2015-08-06 - Thursday - Hawk and glazing

On Thursday this hawk was hanging out on the streetlight across the street. It was large hawk as hawks go. There's plenty of prey for them with all the squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and smaller birds that live here.

I started glazing at 8:30 pm and didn't finish until 2:30 am. It was a long haul and I still didn't get everything done that I wanted to accomplish. Glazing takes a long time. Layers and layers.

On my way home at 3:00 am I was pulled over by a police officer because one of my headlights was burned out. I had purchased the new bulb, but hadn't taken the time to pull the front of the van apart yet as it's a pain-in-the-butt job. I also didn't have my new registration sticker on my license plate yet, but it and the registration were in my console which is a small, freestanding shelf.

Unfortunately, when I looked for the registration I couldn't find it in my console tray so I guessed it must have fallen on the floor. I reached under the console shelf feeling around for that small slip of paper.

When I sat back up I realized the officer was looking in my back window with a flashlight and he asked me, "Sir, did you just shove something under your seat?".

I assured him that I was looking for my registration and he went back to his squad car with my license to check the computer. I then realized for the first time that what had just happened was one of the dumbest things I had ever done. That situation could have gotten crazy very quickly.

Hands on the wheel when the officer walks up? No, make it look like I'm either shoving drugs under the seat or reaching for my gun. Either way it's not going to end well for me. Duh. Thank goodness he was a calm person.

He checked my record and let me go. I promised him that I would take care of the headlight the next day, and I did.

Sometimes I do think I live a charmed life.

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August 16 - Thursday hawk and VSVs

Thursday the girls noticed our hawk in the backyard as it flew up to a fencepost.  It was pretty antisocial and kept it's back to me the whole time before taking wing and flying to the neighbor's tree.  I love the fact that we have a pair of hawks living in our neighborhood.

In the evening I went to Clayworks to throw some VSVs (Very Small Vessels).  The recent kiln-loading reminded me that we need smaller pieces to go around the larger ones and I like to keep some of these on hand.  You can fit a lot on a bat.

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2009-12-02 Wednesday - Raptor in the Yard

We have a hawk (I think it's a hawk) living in our neighborhood and I caught it in our tree today.  I have seen this bird around for a while now and the squirrels live in fear of it.  I find striped feathers in the yard sometimes so I know there is some hunting happening even though it seems like our squirrel population doubles every year.

Sorry about the light quality, but it was a cold, rainy, miserable kind of day, so the light was horrible when I tried to capture an image of it.

Over the driveway scanning.

Same picture after lightening in Picasa.

Notice the fungus on the limb.  It came down a few days later.

Where I was actually taking the pictures from our front window.

I love my zoom (20x).