Stunned

So I was sitting out on my sun porch on Saturday working on my sermon when this little guy flew into the glass . . . pretty hard!

At first, he was on his back, just moving his mouth. Then when I unlatched the door and began to move it, he flipped over to his feet and just sat there, stunned. I talked to him a little, took his picture, but he didn't move for a bit. Until it started raining! Then he hopped under a planter box we have on our deck for cover, though it looked like he either hurt a wing or was still a bit loopy. A while later, I saw one of our neighborhood foxes going by and looked to see if this little guy was still on the deck - but he was gone. Glad he seemed to have recovered. :-)

School and Stuff . . .

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. School started up again last week. Both my classes look rigorous, so I'm really going to have to stay on top of things.

My first class is "Justification and Grace" with Dr. Michael Root, a former ELCA theologian for 39 years and now Roman Catholic. This is looking at the 16th century disputes and modern ecumenical attempts to come to agreement. With his background, knowledge, and perspective, this should be quite interesting. A big class - 11 of us, so the discussion should be good. I'm the only Lutheran (of course), but there are a couple of Reformed guys too.

My second class is "Sacramental Treatises" with the former dean of the school, Kevin Irwin. We'll be reading various treatises from church fathers, I'm assuming on *various* sacraments. This prof will expect a lot, so I'll have to be on my toes. A smaller class, only 5 or 6 of us.

The good news is that with both these classes, I believe I'll be able to research and write about Private Absolution, which is what I want to write my dissertation about. So these classes should be quite helpful in my investigation and framing what I want to ultimately write.

In other news, we had some new birds at our feeder these past few days: some Bluebirds and a Cedar Waxwing. This picture shows a male and female bluebird. We actually had two pairs. Very cool to watch. Don't have a picture of the Cedar Waxwing yet . . .

My son is also working on a science project, to determine if the length of parachute cords have an effect on how quickly they drop. So yesterday afternoon, a cold day indeed, I was outside timing his drops as he performed his trials. Boy were my hands cold at the end! But he got some interesting results. Once he firms up his conclusions and figures it all out, I'll have to report what he found.

And finally: reading late Medieval philosophical writings still makes my head explode!  :-)

Feeding the Birds

I thought that while we're feasting on bird for Thanksgiving, I would give the birds we feed at our backyard feeder their due! I am pleased that though I just put it back up on Friday, already many of our birds have returned! Here are the birds we typically get:




Carolina Wren










Tufted Titmouse

Chickadee

Common Sparrow

Cardinal

Junco

Downy Woodpecker

Golden Finch
(though in winter not
as bright as colorful as
this one!)

House Finch






These guys haven't made an appearance yet, but I'm sure they will!

Blue Jay

Red-headed Woodpecker






And these guys I wish would not come around! (But I know they will!) They can clean out my feeder in no time!

Grackle (yes, he's as mean as he looks!)

Starling





And, of course, this guy keeps coming to steal our seed, too! But most of the time we can keep him off the feeder . . . it's not easy though!

If we get any other visitors, I'll make sure to update!

Birdfeeder Edition

We like to feed the birds at my house. In my backyard, we get the usual Sparrows, Chickadees, and Juncos, but also Titmice, Nuthatches, Carolina Wrens, Golden Finches, House and Purple Finches, Downy Woodpeckers, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Morning Doves. It is great fun to watch them all and the different ways they eat.

Yet we also get what we call the "pig birds" - Starlings and Grackles. When they come, they can clean out our feeder in a day! We try to chase them away in favor of the birds we like to watch, but it is a losing battle. It's not that I don't want to feed them, but it would be nice if they would leave some seed for the other birds! Seed isn't cheap. I don't have a solution to this problem, so we just do our best.

Today I am working in our dining room and having just refilled our feeders, am watching the birds as I think and work. What a great variety our Lord has given us to enjoy - even the "pig birds."