Feathers and Food +

Although the end of the worst of the Covid-19 lock-down or self-isolation experience is nearing, we personally are faced with one more month of super caution.  Once we receive our second dose of the vaccine and another week passes after that, we will not be concerned about our chances of catching this virus, although we will still wear masks as suggested in order to protect others.

We are really looking forward to dining out, shopping and exploring both near and far with our Covid-19 risks removed!  I will also enjoy the opportunity to experience, research and write about topics other than homemade, store bought and take-out food as well as the plethora of photos showing our local or home-bound scenery.  

But, for the immediate future, the contents of my posts are what they are… In this issue it’s all about birds and food.

Male bluebirds are really blue aren’t they!  We have lots and lots of bluebirds hanging around our back deck.  They awkwardly use our feeder although they really aren’t too adept at it.  However when Laurie puts a scoop of dried meal worms on the deck railing bluebirds don’t waste any time and they rush to fill up on one of their favorite foods.  

Look at that sweet bluebird couple in the last photo above…or is she giving him the cold feather?  

Our local hermit thrush is still hanging around the feeder as well.  We hadn’t seen any of these birds until this year but the feeder has proven to be a powerful draw for this visitor.

Now onto a few food items…

While visiting our local Food Lion grocery store, we noticed these Crinkle Cut Zucchini Fries by Birds Eye in the freezer.  We’d never seen them before and we decided to give them a try.  

After they came out of the oven, we sprinkled parmesan cheese on them.  The breading wasn’t too heavy and we both liked this convenient pre-prepped vegetable item.  Despite the breading, I’m pretty sure that they are healthier than the sautéed zucchini slices I’ve made in the past…given the stick of butter that I usually bathe them in!

We paired the zucchini fries with a pair of ribeye steaks that I grilled on the stove.  Laurie is more of a purist than I am…although she melts butter on her steak as soon as it comes to the table, after all, butter makes everything better!  I just covered mine with crumbled blue cheese!  Unfortunately, instead of the steaks being medium rare, I overcooked them and they were medium.  Laurie wasn't a happy camper.

Another dinner, another food experiment or experience… We keep looking for different pre-prepped food items as we just haven’t been into doing much cooking during the pandemic.  In this case I zeroed in on a box of Jose Ole queso chicken nacho mini tacos in the freezer section of our grocery store. 

Laurie ate hers with sour cream and I used a lot of hot taco sauce.  They were OK…and easy to prepare.

Another full moon and more opportunities to take eye-catching and not dramatic photos.  Laurie took both of these photos.  I like the effect of the moon shining through the trees but I did think that the second photo using our zoom lens came out quite nicely.

I thought that I’d end with more ‘feathers’.  My only concern was if this black vulture in our big tree knew something I didn’t know.  After all, I’m not getting any younger!

FYI, black vultures don’t have a great sense of smell so they can’t find carrion by scent alone.  They do exploit the superior food-finding skills of turkey vultures by following them to carcasses and then shoving them aside for food.  While turkey vultures are larger than black vultures, black vultures operate in flocks which can easily drive away the more solitary turkey vulture.  Given this poor treatment by black vultures, it’s surprising that turkey vultures frequently roost with black vultures at night…  

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Stay Safe and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave