One morning after letting the dogs out for their first run of the day, I caught Indigo coming in with half a young squirrel in her mouth. Later I came in the front door and spotted an unfamiliar toy on the antique couch. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be an entire young squirrel, quite dead. So that totals approximately one and one-half dead squirrels in the house. I disposed of them quickly, but several questions were immediately raised. 1. Where was the other half squirrel? Living half-squirrels are rare in nature. 2. Who killed these juvenile squirrels? While the Sisters of Chaos are very fond of barking at and chasing our backyard squirrels, they have never caught one, and do not display sufficient aggression and prey drive needed to kill one.
The answer to #1 may have been revealed, as Indigo refused to eat for 24 hours, then produced a nasty, runny poo out back. Her appetite has rebounded, fortunately.
Around the same time period, I saw Indigo stalking something around the edge of the prairie. I went in for a closer look, and saw one of our resident garter snakes. She seemed interested when it was on the other side of the fence, but afraid when it got too close. Isabel was similarly interested. I know these snakes are criss-crossing the yard all the time, yet I've never seen the dogs attack one. In fact, they ignored the last one I saw, though it was right in front of their noses. Now that I've moved the chainlink fence around, the dogs can't jump into the prairie, and it will have a chance to grow back. A couple of weeks later I rescued a snake that they had at bay in front of the willow tree. It was holding them back by gaping and striking.
I finished off the Doggie Cam project. I kept it on Isabel for a walk that we all took on the Canton North Levee. It worked well, except that the sisters were yoked, and the yoke would catch the camera when they crossed each other.
I spent one weekend working on our rental property. Though it's sold, it did not pass FHA inspection. While replacing some electrical outlets with the GFCI type, I learned that a year of college physics provides the illusion that one understands electricity, but it is no subsitute for the training of an electrician. I didn't shock myself, but much cursing was required to complete the project. I also had to scrape, prime and paint the soffits. It wasn't that bad a job, but it happened to be quite windy out, which added to the challenge. It would be worth it when it sold. We closed on it April 18.
The 19th was the 25th anniversary of our wedding. We went to a concert in Quincy on the Sunday before. We bought very expensive steaks for a nice dinner at home, and we went to see the Mariachi Band at the local Mexican restaurant later in the week. We are still discussing getting matching tattoos. It was a low-key but well savored anniversary.
Stacey's Dad and his wife Rhonda came out to visit one weekend. We showed them around a bit, and picked up our niece Shilo at the train station in Quincy so they could haul her back to Indiana. We hadn't seen her in a couple of years.
We camped out at the State Park again. We took some nice walks with the dogs and I did a long training ride. While we were gone, a rabbit made a nest in the back yard and moved her young into it. This is the same yard where four schnauzers play. The dogs found it immediately upon our return. Savannah saved one of them, but I think one of the neighborhood cats got it overnight.
I did the Dogwood Parade in Quincy with my kennel club. I had made costumes for the dogs but ended up not using them because it rained almost the entire time. We just walked it and got wet. It was still kind of fun to do. Isabel was well behaved, and Indigo was a friend to all the kids.
The Instructables.com web site ran a contest for the month of April. Those submitting 4 featured instructables during the month would be entered to win a GoPro. I had one done about midway through the month, and that was a start. I wrote 4 more because one was not featured (they have to be pretty good for that) and just made it on the 29th. They were all dog-related, the last being Ride 'em Cowboy Dog Costumes. I figure my odds are pretty good because it's not that easy to get even one featured.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Saturday, April 2, 2016
March 2016
Camping at Wakonda State Park was our RV shakedown cruise. We took the first weekend of my spring break. We didn't find anything major wrong with the motorhome this time, though we did head home a day early because of the threat of rain (which never actually appeared). We walked the dogs a lot, and had the entire park largely to ourselves. I took a couple of long skateboard trips with the sisters. One I recorded with the helmet cam. Not much interesting happened, but I need to edit it down to the best bits to make it worth watching. Savannah came over for a bike ride. We saw the huge flock of snow geese on Agate lake. When they saw us they got up and moved to the other side of the lake. One morning I had to get up early to walk the dogs and I a nice sunrise was in progress. The sunset the night before had been disappointing, so I got the camera out and shot the heck out of it. Some geese even flew by to add interest to my images. I put one of the images on my CafePress site so people can buy a poster of it if they want. Our realtor came out and we signed the contract on our rental house. Yay! It is sold.
We had the Sisters groomed, and this time I had the groomer do them in a style more like the official show pattern, except that they were clipped, not hand-stripped, of course. We had let them go a long time. Their hair doesn't grow very fast, but they were looking more scruffy than I'd ever seen them. I love their new look.
We walked the St. Patrick's Day parade in Quincy with the Kennel Club. I had them pull me on the skateboard. Some of the children found it amusing. One boy said, "Can you do a flip?" I said, "Absolutely not." I was happy to get through the parade without falling down. It rained on us a bit, but not too badly.
Since we came home a day early, I was able to work on the RV and put it away fairly quickly. I rearranged the stuff in the big garage at our Jamison place so I could fit my truck in it. With a bit of time on my hands, I was able to finish off my Bar Jump instructable. It was very quickly picked up and featured on the front page of the Instructables.com web site. I have a lot of fun putting these together. I've done four in the dog agility genre. I bought a 55-gallon drum so I can make the chute obstacle next. Once I had the bar jump done I put it in the back yard and photographed all the dogs jumping it.
I made a bracket for attaching my action camera to a dog. Isabel has been the only camera dog so far. I'm writing an instructable on it, but haven't quite finished it off.
We had planned to go camping over Easter break, but there was a lot of rain in the forecast and we canceled. It turned out only one day was rainy. You just can't second guess the weather.
My Plant Field Biology class is in full swing, and we have been lucky to enjoy an early spring. Warm weather has coaxed a lot of wildflowers out ahead of schedule. We had one nice outing to Siloam Springs State Park, where my friends Jan and Mark guided us and pointed out several new species.
I was interviewed by the local TV news about monarch butterflies. I never saw the segment. Hope I didn't say anything stupid. There is a brief story online here.
I published a paper this past month in Journal of Thermal Biology. The study came from work we did in Ruby back in 2009. We still have a lot of data from that time. I believe you can watch the 5-minute slide presentation that I made for the paper, as well as read the abstract and highlights here.
I finally finished editing the video of Miss Kitty running through the snow while I cross-country skied.
We had the Sisters groomed, and this time I had the groomer do them in a style more like the official show pattern, except that they were clipped, not hand-stripped, of course. We had let them go a long time. Their hair doesn't grow very fast, but they were looking more scruffy than I'd ever seen them. I love their new look.
We walked the St. Patrick's Day parade in Quincy with the Kennel Club. I had them pull me on the skateboard. Some of the children found it amusing. One boy said, "Can you do a flip?" I said, "Absolutely not." I was happy to get through the parade without falling down. It rained on us a bit, but not too badly.
Since we came home a day early, I was able to work on the RV and put it away fairly quickly. I rearranged the stuff in the big garage at our Jamison place so I could fit my truck in it. With a bit of time on my hands, I was able to finish off my Bar Jump instructable. It was very quickly picked up and featured on the front page of the Instructables.com web site. I have a lot of fun putting these together. I've done four in the dog agility genre. I bought a 55-gallon drum so I can make the chute obstacle next. Once I had the bar jump done I put it in the back yard and photographed all the dogs jumping it.
I made a bracket for attaching my action camera to a dog. Isabel has been the only camera dog so far. I'm writing an instructable on it, but haven't quite finished it off.
We had planned to go camping over Easter break, but there was a lot of rain in the forecast and we canceled. It turned out only one day was rainy. You just can't second guess the weather.
My Plant Field Biology class is in full swing, and we have been lucky to enjoy an early spring. Warm weather has coaxed a lot of wildflowers out ahead of schedule. We had one nice outing to Siloam Springs State Park, where my friends Jan and Mark guided us and pointed out several new species.
I was interviewed by the local TV news about monarch butterflies. I never saw the segment. Hope I didn't say anything stupid. There is a brief story online here.
I published a paper this past month in Journal of Thermal Biology. The study came from work we did in Ruby back in 2009. We still have a lot of data from that time. I believe you can watch the 5-minute slide presentation that I made for the paper, as well as read the abstract and highlights here.
I finally finished editing the video of Miss Kitty running through the snow while I cross-country skied.
Monday, February 29, 2016
February 2016
I built a tire jump so Isabel could practice this dog agility obstacle at home. It took a couple of months to finish, working on it a little at a time. It turned out pretty well, I thought. I made it from a pallet and some drain pipe. I took photos during the construction process so that I could make an instructable.
My tenant moved out from my little apartment downtown. I spent considerable time working on the place, installing a cabinet and range hood in the kitchenette. Then there was a dead space where I think they used to have the water heater. It's terrible to have wasted space in a place so tiny to begin with. I carefully cut out the drywall and filled the space with a cabinet that was just the right size. The apartment was open only for two weeks before we found another tenant, a young man who works for the city.
Our other rental, 901 West, finally sold. It's been a drag paying the mortgage and utility bills for three months, but it was worth it. I had to move a bunch of stuff from the garages at 901 West to the Jamison place, which has a huge garage.
I attended a Level II stream team workshop in Jefferson City. I spent the night before with my friend and former student, Mike Irwin. We had a great time drinking beer and playing guitars. His girlfriend Belinda cooked dinner for us too. The workshop was about like usual. I have to do these every couple of years to maintain my level III certification, so this was probably the third time. I met some interesting new people and got some free stuff. I'm kind of excited by the new pH meter.
While I was gone Isabel tore out one of her toenails and bent another, probably while running around in the back yard. She limped on and off, but the vet said that she could still go to agility class, so we did. By that time, she was no longer limping. She has been doing exceptionally well lately, and can chain together 9 obstacles without error. She was so good that our instructor has graduated her to a more advanced class. Unfortunately, it's later in the evening, but it will be better for her and my development.
We've been tapping maple trees for syrup production in my Environmental Science class. The flow has been on and off. It has been a good experience for the students, but we'll be wrapping it up this week. We took field trips to the La Grange water and sewer plants, which is always edifying. We also went to Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. I hadn't been there in 4 years, and it has changed a lot.
It has been a terrible month for photography. On leap day I took my camera and long lens down to the riverfront before driving to work. I was really mad that I couldn't get the camera to focus on a greenwing teal before it swam out of range, but then I found a live raccoon by the side of the road. I have no love for raccoons, but you don't generally see them like that in broad daylight. I shot many frames of it. I photographed a few other birds in the area too.
I gave a talk to POLIS, our educational series for retired folks. I didn't spend an inordinate amount of time preparing, but the talk was still very well received. I've been doing these so long that I appear to have a following.
My tenant moved out from my little apartment downtown. I spent considerable time working on the place, installing a cabinet and range hood in the kitchenette. Then there was a dead space where I think they used to have the water heater. It's terrible to have wasted space in a place so tiny to begin with. I carefully cut out the drywall and filled the space with a cabinet that was just the right size. The apartment was open only for two weeks before we found another tenant, a young man who works for the city.
Our other rental, 901 West, finally sold. It's been a drag paying the mortgage and utility bills for three months, but it was worth it. I had to move a bunch of stuff from the garages at 901 West to the Jamison place, which has a huge garage.
I attended a Level II stream team workshop in Jefferson City. I spent the night before with my friend and former student, Mike Irwin. We had a great time drinking beer and playing guitars. His girlfriend Belinda cooked dinner for us too. The workshop was about like usual. I have to do these every couple of years to maintain my level III certification, so this was probably the third time. I met some interesting new people and got some free stuff. I'm kind of excited by the new pH meter.
While I was gone Isabel tore out one of her toenails and bent another, probably while running around in the back yard. She limped on and off, but the vet said that she could still go to agility class, so we did. By that time, she was no longer limping. She has been doing exceptionally well lately, and can chain together 9 obstacles without error. She was so good that our instructor has graduated her to a more advanced class. Unfortunately, it's later in the evening, but it will be better for her and my development.
We've been tapping maple trees for syrup production in my Environmental Science class. The flow has been on and off. It has been a good experience for the students, but we'll be wrapping it up this week. We took field trips to the La Grange water and sewer plants, which is always edifying. We also went to Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. I hadn't been there in 4 years, and it has changed a lot.
It has been a terrible month for photography. On leap day I took my camera and long lens down to the riverfront before driving to work. I was really mad that I couldn't get the camera to focus on a greenwing teal before it swam out of range, but then I found a live raccoon by the side of the road. I have no love for raccoons, but you don't generally see them like that in broad daylight. I shot many frames of it. I photographed a few other birds in the area too.
I gave a talk to POLIS, our educational series for retired folks. I didn't spend an inordinate amount of time preparing, but the talk was still very well received. I've been doing these so long that I appear to have a following.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
January 2016
It appears I neglected to publish a January blog. Rather than try to catch up, I'll do some brief summaries.
After returning from Brazil, it took my awhile to edit the videos, but here they are.
Hang Gliding
Brazil wildlife
We had enough snow one day for me to take Miss Kitty cross-country skiing. It was a lovely time. I have video from that that I have yet to edit.
Although Canton Eagle Day was kind of a bust (not many people or eagles showed up), I have hit a couple of days that were cold enough to bring in eagles for photography. The bonus came on a day when I saw few eagles, but spotted a coyote on the edge of the woods next to the levee. It was distant, but the lighting was good. At first it was hiding behind a stick, but as it stretched and moved, it got out into the open for some clean views.
I went ice fishing for the first time in years. I went out to Lowell's. The ice wasn't very thick, so I stayed close to the floating dock. The action wasn't fast, but I ended up with about 8 nice bluegills.
The spring semester began immediately upon my return, and it has been fun so far. We tapped our maple trees on campus and got a good flow for awhile. A cod snap shut it down, but it will come back, and we'll soon have syrup.
Below should appear a slide show of some of the highlights.
After returning from Brazil, it took my awhile to edit the videos, but here they are.
Hang Gliding
Brazil wildlife
We had enough snow one day for me to take Miss Kitty cross-country skiing. It was a lovely time. I have video from that that I have yet to edit.
Although Canton Eagle Day was kind of a bust (not many people or eagles showed up), I have hit a couple of days that were cold enough to bring in eagles for photography. The bonus came on a day when I saw few eagles, but spotted a coyote on the edge of the woods next to the levee. It was distant, but the lighting was good. At first it was hiding behind a stick, but as it stretched and moved, it got out into the open for some clean views.
I went ice fishing for the first time in years. I went out to Lowell's. The ice wasn't very thick, so I stayed close to the floating dock. The action wasn't fast, but I ended up with about 8 nice bluegills.
The spring semester began immediately upon my return, and it has been fun so far. We tapped our maple trees on campus and got a good flow for awhile. A cod snap shut it down, but it will come back, and we'll soon have syrup.
Below should appear a slide show of some of the highlights.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
January 2016 -- Brazil
1/02
The long-awaited trip to Brazil finally came. I taught a class in Tropical Ecology last semester that culminated in this study abroad in Rio de Janeiro. In the morning I picked up my students Aury and Liz and made an uneventful drive to St. Louis. We met the others in our group, including four additional students, the other instructor, Dr. Megan Boccardi, an alum (Tom), and the retired Dr. Attai and his wife Nayeh. We cleared security and flew to Atlanta, where our layover was so short they were already boarding our next flight, the red-eye to Rio. I watched a documentary on extreme sports, had a decent chicken dinner, and got some uncomfortable sleep.
1/03
We were awakened at what my biological clock said was 2:00 a.m. (6 local time) for breakfast. We landed in Rio, cleared customs, met our guide-for-the-day, Eduardo, took a bus to the hotel, dropped off our luggage, and took a bus tour of the city, periodically getting out to look around. I was still dressed for winter in the Midwest, with long sleeves and long pants, my summer wear remaining in my bag at the hotel. Worse yet was that my hat and sunglasses were also there. So it was a bit uncomfortable seeing the sights, though they were generally interesting. The big pyramidal Catholic church, the tiled stair case (see my photos to appreciate), the opera house, and the avenue where they have the samba competition during Carnaval every year.
We had lunch at an outdoor diner. I ate a roast beef sandwich, which was really good. We had a bit of time to look through a nearby craft market, but I didn't buy anything. I didn't even have any Brazillian reais (currency) yet. We went back to the hotel, and met our guide for the rest of the trip, Luana. We got into our rooms and showered. My room, and the hotel in general, were very nice (Golden Tulip Continental, Leme). We were one block from Leme beach, which becomes Copacabana beach to the south, and around a rocky headland becomes the famous Ipanema, then Leblon. Tom and I walked the area around the hotel, found a bank and got some cash. We saw another craft market, but again I got nothing. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant, where I got chicken that was quite good. We hit the local grocery store and I picked up some bottled water and a chocolate bar of a local variety. We went back to the hotel and crashed.
1.04
I was awake at 6:30 local time, and had the hotel breakfast with all its wonderful local fruits. Eventually, I tried passion fruit, which is so strongly tart it's almost inedible, and other fruit that I still cannot identify. The coffee was strong and served in small quantities like espresso. At 8 we were in the bus and on the road to Corcovado, a mountain that translates as "hunchback." We got on a cogwheel train to the top of the mountain, where the trademark Christ the Redeemer statue is located. It's about 100 feet tall, and looked smaller in person than when I've seen it on TV. When we arrived, it was shrouded in misty clouds. Fortunately, it cleared after a bit for great view of the surrounding landscapes of the city, beaches and other mountains. I did see some insects, including a green sphinx moth, a leaflike katydid, and many alate ants.
We took the train back down and the bus to a buffet for lunch. It was the first time I ever had bacalhau (salt cod), a Portuguese staple I had heard about ever since childhood. I also had some tasty grilled beef and boiled quail eggs, a first. Beef in Brazil is abundant, relatively cheap and delicious. I took advantage at every opportunity.
We returned to the hotel, where I learned our hotel had bikes for rent . We had the afternoon free, and I rented a bike, a three speed with basically a girls frame. It was adequate to the task, as the bike lane that runs along all the beaches is fairly flat. First I road to the sea wall at the north end of Leme, then back south through Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. People watching was great, as there were bodybuilders, musicians, and surfers. Thong bikinis are still in style, even for people who should really not wear them. Heightened awareness was mandatory, as people frequently wandered into the bike path without looking. There are also frequent crosswalks for the pedestrians crossing the adjacent roadway. I almost hit an ice man. As there is no parking next to the beach, goods are often delivered on special cargo bikes. Some of these sell ice to the little bars and cafes on the beach. I think some of them may carry over 200 pounds of ice at a time. One guy had his cargo bike parked in the left lane and lifted a bag out and walked into the right lane, where I was approaching quickly. I locked up the brakes, lifting the rear wheel off the ground a bit, but I stopped before I would have hit him.
I inspected the rocky places on the beaches, hoping for the kind of diversity one sees at tide pools, but all I saw was short algae and barnacles. The wave action is very heavy on this shoreline, and warning signs against swimming are everywhere. Most of the surfing and swimming is done in the lee of the rocky headlands, where there is some protection from the long fetch of the Atlantic.
Back at the hotel, I took a little rest and we had a buffet dinner there. Beef again! I went back to the beach with my students, Ari and Aury (whose names provide endless confusion). At the sea wall, which is designed for fishermen, we actually saw a guy catch a fish. It was a long, skinny thing with sharp teeth. He called it "espada," which means sword, though it was definitely not a swordfish.
1.05
Tom and I took a bike ride along almost the same route I had taken the day before, about 12 miles. We went a little farther south than I had, and saw some neat graffiti on a wall. It had a Back to the Future movie theme. Rio is filled with graffiti, much of it worthless crap, but some places hold lovely works of art. Again, I almost hit someone, this time a young man who just wasn't paying attention. I had a quick brunch composed of bananas from the little market across the street and spicy beef thing folded up in a triangular fried dough. Hard to explain, but it was yummy.
We took the bus to the Carnaval Experience. We saw the group practicing outside, observed their floats under construction, and learned how Carnaval works. It's an annual competition between samba schools. It's kind of like the NFL having just the Superbowl, with no season leading up to it. We learned the barebones history of the samba and got to try on some old costumes. We learned to dance the basic samba step and danced with the children's group. I couldn't keep up with the dancing, as my legs were kind of shot after bike rides two days in a row. We got to practice drumming with three percussionists with the team. I got a big bass drum. It was a lot of fun. We took the tram up to the Favelas, which provided a nice view, but we did not get out and tour the community.
Once back at the hotel, Megan and I walked down to the nearby craft market, but I didn't see anything I liked. I was pretty tired by then. We had an excellent beef dinner at Fogo do Chao.
I have to admit that my Portuguese was pretty rusty. I'd had almost no practice since 1990 when I took the class. Back then, I felt pretty fluent. But the Brazil/Rio accent and my decreasingly sensitive hearing made it difficult to understand people. Typically, I could formulate a reasonable opening sentence, but then I couldn't understand the response and had to revert to English. I picked up vocabulary every day, and I think I could be reasonably fluent in a few weeks if I stayed there.
1.06
We took a long bus ride to Itacuruca, a seaside resort. Along the way, we saw a lot of land area that had been cleared of forest long ago and converted to rangeland occupied by many cows. I saw a number of birds, most of which I could not identify, but two cara caras were an easy call. We even passed a capybara crossing. I would have loved to have seen a capybara, and kept my eyes out in all the marshy areas to no avail. At a rest stop I saw a lizard that looked like a Sceloporus with a neck ring. Upon arriving we got on a sizable boat with a capacity of 120, though we were the only passengers, other than the crew. We anchored in calm water a short distance off an island. Most of the students chose to swim, but Aury, Ari and I went snorkeling. I was far down the shore when I realized I had jumped in with my wallet and swiss army knife in my pocket. I swam back to the boat and returned them, and went back to the snorkeling. We saw barnacles, limpets, and little mussels clinging to the rocks. It was neat to see the barnacles extending their cirripedia when the waves lapped on them. The best thing there though was a large ctenophore (comb jelly). This marked the first time I'd ever seen (or held) a living member of this Phylum. We also saw some puffers, a crab, and some other small fish.
We boated to another island and docked for lunch. We had fruit, really good fish and rice pudding. The boys and I took a short hike around the lodge, noting many interesting birds and butterflies. I must say I was impressed with the butterflies everywhere we went. We snorkeled down the rocky coastline, seeing colonial cnidarians in green and orange, big sea urchins in purple and green, and other cnidarian polyps. Both the guys had never been snorkeling before, and agreed that it was about the best thing ever. We also saw a couple of sea stars, sea lettuce, and pennate algae. The high point came when Ari spotted an actual sea horse, amazing considering how it blended in with the algae, Aury got cramps in his legs and ended up walking a trail back to the lodge. The other students had been swimming there and reported seeing sea turtles, which we also observed there. We took the boat back to the harbor, and the bus back to Rio without anything remarkable happening.
1.07
We took a pair of jeeps up to the forest, which lies in city limits. It is restored coffee plantation, replanted by slaves under the royalty of the time. We stopped first at Chinese Vista, which provided a nice view over the city, and some swifts flying around. We proceeded up the mountain, which is a popular bike path, to the site where Pedro II declared independence from Portugal, which was still ruled by his father. Again, there were many butterflies, but they didn't allow me to get any pics. There was a troop of brown capuchin monkeys that allowed us to get very close. Some people tried to bait them with bananas, but they never took them. I even got some decent video of them. We proceeded up to a waterfall, which was very nice, and went on a short hike. We didn't see many birds, perhaps because it was too late in the morning. We descended the mountain directly to the hang gliding site.
We filled out our insurance forms and paid our money. All the students but one were going to hang glide, plus Megan and me. Actually, Megan and Ari went parasailing instead on hang gliding. Both would be tandem flights, where an experience pilot manages the aircraft while the passenger just hangs there and tries not to screw anything up. There weren't enough cars available to take us all up the mountain to the launch site, and I was left behind. I wasn't too happy about it, but I did get to see some of our students land. Finally, my pilot (Ricardo Nogeira) landed and we were introduced. He was about my age, and had spent 6 months in Los Angeles. Hence, his English was fairly good, and we had something in common. His roughnecks (or assistants) packed up his hang glider and affixed it to the roof rack. I got in the car and looked for the seat belt, but the female end was buried. He drove up the mountain at a breakneck pace. Never in my life did I want a seatbelt more than during that drive. I felt safer later while in the air. Though I was now at the launch site, it wasn't yet my turn, as my pilot had another guy to take down first. I watched other people launch, and talked to Megan and Elizabeth, who hadn't taken off yet, I saw one parasailor have a bad take-off. He started out a bit sideways and decided not to launch, bailing into the grassy hillside. It turns out he was something of a beginner. Not long afterward I heard a collective gasp, and everyone ran to the edge of the launch ramp. A student hang glider had crashed into the trees. One guy ran over with a rope and a machete, which is apparently the standard rescue kit for such situations. Finally, my guide came back and it was my turn. I put on the gear and got the short lesson, mostly about take-off. We practiced the short run. You are supposed to run off the end of the ramp without stopping. I had watched enough people launch by then that I had a pretty good idea. We approached the ramp and practiced hanging from the kite and stuff. I felt like I needed about another hour to mentally prepare, but I only had a minute. Before you know it, we were running off the ramp. That was about the pants-shittingest moment of my life, but once we caught some lift and the glider started flying, it was pure bliss. We sailed over the mountain forest and out toward the ocean. Once we met the cliff face there was a big updraft and we got some good lift. For a long time we just went back and forth between land and sea, working that wind. The land below us was mostly luxury homes with pools. We were flying at the same altitude as the birds, and the pilot made a dive at a black vulture and then a frigate bird. The vulture was not amused. Ricardo was rather garrulous, and entertained with his constant banter. He let me fly the glider for awhile, and I was able to make the turns from land to sea and back. He took back the controls before the landing. He performed some dives and wheels to position us for the landing, and I enjoyed that like a good roller coaster ride. He put it into a little stall before we landed on the beach and I ran as soon as my feet touched. We stopped after just a few steps. There were two GoPros running on the glider, so I've got plenty of video and stills of the event. It will take some editing before I make it available.
That evening we went on a "Samba Night" at a nightclub. Dinner was good (beef again!). There were two band venues. I saw three bands and they were all really good. One was an accordion band with a triangle to keep the beat and a bass for funky flavor. The last had four percussionists, and a guy who played sax, clarinet and flute all in the same song.
1.08
We took the bus to Maracana stadium, where the world cup final match was played and some of the upcoming Olympic soccer games will be played. Security was tighter so we didn't get to see much of the stadium, but we did have the opportunity to take a 360 degree photo, which I did. See it here:
We had some time to spare and returned to the Escadaria Selarón steps decorated in tiles in one of the neighborhoods. It is really quite a work of art, reminiscent of Gaudi, and apparently much more popular now that the artist is dead. We went to a cooking class hosted by the vivacious Simone at Cookin Rio. I cut up and fried some onions, which did make my eyes water. I learned to make the capirinha, the national alcoholic beverage. By that time, most of us were big fans of the drink. The main course was fish, and we got to eat everything when we were done cooking it.
We bussed back to the hotel and I took a taxi by myself to the Botanic Gardens. It's a big place. First I enjoyed the specialty gardens: cacti, bromeliads and orchids. I continued down a path where I met up with a large troop of brown capuchin monkeys. Many of them were females with a baby on their back. They crossed the path to the little concrete canal where they got drinks of water. On the other side of the gardens I saw some common marmosets eating some bananas on a tree. I'd never seen wild marmosets before. They're mighty cute. Not long afterward I spotted a monitor lizard walking through some open space. I got a little video of him too. I spent much of the rest of the time chasing some toucans around trying to get decent photos. I took a taxi back to Copacabana beach, where I bought some gifts at a craft market. Unfortunately, I had spent all my cash and could not get a taxi back to the hotel. I walked the two or three miles along the beach, which provided a lot of sights. That made up in part the pain of carrying my heavy photo backpack all that way. We had pizza and beer for dinner.
1.09
After breakfast I walked down the street to find a shop we had visited earlier in the week. It was closed, but I got the sandals I wanted at a different store. I rested the remainder of the morning, as I knew I had a big day ahead. At noon we had lunch at a nearby place (beef, of course), then took the bus to Sugarloaf Mountain. We took the tram up to the first stop, Morro Urca, and explored the grounds. There were nice views all the way around; ocean, beaches, and city. We took the second tram up to the top, where the views were even better. We saw some monitor lizards hanging about. Aury and I walked down some trails and he spotted a common marmoset. There were several, including a small juvenile. We got very close to them and took many photos. We took the tram back down to Morro Urca, where Megan, Tom and I took a short helicopter ride. It provided great views of the beaches. I took some video and many stills. Editing will be required again.
We took the bus to have dinner at a Manekineko sushi place. Their logo features a cat, and I remembered that neko means cat in Japanese. I didn't see cat on the menu, but it was good sushi. We left for the airport, where we had to wait in a loooong line to check in. There was a problem with one of the students, who did not have a ticket from Atlanta to St. Louis. This was the fault of the tour operator. Fortunately, we all made it to the gate on time. I slept fitfully on the plane. We landed in Atlanta without much time to spare. We cleared passport control, picked up our bags and rechecked them. I got hung up in security while they scanned my camera bag twice. I walked right onto the plane and was almost the last to board. We made it to St. Louis, picked up the car from long term parking and drove back to Canton. Home at last.
The long-awaited trip to Brazil finally came. I taught a class in Tropical Ecology last semester that culminated in this study abroad in Rio de Janeiro. In the morning I picked up my students Aury and Liz and made an uneventful drive to St. Louis. We met the others in our group, including four additional students, the other instructor, Dr. Megan Boccardi, an alum (Tom), and the retired Dr. Attai and his wife Nayeh. We cleared security and flew to Atlanta, where our layover was so short they were already boarding our next flight, the red-eye to Rio. I watched a documentary on extreme sports, had a decent chicken dinner, and got some uncomfortable sleep.
1/03
We were awakened at what my biological clock said was 2:00 a.m. (6 local time) for breakfast. We landed in Rio, cleared customs, met our guide-for-the-day, Eduardo, took a bus to the hotel, dropped off our luggage, and took a bus tour of the city, periodically getting out to look around. I was still dressed for winter in the Midwest, with long sleeves and long pants, my summer wear remaining in my bag at the hotel. Worse yet was that my hat and sunglasses were also there. So it was a bit uncomfortable seeing the sights, though they were generally interesting. The big pyramidal Catholic church, the tiled stair case (see my photos to appreciate), the opera house, and the avenue where they have the samba competition during Carnaval every year.
We had lunch at an outdoor diner. I ate a roast beef sandwich, which was really good. We had a bit of time to look through a nearby craft market, but I didn't buy anything. I didn't even have any Brazillian reais (currency) yet. We went back to the hotel, and met our guide for the rest of the trip, Luana. We got into our rooms and showered. My room, and the hotel in general, were very nice (Golden Tulip Continental, Leme). We were one block from Leme beach, which becomes Copacabana beach to the south, and around a rocky headland becomes the famous Ipanema, then Leblon. Tom and I walked the area around the hotel, found a bank and got some cash. We saw another craft market, but again I got nothing. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant, where I got chicken that was quite good. We hit the local grocery store and I picked up some bottled water and a chocolate bar of a local variety. We went back to the hotel and crashed.
1.04
I was awake at 6:30 local time, and had the hotel breakfast with all its wonderful local fruits. Eventually, I tried passion fruit, which is so strongly tart it's almost inedible, and other fruit that I still cannot identify. The coffee was strong and served in small quantities like espresso. At 8 we were in the bus and on the road to Corcovado, a mountain that translates as "hunchback." We got on a cogwheel train to the top of the mountain, where the trademark Christ the Redeemer statue is located. It's about 100 feet tall, and looked smaller in person than when I've seen it on TV. When we arrived, it was shrouded in misty clouds. Fortunately, it cleared after a bit for great view of the surrounding landscapes of the city, beaches and other mountains. I did see some insects, including a green sphinx moth, a leaflike katydid, and many alate ants.
We took the train back down and the bus to a buffet for lunch. It was the first time I ever had bacalhau (salt cod), a Portuguese staple I had heard about ever since childhood. I also had some tasty grilled beef and boiled quail eggs, a first. Beef in Brazil is abundant, relatively cheap and delicious. I took advantage at every opportunity.
We returned to the hotel, where I learned our hotel had bikes for rent . We had the afternoon free, and I rented a bike, a three speed with basically a girls frame. It was adequate to the task, as the bike lane that runs along all the beaches is fairly flat. First I road to the sea wall at the north end of Leme, then back south through Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. People watching was great, as there were bodybuilders, musicians, and surfers. Thong bikinis are still in style, even for people who should really not wear them. Heightened awareness was mandatory, as people frequently wandered into the bike path without looking. There are also frequent crosswalks for the pedestrians crossing the adjacent roadway. I almost hit an ice man. As there is no parking next to the beach, goods are often delivered on special cargo bikes. Some of these sell ice to the little bars and cafes on the beach. I think some of them may carry over 200 pounds of ice at a time. One guy had his cargo bike parked in the left lane and lifted a bag out and walked into the right lane, where I was approaching quickly. I locked up the brakes, lifting the rear wheel off the ground a bit, but I stopped before I would have hit him.
I inspected the rocky places on the beaches, hoping for the kind of diversity one sees at tide pools, but all I saw was short algae and barnacles. The wave action is very heavy on this shoreline, and warning signs against swimming are everywhere. Most of the surfing and swimming is done in the lee of the rocky headlands, where there is some protection from the long fetch of the Atlantic.
Back at the hotel, I took a little rest and we had a buffet dinner there. Beef again! I went back to the beach with my students, Ari and Aury (whose names provide endless confusion). At the sea wall, which is designed for fishermen, we actually saw a guy catch a fish. It was a long, skinny thing with sharp teeth. He called it "espada," which means sword, though it was definitely not a swordfish.
1.05
Tom and I took a bike ride along almost the same route I had taken the day before, about 12 miles. We went a little farther south than I had, and saw some neat graffiti on a wall. It had a Back to the Future movie theme. Rio is filled with graffiti, much of it worthless crap, but some places hold lovely works of art. Again, I almost hit someone, this time a young man who just wasn't paying attention. I had a quick brunch composed of bananas from the little market across the street and spicy beef thing folded up in a triangular fried dough. Hard to explain, but it was yummy.
We took the bus to the Carnaval Experience. We saw the group practicing outside, observed their floats under construction, and learned how Carnaval works. It's an annual competition between samba schools. It's kind of like the NFL having just the Superbowl, with no season leading up to it. We learned the barebones history of the samba and got to try on some old costumes. We learned to dance the basic samba step and danced with the children's group. I couldn't keep up with the dancing, as my legs were kind of shot after bike rides two days in a row. We got to practice drumming with three percussionists with the team. I got a big bass drum. It was a lot of fun. We took the tram up to the Favelas, which provided a nice view, but we did not get out and tour the community.
Once back at the hotel, Megan and I walked down to the nearby craft market, but I didn't see anything I liked. I was pretty tired by then. We had an excellent beef dinner at Fogo do Chao.
I have to admit that my Portuguese was pretty rusty. I'd had almost no practice since 1990 when I took the class. Back then, I felt pretty fluent. But the Brazil/Rio accent and my decreasingly sensitive hearing made it difficult to understand people. Typically, I could formulate a reasonable opening sentence, but then I couldn't understand the response and had to revert to English. I picked up vocabulary every day, and I think I could be reasonably fluent in a few weeks if I stayed there.
1.06
We took a long bus ride to Itacuruca, a seaside resort. Along the way, we saw a lot of land area that had been cleared of forest long ago and converted to rangeland occupied by many cows. I saw a number of birds, most of which I could not identify, but two cara caras were an easy call. We even passed a capybara crossing. I would have loved to have seen a capybara, and kept my eyes out in all the marshy areas to no avail. At a rest stop I saw a lizard that looked like a Sceloporus with a neck ring. Upon arriving we got on a sizable boat with a capacity of 120, though we were the only passengers, other than the crew. We anchored in calm water a short distance off an island. Most of the students chose to swim, but Aury, Ari and I went snorkeling. I was far down the shore when I realized I had jumped in with my wallet and swiss army knife in my pocket. I swam back to the boat and returned them, and went back to the snorkeling. We saw barnacles, limpets, and little mussels clinging to the rocks. It was neat to see the barnacles extending their cirripedia when the waves lapped on them. The best thing there though was a large ctenophore (comb jelly). This marked the first time I'd ever seen (or held) a living member of this Phylum. We also saw some puffers, a crab, and some other small fish.
We boated to another island and docked for lunch. We had fruit, really good fish and rice pudding. The boys and I took a short hike around the lodge, noting many interesting birds and butterflies. I must say I was impressed with the butterflies everywhere we went. We snorkeled down the rocky coastline, seeing colonial cnidarians in green and orange, big sea urchins in purple and green, and other cnidarian polyps. Both the guys had never been snorkeling before, and agreed that it was about the best thing ever. We also saw a couple of sea stars, sea lettuce, and pennate algae. The high point came when Ari spotted an actual sea horse, amazing considering how it blended in with the algae, Aury got cramps in his legs and ended up walking a trail back to the lodge. The other students had been swimming there and reported seeing sea turtles, which we also observed there. We took the boat back to the harbor, and the bus back to Rio without anything remarkable happening.
1.07
We took a pair of jeeps up to the forest, which lies in city limits. It is restored coffee plantation, replanted by slaves under the royalty of the time. We stopped first at Chinese Vista, which provided a nice view over the city, and some swifts flying around. We proceeded up the mountain, which is a popular bike path, to the site where Pedro II declared independence from Portugal, which was still ruled by his father. Again, there were many butterflies, but they didn't allow me to get any pics. There was a troop of brown capuchin monkeys that allowed us to get very close. Some people tried to bait them with bananas, but they never took them. I even got some decent video of them. We proceeded up to a waterfall, which was very nice, and went on a short hike. We didn't see many birds, perhaps because it was too late in the morning. We descended the mountain directly to the hang gliding site.
We filled out our insurance forms and paid our money. All the students but one were going to hang glide, plus Megan and me. Actually, Megan and Ari went parasailing instead on hang gliding. Both would be tandem flights, where an experience pilot manages the aircraft while the passenger just hangs there and tries not to screw anything up. There weren't enough cars available to take us all up the mountain to the launch site, and I was left behind. I wasn't too happy about it, but I did get to see some of our students land. Finally, my pilot (Ricardo Nogeira) landed and we were introduced. He was about my age, and had spent 6 months in Los Angeles. Hence, his English was fairly good, and we had something in common. His roughnecks (or assistants) packed up his hang glider and affixed it to the roof rack. I got in the car and looked for the seat belt, but the female end was buried. He drove up the mountain at a breakneck pace. Never in my life did I want a seatbelt more than during that drive. I felt safer later while in the air. Though I was now at the launch site, it wasn't yet my turn, as my pilot had another guy to take down first. I watched other people launch, and talked to Megan and Elizabeth, who hadn't taken off yet, I saw one parasailor have a bad take-off. He started out a bit sideways and decided not to launch, bailing into the grassy hillside. It turns out he was something of a beginner. Not long afterward I heard a collective gasp, and everyone ran to the edge of the launch ramp. A student hang glider had crashed into the trees. One guy ran over with a rope and a machete, which is apparently the standard rescue kit for such situations. Finally, my guide came back and it was my turn. I put on the gear and got the short lesson, mostly about take-off. We practiced the short run. You are supposed to run off the end of the ramp without stopping. I had watched enough people launch by then that I had a pretty good idea. We approached the ramp and practiced hanging from the kite and stuff. I felt like I needed about another hour to mentally prepare, but I only had a minute. Before you know it, we were running off the ramp. That was about the pants-shittingest moment of my life, but once we caught some lift and the glider started flying, it was pure bliss. We sailed over the mountain forest and out toward the ocean. Once we met the cliff face there was a big updraft and we got some good lift. For a long time we just went back and forth between land and sea, working that wind. The land below us was mostly luxury homes with pools. We were flying at the same altitude as the birds, and the pilot made a dive at a black vulture and then a frigate bird. The vulture was not amused. Ricardo was rather garrulous, and entertained with his constant banter. He let me fly the glider for awhile, and I was able to make the turns from land to sea and back. He took back the controls before the landing. He performed some dives and wheels to position us for the landing, and I enjoyed that like a good roller coaster ride. He put it into a little stall before we landed on the beach and I ran as soon as my feet touched. We stopped after just a few steps. There were two GoPros running on the glider, so I've got plenty of video and stills of the event. It will take some editing before I make it available.
That evening we went on a "Samba Night" at a nightclub. Dinner was good (beef again!). There were two band venues. I saw three bands and they were all really good. One was an accordion band with a triangle to keep the beat and a bass for funky flavor. The last had four percussionists, and a guy who played sax, clarinet and flute all in the same song.
1.08
We took the bus to Maracana stadium, where the world cup final match was played and some of the upcoming Olympic soccer games will be played. Security was tighter so we didn't get to see much of the stadium, but we did have the opportunity to take a 360 degree photo, which I did. See it here:
We had some time to spare and returned to the Escadaria Selarón steps decorated in tiles in one of the neighborhoods. It is really quite a work of art, reminiscent of Gaudi, and apparently much more popular now that the artist is dead. We went to a cooking class hosted by the vivacious Simone at Cookin Rio. I cut up and fried some onions, which did make my eyes water. I learned to make the capirinha, the national alcoholic beverage. By that time, most of us were big fans of the drink. The main course was fish, and we got to eat everything when we were done cooking it.
We bussed back to the hotel and I took a taxi by myself to the Botanic Gardens. It's a big place. First I enjoyed the specialty gardens: cacti, bromeliads and orchids. I continued down a path where I met up with a large troop of brown capuchin monkeys. Many of them were females with a baby on their back. They crossed the path to the little concrete canal where they got drinks of water. On the other side of the gardens I saw some common marmosets eating some bananas on a tree. I'd never seen wild marmosets before. They're mighty cute. Not long afterward I spotted a monitor lizard walking through some open space. I got a little video of him too. I spent much of the rest of the time chasing some toucans around trying to get decent photos. I took a taxi back to Copacabana beach, where I bought some gifts at a craft market. Unfortunately, I had spent all my cash and could not get a taxi back to the hotel. I walked the two or three miles along the beach, which provided a lot of sights. That made up in part the pain of carrying my heavy photo backpack all that way. We had pizza and beer for dinner.
1.09
After breakfast I walked down the street to find a shop we had visited earlier in the week. It was closed, but I got the sandals I wanted at a different store. I rested the remainder of the morning, as I knew I had a big day ahead. At noon we had lunch at a nearby place (beef, of course), then took the bus to Sugarloaf Mountain. We took the tram up to the first stop, Morro Urca, and explored the grounds. There were nice views all the way around; ocean, beaches, and city. We took the second tram up to the top, where the views were even better. We saw some monitor lizards hanging about. Aury and I walked down some trails and he spotted a common marmoset. There were several, including a small juvenile. We got very close to them and took many photos. We took the tram back down to Morro Urca, where Megan, Tom and I took a short helicopter ride. It provided great views of the beaches. I took some video and many stills. Editing will be required again.
We took the bus to have dinner at a Manekineko sushi place. Their logo features a cat, and I remembered that neko means cat in Japanese. I didn't see cat on the menu, but it was good sushi. We left for the airport, where we had to wait in a loooong line to check in. There was a problem with one of the students, who did not have a ticket from Atlanta to St. Louis. This was the fault of the tour operator. Fortunately, we all made it to the gate on time. I slept fitfully on the plane. We landed in Atlanta without much time to spare. We cleared passport control, picked up our bags and rechecked them. I got hung up in security while they scanned my camera bag twice. I walked right onto the plane and was almost the last to board. We made it to St. Louis, picked up the car from long term parking and drove back to Canton. Home at last.
Friday, January 1, 2016
December 2015
I worked on my building on Jamison a bit. I borrowed my neighbor's ladder to get on the roof, and there were a bunch of shingles missing from the ridge, as I'd suspected, due to last summer's wind storm. I'd never done that kind of repair before, but I figured it out by looking at it long and hard. Fortunately, There were some leftover shingles of the right type. Then I worked on the garage door opener, which hasn't worked since I bought the place over two years ago. Again, it required the use of a tallish ladder. It took about 10 minutes to fix it: plug it in, re-engage chain, push the control unit back in. I added an interior switch too. So for two years I've been walking around the back, unlocking the door, pulling out a hangar from the track (the "lock"), and lifting that big bastard by hand. All this time I could have been using the handy little remote. I think the lesson is Check Your Assumptions! There's an exterior wireless keypad too, and I got it working later. It's actually a really fancy opener: super quiet and has two speeds--slows down when it gets near the floor.
Lowell and I went to the Jazz performance at the Lewis Street Playhouse. I know three out of four members of the band. The first half was Christmas Carols and the second was jazz standards. I enjoyed it. They even did a couple of encores by request. Unfortunately, Lowell hit a deer on his way into town. He really does have a Danger Ranger.
Our tenants moved out of the rental property that we've had for 15 years, and we have reached the time where we want to cash in on our investment. I spent a few days after final exams fixing it up for sale. The first time the realtor showed it she discovered that the crawl space was full of water. Actually, it was just the crawl space on one end of the house that had about 6 inches of water. I pumped it out with a little bilge pump I had leftover from my old boat. I fixed all the downspouts with some fresh drain pipe. I thought it was all good, then we had a big rain, and the crawl space filled up again. I pumped it out with the bilge, but decided it was probably prudent to install a permanent sump pump. I'd never done this install before. Needless to say, in a 3-foot tall crawl space it's hard to dig a hole in the mud. With some help from Stacey, I got it done.
I did the Christmas bird count again with my usual partner, LuBeth Young. We walked around South Park in Quincy for starters, then drove routes through our territory. There weren't any huge surprises, but a few bonus birds in there. Here are our stats:
European Starling, 34
Northern Cardinal 17
American Robin 10
Tufted Titmouse 5
Black-capped Chickadee 5
House Sparrow 40
Blue Jay 23
American Crow 3
Eurasian Collared Dove 5
Bald Eagle 2 (1 juvenile, 1 adult)
American Kestrel 3
Red-tailed Hawk 6
Canada Goose 20
Mallard 3
American Goldfinch 7
Dark-eyed Junco 28
White-throated Sparrow 3
Cedar waxwing 20
House finch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Horned lark 3
Eastern Bluebird 1
Red-headed Woodpecker 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 6
Red-bellied Woodpecker 6
We had a Christmas Carol sing-along at QU, and instruments were welcome this year. I didn't really know what to expect, as I was unable to make it last year. I showed up with my charango, as I'd been practicing about 10 songs for the Camera Club Christmas party, but only one of them was in the song book we were given. So every time Ann (my friend and our VPAA) would call out a new song, I'd have to quickly look it up on Ultimate-Guitar.com, choose a tab, and jump in. By then, they were usually three lines into the song. And I was in the wrong key. There were two guys playing guitar, and they weren't using any music at all. I should have asked how they were doing it. At least I was able to play a little, unlike my friend Megan, who had no sheet music. You can't play chords on a cello. The charango did generate some interest among the attendees. I borrowed a copy of the song booklet, so I'll be better prepared next year.
The camera club party was fun too. We successfully completed the sing-along. My buddy Jim and I had rehearsed a couple of times, and I'd prepared lyric sheets. Fortunately, Stacey and Tracy are strong singers and carried the rest. We had good food, drinks and a gift exchange.
We had a nice family Christmas. Savannah came over in the morning and we opened our gifts. She got a bluetooth speaker, among other things. Stacey got a Wilson Sleek cell phone booster. I promised it would make her life better every day. I got a bike rack, a weather vane, and a cigar box ukulele kit. Lowell came over for our traditional prime rib dinner. It was yummy.
It took most of a day to build the ukulele. It was fun and challenging. I found just the right cigar box in my chest of drawers, in the top drawer where I keep a lot of junk. It's the kind of project wherein a single screw-up can ruin it. The instrument turned out pretty well, fortunately, and I was playing it the same day.
It's been a terrible month for photography. The eagles haven't come down yet, and all insects and flowers are long gone. I've mostly been photographing the dogs in various situations. I leave for Brazil on January 2, and should have a lengthy report, and photos, upon my return.
Lowell and I went to the Jazz performance at the Lewis Street Playhouse. I know three out of four members of the band. The first half was Christmas Carols and the second was jazz standards. I enjoyed it. They even did a couple of encores by request. Unfortunately, Lowell hit a deer on his way into town. He really does have a Danger Ranger.
Our tenants moved out of the rental property that we've had for 15 years, and we have reached the time where we want to cash in on our investment. I spent a few days after final exams fixing it up for sale. The first time the realtor showed it she discovered that the crawl space was full of water. Actually, it was just the crawl space on one end of the house that had about 6 inches of water. I pumped it out with a little bilge pump I had leftover from my old boat. I fixed all the downspouts with some fresh drain pipe. I thought it was all good, then we had a big rain, and the crawl space filled up again. I pumped it out with the bilge, but decided it was probably prudent to install a permanent sump pump. I'd never done this install before. Needless to say, in a 3-foot tall crawl space it's hard to dig a hole in the mud. With some help from Stacey, I got it done.
I did the Christmas bird count again with my usual partner, LuBeth Young. We walked around South Park in Quincy for starters, then drove routes through our territory. There weren't any huge surprises, but a few bonus birds in there. Here are our stats:
European Starling, 34
Northern Cardinal 17
American Robin 10
Tufted Titmouse 5
Black-capped Chickadee 5
House Sparrow 40
Blue Jay 23
American Crow 3
Eurasian Collared Dove 5
Bald Eagle 2 (1 juvenile, 1 adult)
American Kestrel 3
Red-tailed Hawk 6
Canada Goose 20
Mallard 3
American Goldfinch 7
Dark-eyed Junco 28
White-throated Sparrow 3
Cedar waxwing 20
House finch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Horned lark 3
Eastern Bluebird 1
Red-headed Woodpecker 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 6
Red-bellied Woodpecker 6
We had a Christmas Carol sing-along at QU, and instruments were welcome this year. I didn't really know what to expect, as I was unable to make it last year. I showed up with my charango, as I'd been practicing about 10 songs for the Camera Club Christmas party, but only one of them was in the song book we were given. So every time Ann (my friend and our VPAA) would call out a new song, I'd have to quickly look it up on Ultimate-Guitar.com, choose a tab, and jump in. By then, they were usually three lines into the song. And I was in the wrong key. There were two guys playing guitar, and they weren't using any music at all. I should have asked how they were doing it. At least I was able to play a little, unlike my friend Megan, who had no sheet music. You can't play chords on a cello. The charango did generate some interest among the attendees. I borrowed a copy of the song booklet, so I'll be better prepared next year.
The camera club party was fun too. We successfully completed the sing-along. My buddy Jim and I had rehearsed a couple of times, and I'd prepared lyric sheets. Fortunately, Stacey and Tracy are strong singers and carried the rest. We had good food, drinks and a gift exchange.
We had a nice family Christmas. Savannah came over in the morning and we opened our gifts. She got a bluetooth speaker, among other things. Stacey got a Wilson Sleek cell phone booster. I promised it would make her life better every day. I got a bike rack, a weather vane, and a cigar box ukulele kit. Lowell came over for our traditional prime rib dinner. It was yummy.
It took most of a day to build the ukulele. It was fun and challenging. I found just the right cigar box in my chest of drawers, in the top drawer where I keep a lot of junk. It's the kind of project wherein a single screw-up can ruin it. The instrument turned out pretty well, fortunately, and I was playing it the same day.
It's been a terrible month for photography. The eagles haven't come down yet, and all insects and flowers are long gone. I've mostly been photographing the dogs in various situations. I leave for Brazil on January 2, and should have a lengthy report, and photos, upon my return.
Monday, November 30, 2015
November 2015
I bottled the Alaska Amber Ale that I started last month. I didn't even know what that's supposed to taste like, but it sounded good. After the primary fermentation it certainly smelled good. I was finally able to use my new bottle washer and bottle tree. I got to taste it on Thanksgiving, and it was fine. I racked the apple wine, and it's looking good too.
One day Stacey and I took the dogs down to the Levee Walk. I had the sisters yoked with harnesses, pulling me on a longboard. I hadn't set up my action cam, but I shot some spontaneous video with my phone that turned out OK. Here's the edited video:
https://youtu.be/OPBZESwhVWQ
I missed one night of agility class because of a horrendous storm that came through. I feel lucky that it didn't drop a big tree on my fence. Some branches fell in the back yard.
A week later the big old willow tree in the back yard, which I call the Whomping Willow (see Harry Potter), finally fell down. It's been rotten for years, and bits of it have been falling off over time, but the main part of the trunk fell during some high winds. At least no people or dogs were hurt. Now I'll have to cut it up.
All our dogs were groomed, one week after the other. For some reason, I had to go back to my office after picking up each one, so they got to visit students and colleagues. I found out that it's primarily men in hats that Miss Kitty doesn't like. She was perfectly nice to everyone else.
We had a delayed Thanksgiving, but Stacey put together a fine meal. We had Lowell, as well as Savannah and Josh over. Lowell finally got to meet Savannah and Josh's dogs. He's always been a lover of German shepherds. It's a bit crazy having 6 dogs in the house though. We watched Guardians of the Galaxy after dinner.
Since we rehomed the cat, the dogs are now obsessed with squirrels. The dogs are always looking out the windows for them. They do visit the yard occasionally. When I see them on the ground, I let the dogs out to give chase. I figure that statistically they're eventually going to catch one. They've come close a couple of times.
I built an A frame and teeter totter for Isabel's agility training, as I think I've mentioned here before. I had taken some photographs along the way. I combined them with some text and published two instructables you can see here:
A frame: http://www.instructables.com/id/Dog-agility-A-frame/
Teeter: http://www.instructables.com/id/Dog-agility-teeter-totter/
To my surprise they were both chosen as features on the site. Then I found out they're having an Animal Innovations contest, and I entered them. If you're a member, you can vote for them.
It has not been a good month for photography. It has been the dead season between fall and winter. Most of the images below are of the dogs.
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