Juncos are back nesting in our hanging basket

We are enjoying following the birth of this new life.  The Junco mom and pop are back in the same hanging flower basket where they made their home last year.

That's the good bird news.  On the sadder bird news, WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?  The hummers have left.  And we have seen only one pair of Goldfinches.  We have seen a few House Finches, but none of our other tropicals who usually are eating bird seed faster than we can fill the feeders by now.

The wet and cold have to be what's driving them away.

UPDATE AN HOUR LATER:  We just saw our first Evening Grosbeak, one of our very favorite birds.  Maybe he will bring the others!!!!!   We are so excited.

Junco babies:

Goldfinch that we hope gives us a good Yelp review:

And the Evening Grosbeak that we just now saw. See why we think it is so beautiful?

Not only that, but he brought his wife!  They are honeymooning here!

Vicky passes 10,000 cycling miles!

Since January1, of 2012, Vicky has now logged 10,000 miles on her $400 step-through "girls" bike.

Quite an accomplishment for someone who took up cycling in her 60s and for someone who has a titanium disk in her back that is a constant source of worry and discomfort.

Because of the limitations of her back, she needs a bike where she can step through it to mount instead of step over it.  Those used to be called "girls" bicycles because girls, being such dainty and frail creatures, looked clumsy and too "manly" lifting their legs over their bikes, especially since they were always wearing skirts.  (Can you believe that people used to think in this way?).

So it's no carbon fiber bike in her future--just the best step-through we could get.  And she ROCKS on it.  She loves her "girls" bike, and wouldn't trade it for anything. 

It also is pleasing to her that for these 10,000 miles we have done them all together, so the 10,000 mile mark was also a mark for us.

Here she is crossing that 10,000 mile mark.

Where are the hummers? and other birds?

Something very strange is happening, something that doesn't make us happy.

Our hummingbirds have, so to speak, flown the coup. 

They are gone, all of them. 

It happened while we were gone for a week.  We left plenty of food, as we always do, but came home to find the food hardly eaten.  Usually they stay until the first of July.

When we left the hummers were flitting around our feeders like they usually do--several of them bopping on and off of them, fighting for space, etc.

And now?  Nothing.  We've seen one in the past 10 days or so, probably an Annas, not one of the Rufous that had been here.

Where are they?  Has the weather been too cold and wet?  Is it something else?  Is it something we said? 

We also used to see our tropical birds by this time. We saw one (ONE) goldfinch 8 days ago.  And none since then.  All we see are the birds that stay here year round.

Does anyone know what is happening?  Is this something to be worried about?

It's a Small World, and a high-tech one: Our latest trip to Disney World

Vicky and I both went to Disneyland in the 1950s (not together, of course.....ha ha).  We remember it well.  It was so quaint.  We took horseback rides and stagecoach rides.  We went on the Jungle Cruise where the guide shot a fake Hippo and where there were fake headhunters and shrunken heads.  The train ride went past a homestead that had been raided by Indians, and out in front was a dead guy with an arrow in his back.  What felt fine then doesn't feel quite right now.  That's an improvement in our thinking, I believe. 

Even the ticket situation was quaint.  You bought a book of tickets, with a certain number of A rides, B rides, etc., up to E rides.  E rides were the best.  Before you could go on rides back then you actually had to do some on-the-spot planning.  I went to Disneyland again in the early 1960s, but don't remember much about that visit.

Fast forward to the early 1980s, a few years after Disney World opened.  I went there several times in the early 80s, and to Disneyland several times as well.  Disney World had two theme parks:  Magic Kingdom (which was almost identical to Disneyland) and Epcot Center (which never did have a coherent theme and still doesn't).

No longer did you use your ticket book.  Instead, you just paid an admission price, stood in lines, and did whatever you wanted and had time for.  You still had to plan your day on the day you arrived.  That seemed to work fine.

That was still the system in 1986 when we went again to Disney World.  That was the last time Emily had been there until this year---a 30-year hiatus. 

But in the early 2000s, when I went about five times in five years, a new system had been introduced:  Fastpass.  For certain rides you pulled a little slip of paper that allowed you, at a later time, to do the ride with little or no waiting.

That system worked even better, and the day was still planned on the day of your visit. 

But now the fastpass system requires an "app."  And a phone for the app.  An "app?"  For Fantasyland?  Is that why it is A Small World now?  Because of "apps?"

Instead of planning your day when you get to the park, like with the old fastpass system, now you can plan it 60 days ahead of time......if that's your idea of enjoying something like Disney World. The other hidden change with the new fastpass system is that it now is more parent-oriented than child-oriented.  Parents will determine, by using the "app," what the kids will do during a day several weeks into the future.  No more kids yelling:  "I want to do THIS ride."  The day is structured by parents more so than it was in the past. 

And as a result, the big difference between our visit here and our honeymoon here 5 1/2 years ago is the number of people who are walking around looking at little screens. And the fact that getting a fastpass so you can ride on the attraction you want may not be possible unless you stay at a Disney World resort (those people can get fastpasses 30 days before other people).  Now, isn't that cheesy?

Makes me long for the olden days of yore when you had a book of tickets with A rides, B rides, etc.

Aside from being old fogeys who want the world to stand still, Disney World was its usual awesome experience to share with Emily, Sean, and the two grandsons Soren and Sebastian.

Our first ride after arriving was It's a Small World.  It's our favorite ride.  It was introduced at the 1964 New York World's Fair, and brought to Disneyland (and subsequently Disney World) after the Fair closed.  In a way it is showing its age, but in another way it is timeless.




Our guess is that Sebastian's favorite park was the Magic Kingdom.  Some of the rides were geared more to his age.

Probably his favorite was the "Pirate Experience."  Can you believe this?

Soren's favorite was probably Hollywood Studios.  It had some exciting rides (including the Haunted Hotel which is awesome and which he went on twice).  This theme park has changed since we were there last.  It should be renamed Star Wars Studios.



 Our favorite theme park?  Probably Animal Kingdom, especially the Asia zoo.





 

We also like the World Showcase at Epcot.  I especially enjoy the Italian wine ride.  You don't need a Fastpass for it---just a VISA card.

 

Disney World is a tourist trap that is carefully designed to make you part with as much money as possible.  It has tacky gift shops, impossible crowds, and a seriously flawed Fastpass system.

We can't wait to go back. 

Florida Motels offer GREAT! service.

We went to Disneyworld with Emily, Sean, Soren, and Sebastian.  But first we spent two days in St. Petersburg.  They stayed at a 5 star hotel.  We stayed at a minus 2 star motel.  (the scary thing is that it was actually a chain!)

It's hard to describe.  On the one hand it sorta kinda appeared someone was fixing the place up, and it sorta kinda appeared as if someone had given up on it.  We first drove up to the "back" side (not really the back side, more like the side side.....or whatever), and saw a huge dumpster filled with old and very stained mattresses.  EWEEYYUUUU.

We drove around to the front to find the office locked.  At 4:30 p.m.  So we hung around for awhile, and finally a nice and energetic woman showed up.  There was trash all around, and old rolled-up carpets outside.  But, we thought, it's cheap!  And all we are going to do is sleep here.  And there's a Taco Bell and a McDonald's within walking distance....if you are brave enough to walk here.  And besides, we had made a reservation on one of those internet thingys.....and had already paid for it.  (plus, although there was a lot of trash around, there were several signs saying:  NO REFUNDS).

Oddly, there was a swimming pool which was very clean.  Not a leaf in it.  And for the three days and two nights we were there not a single person was in it.

Ok. The room.

We realize things are different now than when we were kids.  Or, even different than they were last December.

The room (which the nice woman said we would react to by saying "OMG!") was one where our reaction wasn't OMG, but was, instead, WTF?  The nice woman also asked us how much we had paid for the room.  Their computer wouldn't tell her.  So, the next morning I popped my head in to report the amount to the sullen young man who had replaced the nice woman.  He was totally interested. 

Here are some photos:

1.  The refrigerator.  It had last been defrosted when Johnson was President:



2.  You don't really need to assemble the channel changer before you use it do you?



3.  NO WIRE COAT HANGERS!!  (there were two of them)



 4.  The pictures above both beds were identical.  It had been decorated in the height of the ugly 1970s, and was frozen in time:




5.  But, who can complain?  A minus 2 star motel might not be clean, might not have a refrigerator that is clean, might have a dumpster full of stained mattresses right outside, might only have two wire coat hangers, but it does have this in the night-stand drawer:

We couldn't find a way to describe this on Yelp.  Ideas?

(OK.  next entry is about Disneyworld.  That was...um.....better).

Ping Pong when it's raining

Two years ago we bought a ping pong table.  We bought one of the better ones because we assumed it would spend a good deal of time in the garage, and we didn't want it to warp.

It spent about two weeks in the garage, and the rest of the time it has rested inside on our dance floor.  We play almost every day for at least 30 minutes. 

It's great exercise.  Not as aerobic as cycling or hiking (or dancing) but for flexibility and eye-hand coordination it is an excellent activity.

And we have improved.  A lot.  There is the old saying that you can't teach an old dogs new tricks.  But you can.  It just takes longer!

Here is our clip of our last ping pong match before we head out to the East to see grandchildren.  Vicky nailed it!