Osprey - 7-23-2015 at 10:45 AM
In Praise of Outdoor Living
Our little Mexican house has a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and utility room; no great room, living room. We live outside on our lee side roomy and
comfortable patio. Many of you have places like mine so you know how wonderful outdoor living can be but for those who are looking to the future, to a
maybe home down here, some thoughts on patio living.
Twenty one years ago we drove to San Jose to a nursery to buy some plants and when we were paying for them I spotted some handsome fountains for sale.
What we both wanted was the refreshing bubbling of a fountain next to our new living area and we bought one for about $200 bucks. At the time I was
thinking about the fountain sounds against the cost and wondering if I had made a good decision.
The fountain is made of some strange and wonderful amalgam of cement and foam or something. It installed in hours and when I bought a proper pump and
it began to bubble I loved using a simple wood file to custom the cascade from top to bottom.
The fountain is about 15 feet from where we sit to enjoy TV, meals, card games, music, conversation and chats with friends and drop-ins. Not long
after the fountain began to bubble, birds began to find it for life support and baths. There aren’t many fountains (if any) in this little village and
we were delightfully surprised that so many kinds of birds were showing up for drinks and baths.
I’m a slow learner but eventually I put in some feeding trays and began to buy bird seed and give them all an opportunity for a treat and a bath. Now
I cut fruit for them every day and they are regular and legion and have become our everyday adventure and delight as we count the colors and kinds,
watch the intrigue of the social movements, the pecking order, the feeding practices, the territorial and sexual skirmishes that happen almost daily.
On some days we see 20 or 30 White Wing dove, ruddy ground dove, Aztec dove, cardinals, pyrruloxia, phainopepla, 20 or more kinds of wrens and
sparrows and on one special day I had a visit from a Black White Wing dove. I took some pictures and I would like to believe that it was a Soccoro
Dove which, with numbers under 100, is officially extinct.
People down here don’t kill White Wing dove and I don’t suppose they would bother to kill the Soccoro Dove. The few remaining families of Soccoro Dove
are holding out on Soccoro Island just under 300 hundred miles south of the tip of the Baja California peninsula.
The Soccora Dove have unfortunately chosen to live in the path of every other tropical cyclone in this part of the hemisphere --- the last few storm
tracks with over 100 mph winds went right over the small Revillagigedo archipelago (I’m the only gringo in the village who knows how to say that, by
the way) and a look at the tracks of the last 50 years (NOAA) will make you glad you live anywhere but there.
So, in closing, I thought I was putting in the fountain for the bubbles; the 200 bucks returned a billion dollars in value like bringing National
Geographic right on to my patio while I’m just sitting on my butt.
pauldavidmena - 7-23-2015 at 11:11 AM
So I guess you're saying that your fountain is really "for the birds"? 
Osprey - 7-23-2015 at 11:26 AM
Pablo, one more chance for me to clarify: "Outdoor Living" means you have to enjoy the fountain, the birds where they are, outdoors. Still a lot of
enjoyment just looking out the window in your modern, all-weather digs but if one lives "with the birds" you get a much better perspective.
The birds come on to my patio daily to eat the left over dog food from the bowls. They love it. I can tell when I hear the little ones barking around
the fountain.
pauldavidmena - 7-23-2015 at 11:44 AM
Jorge - I was just joking, of course. Mary and I are looking forward to being able to spend many hours with the birds, among the cacti, and with ocean
waves serenading us. Sure beats snowblindness.