PixlBit

I'm tired, so gonna keep this brief.

Reading: The Sands of Windee by Arthur W. Upfield. It's a dectective story set in Australia, main character is half Aborigine, written in the 1930s. Just started it, so no real impressions yet.

Watching: Finally managed to stay awake through the first episode of Twin Peaks. So far, very weird. It's cool seeing a lot of places I've been to in Washington, though - I've eaten at the diner (Tweed's Cafe), and have a mug I bought there, and I've been to Snoqualmie Falls, where that huge inn is. Also watched a few episodes of Medium and the original Hawaii Five-O. For movies, watched The Prince (former hitman turned mechanic gets dragged back into the life when his daughter's kidnapped. Bruce Willis is the bad guy), The Hybrid (really bad, non-sensical horror flick set in a cold-war era underground Russian bunker. Don't waste your time), and a chick-flickish movie called Labor Day. I really liked The Prince and Labor Day, The Hybrid, not so much. I haven't watched them yet, but I picked up The Transporter and Transporter 3 for $5 apiece new at Bull Moose music on Tuesday after I finished helping Jason pack up and clean his apartment. I've seen them before, just haven't watched the DVDs I picked up yet. Oh, and Jason and I have finally gotten around to the last season of The Amazing Race. We've managed to avoid any spoilers, so we'll still be surprised at who won.

Playing: Still playing Assassin's Creed, but took a little break while Jason was staying here so he could have the TV, if he wanted it. Needed a another 3DS game that didn't require a lot of concentration. It was a toss up between a couple of them at Bull Moose, but I ended up with Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins. I finished the story levels this morning and now I'm looking for all the collectibles. It's been a fun little romp, but I finished it too soon. Should have gone with the other game I was contemplating: Animal Crossing New Leaf.

Listening: Jean Ritchie passed away on June 8th, so I dragged out Dear Jean, the tribute compilation some friends of mine put together and produced for her last year. I'll post one of my favorites of her songs at the end.

Ranger stuff: Lots of work in the shop and HQ, as I'm restricted as to what I can do in the park until the toxic caterpillars have turned into moths. I did start training our new hire to do osprey watches. The nest on the island won't have any babies this year. The male osprey disappeared after the eggs were laid and the female had to leave the nest unattended too much in order to feed herself, so we don't think the eggs ever hatched. The other easily viewable pair seems to have young in the nest, but we won't know how many until the chicks are big enough for us to see over the edge of the nest (usually at about three weeks of age). As for what happened to the missing osprey, could be anything. He was pretty old for an osprey, though, the female is probably 14 or so, and she was his second mate, and he'd been with the previous female for many years before she stopped returning. The female has already found a new mate, here's hoping he's as good a provider as her old mate was.

That's all for this week, Pixlbit Nation. The hour grows late and I have the morning shift at the park.

Jean Ritchie's Wintergrace (yes, I know it's the wrong time of year, but it's such a beautiful song):