John Farrell’s blog

Donna’s mother, Marion Spangler, died suddenly on August 15 in peace with those she loved. She was my 2nd mother for some thirty (30) years until my mother died in 2000. Since that time, she stepped up to first place. She loved me like a son and I loved her like a mother.

She was a Godly woman, who lived a life loving God and those He brought her into contact with. On the time scale of eternity, we will see each other again very soon. Until then, we are quite certain that she and my mother are together praying for all of us, for which we are very thankful.

Leaving the Nest from John Farrell on Vimeo.

This is a video of a baby Wren leaving the nest. The first 45 seconds are the struggle to leave or stay with the result to stay. The last 30 seconds are the struggle again with the result to fly away. We watched a sybling do the same thing before this one but that one left quickly, without much struggle - probably pushed out by its sybling…

This was really neat to see. We have seen baby birds of many species in the yard with their parents feeding them and teaching them how to care for themselves but this was the first for a leaving the nest.

On July2, 2008, Donna and I took off from the airport at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and flew for 45 minutes in a helicopter operated by Maverick Helicopters. It was a great experience. We got to see the East and West ends of the South Rim National Park - awesome sights. This is a short video of some of what we saw. Hope you enjoy it too.

The Grand Canyon by helicopter from John Farrell on Vimeo.

On July 1, 2008, the Farrell’s and Kestle’s took a 4 hour float trip down the Colorado River from the Glen Canyon Dam to Lee’s Ferry. Guided by our able and entertaining River Pilot, Rico (a teller of tale tales), we endured 105F heat and 47F water to see the awesome sights of the Glen Canyon. This was not in the Grand Canyon but the Glen Canyon - there was no white water and it was done in a half day. River trips through the Grand Canyon are 4 days, 8 days or 16 days long. Maybe next trip…

Colorado River Float Trip from John Farrell on Vimeo.

The complete picture library of Grand Canyon 2008 is now available. The video taken on the Colorado River and from the helicopter will soon be added so check back periodically.

Enjoy!

I am writing this blog on July 4 in the afternoon. We left home June 28 at 4:30AM and returned July 4 at 2:30AM. It was a great trip with our friends Jim and Rosemary Kestle. Donna and I took more than 700 pictures which we will gladly show to anyone willing to watch them. We also have a number of videos to watch, including a herd of Elk grazing along side the road, the float trip on the Colorado River, and the helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon.

To paraphrase John Wesley Powell, an early explorer and writer about the Grand Canyon, words cannot express and pictures cannot portray the beauty and grandeur of the Grand Canyon - it is something that has to be seen; nonetheless, we offer the following pictures to share special highlights of the visit.

First, the proof we were there and didn’t buy all these pictures, which would have cost a lot less money by the way - but not been nearly the fun!

Next, the canyon just before sundown on the first day of the visit. The picture was taken from Grandview Point (the name says it all), which is near the east end of the National Park.

We liked Grandview Point so much, we returned at sunrise (5AM) on day two.

Our next great adventure was a float trip down the Colorado River from the base of the Glen Canyon Dam in Page, Arizona. This was not in the Grand Canyon but the Glen Canyon has its own grandeur. The air temperature at the bottom of the canyon was 103F where we stopped for lunch, with hardly a cloud in the sky. The water was 47F, which was refreshing for a short time when wading but painful quickly thereafter.

We have shared pictures from ground level and on the river - now we have the canyon from the air in a helicopter! Most of the flight was at 7,500 feet elevation, which is about 1,000 feet above the elevation of the canyon rim. The following picture is of the east end of the canyon where the river enters the National Park area.

The final two days of the trip were spent visiting Sedona, AZ, which is famous for the red rocks and the beauty of the desert. The rock formations are right in your face not at great distance. This picture was taken from a neighborhood street right at the base of the formation.

The trip was to see the Grand Canyon but it turned out to be so much more. About 50 miles south of the Grand Canyon South Rim is the town of Williams. Bob Robertson had spoken highly of it so we stopped there going and coming back. The bus trip to Page to take the float trip took us through the Navajo Indian Reservation, which was empty desert. The bus stopped at a neat trading post in the middle of no where - lots of native crafts. Sedona has great restaurants (unlike the Grand Canyon area) and places to shop, as well as the beautiful sights to see. On the way to Phoenix to come home, we visited the town of Jerome - a booming copper mining town in the 1950’s that became a ghost town until hippies and artists moved in. It is now the home of artists and was a neat place to visit. Finally, Phoenix lived up to its reputation - the outside temperature reading on the car computer read 112F when we returned to the airport to come home.

This was a great trip - we’d love to show and tell you more about it!

For those of you on the edge of your seats waiting for more information about birds in our backyard in Reisterstown, MD, here’s what you’ve been waiting so patiently for…

The Bluebirds built a nest and laid 5 eggs but abandoned the nest - none of them hatched. Why? We have no idea but here are the eggs.

The birds moved to another birdhouse in the front yard but it’s hard to tell what they are doing. We think they are newlyweds and haven’t learned what they should be doing. We are watching them as time goes by…

The biggest surprise this year are the hummingbirds. Usually we have one feeder that works pretty well. This year we put out several and we have hummingbirds everywhere. It’s been fun to watch.

We also see Baltimore Orioles in the trees but we haven’t had any luck attracting them close enough to get good pictures.

The first birding experience this year was unique - a nest was built in the wreath on our front door. It was on the inside of the wreath, against the glass. We were able to see 5 eggs in the nest and then 5 young birds huddled together after they hatched… It was really neat to watch until one morning the nest was torn apart and the baby birds were gone without a trace. We suspect a cat came in the night and did what cats do…

Last year in our back yard, we had a pair of Bluebirds build two nests and hatch two broods of little ones before going to the bird house in the front yard, and doing the same thing - quite amazing to consider. This year, the Bluebirds were late arriving and the Sparrows had occupied the bird houses and built nests. After watching them closely, the Sparrows had not laid any eggs so I removed their nests as an encouragement for the Bluebirds to nest, which they have done. They chose the blue house first, which is easy to monitor. A couple days ago there was a nest with two eggs - this morning, a third egg was present. The books say they usually lay 5 to 6 eggs at a time - we will monitor to see what happens. The house has a preditor guard that worked last year so it should be safe from the cats and racoons during their nightly hunting visits through the yard.

For those who think it was cruel to evict the Sparrows, they have a nest outside the side entrance. In addition, the Wrens have a number of nests, too. This morning we saw our first male Baltimore Oriole, which we had a very difficult time attracting last summer.

We have birds everywhere - now to get some pictures!!!

Spring is here - Goober’s Garden tulip beds are in their glory…

There is a tulip bed with multi-colored flowers planted in Jack’s memory…

and a tulip bed with yellow flower’s (go Green Wave) planted in Jarrett’s memory…

Such beauty is in remembrance of these loved ones.

Spring is bursting out all around the Maryland area - white, pink, red, yellow, green colors, and combinations thereof are in the flowers and on the trees. It is encouraging and energizing to witness the renewal of creation. As if this is not enough, we are about to celebrate the wedding of Michael and Sarah on Sunday. It just doesn’t get any better than this, does it!