After finishing up Empire of the Summer Moon yesterday, I started watching The Crown (restarted from beginning of Season 1, but have now moved into "new" episodes.)

This morning I shuttled the kids down to the ranch for Science Camp, and stayed for the session on raptors.  There's a chance that Marla will be doing a presentation up at the Pavilion on Thursday evening for adults, but "just in case" that doesn't happen, I'm really glad I attended today.  I learned a lot - and took copious notes!

For example, a barn owl has offset ears to aid in finding prey at night.

Adaptations in the edges of their feathers 

are what allow owls to fly to silently.

Owls' eyes don't move in their sockets, though owls can rotate their heads 350 degrees!  Here's Elijah with the owl skull.

Big eye sockets!

Marla showed excellent seen-from-below silhouettes of the eight types of raptors (eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, ospreys, vultures, harriers, and kites) with helpful hints on how to identify them.  After the class session we only had to exit from under the tent to be rewarded with a red-tailed hawk trio (Mom and Dad teaching junior the ropes) and a couple of kestrels. I'd brought my binoculars with me, though I did better finding (and thus watching) the flying birds without them.

The kids really enjoyed the raptor game out on the lawn.

Cynthia (and Olive) gave me a tour of the ranch house.  (It's nice - but talk about a steep flight of stairs!)  Cynthia and Scott will be moving out once their new house in Crestone is built (that target date is December) and Michael and Loretta would like to rent the vacated ranch house.  However OLT has not yet decided if they will rent it out again, or keep it for use by staff, or turn it into a B&B, etc.  

Here are Cynthia and Olive outside the kitchen/bathroom building (for use by folks working at the ranch or attending workshops.)

A few more pix of buildings from the ranch:

And here's the garden:

(Did you spot the guy working in the garden?)

Since I had cell reception down at the ranch, I made a few phone calls.  Spoke with Mom, who sounds more chipper - though she said she can't really tell if the inhaler is working yet.  Wanda had said it could take a few weeks, so I'm guessing it's a slow process.  However from my vantage point it seems to be working, though Mom will have to wait for official confirmation at her next visit with the doctor.

Then I spoke with Tom.  I'd gotten an e-mail that irrigation had been cancelled, and people on FB had a been posting about the winds yesterday, so I guessed (correctly) that we'd had another monsoon. 

Sure enough, Tom said everything was a mess; the pool looks as bad, or worse, than after the last storm, and some of the cottonwood limbs came down.  Joy & Dick, across the street, have lived there "forever", and said they have never seen a storm that bad.  Needless to say Tom, who'd been out in the yard dealing with the aftermath since 6:00, was not a happy camper.

This afternoon I spent an hour or so up at the pool. Chatted with Leslie, who is reading a book about Nellie Bly that she recommends.  When she headed to the sauna I read the first few pages, which I enjoyed, so I will add it to my To Read list.