Sky Fire

Sunset clouds in Grand Portage, MN on August 8, .

Visitors From the East

The week of awesome bike riding weather continues. Little chill in the morning, but rising to the 70s with sunshine and very light wind. Could stay like this for a while.

Kept the cell phone handy today as I was expecting a call from high school buddy and his wife - traveling thorough the area. They called just as I was about the head out on my bike ride. They expected to be in Council Bluffs in a little over 1.5 hours.

Perfect for my ride - Wabash Trace Trailhead to and around Lake Manawa, and back to the trailhead. I was NOT happy to see that it was gonna be another ride with my heart in A-Fib. Drank a little extra water and headed out on my ride.

Great ride. Racked and locked the bike onto the car and headed over to Village Inn at I-80 & Madison Ave. Don't you know - a detour. Delayed me a couple minutes. My visitors arrived at the restaurant a little before I did. My cell was ringing about the same time I saw a Wisconsin vehicle near me in the lot.

Had a nice visit and lunch with Theo & Pete Knigge. The were driving into Nebraska to attend the Wisconsin-Nebraska football game. Great to see you today!

Welcoming Fall

Hello fall! I love you! I love you! It's my favorite season.
Darcie and I celebrated last night by having her favorite chicken salad (with grapes and celery) on a croissant. I know that doesn't sound very "fallish", but she won't eat the stew I had made. I was in an indulgent mood.
For dessert we made Smores in the microwave. I know that's lame, but who wants to start a bonfire when it's 75 degrees outside? Not I!
The thin, summery clothes are put away. No whites after Labor Day around here! I'll swelter for a few weeks in my fall clothes until cooler weather gets here. I'd rather mark the seasons as I remember them growing up than adapt to this hotter climate I live in now. Call me stubborn. Yes, I am, but that's how I roll!

Kettle Moraine State Forest

The weather cooled off a bit yesterday. And, the humidity dropped - actually a comfortable day. A bit windy, so headed to the Kettle Moraine State Forest, North Unit to get my dirt fix.
What ended up getting fixed was my bike - more on that later.
I checked the Wisconsin State Parks web site and noted that Kettle Moraine is a unit of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve. As such, my National Park Service Senior Pass was honored. Saved me the $10 vehicle fee. Still had to pay the $4 bicycle trail fee.
From the Forest Headquarters, it was down to New Fane trails area. Rode the 1/2 mile warm-up loop. Mosquitoes were nasty so stopped at the car to spray bug juice. Off on to loop 2.
Heading into that trail, it seemed that there were more "baby head" rocks on the trail. Lots more than I remembered from November. I know the trail is new, so all the rain this year might have exposed the rocks.
Pedaling up a hill, I quickly remembered that the Fuel EX7 was having shifting issues. Was skipping the chain the last time I rode it (back at Tsali). I should have headed back to the car, but kept on riding. On to Loop 3. The problem was getting worse so took a short cut back. 1.7 miles in my ride the chain broke.
Hike-a-bike back to the car. Now, I had ridden 1.2 miles into loops 2 and 3, but walking back on the hiking trail took me 1.7 miles to the car. Of course, the mosquitoes a swarming over me. Was a miserable walk back.
Once back to town, called a local Trek dealer - Grafton Ski and Cyclery. They said they were not too busy and could look at the bike. Replaced the chain and adjusted shifters. Told me the bottom bracket bearings are going bad.

Oregon Weather in Texas

Talk about a difference a day makes! On Oct. 14, the high was 87; Oct. 15, the high was 86; today started out at 58 and it is now 60 degrees F. at 1:30 p.m. The difference? Oregon weather has stalled out over Texas. Yep, that's right folks, south Texas is gray, gloomy, rainy, and chilly. I feel right at home. LOL.

This morning, I had follow-up for my lab tests and results of my bone density test and mammogram. Lab tests showed my LDL (bad) cholesterol dropped from 141 to 115 and my cholesterol dropped from 207 to 184. Really good! All our healthy eating is paying off.

The bone density test is normal. The mammogram, however, apparently needs to be re-done on the left as there is a 1.8 cm "focal asymmetry;" right is normal. Does focal asymmetry mean they didn't focus correctly? Don't know. Guess I'll find out.

After the doctor's office visit, I met Bob for an Indian cuisine lunch which was yummy, but I would have liked mine a little spicier. After lunch, I shopped at Costco, then headed back to the 5er.

You would not have wanted to be my cats when I returned home. The African violet plant that Bob bought for me a few months ago, which was finally starting to grow well with numerous new leaves, had been chewed almost to the dirt. Three leaves remain. A heap of leaves and dirt were sitting on the counter. Grrrrrr! I'll see if I can save it. That's an awful lot of trauma for the plant. Anybody want a couple of cats? Just kidding.

Box with a Bow-ie

Sunnie the Sunshine Cat.

In a few minutes I'm off to Planet Fitness to work out with weights. Walking is not enough...I'd like to develop additional muscle to burn fat more efficiently. I'm waiting for my lunch to digest a bit more before I go.

The new birdseed I purchased at Wild Birds Unlimited is doing the trick at keeping away the squirrels, just like the sales lady said it would. Since I have bought this different seed, the squirrels have not come near the feeder, but the doves and cardinals are loving it. Good purchase.

Tonight on TV I'll be watching Survivor and CSI. Survivor has been excellent so far this season.

Feels like I'm going to have to turn on the heat, it's rather chilly in here. Indoor thermometer says 64 degrees.

Happy Hump Day. Travel Bug out.

Avalon's Trip to the V-E-T - Vegetative Matters...

Avalon had to go to the V-E-T today. After we played at McInnis Park with the grandkids, Avalon sneezed about 100 times and coughed like she was gonna upchuck or something. Momma was quite alarmed and we all packed up and went over to Dr. Bill. He wanted her to stay there until he could really give her the once-over. I told her not to get anxious - that Dr. B. was totally cool in all ways. We went on about our day, but Momma was watchin' the phone.
Finally... around 4:30, we found out that Avalon had "inhaled" some vegetative matters (plants that grow above ground) up her right nostril and it had made her nose interiors very raw and also her tonsils, poor pupper. We piled into the Sammiemobile and raced over to get her. This is the vet tech, Vickie with Ava.
She looked okay - Mom gave her oodles of hugs and loves...
She was all over the cookie that Vickie had for her!
We are supposed to keep her quiet (ha ha ha) for a week or so, but that isn't working out too well. To get the "vegitative matter" out, Dr. Bill used a saline solution. Avalon's poor eyes and right side (of her face) are very tender. We wish she would sleep, but she would really like to get outside and play, making noises to indicate this.
Avalon is very good at making faces that elicit sympathy!

Here's Avalon with a smile that displays her resilience! Hopefully, with her Benadryl-like medicine, she'll be better totally soon! Friends all: CAREFUL of all "vegetative matters" and especially foxtails that are out there in force!!!

Meet the Pandion Haliaetus Family of Mid-Bay Shores

Mid-Bay Shores, Maxwell-Gunter Rec Area — Niceville, Florida
Temps: Lo 52F / Hi 77F (11C / 25C)

Like yesterday morning, we woke up to a reading of 57F (14C) on the thermometer — just a few degrees higher than the day’s low at 6:00a. No al fresco breakfasting for the second day in a row! It didn’t take long for the day to warm up, however. By the time I set off on my 1.6 mile (2.5 km) beach walk, I was happy to have a gentle breeze to cool me off as the sun continued to raise the temperature.

Where was Mui while I was walking? At the dentist for his 6-month check-up. I think I got the better end of that deal ;-)

Red-breasted mergansers resting on a comfy bed of beach wrack.

My friend the great blue heron was nowhere to be found, but in addition to the mergansers, one of the green herons from a few days ago was at the boat canal to greet me. And just a few feet away, a mourning dove flew in to look for breakfast. Off to a good start!

Green Heron

Love the attractive blue eye-ring on the otherwise dull-colored mourning dove.

Once I reached the area fronting the campground, the birdlife dwindled. Not good for the camera, but great to keep the pace of my walk at exercise-level. Once I rounded White Point, my pace slowed again and the shutter clicking increased.

Comb Jelly (??) — anyone out there who can help with the ID?

I found one photo on the web that identified the above jelly as being infused with oil from the BP spill. Sounds unlikely to me. After all, considerable time has passed since that incident, but what do I know. It’s creatures like this — not to mention the one in the photo below — that keep me out of the water ;-) Actually, the shallows all along the beach were filled with hundreds of these jellies a few days ago. We asked a couple of guys who were fishing in waist-deep water at the time and they said they weren’t stung by them, so that was a good thing.

Sea Nettle – just look at the length of those tentacles.
The tentacles contain toxins used to paralyze and capture prey.
these jellyfish also cause painful stings to swimmers.

You definitely don’t want to be swimming with the sea nettle.

The Dragonfly is one of the insects nicknamed Mosquito Hawk.

OK, ready to play a game? It’s called find the great blue herons. I walked by the dead tree in the center photo of the collage, saw the obvious GBH, took a photo, and walked on. Then, I stopped and looked back, and from my new vantage point I saw another one. Perhaps I missed that GBH the first time because it was sleeping with its head tucked into its body. What do you get if you find both GBH? Nothing but the satisfaction of knowing that you are an observant individual ;-)

Can you find both herons in the tree in the middle of the collage?

Now for the best part of my day — and the title of this post. Avid birders will already know that I am referring to an osprey family. You might recall that I came across an osprey nest a few days ago and commented that I thought there was at least one chick in the nest because of the way mama osprey was bending her head down periodically as though to feed it. I was right, and I got to see the chick today. From what I have read, the eggs in an osprey clutch hatch about five days apart. So, I’ll keep an eye on the nest to see if another one (or two, or three) chicks hatch before we leave. But this one looks more than just a few days old to me, so it just might be the only one.

Meet the Osprey Family of Mid-Bay Shores.

Since my first sighting, I’ve learned enough about ospreys to be able to identify them accurately (I hope). The adult osprey on the branch is the male (white chest); and the adult in the nest is female (developing brown necklace on the chest). She’s larger than he is; that’s another indicator. Also, until the chick is six weeks old, the male does all the hunting. No need to introduce the chick — I don’t know the gender, so I’ll refer to it as junior.

I didn’t know if I was going to be privy to any osprey action, but I decided to wait around for a while. Rather than stand out in the open, I moved around to the other side of the nest and stood under the welcome shade of some trees. I wasn’t trying to hide from the osprey — impossible to do that since they have such keen eyesight. But by standing at a distance and under the trees, I was hoping to eliminate any stress they might feel from my presence.

(Apologies in advance for the clipped wings; not only was the movement sudden, but I didn’t have my DSLR camera with me.)

With mom and junior watching, papa suddenly takes off from his perch …

... drops into the nest for a second or two ...

… and takes off again for parts unknown.
Doesn’t it look like mom’s telling junior to be patient and dad will be back soon?

Mom and Junior staring me down.

The next half hour of my visit with the osprey family was uneventful. Junior would disappear into the depths of the nest, popping up like a jack-in-the-box every so often. Mom kept a keen eye on the goings on below her … and there was plenty of that. Mostly anglers driving up in their cars and carrying their stuff to the beach; a few people stopping by to eat lunch in their cars.

I didn’t see papa fly back and perch on a pine tree behind me. It was his high-pitched calls that alerted me to his presence. And then mom joined in. It sure sounded like they were carrying on a conversation and she was telling him to hold off returning to the nest because there were people around.

When I finally spotted papa, he was eating lunch.

At this point, I figured papa wasn’t going to return to the nest if I stuck around. Time for me to leave so that mom could get on with the business of feeding junior, who needs to gain strength in order to fledge when the time comes. Chicks take their first flight when they are seven to eight weeks old. I have no idea how old junior is, so not sure when that will happen. (Any avid birders out there have a guess as to junior’s age?)

My 1.6-mile walk took over two hours — about 1½ hours was spent with the osprey family. Standing the entire time, and worth every minute of it.

As I left, I spotted two red-headed woodpeckers fly in and perch on the same tree where the ospreys are nesting. One flew off right away, but I managed to capture a photo of the other one just before it disappeared into its nest hole. (If you look above the head of the bird in the photo to the right, you’ll see the small, round hole.)

I have to say that I am delighted with the way my PowerShot SX50 HS performed today. All of the osprey photos I shared were hand-held at full zoom. I cropped some in post-processing with no loss of quality. If anyone out there is considering this camera, I say “go for it.” Just remember that it has a shutter lag, so action shots can be hit or miss.

Later …

Why later? Because we lost power for about three hours tonight and I had to take a break from writing. It was time to exercise the genny anyway, so we weren’t overly concerned about being without shorepower. We ran the generator for about an hour, and then went on battery power for another two hours or so, with another short stint with the generator so Mui could run the microwave and make some popcorn to snack on while we watched a movie on TV. We were hoping the AGM batteries would perform well — and they did; there was no appreciable drain on the batteries. Boondocking here we come — but not right away ;-)

Over and out for today.