Catch up is the only kind I play

Catch up is the only kind I play
Townsend solitaire

I’m sure everyone has felt this: the ship is sinking and you have to chuck things overboard to have a chance of surviving. That’s been my life the last few weeks, and blogging is the thing that went over the side.

Jan. 30-Feb. 6

I’m not sure how things got out of hand. On my calendar, this week, the only thing that shows up is a special dog training session. My birthday fell in this week, and I had a couple of friends over for birthday cake. But at first glance, I can’t figure out what broke. I think it was a combination of things. WSO website work has been intense, and my regular job has been busy. I think I just got to the end of this week and abandoned ship. Here are a few photos from my birthday cruise around Basket Slough to prove I did something.

Feb. 7-13

Now, I do know what happened this week. I went over to the Bend area (specifically Sisters) for a two-day WSO meeting. I went over Friday and then met the afternoon of Saturday and the morning of Sunday before returning home.

I decided to use the opportunity to work more on my 2022 goal of seeing the #1 birding spot in each Oregon county, and happily checked off Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Unfortunately, I forgot about the higher altitude, which tends to bother me, and by Saturday I was feeling “puny” (as my grandma used to say). This created a variety of issues, and I ended up calling in sick on Monday and half of Tuesday. Still, I did get a few nice bird shots.

Feb. 14-20

And really, that takes us to this week. As I mentioned, the first few days were rough, and then work. Yesterday I met up with my friend, Sandra Pearce, and we toured Sauvie Island for most of the day. I took about 200 reference shots, but my favorite is this short video of Sandhill cranes playing with a stick.

You may consider yourself caught up. Art has really not happened much, jettisoned in favor of various other issues. I have a short list of chores for today, then I hope to sit down for some painting. Those Sandhill cranes are calling!