I will. As a result, I am missing my VAST class today. Did Taylor's forget to call? I called them late yesterday afternoon and Nick promised he would call when it was put back together again. I asked for snow tires but of course they don't have my size in stock. And of course it will be more than $300 this time.

So I promise myself to do my work at home today and stop playing on this machine! I will watch my DVDs, do my Sunday School, CCV, and VAST work, and read my new books and sleep. And answer my e-mails from Marcia and Gerri! It is so cold! Twenty-eight degrees now at 10:30 AM. I need a down comforter for these nights. But I need the septic system fixed, part of the roof fixed, and all of the garage doors fixed ($500 each). And two new computers and the wireless networking equipment for them. I always did require a lot. :-(

Anyway, I am supposed to go to Camille's for supper tonight and I don't even know how I will get there! I don't even know how, besides walking 3 miles, I will get my car!

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Hartford: Fastest Flush In New England

Hartford viewed from the Charter Oak Bridge

I found this 1998 article from the Hartford Courant in my files. I took the photo above when Marcia and I rode the bike trail over the bridge years ago.

Hartford: Fastest Flush In New England

by Jim Shea, Courant Staff Writer
The Hartford Courant, Friday, 3/20/98, B11

There is great temptation to relay the region's latest coup in terms of sophomoric cliche.

To say, for example, that we are flush with success, or bowled over, or we all have to go sometime.

But this would be immature. Why not just come right out and state the facts: People from the Hartford area go to the bathroom faster and less frequently than anybody else in New England.

According to a survey just released by Florida-based Ulrich Research Services, the average Hartford area resident makes an average of 5.1 trips to the bathroom during a 24-hour period, spending a total of 36.7 minutes.

In comparison, people in Portland, Maine, spend more time in the bathroom (46.2 minutes), and make more trips (7.2) than other New Englanders.

The other regions surveyed -- note the absence of talk about bringing up the rear -- were: Boston (39.4 minutes, 5.8 trips), Providence (42.5 minutes, 5.9 trips), and Burlington, VT (35.9 minutes, 5.7 trips).

In general terms for the region, the survey also found that women frequent the bathroom more than men (6.7 trips daily to 4.5) and spend about 15 minutes more per day.

The Ulrich report was commissioned by Linters Inc., a Seattle company, which is launching a new bathroom tissue made from cotton.

Nancy Ulrich, whose company did the 500-person, $10,000 survey, said one of the reasons for the differences between Hartford and Portland might be traced to setting.

"This is just a personal observation, but I think people in more urban areas have less opportunity and time to go," Ulrich said. "People in Hartford may spend more time commuting, have less time at home."

Deborah Cook, president of the Greater Portland Chamber of Commerce, offered another example for her community's superior go-to-it-ness.

"I don't know if there is a connection or not, but Maine has the highest number of reading groups in the country, " Cook said. "Of course, no one is sure which came first, the number of readers or the frequency of trips."

The research lends support to Cook's view.

According to the survey, more Portlandites (36 percent) said they read books in the bathroom than those from any of the other regions.

Overall, the preferred pastime publication by a wide margin was the magazine, followed by the newspaper.

Although Portland leads the region in the books-read-in-head category, Hartford was No. 1 in overall bathroom readers (40 percent).

Given the rate at which Hartford folks go about their business, this statistic might also suggest we are also New England's fastest readers.

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