Pelicans

On our travels through the state parks, we took a road that went along the Rainy River.  As we traveled over the Rapid River (aptly named because look at those rapids!) we saw pelicans.  We pulled over quickly to get a closer look. My new camera was set on taking pictures of fireworks and I could not figure it out.  Instead I took this short movie. You can see the bumps on the bills of the pelicans which are only present at mating time. We saw pelicans catching and eating fish but the fish must have been small because they didn't make a big lump in the bill like I sometimes see on pelicans. We saw probably 100 or more white pelicans at this juncture of the Rapid River and the Rainy River.

Bogged

The boardwalk at Big Bog

What is that up ahead on the bog boardwalk?

A bog frog. A frog in a bog. A tree frog in a bog posing for pictures. This frog was still there on our way back.

This lake was at the parking area.  I sat on the dock and cooled off my feet.

Then four visitors came to the lake.

Today at work someone said, "I know you are bogged down with work but can you do this favor for me?"  I was bogged down with work. I was swamped with work. But she asked in such an endearing way I had to say yes because I was all relaxed after my wonderful vacation which included camping two nights at Big Bog State Park. This is a big bog.  How big is the bog?  Is it the biggest one in Beltrami County? Yes. Is it the biggest one in Lake of the Woods county?  Yes.  This bog is so big it is in both counties.  This bog is the largest bog in Minnesota.  This bog is the biggest bog in the United States and the biggest one on our continent. This bog has over 9,000 acres. The peatland has a crazy mixture of trees, plants and animals. Carnivorous plants thrive because other plants don't have enough nutrients to survive. Rare plants are found here. The campgrounds were across the highway from Upper Red Lake.  We got up in the morning and went on the board walk into the bog. The board walk is a mile long and it took a long time to get out there because we kept stopping to look at warblers and trying to identify the plants we saw.  We did see leather leaf and Labrador Tea, sphagnum moss, tamarack, poplar, red pine, birch, black spruce and white pine.  We hoped to see lady slippers but we were too early. Once, as we stood there, a couple of warblers came flying past us, almost striking us, and flew under the board walk. I lay down on the boardwalk to see where they went but I couldn't find them. All I could see was moss and standing water down there. By the time we got to the end of the boardwalk my bladder called so i walked back pretty fast. I waited for my companion by sitting on the dock and soaking my feet in the cold, boggy water. A beaver swam back and forth, back and forth. Wood ducks swam around. I heard a honk overhead. Four trumpeters passed over my head, flew over the lake, turned around, and landed on the far side of the lake looking right at me. By then my companion had come off the boardwalk and she was on the other side of the lake. She saw the swans land so she walked around the lake so the swans would come at me giving me a better chance to take a photo. That was a very nice moment. Most of the campers here had boats. Even if you don't fish, this is a great park to visit.

Perhaps I Will Make A Good Nomad Someday

My apologies for the long dry spell on the blog here.  I have been on a very relaxing, self-indulgent vacation.  Offspring #1 said it sounded arduous but visiting 12 state parks did not feel arduous to me.  After the first day on Upper Red Lake all thoughts of blogging, emails, work, home, and worries melted away.  I spent my time watching birds, watching clouds, listening to the sounds of the forest, picking off wood ticks, swatting mosquitoes, walking down paths through snowy drifts of aspen fluff, wading in the beaches, and traveling on board walks over bogs. I slept on a yoga mat on the ground every night and felt great. I have a few blisters on my feet, several dozen lumps from gnat bites, hundreds of mosquito bites, but no poison ivy so I am happy. As I write this my tent is set up in the front yard to dry out. I washed the bird soil and the pollen off the rain tarp and it should be ready to sweep out and put away soon. I know there is a wood tick in that tent because I pulled it off my body last night sometime and put it in the tent pocket and it was not there this morning. My clothes are in the wash machine so if there are any wood ticks left on the clothes, they will be clean wood ticks. Eleven days ago I packed up everything I needed and I did a pretty good job.  I forgot an ink pen otherwise I did well.  For eleven days I have not driven a vehicle of any kind.  I have been riding in many cars but not my own. Perhaps I would make a good nomad someday.

Yesterday I got up early at Cragun's resort to join a bird walk.  A pair of merlins nest right outside the front of the lodge in a tree on the golf course.  We saw merlins at rest and merlins flying with food in their mouths to bring to the nest.  We saw a merlin flying and then a warbler flew by it.That merlin turned directions and flew at the warbler like a fighter jet. What a show. The warbler zig zagged and got away. We walked around the building to listen to and see the loons. I had a chipping sparrow in my binoculars, all focused in night and tight, when another chipping sparrow came and did the deed. I did not want to see that in my binoculars!  After breakfast I went on a guided bike tour. I rented a bike in Nisswa and we biked 16 miles.  We had a group of 15 bikers all wearing orange safety vests.  We went down the Paul Bunyan trail a spell and took side roads to go around Lake Hubert. The weather was cloudy and a little cool.  I think the only part of me that was cold were my hands. We got back late so I had to rush to eat lunch. Soon after that we left to tour Alexander SNA (scientific and natural area).  This area is near Pillager.  Our guide had us park on the shoulder of the road and hike up a big hill to talk about the place.  Then he proceeded to lead us up hill and down hill, across streams, around bogs, over big logs, through the brush and around beaver dams. We walked for two miles this way and I suspect he was lost. We all thought he was lost. He was a little bit lost. When I hike with a group through brush like that I have to keep my eyes on the ground a little bit so I don't fall. When you step on leaf litter you don't know if there is a boulder under there or a hole under there.  At one point I fell on my keister. I wasn't hurt but I did not expect to find myself lying on my back on the ground looking up at the blue sky. We did see lots of plants like rue anonome, wild oats, sarsaparilla, yellow violets, purple violets, and sweet cicily.  Some people were writing all these things down because we were finding plants on this SNA that had never been recorded before. At one point he had us stop and be quiet for 4 minutes.  That is when we saw the chestnut sided warbler and the yellow warbler. As we hiked around a pond the sun shone bright on the cattails.  There in the center of the cattails perched a scarlet tanager.  The sun made the scarlet tanager look even more scarlet. The view was stunning.Over at Camp Ripley there were firing major ammunition.  I could feel the shock of the repeating rounds in my ears. In any case, when I finally came to a top of a hill and saw the road I just had to yell, "Look!  The road!" I was glad to get out of those thick woods.  Visiting a SNA is a good way to get into nature but paths and roads are nice too! All of us were sneezing and coughing. Walking through all the brush brought up the pollen and dust. Our boots were covered in yellow pollen.  When I got back I quickly changed into my swimsuit and went swimming in the indoor pool. After a few laps in the chlorinated water, all the pollen and all the wood ticks were a forgotten worry.

Ripley Believe It Or Not

Today I got a guided tour of Camp Ripley.  Believe it or not I got a good long look at a red headed woodpecker sitting still and another good look at one flying.  Believe it or not I saw a Promontory warbler.  Believe it or not I saw a common yellow throat warbler.  Believe it or not I saw a bear.  No, don't believe that. I did not see a bear.  Believe it or not I heard guns firing. Believe it or not I saw a ferry where tanks are floated across the Mississippi.  Believe it or not this area of Minnesota has a high concentration of wood ticks that carry Lyme disease. The prevalence of the spirochetes is so high the Center for Disease Control comes here to collect samples. Believe it or not I saw a slew of Blandings turtles.  You can for sure believe this - I had a good time looking around Camp Ripley.

15.5 Per Cent Interest Rate

On Tuesday I rode my motorcycle to work.  Naturally I wanted to take the long way home. I thought I would drive past my old house in Coon Rapids to see how things have changed.  There was construction on that street so I was hesitant to drive past all the heavy equipment.  As I paused in front of my old house I saw my old neighbor was mowing her lawn.  I decided to pull over and see if she  noticed me. She did notice me but didn't stop mowing for a long time.  I sat there, on my bike, contemplating the time of my life when I lived in this neighborhood. Eventually she came over and we talked.  Her husband died many years ago but he was a grounds keeper at the local community college. I told her he would be proud of her lush green grass.  She filled me in on her life and her son's life. She told me the other neighbor's husband passed away 3 years ago.  I did not know that. As we talked that neighbor drove home from work.  We both walked over to her house and I offered my sincere condolences. As she got out of the car she said, "Is that Sue?"  I was surprised she recognized me with my helmet hair.  Turns out the neighbor across the street is still the same neighbor and these three women help each other garden, solve life problems, give each other rides, and are there for each other.  These three women formed a bond that has remained strong for a quarter century. As I put on my helmet and drove away, I wondered how my life would have been different if I had stayed living there instead of moving to where I am now. I have no regrets but I am glad we bought that house in Coon Rapids now.  At the time, in 1983, we had an interest rate of 15.5 per cent and isn't that a crazy decision if you ever heard one?

Who Likes Grape Jelly?

Last night I had an extremely busy schedule. I worked all day. I had an interview after work. I monitored two streams.  I went swimming.  I shopped for food. I picked up a pair of pants from an alterations shop. I went to the library. When I got home I grabbed some raspberries and Greek yogurt and sat down on the deck to relax.  This was about 7:30 in the beautiful evening.  My backyard looks like a fairy land because the crab apples are in bloom. The air is perfumed.  Pink and white blossoms look vivid against the summer blue sky with a couple white fluffy clouds for contrast.  I hear an ovenbird calling.  I see the baby chickadees come to my window feeder and clumsily land, take a seed, and fly off. Then I see my chipmunk come out of my rain gutter and skedaddle to it's home under the bird feeder post.  I have a bird feeder post stuck into the ground.  Around that I put a six inch diameter pvc pipe so the squirrels cannot climb the post.  The chipmunk home is part of the reason this bird feeder post is no longer straight up and down.  It leans at an angle to the southwest. At the top of the pvc pipe I have a metal baffle.  As I look at the baffle and contemplate straightening that post the chipmunk pokes it's head out of the baffle and crawls over to the oriole feeder.  The chipmunk eats grape jelly.  I say, "Hey, that is for the orioles," even though I have seen red bellied woodpeckers eat it too.  The chipmunk pays no attention to me. When the chipmunk had enough grape jelly it perched under the baffle on top of the pvc pipe to wash it's face which was now sticky with grape jelly. Lucky for the chipmunk I just bought more grape jelly. I guess I had better refill the oriole/woodpecker/chipmunk feeder.

Behind The Beautiful Forevers

Katherine Boo wrote Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity.  This book is non-fiction. Katherine lived near the slum for several years and she writes about the real people living in a slum by an airport and a sewage pond. My favorite guy was Abdul, the trash picker who tries to support his family. He sorts plastic and metal and sells it to recyclers. He is doing his best to be honest and true and to stay out of trouble. Poor Abdul, through  no fault of his own, ends up in big trouble but yet he continues to be a young teen with integrity.  I don't know where Abdul gets it from because there isn't a whole lot of integrity to be found in the slums of Mumbai near the airport. Sad yet beautiful, this is a book worth your time to read.

Coexisting With A Wood Thrush

Last night I was standing outside in my driveway waiting for someone to show up. I thought he was coming after 5.  He did come at 7:15. I didn't stand out there the whole time but while I was standing there a little bird stood with me. This little brown bird with a white eye ring and a speckled breast stood right in front of me for about 5 minutes. We looked at each other.  The little bird would hunt for bugs in the hollow of a decaying log and then return to looking at me looking at it. A yard away another bird of the same species was doing the same thing. We stood there together, in the drizzling rain, existing side by side.  I thought it might be a warbler but then again the speckled breast made me think of a thrush.  The bird was a little bit too big to be a warbler.  Also it was too calm and placid to be a warbler. I go inside and look it up.  Turns out it was a wood thrush.  It resembled a robin but was 40% smaller than a robin. I wished it would have sang a song for me but no such luck.

Three Points of Contact Again!

Yesterday Offspring #2 and I went kayaking at Lake Orono in Elk River. I paddled around the very large body of water. I debated going under Highway 10 but I thought I would save that for another time.  I saw mallards, black and white warblers, and some other warblers.  I think warblers must have anxiety because they do not sit still for a single second.  Warblers are very twitchy birds and it is impossible to get a good long look at them. As I paddled by the bridge I watched car after car after truck after boat heading east. I felt sorry for those commuters because I thought I was having more fun in my kayak. Paddling around this area was a good workout.  I was proud to see a little blister on my right hand. I got out on a perfect sandy beach. The water was calm and shallow. To my surprise I tipped getting out.  Lake water entered the kayak and my underwear.  Now I looked like I had a toileting accident which is what I told my friend last week when she did the same thing.  Sometimes 3 points of contact are not enough I guess.  Nevertheless I went out to eat at a pub with a patio where my capri pants dried right quick in the warm spring air.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

My book club read Gabrielle Zevin's book The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry.  I had never heard the word storied before.  Store, stores, stored, stories were all familiar to me but not storied. I guess storied means legendary.  A. J. is a book seller.  He comes across as grumpy and judgmental but events happen in his life that soften his edges.  The novel had quite a few surprises and all the loose ends were tied up nicely in the end.  After our book club has read some books about difficult topics lately, this book was a nice change of pace.  Everyone in the meeting liked it.

The Psychopath Test

I finished reading The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson during a commute to work that usually takes 25 minutes but that day took over an hour.  I was about to become a psychopath myself in the very slow traffic I was experiencing.  Seriously, I got to the train tracks after waiting in line a very long time.  A freight train comprising on 110 cars goes by. The train passes and there, on the other side of the tracks, was the same truck. Traffic had not moved an inch in the time it took a freight train to pass.  Was I mad?  Oh, yeah, I was temporarily mad.  Oh, yeah, back to the book.  This book was interesting. The author is British and the British form of humor is subtle and that makes it even funnier.  The author is highly critical of the fields of psychiatry and of the criminal justice system and of Scientology. The author himself admits to an anxiety problem. Who doesn't have anxiety?  One of the experts in the field of mental health made a checklist that defines a psychopath. He had twenty items on the checklist.  He made the list to be helpful. But when the author took the checklist and started interviewing people everyone he met seemed to be a psychopath.  He was so surprised by that until a person suggested maybe he wasn't using the checklist correctly. Mental health and mental illness are not concrete things that can be easily distinguished. One message the author made clear.  If a reader of the book wonders if she or he is a psychopath then she or he is not a psychopath. 

Outside the Comfort Zone

I did something outside my comfort zone last night. There is good reason it was outside my comfort zone.  This act would be outside most people's comfort zone.  I have no experience in this and I did it by myself.  Everything worked out fine which is great because it would  be ironic if I got in trouble for lighting a grass fire in my yard. Would they take away my opportunity to play Smokey the Bear?  The evening was nice.  The wind was coming across the Rum River from Andover and moving towards my house. I lit the fire with a bag of sawdust, some wax, and some papers. I really did not need that much to get the fire started because the dry prairie grass took off very quickly, scarily quickly.  I started the fire on the edge of my prairie and I allowed it to move towards my house.  In total I burned an area about the size of my bedroom. When the fire moved toward my cherry bushes and lilac bush I got nervous and put the sprinkler out to keep those bushes from burning. I stood out there supervising for over an hour. I added other grass to keep some parts of the fire burning.  Who knows what the chickens thought of my behavior. The flock was keeping an eye on me.  I suppose they were worried about becoming fried chicken. I am very proud of my black prairie. I see all kinds of  other parts I wish I had burned but I think I had better not get ahead of myself.  I have a cousin who is on the city fire department.  How embarrassing that would be if he had to come and help me.

Holy Suds Batman!

After kayaking yesterday I went to the gym for a swim.  My bathing suit felt slimy when I took it out of my gym bag. I looked into the bag and discovered my nearly full bottle of Suave Ocean Breeze shampoo was now only one third full.  Two thirds of a bottle of shampoo was now outside of the  bottle yet inside my gym bag. Holy suds, Batman.  I took everything out of my gym bag and rinsed them off in the sink.  The gym has quite a few hand sinks. I used one to rinse off my stuff and I used another one to rinse out the bag itself. Suds rose in both sinks.  The more I tried to get rid of the suds the higher they rose.  Now I had two sinks full of suds.  The suds were so high they rose eight inches above the top of the counter top.  I had so many bubbles! The harder I tried the more suds I had. There was a garbage can there for paper towels so I started taking hand fulls of suds and throwing them in the trash. Another woman came by to wash her hands. She says to me, "You got a lot of suds there."  I tell her if she ever wants suds she should buy Suave Ocean Breeze shampoo.  I also tell I have the cleanest gym bag ever. Eventually the level of suds is reduced to a manageable level. I take my things and put them in a locker.  I hang my gym bag on a peg to dry. I clean up both sinks and the counter top as best I can with paper towels. I  put on my wet swim suit. Is there anything worse than putting on a wet swim suit? I hate putting on a wet swim suit. I enter the pool and start swimming.  I look behind me to see if a trail of suds is following me but I see no suds.  I start swimming and after two laps all my sudsy problems have dissolved. I wish all problems were as easy to resolve as shampoo spills.

Three Points of Contact

A friend of mine was thinking about getting a kayak. I offered her the chance to try mine to see if she liked it.  She and her husband have a boat but she thought a kayak is something she could do when he wasn't around. We met at Crooked Lake on Saturday morning. I got there early so I quickly zoomed around the lake.I felt like a kid again pushing myself through the water and seeing the sights. A Canadian goose sat on a nest and pretended to be asleep. The relaxed black neck was striking against the gray feathers.  A man with a sloping lot down to the lake was busy weeding the lake shore.  I could see where he had applied lines of fertilizer to his turf.  On another property a camp fire smoldered near the lake shore.  Smoke drifted across the water.  Four wood ducks landed and swam away. Another large house had a big swing set.  Three kids were swinging on the swings and jumping off into the lush green grass. Sometimes when I am on a lake I feel like a peeping Tom. I get a sensation that the people on the lake don't appreciate being spied on. On the other hand, they own the lake shore but not the lake so there is not reason to feel like a peeping Tom. A muskrat swam by. A painted turtle clung to a clump of reeds trying to warm itself in the sunshine. Traffic zoomed by on Highway 10.  A man with curly red hair got into his boat with a girl; his daughter I imagined.  She was three years old and had long blonde hair and a sun dress.  They smiled and motored away. My friend arrived and I got out so she could get in. She is much shorter than I am so we had to shorten the pegs so she could reach them. A kayak has foot pegs so you can push your foot against the peg as you move forward. She put on my life vest. I warned her to have three points on contact when getting in and getting out.  She did pretty well until both of her feet were in and she tried to stand up straight. I told her that was two points of contact so she sat down. I shoved her out and told her to go around the whole lake if she wanted to.  She ended up going around the whole lake.  I thought she was pretty brave to do that. I got my binoculars and cup of tea out of my car.  I sat on the dock and made friends with a woman who fishes there every day the lake is't frozen. For this lake, it has been about a week since the ice went out. This lady loves fishing.  She fishes every day either here or near the Coon Rapids dam.  She fishes for pan fish but she never keeps them. She told me a story from last year when she made friends with a mother grebe and her grebelings. She got to know this grebe family.  She would  make a noise and they would come out to greet her. I saw some yellow rumped warblers and some sparrows that I could not identify. Tree swallows were diving for insects. A couple of huge dragonflies flew past and they looked like they were attached some how. The woman said the loons are on the lake but I never saw them.  After an hour my friend came back. She had a big smile on her face.  She said she felt like a kid again. She had a hard time getting out of the kayak.  I had her parked parallel to the shore. I sat on top of the bow of the kayak to keep it steady and we both almost went in the lake. She did get out though and she was unhurt.   We loaded the kayak in my car. She helped me tie it down with yellow nylon rope.  She asked me if I could tell her jean capris were wet. I admitted she looked like she had a toileting accident. She said she didn't care and was off to the garden center now. What a beautiful morning in Minnesota today!

American Toads are Calling!

Today on my walk around Laddie Lake I saw warblers. Unfortunately the person I walk with is not interested in birds.  He is also not interested in waiting for me to look at birds.  So I know I saw warblers but I don't know what kind. The chorus frogs were quieter today but they were still calling.  The exciting sound today was the long musical trill of at least 4 separate individual toads.

Conversation Overheard Yesterday

I was walking down a sidewalk in Coon Rapids on my way to my car.  A group of students were walking together ahead of me. They walked so slow I caught up to them but I don't think anyone noticed me because they were speaking pretty freely.

One girl said, "If my step-father isn't home, I can get away with anything!"  She threw her arms up in the air and spun in a circle.

Another young man said, "My mother is home all the time.  She is the reason I am still a virgin."

The entire group, including me, cracked up at that one!

Longing For The Sound of a Sora

Today on my walk around Laddie Lake I noticed the ice was completely gone. Yesterday the ice was a very dark gray and today it is gone.  On top of the red winged blackbirds, starlings, woodpeckers, cardinals, robins and mallards, I thought I heard a rail calling.  Maybe it was a sora rail or maybe it was my ears longing for the sound of a sora rail calling that fooled me. In any case, it sure was a good day to go for a mid-morning walk! 

Random High Praise

About a year ago I was at a grocery store.  We were shopping for food at the NEX - a store designed for Navy families and other people on the Navy base.  I was trying to distract a two year old while her very pregnant mother picked out fresh fruits and vegetables.  A man in scrubs walked by with his own cart.  He introduced himself as the doc who would deliver my second grandgirl.  As he walked off he looked over the grocery cart and remarked, "I wish all my patients would select food like you do."  Wow, I thought to myself, that is high praise indeed.  Last Saturday I heard high praise again. I was at a graduation ceremony at Augsburg. Offspring #2 was getting a master degree in leadership.  My niece and I went to the reception to have a cookie and a cup of lemon flavored water.  A socially awkward professor, in a robe and a hood asked Offspring #2 if she was planning to get a PhD.  She said she didn't know yet. He said, "You got the chops for it.  You certainly got the chops for it."  Wow, high praise again!  Random high praise is very meaningful.