Friday, June 11, 2010

last and signs

Back to the stream side...


Bernie trying to tempt fish...

He's as happy as can be.

But no fish are biting here either so we move on.

Jill: Wait a minute! Did you see that?

Bernie: We can't pull over on the freeway. I'll swing around to the other side of the lake (which is where this picture was taken.)

Could it be?

Sure looks like a bald eagle.

OK...I'm going to say it IS a bald eagle unless someone else has another idea.
Or a more powerful zoom on their camera.

(Well, actually it isn't. Bald eagles don't have white stomachs. Maybe it is a hawk?

Dad???

(Vicki at Wordsandcats identified it for me. It is an osprey! I can't wait to go back for another look and to see if I can video it fishing with its talons!)

On to yet another part of the river.

While Bernie is happily fishing here, I am back to looking for nests.
There's one....

There's another one.

I scan the tree tops.

Nothing here.

Hmmm...nope, nothing here....

Whole lotta o'nada.

wh00t!

I got it!!! I got a picture of a yellow warbler NEXT to it's nest!

Happy dance...happy dance...happy...oh wait.

(I look down and notice that my pant legs are ENTIRELY covered with enormous angry ants. By enormous I mean the ants are about a third of an inch long. And they are moving fast. I begin a new kind of dance: a shoeplattler, where I slap my feet and legs and every part of my body that I now realize has ants crawling and biting. My arms, my neck, and OH NO! The ants are up inside my pants!

Trying to get away from the ant's nest, I try climbing on rocks and fallen trees. It only takes a few moments to realize that where I am standing is in a huge field of ants. There is no escape to be found!

Still slapping and stomping, I race back to the car. Thankfully the doors are not locked. I put my backside into the front passenger seat, put my feet up on the dash and start rolling up my pant legs. Ants are all over my calves...and I suddenly realize that they are now past my thighs and inside my underwear!

Forget rolling up my pant legs! Lifting my hips up, I arch and pull down my pants to ankle level, mindful that the freeway is overhead and that there is another car parked about a block ahead of our car.

I scrunch down as low as possible in the car seat while I pull out the top of my underwear and begin picking ants out of, uh, let's just say "delicate spaces". I can feel ants crawling up my torso as well, but right now I just want kill those perverted ants.

It was at that point that Bernie came strolling back up to the car.

You are welcome to imagine him holding his fishing rod, wearing his fishing vest and hip boot, catching sight of me squirming with my pants around my ankles, shoes on the dashboard and me digging around in my undies with my tee shirt pushed up to just below my bra.

Oh yeah. What a sight. I really don't know what he thought I was doing, but he did manage to ask if I was OK.

I yelled that I had ants EVERYWHERE on me.

He advised me that I should be outside the car as otherwise the ants would get into the car.

Right. I'd be doing what I was doing on the side of the road. That would have stopped traffic for sure!

He suggested I could have stood between the open front and back door.

I suggested that I JUST WANTED THE ANTS OFF ME and didn't think of his idea.

Eventually I got the ants killed. My skin has been crawling with ant bites since Sunday afternoon.

Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh.)

As I continued to squirm and find random ant escapees, Bernie drove us home.
We did stop for a moment to get a picture of the pretty swallows.
Love those tail feathers!



I ain't no spring chicken...so we didn't stop.

We did go down Funny Avenue this trip.

Eventually this adventure will be shared between us as we take strolls down memory lane.

I love going down Memory Lane. Don't you?

Of course there are other folks who prefer to just walk down....

(Yes, there was a T at the end of that word. It is in the shade.)
And so that was the end of our Sunday afternoon adventure.
And that, my friends, is no bull!

9 comments:

Judy said...

Oh dear...your adventure had it's highs and lows...for sure. But the yellow warbler posing with it's nest is a wonderful shot...and so it came with a cost. I'd frame it!

As for the bald eagle...let's just say it doesn't look quite like it's cousins that hang out up here. By I have no label to suggest.

I'm smiling at the street names.

L&D said...

Ahahahahahahaaaaa. You had ants in your pants. And they tried to feel you up!!!!!!! Hee hee hee hee.

And that ain't no bald eagle. We have tons of them here (ok, perhaps tons is a slight exaggeration) but I've seen lots in my lifetime. No idea what the bird is, though. I bet the ants knew. Since you guys were all intimate, you should have thought to ask them.

Vicki said...

Oh, no! At least those weren't dadgum Texas fire ants! You could have tried jumping in the cold water to drown 'em!

Definitely not a bald eagle. It is a hawk...looks like an osprey. Do they travel to Utah?

Vicki said...

Yesssss! I'm right...here are two links for you: http://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/search/Display.asp?FlNm=pandhali
and especially pay attention to the opening sentence in this article:
http://connect2utah.com/roughin-it-story?nxd_id=33631

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

Vicki...you got it right! That second article mentions exactly where we were when we saw the osprey! I'm so excited; I saw a once endanged osprey!!!

ellen b. said...

Oh my I'm itching just reading this. Now that would be a worst nightmare for me. I'm glad you got them taken care of.

Lovella ♥ said...

oh jill. . you seriously crack me up. I know it must have been terrible but only you can tell it in a way that makes me think it had to be a bit of fun.
It reminded me of the old fellow who made his debut on american idol this year but his song was slightly diffrent but I could see him standing by the edge of your car singing . .ants in the pants ..ants in the pants. . .looking like a fool with your pants caught down. . oh yah ..

I strolled through the back field the other day and I saw the bald eagle you might have seen.

Vee said...

Good heavens! You certainly risked life and limb to get those terrific bird shots. (I love a warbler's song and fortunately have some kind of a warbler around to hear it...not yellow, though.) I hope that those ants weren't fire ants. (When we lived in Arizona, my daughter got into some. She was just a toddler then and we darned near lost her due to an allergic reaction and all the bites she got.) Your hubby is such a practical kind of guy now isn't he? Made me laugh!

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

I know it wasn't funny.....but I laughed so hard I was crying. I'm still laughing....