Weekly Ephemera #100

This probably shouldn't be an ephemera post as it's pretty significant but I'm afraid if I dedicate a whole post to it, it would become a rambling 'poor me' screed.  Anyway, here is the week that was:

• My mom's back and sciatic leg pain is progressively getting worse and it is getting harder for her to get around.  She is scheduled for surgery on the 8th of July but tomorrow we are going to contact the neurosurgeon to see if it can be moved up.  The surgery may help ... or it may not.  The only way to know is to have it done.
• Due to Mom's worsening condition, I decided that I would not be going on the Wife's Camino.  After consideration she too decided to cancel the Camino for this year.  We are both, to say it mildly, a bit bummed but neither of us would have enjoyed it if we were continuously worrying about how Mom was.  I also think me being close by gives Mom a sense of comfort.  The Camino has been around over one thousand two hundred years.  It will still be around next year.  We just need to hold our aging bodies at bay a little longer.
• Before we postponed the Wife's Camino we deep cleaned the house.  The Wife's Aunt and Cousins were/are going to use our house while we were away but now we will be hosting them.  They will be going to the College World Series and visiting old friends in Omaha next week.  I have never seen the Wife clean so deeply.  Three plus hours for just one room.  I did my part but my piddly attempts at deep cleaning paled in comparison.
• One of the things I did was clean the windows.  A day or so afterwards a robin flew into the window so hard it left a splat of ... something disgusting ... before dropping dead to the patio. When I removed the carcass it left a bloodstain on the concrete.  I will have to rewash that window.
• Between cleanings I watch some more "Doctor Who" which, after a very sloppy start, has gotten better.
  
  In the evening the Wife and I have started watching "Alone".  There are ten seasons (the eleventh season starts this week).  I'm pretty sure I would tap out before I even got on the boat.

Weekly Ephemera #96

Happy Mother's day to all the mothers out there, especially my Mom!!!

This week was not full of much activity.  I only have a few things to mention.

• Yesterday we went to the combined birthday party for the niece's four year old son and two year old daughter.  Their kids are awesome and, after this party, they will need a bigger house to store all the toys these kids got.  The one gift we are all jealous of is a battery powered bubble gun.  Is it normal for a sixty year old man to want a bubble gun?
• I watched "Star Trek: Lower Decks" this week.  I love all the easter eggs they can wedge into a Star Trek cartoon.  This week I'll take a Trek break and will watch the second season of "Halo".
• The Wife went out to see the Aurora Borealis on Friday night.  I didn't join her as I was really tired.  She saw some good displays near Hitchcock Nature Reserve.  I was asleep before she even arrived there.  This is unlike me really since seeing the northern lights is on my informal bucket list.  Not sure why I couldn't find the energy to join the Wife.
• One possible explanation for my tiredness is that I did a long walk Friday morning and really didn't nap afterwards like I usually do.  This week I walked twice for a total of 18.67 miles (30.0 km) with most of those miles being on Friday.
• This week the tile guy is coming to tile our bathroom floor.  The end of our bathroom remodel is in sight.

Things Come, Things Go, And There Is Always Room For More

Nearly thirteen years ago I took my first hike at Hitchcock Nature Center.  It was one of the first hikes I did after moving to Nebraska. During that hike I stopped to admire an American Elm Tree in a clearing on the Wildwood trail.

An American Elm and its companion in a clearing on the Wildwood trail.

I remember thinking, as I admired the tree and the filtered sunlit clearing surround it, how peaceful it felt.  The tree stood there rather regally like it was the center of the forest.

This last week I went back to Hitchcock.  I came upon the Elm tree.  It was a sad sight. Time and nature had not been kind to the once majestic tree and his companion.  Not sure if this is the result of Dutch Elm Disease or something else.  Either way, it was not kind to this poor tree.  The amount of undergrowth that now fills the clearing contributes to the shabbiness and decay that is felt there now.  So sad but the world moves on.  Things die and others are born to take their place.

Time has not been kind.

The return to Hitchcock was the first hike in nature since I left the Appalachian Trail in September 2019.  All my other hikes and walks since my return had been city walks on concrete and asphalt, the only nature being the groomed lawns and parks of Omaha.  It felt good to be back out amongst the trees and feeling the packed dirt under my feet.  I didn't realize how much I missed this.  I thought six months on the Appalachian Trail had given me my fill of nature but this week I learned that there is always room for more.

The Return Of An Annual Traveller

Monarch butterflies migrate through Eastern Nebraska.  They tend to move through our area in late August - Early September.  Over the years Monarch Butterfly populations have been declining.  The Wife, in an attempt to help the Monarchs, went on a milkweed quest earlier this summer and she planted some in our backyard.  Milkweed is special as Monarch Butterflies only lay their eggs on milkweed.  This week, as I was mowing, I noticed this:

Monarch Caterpillar on milkweed. 

I hope it finds a safe place to cocoon so we can have one more butterfly in the world.

Ghost Droplets

I was taking Iago out to do his business in our backyard when I noticed something.  It had rained that morning (Saturday) and there were droplets of water on the long leaves of a potted plant on our patio.  That's what I thought until I took a closer look ...

Ghost droplets.

... and I realized that the leaves were in fact dry.  Somehow the image of the raindrops was printed on the leaves like a photographic exposure.  I've never seen this before and I have to say ... It's pretty cool!

Bird Nerdy

I have to admit that I am getting bird nerdy as I get older.  I feed the birds in our backyard and have accumulated quite a following of birds there.  Over the last year or so I have played around with the birdseed mixture as well as added new feeders with different foods.  I now have three feeders: a standard one with a mix of birdseed, a suet feeder, and a thistle seed feeder.

In the past year our usual sparrows and mourning doves have been joined by goldfinches (who like the thistle seed), downy woodpeckers(who like the suet), cardinals (who go for the Cardinal mix in my main feeder), and, more recently, robins and blue jays.  I'm excited about the Jays since I have seen them very rarely in our yard but I've seen one twice in the last three days so I'm hoping it/they stay.

A hawk squatting on a light pole behind our house.

Also attracted to our backyard, and the new street light poles the city has installed behind out house, is a hawk that, I expect, is hunting critters that feed off the seed that falls from the feeders.

I will have to try to get some pictures to post as I discover new birds checking out our yard.

Canada By Rail: A Side Trip To Churchill, MB

There once was a train that would take you to Churchill, MB from Winnipeg but the undermining of the track due to melting and shifting permafrost has cut the remote town off for at least a year now.  The only way to get to Churchill today is by air or sea.  We flew in with Lazy Bear Expeditions.

Along with bears and whales, the flowers were everywhere.

We were picked up at the airport and started our bus tour of Churchill.  Our guide was a photojournalist chock full of information and a sense of humor.  He made the tours a fun experience.  This was important since Churchill is a small, gritty town of homes, apartments, and a few double-wide trailers.  There is a layer of sand and grit on just about everywhere.  There are no stop lights - there is a four way stop sign that nearly ended in disaster when three vehicles arrived at the same time.

The land and shores around Churchill are rocky and ruggedly beautiful.

After our town tour we arrived at our log cabin style Lodge where we had lunch.  The Wife and I walked down to see if we could find some insect repellent (the airline security confiscated her spray can).  We were unsuccessful but we did explored some of the town.  The lodge offered bug head nets that we should have purchased the first day.  We didn't and learned our lesson soon afterward.

Bears sometimes get too close to town.  They are trapped, kept in a bear holding
facility (bear jail) and eventually flown fifty km or more away from town.

The first afternoon we got back on the bus and explored more of the town and the surrounding areas.  We learned about the history of the area and we visited the park interpretive center for a history of the First Nation's people in the area.  During a visit to the beach the Wife dropped her phone in the Hudson Bay.  Salt water is not good for phones.  It did not survive.  The Wife was bummed.

Our boat for the day.  Landing to look for polar bears.

On Monday we had a slow morning for self guided exploration followed by an awesome boat ride in the afternoon.  The boat was a landing craft with the fold down bow for hitting the beach.  As we went out we slowed down a bit to see the beluga whales feeding.  This time of year there are as many as sixty thousand belugas in the area.  The whales (actually a relative to the dolphin) were friendly and a bit curious approaching the boat many times.

A few beluga whales near our boat as we head up the coast.

We finished loitering around the belugas before heading up the West coast of Hudson Bay to a small peninsula.  The way North was rough and our flat bottomed boat slapped the water hard.  It was not the most comfortable ride I've had.

A polar bear way off in the distance.

We pulled up to the shore and the bow was lowered so we could walk on the shore.  Our guide went ahead of us carrying a shotgun just in case.  He would wave us ahead once he checked everything was safe.  After a short walk we saw our first polar bear.  It was just a white spot on the horizon (even through my camera) but the polar bear is the biggest predators in this region and getting too close was not a wise thing to do.  We crept as close as we could safely and we all watched the bears through our cameras and binoculars.  We saw four bears on our walk.

A polar bear way up close.

We got back on the boat and began following the coast until we saw another bear - a juvenile.  It was wandering among the glacier dropped boulders along the shore.  We thought it had walked over the ridge of the peninsula and the boat was about to turn and head home when the bear came back over the ridge and headed to the shore.  The boat was floating about ten to twenty feet off the shore.  The bear came all the way down to the water before standing on submerged stones.  It finally got in the water and was about fifteen feet away from the boat before it decided to go back up on the shore.  It was an incredible experience seeing this large animal up close.

We headed back for the hour or so long trip back to Churchill stopping briefly for some more belugas.  We ended up being out on the water for eight hours.  During that eight hours we both lost several pints of blood to the mosquitoes that were everywhere.  The mosquitoes were joined by huge biting horseflies (known as bulldogs in Churchill).  We ate late dinners, bought mosquito head nets, and went to bed.

We had most of the Tuesday off so I went walking around town.  I bought some magnets, got stamps in our passports at the post office, and took pictures of things we'd passed in the bus tour.

I can just see the smile of the beluga's face.

Tuesday evening we went out on zodiacs to get up close and personal with the beluga whales.  It's really hard to get pictures of animals in the water.  Twice during this trip I saw a beluga stick its entire head above water and twice I did not get a picture.  All I got mostly is pictures of grey humps in the water.

An interesting learning experience from our fort guide at the Prince of Wales fort.

We landed on the shore opposite the town to visit the Prince of Wales fort.  A gentleman in period costume interpreted the fort with its forty cannons which housed forty men.  It never held soldiers and mainly served a part in the area's fur trade.

The polar bear jail decorated with one of the SeaWall murals.

Thursday was also mostly free.  We'd signed up to snorkeled with the whales and many of the water related activities were held during high tide which was early evening.  We were told to put on as many layers as we could since the water was cold and the dry suits we would be wearing would not be warm enough by themselves.  It was in the upper 80's Fahrenheit (nearly 32 Celsius) so once we put on all our layers and the dry suits we began sweating buckets.  That changed rapidly once we got in the water.  The water was around 40℉ (5℃).  We were tethered to the zodiac and slowly towed through the water.  I had my small waterproof camera on me but ... it failed soon after I tried to use it.  Olympus will be getting a letter from me.  No pictures this day for me.

The brilliant orange lichen that brightens most of the landscape near Churchill.

We got in and out of the water three times searching for curious belugas but many of the belugas seemed more interested in eating than us.  I saw maybe a half dozen over the three attempts with only one getting anywhere near me.  This would have been find but I was cold ... I mean COLD.  The low number of belugas did not justify the cold for me ... especially when I started to shiver involuntarily.  I tapped out and was the first back in the boat.  While this excursion was not totally successful, it's easy to understand that these animals are not tame and you can't predict what you are going to get.

Back on the beach after a ride on the cold Hudson Bay waters.
The sun barely sets this time of year.

We were exhausted when we got back to the lodge.  We ate another late dinner and then rolled and tossed in our beds sweating and, frankly, not getting a good night's sleep.  Fortunately this was our last day and we would have time later to catch up on our sleep.

Our tundra crawler.

On Thursday, our last day , we took a short Summer tundra tour in a massive tundra crawler.  Wildlife was a bit rare this time of year and we only saw a bald eagle but it was still cool to see the tundra landscape.  We also saw the shipwreck of the SS Ithaka which was a bonus.

The SS Ithaka shipwreck.
The holes at the bottom are big enough to drive the tundra crawler through.

Our flight was late so we went back to the lodge for lunch and went out for another bus tour to see the SeaWalls public art around the town.  The murals added some meaning and a lot of color to Churchill.

An arctic Fox bounces around looking for lunch. 

Our charter flight finally arrived and we winged our way back to Winnipeg.

Except for the bugs I enjoyed Churchill.  At times the town felt like the most remote place I have ever been.  I'm not sure why.  We had all the amenities.  We even had cable.  But there was something that made it feel like we were on the edge of the Earth.  No matter how much we enjoyed the whales and bears, we were ready to get back to civilization.

Pictures can be found in my 2018-06 Canada By Rail Google Photos album.

Another Batch

Last year we had four batches of Mourning Doves chicks (that's what Google Lens identified them as).  Those four batches resulted in five surviving doves (the sixth left the nest prematurely, or was abandoned by it's mother, and Iago got to it before I could).

A few weeks ago a new nest appeared (in the same location as last year's nest) and another baby dove appeared.

Mother with the first Mourning Dove chick of 2018.

The chick left the nest earlier this week making way, I assume, for the next batch.

This year I'm seeing more types of birds than ever before.  Cardinals, chickadees, goldfinches, downy woodpeckers, mourning doves, robins, red wing blackbirds among others.  We even had a turkey walking down the street in front of our house.  I guess the new mix of food in the bird feeder is doing its job.

The Last Batch (???)

Back in May I posted a picture of a Dove on a nest in our backyard.  Since that picture was posted there have been three clutches of eggs on that nest.  The second and third round had two eggs each.  I suspect the first also had two but I'm not sure since I never saw the newborns out of the nest.

Yesterday the last two newborn doves left the nest and, to the consternation of Iago, decided to take a long rest on our deck. I eventually had to shoo the little devils so that Iago wouldn't blow a vein.

The last of the doves ... I think.

There was at least one other nest in our area located in our neighbor's gutter which, I think, had a couple clutches as well.

Yesterday I counted six or seven doves flying around our backyard.  I'm pretty sure there are more hidden in the trees near our house.  This is new.  We've always had a pair of doves that visit our yard but never this many.  It has been a very productive summer this year.

Photograph: "Visiting Hawk"

The raptor visits keep on coming.  First the bald eagles now what appears to be a hawk.

"Visiting Hawk"

by Bruce H.

My Return To A Changed Boyer Chute

After seeing all the sand and silt at the entrance of Boyer Chute National Wildlife Reserve on Wednesday, I decided to go back on Friday and see what it was like in the reserve itself.  I drove out to the park and parked at the main parking lot.  Most of the parking lot still showed evidence of sand and silt.

I put on my pack, grabbed my poles, and headed toward the trail that would take you over a bridge onto the island (the island has the Missouri River on three sides and the chute on the other).  I found the trailhead but the trail was totally obliterated.  Instead, I walked the road the trail once paralleled to the bridge that crosses the chute.  From the bridge you can see the condition of the chute.  A chute, by the way, is a channel of the river that runs parallel to the river and connects to the river at both ends.  The chute was in terrible condition.  The water level was very low, even as the Missouri River is fairly high right now, and the chute was full of sand and silt (This is what the chute used to look like).

I crossed the bridge and tried to find the Meadowlark Trail.  This is the only paved, handicap accessible trail in the park.  All the other trails are simply mowed paths through the grassland that dominate the park.  The Meadowlark Trail was half buried in the sand.  A shelter close to the trailhead was totally demolished.  I followed the trail the best I could looking for where a mowed trail branched off from it.  That search was futile as there was no more grass on the north-west side of the island.  It was just a great expanse of sand and silt.  I did find some old tire tracks in the sand that appeared to be following the old trail.  I followed them for a while and then decided the best way to circle the island was to get within sight of the chute and follow it around to the river.

A bench along the Meadowlark trail buried in sand and silt from the 2011 Missouri river floods.

If you could see my path it would zig zag around a bit as I picked my way around mud, fallen trees, dead brush, and new growth.  Where there had been pools of water and mud, there were now dried areas where the ground had cracked making really cool patterns on the ground.

Patterns in the dried mud - my foot in the picture for perspective.

The sun was starting to come out so I decided to walk through the trees that, before the 2011 floods, circled the island and separated the trails from the water.  That turned out to be a mistake.  The number of fallen trees, low branches, and new undergrowth made it nearly impossible to walk ten feet in a straight line in any direction.  I changed direction again and headed back to the waters edge and walked in the sand.  It was a bit like walking along a beach but the sand didn't compact as much so it was a bit easier.

Life is returning after the 2011 Missouri river floods.

Part way around I came across a large pile of fallen, sun bleached trees.  In my youth I would have had a great time climbing around on those trees.  I would have run along their trunks and jumped from one to the other.  In my nearly fifty year old body I found myself gingerly stepping among the trees afraid of falling ... for no real reason ... and taking my own sweet time to cross the pile of trees.  When I got across I looked back and wondered what I'd lost.  Was it the dexterity and balance of a young body or was it the carefree, no fears spirit of youth?

I once described Boyer Chute as looking like the African Savanna.  Now it is the Sahara.

After the pile of trees I was able to find one of the original trails.  It was a bit overgrown but it was easier to follow than walking through the thick new growth.  Most of the island had been grassland and prairie before 2011 floods.  I was surprised to see how many new trees were growing.  Most of them, between knee and shoulder height, appeared to be cottonwood - there was cottonwood fluff floating around the island. In a few years there will be a lot more trees on the island and the grassland will have shrunk a little.  It will be a whole new ecosystem.  Boyer Chute had changed a lot since the last time I was there.  It almost appeared post-apocalyptic in a way.  It will be interesting to see how it recovers and changes.  To see how much it has changed go view my 2008-2013 Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge Google Photos album which has both before and after, winter and summer, pictures of Boyer Chute.

The high water mark (the light colored band) on a Lewis & Clarke monument by main parking lot.

For comparison, my trekking poles is four feet tall.

I reached halfway around the island and I reached a decision point - I could continue around the island like I'd originally intended or I could take a right and follow a trail that cut across the island back to the bridge.  I was feeling a bit rundown.  My energy levels were not up to snuff.  The sand and the bushwhacking were taking their toll.  I turned right and cut across the island.  The deer I saw on the trail didn't criticize me for my decision.  The hike was about 5.66 miles (9.1 km) and was practically flat with only 475 feet (144.8 m) of elevation gain.  I'd walked it almost a mile per hour slower than my usual hiking speed.

I kept thinking they really needed to get the trails in order.  Thinking a bit more I realized that the first priority would be to dredge and restore the chute.  It may be a while before the trails are back to fully usable condition.

This may be the last hike for a while.  We'll be going to New Orleans (among other places) pretty soon and a two to three week break will probably do me good.

Iago: Bird Dog

I was looking out the window into our backyard this afternoon.  The Wife was coming in from doing some gardening.  Iago was following her up the stairs to the back deck.  I noticed he was carrying something in his mouth.  I intercepted him at the slider and told him to put it down.  Being a very obedient, when he's not being a box of rocks, Iago opened his mouth and dropped ... a baby bird.  Homer had caught a bird when he was a puppy too but wouldn't release it until we bribed him with a treat.

At first I thought the bird was dead but then it started moving around and flapping its immature little wings.  I picked it up and was going to drop it over the fence when it got away and fluttered down to the lawn.  Iago ran down and picked it up again.  I yelled "No!" and he dropped it again and actually came back up on the deck.

I managed to pick it up again and dropped it over the fence.  Then I went over to a fir tree we have and picked up the other baby bird - they appear to be baby doves - that was sitting in the grass under the tree and I dropped it over the fense with its brother/sister before Iago found it too.

Our back yard is full of bird nests.  We have two or three robins under the deck that should be coming out soon.  We also have wrens in a tin bird house.  We'll have to keep our eyes open and protect them from Iago the bird dog.

Mite It Be A Tick? No.

I took a picture of this red fellow the other day at Hitchcock Nature Center.  I thought it might be a tick but I'd never seen a red one before.  Turns out it is not a tick.  It is a mite.  Wouldn't it be nice if ticks were this easy to see?

Not a tick but a mite.

While I was investigating this guy, I learned what these were:

Possibly gall mites.

I think these are gall mites.  The things you learn while on the trail and flicking off ticks.

Now if I could just get rid of this paranoid feeling every time I feel an itch or a tickle.

Another Sort Of Pilgrimage: The Way Of Saint Cranes

Every March - early April, the Sandhill Cranes migrate through Nebraska on their way to their summer homes in Canada and Alaska.  The Cranes stop for a spell along a stretch of the Platte River, often described as being "a  mile wide ... and six inches deep."  While there they gorge on waste corn in the adjacent farm fields and rest up for their long journey north.

Like the sandhill cranes, every March - early April, people converge on central Nebraska to see the estimated 500,000 - 600,000 cranes.  They gather on bridges, roadsides, and bird watching blinds at sunset and sunrise to watch the cranes return to/leave the river for the night/day.  We joined this bird nerdy gathering three years ago when we froze out patootees off watching our first crane migration.  We'd been thinking about doing it again when I saw a contest on Facebook put on by Cars, Travel, Food.  Leave a comment on their Facebook page and you could win two free tickets to get into a bird watching blind.  I commented ... I won!  We went.

Cranes zooming in for a landing.

We left Saturday afternoon.  The bird blind tours are held by the Nebraska Nature & Visitor's Center about seven miles from Grand Island, NE.  This is an easy two hour drive for us.  We arrived shortly after 3:00 PM, early for the tour, so we sent into town looking for food.  We've had rather bad luck finding specific places to eat in Grand Island.  In 2009 we had a list of two quirky places that turned out to be closed.  This time the place I'd picked - it had flat screen TVs at each booth ... perfect for March Madness - was not where it was supposed to be.  We never found it.  Like in 2009 we ended up at some chain restaurant which was good enough.  At least we liked the hot chocolate chip cookie covered in ice cream, whipped cream, and Oreo bits.

We went to the nature center and picked up out tour passes, perused the gift shop (T-shirt and a magnet), and watched a movie about the crane migration.  At 6:00 PM a guide shared some knowledge of the cranes and informed us of the proper bird blind etiquette.  We were then split into two groups and we caravaned out to the blinds.

Whole bunch of Sandhill Cranes

The blinds are nothing fancy.  Big wooden boxes with windows facing the river.  We each had a chair and our own viewing window.  It would have been cold in the winter time.  At least it would have been cold if this were a normal winter.  It was in the upper 70s with a warm south wind when we reached the blind.

As sunset approached so did the cranes.  The nearest crane was probably 80-90 yards from the blind.  Cranes are notoriously skittish as they are hunted everywhere but Nebraska.  While we watched the mass of cranes accumulate on the river's sandbars, we were treated to a rarity.  Among the grey/brown sandhill cranes was a bright speck of white - a Whooping Crane.  How special is this?  There are less than 300 of these birds in the wild.  At one point around 1941 there were only 15 in existence.  Truly a once in a lifetime occurrence.

Whooping Crane among the Sandhill cranes (Click on picture to see a larger version)

The next day we got up early and went to the same place we went in 2009.  While we froze last time, this year it was in the 50s and rather comfortable.  It was windy and there were some low clouds that dampened the brilliant sunrise colors we'd witnessed in 2009 but, despite this, we enjoyed watching the cranes wake up and take flight.

We headed back to the hotel, decided to skip the hot tub (full of little kids at 8:00 AM!), had breakfast at Grandma Max's Diner (with a name like that how could it be bad - it wasn't!), and headed home.  We got back home before Noon so were were gone less than twenty-four hours.

Out of 490 pictures the Wife and I took, I only found 25 worth posting.  Those 25 can be found in my 2009-2012 Sandhill Crane Migration Google Photos album.  As I was looking at the pictures I noticed something.  When on the ground, all the cranes seem to be facing the same direction.  Wonder why that is?

I Miss The Geese

Where are the geese?  In 2008 we had flocks landing in the field behind the house each evening, munching on the leftover corn in the fields.  In 2009 there was no corn, the farmer had planted soybeans, but we still had geese flying overhead.  This year, until earlier this week, I hadn't seen nary a one.

2009 Geese Off Our Deck.

This week the geese have started to appear but they are two to three months late and their numbers, so far, are anemic.  I'm a little disappointed.  I hoped that the corn returning to the fields would signal the return of the geese.   I appear to be wrong.

Why???   Climate change ... wind turbines ... habitat destruction?  It's a mystery.

Ferdinand, Napoleon, And Isabella

At night out big picture window attracts bugs.  Lots of bugs.  Lately they've also attracted toads.  The toads, the largest is about an inch and a half from nose to butt, climb up the side of the house and up the glass.  I watched them the other night.  When they eat they look like they're jumping from one point on the glass to another, defying gravity.  They're fun to watch.

The Wife insisted in me naming them so I named them Ferdinand, Napoleon, and Isabella.  I have no idea how to sex a toad so the names may be completely off gender but they're toads so who cares ... except maybe other toads.  I also can't tell one from the other but I think Ferdinand is a little bigger than the other two.

Here's a picture of the largest one, Ferdinand:

When he's not eating bugs, he's smearing up my clean window.  Darn toad toe prints everywhere!

ChipMunk

This year we seem to have a lot of critters in our backyard.  We have an infernal rabbit who munches on many of our plants.  We have turtle doves, or something similar, nesting in our evergreen - two small white eggs.  We have robins under our deck - two baby birds.

We also have chipmunks.  The wife named it Charlie but, after seeing a smaller one (Buddy Jr.) roaming around the yard, we decided that Charlie was probably Charlene.  I found their hole a week or so ago and by a weird coincidence ... well, you'll just have to look at the picture:

The wife caught Buddy Jr. staring at her.  He kind of looked like this:

A Raccoon Coincidence ... Or Is It ?!?

Last weekend, while attending the ND-USC football game with her dad, the Wife hit a raccoon with her car. It did a number on her bumper.

Two days later I come come from walking Homer and I see a raccoon hunkered down under the front overhang of our house. Since it didn't look like it was going to move on its own, and we thought it might be injured or sick, we called animal control. The raccoon decided it didn't like the attention it was getting from Animal Control and scrambled away, making its escape.

Yesterday I was walking Homer and, three doors down, there was Mr. Raccoon. He was standing in the middle of the neighbor's front yard. Homer barked at it and it just stood there and stared.

Coincidence? Stalker Raccoon? USC Fan? Only time will tell.

No Lions? Oh Well, There Were Tigers And Bears.

How many of you remember Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom? When I was a kid I was amazed as Jim went where Marlin feared to tread (Marlin: "While I sit hear drinking this margarita, Jim will try to determine the sex of the rabid Badger."). Well, I relived some of that on Thursday when the Wife and I went to Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo.

The Henry Doorly Zoo is one of the best zoos in the country. It's right up there with the San Diego Zoo in my opinion. We picked a great time to go. The prior weekend, Mutual of Omaha celebrated it's 100th anniversary by opening up the zoo and several other local museums and attractions for free. This meant a rather light crowd on Thursday. The zoo employees also had time to recover from the record 40,000 zoo attendees on Saturday alone.

We walked through the 130 acre zoo starting with the iconic Desert Dome. Under the dome, as we walked through the Kingdom of the Night exhibit, we waded through the herds of North American Wailing Rugrats including the one giving the Fart-Noise-By-Blowing-Into-His-Hands call of the wild. It was delightful.

Our walk took us through the Orangutan Forest, Cat Complex, Bear Canyon (they fed the Polar Bear while we were there), and the Aviary before we stopped for lunch. After lunch came the Elephants, Rhinos, and the ride on the new Skifari ski lift ride over the park.

The skifari was pretty cool and lasted longer than we expected. We were warned about our shoes - apparently one rider lost a shoe over the cheetah pen and they chewed on it all day long. It was fun looking at the animals from above and the faces of people on the ride who probably, by the look of distress on their faces, shouldn't have been on the ride at all. We wondered what the animals must have thought seeing these flying people overhead. One poor ostrich constantly protected her egg from the ski lift chairs. She was probably exhausted by the end of the day.

The skifari was followed by the Giraffe complex, the Zebras, and a really cool Butterfly and Insect pavilion. This was the Wife's favorite. You walked through a simulated jungle full of butterflies and hummingbirds. It was one of my favorite as well.

We ended our four hour tour of the zoo with the Scott Aquarium (full of fish, not Scotts. I was a little disappointed) and the Rain Forest/Jungle. Both of these were well done.

We both enjoyed the visit to the Zoo. Temps were perfect. Crowds were manageable. Animals were cool. I always have mixed feeling with zoos. I like looking at the animals but I can't help thinking they would live happier lives out in the wild. Hopefully, with the planned expansion once the old stadium is torn down, the animals will get more room to roam free. Pictures of the day can be found here.

New Tenants

Last year when we were looking for a bird feeder for the back yard, we came across a cute mobile home bird house. We bought it and hung it up on our deck. I didn't think we would have any birds move in because it was so close to the house and it swings a lot in the wind. Apparently I was wrong as we now have tenants.

Not sure what type of birds they are but the trailer is full of nesting material (you can see some sticking out near the top of the trailer) and they don't seem to mind the swinging.