Ack!

Yes, this is my scaredy-mocker and apparently he/she is coughing up a phlegm ball. Honestly, I have no idea what is going on here, but I watched in fascination as the mocker tried to work up his/her courage to come into the feeders, periodically shaking the head and coughing something up. Euw. Mocker hair ball. My cats would be proud.

I spent a few hours on the hiking trails in Kittatinny this morning, coming across a pair of swans who allowed me to get within about 100 or so feet. In this photo, the cob is trying not to make too much of the Mrs's new hat and then, he too seemed to hack up a hair ball.. Ain't nature grand?

The titmice were having a bad hair day while the one of the blue jays did a fly-by on the peanut station at the buffet. No sign of the Extreme squirrels - I think they are still pissed about the whole Great Backyard Bird Count thing.

Had to make a trip to the imaging center to have my foot x-rayed today - pain in the ...foot. It's been hurting for a few months, so time to figure out what's up. Appointment with a specialist next week.

The hubs is in AL visiting his parents, so I am feeling a bit lonely rattling around the house without him. The cats are trying to make me feel better by increasing the volume of hairballs. Apparently they seem to think this somehow equates to love. Cats - who can figure 'em out.

I am expecting to get a new camera tomorrow. Yes, a new camera. I decided to get a compact camera so that I can have something a bit lighter than my D90, but still something with "superzoom" capability. I have pretty bad tendonitis in my camera hand, so sometimes the weight of the D90 with the 300 lens really does some damage. After much backing-and-forthing, I decided on a Canon Powershot SX40. My other top choice was the Nikon Coolpix P500, but I decided that I wanted to try a Canon, and I think it will do slightly better on the macro side of things. And I can return it within 30 days for a full refund if I hate it. This is my belated birthday present to myself - I deserve it, don't it?

Happy Thursday, blippers!