Moving, moving, moving. Rather than pack all our stuff, rent a big truck and move all at once, we elected to use a more do-it-yourself strategy. For the last week in June, I hauled a lot of nonessential things to our new place. On July 1 we planned to haul essentials: bedroom, kitchen, bathroom. I had arranged through a friend to hire a couple of big guys to help us. Unfortunately, they didn't show up. We were able to pull in some late recruits and get the job done. From then on, we have lived at the new place. We bought a king-sized bed, in various parts from various places, and use our old bed for the guest room. The new (used) frame was actually cobbled together from various parts of a couple of beds. Turns out it's larger than King sized, and we had a big gap at the front of the mattress. I ended up buying a regular rail frame and attaching the big wooden headboard to it. No more gap.
Savannah lives in a basement room. We have continued moving over the remaining noncritical stuff until the old house is emptied. Stacey has done much of the unpacking and organizing the new house. Meanwhile, we have hired a friend to peel wallpaper and repaint a few rooms. We got our satellite TV hookup right away, but the internet, which was supposed to be hooked up on July 1, consistently failed to work. After Stacey harassed them several times, CenturyLink finally admitted that they could not provide us with internet service. That was after a week. I still don't know why they couldn't tell us that in the first 5 minutes. We got MarkTwain.net to hook us up eventually. We have a very fast connection now. Of course, CenturyLink still billed us for services they could not provide.
We also changed our cell phones from AT&T back to US Cellular. We had poor reception at our house and essentially no data. AT&T kept billing us too. One big hitch we waited on was to get new carpet in the downstairs family room. In the interim, all the extra furniture was stacked up in the front room.
Aside from the chaos of moving, we are loving the place. It teems with wildlife. We have tons of hummingbirds visiting our feeders, house wrens nesting on the front porch and eastern phoebes nesting under the eaves of each building. Red-headed woodpeckers are here all the time. We have a couple of mineral licks that the deer visit nearly each day. Every evening after dinner Stacey and I feed the catfish in the pond and sit in the swinging bench and watch them come up to eat. It's very relaxing. I caught a bass on my first cast on my first attempt to fish the pond. We'll be stocking more catfish in due time. Right now, the bluegills have their circular beds constructed all around the edges of the pond. The water is remarkably clear, perhaps because it receives no agricultural runoff, the grass carp keep down the vegetation, and the previous owner may have dosed it with copper sulfate. I enjoy swimming in it, and I finally got Savannah to try it, though she's freaked out by the fish. There is a floating dock on it already, and Savannah donated a pool ladder.
Much of the place is heavily mowed, so that it looks like a park, with lots of mature oak and hickory trees. However, one day I took a hike and explored most nooks and crannies. We have a couple of huge gullies from the outflow from Lowell's Lake. I found a lot of native plants and not too many bad non-natives (autumn olives, your days are numbered). I've seen lots of insects. We have toads hanging around the front yard, and even 5-lined skinks that occasionally appear. We have a woodchuck who, unfortunately, made a burrow under the big shed. His days are numbered too. Grey squirrels are all over, and we feed them a bit of field corn.
The smaller dogs like to sit in the bay window and watch the wildlife, especially the squirrels, in the back yard. The dogs can see out from many of the rooms. They are adjusting to the new invisible fence. It was perfect for this situation, as we are set back far from the road. They have lots of room to run, and I have little fear of their escaping. I try not to leave any of the smaller ones out alone though. I know the coyotes are out there. The dogs are learning to swim in the pond, but some enjoy it more than others.
Our 13-acre hayfield was baled by our neighbors, a nice young couple. He already has the hay sold and will split the (modest) funds with us. I love being a hay farmer again after a hiatus of several decades, but I also would like to convert the hayfield to prairie eventually. The bales were a lovely decoration for our field, and I naturally used them as props. I put Gretchen up on one for a still photo, and got Isabel to jump and climb them for a video. Eventually, our hay bales were taken away. Other long term plans include planting native shrubs and woodland wildflowers. I sure won't be mowing as much, though I plan to have some trails. The previous owner had the most unique mailbox: a John Deere lawn tractor with a space in the grill hollowed out for the mail box. I think they make fine tractors, but I don't want to advertise for them. I unbolted it and pushed it off the post. It's actually an old Husqvarna painted to look like a JD. I put up a regular mail box with a schnauzer silhouette on top. I've made other improvements as time has allowed, usually when I'm stuck at home.
Video of Isabel should be embedded here:
Our proximity to Lowell (directly across the road) has been a great convenience, as was our intention. We have him over for dinner, and I can help him on projects that he is working on. We have been fishing a couple of times, and blackberry picking season has been exceptional this year.
As the old house emptied, I've been working on it. I touched up the paint and woodwork. I've made dozens of minor repairs. We had the carpets cleaned. I had a garage sale to get rid of all the stuff we didn't want to move. It was a rainy morning, so hardly anyone came. I did sell a few things, anyway. We gave the rest to the thrift store or recycled it. Our cleaning lady has been working on every square inch of surface. We hear the real estate market is hot right now, so we're tried to get it for sale as soon as possible. We had a couple of showings on the first day.
My friend Jan has cicada killers in her back yard, and invited me over to photograph them. It had been awhile since I'd seen a nesting aggregation, as I couldn't find them in Canton anymore. It was nice to get some photos with my latest equipment. More interesting, perhaps, were Jan's big flower beds, mostly zinnias, that are very attractive to butterflies.
This months photos should appear in a slide show below (requires flash):
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Saturday, July 16, 2016
June 2016
In the early part of the month I spent a lot of time working on the house and taking training rides. I put the final touches on the bikes, installing full fenders on mine using some redneck engineering. I did take the time to do some photography, mostly documenting insects that use our milkweeds.
I can't give a blow-by-blow account of Big BAM. I wasn't able to keep a journal along the way, but I can mention some highlights. The music was very good. My favorite band was on the first night, the Kris Lager band, good rock music. Second would be Final Mix, essentially a funk cover band. I also enjoyed David Wax Museum and Bones, Jugs & Harmony.
The riding was challenging, with the heat and the hills. The first day was hardest, covering 65 hilly miles. The fifth was easiest, 40 flat miles. The towns had really prepared for us. They all had a nice park or fairgrounds for us to camp in. Chillicothe was probably best, having a large park with mature trees and their own water park, which we were able use for free.
One of the strangest things happened right as we were leaving St. Joe. We were pedaling through a nice neighborhood, and there was a live bullfrog in the middle of the road. The abundance and diversity of roadkills provided constant challenges to my taxonomic training.
We didn't bring our speakers for this trip, but our theme song was "Feelin' stronger every day" by Chicago. It was appropriate because each day we became more fit, though we still had aches from the days before. So it was pain by day and misery by night, as we camped in a tent in the heat and humidity. We adjusted fairly quickly to sleeping in pools of our own sweat.
We did take the opportunity to dip our wheels in the Missouri River at the beginning and the Mississippi River at the end. It never rained, so I carried the weight of those fenders 300 miles for nothing.
We were interviewed by the Quincy Herald-Whig, resulting in an article. I had a hard time articulating why we did it and what it meant. I will say it was a rare opportunity to spend a week with my daughter, almost 24/7. It was an adventure and an accomplishment. I should also say that bicycling is intrinsically pleasing.
Upon our return I began preparing for the big move. I went to the seller's auction and bought a few things, notably the firewood, which was already cut, split and stacked. I loaded up my truck and trailer, the RV and the Lil Egg with some of our stuff. After final details of insurance and banking, we went to the closing. The sellers gave us the keys and we hauled out to our new abode. Our address is now the following:
20697 250th St.
Lewistown, MO 63452
We have some acreage in the countryside, a pond, a few outbuildings, and a lovely home. Now we just have to get all of our stuff out there. I expect this will occupy me for weeks to come, as will sprucing up our old house. One of the great points about this house was that it has a huge carport that we could use to park our motorhome out of the weather. The first big disappointment was to find the the RV doesn't actually fit! It's too tall by just a few inches. Not sure how we're going to deal with that yet.
Photos should appear below.
I can't give a blow-by-blow account of Big BAM. I wasn't able to keep a journal along the way, but I can mention some highlights. The music was very good. My favorite band was on the first night, the Kris Lager band, good rock music. Second would be Final Mix, essentially a funk cover band. I also enjoyed David Wax Museum and Bones, Jugs & Harmony.
The riding was challenging, with the heat and the hills. The first day was hardest, covering 65 hilly miles. The fifth was easiest, 40 flat miles. The towns had really prepared for us. They all had a nice park or fairgrounds for us to camp in. Chillicothe was probably best, having a large park with mature trees and their own water park, which we were able use for free.
One of the strangest things happened right as we were leaving St. Joe. We were pedaling through a nice neighborhood, and there was a live bullfrog in the middle of the road. The abundance and diversity of roadkills provided constant challenges to my taxonomic training.
We didn't bring our speakers for this trip, but our theme song was "Feelin' stronger every day" by Chicago. It was appropriate because each day we became more fit, though we still had aches from the days before. So it was pain by day and misery by night, as we camped in a tent in the heat and humidity. We adjusted fairly quickly to sleeping in pools of our own sweat.
We did take the opportunity to dip our wheels in the Missouri River at the beginning and the Mississippi River at the end. It never rained, so I carried the weight of those fenders 300 miles for nothing.
We were interviewed by the Quincy Herald-Whig, resulting in an article. I had a hard time articulating why we did it and what it meant. I will say it was a rare opportunity to spend a week with my daughter, almost 24/7. It was an adventure and an accomplishment. I should also say that bicycling is intrinsically pleasing.
Upon our return I began preparing for the big move. I went to the seller's auction and bought a few things, notably the firewood, which was already cut, split and stacked. I loaded up my truck and trailer, the RV and the Lil Egg with some of our stuff. After final details of insurance and banking, we went to the closing. The sellers gave us the keys and we hauled out to our new abode. Our address is now the following:
20697 250th St.
Lewistown, MO 63452
We have some acreage in the countryside, a pond, a few outbuildings, and a lovely home. Now we just have to get all of our stuff out there. I expect this will occupy me for weeks to come, as will sprucing up our old house. One of the great points about this house was that it has a huge carport that we could use to park our motorhome out of the weather. The first big disappointment was to find the the RV doesn't actually fit! It's too tall by just a few inches. Not sure how we're going to deal with that yet.
Photos should appear below.
Thursday, June 2, 2016
May 2016
Another semester and academic year came to a close. It's always bittersweet. My plant field biology class was really just starting to bond. After final exam week and commencement, I've begun working on the house. I started with some little things, then progressed to some exterior painting.
Savannah and I had been planning to go on some big bike rides this summer. We had already committed to the Pedalers Jamboree. We also wanted to bike the week-long Big BAM this year, but we would need road bikes for that. One day Savannah found a used racing bike at the local bike shop, and it was just her size. She got a good deal on it (Felt ZW95). Then I had to intensify my search for a road bike. After following several dead ends, I found a really nice on on Craigslist for a good price. I never owned a Fuji before, but this one was a high tech machine. I didn't even know how to shift it at first. Bikes have changed a lot over the years.
We've been taking regular training rides to try to get into shape. On one of our first ones, she rode into a cloud of gnats. I think she got a mouthful. I managed to dodge them. After we both got our road bikes we set out on a 22-mile paved route, but we hadn't gone a mile before she got a flat tire. Fortunately, I had prepared in advance by mounting a pump on my bike and carrying a patch kit. We had the flat nearly fixed when Savannah turned the pump a bit too far and broke the valve stem. Game over. I rode home, brought back a vehicle, and carried her and the bike home. While we were wheeling them back into the basement, I said, "Watch out for that dog turd." We decided to switch to our mountain bikes. While we were wheeling those out, Savannah ran over the dog turd with her front tire, which was also flat. Clearly, it was not her day. She hosed off the tire, we fixed the flat and were on our way.
We often comment on the roadkills. There are the usual raccoons, opossums, and odoriferous skunks. There are quite a few cats these days, and the occasional snake. Usually, we play music on a bluetooth speaker driven by my phone. I have a playlist of bicycle-related songs to give us motivation. After those ran out, I was playing my list of dog related songs when we were, ironically, chased by a couple of dogs. A big yellow lab joined me on the road. He was kind of heavy, so I thought I could outrun him, but he kept pace pretty well. He had some aggressive growls and barks going, but I yelled at him and he whimpered and broke off pursuit. But his buddy was a much faster white dog on the other side of the ditch, and I was sure I couldn't outrun her. I yelled some more, and I guess the owners were yelling too, and she gave up. All the while, "Dog Eat Dog" (the Adam and the Ants version) was playing. More irony. After that, my legs were kind of toasted, but we had mostly tailwinds after we got to La Grange. I got a gatorade at the Casey's, since I had left my freshly filled water bottle in the kitchen.
I spent one day out at Lowell's. We tried and failed to repair two lawn mowers. So we went fishing. The bite was pretty good, and I was catching a lot of small bass. At the end though, and good 18-inch lunker bit my lure and made my day.
Rainy weather was forecast for the Pedalers Jamboree. I wanted to outfit our bikes with fenders, but new ones are costly, and I didn't have time to make nice wooden ones. Like a timely miracle, a member of the Quincy Bike Club had a stack of them to give away. She let me pick through them and get enough to outfit all our bikes. I picked up some mounting hardware from the local bike shop and was able to get a complete set of fenders installed on Savannah's mountain bike before we left. It required some modification, fabrication and exasperation. On a test ride, she didn't like the way they rattled and asked me to take them off. I convinced her to try them for a day at least. Sheesh. My mountain bike has 29-inch wheels, so none of the regular fenders would fit. There was a chromed steel stubby thing that I was able to mount on the front fork. I knew it wouldn't block much, but it was better than nothing.
We headed down to Boonville with the motorhome pulling the Lil Egg. We parked in the lot of the Isle of Capri Casino, which is only a few blocks from Kemper Park. There are no hook-ups, but we stayed for free. We wandered the town and had a beer. Savannah cooked dinner in the RV. Without shore power, we could not use aire conditioning, but it was cool enough at night. On Saturday morning we had a light breakfast and loaded all that we would need into the Lil Egg. I had realized early that I had forgotten to bring any biking shorts with me, in spite of having 4 or 5 pairs. Fortunately, Savannah had an extra pair that were too big for her anyway. They fit me a little funny, but did the job. I guess I was cross-dressing all weekend. The bikes were already on the roof rack. We drove to Columbia, unloaded the bikes and parked the car. We began at the official start, where I ran into Mike Dennehy, the tour organizer. The beginning of the ride is always the best, as it is cool, shaded, and the path is paved. We got off to a much earlier start this year than last. I also have a bluetooth speaker, which we used to blast our specially curated playlist of biking songs. The first act we saw was a one-man band called Dance Monkey Dance in Huntsdale. He was pretty good, even with a trombone. On to Rocheport! On the way, we stopped to see the champion burr oak again. In Rocheport we saw a band I like a lot. Currently called Hounds, they were Clock Work when I saw them last year for Big BAM. They rocked. We had lunch there and moved on. At one point, we stopped and I helped a guy fix a flat on his bike. He had a pump and I had a patch kit. Having just fixed one recently, I was in good practice. I found the hole in the tube and completed the repair. We saw them later and the tire was still holding air.
We arrived at New Franklin so early that the band wasn't playing yet and the beer tent wasn't set up. It gave us a long rest. Two ladies came rolling in with custom bikes. One was decked out in a wine theme, with corks glued to everything and an actual small cask on the rack. Her costume was complete with a Carmen Miranda-style hat full of fruit. She actually dispensed free wine to people. The other was a mermaid theme, with the front end of a manikin on the handlebars and a whale tail on the rear. Finally, we heard the Royal Furs, who were a pretty good rock band. The lead singer was a tiny thing, and she played the theramin, which you don't see every day.
We rode into Boonville a little tired, but in much better condition than we had last year. We were so early that we took a nap, though a fairly sweaty one. We had leftovers from the night before, and headed over to the park. The first band, the Mighty Pines, was already playing. We had a couple of beers and some pie and ice cream. The second artist was a woman named Flint Eastwood. She was a great singer with a lot of passion. She liked to get the crowd involved. Then came Shrub, a reggae band from Ohio. They had actually parked their RV next to ours at the Casino. We didn't have much appreciation for their sound though. Next came a fire artist, who was good and funny, but we couldn't see much of him because of everyone standing up front. Finally, Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band came on. They're a funk band with maybe 6 or 8 people on stage, including a horn section. Unfortunately, by then the night had turned quite cold and clammy. We heard a few of their songs, then walked back to the RV to crash. We could still hear their bass parts through the windows.
We slept well and got up in plenty of time to make the pancake breakfast at the park. When we got back to the RV, the drummer from Shrub was wandering around looking for their RV. When he found it wasn't there anymore (we had seen them leaving the park at breakfast), he called somebody and didn't sound happy. We saddled up and headed out again on the Katy Trail. I felt pretty good but probably pushed it too hard. By the time we got to Rocheport, my butt was hurting and my knees were complaining. The Missouri River had come up even more overnight and flooded the grounds, the stage was sitting in two feet of water. They ultimately pulled it out with a tractor. They set up the sound equipment on dry ground, and the band played on. Two guys named Steve. One was a really good acoustic guitar player, the other a singer. They were quite good, and we saw their whole show. That gave me a good rest, and I felt pretty good for the next 10 miles.
The rising Missouri had flooded parts of the trail. Savannah kept perfectly dry with her fenders, while I got splashed. We saw lots of aquatic turtles in the adjacent wetlands, and even a box turtle on the trail. Some parts of the trail were lined with thick stands of spiderwort, as well as some white beardtongue. I also found that when covered with sunscreen and sweat, swarms of tiny gnats that you encounter will just stick to you. I am a giant sticky trap. When we got to Katfish Katy's at Huntsdale, we were disappointed to learn that they had no food tent. We got bananas and snacks to tide us over. They also had some great lemon shandy. The band, Jenny Teator and the Fevers, was really good. Too bad we were roasting in the sun. When their set was done, we took off again. As we approached Columbia, the battery on my bluetooth speaker finally died, only 5 or 6 songs short of the complete playlist and a few miles short of the end. Tragic.
We arrived triumphantly in Columbia, and looked around in a bike shop before we loaded up the car. We stopped at a Taco Bell for a lunch of about the quality one expects from Taco Bell, and highballed it back to Boonville. It didn't take long to hook the Lil Egg back up to the RV and get out of town. I started getting sleepy around Moberly and Savannah took over driving. We arrived home smelly, but no worse for wear.
The next day, Memorial Day, the Quincy Bicycle Club was having a bike ride in support of cancer patients. Stacey hauled me down to Hannibal so I could ride while she ran errands. There were a lot of people there to take the ride, including my camera club friend Terry. We joined the middle distance group for a planned 32 miles. For the first 10 miles my legs felt pretty tight. Then we had a rest stop. I felt really good for the next 10, including a stop at the cemetery to pay respects at the grave of the woman for whom the ride was in memory. The last 10 or so were very hilly. The downhills were some of the fastest I've done in quite a while, but the uphills were the slow grind in first gear type. Stacey picked me up, we got lunch and went home.
Savannah and I have done some training rides since. We're still battling her flats, even after we got a new set of belted tires.
Next month: the Big BAM and the Big Move.
This month's photos: flowers, dogs and birds:
Savannah and I had been planning to go on some big bike rides this summer. We had already committed to the Pedalers Jamboree. We also wanted to bike the week-long Big BAM this year, but we would need road bikes for that. One day Savannah found a used racing bike at the local bike shop, and it was just her size. She got a good deal on it (Felt ZW95). Then I had to intensify my search for a road bike. After following several dead ends, I found a really nice on on Craigslist for a good price. I never owned a Fuji before, but this one was a high tech machine. I didn't even know how to shift it at first. Bikes have changed a lot over the years.
We've been taking regular training rides to try to get into shape. On one of our first ones, she rode into a cloud of gnats. I think she got a mouthful. I managed to dodge them. After we both got our road bikes we set out on a 22-mile paved route, but we hadn't gone a mile before she got a flat tire. Fortunately, I had prepared in advance by mounting a pump on my bike and carrying a patch kit. We had the flat nearly fixed when Savannah turned the pump a bit too far and broke the valve stem. Game over. I rode home, brought back a vehicle, and carried her and the bike home. While we were wheeling them back into the basement, I said, "Watch out for that dog turd." We decided to switch to our mountain bikes. While we were wheeling those out, Savannah ran over the dog turd with her front tire, which was also flat. Clearly, it was not her day. She hosed off the tire, we fixed the flat and were on our way.
We often comment on the roadkills. There are the usual raccoons, opossums, and odoriferous skunks. There are quite a few cats these days, and the occasional snake. Usually, we play music on a bluetooth speaker driven by my phone. I have a playlist of bicycle-related songs to give us motivation. After those ran out, I was playing my list of dog related songs when we were, ironically, chased by a couple of dogs. A big yellow lab joined me on the road. He was kind of heavy, so I thought I could outrun him, but he kept pace pretty well. He had some aggressive growls and barks going, but I yelled at him and he whimpered and broke off pursuit. But his buddy was a much faster white dog on the other side of the ditch, and I was sure I couldn't outrun her. I yelled some more, and I guess the owners were yelling too, and she gave up. All the while, "Dog Eat Dog" (the Adam and the Ants version) was playing. More irony. After that, my legs were kind of toasted, but we had mostly tailwinds after we got to La Grange. I got a gatorade at the Casey's, since I had left my freshly filled water bottle in the kitchen.
I spent one day out at Lowell's. We tried and failed to repair two lawn mowers. So we went fishing. The bite was pretty good, and I was catching a lot of small bass. At the end though, and good 18-inch lunker bit my lure and made my day.
Rainy weather was forecast for the Pedalers Jamboree. I wanted to outfit our bikes with fenders, but new ones are costly, and I didn't have time to make nice wooden ones. Like a timely miracle, a member of the Quincy Bike Club had a stack of them to give away. She let me pick through them and get enough to outfit all our bikes. I picked up some mounting hardware from the local bike shop and was able to get a complete set of fenders installed on Savannah's mountain bike before we left. It required some modification, fabrication and exasperation. On a test ride, she didn't like the way they rattled and asked me to take them off. I convinced her to try them for a day at least. Sheesh. My mountain bike has 29-inch wheels, so none of the regular fenders would fit. There was a chromed steel stubby thing that I was able to mount on the front fork. I knew it wouldn't block much, but it was better than nothing.
We headed down to Boonville with the motorhome pulling the Lil Egg. We parked in the lot of the Isle of Capri Casino, which is only a few blocks from Kemper Park. There are no hook-ups, but we stayed for free. We wandered the town and had a beer. Savannah cooked dinner in the RV. Without shore power, we could not use aire conditioning, but it was cool enough at night. On Saturday morning we had a light breakfast and loaded all that we would need into the Lil Egg. I had realized early that I had forgotten to bring any biking shorts with me, in spite of having 4 or 5 pairs. Fortunately, Savannah had an extra pair that were too big for her anyway. They fit me a little funny, but did the job. I guess I was cross-dressing all weekend. The bikes were already on the roof rack. We drove to Columbia, unloaded the bikes and parked the car. We began at the official start, where I ran into Mike Dennehy, the tour organizer. The beginning of the ride is always the best, as it is cool, shaded, and the path is paved. We got off to a much earlier start this year than last. I also have a bluetooth speaker, which we used to blast our specially curated playlist of biking songs. The first act we saw was a one-man band called Dance Monkey Dance in Huntsdale. He was pretty good, even with a trombone. On to Rocheport! On the way, we stopped to see the champion burr oak again. In Rocheport we saw a band I like a lot. Currently called Hounds, they were Clock Work when I saw them last year for Big BAM. They rocked. We had lunch there and moved on. At one point, we stopped and I helped a guy fix a flat on his bike. He had a pump and I had a patch kit. Having just fixed one recently, I was in good practice. I found the hole in the tube and completed the repair. We saw them later and the tire was still holding air.
We arrived at New Franklin so early that the band wasn't playing yet and the beer tent wasn't set up. It gave us a long rest. Two ladies came rolling in with custom bikes. One was decked out in a wine theme, with corks glued to everything and an actual small cask on the rack. Her costume was complete with a Carmen Miranda-style hat full of fruit. She actually dispensed free wine to people. The other was a mermaid theme, with the front end of a manikin on the handlebars and a whale tail on the rear. Finally, we heard the Royal Furs, who were a pretty good rock band. The lead singer was a tiny thing, and she played the theramin, which you don't see every day.
We rode into Boonville a little tired, but in much better condition than we had last year. We were so early that we took a nap, though a fairly sweaty one. We had leftovers from the night before, and headed over to the park. The first band, the Mighty Pines, was already playing. We had a couple of beers and some pie and ice cream. The second artist was a woman named Flint Eastwood. She was a great singer with a lot of passion. She liked to get the crowd involved. Then came Shrub, a reggae band from Ohio. They had actually parked their RV next to ours at the Casino. We didn't have much appreciation for their sound though. Next came a fire artist, who was good and funny, but we couldn't see much of him because of everyone standing up front. Finally, Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band came on. They're a funk band with maybe 6 or 8 people on stage, including a horn section. Unfortunately, by then the night had turned quite cold and clammy. We heard a few of their songs, then walked back to the RV to crash. We could still hear their bass parts through the windows.
We slept well and got up in plenty of time to make the pancake breakfast at the park. When we got back to the RV, the drummer from Shrub was wandering around looking for their RV. When he found it wasn't there anymore (we had seen them leaving the park at breakfast), he called somebody and didn't sound happy. We saddled up and headed out again on the Katy Trail. I felt pretty good but probably pushed it too hard. By the time we got to Rocheport, my butt was hurting and my knees were complaining. The Missouri River had come up even more overnight and flooded the grounds, the stage was sitting in two feet of water. They ultimately pulled it out with a tractor. They set up the sound equipment on dry ground, and the band played on. Two guys named Steve. One was a really good acoustic guitar player, the other a singer. They were quite good, and we saw their whole show. That gave me a good rest, and I felt pretty good for the next 10 miles.
The rising Missouri had flooded parts of the trail. Savannah kept perfectly dry with her fenders, while I got splashed. We saw lots of aquatic turtles in the adjacent wetlands, and even a box turtle on the trail. Some parts of the trail were lined with thick stands of spiderwort, as well as some white beardtongue. I also found that when covered with sunscreen and sweat, swarms of tiny gnats that you encounter will just stick to you. I am a giant sticky trap. When we got to Katfish Katy's at Huntsdale, we were disappointed to learn that they had no food tent. We got bananas and snacks to tide us over. They also had some great lemon shandy. The band, Jenny Teator and the Fevers, was really good. Too bad we were roasting in the sun. When their set was done, we took off again. As we approached Columbia, the battery on my bluetooth speaker finally died, only 5 or 6 songs short of the complete playlist and a few miles short of the end. Tragic.
We arrived triumphantly in Columbia, and looked around in a bike shop before we loaded up the car. We stopped at a Taco Bell for a lunch of about the quality one expects from Taco Bell, and highballed it back to Boonville. It didn't take long to hook the Lil Egg back up to the RV and get out of town. I started getting sleepy around Moberly and Savannah took over driving. We arrived home smelly, but no worse for wear.
The next day, Memorial Day, the Quincy Bicycle Club was having a bike ride in support of cancer patients. Stacey hauled me down to Hannibal so I could ride while she ran errands. There were a lot of people there to take the ride, including my camera club friend Terry. We joined the middle distance group for a planned 32 miles. For the first 10 miles my legs felt pretty tight. Then we had a rest stop. I felt really good for the next 10, including a stop at the cemetery to pay respects at the grave of the woman for whom the ride was in memory. The last 10 or so were very hilly. The downhills were some of the fastest I've done in quite a while, but the uphills were the slow grind in first gear type. Stacey picked me up, we got lunch and went home.
Savannah and I have done some training rides since. We're still battling her flats, even after we got a new set of belted tires.
Next month: the Big BAM and the Big Move.
This month's photos: flowers, dogs and birds:
Saturday, April 30, 2016
April 2016
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.
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 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.
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