Owls, Coyotes and Kestrels

Life is about having your own pumpkin
Pumpkin was knitted and photographed by Donna Royal

Even an empty glass of tea can be fun when travelling,
turn it into a photo session.
Photo by Donna Royal
(Who knows, it could turn into an Andy Warhol moment)

We had not seen much wildlife in our neighborhood in recent months, that could have been because we have been travelling and just not paying that much attention or maybe they just took a vacation too, but in any event…They’re back!

Last week on a walk around the block, early morning, Donna and I saw what we think was a great horned owl. This could be the year of the great horned because our friend and fellow owl box watcher Nick of Rancho Bernardo, sent out an Owl Alert last night saying they heard a Great Horned Owl in the night. They got a recording. http://www.owlpages.com/sounds/Bubo-virginianus-6.mp3

Now that’s a hoot!

Yesterday morning, I was up and off by 4 AM, to Yuma, Arizona, to visit my friend Max. Remember Max, he is my longtime friend and we named Molly’s first baby owl after because it looked like the egg was going to be hatched on Max’s 80th birthday. Anyway, as I backed out of my driveway in the dark I could see movement in my neighbor’s front yard but could not tell what it was, then as I cut my wheels to the left to enter the street my headlights lit up a pack of wild coyotes as they scampered to the middle of the street. They stopped, turned their heads and stared at the lights. I counted six in the pack. Deciding the lights were not a threa,t they continued their journey down the street as I slowly followed behind. About half way down the block they cut off to the left into another neighbor’s yard, I am sure searching for food. I hoped none of my neighbor’s cats were out. This was actually a little scary because I often walk around the block by myself in the early morning hours and I wondered what would have happened had I met up with this pack in the dark with no one around. A chill ran up my spine just thinking about it.

This morning as I walked out the front garage door around 8:30 AM, in broad daylight, a much safer time, I spooked a female barn owl roosting in a tree in our front yard, at least my guess is it was female because of its size. She flow off into the trees across the street. That is the first barn owl I have seen in our yard since Molly left. I don’t know if any owls have visited the owl box during the night because we don’t have the camera installed anymore. Even if an owl shows up we will not be broadcasting because we will be travelling during the owl season in 2013.

And if that wasn’t enough Calvin was standing tall and proud on the kestrel box this morning, calling for a mate as I looked out the kitchen window. I have not seen any female kestrels in the neighborhood since the last hatch but that has not stopped Calvin. There is a lesson here: If you want something, you have to take action and ask for it.

Austin just finished his first advanced class in video production. He got 100% on the written exam and his team (he was in charge), won first place for their music video. Check it out, it is awesome. They had to take a sound track of existing music and then shoot and edit video clips to match the music including lip syncing. His dad is the surfer in the video. Now isn’t that cool.

The Fighter – Gym Class Heroes (Day in the life of a fighter) from Austin Faure on Vimeo.

Congratulations: Ashley, our granddaughter passed her California’s state board cosmetology exam and is now a licensed cosmetologist. She has also returned to Hawaii to be with her husband, Spencer, who just returned from a one year tour of duty in Afghanistan. They are expected to be in Hawaii for at least another year.

Halloween is coming up. Have fun.

Carlos, Donna and Austin
P.S. You are a success if you are having fun and enjoying at what you do.

Other Goodies  (Just for fun) or If you want to help Austin go to http://www.cafepress.com/austin4media and make a purchase all profits go to his college fund. He still needs to earn about $20,000 to pay for his tuition. He is also working part time jobs to help pay his own way.

Eric’s New Book: Fearless Click Here Save 41%

Fearless  is on New York Times Best Seller List of books to read.

Have you ordered your personal copies of the Molly Songs? If not be sure to check them out on iTunes.

Music: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/barbara-allen/id428385724

Merchandise: www.cafepress.com/mollytheowl

Photo of McGee by Carlos Royal:  http://www.cafepress.com/mollytheowl.628020845

Books: www.mollytheowlbooks.com

Molly Watchers E-Cookbook http://mollytheowlbooks.com/store/books-bookmarks/molly-watchers-e-cookbook.html

Movies: www.austin4media.com

2012 Calendar www.cafepress.com/mollytheowl

Austin’s Designs (Your purchases help him pay for his schooling)http://www.cafepress.com/austin4media