I can’t believe it!

How do you feel when you get a late night phone call?  My usual thought is, “This can’t be good news.”  Well, my phone rang just a little before 11:00 last night.  As I was crossing the room to pick up the phone, I was almost dreading it.  It was my oldest son, Daniel, and this is what he said, “ Mom, you won!”   I couldn’t believe it.  Apparently the Bears vs. Cowboys football game had just ended and the Bears won.

                                                                               White Ibis

That may not sound like much, but if you’ll remember, Dan talked me into joining his fantasy football league last fall.  I seldom if ever watch football, and joined more for the reason that we would chat about our choices each week.  I’ve pretty much been running at the bottom of the pack all these weeks, but surely enjoyed our weekly calls to each other.  This week, I somehow ended up choosing 15 out of 16 winners correctly.  That meant I was number one for picks for the week in this fantasy league and will soon be receiving a check for just under $150!  Wahoo!!  The stars must have been aligned just right last Wednesday when I made my picks.

                                            Chased up some Black-bellied Whistling Ducks today.

Today I was off with the staff biologist, Patrick, to get familiar with the twelve or thirteen different areas on the refuge that I’ll be surveying for bird counts this winter and next spring.  Now this is an assignment right up my alley.

                                                                             Off they go!

I’ll be participating in documenting bird populations for the Integrated Waterbird Management and Monitoring Initiative (IWMM) of the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyways.  I’m excited about it, and know I’ll enjoy it each week.  The weather tomorrow sounds pretty good, so I’ll be up and out early to get started.

   The birds didn’t fly very far, and joined their cousins, the fulvous whistling ducks, on one of the levies.

Going back to late night phone calls, I can remember one other call I got that was good news.  I think it was in 2003, and I was in bed asleep after a hard days work.  My, now, son in law, Dennis, called to ask permission for my daughter Robyn’s hand in marriage.  Since I liked Dennis and knew he loved my daughter, I, of course, granted his request.  One of those memorable and good decisions in life as I now have little Avery and Phoebe as a result.  So, I guess not all calls in the middle of the night are bad.

I leave you tonight with a portrait of one of my neighbors.  Seems he wasn’t too thrilled with me taking his picture as he stuck his tongue out at me!  Do you think he knows I’m not a native Texan?

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy