Tiny Titmouse

This little guy looked like he has been through the mill, although it was clearly able to fly. I read in the paper that a lot of baby birds are jumping out of their nests before they fledge to get away from the heat. The local bird rescue has received dozens of baby birds that can't fly! We find  quite a few birds on the ground recovering from flying into the windows. I keep a box with a towel in it on the porch to put them in to recover away from predators. We used to have quite a few cats in the neighborhood, but they are all gone now and it seems too hit for a box with a towel. We found one on its back yesterday and thought for sure it was dead, but a few hours later it was gone. Sometimes it seems selfish to keep the bird feeders up, but right now the need for food seems more important than the risk of flying into the windows....

We saw our first hot air balloon aloft since before the pandemic. as we were driving to Kathy's for a 9 o'clock session. We have scheduled two sessions a week with Kathy for awhile because John feels like his body is falling apart (now it's a stiff neck and shoulder), and I can work out on the reformer without risking falling off or otherwise embarrassing myself in a group class at the studio.The balloons are usually a common sight this time of year, and can be seen coming down to land in the laguna which is flat and relatively treeless. I didn't have anything with me except for my phone so I wasn't able to get a very good picture of it, but I put the one I did get in extras.

I ordered a couple of cheap little metal end tables to put next to the chairs on the porch outside our TV room. I ordered black, but when they arrived, they were mint green! I decided it would be easier to paint them than to try to return them, especially since assembling them took three  hands and I didn't want to take them apart again. I bought a can of textured grey spray paint for metal, and although the breeze was blowing dried grass and leaves into the wet paint, I was quite pleased with the result. Much running up and down the stairs to a flat place in the field was involved, not to mention a second trip to the hardware store for another can of paint.

Although I am very careful, I  apparently brushed against the grevillea next to the front steps because I have a spreading itchy rash to add to the bruises I got assembling the tables...I guess John and I are both falling apart each in our own unique way.