Birdies

The last batch of spring vacation pics has now been posted on my Kodak Gallery site. It was a great vacation. I would rate the cruise experience as a whole at 3 1/2 stars (out of a possible 5). The Zuiderdam sailed over 7,000 miles from Ft. Lauderdale to Vancouver. That's a lot of miles.

I had no problem amusing myself with 21 days on the ship. The only downside of a three week cruise is that the passengers are, on average, about 75 years old. Nightlife is not all that hotsie-totsie with the geezers. As an antidote, I heartily recommend getting to know the young theater crowd - you can find them in the disco after the second theater show. They party on the graveyard shift.

I will certainly cruise again; but have probably had enough of the Caribbean for the foreseeable future. I would not rule out a Baltic or Mediterranean cruise as early as next summer however. Down the road a bit, an Asian cruise would be fun too.

Meanwhile, time to think about this fall. I'm considering a New England leaf-peeping adventure and there's an interesting trans-Canada train trip that would take me from Vancouver to Toronto: www.canadiantrainvacations.com/home The damn choo-choo is way more expensive than a cruise; but it's something I've wanted to do for some time. Stay tuned...

First, of course, there's summer to enjoy here in the Great Land. And I will enjoy it - if the weather is as nice as it's been since I got back. I've been working outdoors almost every day. Thatched a number of yards. Emilie's place looks pretty damn good - if I do say so myself. And yesterday I hauled and stacked the second of what I expect will be eight or nine cords of wood.

This next week I will repair the fence at my folk's place and will make several garbage dump runs. And I need to plant more annuals at auntie's. And I'm looking forward to some hiking...

Day before yesterday I walked the airport dike trail. Took a bunch of birdie pictures - most of which were undistinguished. Except for the two below.

I believe this is a Yellow-Rumped Warbler.

Some sort of U.S. Navy spy plane

The navy bird is very mysterious. He shot a half-dozen touch-and-goes. Very odd. The only thing I could think of is that the Juneau terrain must resemble some other far-off place in which the U.S. Navy has an interest. Or maybe they were just out joyriding. Who can say?

Well...just googled U.S. Navy 707 and up came this on the E6-B Mercury, aka "Looking Glass."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-6_Mercury