Last Day of Freedom - Back to Work

Tomorrow it is back to work after three weeks of vacation.  The time has gone by in the blink of an eye.  If only time working went that quickly.  While I am extremely thankful for a job, it is with much dread that I have to go back to the office we have knicknamed "The Tomb".  It could be a primer on poor design for every architectual and design student on what NOT to do.  No natural light (then battleship gray furniture to boot), pitifully poor layout, loud and absolutely no privacy what so ever.  All combine to create an extremely poor work environment. From about 0530 to 0730 is your only opportunity to get any productive work done.  Yes, the thought of returning brings a nervousness rolling back in like a thunder storm.

So enough of that and on with the good.  I begin my decoy carving class tonight and am very much looking forward to it.  The duck we will begin with will be the Lesser Scaup drake.  I guess for beginner carvers this is suppose to be one of the easier ducks.

I spent some time this morning doing searches on photo sharing sites looking at photos and downloaded quite a few to create my storyboard to help in the anatomical study of the duck.  I think it is great that so many are willing to share their pics and allow them to be downloaded.   I am sure it will be a couple of weeks before we start carving.  I  believe you start at the very beginning of squaring up the lumber, gluing up, rough cutting out then finally start carving.

 And finally to birding.  Early this morning when I first pulled up the blinds, one of my favorite birds, a Northern Yellow Shafted Flicker (male) was paying a visit and giving the yard a once over looking for insects.  I like the subtle coloration of their head that conflicts with the intricate patterns on their remaining body.   Unfortunately this time of year, a huge magnolia in my neighbors yard blocks most sunlight until after mid-day so early hour, low light and high ISO do not good pictures make.