Wingspan

I've tagged Sundays as a day to share a more light-hearted topic as a blog post - but I didn't have time to write a post for Friday.  So, I went and stole Sunday's post so I would have something for Friday.  Now what will I do for Sunday?  Saturday is also a question mark.  Oh my!  The drama!

In everything there needs to be balance, even when there is much to be done and needs to be met.  We are fortunate that we are able to find ways to work on the balance in our lives and we hope you also have ways to do the same.  Perhaps, by sharing some nice pictures or more entertaining content, it will encourage others to take those moments that remind you that life is worth living and that there are good things to do and experience.

This week, I thought I would share a little about a game that Tammy and I have played on (almost) a daily basis since last December.  There seems to be a lot of that going around with me.  Daily blog posts since the end of March.  Daily facebook and twitter posts for the farm since prior to that.  For sixty days I posted postal history items in postal history discussion area.  Some of this is an offering to help others and some of it is a recognition that I, personally, will do better if I consistently do some things to reach out.

So, without further ado - Wingspan.

We mentioned this game back in February when I created a post about work we all should be doing to help our diverse bird species who are struggling right now.   Since that time, we have continued to play this game AND we have found that our interest in our bird friends has actually increased.  Our ability to identify some different birds  on our farm has improved and we have found ourselves returning to our old habits of looking up things in the bird books we have.  This is a habit we used to enjoy, but we allowed the constant activities of the farm, teaching and daily life to take it away.

We have always been fairly good about observing what is going on around us in nature.  But, since we started playing this game regularly, we have found that our experience in observing the birds around us has become richer and more satisfying.  I don't think either of us fully attributes all of this to the game itself.  After all, there are so many things different this Spring than so many before.  But, it certainly has become a touch point for us.

I think, perhaps, that much of it has to do with the fact that this is a thing that Tammy and I are doing together.  I think it is safe to say that neither of us is more of an expert than the other in this area.  Our knowledge has very much grown over time together, rather than one bringing the other up to speed. 

In any event, I have found learning new things with Tammy is one of the high-lights of recent months.  It's a good thing - and I am happy if it continues.  (Speaking of Highlights, the Classic Crime came out with a new album that has a song by that title.  Take the link if you are interested - we like it).

One of the early goals we had was to see if one of us could crack the 100-point mark.  For a time, we were convinced that it would take a good bit of luck and the perfect game to reach that number.  After initially reaching that goal in mid-March, I have reached or passed 100 ten more times and Tammy has gotten to that benchmark an amazing 16 times!

From a win/loss perspective, I have a slight 5 game edge with a record of 133-128-8.  Yes.  We have kept track.  Are we nerds or what?!  But, it gets a bit nerdier than that.  We also know that our average scores are 84.4 to 83.9 in my favor.  It seems Tammy has a propensity to win the higher scoring games and Rob the lower scoring games.

You can roll your eyes at us if you like.  But, we are enjoying the game.  We are enjoying talking about it.  We are appreciating wildlife more - both at the farm and at other locations, such as Sweet Marsh.  But, most importantly, we are doing this together.