Too cold to care, chicken hawk, winning, freight train
On Saturday we kept busy. Event though the cold weather stints we have had has stunted the growth of the grass I still wanted to make sure the yard was whacked and mowed since next weekend the Xmas lights will go up. Mowing once the extension cords are littering the yard is a pain in the ass. I got the weed whacking part done pretty early Saturday morning. We then headed out to run some errands.
I dropped off my pressure washer at Ali’s place so she could use it to blast the scuzz off her lanai. While I was there I also used a couple of my big masonry bits to pop three drainage holes in the corner of her deck where water accumulates. When I got home I did the same maneuver on my deck as I have a low corner that collects water as well.
On Saturday night we made plans to go see the new Hunger Games movie at the fancy Silverspot Theater. Afterwards we were going to meet up with several people from the group that were celebrating one of the girls 30th birthday. We hadn’t been to Silverspot in quite awhile. Since we see so many of our movies in the relaxed, sparsely occupied Coconut Point theater it was a bit annoying to be injected into a human bee hive of movie goers. Thank goodness Silverspot uses assigned seating since the theater was pretty much sold out.
I enjoyed the first two Hunger Games movies and I enjoyed this one as well however my attention was not totally on the movie. Instead I found myself distracted by the environmental conditions. It was like an ice box in the theater and to make matters worse our seats were positioned directly in the path of one of the vents, pushing 60 degree on air on top of us for most of the movie. Perhaps my perception of the movie suffered a bit from this cold distraction but I would rate the flick a B+, a good but not great film.
The movie didn’t start until 7:30. We figured by the time we got out the birthday group would have been done with their dinner that they had elsewhere and would have been well into imbibing at one of Mercato’s various establishments. I was surprised when Cindy got a text saying they were still at dinner when we got out of the theater around 9:30.
We decided to go find a bar to sit at and chill for awhile, figuring they would show up any minute. After 90 minutes and a few beers they still had not arrived. By that point both of us had drooping eyelids so we headed home. Drinking until the wee hours of the next morning just isn’t something that aligns with my likes or needs. It was interesting to be immersed in the Mercato environment for a period of time. There is lots of people watching to be done on those streets.
On Sunday morning we awoke to temperatures more appropriate to August than November. It was 72 degrees at 7AM. The humidity on my weather center was showing a dripping 90% as well. We had decided to do the 20 mile Dunkin Donuts bike ride, something we had not done in quite a long time. We did pretty well considering the long break since either of us did any pedaling, averaging 18mph for the ride. The negative was the road was wet for most of the first half of the ride, coating our bikes in road grime that Cindy washed off when we got home.
Cindy handled the tractor mowing portion of the lawn maintenance on Sunday afternoon. Before she did I went out and did a rig job on my tractor canopy. The canopy has seen some abuse. Both Cindy and I have inadvertently gotten the roof stuck on something as we passed by. When this happens the canopy flips backwards as there is a joint that allows it do so. However it has happened so often that the frame is now deformed. The deformation is to the point where the canopy would flip backwards just from the forces of a strong headwind.
I think the eventual outcome will be my having buy some replacement canopy frame parts but in the meantime I used my rigging talents. I drilled an additional hole by each joint and inserted a bolt through it which should prevent the top from from flipping backwards. This is a good and a bad thing. It means strong winds should no longer cause problems but the next time either of us hits something solid with the canopy it will destroy my rig job and the frame along with it.
The Eagles game was a pretty dominating win, even with two pretty bad interceptions by Mark Sanchez. It was another case of Jekyll and Hyde. Last week the defense looked utterly clueless against the Packers. Yesterday they were all over the Titans rookie QB, creating constant pressure. Really the game wasn’t as close as the 43-24 final score. I am excited for the Eagles to be playing on Thanksgiving against the Cowboys. I don’t remember them ever playing on Turkey Day in my lifetime.
Late in the day yesterday we went outside to put the chickens back in their coop. As is the case with most weekends when we are home, the chickens were out the majority of the day free ranging. As I went outside I spotted a gray hawk sitting stoically on my neighbors fence, facing my yard and the chickens that are in it. I pointed the hawk out to Cindy who of course was concerned as it would appear the bird was scouting out the situation. I pointed out to Cindy that the hawk was smaller than any of the chickens which I would think would dissuade it from attacking. Cindy still did not feel better about a flying predator being so near by.
When Cindy looked up the hawk online, it seemed to be a variety that is an actual “chicken hawk”. When Cindy read a description of how it attacks she was horrified that the hawks don’t need to be able to lift the chickens, they will simply try to kill it on the ground, even if the chicken is bigger than the hawk. There was some good moderately good news as Cindy also read that having feeders in your yard to attract smaller birds is one way to give the hawk smaller, easier targets but of course that still does not ensure the chickens safety.
I told Cindy that of course I don’t want to endanger the chickens but I told her I was sure that if the chickens were given a choice of being able to roam freely about the yard periodically versus being restricted to a life exclusively behind chicken wire they would choose freedom. The chickens mostly hang together when out in the yard which should be a further negative for the hawk and they always have access to the coop if they need to retreat.
For my part I will surely be scanning the property perimeter more for flying predators when the chickens are out and about. Of course the last thing I want is to put any of the chickens in harms way, I just feel like I need to balance that desire with allowing the chickens a better quality of life.
Last night Cindy and I watched Earth to Echo. I thought this movie was going to be really good, a modernized version of ET. Instead I found it be average at best with a story that was not great that didn’t really lead anywhere surprising or interesting. As a result it sadly only gathers a B rating from me.
This week is going to be incredibly overrun with items related to the Thanksgiving race the running club is hosting. Even with me doing a fraction of the advertising I did last year the race has swelled in numbers, right to the limit of what we can accommodate. We are already past the total amount of people we had at last years race with three full days of registration to go. Last year we got CRUSHED with registrations the last few days before the race so I won’t be surprised if we easily surpass 3000 total participants which would be the largest race that we have ever conducted. I am doing my part to try to streamline, inform and plan how to manage numbers of people this large. It’s going to be HUGE.