Third Time's Not the Charm for Blood Donation

 

This evening I went to give blood, and once again they rejected me. This time it was for the same old reason I always used to get - my iron levels are too low. I had been feeling all healthy and invincible and bulletproof when they were over 13, but that was from taking supplements on top of my multivitamin, which already has 100% of my supposed daily need for iron. Then again, my neighbor says her son, who is a guy in his 20's, has to take iron because he's so active - he's a long-distance runner. So maybe I'm just burning more iron than the average person, because I walk over five miles every day. So I asked the doctor, and she said I could take the supplements on top of the multivitamin. But will they ever accept my blood, or will they think of some new reason to reject it? That's the question...

This evening Travalon and I went down to the dock to watch the sunset. At first it wasn't the most impressive one, but then after the sun went down, it illuminated a cloud that looked like a burning feather. I took this first photo with Travalon's camera. (He took the rest.)

If you look carefully, there's a helicopter in this photo, at the right edge of the upper "evil eye" cloud.

These clouds really looked like flames in the sky.

Here is a sailboat coming in for the night.

Sailboats already in for the night.

And remember this little bird?

I put a plea on MyFace to the Hive Mind to help me identify it, and someone suggested it was a fledgling yellow-headed blackbird. Someone else suggested I join a MyFace group dedicated to birdwatching, so I did, and they confirmed that this is what it is. Ever since we discovered Patrick Marsh and learned it has the largest flock of yellow-headed blackbirds east of the Mississippi, I have wanted to see one in the worst way. And now technically I can say that I have, although it's not as striking as a jet-black adult with a bright yellow head. Still, it is quite pretty. Travalon actually spotted this bird first; usually I am the one who sees the birds first, and then I point them out to him so he can photograph them. Maybe the adults were not too far away from their fledgling, but alas, we never saw them.

Famous Hat