What Sound Does A Great Gray Owl Make?

Yesterday, I finally passed the owl quiz. Yay for me!   Passing this quiz was my goal because last year I failed it. You get 5 times to pass and I didn’t make it.  So this year I was going to make it come hell or high water. The program  has a new coordinator and I happen to have met her so I wanted to make a good impression by passing the test. I was systematic about it this year.  The number of owls we’re required to know is 10 (barn, barred, boreal, eastern screech, great gray, great horned, long earned, northern hawk, northern saw whet and short eared owl).  The quiz is a matching quiz.  We have 14 sound samples to match to the 10 owls.  The first time I took the test I got 80%.  I need 100% to pass.  I missed the long eared and the great gray.  Next time I took the test I got 90%.  The long eared owl sounded like a raspy ‘whoop – wheep – whoop.’  So the great gray had to be one of the last four sounds. I write descriptions of the sounds so to keep track.  One sound track sounded like a pigeon ‘coo – wheep – coo – wheep’.  The second was “twitter – oink – twitter – oink.”  The third one sounded like another northern hawk owl with tree frogs in the background.  And the fourth one was completely silent except in the middle was the sound of a loose banjo string like a green frog makes followed by more silence.  I listened to this sound 6 times.  Three times I held my notebook computer up to my ear thinking I just wasn’t hearing what I should be hearing.  Am I going deaf?  Why is this test so much harder than it was the first year?  Logically speaking the test should get easier with experience. In my notes I labelled this one WTF. Silence and a green frog is not a sound I expect any owl to make.  So WTF?  That does not stand for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.  Never mind what it stands for. I can feel anxiety manifesting itself in my chest and upper arms.  I feel champagne bubbles under my skin.  I'm not used to anxiety.  Anxiety does not feel good at all.  I press the submit button. Imagine my surprise when WTF turned out to be the correct answer for great gray owl!  WTF!  I say it WTF out loud and the canary, who has been listening to owl calls for several hours over the past two weeks, looks up at me and no doubt wonders what my problem is.  Whatever, I passed!  Passing the owl quiz was my goal.  And I believe I know those owl sounds better than I ever knew them before.  So what sound does a great gray owl make?  A great gray owl makes sound out of my hearing range evidently.

A New Found Talent

As a caretaker for a friend's plants, including an orchid, for 5 days now, I have learned I have a talent for orchid foster care.  Always leery of orchids, now I think I might have the capability of growing them myself.  Aren't they pretty?

Deer

When I was traveling in Australia, I had the last 5 days to myself.  My companions left earlier than I did.  I traveled to Kangaroo Island and met an awesome tour guide, Nikki.  Nikki showed me around her island.  I saw her parent's house, her father's fishing boat, and the beauty and wildlife of her home.  She has been interested in conservation and photography her entire life. I learned a lot during the two days we spent together.  Kindred spirits Nikki and I. Everyday she takes pictures of the wild creatures around her and puts them on her facebook wall.  (We're friends on facebook). Almost every day I see kangaroos, wallabys, wedge tailed eagles, echidnas, fur seals, dolphins, and fairy wrens because that is what she sees around her place.  So I'm taking a lesson from Nikki.  I want to appreciate the wildlife around my house and take their picture like she does.  Except I'm not investing in expensive cameras.  Almost every day I see white tailed deer in my yard.  I think I'll start by photographing them. For one thing they're easier to photograph than birds and squirrels and chipmunks.  I shall try to put deer ticks and Lyme disease out of my mind and appreciate my herd of deer.  The faces of these deer are as cute as any kangaroo!

Sorry For Your Ham and Cheesy Potatoes

Yesterday my power went out at about noon. I am not used to that.  With our power lines underground in my neighborhood, our power doesn't go out very often and when it does go out, it's usually back in a minute or less.  I hardly knew what to do.  First I checked that it wasn't just my power our.  My neighbors confirmed it wasn't just me.  Then I went to call the power company.  I wasn't even sure of the name.  I recycled my phone books years ago thinking I could rely on the internet to look up phone numbers.  And my computer was charged so that would have worked except without power I had no power for my router so no internet.  I was cooking and that ended.  I was grateful the power went out on Easter instead of Thanksgiving and had crackers with peanut butter for lunch instead of the zucchini spaghetti I was cooking.  Offspring #1 had his power go out for four days.  I had no idea how long I would be out.  What if I was out of power for days? My flannel sheets were in the dryer.  Now I questioned my decision to live with only one set of sheets.  Was I frugal or foolish?  The weather was too rainy to hang them outside.  Well, I could live without sheets.  But could I live without water?  Without electricity to run the water pump in the well, I would have a limited amount of water.  What if it got cold?  Well, I have a fireplace.  The house was so silent without power.  No furnace fan running or any noise at all.  I couldn't listen to music.  I couldn't watch television.  I couldn't cook. What am I supposed to do?  I guess I'm not myself if I don't have electricity!  I sat down and read an old-fashioned book made out of paper.  After 90 minutes or so the power returned.  I had finished my book but wasn't quite ready to pick up on the chores where I had left off.  Today, on my answering machine, the power company left a message explaining the source of the problem and apologized for our ham and cheesy potatoes.  I have to admire the way they took responsibility!

The Heart Mender: A Story of Second Chances

This story, The Heart Mender; A Story of Second Chances, seems implausible. According to the author, Andy Andrews, it is based on a true story. Turns out that during World War II German submarines did patrol the gulf coast.  German spies were seen in New Orleans.  American citizens did collaborate with the Germans.  Submarines could not return to Germany every time they needed supplies or fuel.  Those items were sold to them by citizens of the US.  German submarines sunk American ships carrying supplies such as food, fish, fuel, and other goods.  Sometimes the Germans allowed the American ship crews to find their way back on life boats and sometimes they didn't.  I had no idea this happened.  According to Andy Andrews, the US government kept these news items under wraps  German U-boats had easy picking while the United States did nothing, not even turn off the coastal lights at night.  This book opened my eyes to historical events that I didn't learn about in school while wrapped up in fiction making it easier to absorb and comprehend.  Great story.  An added bonus is that the most highly evolved character in the story had Down Syndrome and I liked that. 

Good Birders Don't Wear White

I got Good Birders Don't Wear White, a collection of essays by 50 top birders.  People who watch birds can be a funny group but most of them are able to see the humor in themselves.  This book talks about the joy of birding, the frustrations of birding, and the etiquette of birding.  I especially liked the chapter ten by Don and Lillian Stokes.  The title of that chapter was "Follow The Rules To See A Mangrove Cuckoo."  The thing is, I did see a mangrove cuckoo when I went on a trip to Sanibel Island.  We were biking through a park.  I spotted a bird flitting through the mangrove bush.  It was hard to see.  We got off the bikes and watched, frustrated, as the bird hopped from branch to branch inside the thick shrub while mostly remaining on the far side of the bush.  I was persistent and eventually identified it as a mangrove cuckoo.  I had no idea they are so difficult to find. Other people go to Sanibel Island looking for birds and specifically the mangrove cuckoo for ten years or more and never see it.  One of the tips in the book for seeing a mangrove cuckoo is to not look for it.  Must be true because that is how it worked for me.  Oh, and by the way, it is okay for a birder to wear white most of the time but not when in a canyon in New Mexico trying to spot an Eared Quetzel.

Tried Something New Today

I cut steel.  Sparks went flying all over.  Good thing I didn't put a lot of hairspray in my hair today.  I love using dangerous equipment.

I welded metal with a tig welder.  First I welded two steel plates together.  You have to touch the metal to get the gas going and then keep it close enough to keep the heat on.  Pulling it away turns it off and you have to touch it lightly again to get it going. If you touch the metal too long it sticks to the welder.  So a steady hand is necessary to touch it lightly and to pull it away but not too far away.  Practice helps.  Having two metals that melt at the same temperature also helps.  So welding the two plates together was easier than welding the legs on.  And no, I did not tip the helmet down by jerking my head forward.  I think the whole helmet would have fallen to the floor if I did that.

My table top sort of looks like an owl head.

My table has three legs and one foot of stone.  I drilled a hole in limestone to make room for one leg.

This class to make a nightstand was my birthday gift!  I loved it. The seven hour class included a lunch of pizza and wine.  The instructor was very laid back considering 7 students were drilling into stone, butting steel, welding, polishing steel with a bench grinder and polishing steel with an angle grinder.  We started out by watching a youtube video of an infant waking up.  Then we named our night stands. My table is named "Unanimous."   We choose the title of our table by randomly putting our finger on a word in the dictionary.  I love my nightstand!

Wouldn't That Be Cool?

Tomorrow Offspring #2 and I are taking a class to make a nightstand.  The nightstand involves learning how to weld.   Weld!  Like in melting metal and joining metal to another metal.  My plan is to enjoy the class and to look cool.  I have a plan.  My plan is, when wearing the welding mask with the face guard in the upright position and preparing to weld, move the welding face mask down not with my hand.  No, no, no, move the face guard down by nodding my head forcefully and having the mask fall into place hands free.  So be honest, wouldn't that be cool?

The Black Death: A History From Beginning to End

Who would enjoy reading a book detailing the history of a terrible disease?  I would.  I enjoyed reading The Black Death: A History From Beginning to End by Henry Freeman.  Ever since I took a public heath class as an undergraduate, public health and epidemiology has fascinated me to some degree.  When the plague went through during the 1300's people didn't know that rats and fleas carried the disease.  Was the plague caused by sin?  Failure to tithe to the church?  People didn't know for sure.  All they knew was two out of three people were dying.  The volume of dead bodies was overwhelming and cities resorted to digging trenches for burial instead of individual graves.  The number of deaths changed the economy.  With fewer people, the labor force gained power.  The plague is partially the reason for the end of the feudal system.  Who knew that a communicable disease could have such a global influence?  Fascinating!   

Cheeseburger!

Today we went on a lunch time walk to Laddie Lake and heard, for the first time this year, a phoebe calling. Welcome back phoebes!  The phoebe makes a sound that sounds like it's name but it has 3 syllables instead of 2.  The black capped chickadee can also make a sound that sounds like phoebe but it only has 2 syllables.  The phoebe sounds more like it's saying, "Cheeseburger!"  We saw the phoebe from a distance flitting among the oak tree tops.  When it called, "Cheeseburger!" I answered with "Cheeseburger!"  The person I was walking with thought that was hilarious.  With the sounds of the phoebe, the red winged blackbirds, the cardinals, the white breasted nuthatch, the red bellied woodpecker and my companion's laughter, it was a delightful walk in the park today.

Put Tired In Perspective

I didn't sleep that well last night.  Nothing terrible but I slept better this weekend when the alarm clock didn't wake me up. Even an hour less of sleep at night affects me pretty strongly. I'm older.  Sleep is more important than it was when I was younger. In speaking with a friend today about the good old days when we both worked at nursing homes, I remembered being really tired.  I was in high school at the time. I worked the night shift on Friday and Saturday nights starting at 11 pm and going home at 7 in the morning.  I was making big bucks, maybe $1.50 per hour. On Fridays I would go to school all day, take a nap,and head to work at 11pm.  In the morning after work I would walk home and go to bed.  I would get up about 9 pm on Saturday night, eat something, and walk to work, come home on Sunday and sleep all day.  I remember my Mom worrying about me because all I did all weekend was work and sleep.  I walked to work, which wasn't far, only a mile or so away.  One Sunday morning in the summer I was on my way home. I was passing a nearby house that was unusual because 3 sides of the house had one color scheme and the side away from the house was painted a different color.  I plodded home past this house dead tired. Right foot. Left foot.  The tiredness I felt today doesn't come near the tiredness I had that morning walking home from work after working all night.  So anyway, there I was in my white nursing uniform and white nursing shoes walking home when POW!  Something struck me really hard right in the middle of my chest.  Ouch!  What the hell?  Was I shot by a gun? I remember to this day how scared I was after being struck in the chest.  Hmmm, no, not a gun, I was attacked my a mailbox securely planted in the ground on the boulevard. A mailbox got me. The flag was down. I was so tired I walked right into a mailbox without  seeing it. I shook off the fear of being attacked and felt the fear of someone seeing me do such an awkward thing.  My eyes must have been closed.  I was sleep walking home.  Now that, dear reader, is tired. 

Throw That Bucket Off The Bridge!

Yes, folks, that is right.  It is stream monitoring time again.  Time to throw that bucket off the bridge and collect some stream water.  Measure the clarity of the water, the temperature, the recreational suitability and appearance for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.  And what are the results?  That water was cold!  34 degrees is darn cold water.   Cold and murky - I couldn't see beyond 50 cm.  The appearance and recreational suitability were good though.  And to monitor my streams makes me know winter is over.  (I don't care what the forecast says)!  The water was liquid and that is all that matters.

Salute!

Today, at work, I got saluted.  A new person saluted me on his way out.  What a strange feeling to be saluted.  I wonder what it does to a person's ego to be saluted all the time?

via GIPHY

Greetings!

Three years ago, when I took the ferry from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island, I was met at the end of the gangplank by a woman who was holding a sign with my name on it.  What fun that was!  I was super excited to see my name on a sign. I had a huge smile on my face as I strolled up to her holding my overnight bag and backpack. I felt like a very important person.  Today Offspring #2 is arriving home from her school trip to Europe.  I am going to meet her at the luggage carousel.  I've seen a few photos on Facebook so I know she had a good time.  A few of the pictures are from pubs and breweries but I think they were touring breweries for educational purposes.  Other photos don't seem especially academic but what do I know?  I don't have a MBA.  In any case, I'm glad she is back home, safe, sound, and wiser.  Won't she be thrilled to see me at the luggage carousel with my sign?

 

Assembling Drawers

When I ordered my platform bed I also ordered two rolling drawers.  I put those together today and I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out.  I can tell I bought a quality product that is going to last.  The wood is strong and the construction is sturdy.  No plastic pieces are used.  My favorite part about the construction are the dowel joints.  I really enjoy getting all those dowels lined up and shoved in tight.  I like working with wood.  Maybe, someday, I'll have more time to do it.

Studying Owls

I have been preparing for owl season by listening to owls.  It's not easy.  Barred owls are easy.  Great horned owls are pretty easy.  But the other eight owls in Minnesota are confusing.  Great Gray?  I don't know what they sound like.  And I've gone looking for them too.  I did see a northern hawk owl once and saw it's angry face looking back at me but I never heard it ululululul or kip kip kip.  Long eared owls say who who who 2 to 4 seconds apart.  Short eared owls give asthmatic barks.  Barn owls screech and screech owls whinny like a horse. Or a ghost.  Or a ghost horse.  Or a bouncing ball. Man, I got more studying to do if I'm going to pass that owl quiz. 

The Rocks

Peter Nichols wrote The Rocks and he kept me guessing.  All through the book I learned about Gerald and Lulu, Luc and Agaena and nothing was very clear or very predictable.  The story takes place in Majorca, an island off Spain in the Mediterranean Sea.  The Rocks is a hotel owned by Lulu and where her son, Luc, grows up in the summers.  Gerald owns a farm where he raises lemons, almonds, olives and his daughter Agaena.  Although Lulu and Gerald live in the same town on the island and once were married, their meetings are very infrequent yet intense.  This is an interesting story about to English expatriates living in a small town on a Spanish island, never seeing each other yet making decisions because of the things that happened in their brief and tumultuous marriage.  Very interesting story.

Happy Pi Day 3.1416

Today is Pi day. Pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter of the circle can be rounded to six digits at 3.1416 which is also today's date.  My favorite pie is spinach pie, spiced with fennel seeds, portabella mushrooms, basil, oregano and onion and plenty of garlic and enriched with feta cheese, home made ricotta cheese, and fresh eggs from my back yard.  There is something that comes over me after eating spinach pie. I get an overall good feeling like I have done something healthy for myself.  Although I could never open a can of slimy spinach and eat it cold and raw like Popeye, I do feel stronger after eating it.  Toot!  Toot!

Mourning Cloak Spotting

Saturday was a beautiful day so I went for a walk searching for signs of spring.  I walked the trails along the Mississippi.  I heard chickadees and robins and juncos and blue jays and crows and mallards and golden eye ducks.  I had my eyes roaming up and down looking for messages from my favorite season.  The air was warm like spring but I found no blooming hepatica in the forest or bluebirds perched on branches. The path I walked on was slightly muddy in spots.  Sometimes I kept my eyes on the path to avoid getting my shoes wet. As I looked down I saw the shadow of a flying creature above the shadow of my right shoulder.  I looked up to find it.  Was it a bird?  No, it was a mourning cloak; one of the first butterflies to be seen in the spring.  The dark brown wings trimmed with white are very distinctive.  I guess this butterfly saw me before I saw it. 

Sweet!

I ended up with two cups of maple syrup.  Sweet?  S w e e t!  Delicious and natural and will be really good on my cream of wheat cereal, my homemade maple syrup.  A single ingredient, tree juice, boiled for hours to a wholesome, aromatic, liquid treasure. I have enough to last me a year. 

Maple Trees Starting To Form Flower Buds

I saw today that one of my maple trees has started to form flower buds.  I pulled the sap taps and set the sap to boiling.  I didn't get a lot of sap but I hope to have enough for a couple pancakes at least.  I had about 2 gallons of sap.  Not all of it fit in the pot at first so I boiled some down before adding the rest. I'm boiling the sap in my new, top of the line, orange Lodge enameled cast iron cookware that I got for Christmas.  I love my new orange pot and I use it all the time for soup, making cheese, or anything that needs sauteing before baking.  I just don't know how I got along without the new pan.  The house feels a little humid right now.

Happy I Heard My First of the Year Sandhill Crane Today

Traveling With Pomegranates

I read Traveling With Pomegranates written by  Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor.  The mother and daughter duo traveled to Greece twice and wrote about their travels.  And when I saw travels I mean physical travels, spiritual travels and relationship travels.  Both women are very introspective and possibly anxious.  I can imagine traveling with them would be quite frustrating because they would stop and stare at a mundane thing like the roots of an olive tree for hours while contemplating their place in the universe and how that related to Greek mythology.  I enjoyed the book but I am a fan of Sue Monk Kidd.  If you aren't a fan of hers, I doubt you'd like it.

A Man Called Ove

Fredrik Backman is the author of A Man Called Ove. As I read it I noticed a pattern.  I would read something about Ove that caused me to judge him harshly and then the author would give us some background on Ove that made his actions seem reasonable.  I would think Ove is a mean curmudgeon who deserved to be thrown out of a hospital after punching a clown but then I learn that Ove is sweet, loving, and principled; a man of virtue.  The story was a delightful mix of contrasts.  Brutality mixed with love, Ove has had a difficult life.  I had to connect with him in regard to his feelings for the cat that showed up in his life.  As much as he doesn't like cats and doesn't want the responsibility of a cat, he treats the cat with respect even though the cat disdains him and gave him a look, "as if I owed it money."  The author is a very funny man and he wrote a wonderful book. The book gave me a lesson on judging (or not judging) others. While I read it I lived in a suburban neighborhood of Norway and it felt good to get out of Minnesota if only for a little while.

Tap Time

I tapped my maple trees this weekend after asking the tree expert his opinion on maple syrup this year.  (He didn't know.)  As soon as I attached the spout to the tree the sap gushed into the tubing.  Yesterday I collected almost a full gallon of sap.  So maybe this will be a good year, I won't know for sure until it's over.  I think it would be better if the night temperatures went below freezing but we shall see.  To top that off, the ice went out on the Rum River yesterday.  The red shouldered hawk is back in my yard talking, talking, talking.  No other bird has as much to scream as the red shouldered hawk.  AND I saw a red convertible car with the top down today.  My favorite season has begun. 

Officially Spring

On my lunchtime walk near Laddie Lake I heard my first of the year red winged blackbird calling.  I heard it call six times. As I walked further up the shore I saw it perched in the dried reeds.  Just for my benefit, the bird sang as I watched it hammering in the fact that now spring is officially here.  Welcome back you handsome blackbird! 

 

 

Winter Trees

On Saturday I took a class on identifying trees in the winter.  The class was 3 hours long and held at Carlos Avery.  We spent half the time outside identifying trees.  The instructor was a prof from the University of Minnesota.  He said he lived in northeast Minneapolis. I looked at his hiking boots, flannel shirt, north face jacket and long dark beard and thought, "Of course you do.  You probably ride a bicycle too."  I learned quite a bit of information.  Scotch pine, for example, are different than red pine.  I thought they were all red pine.  I knew red oak from white oak but I didn't know white oak has a chemical in it that stops water transmission.  This is why white oak don't suffer as much mortality from oak wilt disease as red oaks.  This is also why we store whiskey and wine in barrels made from white oak.  Barrels made out of red oak would leak.  We had about 30 people in the class and most of them were not Master Naturalists.  Many were younger.  One young woman raised her hand to ask a question and I expected something immature to come out of her mouth.  Instead she asks, "Scientific name please?"  Whoa, girl.  She was a serious tree student. As we stood admiring a white oak tree, the wolves at the nearby Wildlife Science Center slowly start up a group howl.  I remember the first time I heard this.  I was stunned by the sound and had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact I was hearing wolves right here near Ham Lake.   I look around at the faces of the people who are probably here for the first time.  I see the looks on their faces as they try to comprehend the fact they are hearing not one wolf, not two, not ten, not twenty, but fifty wolves.  I nod at the young woman next to me.  I say, "Yes, you are hearing wolves.  There are 50 of them over behind the building."  Her eyes widen and she runs to tell her friend.  Hearing wolves howl is not a sound  I can get used too.  The howl of a wolf opens something primal in me.  I feel the same way about the call of a loon and the hoot of an owl.  The bray of a donkey does it for me too. We had a great morning learning about trees.  Some of the tree facts I knew already and some were new to me.  I'm sure I won't remember it all but hopefully some of what I learned won't leak out right away.  

The Eagles

Last night I went to see The Eagles, not the bald kind of eagles although several of them were bald.  I saw an Eagles tribute band playing in a small theater at the Chanhassen Dinner theater.  Dinner doesn't come with the show so my college roommates and I ate at a bar and grill attached to the theater first.  These tribute bands  showcase excellent local talent and are perfect for the geriatric set because they start at 8 and end before 10:30 so we don't have to stay up so long after our usual bedtime.  If you had asked me before last night if I was a big fan of the Eagles, I would not have said yes.  I knew some of their songs and I liked some of their songs.  But after the concert last night I realized just how many hit songs they had.  I also learned that I knew every single one of them including all the words. I do like the Eagles. Yes, I sang along.  We all did. We couldn't help it.  Great music.  Great performances.  A great show.

Someday

Someday I will be too old and arthritic to make snow people with waggly arms.  But not today.

I Can And I Will

This morning my alarm went off at six and woke me out of a dream.  Even though I went to bed 9 hours earlier and even though the dream was oddly disturbing, I still did not want to get out of bed.  I turned off the alarm.  I covered myself up again and made my head comfortable on the pillow.  I said aloud, "I do not want to get up."  As I laid there, not getting up and not going back to sleep I heard a sound coming from outside.  Is that a robin singing?  Is this a migratory robin or one of those "stay all winter in Minnesota" robins?  Whatever. I heard, "Cheerily.  Cheer up.  Cheer up.  Cheerily."  Well, I guess I can get out of bed.  If that robin can sing so cheerily in the light of dawn, outside where it is cold out,  I can and I will get out of bed.

At The Water's Edge

I chose to listen to Sara Gruen's novel At The Waters Edge because she also wrote Water For Elephants and I liked that book.  This book I didn't like as much.  For one thing, I did not like the complaining tone of the actress who read this book on CD.  At the end of almost every sentence the last part of the word was formed at the bottom of her throat and she almost moaned it out.  Her voice was freakily annoying.  On top of that the main character, Maddie, was annoying too.  I can understand anxiety and low self-esteem.  I get it when the scales of love fall from your eyes and you see the love of your life as he really appears which is a phony and therefore embarrassing.  I get feeling helpless.  But why stay in that emotional state and live there all the time? Grow a backbone, make changes, take charge of your life.  Or, be like Maddy and wring your hands and worry until a knight in shining armor comes by.  I didn't hate the entire book; just the main character and the voice of the woman who read it  Most of the story takes place in Scotland near Loch Ness and to tell the truth, now I want to go there.