PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

Recent entries july 4, 2018 - 2018-07-04 the triangle continues of courtney, boobear, & nyota - 2018-07-03 Cookie so cute telling, "Hello" to sparrows - 2018-07-01 lovebirb in love - 2018-06-30 wren with fluffffff - 2018-06-24 Read my new book, The 10 Best Things You Can Do For Your Bird at Amazon or at many other fine distributors like Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, and more. By public demand, and after a delay of an embarrassing number of years, I've finally put my notorious essay, Ender and Hitler: Sympathy for the Superman, free on the fabulous internets. A bibliography of my published books and stories. Here's a simple card-counting FAQ to get you up to speed on the basics. Here's the true story of the notorious DD' blackjack team, told for the first time on the fabulous internets. No other team went from a starting investor's bankroll of zero to winning millions of dollars. A Sadean take on Asimov's classic Three Laws of Robotics can be found in Roger Williams' NOW REVIEWED ON SLASHDOT!!! The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. Adult readers only please -- explicit sex and violence. For updates on the "Dead Tree Project" and other topics, you may visit the official fan site, Passages in the Void.. My Bird Lists -- My Louisiana State Life List, My Yard List and, tah dah, My World Life List. HEY! What happened to the Peachfront Conure Files? The world's only OFFICIAL Peachfront Conure site now features free peachfront conure coverage, including a magazine length Intro to Conures previously published in American Cage-Bird Magazine, now free on the web. I offer the best free Peachfront Conure information on the internet. If you have great Peachfront Conure info, stories, or photos to share, contact me so I can publicize your pet, your breeding success, your great photograph, etc. on my site. Thanks.

new mexico trip report, part 1 2004-11-26 - 4:46 p.m. all photos � 2004 by Elaine Radford and Roger Williams You have entered Part 1 of my New Mexico trip report. For the bird list, click here. November 13, 2004 A lady is allowed two carry-ons including her purse. A gentleman is allowed two carry-ons including a camera bag or a briefcase. As a birder, I found myself with the following two carry-ons -- an optics bag holding the binoculars and my spotting scope, and a longer but skinnier bag containing the tripod. Oops, no purse. So, to get around carrying a handbag, I opted to wear an old Banana Republic photographer's vest from the 1980s with too many pockets to count. After I had passed through security, a TSA worker had a second thought, and she came back to check and see if I was sure that I wasn't carrying a purse. No, ma'am, I just have a lot of pockets. She walked off shaking her head but she agreed that I was within the rules and didn't have to check one of my bags. Whew. The tripod bag would probably be OK, even if subjected to the tender mercies of the baggage handlers, but why chance it if you don't have to? I was successfully upgraded to first class. It was too early for a real drink, but I ordered a Bailey's on the rocks just to have something to sip and to make the hoi poi jealous as they boarded after me. I never said that Peachfront was mature. The second leg of our journey was on a tiny puddle jumper that didn't have a first class. Fortunately, there was no one seated in my row, and I called DH forward so that he could have the two seats to himself on one side and I could have the two seats on the other. No first class service, no weird pasta salad or free drinks, but at least we had room to stretch out. I'm embarrassed to say how little we paid for our first-ever Priceline hotel room. It was a steal. Nice and roomy, with free shuttle service to and from the airport. We even had a little glass door leading to the roof over the restaurant -- but, alas and alack, someone had "fixed" the door so that we couldn't actually climb out on the roof. We had to be content to enjoy the Albuquerque city lights through the glass. view from our first-ever priceline hotel room Nov. 14, 2004 We picked up a little gold Impala rental car and set out to explore the Sandia Mountains, including a ride on what they claim to be the world's longest tram ride. Yeah, we trammed from 6,669 feet to 10,378 feet right into the middle of a blizzard. The furry boots and silk interlock underwear proved their value that day. We had a blast trying to photograph snow. The Olympus didn't "white out" the scenes; in fact, it did a beautiful job. I got a kick out of capturing some feather-like snow crystals that grew sidewise instead of down like the icicles I'm familiar with. At one point we took a break to enjoy hot drinks at the High Finance restaurant at the top of the mountain. Roger had a classic Irish coffee, while I had a concoction of: Kahlua Baileys Grand Marnier Hot chocolate Hot coffee all topped with whipped cream Well, it was a vacation. We saw no birds in the snow, but as we explored the mountain paths at a lower elevation, we encountered a singing male House Finch, a bold Canyon Towhee, and many Dark-Eyed Juncos, many of the Gray-Headed type but a few of the Oregon (hooded) type. Nov. 15, 2004 In the morning, we stopped by Old Town to visit the National Atomic Museum. The photo on the right, of a balloon similar to the alien spacecraft that landed in Roswell in 1947, was taken there. In the afternoon, we took a quick spin around Elephant's Butte to make sure we knew where the marina was. Along the way, we encountered some adorable Gambel's Quail playing in the street. Then we took a ride upwards into the snow-kissed mountains of the Gila National Forest. The golden leaves and black limbs of some lightning-blasted cottonwoods rising from the snow caught my eyes, as did the spectacular rocks that loomed like ancient castles over the highway. Nov. 16, 2004 My history of bringing rain to the drought-stricken areas of the world continues in an unbroken streak. When we arrived at Elephant Butte in the morning, a marina employee exclaimed, "I haven't seen rain like this in six or seven years!" Little did he know that the rainmaker had arrived. I feel a little sorry for DH since he can presumably remember a time before everywhere he went, it rained. I've always been like this, so I don't really notice anything. Once, as a teen-ager, I went on a 9 weeks camping trip with some kids from my school. They say it was the rainiest summer in 20 years! Fortunately, the wind wasn't bad at all, and all the other birders who signed up, showed up, so the tour was not cancelled. We boated for a few hours on the lake, enjoying the gray sky and water in contrast to the bright orange salt cedar. The vivid orange bills of the Clark's Grebe compared to the greenish-yellow of the Western Grebe seemed to stand out for miles. One of the tour organizers cooked an organic turkey and bean chili on the boat, which helped take off the chill. Later in the day, after the rain had passed, we also took a stroll along the river. At first, it was rather quiet, but suddenly we had an explosion of small eye-catching birds. Birds seen today in approximately the order seen: Chihuahuan Raven Common Merganser, female Western Grebe Clark's Grebe Eared Grebe Ring-Billed Gull Herring Gull, one immature Double-Crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron White Pelican Osprey Northern Harrier Northern Shoveler Mallard Brewer's Blackbird Snow Geese Gambel's Quail Red-Shafted Flicker House Sparrow Northern Mockingbird Ladderback Woodpecker pair White-Crowned Sparrow Pyrrhuloxia Ruby-Crowned Kinglet Black Phoebe Gadwall -- pairs American Wigeon Belted Kingfisher Black-Throated Sparrow Spotted Towhee Loggerhead Shrike Chipping Sparrow Curve-Billed Thrasher We had dinner at an old-style diner in Soccoro called El Camino that looked like Winkie's in Mulholland Drive, except with older and more authentic period lighting. The crunchy Chili Rellenos were to die for and I think I almost did, since I could not resist eating them to the bursting point. You have just read Part 1 of my trip report from New Mexico. Part 2 will focus on the spectacular Festival of the Cranes, so stay tuned. back - next All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2002-2017 by Elaine Radford