Don't think there's any water over there...

There's a crowd at the bird bath--2 robins all plumped up against the 20° (F) cold, and 3 cedar waxwings, plus more robins on the ground. But it appears that the waxwings are hopping around on top of what should be the water, so I think things are frozen solid. I may take a pan of warm water out shortly to (briefly) provide some liquid.

Over at the feeder area it's bluebird city--2 males, 3 females. Plus a wren, the usual collection of house finches, and a downy and a red-bellied woodpecker are trading places on the suet, running off the bluebirds. A dark-eyed junco just appeared to scavenge on the ground.

I noted a female bluebird going in the nest box this morning. Do they use the nest for shelter at this time of year, or are they nesting already? Seems a little early, and I haven't cleaned out the box from last year. I thought I had at least a month or so before I needed to do that...

Denvention, and more Denver travel

Prompted by Internet buzz of accomodations being in short supply, I made my reservations for Denvention on Monday, the first day for doing so. My first choice (the Courtyard) showed as sold out which turned out not to be true, but I think the Crowne Plaza where I ended up will work just as well if not better. Certainly the location is a little more central, being between the party hotel and the convention center. I decided not to spend the extra $$ and stay at the Hyatt attached to the CC, so this is pretty good.

I'm actually off to Denver this Sunday for work--a week-long training class for Database Administrators for the National Water Information System, my agency's principal database. Parts of NWIS I know well enough to teach this class, but other parts I know nothing about. Then I go back to Denver in March and June for the regular database testing weeks, before Denvention in August. I'm going to know those Denver flights really well by the end of the year, if not as well as the year I had 8 trips to Denver. I think that was 2002...

In the usual Murphy's Law fashion, Denvention conflicts with InvestEd, the successor convention to CompuFest after various Issues at BetterInvesting led to that organization alienating the CompuFest organizing group. I missed last year's inaugural InvestEd because I wasn't willing to do an extra cross-country trip to L.A., but this year it's just up the road in Charlotte, N.C. However, WorldCon with Lois Bujold as GoH trumps my desire to see my old CompuFest buddies--and there will (I hope) be another InvestEd next year.