I have been dealing with a new variation of annoying lower back pain which still seems to emanate from the SI joint area.  I have had a SI belt for quite awhile.  It’s worn low across the hips and has helped me deal with this sort of issue pretty well until recently.  The first time I recall having this new flavor of pain pop up was during the New York trip.  Every morning I would wake up and feel like I was stabbed in that area for a period of time.  As the day went on it normally would subside.  I had it in Roatan as well but I was hoping to write it off to not sleeping in my own bed.  Well it still is going on.

It has mutated a bit again where it almost feels like a tingling burn aka nerve pain. It can wake me up in the middle of the night if I am in a position that aggravates it. The pain still is worst in the morning but can rear it’s head randomly.  Yesterday I was at my desk and had a burn that was so uncomfortable I had to stand up and adjust my leg to make the sensation which was shooting down my side, go away.  Right now I am hoping that consistent use of the SI belt will help this fade away.  I’ve also been looking at some stretches to “pop” the joint to hopefully bring some relief.  I just feel like a dam that keeps springing little leaks, I only have so many fingers to plug them with.

I have been wanting to relate this story for quite awhile but the person involved wanted to make sure there was enough cool off time (statute of limitations) to ensure no further action was coming.  So these events happened somewhere between three and four years ago.  This person writes a blog where he talks about whatever comes to mind, it’s just a personal blog, nothing that resembles a commercial venture.

So this person out of the blue received a letter in the mail from some company that said it represented another company that provides stock images on the internet.  In the letter it had a screen grab of the blog post which had the image in question.  This image was something that was grabbed from a Google image search at one point.  Evidently the name of the file was not changed which is how the image was identified, more than likely.  So this letter indicated that this was an infringement of copyright and demanded a payment of $700 for it’s use.  There was a deadline of 30 days to make the payment or else “further action would be taken”.

Well of course this letter freaked the guy out.  Immediately he searched online regarding this scenario and found out that this shakedown has been going on for awhile, people getting popped for using images on their website that they grabbed online, not knowing of the potential issue.  This guy found a message forum where these threat letters were discussed.  The advice was generally that they were empty threats however in a few rare cases more action was taken.  There were also some people that just paid the money for peace of mind.  So this person made the decision to remove the image and the blog post that contained it and just sit tight.

Two more threatening letters came spaced a few months apart, each one asking for more money as penalty for ignoring the previous version.  Finally the letters stopped and my guy thought he was in the clear, he was wrong.  A few months later a letter came from a lawyers office stating that the claim was now turned over to them for legal action since the guy ignored the previous attempts for collection.  This time it was not just letters.  Emails started showing up and voicemails on his phone asking for him to respond.  This was getting serious and again the monetary ask was increasing, now more than double the original $700.

This new threat was aggravating and caused anxiety however the decision was made to continue the policy of persistent ignoring.  The originating email domain and phone numbers were blocked however a couple more letters did arrive, again threatening to escalate the stakes.  The gamble that a law firm was not going to spend money to locate and prosecute an individual that mistakenly used a copyrighted image in a non-commerical web site paid off.  Eventually the threatening letters stopped and the pursuit was presumably over.  Valuable lessons were learned of course, any images obtained from an internet search are no longer used in this person’s blog.  If there is something that he deems worthy it would be obtained by a screen grab and renamed randomly, making pursuit pointless.

It was a stressful scenario in this person’s life, reminiscent of when I was prosecuted by the national park service for a drone violation, via the internet.

On my lunch hour Friday I finally got to play some pickleball for the first time in quite awhile.  I played two singles matches against my buddy from the gym.  I won the first game pretty easily, the second game was much closer.  If he practices more I think he could be really good.  I had my Apple Watch on tracking my vitals.  At one point my heart rate got up to 174 bpm, which is high, very high.    Singles pickelball is a great workout and when teamed up with Florida mid-day heat and humidity, it can get extreme.  I followed up after work with my first Friday night road biking in forever, if I were to guess, probably June.  I was already a bit tired from pickleball but I turned in a decent ride all things considered.  It felt good to be back in a mode where I am once again pushing back on those walls that are constantly closing in on you as you grow older.

On Saturday I did the weeding at the more conventional Saturday morning time slot and hated it.  Despite it being early the heat and humidity had ramped up quickly.  It made me feel inclined to try to do this task during a weekday evening consistently when conditions are less oppressive.  I also got out and mowed the back half of the property again, despite just doing it two weeks prior.  When I did it then I had the deck at the highest height because the grass was tall.  This time I dropped it low to hopefully keep things down for a little longer.  During the session I got the tractor stuck in the rear ditch as I tried to mow across it.  Asking the neighbor for help was the last thing I felt like doing, who wants to admit defeat?  Instead I put the transmission in neutral and brute forced the tractor out by pulling on it from the rear like a mule. Fck hernias.

During the day Deb stopped by to get her outdoor bar set with her new boyfriend Bill.  It was the first time I met him.  They actually rented a small U-Haul for the pick up.  The set will be going to Bill’s place where Deb will be moving to shortly.  That set had been on my pool deck for at least a couple years, having it removed made the deck look even more sparse.  Oh well, I have other things to be concerned with.  I did get to utilize my pool for the second week in a row after mowing, it was so damn hot.

Saturday night I thought I would reward myself for the day of ass busting with a trip to Brooks.  I sat at the bar as usual.  I had a single Miller Lite, the first beer I have had since being on the island.  I just wasn’t feeling it and did not hang around long after finishing my food.

On Sunday Gladys had mentioned to me possibly meeting up with her to go for a ride at the Greenway. It would probably be the last opportunity I would have to see her in person for a long time however it did not work out, so instead I started mentally laying out a massive range test on one of my new wheels the EX20S.  This wheel weighs almost 110lbs and has a massive 3600WH battery.  Just to give you perspective a BIG battery when I first got started with EUC’s was 800WH.  I wanted to see just how far I could go on this wheel without recharging.

I knew this was going to take a long time so I got out on the road pretty early, right around 10:30.  I headed in the direction of Ave Maria.  Not only does this wheel have a big battery, it’s fast as well.  The fastest speed I recorded on the ride was over 38MPH.  On the way back from Ave Maria I had a scary moment where I looked at a nearby biker for a few moments.  In that split second I hit a large rock that was in the roadway dead on.  Thankfully the suspension on this wheel absorbed most of the impact.  If I had been on one of my wheels without suspension I have zero doubt I would have been launched onto the roadway and turned into one big piece of road rash since I was traveling around 30MPH at the time.

When I got back to the house I had amassed 34-35 miles but had only used around half of the battery so after eating a quick sandwich for lunch I was back on the wheel, this time headed for the Dunkin Donuts that is 10-11 miles away from me. During this leg of the ride the heat was really starting to get to me, it was uncomfortable, even with a 25 mph constant breeze hitting me.  I also was in physical discomfort from riding for so long, my feet were burning. As I got closer to the house I still had over 25% battery remaining so I needed to keep rolling.  I rode a few laps around the park and then headed across Immokalee Road to the swamp side to get more miles in.  In one last ditch effort for length I went up to the end of my road and back, another 4 miles.  When it was all said and done I had traveled an incredible 67 miles in somewhere between three and three and a half hours.   I was tired and overheated as you can imagine.  Even with all of that riding I still had 11% battery remaining, I could have likely gone another 5 miles or more. That distance is made more amazing by the speed I was maintaining, most of the time between 25-35MPH.  The video tells the tale.

The rest of Sunday was spent video editing and tending to little tasks that I have been putting off for no good reason. I would say that I am officially out of the grasp of lingering covid blah-ness.  I’m ready to resume engaging with life in a more meaningful and impactful way.

Last night I finally got around to washing and vacuuming out the Tesla, something I have been wanting to do since I got back from Roatan.  It had not been washed since I picked it up from getting repaired.  As I was washing off the crud I did a double take as I looked at the driver side rear wheel well.  Where is my mudguard?  Evidently somehow the mudguard was not reinstalled or lost on the driver side, it was still on the passenger side.  Well that’s annoying.

The other thing that annoyed me after the repair was it looked like the rear hatch glass had some sort of crap on it.  Imagine my surprise when even after washing the car I noticed the shit was still on the window when I looked out from the inside, wtf??  So what I realized is the junk was on the inside of the glass, they evidently forgot to clean it for some odd reason.  Maybe the kid that was in my car taking selfies when I picked it up was too busy to clean it thoroughly.

I called the body shop and let them know about the missing mudflap.  They asked me to send pictures which I did.  I also included a link to the mudflaps as they were purchased from a 3rd party.  I am not quite sure what their plan is for remediation but I will make sure it is followed up on.

Last night after I got done buzzing my hair I was getting ready to take a shower.  I look up at the bed and see Elsa all buried up by my pillows which does not normally happen.  She mostly sleeps on one of the two dog beds in the room or if she is on my bed she will be more towards the end of it sprawled out.

For whatever reason she wanted to be closer to me last night.  What is even more surprising was she stayed close to me all night.  I woke up a couple times as I felt her feet pushing off my side.  It was very cute.

I am wondering what qualifies as long haul covid.  I am now at 16 days since I first started feeling off.  My main remaining issue is coughing fits that sound worse than I feel.  I’m just going to keep pressing forward until I burn whatever is left out of my body.

This weekend I have chores in mind as is normally the case.  I also am getting a visit from Deb O and her boyfriend.  She is picking up the outdoor bar set she gave Cindy and I a couple years ago.  I guess she could use it once again since she is moving which is fine.  At some point I will invest in some outdoor furniture of my own if I find myself in a situation where there would be more than a party of one.   I would like to get a long ride on one of my new wheels at some point over the following two days.  I have these new toys and haven’t had hardly any “play” time for them.

Last night after work I made arrangements to meet up with Gladys’s sister Monique to do another walk at the Naples Greenway, which we did once before.  I haven’t hung with Monique in quite awhile, the last time being the end of June.  When I pulled up to the house to pick her up her mom and younger sister were just finishing a walk of their own, it was nice to see them as well.

There were a few stray pockets of rain hanging around so I was prepared to get a little wet.  Luckily we managed to avoid them.  We did the same walk as before which is right around two hours and is just shy of 5 miles, a solid distance to travel by foot whether running or walking.

Monique and I talked about a lot of stuff including my trips to New York and Roatan as well as her time in Roatan and mainland Honduras with her mom.  Just like the last time we did it, I enjoyed the walk and took several scenic shots as the sun was setting along the way.  It was a great way to spend a Wednesday evening.

Last night after work I decided to get the regular mowing done.  I had already weed whacked everything on Saturday so the timing made sense.  I have been enjoying a spell of manageable rain since I got back from my trip, there hasn’t been any prolonged deluges for a little while which I am a huge fan of.  Even with limited rain the grass is still growing quickly, it took me nearly two hours until I parked the tractor.  I utilized my brand new Eagles camo floppy sun hat which I am a huge fan of.  You could see it on a pickleball court as well soon.

Last night I watched the series finale of Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel that had a 6 year run.  I have enjoyed the series quite a bit, presumably because the same creative geniuses behind Breaking Bad were also running this production as well.  I thought the story telling and the way they tied the past and present together was very interesting.  I enjoyed the finale.  Breaking Bad is one of my all time favorite series, I felt this spin off did it justice.

I have the season/series finale of West World to take in as well.  For the last two years I figured the show was over and they managed to spin it into a different compelling direction, one of the advantages of having a plot based on self aware androids that can be reanimated countless times.

Somewhere around mid-day I realized that today was my 23 year anniversary at my job, a pretty big number.  I started on August 16th, 2000, scarcely two weeks after Ali and I moved to Florida.  I was the one that had no job secured (Ali did), but I was confident I had a resume and skill set that would be desirable to someone.  Luckily I was right.  I managed to step into a job that is amazingly low stress overall compared to most IT positions, regular hours, abundant paid holidays, and generous vacation time.  It also offered something I didn’t put much weight into way back then, a pension, something that is on the endangered species list for most employees in our country.  In another 7 years I will qualify to collect my full pension benefit.  Hell if I wanted I could stay even longer, racking up a big lump sum that I could collect if I stayed another few years.  However that is not the plan.

As long as my financial outlook is as healthy as I anticipate it being, I will be out the door as soon as I can.  7 years used to sound like a lot of time but now I know the reality is it will pass before I know it as time continues to accelerate with each passing year on the planet.  I look forward to that finish line and am anxious to see what life looks like for me at that point in time.  If I am still solo or manage to take on a trusted co-pilot by that time, all I know is it will be time to shift gears in so many ways.  I’ve spent a lifetime feeling responsible for a lot of different people, situations, and circumstances.  I’ve already started the mental transformation towards the next chapter.

At the gym today my lifting buddy was there. He and I have been hanging at various gyms together since 2001.  Although we talk whenever we are at the gym there is only one type of exercise we prefer to do together, chest.  So I did chest yesterday as I reported.  My chest was killing me from my layoff, it was very sore.  Despite this, I asked my buddy if he did chest yet this week.  He said no so I guess that meant I was doing chest again today, that’s how much I enjoy our bench press interactions, which surely number into the many hundreds over the last 21 years.  My ability to bench was pathetic because of the soreness I already had from doing it yesterday, I didn’t care.  I ground out the painful reps which at times felt like I was tearing my pecs, they were that sore.  My buddy only has around a year until he can retire, man I am going to miss our bench press hang out sessions.

During our workouts we always share whatever is going on in our lives. Today he shared some stories regarding domestic strife (he is married with a kid) which gave me some renewed appreciation for some of the things I DON’T have to deal with as a single man.  There are definitely some tangible benefits to being single.  I am curious if I will follow the path I have seen others shift to.  The path where once you are single long enough, the idea of being in a relationship becomes less and less appealing.

As I mentioned previously I have not been crossing my t’s and dotting my i’s like I would normally do for the last few months.  One of the things that has suffered as a result is my online 3D store.  I have had a number of items that have been out of stock for weeks and I just have not been paying attention to it.  In general, sales on the store in 2022 have continued to drop, a trend that started in 2021 after 3 years of growth.  There is much more competition in the space now.  So anyway I have again started making some parts and I was on the store last night cleaning some stuff up, including parts that are for older EUC’s that just don’t see use.  I also finally listed a new headlight protector I designed for the EX20S EUC I recently got.  I’m also working on a revised stand to support the extra high clearance of the KingSong S22.

I went to the gym for the first time in nearly two weeks yesterday.  It was chest day, normally my favorite workout of the week.  I did lower weights and less reps and still felt wiped out.  It’s to be expected after the layoff and covid hangover I have been slogging through.  Regardless it felt good to add another cog back into my machine of normalcy.

For all of last week the improvement in how I have been feeling has been on a very slow escalator upward.  I had already determined that regardless of my current state of wellness it was time to reengage with life.  On Friday when I got home I went out to get the weeding out of the way.  I have started to once again use the scuffle hoe as a big part of the process which for some reason I stopped doing awhile ago, which makes no sense.  It allows me to clear big areas of unwanted weeds without bending over or getting on my hands and knees, both desirable to avoid when possible.

I was feeling pooped afterward but I had to refocus my energy to finally do the live stream that I had postponed for a week due to being sick.  20 minutes before the 8:30 start time I was laying on the couch with my eyes closed.  I was able to get myself awake enough to get through the stream although it only ran for two hours, short for me.  As expected a number of people were very surprised when I pushed the huge box containing the KS22 into the field of view.  The reason for the surprise was at the beginning of July I did a video stating how I canceled my order for this wheel that I had been waiting for for almost a year.  However about a week after that happened a series of events lead to me getting one anyway, from a different source.

On Saturday Elsa and I did an errand run which included Trader Joe’s.  TJ is an excellent source for decent frozen meals for one so I loaded up.  When I got home my afternoon goal was to weed whack the property thoroughly, something that had not been done in awhile thanks to vacations and equipment issues.  This was my first run of the new Ryobi weed whacker.  It performed superbly throughout although it took FOREVER until I got through it all, over two hours of whacking.  It felt good to get it done. I even went in the pool afterwards, something I have not done the entire summer.  No I am not kidding.

Earlier in the week I had ideas about getting out to see Thor or maybe go sit at a bar Saturday night.  However by the time I was done with the marathon outdoor session all I wanted to do was veg out.  I caught up on some DVR/streaming content and then slept like a log Saturday night.

On Sunday I knocked out my bills which included paying one of the largest credit card bills I have ever had, if not the largest, thanks to the concentration of spending that has occurred over the last month or so.  A prolonged period of fiscal mindfulness will be required as a result.  I then had most of my day cleared out to go to Alison’s new place to help her with a number of things.  Shugs was out of town visiting his mom.

The first priority was looking into why her internet wasn’t working.  She has fiber coming into the house and then a Century Link wifi router connected to that.  Once I connected to the wifi network and got into the router UI I could see that it was not receiving an IP address on the WAN.  We called tech support but confirmed there is something going on that is going to require a line tech to come out.

Next I helped Ali bring in some larger items that were in the garage like the furniture and desk for her office.  We got it all in there and then I hooked up the PC equipment for her.  I then suggested I take a whack at hanging the monster 84 inch TV they bought on the wall.  This thing is a beast.  We tried to use great care in unboxing and moving it around.  Since I have hung several TV’s on walls I was relatively confident I could do this one as well, despite it’s dimensions.

After measuring more than once to determine center and an appropriate mounting height I worked on getting the bracket affixed to the wall.  When the house was built this area intentionally was fabricated with a large sheet of plywood behind it, making it convenient to wall mount onto.  The bracket we got was just barely big enough to accommodate the TV, every adjustment was maxed out.

I did everything myself except hoisting the 100lb plus set onto the wall.  For that I required Ali’s assistance, it was not an easy lift as it went pretty high on the wall.  On attempt one we bailed and then reset, putting the TV on the old TV stand to allow Ali to get more under it.  On the second attempt we were successful, getting the top hooks onto the bracket, whew.

Even though it was on the wall it wasn’t sitting evenly.  Trying to manipulate the bracket/mount with the TV on the wall was challenging.  Finally I found the culprit and the TV clicked into place assuredly.  Because of the lack of internet in the house there wasn’t much more set up that could be done but the hard part was finished, which Ali was very happy about.  She was feeling overwhelmed by the scope of work that was remaining.  The things we got done helped her feel better which I was happy about.

Ali had a special reward for me.  She went into her pantry but then backed towards me so I couldn’t see what she had.  I could hardly believe it when she revealed two boxes of grape Poptarts.

Grape was always my favorite flavor growing up however many years ago they stopped producing the flavor.  I distinctly recall looking at various grocery stores for it 10-15 years ago, while Ali and I were still married.  The reintroduction of my favorite flavor brought an instant smile to my face, almost as big as when Zima was brought back on a limited basis.  Hopefully it sticks around longer than Zima did.

Ali thanked me for all the help.  Elsa and I piled back in the truck although I had to leash her up to get  her out of there since there were some storms around.  The drive to and from Babcock Ranch is long, taking at least an hour, depending on traffic.

I got home about 5PM but I wanted to get at least a quick ride in on my new wheel to get a feel for it.  The skies looked menacing all around me but I targeted going to the nearby DD which is only 3 miles away.  I had a really good experience, adjusting to the feel of the wheel almost instantly, compared to the extreme awkwardness I felt on the EX20S a couple weeks prior.   Now that I am off the vacation circuit I should be able to focus some time on riding.

Sunday night I spent editing video, twice.  I had almost completely finished editing the footage when the software locked up, which can happen from time to time.  It isn’t a big deal because it auto-saves your progress every minute.  Normally once you restart the software it will ask if you want to reload from your last save point.  Well for some unknown reason there was no auto save file this time.  I was pisssssssed.  So I redid everything, pushing past 10PM to redo it.  Hopefully the end result was worth it.

I noticed on Friday when I saw the blog entry from last year, I talked about (in an indirect manner) the final conflict that wound up in my relationship with Cindy ending.  Seeing that entry and recalling the feelings surrounding that time period felt strange.  It’s hard to imagine that a year has passed already, a year that has been filled with many, many twists and turns which are still going on as far as I can see in the horizon. The path ahead is foggy with no clear outline.  It will be interesting to see what comes my way as time continues to march on.

YouTube has been pushing something called “Shorts” for a little while.  They are videos that are 15-60 seconds long, meant to compete in a TikTok/Instagram world where people’s attention spans are measured in seconds.  I haven’t made any as pretty much everything I do is long format, which previously was the only way to do significant monetization on the YouTube platform.  Well with Shorts I guess you are able to monetize better and ideally give people a doorway to longer format content.  Last night while I was crashed on the sofa I did my first short which promoted the live stream I finally plan to do tonight.  This live stream has been postponed for a week due to my covid crash.

I was then able to take the URL for the Short and embed it into an Instagram/FB story, just to see if I could.

Back when I was in upstate NY with my family Amazon Prime day occurred.  I grabbed an Apple Watch 7 during the event for what seemed like a good price.  It was supposed to arrive in a few days, it didn’t.  Instead I got delay email after delay email.  It only arrived a couple days ago and that was a saga in it’s own.  I received a notification on Monday evening that the package had arrived around 7:30PM.  Odd, I was home and didn’t recall hearing/seeing anything.  I looked by the front door, the normal drop spot, nothing there.  I expanded my search to in front of the garage door and even walked down to the mail box to look in there, there was no box to be found.

So when I looked at the details of the delivery notice I immediately became suspicious.  Normally it indicates where the package was left, ie. front door and is often accompanied by a picture.  The watch delivery said it was left at a “safe place”. WTF?  So now my spidey sense was tingling.  I pulled up my Ring camera history for the day and verified that no Amazon delivery occurred.  I started building a scenario in my head where the driver has simply stolen the package, the package I have been waiting weeks for.  Apple Watch’s are a pretty good snag right? I was not happy.

I got on Amazon chat and told the rep I was concerned the driver stole my package as it says it was left at a “safe place” when in reality nobody was even at the house. After several minutes he came back and said my package was actually back at the depot.  When I asked why it would say it was delivered if this was the case he didn’t have a good explanation but assured me they had it.  I expressed my concern about the driver posting inaccurate delivery information and how I had heard that driver package theft happens.   The watch did arrive the next day and to compensate for the aggravation Amazon threw a $20 gift card balance on my account which was nice.

I really like the new watch.  I had a series 3 previously.  The 7 has a much bigger face and some features I appreciated.  It has expanded health monitoring capabilities.  For example it can read your blood oxygen level or do an ECG.  With my cardiac testing of 2022 it’s nice to be able to have an ongoing record of some of these vital stats.  It also has a better screen that is visible all the time.  That was always an annoyance on my 3, it only woke up when it sensed you flipped your wrist to look at it.  Sometimes it just would not do so, requiring me to flick my wrist repeatedly until the screen would come up.  The screen on the 7 is also big enough(45mm) that I can do basic QWERTY typing on it instead of relying on gestures. It’s a worthwhile upgrade for geeks.

On the way home I stopped and picked up a new Ryobi weed whacker that I bought online from Home Depot.  I mentioned how the cheap whacker I bought at Walmart a couple years ago was not running well.  I was never a fan of the thing and bought it out of convenience.  The Ryobi equipment is higher quality and presumably should be less problematic.  Weed whacking is unfun enough without having to fight with the whacker on a regular basis. The older I have become the more value I place on the idea of getting what you pay for, across multiple scenarios.

This weekend I hope to keep crawling upward in how my overall wellness level feels.  I already am planning on putting the new whacker on it’s maiden run as well as working on getting a number of things as I feel they should be.  Sunday I hope to help Alison get some of the tech aspects of her new house up and rolling.  If the stars align next week it will be the start of me once again feeling normal where I am the weed whacker, clearing out whatever issues pop up in my path.

I don’t recall if I mentioned this on the blog or not.  Shortly before I left for Roatan another set of three baby mockingbirds hatched at the same spot as before, under the solar panels.  I assume it was a different mockingbird mom this time.  She just sort of cleaned up the existing nest instead of rebuilding it.  Before I left the three babies were very small, unfeathered and helpless.

When I returned one of the first things I did when I went into the chicken yard was check on the baby’s progress.  They had grown, had feathers but there was a problem, I only saw two of them.  The nest had become somewhat dislodged and was sitting at an odd angle, presumably from not being completely renovated.  Maybe it was excessive rain or  the weight of the baby birds that dislodged it but the end result was one baby was now gone.  I scoured the ground looking for it but had no luck, of course this made me sad.  A couple days later the damaged nest was once again empty, presumably the babies were able to fly away, a process which happens amazingly quick with mockingbirds.  Well at least two made it.

So yesterday I am out tending to Kathy.  I see she is in the old chicken tractor hanging out.  As I walked over to check on her I see something else on the ground.  As I got closer I could hardly believe it, it was the third baby mockingbird.  It traversed at least 75 feet to get to there it was and was smart enough to find a spot that gave some protection/shelter.  My initial thought was I needed to do something to ensure it’s survival.  I tried putting water nearby and some dried worms.  All that did it was scare it.  It sort of tries to fly on the ground very clumsily.

As I was standing there trying to imagine what I could possibly to do to help the little thing I heard it, the sound of the mockingbird mother.  I am quite familiar with the sound as anytime I was near the nest she would fly away but make sounds letting me know she was watching.  Well I heard her up in the oak tree right above me.  I am presuming she is still flying down and tending to her baby until it is strong enough to fly on it’s own. The baby is pooping and looks healthy enough so mom must be feeding him.  Ever since this discovery I do a baby check every time I am out there.  Finding out the third was not lost helped brighten a time period that could use a little light.  I look forward to the day where he is nowhere to be found, hanging with his siblings in the sky where he belongs.