“B”- This morning, as usual, I took Emma on her first outs, and then settled in to read blogs as I had my breakfast. Most days when I go to my ‘dashboard’ on Blogger, I have a little trouble. For some reason, the list of the blogs I follow doesn’t appear, and I get a message that I don’t follow any blogs. Instead I get some blogger update. Today it was about monetizing my blog. Usually if I refresh the screen, the blogs show up, but today I refreshed it 15 times to no avail. What a pain. I don’t understand this glitch or know what to do about it. Anyone else have this problem?
White-faced Ibis
“C”- Yesterday, I participated in the Christmas Bird Count on the refuge. The predicted fog didn’t happen, but the skies were overcast with a few sprinkles along the way. For the sections I had to count the birds on, it was a busy time. I had a helper with me that did the recording, and we ended up seeing around 10,000 birds. For many years, thousands of volunteers across the Americas have gone out on a scheduled day around Christmas to count all birds found in designated circles that are 15 miles in diameter. Some folks get really competitive about this count, but I just enjoy being out and about and don’t spend much time trying to find rarities. I think the numbers of expected species are more important for this ongoing study. It seems to me that if there were a drastic cut in a species that has been normal, it would be a better indicator of a problem than having some rare species show up. That’s just my opinion of course.
Great Egret
“S”- is for shoulder. I’ve been having some trouble with my right shoulder for about six months now. Last Monday, I called for an appointment with a recommended orthopedic doctor in Baytown, TX. That appointment will happen in a few days. I’m hoping just a cortisone shot and some physical therapy will do the trick, and I’ll soon be pain free and have full use of my right arm. In the back of my mind lingers my problems with my hip that resulted in surgery last year. It seems the right side of my body is rejecting me for some reason. I just hope I don’t have to put out an emergency call to Nurse Ratchet once again.
Three gator babies sunning with their mom.
“H”- Tomorrow and Sunday I’ll be working the hunter check station with Kay. Donna Cave had a suggestion to put Vick’s Vapor Rub under my nose to combat the rank odor that occurs when the gizzard is removed from the mottled ducks. That sounds good to me. I don’t have any Vick’s, but I do have ‘Mentholatum’ and that should work about as well I’m thinking. I do want to remind you that I have declined actually doing the gizzard removal, but I’m right there handling the paper work that goes with each bird. Kay has no problem taking out the gizzard as she was raised on a farm and is used to slaughtering many chickens. 
Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later, Judy
Posts
Judy, I have that same issue with Blogger. It does it to me all the time, I have to refresh several times before all my blogs appear.
ReplyDeleteNo Christmas bird count for us this year :-( .... I totally agree with you that the numbers mean more than a rare find.... at least from a management point of view. I believe only a mother could love those baby alligators ;-)
ReplyDeleteLove the gator pic. I have the same issue with dashboard. It's frustrating as lots of days I want to get my blog reading in early if I have other things to do. As you said, usually it's just a matter of going out and coming back in to dashboard, but occasionally it goes on for longer. It's a real drag.
ReplyDeleteThere seem to be several little glitch things with blogger. Now I've found that if I use the 'add caption' feature when I insert an image, it screws up all the spacing and photo placement. Drats! I'm still working on how to change the font; I have a Mac and I've not had luck with the standard instructions.
I would also be avoiding that gizzard removal thing. Ewwww. Even though I lived on my own farm for a time, I didn't kill the chickens. They were my buddies. I have had that happen with blog dashboard as well, just randomly, but never had to reload 15 times. Sometimes I just go to either my own blog for links, or to Feedly which seems to work ok both on my computer and on my ipad. But on the iPad it is really a pain to comment, so there, with Feedly, I just read. Kinda sad, but it does keep me up to date on how folks are doing. Merry Christmas to you, Judy, and wishing a happy shoulder for you soon!
ReplyDeleteI also have the google issue. Annoying...
ReplyDeleteGuess I'm not the only one having strange goings on with my 'Fellow Bloggers' list by the sounds of it. Sometimes it will not add a new blog & other times it has been known to drop blogs for no reason.. Wonder if it's a Blogger problem or a Google problem.........
ReplyDeleteThat no blogs thing happens all the time to me and I hate it. Sure wish they'd fix that problem. Good luck with your shoulder. We do start falling apart as we get older don't we. I think those baby alligators are kind of cute.
ReplyDeleteNice sighting of the momma and her 3 babies.
ReplyDeleteGator babies! Not something one's sees very often.
ReplyDeleteI always just go straight to my home page and I've never had that problem. The only time I go to my 'dashboard' is to write or edit a post. .
Love the baby gators with their mom. Let us know if the mentholatum works.
ReplyDeleteWith all your experience, I was thinking you were practically a survivalist! When I was a kid, we use to sell turkeys to the "city" folks who would come and pick their turkey. Some of them would opt for the whole experience including selecting the bird and watching as we prepared it for them to take home. I was always a bit amazed when some of the families would start screaming as a group as I removed the head. My father would laugh and say they apparently thought the turkey some how just arrived at the grocery store:)
ReplyDeleteCoroners and assistants who do autopsies use Vick's Vaporub or other strong smelling ointment under the nose to disguise the odor that comes with that territory. It certainly should work for your Gizzard Removal!!
ReplyDeleteIf you don't want to put the Vapor Rub on your skin under your nose, a paper mask can be used with the rub on it, or my favorite, liquid vanilla or peppermint soaked on the mask.
ReplyDeleteI share your problems with Google! I think back to a few years ago when somebodies hijacked my blog and I couldn't get in or out with it. Not one of the Google people had any idea of what to do about it. Yet now they go on and on with their monetizing or how to "grow" your blog, same thing over and over. I get tired of it!
ReplyDeleteJo in Frigid Minniesnowda
You can add me to the dashboard problem.
ReplyDeleteWe are still in Alabama, in the north west corner, not far from Tupelo, MS. There is a bird "walk" here. John and I are wondering if we would see any interesting birds here...this time of the year? Do you have any idea?
Blogger just does what it wants and has a mind of it's own. I have most of the blogs I read bookmarked. I noticed that a blog I used to read call Georgia Farm Woman has been taken over by someone foreign..I think hackers are part of the problem as that shows up in my reader quite often. I have tried to unfollow a blog or two but that is near impossible.
ReplyDeleteIt was -22 this morning..it warms up and snows..fun here in Minnesnowda:)
Another thought...I hurt my shoulder years ago, got bursitis and got a Steroid shot and did the huge rubber band thing and PT..I still use those exercises from time to time to keep my shoulder strong. Nothing worse than an ouchy shoulder. I hope you can get some relief:)
ReplyDeleteOh dear to the shoulder. That's a long time for it not to go away. I am amazed at all the physical problems that seem to show up out of nowhere.
ReplyDeleteI wondered when I hadn't seen any comments from you in a couple of days. I can only sigh about blogger. I too always check my bloglist from my own blog page. I have found sometimes I can see things using chrome or foxfire that are gone in IE. Hope your list mysteriously reappears soon.
Good luck with the shoulder, being without your right arm if you had to have surgery would be tough, it would necessitate a call to Nurse Ratchet!! I suffered with the same thing several years ago and after two cortisone injections, my massage therapist finally cured it!
ReplyDeleteI use to do Christmas counts but after dealing with too many anal and competitive birders I reluctantly quit going to them...
ReplyDeleteI had the same problems getting to the blogs that I read when I used dashboard. Today all is back to normal. Go figure!!! I sincerely hope your shoulder is nothing serious, you don't need another visit from Nurse Ratchet!!
ReplyDeleteLet me know how that nose stuff works..Den has been struggling with getting Skype up and worki g since getting our new computer...Thank God for Rick, our techno-wizard!!!Been bothering him waaay too much..He is so nice to help and the Blogosphere is lucky to have him in our loop!!
ReplyDeleteI get the same issue with the blogger reading list. I haven't really checked into it to see why it's doing that. I suspect it has something to do with Google abandoning Google Reader a few months ago. I also suspect some kind of change is in the wind as these types of issues arise during new development.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the gizzards - ugh!
I grew up on a farm and still buy my chickens at the IGA :) Or HEB or Kroger...you get the gist. My grandmother raised chickens and I always made sure I was somewhere else at butchering time. The smell was more than I could take. The Vicks tip sounds intriguing though!
ReplyDeleteI have had problems with blogger, but have found that it almost always happens when I am opening my laptop from sleep, and then going to blogger. If I have shut down the programs, then I have no problem. The peppermint oil in your upper lip or paper mask has worked best for me over the years when I have a nasty smell in the operating room! Bird counts are fun if you can figure out what your style is and work it your way. I had a friend who was very competitive and it was fun for a while, but I eventually partnered with a less competitive friend.
ReplyDeleteHope your shoulder does well, I'll be praying for it!
We use Feedly to read our blogs. We love it. It is really easy to set up and use. You might want to just check out the website.
ReplyDeleteWOW...10,000 birds is amazing. Glad Texas is finally having some beautiful weather. It would be a bit miserable standing out there counting in snow or rain.
Your pics are always so beautiful. What kind of camera are you using?
ReplyDeletehere's hoping the shoulder thing is minor. . .can't have you out of commission again!
ReplyDeleteAre you sure it was the IGA.A&P and National grocery stores had good chickens, and National gave S&H Green Stamps.
ReplyDeleteTook me awhile to find baby gator #3..up there near Mom's head. Hope the shoulder thing works out without surgery...and I'm with you on getting chicken at the IGA!
ReplyDeleteI have one problem after another with Blogger (as well as Gmail). One issue goes away but another one pops up. I'd just like to see something stay the same for a year or two - no upgrades, improvements, new looks, etc. Having read your blog, Nurse Ratchet is probably on the way to a vacation in an unspecified location, somewhere in the Caribbean.
ReplyDeleteSame issue with blogger here. Baby gators are so cute! Have fun with the cortizone shot, hope it works!!!
ReplyDeleteHad shots twice in my left shoulder in the last few months - they do help. Hope you get some relief.
ReplyDeleteI have the same issue with blogger. Sometimes I have to sign out and sign back in to get it to refresh properly. Baby gators are very cute!
ReplyDeleteWell this is probably useless but I never update or change anything on eblog for that reason. So far so good. Now on a positive note I (bragging) was the first person credited with seeing and identifying a white face Ibis in my county in southeastern Minnesota. It was on a tiny farm pond in the middle of nowhere....:)
ReplyDeleteWow, 10,000 birds is a lot to see. I'd want something near my nose to combat the smell too. Hope your shoulder is okay soon. I use Feedly to read blogs but I had all kinds of other problems with blogger yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure you'll read a 38th comment! I don't think 38 people read my blog. :-( but I hope you get your blog problems fixed because I really enjoy reading it. I hope you keep reading and sharing my blog. I think you will like my more recent photos. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDelete"B" happens to me too often.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting an error anywhere I go on my dashboard. When I click cancel it goes to where I want to go. Tried what little I know to clear it , but still getting it. Started about 4 days ago.
ReplyDeleteJudy,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Texas! I just got back on blogger! it has been a busy three months here in Fredericksburg!
Your work in the NWRs always sounds so interesting! Do you have full hookups at them, including internet? We couldn't live without internet. How do you connect?
Jan