Tuesday, December 18, 2007

And A Roadrunner In A Pear Tree

I'm in my pre-travel panic phase. It's not that I'm scared to fly or anything, it's just that I never pack until the last minute and then I decide that I absolutely must clean the house before I leave, watch all my unwatched DVDs before I leave, etc. It's weird. So I get in a big rush at the end. I'm leaving straight from work tomorrow, so that means I have to be all packed tonight. At this point I'm pretty much done though. Only an hour late!


This will only be the second time I've spent Christmas in Arizona. I've spent something like 32 of my 36 Christmases in Alabama, so this will be kind of different. I don't think of Arizona as home, it's just where my parents have lived for the last 8 years. But I guess the important part is that my family will be there, so I guess that makes it "home" enough.


And this is for Anna. Here is a roadrunner photo that I took at Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll see another one at Christmas. This is from my upcoming "Extremely Incomplete Field Guide to the Birds of Arizona". ;)




Meep meep!

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9 Comments:

Blogger REENblack said...

Have a safe trip! Hope you got everything done that you needed to do!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

12/19/2007 9:25 AM  
Blogger REENblack said...

(The last time I saw a road runner was when I was 12 and visiting my grandparents in S. California!!! Thanks for the pics!)

12/19/2007 9:26 AM  
Blogger Anna said...

Aaah! I can't believe you were that close to a real live road runner! That is a gorgeous photo. I didn't realize they were such pretty birds. I hope you have a great holiday trip! Do you ever miss being cold on Christmas? The whole "White Christmas" business seems unlikely in AZ and TX both.

12/19/2007 10:32 AM  
Blogger paintergirlFLA said...

I didn't know they were such pretty birds either.

Hope you have a safe trip and a merry christmas.

12/19/2007 1:26 PM  
Blogger JC said...

rb - thanks, I got everything done but I'm a little tired. I can make up for it over the next week though by sleeping in. Merry Christmas to you too!

a - I was thrilled to get one good photo. Just like the cartoon, real roadrunners are really fast. I took 3 photos and the other two just had parts of the bird in the shot. This was in my parents' front yard, I took this shot through the living room window!

The warm Christmas thing is a little weird. Usually northern Alabama was fairly cold around Christmas, and north Texas gets cold enough for me - it gets colder than it does in Houston or San Antonio. I do prefer to have some cold weather around Christmas. We got one dusting of snow one time on Christmas in Alabama, I think it was '89 (that year was really cold!), and flurries on a couple of other occasions, but never a full-blown white Christmas. Supposedly there was a white Christmas in Dallas in 1926, so it is possible (just really rare!).Thanks, and I hope you get some time off from the lab for the holidays!

pg - I like the bluish-green feathers on the tail. Roadrunners are pretty, but all the other birds hate them because they will eat the eggs and chicks of ground-dwelling birds like quail. My Dad says he has seen several birds gang up on roadrunners to chase them off (they are pretty big).Merry Christmas to you all too!

12/20/2007 12:18 AM  
Blogger Cory said...

Have fun in Arizona and have a Merry Christmas!! The "meep meep" made me laugh.

PS-you need to start playing your guitar more often so that once I learn, we can start a band together and go on tour-and then instead of crashing blogher 08 we can be the live entertainment!! I think it's a great idea-get back to me with your ideas. =)~ Maybe jot some lyrics down when your flying...

12/21/2007 10:31 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Merry Christmas! Have a great time!

12/21/2007 9:30 PM  
Blogger Vedrana M. said...

i wish you beautiful holidays with your family :)

12/22/2007 3:24 AM  
Blogger kristen said...

that road runner is super cute. i didn't realize that's what they look like, almost woodpecker-ish.

12/24/2007 7:23 AM  

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