Coo

Today my little feathered friend, Coo, passed away. Coo was a pigeon . She had been with me for 11 & 1/2 years, ever since she was a month or so old.

A cat had mauled the baby pigeon so after having a doctor stitch up the lacerations my daughter brought her to live with me. Coo learned to fly in the bathroom. It was obvious that she was happy living in a very large cage in my living room so I never considered setting her free . Coo was much loved.

Recently she developed a large tumor and her health began to fail. The doctor talked of possible surgery but considering her age, surgery seemed too risky.
I decided to just take care of her until nature took her from me. Today nature did just that.

Tomorrow she will be laid to rest beside her longtime Doberman friend, Vokie .
I have lost animal and bird companions before so I know that in time it will be easier but right now that point in time seems far distant.
Fly away Coo. I will miss you.

Marion Springer

Tired but happy

Desert Beauty

Before I actually lived in the desert I

heard all kinds of negative things about the desert. It was hot. There was nothing there. It was windy. And who in his/her right mind would want to live in the desert? Well, I live in the desert and I love it!

13 years ago I bought 10 acres of sagebrush covered desert land andput a mobile home on the place and moved in .

Some of the things I had heard about the desert were right on . It is hot in summer. At times the wind does blow mightly. But there is life and beauty and peace and quiet in the desert.

Our closest neighbor is one mile away. The only noise on our place is what we make. The early morning sunrise is a thing of beauty as are sunsets when there are clouds about. And the rainbows out here after a rainshower seem close

enough to touch as do the stars at night . After a rainy winter the wild flowers are breathtaking in their beauty and variety. The cactus in the photo above is near my home and is just one variety of cactus to be found around here.

And wild-life, of that there is plenty. Awhile back there were two red foxes who lived in a burrow just outside our fence. I put out food and water for them. They were regular visitors in our yard. Several times we have seen large turtles making their way across the place. Road Runners, we have them as well as desert grouse and quail. There are burrowing owls who live underground. The baby burrowing owls come up from their underground home and learn to fly from the ground up. They first hop up on low sagebrush branches and gradually learn to fly up to higher elevations. Neat to see.

Probably best of all , at least for me, is that there are no buildings or houses or city clutter, no traffic clogged streets and city noise. There is just wide open desert. I can see for miles in every direction and every direction is like looking at a beautiful picture.

Desert living is not for everyone but it works for me.

Till next time.

Marion Springer

The perfect Christmas present

That is a picture of me holding my wonderful Christmas present from my daughter, Linda.

Maybe to most moms it wouldn't look like anything to get excited about, probably they wouldn't even know what the heck it is , but this mom was very happy to receive the five gallon fuel transfer pump for Christmas.

What the fuel transfer pump means is that instead of having to lift a heavy ( about 30 lbs. ) 5 gallon can of aviation fuel up to about shoulder height and use a funnel to pour the fuel into the fuel tank on my gyrocopter, now I can just turn the crank handle on the transfer system about 20 turns and the fuel/oil mix is transferred in less than one minute from the fuel can into the fuel tank on the gyro.

My son made a small cart type carrier on wheels to move the fuel transfer system about. Now it's just a matter of wheeling the small carry-cart with the fuel transfer system on it out to the gyro, give the handle a few turns and wow, the tank is refilled ! I am so pampered !

Down through the years I have received the most unusual gifts from my children. Coby gave me a set of screw drivers one year. Linda gave me a set of motorcycle handle bar grips another time. I hasten to add thatI used and much appreciated all those gifts. Those children had my number!

I overheard my daughter Donna ,when she was about eight years of age and her friend discussing their mothers. My daughter had the last word when she proudly proclaimed , " well, my mother is a TOMBOY !" So I guess unusual gifts are just right for a tomboy mom.

Till next time.
Marion Springer

Pigeon eggs - baby pigeons, etc.

As my grandma would say, I put the horse before the cart...I had intended to post first, a picture of a small egg incubator with a pigeon egg in it and second, a tiny baby pigeon just hatched and finally, the picture of a day old baby pigeon that did make it through my clumsy attemp to post photos.

Maybe another day I will manage to post a picture of the egg in the incubator.

Pigeon eggs are white in color and small, about 1 &1/2 inch in length and about 1 inch high. The babys when hatched are very tiny. When left in their parents care the baby will double it's weight in 24 hours. In the wild they develop incredibaly fast. Development is much slower when hand raised . The baby in the photo above is one day old. If he had been with his pigeon parents he would have been much larger than he is in the picture.

I found a baby pigeon that looked to be about a week old that had been attacked . It's scalp had been torn away and his skull was exposed. Remarkably, he susrvived the damage to his head. He will be forever bald with no feathers on his head but he is alive.

It has always amazed me that birds and animals seem to know who will help them when they are in distress ( see the recent post " The Hitching Pigeon" . ) I could cite numerous other instances where birds literally cried out for help. For example, several days ago I stepped outside and several pigeons flew toward me. One of them literally flew into my foot then he landed beside me so close that I nearly stepped on him. He had apparently been attacked and there was damage to his back. He let me pick him up and put him in a cage where I can care for him and eventually when he is healed , set him free. He surely did know how to get the help he needed.

Till next time.

Marion Springer

Oh , My Poor Puppy !

Meet Connie, one of my two Dobermans. Connie and her brother Buddy are my 21 month old pups . They are a lively pair.

Friday had already been a long day. My daughter and I had just returned home from a day in town . It takes an hour to drive to town from our home in the desert and an hour to get back home .

Friday's trip to town had included a visit to the doctor which had taken up much of the day so both my daughter and I were happy to finally get home and I was looking forward to just taking it easy for what little was left of the day.

But as it turned out, relaxing was not an option. We were soon on the road to town again !

My two Doberman pups and our other little dog were happy to have us home and they were running around and being very frisky. Then I noticed a tuft of hair standing up on Connie's back . It was a fresh tear in her skin...a V shaped tear on her back . The legs of the V were about three inches long. It was nearly 4PM and every Vetinary office we called were closing at 5 PM.

There is an excellent Emergency Animal Clinic in town and they are open all night. Wouldn't you know, the Clinic had moved to a new location since we had last used their services so that entailed some driving about to locate them. Their new location is so new it doesn't even have the name on the building , so that really made it hard to find!

But we did find them and Dr. Edwards stitched up the tear in Connie's back. Connie and her brother Buddy, have a condition known as Von Willibrand's disease. What that means is that their blood does not coagulate as it should and should they sustain an injury and start bleeding it could be fatal to them. Fortunately, the tear in Connie's skin was not bleeding.

Connie spent the night in the hospital and she is home now and is wearing a hood to keep her from pulling the stitches out. She is very unhappy having to wear the hood . The white item you can see in the photo is one of the drain tubes which the doctor placed in the tear. I don't know what she caught her skin on to cause the damage but she is going to be Ok and I'm happy about that. My budget took a big hit with the emergency repair service but she is worth it!

Till next time .
Marion Springer

The Hitchhiking Pigeon

I had been down working on my gyro hangar all day and finally packed up the tools and started for home about a mile and a half away. I hadn't gone very far when I saw the pigeon.

He was just standing there along the side of the road . I stopped the car about even with him and he didn't move at all. I approached him , talking to him all the while and still he just stood there. I had the feeling that he was waiting just for me.

He walked a few inches away and then stopped and waited for me to pick him up. He didn't struggle, or try to get free. It was eerie , but nice too.

I held him during the ride home he was very relaxed and comfortable, not struggling at all. A large flock of pigeons live on my place. When the new bird is well settled I will put him outside with the other birds .

My daughter Linda had a pigeon that called out to her for help. Linda was sitting on the porch when a beautiful black and white pigeon circled her several times just screaming. The pigeon landed nearby and we could tell that it was injured.

Later that evening it went into an open cage and we closed the cage door and cared for the bird for several weeks until her leg healed .

When her leg was well we opened the cage door and set her free. She spent quite a bit of time sitting and staring at Linda's window.

It was obvious that the bird wanted to be taken in so Linda took her into her home and the pigeon became Linda's beautiful Lacy . The black and white speckled bird was in pigeon heaven living with Linda.

Birds are smart. I don't know if the hitchhiking pigeon I brought home had followed me when I left home that morning or if he was a total stranger to me and just needed help. He doesn't appear to be injured . I think he was just lost and probably scared for it was getting late in the day with night not too far away .

He knew when I stopped that I would help him . He was very happy to get some food when I got him home and settled in . He has a home for as long as it pleases him to stay here.


Till next time.
Marion Springer