White Flowers Blooming Today

White flowers are blooming in my yard today. When I get the newspaper in the morning I stop by the front sidewalk to pick more lily of the valley. I hold them to my nose as I bring them in and sit them in juice glasses in the kitchen and bathroom. I love their smell. Lily of the valley smell brings me back to junior high days. I believe Avon had a perfume stick with that same fragrance. The tiny bell shaped flowers are modest and hide themselves in the blade like leaves. These delicate flowers are surprisingly hardy; able to thrive in the shade of the black walnut tree which kills just about every other plant around. The other white flower is my big and showy bridal veil shrub.

Hawks Are Hard To Figure

Today I was gardening. I heard the sound of a raptor. I looked up to see a pair of hawks sailing the winds above the house. They were making that raptor like sound and staying aloft without beating their wings. I saw a couple bands in the tail and a reddish breast. Both hawks were definitely circling above the house. I wondered if they were eyeing my chickens. The chicken run has a cover on it so my peeps are safe from raptors. Later I looked in my bird book to see what kind of hawk I had seen. I think it was a sharp shinned hawk but I wouldn't put any money on it. Coopers hawks are very similar but their tails are rounded and the sharp shinned hawk tails are square. I also saw chickadees, crow, pileated woodpecker, gold finches, chipping sparrows, indigo buntings, female hummingbird, cardinal, and a white breasted nuthatch.

Looking for Book Suggestions

I am looking for book suggestions. In June, it will be my turn to present books to my book club. We can have fiction or non-fiction. I can present as many books as I want. The only thing about the book that the club insists on is that the book be available in paperback. I already made that mistake once so I'm not about to make it again. Do you have any ideas? Please let me know! I am open to suggestions. Here is what I have tentatively planned to offer: "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, "Thinking in Pictures" by Temple Grandin, "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse, "The Last River Rat" by Kenny Salway and J. Scott Bestul, and "Sinkiller" by Larry McMurtry. I'm not including one of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver, on purpose. Last time we reviewed one of her books, some book club members didn't like her writing style or content and I found myself getting upset with them.

Ways to Say "Your Barn Door Is Open"

20) The cucumber has left the salad.
19) I can see the gun of Navarone.
18) Someone tore down the wall, and your Pink Floyd is hanging out.
17) You’ve got Windows in your laptop.
16) Sailor Ned’s trying to take a little shore leave.
15) Your soldier ain’t so unknown now.
14) Quasimodo needs to go back in the tower and tend to his bell.
13) Paging Mr. Johnson… Paging Mr. Johnson…
12) You need to bring your tray table to the upright and locked position.
11) Your pod bay door is open, Hal.
10) Elvis Junior has LEFT the building!
9) Mini me is making a break for the escape pod.
8) Ensign Hanes is reporting a hull breach on the lower deck, Sir!
7) The Buick is not all the way in the garage.
6) Dr. Kimble has escaped!
5) You’ve got your fly set for “Monica” instead of “Hillary.”
4) Our next guest is someone who needs no introduction…
3) You’ve got a security breach at Los Pantalones.
2) I’m talking about Shaft, can you dig it?
And The Number One Way To Tell Someone Their Fly Is Unzipped…1) I thought you were crazy; now I see your nuts.

The most creative way I was told to XYZ (examine your zipper) happened in the spring of 1977. I had a date. I was all dressed up in a new outfit in the latest style. I had a pair of bell bottom high waist jeans with a double snap at the waistband, a yellow ribbed turtleneck, and a new blue and yellow plaid flannel shirt. I was sitting on the couch with my date when my roommate asked me to come into the kitchen and get a drink of water.

"No, thanks," I answered, wondering what was up with her and why did she think I needed a drink of water. I was only going on a date, not for a several mile run.

"Ok," she says extra cheerily, "I'll bring you one."

She brought me a glass of water with a paper coaster under it. She makes a point of setting the glass on the coaster even though my hand is reaching out for the glass. I give her a look as if to say, "What is up with you?" I reach for the glass and I read a handwritten note on the paper coaster that says, "YOUR FLY IS OPEN!"

How would a poised college woman handle this?

I have no idea how someone with poise would act. I just drank the water, put the glass down, looked down to see my fly gaping open an inch or more, yanked that zipper up as high as it could go, and pretended nothing happened.

Agate Hunting

I went agate hunting a couple weeks ago at the Master Naturalist Conference. We learned about agates first at the Agate Interpretive Center at the Moose Lake State Park. Agates are formed by the bubbles left when a lava flow hardened. Into the bubbles came a water mixed with dissolved chemicals like silica and iron ore. Iron ore is what makes the Lake Superior agates reddish. As the water poured into the bubbles, the chemical rich water formed layers in each bubble, creating hard and beautiful agates. After we learned about agates, we were taken to a gravel pit. They dropped us off and told us we had one hour to find agates. The naturalist told us to look for rocks with pits that looked like potatoes. So I looked for rocks with pits that looked like potatoes. Do you know how many rocks in a gravel pit look like potatoes? Millions, that is how many. I turned over hundreds of potato imitating rocks. My back started hurting from bending over so I used the tip of my cane to poke the rocks out of the gravel and turn them over. The weather was sunny but the wind was very brisk and I don't think the temperature reached above the 40's. I talked to another guy who said this would be a lot more fun if we had a little success. I agreed. After a half hour, I was ready to give up. I actually thought about walking back to the bus and taking a nap out of the wind for the last half hour. Along came another master naturalist who asked me if I had found any. I told her no. She had a small baggie of little stones. She generously gave me 3 small agates so I would know what to look for. These didn't look like potatoes. Her agates were cream colored or maroon. She had tiny agate chips. We looked down at my feet and suddenly, I saw the agates. They were everywhere! The next half hour flew by and I was disappointed that it was time to go. I had a small baggie of two dozen agate chips by then. It is true - a little success is more fun when it comes to agate hunting.

I Can't Ride My Motorcycle and Chew Gum At The Same Time

Today I had a lunch meeting at a local restaurant. As I headed out for the meeting, I thought I could improve on my dragon like breath by chewing a piece of gum on the ride to the meeting. I slipped a piece of gum into my mouth but I could not chew it. My motorcycle helmet fits snugly on my head; so snugly that it compresses my cheeks making my lips pouch out. My cheeks are so tight that I could not move my jaw enough to chew. What a strange feeling to have gum in your mouth but be unable to chew it.

More Birds

Tonight I got home late. I fed and watered the chickens and sat down to a good dinner of leftovers in front of the funny pages when I looked up to see birds on my deck. A hummingbird was drinking nectar and just a foot away, our indigo bunting was taking a bath. Oh, what beauty! We've named our indigo bunting. He's starting singing more than that territorial "tsch" sound we heard last year. Now he also sings a pretty song; a genuine Minneapolis song. With his song, his flashy and colorful appearance, and his metrosexual appeal, we've decided his name is Prince.

All this reminds me I didn't write about the bird trip on Saturday to the Carlos Avery Wildlife Refuge. I had the special treat of being the only student who showed up to this extra field trip. The ratio of teachers to students was two to one. We three had a great time. We saw snipe (I've never seen one before-see photo), Redstarts, sandhill cranes, a blue winged warbler (another first for me), blue winged teal, coots, wood ducks, mallards, crows, bluebirds, tree swallows, green heron (another first for me), gold finches, blue jays, song sparrows, chipping sparrows, swamp sparrows, great blue heron, great egrets, and yellow rumped warblers.

Memorial Day

This morning I attended the Memorial Day service at the Veterans Memorial next to the cemetery next to Rocket Park. They had a nice ceremony. The North Suburban Concert Band provided the music. I listened to several speakers and watched as people laid wreaths down in memory of those service men and women who gave their lives for our country. As the band played a medley of songs from each branch of the military, veterans from that group stood up. There were a lot of Army, a few Marines, one Coast Guard (female), a couple Air Force, and quite a few from the Navy. I would guess there were as many Navy as Army in the crowd. I heard several people speak about liberty and freedom. I thought about what that means. I wondered how our country compares to others in terms of personal freedom. Some countries dictate dress. In France, students are not allowed to wear crucifixes or head scarves. In some parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, female students must wear headscarves. I wondered about that farming family from southern Minnesota, the family whose 13 year old son has cancer. Does this family feel the liberty of living in the United States? The medical treatment of their son is being dictated by the legal system. If I was the parent of that boy, I would no doubt opt for chemotherapy, but is it fair that deciding on a different option equals parental neglect? I don't know the answers and I am grateful I am not in their situation. But I suspect that if this family lived in any African country, they would not be forced to give their son chemotherapy. In fact, chemotherapy may not be an option there even if they wanted to use it. As you can see, I was thinking some pretty heavy thoughts as I watched the parents of boys killed in Vietnam and Iraq lay wreaths down in front of the crowd. I wish our species could learn from our mistakes and stop all the wars.

Lying In Wait

I am way behind in gardening this year. I usually have most things planted by May 15 but circumstances and weather have put me behind schedule. Today I was trying to catch up. I planted those coleus plants that I nursed along all winter under grow lights. I planted one jalapeno. As I was putting in my six Big Boy tomatoes I dug a little trench and laid them sideways in the soil so their roots are just a little lower than half of the stem. In this way, the stem will grow more roots and make for a stronger plant. And the roots will be closer to the surface of the soil where they will feel the warmth of the sun and grow faster. Where the stem meets the soil, I carefully add a strip of newspaper to form a collar barrier against cutworms. I've been foiled by cutworms before. They eat the stem just where it touches the top of the soil and decapitate the tender little transplants, leaving them to wither away and die. As I'm carefully putting my Big Boy in the garden and tucking the soil ever so gently around it, what do I see but two fat juicy cutworms. They were waiting for me! These cutworms were lying in wait for their next meal, probably wondering why I wasn't out there last weekend. Dang those cutworms. I tried to cut them with my trowel but they have a tough hide and just submerge into the soft ground. I dug them up again, laid them on the flat plastic plant identification label that came with my six pack of Big boys, and cut them in half with my trowel. Nasty cutworms. Lest you think I'm murderous, I'll have you know that I personally saved the lives of two leopard frogs that were sleeping in the muck at the bottom of my pond. I hope my nature treatment karma evens out.

Loving Frank

"Loving Frank" is a book written by Nancy Horan. I just finished reading it this week. I liked it. The story is historical fiction about a real woman named Mamah Borthwick. Mamah loved Frank Lloyd Wright. She was an intellectual woman who left her husband and her children to love Frank. This love she had for him cost her an incredibly high price. The story has interesting facts about Frank, early feminism, life in Wisconsin, and society in general. The end has a startling conclusion.

Getting Better

I think I'm getting better at navigating on two wheels. How can I tell? When I check my speedometer when driving in 50 mph zones, I sometimes have to let up on the gas instead of increasing it. I often travel along Bunker or Hanson Boulevards and last year it was all I could do to go as fast as 50 mph. Now, 50 seems much easier. Another accomplishment is remembering that the light on 89th Ave NE and Polk will not recognize little old me. I can sit there for days and the light won't change. I just can't seem to trigger it to recognize my presence. The cars that line up behind me get very annoyed. Some cars have even passed me and gone through a red light creating a situation more dangerous than if I had run the red light myself. So now I remember to turn off a couple blocks before 89th, take some back roads, and enter 89th on Pierce.

Anoka. Real. Classic.

Anoka has some new triangle shaped flags. The flags feature a large white circle with a letter A that comes complete with a flashy, ribbon like swoosh through the A. Below that are the words real and classic. There is a period after real and another period after classic. Does this mean each word is it’s own sentence? What can this mean? What are they trying to tell me with these new flags? Are there rumors that Anoka is a false town or a modern town? Has someone been trash talking Anoka? Have they been saying, "Oh, Anoka. That town is not real. It's like Atlantis or Gotham City. Anoka is so modern it's just like Metropolis." I guess these flags are to put those rumors to rest. Anoka. Real. Classic. Anoka is not false, imaginary, atypical, or modern. This must be so because every lamp post proclaims it.

Tasted Shoe Leather Again

A coworker showed me a photo today. The photo showed three people in a friendly group. All three people were smiling and had their hands in the same formation. Their hands had palms upward, thumb extended and two middle fingers tucked up. So, I had to ask, "Are you guys showing gang signs?" Turns out they are Spiderman fans and they're making Spiderman hands. Man, I put my foot in my mouth again.

I'd Be Glad To Do It

I was busy today updating in Word and Excel. A coworker came to my office and said, "I really hate to bother you but I'm not sure what to do. We need this bundle of clothes to be run out to the Holiday store on Foley and 101st. I just didn't know who else to ask."
I immediately kick off my shoes and start putting on my boots while saying, "Are you kidding? I'd be glad to run them out there." Who wouldn't want a break from paperwork? Who wouldn't want to be paid to ride my motorcycle through the beautiful weather to deliver a small bundle? The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the air was perfumed with the smell of lilacs and crab apple blossoms. Do I have a great job or what?

Great Horned Owl

At the Audubon Center in Sandstone, they have a great gray owl that cannot be released into the wild. The staff there brought it out on display for us. These owls look just like tree bark. We were shown some photos of great grays in the woods and at first, our eyes could not spot the bird because they blend in so well. If an owl perches next to a tree trunk, they wear a cloak of invisibility like Harry Potter. Their ear tufts help disguise them because a perfectly rounded head would be more noticeable on a tree. The ear tufts are not where the ears are located. The ears are closer to the huge yellow eyes. On owls, one ear is located farther up on the head than the other. Using both ears, the owl will turn it's head until the sound is equal in both ears. When the sound is equal, the owl knows it's looking right at the source of the noise even if it can't see it with the eyes. So if they hear a vole moving around 4 inches under the snow the owl knows exactly where to swoop down and grab it. Their face is scrunched in and saucer like. The shape of an owl face helps in the same way a satellite dish helps bring in signals. Unlike the barred owl with it's soulful brown eyes, the great gray has yellow eyes. Our speaker (see above holding the owl) said that if a human had proportionataly the same size eyes as an owl, the eyes would be as big as grapefruits. The owl eyes are not round like ours but tubular in shape. That is why an owl cannot turns it's eyes to look from side to side but must turn it's entire head. The owl can turn it's head 270 degrees or three quarters of a circle. We humans can only turn our heads 70 degrees. A human has 6 cervical vertebra it our necks. Owls have 14 vertebrae in their necks. Owls cannot digest fur and bones. They vomit up pellets of undigested fur and bones after every meal. Our speaker said some people find baby owls and raise them. The unknowing owl caretakers feed them meat but not whole animals with fur and bones. Those owls have no need to make pellets. Eventually these captive owls die. Vomiting pellets rids the owls of undigested fur and bones but also scrapes the digestive system of bacteria and germs which can be deadly. In the second photo I am holding an owl wing that has been processed by a taxidermist. See the fringe at the top of the wing? That is the forward part of the wing. The fringe breaks up the wind pattern making it possible for the owl to fly in total silence. The prey doesn't hear them coming and the owl can hear the prey more clearly since their wings aren't making a flapping noise. Great gray owls are awesome. I think I'll have to put them on my list of birds that I want to see in the wild.

Weekend Conference in Sandstone

I attended a weekend conference of the Master Naturalists in Sandstone at the Audubon Center. I had a great time. I enjoy being around people who appreciate nature and who are interested in learning more about it. I went on three birding hikes. Among other things I saw a clay colored sparrow, rose breasted gross beaks, gold finches, song sparrow, swamp sparrow, cliff swallows, barn swallows, tree swallows, bald eagles, redstart, yellow rumped warbler, palm warbler, brown thrasher, and loons. Ann Bancroft was a keynote speaker and she was wonderful. She is surprisingly understated and very funny. I went to classes on sounds of the nights, birds and sprawl, traveling with pets, global warming, things that glow in the night, birds of prey, and the use of costumes in nature lessons. We went on a field trip to the Moose Lake Depot and Fire Museum, Blacklock studios, Moose Lake State Park Agate & Geological Interpretive Center, and to a gravel pit to look for agates. The food was excellent and the accommodations were good. We saw snow Saturday morning and a heavy frost on Sunday morning. As usual for weekend trips, the weather got really nice as it was time to leave.

Welcome Back Buddy

My indigo bunting is back as of this afternoon. Welcome back, buddy, I missed you.

More Than I Thought

I had a plumber out today to install new faucets in a sink and a tub, replace one cartridge, and fix one leak. He showed me the estimate. I almost fell over. "Is it more than you thought it would be?" he asked. His bill was twice as high as my highest guess. But what choice do I have? I have a lot of skills and strengths but plumbing is not one of them. He is in there now working away, banging on pipes, grunting, and breathing heavy. I'm paying good money for every noise he makes so I am going to enjoy each one.

Handle With Care

"Handle With Care" by Jodi Picoult
I had to read this book in a hurry, curse those 10 day loans at the library. I'm a big Jodi Picoult fan and I don't like being hurried so I had to read it faster than what was comfortable. I enjoyed every chapter. This story is about a family who's child is born with a brittle bone disorder. Picoult explores the family drama with tenderness and sympathy. The mother decides to sue the OB (who is/was also her best friend) for a wrongful birth. This means she has to testify in court that she would have aborted this child had she known of the disease. The mother pursues the court case to help her daughter by providing money for her expenses while paying the cost of loosing her best friend, her marriage, and the trust of her children. The author throws recipes in several chapters to illustrate themes of the novel.

Strangers On a Train

"Strangers On A Train" by Patricia Highsmith is the book we studied at book club this month. This is Highsmith's first novel. She wrote it in the early 1950. A couple years later Hitchcock made it into a movie thrusting her into stardom. The movie and book tell two almost completely different stories but both talk about two strangers, Guy (left) and Bruno (right) who meet on a train. Both strangers have a few screws loose. Bruno's problems are obvious from the start because he proposes at their first meeting that they help each other by committing murder. Guy humors him, not believing he was serious. Later, after Guys's wife is killed and Bruno expects Guy to kill his father, does Guy report Bruno to the police? No - that would not make for a best selling book and movie. Guy's response to Bruno's badgering is how we learn he too has a few screws loose. This is a good book; a psychological thriller.

My Bird Teacher Was In The Paper

See story here: http://www.startribune.com/local/north/44602732.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMcyaL_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Five More Minutes!

My Azaling Amazia

Awesome! This azalea was barely making it year to year when I decided to move it to the north side of an evergreen where the soil is nice and acid.

Now it thrives.

Is It The Way I Said It?

I was visiting Offspring #2 room at college. I glanced at her bookshelf and among the college texts I could see only the top word on the back of the book. The word was "Parties." So I ask in what I thought was a normal tone of voice, "Do you have a book on parties?" I didn't think I was implying anything about this liberal arts college or the worthiness of tuition fees. But I'm guessing there was something in my tone because the answer I got was "It's Parties and Elections in America, Mom!"

My Peeps Have Moved Outside

Here is a new photo of my chickens. I moved them out of the garage and into the yard on Friday. I put them on the east side of the house by the canoe. I figured that was the warmest place and they would get less wind. On the far left front, in beautiful silver, gray and black is Angela. She and Dwight are the boldest. They are the first to drink out of the fresh water and the first to come out of the coop when I open the door. You can see she and the other girls are starting to get their combs. The ear tufts are starting to come out as well. Dwight is standing behind her. His comb is much further developed. He is the darkest chicken with lots of black and some dark red feathers mixed with the black with brown and orange on the tail. Meredith is on the far right and she is the primarily orange chicken. Center front, staring right at the camera is either Kelly or Pam. I honestly cannot tell them apart. Pam is smaller but sometimes it's hard to tell if the chicken is really smaller or just using poor posture. In the center mooning us is Phyllis. On the left mooning us is Kelly or Pam. See how the girl's legs are greenish blue? That happened a few weeks after hatching. Dwight's legs are still yellow but the hens have legs the color of their future egg shells. When I moved them outside on Friday, they were a little upset from the ride out of the garage and across the lawn. The ride was bumpy and the coop was tilted to one side so I could get it on my hand cart. I got the coop in place and attached the run. When I opened the door, I expected them to hop right out like they did in the garage. But they were wary. After 20 minutes or so, Dwight and Angela came out to stand on the ramp but no further. After an hour, they were all out in the grass having a great time scratching and pecking. Just look what they've done to the grass after only 48 hours! They've scratched down to the dirt so they can bathe in the dust. I think they like the great outdoors.

Another Successful Bird Field Trip

Today we went to the Migratory Bird Day at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. I carpooled with some fellow birdwatchers and we arrived about 7 a.m. Among other things we saw a Great Crested Flycatcher (see photo),yellow rumped warblers, Palm warblers, and black and white warblers. Also towhee, Scarlet Tanagers, brown thrasher, trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, pelicans, harriers, red tailed hawk, white throated sparrows, Harris sparrow, song sparrow, ring billed ducks, and eagles. We heard a Virginia Rail but could not see it. One eagle was carrying a fish so low we could see the fish wiggling in it's talons. Some people thought it was a walleye but it looked like a bullhead to me. I guess it's opening fishing for eagles and for people. I think my favorite bird of the day was the scarlet tanager. I have never seen one before. Their red color is brilliant and I really enjoyed seeing the male and female flit around each other going branch to branch. I watched them for a long time. When I got home I decided to figure out once and for all what those red capped sparrows in my yard are. I pulled in the driveway and trained my binoculars on a tiny bird in my driveway. It wasn't a sparrow at all. There, in my driveway, was a yellow rumped warbler. Wow! I felt like a Hollywood star had come to my house to visit.

Three Colors of Potatoes This Year

In my quest to raise vegetables for myself instead of the deer, I'm going underground this year. My potato order arrived in the mail this week. I cut the seed potatoes into smaller pieces to prepare them for planting. I ordered three kinds of potatoes; Maris Piper white, Yellow Finn, and Adirondack Blue. This photo is of an Adirondack Blue. The color is startling blue. Even the potato juice is blue. I hope they taste as pretty as they look. I hope the deer and the gophers leave enough for me to taste.

Fahrenheit 451

I'm not a big fan of science fiction. I don't like books about vampires and quests. But some science fiction I DO like and "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury is one of them. Ray writes with punch. He uses no extra words. His book reads along moving me steadily and surely through this most incredible and fast moving story about a fireman named Guy Montag. Guy lives some time in the future, a time when firemen do not put out fires, but create fires. They burn books. Concerned neighbors will call in to the fire station telling of their suspicions of books in a certain house. The firemen go to the house with their kerosene flame throwers to burn the books. The book owners are committed as insane or put into jail or even put to death. The firehouse has a mechanical dog which will search out the amino acids of the intended victim and shoot them with procaine from a needle in it's mouth. Bradbury's future is scary, man. Guy, an experienced fireman, begins to question the society he lives in. People don't read books but are entertained by televisions that take up entire walls. Guy and his wife, Mildred, have televisions on 3 of the 4 walls in their living room. The television is individualized. The television commercials and news mention Mildred by name. Mildred calls the people on the television her family. Even though Guy and Mildred live together, they don't really know each other or interact beyond the most superficial exchanges. This book was written in 1953 - many good things happened that year. I read they were thinking about making another movie of the story. One article mentioned Mel Gibson as Guy and another mentioned Tom Hanks. I think it would be a great story on the big screen but they might have to add to the plot because even if the books are burned, much of the content is on computers.

Lucky!

I was invited to a home cooked meal on Sunday. I was even given a list of options to choose from:

"Falafel lettuce wraps. I've never made falafel before, so it might be a miss. With diced tomatoes, onions and a nummy dressing (possibly tahini?)or

Mock Duck Gyros: onions, tomatoes, spiced seitan, and tsaitsiki sauce or

Bean and cheese baked burritos. refried beans, onions, cheese wrapped in burritos and baked in the oven. served with tomatoes, sour cream, other good toppings and more cheese with rice on the side or

Aloo gobi curry. Potatoes, cauliflower, onion, curry sauce, served with rice or

Burger sandwiches. veggie burgers + grilled cheese sandwich, with fries or

Meat and Potatoes meal: "beef" (seitan) stew with mashed potatoes, biscuits, gravy and steamed broccoli or

kung pao mock duck. not sure what I'd do with that yet, but it seems simple enough.Those are some possibilities. I can also do something different, like chili or soup or something. Let me know what interests you. "

Am I lucky or what?

Two More Birding Field Trips

I got up early on Saturday morning for our field trip to the Carlos Avery Wildlife Refuge. I was unaware of this beautiful spot. I had been to to a conference room on the grounds but I had no idea there are miles and miles of dirt roads you can travel between ponds and field and woods. The weather was sunny and warmer but the wind was strong. Our teacher said this was the worst field trip he's ever had there because we saw so few species of birds. I thought we saw a lot including turkey, wood duck, blue winged teal, green winged teal, trumpeter swans, loons, song sparrow, chipping sparrow, blue bird, great blue heron, great egret, robins, buffle head, red tailed hawk, and yellow rumped warblers. We had a great long look at the wood duck and the green winged teal through the spotting scope. They are such colorful and lovely ducks. They look like something a creative kid would color in a coloring book. On Monday we went to Itaska park in Ramsey which is another jewel most people don't know about. Here we saw robins, wood thrush, Northern shovelers, blue winged teal, great egret, great blue heron, sandhill crane, harrier, coopers hawk, yellow rumped warbler, red wing blackbirds, starling, greater yellow legs, mallard, pied billed grebe, blue jay, crow, tree swallow, bluebird, orange crowned warbler, brown headed cowbird, Forsters tern, pelicans, and a couple yellow headed blackbirds. The weather on Monday was finally comfortable for a change. The wind was very quiet. This ornithology class has been very much worth the money I spent. I've had so much fun. I've made new friends. I've learned so much. The people in the class are fun to be with because they're appreciative type people. A harrier flies right past us and we all look up in awe and remark how lucky we are to have seen that. A guy sets up a spotting scope to get a closer look at a bluebird and two deer wander into the picture we all hurry to see in the eye piece. The people in this class stop and appreciate the nature around us and I like that. We have the type of camaraderie where no question is stupid and no guess at bird identification is laughable. They're my kind of people. And although the class is officially over, we're still getting together this Saturday at the Sherburne National Wildlife Center for Migration Day festivities. And we're meeting in a couple weeks to go through Carlos Avery again because our first trip was not as fruitful as the teacher had hoped.

Not What I Wanted To Happen

I tipped my motorcycle. This is not what I wanted to happen. I am OK. Luckily I was at a slow speed; completely stopped as a matter of fact. I was in the garage getting ready for a ride. I had my helmet on and my dorky orange vest but I forgot something in the house. So I got off the bike to go get it. Note to self - remember to put the kickstand down BEFORE getting off the bike. I was so surprised when it tipped; completely startled. This bike is small but heavy. It took me four tries to get it back up again. If common sense prevailed over pride, I would have asked for some assistance. My friend Ed says after this year I will want a bigger motorcycle. He says he's sure I will think this one is too small. I don't know about that. I want something small enough for me to set upright in case I ever forget to put the kickstand down again.

A Day Of Firsts

Today was a day of first. It was the first day this week I could sleep in. Could have, but didn't. Dang robin sang outside my window at 4:48 a.m. and I couldn't get back to sleep. Today was the first day this season I hung my sheets to dry on the line. I love the smell and feel of fresh air sheets. The sun projected my shadow on the laundry as I hung them up. Today was the first day my neighbor burned his stash of branches. Why is the day I hang my laundry out the same day as he burns? Today was the first day I got groceries on the motorcycle this year. Love those saddle bags! Today was the first day I planted this year - some yellow day lilies that a fellow birding student gave me. And today was the first time this year I tasted rhubarb.

Finished Assembling The Chicken Run

I spent a couple hours in the garage today assembling the chicken run. Now the chickens have six feet of space to explore when the coop is open.