A quick pose or two and off he flew

Jim (Garnite) and Linda - a delicate little Bluebird to keep you both company at this sad, sad time (see below) ....

Just after I posted these three photos for today, I went and checked to see if there was an update on how our flickr friend, Jim (Garnite) has been doing today. Late news yesterday was so positive. This is what I found, posted as usual by Greg7 at the Flickr group for Jim:

"I'm sorry to have to report some not so good news right now. It looks like Jim is probably not going to make it. I just came back from the hospital. Linda told me that I could go there and see Jim and talk to him. She said he could hear what was being said, his eyes were partially open, but not actually looking at anything. He was getting 100% of his oxygen from the ventilator. Linda said that they had a meeting with the surgeon and the transplant surgeon and some others and herself to tell her the situation. They said that the pneumonia infection in his good lung was too bad and they couldn't treat it anymore, and that also he was being hit with some other infections. So I guess that basically right now he's just on life support, and they told Linda that they would have to shut that off at some point, she doesn't know when or how they decide, but it sounds like it might be later today."

Such sad, sad news. May Jim spend his remaining time free of pain and at peace. Poor Linda, Jim's loving wife, how we feel for her. Our thoughts and prayers are with you both.

Jim's Flickr photostream:
www.flickr.com/people/garnite/

Link for group, "For Garnite":
www.flickr.com/groups/1655195@N20/

This little Mountain Bluebird male flew from post to post while we were sitting having our picnic lunch on Sunday, after spending the morning recording the plants and wildlife of the Nature Conservancy of Canada location called Connop Estates. This is a beautiful area of rolling hills south of Calgary, with the Rocky Mountains in the distance. For a few quick moments, this bird "posed" on a nearby post, allowing me to get several shots.

Just had a long day out today, starting with an almost three hour walk along the Bow River, from Bankside to Mallard Point. From there, I dashed over to the Zoo for part of the afternoon, and then called in at a local wetland, thinking it would be another great display of birds like the other day. Well, wrong! Very quiet and so few birds : ) And now I am exhausted and can barely keep my eyes open this evening. It only got up to about 16C this afternoon, but it felt hot - not surprising after about seven months of bitterly cold winter weather, ha.