Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Horoscope Humor

The newspaper carrier stuck a paper in our box yesterday afternoon, but since our subscription expired a couple months ago, we didn't notice it till today when we went to the mailbox to pick up the mail. Rick always like to read his horoscope and he came upstairs and said, "listen to my horoscope for today: You'd like to be gentle and kind, but at certain points of the day, you'll sense that what's most called for is the drill dergeant in you. You're right. The direct order from you starts business rolling."

I said, "you're making that up!" "No, really," he said throwing the paper at me. Now the background of this is that at work I call him "The Sheriff." He has a bunch of slackers working in receiving and on the loading dock for him, so he's constantly hounding those people to keep moving and get those trucks unloaded and production inventory received. He meets me for lunch and in about 23 minutes, he's gobbled all his food and is taking off to get back to work again (usually while looking at me and tapping his watch...) I'm glad I don't have to work for him because he IS a drill sergeant! However, the work gets done and usually with very few errors.

After I finished reading his horoscope, I read mine which was even funnier than Rick's: "At a very core level, everyone is strange. So stop trying to hide your feelings, and share them instead. You're likely to come up with a unique, artistic expression."

Isn't that a scream? How did that horoscope writer know I was strange?? At least I don't have to hide it anymore.

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Remember in yesterday's post I was complaining because I hadn't seen a Hairy Woodpecker to count in my FeederWatch tally? Well, look who just happened to show up this afternoon shortly after I got home from work.....


I've seen Mrs. Hairy a couple times in the yard this fall, but today I was fortunate enough to see Mr. Hairy at the suet feeder closest to the house, and he stayed around long enough for me to get several pretty good pictures. Woo-Hoo!


Isn't he a handsome fellow? His white feathers are so bright and clean looking--not at all like the poor, worn-out feathers they usually wear at the end of the summer after working hard to feed and care for their new family.

16 comments:

Jayne said...

LOL Ruthie... my hubby always reads his horoscope at the END of the day and always laughs about how very TRUE it always seems to be...lol. Love Mr. Hairy! Congrats!!

Anonymous said...

Funny about your horoscopes, they made me laugh.
Our hairy woodpeckers are here year round only more so in the fall and winter and early spring.
They love that log you gave us there is always activity there.
Suet plugs sure don't last very long, even the nuthatches eat out there.
MOM

RuthieJ said...

Hi Jayne,
I'm not a regular horoscope reader myself....it's kind of like the personal ads, I'll look at them occasionally for a laugh and I'm never disappointed!

Hi Mom,
I think I only have the 1 pair of Hairy's, so there must be someplace around the neighborhood they like better than my place (maybe over at Bradd's). I try to lure them with multiple suet feeders, but haven't seen my nuthatches eating suet yet (they still take peanuts from the seed feeders). I'm glad your birds are all liking the suet--maybe you need me to make you another log??

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I'm sure the Mr HW is quite glad that such a strange person took his picture.

Ruth said...

I have only seen one Hairy Woodpecker. The Downy Woodpeckers outnumber them greatly. Maybe I will get one to my feeder this winter...I hope.

Mary said...

Everyone is talking about woodpeckers except for me. LOL!

Love your photos, Ruthie, and CONGRATS! Another for your list. CHECK!

Meggie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Meggie said...

After reading your post, I had to look up the difference between a hairy and a downy. Now that I know, I'll have to be more observant at my feeder. I feel quite sure that most of the ones I see are downys...but I'll be sure to look for the larger bill. Great photos, Ruth! Are you using a blind?

Anonymous said...

Loved the titmouse pics on yesterdays post. I haven't seen any in my yard yet. Today when I came home for lunch, I left my car windows down just a bit. When I got in the car to go back to work, there was a little bird "turd" on my steering wheel! Now who do you suppose did that??? I laughed because I could just see some little chickadee sitting on my steering wheel and thinking, "now how do I get out of here?" No bird was in my car so he must have found his way out again.

Maud said...

Beautiful woodpecker! I like his look in the second picture.

Anonymous said...

how great and come to think about it, it has been a while since I have seen a hairy woodpecker! It's great seeing them at the feeders!

RuthieJ said...

Hi Lisa,
He was really concentrating on that suet and I was standing quite a ways back from the window so as not to scare him....

Hi Ruth,
Same here....I think my Downy to Hairy ratio is at least 3:1. A lot of times I hear them before I see them and as soon as they see me they fly away!

Hi Mary,
Here's a funny story from my WBU days....
Several of our customers always referred to them as 'peckers. Until I figured that out, it always kind of freaked me out when these little old ladies or gentlemen would come in and say, "I need some more of that stuff for my peckers."
OK, well I'm going to stop there, because this is a family blog!

Hi Meggie,
That's a good way to differentiate between Downy and Hairy....the Downy has a tiny beak and the Hairy has a beak as large as its head (that's what we always told the WBU customers with the same question).

Most of my pictures I take from the dining room window, so in a sense, I am in a blind--it's just really big and not portable.

Hi Sissy,
That's a funny story....if it was summertime, my money would be on the wren--inside your car looking for mealworms! You should experiment with leaving a dish of worms on the dashboard and see if that chickadee comes back again.

Hi Maud,
It was funny to watch him too....it was almost like he couldn't figure out if that suet was real or not. He was kind of apprehensive about approaching it, but now that he's found it, I hope he becomes a regular visitor.

Hi Mon@rch,
I guess I haven't read up on the Hairy's much. Do you know if their numbers are also declining? Do you ever catch any at your banding station?

Larry said...

Funny story! Usually they are less specific.-Hairy Woodpeckers are great birds.They're are much more distinct looking and than the Downies-and there's less of them-great job!

Marsha said...

That is a funny horoscope story! Thanks for the smile.

Yes, I agree that hairy is a handsome fellow. I've been trying to photograph one too but they are much more jittery than those almost tame little downies!

Anonymous said...

Every once in a while, those horoscopes are dead on, aren't they?

Re: the woodpecker: Ask and ye shall receive!

RuthieJ said...

Hi Larry,
I normally never read the horoscope, but maybe I should start--just for fun!
Those hairy woodpeckers are pretty striking looking. I'm glad I was able to get a picture to share.

Hi Marsha,
I felt pretty fortunate this Hairy Woodpecker stayed around long enough to get some pictures--they usually catch every little movement, even when I'm inside the house.

Hi Jennifer,
You're right about the horoscopes, it was pretty funny though.
I wonder how much time those Hairy Woodpeckers spend at my house during the day when I'm at work? Too bad I'm missing out on that.