Thursday 11th September 2008

I have been in a bit of a daze all day today, didnt sleep well last night which didnt help. I stayed near the phone and computer and got an update from my brother eventually at about 8pm their time 1pm our time. The Scan indicates that my Dad has Brain Cancer, they are not sure where it started from but it is very advanced and they are not going to try any treatments because there is little hope. I am devastated, he was always such a healthy fit man a great husband and a good father, he deserves better than this. I also feel guilty because I am not there then I feel that at least I will remember him as he was 7 years ago when I last saw him and not as he must be now. I will know more tomorrow, my brother has a meeting at 9am tomorrow morning with the doctors again (2am here) so I am dreading turning on my computer or receiving a phone call.

Fugazi, Mike, photogchic and CG thanks for your messages, your words are appreciated more than you can imagine. I feel so alone here separated from all of this by such a distance and dont really have anyone really close to me to endure this with other than Larry who never knew him.

(click on pics to enlarge)

I fiddled with my camera a bit today while in my daze and tried my 2x converter on mt 70-200 2.8 lens on my bird feeder. It was a bit dull and overcast but these are some that I came up with, above one of the few occasions that I have seen a hummingbird come to rest although they say that they do spend about 80% of their time perched, the rest eating, nectar for their fuel and insects for their survival.
The little hornets or wasps or whatever they are above, we call them yellow jackets and they always come out in droves during fruit season because they feed on the fallen and bruised fruit around the trees on the ground. These little guys are about half an inch long but they pack a huge punch if they sting you, very painful and lots of swelling, and they are very aggressive, they spent the whole day chasing all the birds away from the feeder, not just the nectar for the hummingbirds but from all the seed holders too. I hope they dissappear soon because they are a real pest.
I am not sure what this bird is, I have had a lot of them hanging around along with a woodpecker. At first I thought they might be Bluejays that had lost their colored feathers, but I am not sure.

That's all I have for you today guys, hope you all have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend, we might see some much needed rain at last so we are hoping that it happens. The ground is so dry that I can run the garden hose in the cracks and they never fill up, the water just dissappears so I know we will need a few inches at least to make any impact. ((((Hugs)))) and thanks again

Lori
xx