Varied Thrush

I saw this bird in the cherry tree at the top of our driveway the other day. It flew away before I could get a photo of it. Today I heard its telltale call and sure enough, it was back. So I went out with my trusty telephoto zoom to take its picture. It patiently sat for its portrait with only a couple of changes of position. I took this during one of those. It was repositioning so its feet were all akimbo. I am in love with its color. This is the male of the species. The females are more subtly colored, with brown tones instead of black. Such a beautiful bird.

Today Arvin, Helena and I went out to visit a store called "Stampadoodle" that specializes in supplies for paper arts and rubber stamps. I had heard that they offered classes in card making and thought Helena might be interested in attending one. She was interested so we went there and got the info we needed. The classes are on Tuesdays which are busy days for us, but the one in the evening would fit so she and I will soon sign up for one. I was thinking I'd enjoy one too and the price is right, just $10 to make three cards. Should be fun for both of us.

I spent the morning working on Helena's computer. It has been messed up ever since she installed Windows 8.1. We can't print. And we can't add a printer. I tried the lowest level of repair that didn't wipe out H's data but got rid of apps. Didn't work. When I went back in to do the next lever there was no longer a link to do it. Grrrr! So back to Best Buy we go to have them fix it for us at way too large a price. Grumble. Give me a Mac any time! I just can't deal with MS Windows and PCs in spite of a 20 year career at IBM. Sigh.

We then went to a local appliance dealer, Deward and Bode, to look for a new washing machine. Ours is 20 years old and is showing signs of age. It is time to move on. The fellow that helped us was really great. We ended up ordering a US made, old fashion, top loading machine, very much like the one we are replacing. It will arrive on Valentine's Day. Not the most romantic of presents, but oh well. Nice to have something that works the way we like it. Fits our "senior" life style to a "T".

Then we shopped and headed home for Arvin and Helena's rest and my Blip time. The photo is from this morning.

Quiet evening again tonight. We have some of our favorite TV shows on the DVR. So that is what we'll be doing tonight. Hope you are having a great Saturday or Sunday, depending where you are.