After five failed fingerprint submissions to the FBI, we received notice, late on the 13th, that Leslie's 6th submission passed. Jubilation, disbelief, shock, relief, excitement all were experienced over the course of just a few minutes. To say that Leslie was beside herself was an understatement. The previous evening we had learned of the fifth rejection and that really brought us both down. Sleep was elusive and our brains were running back and forth thinking about plans that would have to be modified, alternative options we could pursue and how this was going to affect our hopes of a Spanish Retirement Visa. We were both a bit bleary eyed at the start of this Friday the 13th. Leslie has a long history of mishaps on this day, cars stolen, burglary, and so on, so she was prepared to hunker down and avoid any Cypriot mishaps. Anticipating another difficult night, Leslie hooked up her YouTube Zumba playlist and prepared to dance her jitters away. There was a storm on the way and the rheumatism in my knee was letting me know it was coming. I opted for a quick walk around the neighborhood. It turns out that this date started the Great Backyard Bird Count so I spotted a few while I was out. No new birds but a cute little skink. The anticipated storm blew in with a fury and it shook the windows and pelted the balcony with copious amounts of rain. Several more squalls blew through over the course of the afternoon and evening. Strong winds, lightning and thunder preceded the announcement of Leslie's successful FBI background check. She got the email about 9 PM local time. Huzzah!
One of the big storms rolling towards us
We have seen these two helicopters going back and forth foe a few days now. Military exercises?
There is water in the creek from the recent rains
Great Backyard Bird Count, Medow pipit
Sardinian warbler
A snake eyed skink
The Eurasian stonechat
Collateral damage from the storms
Kestrel before the storm arrived
It was been 3 years and 253 days since we began our Migration
