Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

This afternoon, I heard a quail calling with the distinctive "chi-ca-go" call that they used to call in their flock or attract a mate. I peeked through the front door and saw him perched on the rail of the fence.

( Photos Before he Noticed Me )

Right after I took the second photo, the quail realized I was there and left.

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Meanwhile, in Europe, Lisa decided to go on to Oslo while Chris spends a couple of days in Gothenburg. Further complicating things was that the hotel in Gothenburg needed additional documentation of me authorizing the charge to my credit card, even though I'm the one who made the reservation and provided the credit card information in the first place. I filled out, signed, and returned the form to them, and shortly thereafter they called me and said that took care of what was necessary. Because it's going to be the same chain in Bergen, I sent them a similar form and they said that covered everything.

Turning my attention to the hotel in Oslo, I was fortunate to find that I could change the reservation there so that Lisa could check in today for three nights, as opposed to the original reservation, which was for a single night checking in two days from now. Making things even more complicated was that there did not seem to be any way to telephone the hotel — at least when I called what was supposed to be their number, it just rang forever. Also, the hotel doesn't have telephones in the rooms, so there is no way to contact her by telephone. I assume that more and more places assume that anyone without a mobile phone isn't worth considering. Anyway, I got it fixed for now. Lisa needs more time to rest on trips like these, so a series of one-night stops are very hard on her. Making everything work has been very tricky for me, but for the most part I've been able to make it happen.

When someone bought and cleared the West Lot, they appear to have destroyed much of the habitat that was attracting rabbits and quail. I was happy to see several quail on our property today. I have no photos because the first I saw of them was when I went out onto the porch and at least three quail scattered in all directions. I hope they'll be back.

And I haven't yet set out smashed-up crackers.

I slept a solid twelve hours last night. If I only I could book hours of sleep in advance; I'll need those hours next weekend at Costume-Con 39.

Today while I was eating breakfast, I heard a familiar bird call. I carefully and slowly opened the front door to make a recording of a larger bird having returned from wherever he and his brethren go for the winter.



I hope we'll see more quail this year, but to make it more likely, I'll need to put birdseed out on the ground as well as in the feeder, as quail are much too large to perch on the feeder. Of course, the smaller birds could be the quail's friend by being the messy eater than they are, knocking food out of the feeder and to the ground.

We've been concerned that the clearance of the lot west of Fernley House would have driven away the rabbits. Also, because we were away for ten days, the quail that have been in the neighborhood dropped us from their rounds. We started putting out birdseed again, and both rabbits and quail returned.

( Bunnies and Birds )

It has been so hot that hardly anything has been stirring during the day. It's only after sundown that anything appears, and I can't say that I blame the animals for taking cover.

There are several flocks (I think they are family groups) of quail that visit the field next to us. Normally they seem to chase off other flocks, but a couple of evenings ago, while Lisa and I were sitting on the front porch enjoying pleasant weather, they seem to have put aside their differences in order to take advantage of the seed we had set out for them.

( Quail Scrum at the Brush Pile )

Later, a couple of helicopters, presumably out of NAS Fallon (we get a lot of them here) flew by while a train passed on the main line.

( Not Totally Black Helicopters )

In the spring and autumn (and autumn seems to start around the first of September for this purpose), we can enjoy our porch, as it's neither too hot nor too cold.

They scooted off before I could get a picture, but I see that one of the quail pairs have hatched a bunch of little ones. I'll post pictures when I manage to catch them with my camera.

This morning, when refilling the bird feeder, I also put a scoop of birdseed on the ground. This pleased the quail.

( Fat Birds )

It only takes one of them to get startled for the rest of them to start running for it, and you'll see in the video that something spooked them.

The smoke may be clearing, and that means I might be able to sit outside in the evening watching the birds, bunnies, chipmunks, and lizards without getting into a smoke-induced coughing fit.

With the wet, cold weather we've been having, I set out extra birdseed in the hanging feeder and in the increasingly-distressed jack-o-lantern below it.

( Feeding Frenzy )

As long as we move relatively slowly, we can watch the critters from our front window, or even from inside the Astro parked out front. While they'll scatter when we come near, we apparently disappear when inside the minivan and they come back once the doors close.