TRIP TO DAD'S -- PART THREE

I know, I know, some of you are probably sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what happened to the Little Hab, since the last report was that he had just turned red before we left. Well, we took him on the trip with us along with the other three much smaller peppers from that same plant. I placed them all near a window and waited to see if they would all turn red. Since Little Hab was already red, I cut him up and ate him with my burrito that we had for supper one night. I know, it pained me to have to do that, but after all, that was his purpose in life.

The most unkind cut of all

Linda took a picture of me right after I ate a small piece of the pepper, just testing to see if it would be too hot for my burrito. Here was my reaction. I am pleased to report that he was not hot and actually had a bit of habanero flavor to him.

After Linda's sister and brother-in-law left on Wednesday for their vacation, we settled in to our job of taking care of dad. To tell you the truth, there wasn't a whole lot to do while looking after dad because he is still pretty much self-sufficient, even at 97 years old. He just amazes me with all he does. I sometimes felt worn out trying to keep up with him! I spent a lot of time hanging around the back deck, watching birds, which was perfectly fine with me. Dad has a wonderful, huge bird feeder that attracts all kinds of birds, so you know I was in heaven.

By the way, you may recognize some of these birds as the "mystery bird" from last week's blog. No one came forward with the name of this bird, but as promised, I will let you know right now. Although this bird is not native to Southern California, there was a quite sizeable flock of them at dad's house. They are commonly called Nutmeg Mannikins, also known as the Scaly-Breasted Munia or Spice Finch. From what I read, they are most likely the descendants of someone's pet birds who escaped in Orange County area in 1988. When I mentioned this to dad, he immediately got out his California state map so he could show me the area we were talking about.

Pinpointing the origin in the wild of the Nutmeg Mannikin

Dad just loves maps (so that's where Linda got it from!) and doesn't hesitate to bring one out at the drop of a hat! This little bird was the most frequent visitor to the bird feeder the entire time we were there. They are actually quite small, even smaller than a goldfinch.

These guys in the bird bath are an adult male and three juvenile males. You can just barely see the beginnings of their scaly feathers under their chins.

The other birds got their share of time spent in the bird bath as well. It was rather warm while we were there and I am sure that they welcomed the chance to take a bath and cool off a bit! They sure seemed happy!

I took a boatload of pictures and video. However, when I got back home I was dismayed to find that most of it was out of focus. My camera has been acting up for the past few months and it decided to really act up while we were at dad's. So I don't have nearly as many pictures and videos to share with you as I had planned. Still, I did get some good pictures in spite of the camera. Needless to say, Santa is going to fix that come Christmas. Anyway, this video below is of the Bottlebrush Hedge that separates dad's house from the road. It is as tall as his house and was in full bloom while we were there. The hummingbirds and bees were all over it, and the other birds liked to hide in among the branches. The sound of all those birds chirping was almost deafening!

One day I took a walk up the road a bit, looking for something to photograph. All of a sudden I heard this very loud chirping sound, and it was so loud I thought it was right in front of me. I kept looking around and couldn't find anything that was making the noise, until I happened to look about 25 feet away. There was the little rascal, sitting on top of a cactus plant. Although this video is a bit shaky, I decided to include it so you can hear the sound I heard.

Dad's house gives a great view of the town below and the ocean, when the weather is clear. You can even see the Channel Islands in the distance. I took a short walk up the road to a higher vantage point and took this picture below. You can see what appears to be hills off in the distance. That is the Channel Islands. I was shocked to learn that they are 22 miles offshore. It looks like they are only a couple of miles out.

Channel Islands in the distance

One of our duties while we were there was to help dad with watering the plants. Dad still gets out on the deck and mans the hose to water things. Linda assisted him with this task and between the two of them they managed to keep everything watered. It has been so dry in California the past few years that it is really a struggle to keep things alive. But there are some beautiful plants around his house.

Dad doing some watering

Lavender rose that is growing in a huge pot on the deck

Century Plant

Back view of dad's house

Orchid plant that is growing in dad's yard

Bird of Paradise flower

One thing we had promised dad was to bring him some fresh tomatoes from our garden. We managed to have a few ripe red ones to take with us when we left Yakima, as well as some green ones. We ate the red ones in the first few days that we were there, and fortunately the green ones eventually turned red as well.

Dad has been a member of the Lions Club since the early 70's, even serving as a District Governor during the mid 1980's. He continues to be very involved with the club, attending meetings whenever he can. While we were there he attended a meeting where they had their yearly picture taken.

I have covered the first week or so of our trip so I think this is a good stopping point. Don't worry, there are still plenty of pictures and videos to come so check back next week!

PARTING SHOT

This week's bird picture is of a Nutmeg Mannikin perched on top of a dead branch. I know, it's a poor substitute for the Summer Girl, but what can I say...you work with what you have.