Daylight Savings. Spring Birding. Academy Awards nominees. Carport Sunshade.

Don't forget to put your clocks back one hour tonight. (Unless **)


"Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend, and that has us dreaming of warmer temperatures, longer days, and spring migrants. It's time to dust off those binoculars as the first of the migratory birds begin to wing their way north.

In the Northeast, keep an eye (and an ear) out for warblers. These tiny, brightly colored, insect-eating birds will be heading our way from their wintering grounds as far away as Central and South America. 
Some birds that winter in the Northeast will soon be harder to spot as they move further north, so now's the time to offer well wishes to birds like white-throated sparrows, tree sparrows, and dark-eyed juncos.

• If you're visiting the Bronx Zoo, take along our Wild Bird Guide, which will help you identify the birds that migrate through or reside on Zoo grounds.
• It's important to keep your birdfeeder neat. Clean the ground around the feeder where discarded hulls and bird droppings may have accumulated, and check the condition of the feeder, too.
• What's that bird? If you're curious about one of the spring migrants you've spotted, look it up in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds guide. "
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DST**
"Daylight Saving Time, for the U.S. and its territories, is NOT observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, most of the Eastern Time Zone portion of the State of Indiana, and the state of Arizona (not the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does observe). Navajo Nation participates in the Daylight Saving Time policy, due to its large size and location in three states.
Daylight Savings Time is a good reminder to check your flashlight batteries, check all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and do things to keep you and your family safe.
If you observe it, do not forget, Sunday is the start of Daylight Savings Time in the US, some countries on the 27th."
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And the Oscar Goes to... the Environment!

"This year's Academy Awards nominees included several films on environmental topics. In the feature-length documentary category were Gasland and Waste Land, films about the dangers of drilling for shale gas and the difficult life of rubbish pickers surviving on a Brazilian landfill, respectively.
The short-documentary category included The Warriors of Qiugang, a story about poor villagers standing up against pollution in China's industrial heartland and Sun Comes Up, a portrait of the world's first climate refugees whose South Pacific home, the Cataret Islands, is losing ground to rising sea levels. You can learn more about these movies and watch the trailers in this article from Good Magazine."



And more at: http://www.good.is/post/the-four-excellent-environmental-films-that-got-oscar-nods/

First two articles are from: http://e.wcs.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=12821.0&dlv_id=16444#tips
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Today:

Jay and I installed the wooden framework for the R-panel going on one of the new sunshades over the carports.  This is the largest and most important one as it is the sitting area for the guest house.  Blackie and Orange Glow like to nap out there on their chairs during the day, and Shay likes to sit out there to brush Orange Glow's long Persian hair.

Ray sanded, primed and painted the clothes dryer that I just had repaired.  It had been all scratched up on the top and we didn't want to put it back in the utility room looking like that. We left it on the hand truck, so it could be easily moved around, as it had to be moved outside for painting.   It will have to have another coat of paint tomorrow, so it is back in the workshop for tonight.

The weather is lovely, it got quite warm out there in the mid-day sun, (Jay said hot, but he has high blood pressure), so we didn't get the R-panel installed today.