Remember Alice

Who remembers this childhood song?

"Alice, where are you going?

Upstairs, to take a bath

Alice, with legs like toothpicks

Her neck, like a giraffe

Alice got in the bathtub

Alice pulled out the plug


OH MY GRACIOUS, OH MY SOUL! THERE GOES ALICE DOWN THE HOLE!"

Stream Monitoring

I volunteer for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency by monitoring two streams during the warmer months, mostly May through early October.  One of my spots is on the Rum River at the Pleasant Avenue bridge in Anoka.  You'd be surprised how many people have spotted me there throwing a bucket over the bridge.  My other spot is on Coon Creek in Coon Hollow - a pedestrian bridge just west of East River Road in Coon Rapids.  We supposed to monitor regularly - at least a couple times a year.  I try to get to both spots at least 3 times a month.  I enjoy it.  Taking five or ten minutes to look over a stream, I judge it's appearance, and measure the temperature of the water.  I pull up some water in my trusty metal bucket on a rope and pour it in a 60 centimeter Secchi tube to measure the clarity of the water.  The Rum River is always clearer than Coon Creek.  I estimate whether the stream depth is high, normal or low.  This last measure is a little hard.  On Coon Creek, a homeowner has a hose sticking out of the bank.  I use that hose to measure the depth of the water.  On the Rum River I can see water marks on the cement buttresses of the Highway 10 bridge.  A homeowner has wooden planks on the shore and I use those too.  I always document when I see ducks or geese or swallows or dragonflies.  You can really appreciate a spot when you go back to check on it regularly and notice the changes. I have had people ask me what I am doing.  Kids feel free to ask.  Police officers feel free to ask.  I had one boater (who I didn't notice at first) attempt to pull on my bucket in order to scare me.  Mr. Funny Man.  There are more streams that need monitoring.  You may want to adopt a stream for yourself.  Be a citizen scientist.  The Pollution Control agency will show their appreciation by giving you a t-shirt or cap after you complete and turn in a year of results.  You can see the results of all my work (and all the other stream monitors) by visiting this website: http://cf.pca.state.mn.us/water/cmp/index.cfm

Not Sure How To Handle This

Meredith enjoying a warm, clean coop.

Last Friday I moved Meredith's coop to the winter headquarters.  She is snug against the house and protected from the north winter winds.  I installed the heat lamp and reflective shield so she'll stay warm.  I cleaned out the coop really well and put in lots of fresh wood chips so she will be comfortable in there.  The screws to the coop door were coming loose so I replaced them. I filled up her container of food and noticed she has been eating a lot for just a single chicken.  She's been eating as much as two chickens.  Meredith has always been the biggest chick but even accounting for that, too much chicken feed was being consumed.  Later in the day, when I opened the door to take her picture, I found out why the chicken feed has been going so fast.  She wasn't alone in there.  When I opened the door, a chipmunk burst out of the coop and entered the run.  His cheeks were so full that they bulged out on both sides of his face and almost obscured his eyes.  He was trapped in the run.  This explains why I've been seeing this chipmunk around the house so much this fall.  I know how he gets in.  The coop door stays open so Meredith can get fresh air whenever she wants.  The chipmunk is small enough to get under the house and into the run and from there he can go in and out of the coop at will.  I would think, being a small mammal like a chipmunk with thin skin, I would not dare go into a chicken coop for fear the big bird would peck at me.  Meredith has a good 12 inches on him.  She could take him, who ever he is, Chip or Dale or Alvin.  She didn't seem bothered by him.  So is having a chipmunk helping himself to the chicken feed inside the coop a problem?  Could the chipmunk hurt her or give her a disease?  Will he invite his other chipmunk punks over to party?  Will mice or squirrels follow his example?  Or is this not a problem?  Maybe it's a cool story like the lion laying down with the lamb.  Maybe the chipmunk will ease Meredith's loneliness at spending her first winter alone.  Maybe Meredith and the chipmunk are friends like Wilbur the pig and Charlotte the spider.  How am I to interfere with friendship between species?  I am just not sure how to handle this.  Suggestions are welcome.

Project Feederwatch Update

Cedar Waxwing

Today was about my best day ever for the project feederwatch.  I had seen cedar waxwings on Friday and I hoped they would come back on the weekend when I could count them.  This morning, a red bellied woodpecker drew my attention.  I stopped my house cleaning chores (no resistance to that) and looked out the window.  The redbellied woodpecker was eating seeds from the feeder.  Up in the branches of the crabapple trees I saw a dozen cedar waxwings.  Bingo!  One flew to the white  oak next to the deck. I tilted my head to look up there and holy smoke, there was a flock!  I counted 27.  I counted again and got 48.  I counted a third time and got 62 cedar waxwings.  It was amazing to see all this life and business in a yard that would typically be dying and sterile at this time of year.  Watching these birds is so cool I don't think I can live without a bird feeder for the rest of my life.  I looked in the pond and saw a dozen waxwings riding the ice floes and drinking water.  Soon I hairy woodpecker came to the suet on the deck.  From the east a downy woodpecker came hopping closer.  The difference in size between the two woodpeckers is easy to see when they are right next to each other.  Before I could finish that thought, a pileated woodpecker clumsily flew in and scattered the woodpeckers and all the other birds away.  The male pileated woodpecker looked over the situation.  Tilting his head from all angles, he eyes the mesh bag of suet.  He looked at how it was attached.  I suspect he wanted to untie the bag and carry it away.  He flew to the post and looked some more.  Eventually he took a peck.  He used too much force and the hanging mesh bag of suet flew around like a tether ball.  It was hilarious.  He looked over the situation for a few minutes and took another peck using much less force this time.  He adjusted his position four times and just couldn't seem to get comfortable.  After about five minutes he flew to my bird feeding post and sampled the suet cake.  He flew into the woods giving that woody woodpecker call as he left.  Results for this weekend:  Pileated woodpecker-1, Hairy woodpecker-2, Downy woodpecker-2, Red bellied woodpecker-1, Black capped chickadee-6, House finch-2, white breasted nuthatch-3, American Crow-3, Blue jay-1,  Cardinal-2, Cedar Waxwing-62, Dark eyed Junco-3

Thanksgiving 2011

Say Cheese!

Now make a funny face.  I think Calvin and Catey win the award on the photo.

Ed King

I read Ed King by David Guterson.  I was expecting something emotional and dramatic and understated like his other books, Snow Falling on Cedars and East of the Mountains.  Instead I got a comedy based on a 5th century BC myth.  I don't want to say which myth this book is based on because when I figured it out, it was a real "Aha!  Holy Crap" moment for me.  So now I know, Guterson is more than a dramatic novelist.  He can be as funny about Washington State as Carl Hiassen is funny about Florida.  Although not what I expected, this was a good book with many interesting characters.

What We Are Thankful For

We had 21 people at our Thanksgiving table.  I set the table for 20.  I guess I forgot to count myself.  Before we eat, we read an alphabetical list of what we are thankful for. Everybody takes a turn reading a letter.  Here is the list:  Armed forces not at home, Being home, Chocolate, Days off (school or work I guess), Everybody/education/evil smurfs, Family/food, Grandma/Grandpa, Health, Insulin, J_____ not being here, Kazoos/kryptonite, Life lessons, Minnesota/Muppets/Mashed potatoes, Nacho cheese, Overstuffed/Oreos, Power of choice/pancreas/propane, Quitting time, Recycling, Sue for dinner  :), Turkey/tryptophan, Uranus, Venus, Watermelon/wellness/water, Xerox machines, Year good (?), and Zebras/zoo/zooboomafoe.  We had a delicious dinner.  Everyone brought something. One the menu was turkey, tofurky, mashed potatoes (blue and white), gravy, 3 kinds of stuffing, coleslaw, french bread, crescent rolls, a fruit basket shaped like a turkey, broccolli rice casserole, cranberries, sweet potatoes, crudites, cheese and crackers, spinach artichoke dip with crackers, hummus, peppermint pretzels, chocolates, apple pie, pumpkin pie, apple/raspberry/rhubarb/strawberry pie, turtle cheesecake, rice krispie bars, brownies, burnt peanuts and honey roasted peanuts.  We forgot to bake the jalapeno cream cheese poppers wrapped in bacon.  I doubt anyone could have fit more food.  I keep a scale in the kitchen.  Several people weighed themselves before and after.  Average weight gain after the meal was between 1 and 2 pounds.  Thanks to everyone who came.  Thanks to all who pitched in getting dinner on the table.  Thanks to everyone who helped clean up too.  We couldn't have done it without you.