Birds & Birds

I love birds and always have.  My first parakeet was appropriately named Tweety and he found my grandmother in Miami.  She was hanging clothes on the line when he landed on her shoulder and she just walked in the house.  He was a fine pet for many years.  I'll miss all the birds here in Florida, both the natural ones and the man made ones.  These pics are a tribute to both.

The air show in Punta Gorda was excellent, but an incident afterward left a bad taste.  We were walking down a 2 lane road with one side for pedestrians and the other for cars.  We had just passed a sheriff's car when I heard a sound behind me like someone falling on the road.  I turned around to see a man picking himself up off the pavement and a small, ratty looking car swerving back into the car lane.  The sheriff immediately put on his lights and pulled the car over.  A tall guy in the passenger seat got out yelling at the sheriff "He spit on her!"  I couldn't hear what the officer said, but the big guy quickly turned and got back in the car.  By that time the guy who'd been knocked down arrived at the car.  He was unhurt but very unhappy to say the least.  He was more than glad that the sheriff was right there and had seen it all.  Last I saw the officer was writing a ticket to the mouthy lady! 

My love of birds inspired my love of airplanes and my desire to become a pilot.  This P-51 was always one of my favorites. 

I think this is a green heron but I couldn't find it in my book.  Sure was pretty!

Always wanted to experience the thrill of an open cockpit.  Maybe one of these days...

A great blue heron at Nokomis Beach, FL. 

This Lockheed Electra was so shiny and pretty!  Just wanted to stand and stare at it!  Which I did!

Another blue heron. 

And finally this B-25 that looked like brand new.  What a beauty!  Sure would love to fly one just a little bit!

Tomorrow we leave for North Carolina and it sure will be good to be home for a while.  Watching the Tar Heels play basketball just makes me more homesick.  The game with Kansas is about to begin, which ought to be a hum-dinger, so I'm signing off for now.  Thanks for stopping by!