Brain Scratching

They captured her and tried to save her leg. Then after the surgery, she had a heart attack. I really liked Violet, the news of her death was really enough to make me cry.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/12/30/violet-injured-red-tailed-hawk-dies-following-surgery/

However, Bobby has moved on, found a new mate, Rosie and they've moved into the old nest. Last counting she's sitting on two eggs! Here's the link for the NYU Hawk Cam.

http://www.nyu.edu/sustainability/hawks/

I remember looking out at the backyard through the window from the crib, and tossing my new shoes down the stairs because I didn't want to slip and slide on the rug. Apparently I was a pretty smart kid.

Every year since 2001, I have watched the tribute to the souls lost on September 11th. A decade later, I thought it would be easier to listen to all the 3000 names and the family members who add their own personal statements after reading the group assigned. To hear the emotion in their voices, and to see them struggle to make it through the names is always hard. This year the memorial wall, seeing the names engraved in granite, watching the family members touching the names of their loved ones, some making tracings and some placing flags or flowers in the serif cuts of the letters made it feel like the very first memorial ceremony, where I remember crying off and on for the entire broadcast. It still hurts and I don't ever know when it will not tear at my heart to watch. I have always been a New Yorker, and proud of it. Each year on 9/11, I feel part of the family of New York that lost so many and so much. May the love and healing continue.

CHARACTER CHECKLISTS – A NECESSARY EVIL

There is nothing worse than getting halfway through a story and have to thumb through chapters looking for the color of a main character’s eyes or hair. Even the size/weight of your character or age of the character when the novel started can get lost in the sauce of your first draft. Who has the luxury of time to stop and go back to double check? When getting the story down pat, it’s amazing how much of the major/minor details you can forget, unless you create checklists. I use them for my short stories and especially my novels to keep track of physical descriptions as well as the character’s relationship to the others. I have one-page checklists for the short stories, and a full eight-page checklist for my novel characters. I have split the eight-page checklist so it covers two at a time, usually the main two characters. I may not use every question in my checklist, but by the time I finish, I have a detailed account of my main characters.

 What type of components should be included in a checklist? First the usual: date, place of birth, full name and the meaning of the name (if it’s unique); physical attributes like eye and hair color, height, weight, build, skin tone and hair style. Other details like home town, hobbies, favorite music, food, literature, color and drink become major tidbits of information as well. Things like, what mode of transportation does your character use; is he or she a drinker? Smoker? How much education does she or he have, and what is the primary occupation, are important points as well. I ask does my character have children, is the relationship with the children important, and if the parents are alive, what is the relationship between them? Even if the description is no more than a few mentions here and there in the novel or short story, it’s important to have something you can build on.

 What else should you have in a checklist? Everything I described above is rather generic and straightforward. I also ask which of the seven deadly sins or virtues does my character give into or fight against, what talents does my character have, what is the biggest regret? Biggest accomplishment, what are the peculiarities? What is his or her’s darkest secret and who knows about it? What do friends/family like most/least about the character? How does the character react to change or new problems? What is his or her drives and motivations? Is she or he divorced? Who is the person your character secretly admires and why? What is the religion and spiritual beliefs, and what part of religion or spiritually does it play in the character’s life. I even want to list what pets the character has, where he or she hangs out, where does the character vacation, and even what is the present and previous relationships with the opposite sex. I even list at least four close friends, their names and ages.

 A couple of writing friends saw my character checklists and customized them for their own use.  They realized this was a good way to build main characters and keep them consistent throughout your novel or short story. To have to stop and double check something 150 or more pages back is just not good when you’re under deadline. So build the skeleton first, the meat goes on easier that way.

Hopefully pursuing writing as a career, because I'm sick of working for someone else. Remember the word "hire" means 'to use' and so many companies like to add "ab" to that "use."

I was so happy to see Pip take his/her first flight on Thursday around noon. S/He looked as though s/he had been doing it for months LOL. The nervous parents, Violet and Bobby watched from the top of a building close by, after taunting Pip with a tasty lunch that s/he would have to fly and get. The experts mentioned that Violet & Bobby may return to the nest next year and do it all over again, but they have been wrong before. The proud parents will keep an eye on their young one and leave meals in the crotches of trees so s/he won't starve. The statistics say only 2 in 5 young hawks survive in the city, but I have a feeling Pip is going to be one of the 2 because s/he is a star already and has a following who will fight for his/her right to be a native New Yorker. Nature is a beautiful thing!

Here's his/her fledgling on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch

Enjoy!

Now after watching this Live Stream Hawk Cam for close to about 6 weeks, I must admit it’s been fascinating to watch the NYU Hawks in action. They now have a Face Book page (see link below), and the Live Stream has a chat feature where concerned hawk enthusiasts comment on every little thing that the hawk family does, including slice (a term for bird poop). The experts are counting down the time in between feedings because now the young hawk is snatching nips of his own food from right under his mother’s talons!

Bobby, who was diligent in bringing food for Violet while she was trying to hatch the eggs, is now just dropping in a couple of times daily to check out things. The eyas who has been tagged Pip by the readers of the New York Times spends a lot of time outside of the nest, flexing his/her wings and seeing the world from the ledge instead of the nest. The estimated time for when s/he should start trying to fly is late June to early July, but the ‘experts’ have been wrong before (they thought none of the eggs would actually hatch). As you can see from these photos on the Face Book page, that s/he’s no longer that cute ball of down and has all the right feathers in the right places. S/He still has a habit of swishing his/her tail, and pulling his/her mother’s tail feathers when hungry, which I find amusing.

Here's the link to the Face Book page:
http://www.facebook.com/nyuhawks?sk=photos

I felt sorry for them yesterday when the temperature soared to over 102 degrees in the shade, and both Violet and Pip were panting their way through the day trying to cool off as best they could. It was hot enough for eggs to fry on the asphalt, and hawks are not known for swooping down for a dip in the fountain like their prey the sparrows and pigeons. Luckily, a quick moving thunderstorm cooled the air a bit, and a glimpse at Pip in the nest that night showed a rather tired young bird (now considered a teenager in bird months) trying his/her best to settle into slumber, looking positively exhausted, like many humans did after that sweltering heat.

When Pip finally takes his/her first flight, I don’t know if they’ll keep the Hawk Cam rolling, but if they do, it’ll be great to see the youngster leave the nest and return with an “I made it! Hot damn!” expression on her/his face!

 

They have decided to leave Violet alone. She's functioning as best she can with that swollen leg, still able to swoop down and snatch up rats and squirrels to feed to Lil Bit, who has yet to be named. I worried about this rescue all day, and was relieved to find the experts re-thought this situation. Apparently she's been dealing with this band constricting her leg since October, and the fact she's spending so much time sitting down and not flying may be the reason why it's so swollen.

Violet, the NYU red-tailed hawk

 

For more than 3 weeks, I’ve been a fan of the New York Times “Hawk Cam,” where they have been watching a pair of young red-tailed hawks – named Violet and Bobby – who have built their nest right outside the 12^th floor window of the president of New York University. For most of those three weeks, the so-called experts kept saying the eggs weren’t viable and there would not be any hatchlings this year. Well last Friday, Violet (named for one of NYU’s school colors) got up from her spot and we saw that one of the eggs had hatched and the cutest little eyas rested comfortably in the nest. That shut the experts up fast as they miscalculated the dates from the start. I cheered because poor Violet had been so determined to hatch her eggs, sitting on them almost 24/7, getting out to feed on whatever her mate brought her for dinner. He added a few extra twigs, some plastic as well as paper things like a French fry box from McDonalds, and a wrapper with some sort of food still in it.

 

Violet has a tracking band around her right leg, and unfortunately, it has caused her leg to swell up to three times the size of her left leg. She is hobbling around, unbalanced and having difficulty standing on it as it must hurt. This is distressing to watch, as she’s had this band on for quite some time but it has not stopped her from being a mother, feeding her baby and bonding with her little hatchling. Bobby (named for the Bobst library) has brought plenty of tasty rodents for them and even though I have watched with fascination, Violet sure knows how to rip and shred her way through whatever size rat he brought her, and I think it was yesterday when they had a squirrel for a late dinner and breakfast the next morning.

 

The raptor experts have decided to find a way to treat Violet’s leg, but it may mean she will be transported to the Bronx Zoo as the best place for them to remove the wildlife tracking band and give her antibiotics. I’m hoping they can trap, treat and release her without too much trauma to her, the unnamed eyas and Bobby. It’s amazing how nature, even when interfered with (by humans), stays true and loving. The little cute eyas could not ask for a better mother, even in pain, she’s there for him or her. I hope the experts and the vet can do the right thing and keep the family together. As long as they keep the live stream on the nest, I’ll continue watching because Violet & Bobby are fascinating to observe. The beauty of nature at work!

Well, since we're dreaming here, a Klingon warbird with cloaking device would work for me. I could park anywhere! Can't steal what you can't see!