The Hawk Paid a Visit

The wild bird buffet has expanded. In the front we have a cedar house like feeder. The squirrels use it the most. I put a few sunflower seeds there. They knock out the seeds and the pigeons clean up the rest. I have two suet feeders. The little bushtits, the starlings and the flickers feed there about every two hours. When they come, the Oregon Junko's come and clean up what drops. The sparrows and the house finches come to the hanging feeders. For some reason, they all come at the same time.

Evidently the variety has attacted a new bird. We had a Peregrine Falcon stop by for a visit. We must have some plump pigeons. I can not imagine one landing so close to the ground but there it sat. In the tree. It sat for awhile. The bird world went silent. I had shrike flash backs but the visit was only momentary and not productive for the Falcon. It did a lot to scare the birds and squirrels. They fled for a long time. They did not come in groups for a number of hours.
They finally did return and are back to their usual eating habits.

We have a lot of peregrine Falcons circling our world right now. Some just come and rest for a bit and are a bother. Some are more persistent and circle from way up high. They are the thing that makes are always just a bit tense. When will they dive and attach. Will we have the strength to fight them off? Will the world be safe after a long wait. Will there be any relief from the pressure of knowing they are there?

M-E has been fighting a cold. She has been just miserable. She has a good ANC right now due to the steroids she was on for a week. They gave her a good ANC but made her very emotional and cravings for things like Tim's Potato Chips and Onion Dip have been out of control. We are just keeping a wary eye on that hawk.

The most ominous raptor right now is the Bald Eagle that is follows her everywhere. She gets no relief from the flapping of it's wings and that swooshing sound it makes as it dives. DRESSING CHANGES: In mid December she had a new PICC line put in and it was placed in her upper arm on the inside. The skin there is very tender and there have been a number of problems with the dressings. They use something called Tegaderm to cover the insertion site. Tegaderm is like really dense plastic with lots of adhesive on it. It is impermeable to anything like moisture or bacteria. It is great until it is time to remove it. We have tried everything. She has finally decided she is ready for a Port. A Port is something that is placed under the skin and can be accessed with a needle and allows them to draw blood and give her chemo and fluids when she needs it. When it is not accessed, she can swim and do lots of stuff like take a real bath or a shower.

She has to have her PIIC dressing changed once a week. She is scheduled for today. She has made herself sick over the change and is so anxious that she slept with me last night and was crying for hours. I just don't know what to do. All of her anxiety and fear and frustration in live has been focused on this one issue.

We will go and do the dressing change today. We will work on what we have to do tomorrow. She is very wary, like the birds that know the hawk has made a visit. She won't land at the feeder until she knows the coast is clear.