Weekend Wrap-up

OK, so, since the weekends are the most interesting part of our lives, and our lives are very interesting, I'm sure everybody's wondering what went down in Rowley town this weekend.

Well, let me tell you!

Friday evening we were going to have steak! There was a big sale at Stater Bros the other day, and we have been living high on the hog ever since. Unfortunately, none of our meat was thawed when we got home. Instead of violating our steak with the defrost setting on the microwave, we decided to go for a walk. We walked all the way to the Panera near Biola, had dinner, and walked back. That took two hours! OK, so that's pretty interesting, right? It gets better. On the way home, we stopped at Fresh & Easy and got some ice cream and root beer. So we had root beer floats while we watched the new episode of The Office! Nice!

Saturday it was really hot. We went birding at Oak Canyon Nature Center. We saw 35 or 36 species or something in bright sun, high heat, and strong wind. Not the greatest conditions. Highlights included our FOS Western Tanager (earliest I think we've ever seen one), Ash-throated Flycatcher, Pacific-sloped Flycatcher, and Nashville Warbler (for the fabulous Libs). Um.. I'll do a species list... as I remember them. Biggest disappointment was that we didn't see any Oak Titmice. We both got our lifer Oak Titmouse there, and it's bizarre to completely miss them. Also, no Black Phoebes and only one Yellow-rumped Warbler. Huh?

1. American Crow
2. Bewick's Wren
3. Song Sparrow
4. Golden-crowned Sparrow
5. Spotted Towhee (lots)
6. California Towhee (lots)
7. California Thrasher (2 - 1 singing, a neat opportunity to watch and listen to one)
8. Black-headed Grosbeak (lots! singing, and mostly heard)
9. Common Raven
10. Western Scrub Jay
11. Wrentit (singing in a little bush, Libby picked him out)
12. Bushtit
13. Pacific-slope Flycatcher
14. Ash-throated Flycatcher
15. European Starling
16. Anna's Hummingbird
17. Allen's Hummingbird
18. House Finch
19. Lesser Goldfinch
20. Nuttall's Woodpecker (quite a few)
21. Mallard
22. Wood Duck
23. Yellow-rumped Warbler
24. Black-throated Gray Warbler
25. Wilson's Warbler
26. Nashville Warbler
27. Cooper's Hawk
28. Osprey (quick fly by)
29. California Quail (2, right by the trail, so cute - a nice little kid pointed them out to us)
30. Western Tanager
31. Great Egret
32. Great Blue Heron
33. Acorn Woodpecker
34. Northern Mockingbird
35. Mourning Dove

OK, so 35. We saw a lot more when we went there during the last week of April with Biola's ornithology class last year. We're really getting into the main season for migration in So Cal, now, so it's very exciting.

After birding, Libby did homework and I took a nap. Then she made an awesome pie, and I did some reading in The Idiot by Dostoevsky. Very good book. Very good pie. Then we went over to Mom and Dad's to eat the pie with them, as well as some yummy food that Mom made. And we looked at their pictures from New York. Which were very nice. Good times.

Sunday was church, of course. It was also 100 degrees. No joke! It said so on the internet. Still, after church (steak for lunch!) Libby cut my hair. And she did a good job, and learned a lot, and I'm happy with the results. After that, we went down to the park and played catch (in the 100 degrees) before taking a stroll around Creek Park. We weren't birding, but we did notice a panting Nuttall's Woodpecker and a migrant Black-throated Gray Warbler. That was fun, very relaxing to play catch. We stuck to the shade, but were extremely thirsty when we got home. Result? Water, pie, milk. Beautiful combination.

Then we did some reading. Libby's just finished Captains Courageous by Kipling, and started a new book she picked up courtesy Father David at church yesterday called The Dangerous Dutchman. I'll let her share about that. I kept plugging away at The Idiot. Did I mention it's a good book?

After that, we went to Dustin and Katie's (thanks for hosting!) where we got to meet the little Hagelberg. He was very cute, and we got to poke him (me) and hold him (Libby) and play a game with a hopping dog with him. Then he went to sleep, and Lem played with the fire for awhile while Luke told us stories from Pathfinder and the Flight of the Conchords. And we got to have some awesome chili and stuff. Very good food. And then we went to bed.

Wasn't that very interesting, just like I said it would be? Well, you're welcome!