Eagle Eye

Bling bling, she fixed my ring!

Readers of the Addiverse might remember that just a few short weeks ago, my ring pooped out one of its diamonds and thus looked like a toothless smile.  I thought about what to do, then promptly put the ring in a box, stuck in a drawer.  Yesterday, my wife hands me my ring-- polished, shiny, dings gone....and, a sparkly new diamond!  The wife rocks.

AND....Readers of the Addiverse will be tickled pink to hear that I am going to get more tampons in the mail this week.  My peeps take care of me.  How can you have a bad week when tampons are coming to you in the mail?  You can't.

When I am not staring at my ring or dreaming of tampons in the mail, I am watching the Decorah Eagles hatch some babies (eaglets, I suppose).  Me and 140,000 others were watching yesterday, hoping for a bird's eye view (pun intended) of a pip and hatching.  Here's a link to a ten-minute video collage of the first egg hatching.  You'll need a little patience, as the first sleek peek at a beak peaking out is at 4:48 in the video--how about that sentence?--and, the first good look at the newly-hatched bird really doesn't happen until eight minutes into the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U_pme0dPhs 

At first, I think the wife thought I was crazy, watching the proud parent eagles all day long--"Is that all you do all day long?" Then, I noticed she was watching, too.  I just shrunk the site to a manageable size, put it in the upper right hand corner of my screen and worked on my computer while watching the eagles taken turns sitting on the eggs.  As I mentioned, I wasn't alone, as evidenced in this Tribune Story (which I know you won't read until you've finished this blog, right?): http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-ia-exchange-eggstoha,0,5461544.story
  
This photo to the left gives you an idea of what I've been staring at for days.


It's actually quite amazing, if you ask me.  The eagles take turns sitting on the three eggs, spend much time fluffing the next and turning the eggs.  They use their giant, scary beak and big-ass claws to move the eggs around, and then do this humorous rocking back and forth as they settle in.  I personally love the dead bunny on the left hand side of the screen (you can't see it in this photo, but trust me, it's there).  Well, one has to eat.  Interestingly, since the eggs were laid on three different days, they hatch on three different days.  Who knew?  I also learned (from my hours on the site) that pooping out an egg is hard work; in fact, I was very surprised by the difficulty in this endeavor.  I guess I just pictured chickens dropping eggs on a daily basis.  If you have a burning desire to watch an eagle give birth to an egg, go here (you don't really see much until the eight minute mark; then the labor begins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L99UropoY3w

The wife says she has never seen an eagle in real life, but I know she has, as one flew over our head while we were driving down a local road in December 2008--I remember because it was right before her surgery and I remember thinking about what a good sign that was.  I pointed it out to her and she saw it.  Alas, no memory of it in her memory bank.  I've seen eagles on several occasions, most notably while seated at my desk at my last job; most impressively, while in Colorado with two friends (staying in some hot-springs commune or whatnot, of which I dare not speak)--two eagles were perched in a tree, right in front of us.  They were HUGE, like toddlers sitting on a limb.  I took a photo of them, but in my excitement took a picture of my camera strap instead of the birds (this being the days before digital cameras).  When I got the photos back, all I had was a photo of a tree with a huge black stripe down the middle.  Oh well, I have the memory etched in my mind.

I am now waiting for egg number two and three to hatch.  Right now, the channel is off air (why, I am not sure--maybe so viewers go out and get something to eat and take a potty break or so they have time to stare at their newly-fixed ring), but I know it'll be back soon and I'll have my eagles perched in the upper right hand corner of my screen.  Since I can't see eagle eggs hatch in person, this is the next best thing.  Pip, pip, hurray!
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