More bird pictures

Lloyd just got a new camera, and found a bunch of very cooperative cranes out on a back road. We've never gotten this close to them before.

These are the sandhill cranes, some of the biggest birds I've ever seen around here. Come to think of it, we have some of the biggest birds in North America around here. Let's see... The bald eagles are about 34", with an 80" wingspan. The golden eagles are about 35" and 84" wingspan. The tundra swans are 52" with a 65" wingspan, and the sandhill cranes are 44" with a 75" wingspan, and the blue herons are 46" and 73" wingspan. Those are some pretty impressive numbers! I do find it interesting that the much longer-bodied birds have much shorter wingspans than the raptors do. The books I'm looking at don't give weights though. I'm curious about strange things. But, we have seen more birds this year than last year, especially these big guys, so it's fascinating to me.

Meanwhile, day one of recovery from treatment is going fairly well. I'm in my usual position on the couch letting my mind rot with the Food Network. I'm very cold, so I have a robe and lots of blankets going on. Cold--yeah, it figures, I'm done with treatment, and it snowed last night in Paradise after I left. Ah well. I'm happier not going up there, even if it is gorgeous and snowy now.

Phsyically, I'm really feeling like crap today. I finally had a minor crying fit, but not enough to qualify as a full breakdown, and instead of giving some sort of cathartic release, all I got out of the deal was a really horrible headache and a case of the all-over shakes. Oh well...it is what it is. I'm still being destroyed by diarrhea, so I'm on a liquid diet today, hoping to give my poor bowels enough of a rest that things will calm down in there before I end up hospitalized or something. Tearing up and *nearly* crying every time I hit the bathroom is bad enough, thanks. Otherwise, I am exceptionally weak and exhausted, so I am doing nothing more strenous than this. Oh, I did hang up some clothes in the closet today as a form of exercise. That was my physical exertion for the day. I made a smallish clearing on the cedar chest in the closet.

Tiny victories. That's enough for now.