Chapman School Swifts!

Chris made his wonderful waffles for us for breakfast this morning. They were delightful, as usual. Afterwards he and Anara and I drove to the Apple Store in Tigard, about half an hour southwest of his house. On day 2 of the release of the iPhone 6, the line snaked down the block from the store. We walked right in, since we had other business.

I was there for an "out of warranty repair." Translation, dunking your iPhone in the Pacific is not covered by the warranty, but Apple will supply a new or refurbished iPhone for $269. Usually the SIM card is reused, but since mine was most likely corroded by the salt water bath, I got a new SIM. Fortunately, a Verizon representative was in the store, especially to deal with the iPhone 6 release issues, but he was also able to make the change to my Verizon account to put in the info about my new phone.

It was a great feeling to walk out of the store with my iPhone restored. Or almost. It wasn't until later that Chris suggested that I might want to restore from an iCloud backup. That worked like a charm. Very soon all my apps and settings were restored, except that I have to login to each one to start fresh with it.

Meanwhile, Chris had picked up new iPhone 6's for him and Anara yesterday. All was well, except that the numbers were reversed, so that Anara's number was on her dad's phone and vice versa. The Verizon rep was able to take care of that issue too.

This evening we packed a picnic supper and took a bus to Chapman School to see the famous Vaux's Swifts in their nightly return to the large chimney at the school to roost for the night. This phenomenon occurs each September as the swifts gather for their migration south.

The swifts gather around sunset, swirling around overhead. Crowds gather on the lawn to watch this fascinating process. Many picnic, and children slide down a hill on large pieces of cardboard. The Audiobook Society staffs a booth with information about the swifts.

Someone else besides the people knows the swifts are coming.  While we watched, a Cooper's hawk arrived on the scene, first perching in a tree and then landing on the chimney. The swifts back off, but they know they must find a roost. After a bit, the hawk chased some swifts, but we couldn't tell if it had actually caught any.