Aerie Report, December 26, 2009

It's been a rainy day here at the Aerie. Being on the eastern side of the Big Storm hitting Minnesota and the Dakotas means we're getting moist warm air dragged up from the south and east. The rain hasn't been torrential but it's certainly been continuous. Between the rain and the temperatures climbing into the low-40s, virtually all the snow on the ground has disappeared. Most has simply melted but some has contributed to the fog that's often referred to as "rotting" snow. Actually, that's usually just the very moist air being cooled below the dew point by the snow and ice on the ground. The result of that cooling is condensation and fog.

I had to spent some time spreading salt on the driveway when I went out this morning to go get the mail. The snow packed by driving on it had turned to a sheet of ice that made walking on the slope an exciting experience. Continued warm temperatures and rain mixed with the salt to break up nearly all of the ice by darkness.

******

Football. Football. Football.

Still not doing well on my bowl picks. Only Rutgers and Utah have been on my winning list so far making me 2-5. Ouch! Pitt's looking good, however. Especially with stupid plays/penalties by N. Carolina.
[UPDATE: Oy! A field goal with 62 seconds left to win the game for Pitt 19-17.]

I will say, however that it's frustrating to make my picks and then learn that there are players being sent home for violating team rules or breaking laws or not making the trip to a bowl because they were too stupid to pass six (6) hours during the semester. I don't know ho much things have changed, but when I went to RU between '67 and '71 six hours amounted to two classes. One engineering course could be five hours. A biology lab was four hours. I'll forgive those kids who couldn't play because of injury but breaking rules and laws or not maintaining your grades? Idiots.

Heh?

I saw this headline: Kerry Floats Plan to Visit Tehran, and my first thought was, Will he bring his lucky hat?

My second thought was this was a slap in the face to those within Iran's borders who are protesting the current administration.

My third thought was that this was a big--and I mean REALLY BIG--mistake regardless who actually goes but KERRY?

But what do I know. I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

Lesson learned

If you have a fire place or insert with a removable thick steel smoke tray (a piece in the top of the firebox that catches flying cinders before they can go up the flue or that's there to redirect the air flow), it is not wise to try to pick it up even with thick leather gauntlets if it is displaced and falls into the red hot coals. Especially if the fire has been burning long enough to produce those red hot coals.

Now, those leather gauntlets--full thickness of a steer's hide--may allow you to pick up a burning log as advertised, but they are not--repeat NOT sufficient to pick up a piece of steel that may be several hundreds of degrees in temperature and, perhaps, just shy of glowing.

I now know this for a fact as attested to by the second degree burns on my right index and middle fingers.

That is all.

Aerie Report, December 25, 2009 Christmas Day

The cats and I spent a quiet day curled up in front of the fire place. Although the outside temperatures rose to just above freezing with the south southwest breezes, we had a little of this and a little of that as precipitation. Snow, sleet, freezing rain and then rain fell for much of the afternoon and into the evening hours. There wasn't much in the way of accumulation insofar as the snow and freezing rain went. The regular rain washed it all away and warmed the surface of the deck and driveway. The warm air blowing from the fireplace did alleviate the feeling of rawness that the precipitation and mid-30s temperatures created.

******

Spent some time on the phone speaking with my wife and daughter in New Jersey and then got a nice phone call from my son who is currently visiting his in-laws in Chicago. All is well, all is calm and all is bright.

Jessica is doing well in her Computer Science classes and working behind the scenes at the Apple Store where she likes it. (No direct contact with the customers, you know.)

Rick has been busy with the landscaping contractor for which he works despite it being the off season and weekly concerns about having enough to do. Hanging Christmas lights for home owners has taken up some of the slack but he says things should be looking up in a two or three months when spring arrives in Portland.

DIL Sandy is busy as a beaver at the law firm for which she works in Portland. Her nearly 12-hour days, six days a week are tiring, however.

And Terry is about partied out! She'll stay in NJ until Sunday so she can pick Mom--who has been to Half Moon Bay, CA for the holiday--up at the airport late Saturday night. (That way Jess won't have to worry about having to do so and still get to work early Sunday.)

Me? I'm watching cats snooze, flicker flames in the fireplace, big fat snow flakes come hurdling to the ground and watching football on TV. (Just don't ask me how I'm doing on my bowl picks, okay?) I'll wait 'til Terry gets home to open any presents.

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

Linus explains the meaning of Christmas



The Celtic Woman perform "Christmas Pipes."



And "O Holy Night"

Aerie Report, December 24, 2009

When I came downstairs this morning at 7 AM it was just 18 degrees and the clouds were down to around 2100 feet elevation. As a result, I could look up the hill and see the tops of the pines gathering frozen fog upon their needles while down the hill, there was nothing. That changed when the clouds dropped even lower a few minutes later and everything was shrouded in fog. When they lifted a few hours later (there was no breeze or breath of air movement to assist), the trees on the far hillside were also covered with a very thin sheen of ice.

Trees with a thin coating of ice.

The haze is caused by some lingering clouds and by the "smokey" nature of water vapor entering the atmosphere as the temperatures climb in to the mid-20s. (Ice changing directly to vapor without first melting is called sublimation. It's how frost free freezers work.)

There's a hint of a "fog line" in this photo.

Notice the windmill isn't turning. No wind so no electricity. The wind may be "green" but it sure is intermittent. (That means "not all the time.")

******

The folks at AccuHunch took the ice out of the forecast. Instead we'll get lots of rain, they say, as the temperatures Saturday and Sunday will positively soar into the mid-30s wherever their weather station is located. (We are usually 4 or 5 degrees colder than wherever that is.) The rain will be followed by a little bit of snow Sunday night.

Concerns about that stupid dashboard light will keep me in PA, however, ice or no ice.

******

Rick and Sandy were flying into O'Hare to celebrate Christmas with her folks. I home they have a safe flight and are not canceled or anything nasty. Sandy has been working long hours and weeks for an attorney in Portland and they haven't really had much time off together.
[UPDATE: The kids got into O'Hare okay and on time on Wednesday despite numerous cancellations of other flights.]

Terry and Jess will go to my sister's annual get together this evening. Terry's been gallivanting around NJ and even NYC visiting friends and former coworkers during the holiday party season. She's the sociable one in the house.

******

Well, I got the gas cans filled up and added some stabilizer to each one so the gas won't go bad before I need it. Moved a couple of wheelbarrows full of firewood into the garage, too. Except for the birds chattering around the feeders it's really, really quiet around the Aerie. It might be time to take a hint from the cats who are sound asleep after having finished their lunch.

Give us this day our daily Birds, Part 4

Today's bird is the Tufted Titmouse. Slightly larger than the chickadee, the Titmouse looks like a miniature gray and white cardinal with its triangular beak and peaked head gear. One thing that always amazes me with these little birds is their large, dark eye. It loos about two sizes too big for their frame.

Tufted Titmouse enjoys a seed.

Tufted Titmouse. So many to choose from!

The slight blush of rusty beige on the flanks breaks up the monochromatic scheme on these little birds. Both males and females look alike--just like the chickadees, juncos, nuthatches, blue jays, and mourning doves.

Aerie Report, December 23, 2009The Oh Cr*p!! Edition

Just as the weather wonks had moved the ice storm to early on Christmas Day and opened a window I could work with the travel to NJ on Christmas Eve and back later on Christmas Day, the Tundra betrays me!

I traveled down to AJ's Power Equipment in Mansfield today to purchase a generator (just in case) and then over to Wally World for some groceries (okay, snack food for the bowl games). On the way back up the hill to the Aerie, the "Check Engine" light comes on. I'm 200 or so miles before my oil change and the time for the Maintenance Required" light, so this is not to be taken lightly. The truck doesn't act any differently than before but a 500 mile round trip to NJ is not to be undertaken without someone more knowledgeable than I looking under the hood. (I did check the oil and coolant fluids and they seem fine. And none of the gauges on the dash indicated a problem in the short trip to town and back.) I did call the serviceman but he said 1) they are closed until Monday, 2) it's probably nothing more than a sensor malfunction since the behavior didn't change, 3) the fact that it's not misbehaving now doesn't mean it won't start acting up in a couple hundred miles. I made an appointment to bring the Tundra in on Tuesday.

So it looks like I'll be home alone for Christmas...again. Just me, the cats and a few hundred small birds.

I still have to get down the hill tomorrow to get the mail and fill up two gas cans...just in case.

******

I figure to cook a venison tenderloin, some string beans and a baked potato for my Christmas dinner. Julie the Cat will help me eat the tenderloin. I'm sure of that. She really likes wild game. She starts salivating as soon as the meat has thawed enough to give off any aroma and, sometimes, even before that. When a friend gave us some moose meat a few years back all we had to do was take it out of the freezer and she was stalking the kitchen waiting for her "taste"--which translated into a good sized tablespoon's worth of finely cut red meat. She'll pick up a piece and give it a good shake to make sure it's dead before chowing down.

She's the only one of the three that eats "human" food. She'll eat chicken, turkey beef and some fish (she doesn't like blackened or cajun style and forget about any rubs or breading), but what she really likes is venison, moose, bison, and squirrel. Looking at those first three, I think she's got an inner cougar in her somewhere. Thank goodness she's the smallest of the three cats!

******

I mentioned the ice we're supposed to be getting on Friday. They now say the ice could accumulate to 0.4 inches before the whole thing switches to rain. Looking at the maps it seems the storm center is actually going to pass a bit further west than they thought earlier this week which is why points west of the Great Lakes will be hit hardest with the snow and wind. Here, warm air will be pulled up from the south and run over the cold air that's been entrenched for a week or more. (At the Aerie, we haven't see the temperature get above 31 degrees in more than a week.) The moisture in the warm southern air will fall through the cold lower layers and freeze either on the way down or on the surface. Eventually, the warm air will push the cold air back to the north and we'll get all rain...maybe. At 2100 feet, I don't really know if that's going to happen.

After two days (Friday and Saturday) of slightly warming temperatures, we'll get back to below freezing again. And that's for the high temperatures. We'll be a few degrees below the average highs and, upon those clear nights, almost 10 degrees below the average lows through New Year's Eve.

I better pull some more firewood in to the garage...just in case.

Dinner Company

So. I'm standing at the kitchen sink preparing my dinner when I glance outside to see that I've got company.

Black Bear at the metal feeder.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you!"

It's not a big bear; probably its first winter without Momma. The feeder's less than four feet off the ground. Still, even at around 150 pounds it can put a sizable dent in the seed budget not to mention the feeder damage.

It took a little shouting and a bit of banging on the deck rail to shoo it away. If it comes back, the feeders will have to come in over night. And that is a PIA.

[UPDATE: The little bugger came back after dark. Tried to sneak in to the feeders but I was alerted by Julie Cat running back and forth from window to window. The feeders are now in the house.*sigh*]

[UPDATE 2: The rotten SOB came back again. I brought in all but one feeder, the one that was mounted on top of a metal post. It's a large feeder holding 203 pounds of sunflower seed. It's made of heavy metal and has a wire cage to keep the squirrels out. The bear bent the pole at the ground, separated the feeder from the top but could not get to the seeds. Julie didn't warn me this time. She was curled at my feet basking in my praise. (And having eaten a portion of my chicken dinner.)]

Give us this day our daily Birds, Part 3

I'm only going to post pictures of one bird today: The White-breasted Nuthatch

These chunky little birds are fairly common around the Aerie. I've seen four or five at a time at the feeders and in the trees. Usually they fly in, snatch a seed and then head out to the trees where they will land on the trunk facing downward, wedge the seed into a crack in the bark and hammer away at it to get at the meat inside.

A White-breasted Nuthatch scopes out the cameraman.

The handsome little one shows off its profile.

Looking for just the right seed. This bird threw two or
three aside before it was satisfied with its selection.

But at least one bird has learned that the cracks, or checks, in the deck posts are a good substitute for a tree's bark. Less energy wasted in flying back and forth, too.

The seed stuffed into a post's crack and the little bird
puts everything it has into getting at what's inside.

Spring is coming!

It's the first official day of winter (The Solstice) and yet I've also received the first harbinger of spring. Newly arrived in today's mail was the 2010 Burpee Seed Catalog! It used to be that the catalog wouldn't arrive until the calanders had been changed. Now, like the holiday decorations in the store, they seem to have moved up a month or more. Still, it's nice to have all those lovely photos to look at even if the plants in my garden never, ever look that good.

Not that there's much we want or need to purchase this year. We've a long summer trip planned that will take us away from the Aerie between June 15th and September 1st and there won't be anyone around to tend the garden except for Mr. Groundhog and Mr. Rabbit. Terry and I have signed up for a Good Sam's Club Caraventure that will take us to Alaska.

Now all we have to do is find somewhere to park the kitties for the two and a half months. They do not travel well and crossing the Canadian border would require all sorts of extra paperwork. Not to mention the worry of their going on the lam the first time the trailer door is opened.

******

Meanwhile, it's overcast and cold at the Aerie again with light breezes just sufficient enough to turn the windmills. A "decorative" snow flurry or two (it's been nearly continuous) is slowly falling. No accumulation is predicted beyond a "dusting" of snow. Beats the heck out of a foot of the stuff like Terry had in Linden, NJ.

I'm supposed to go into NJ on Thursday for Christmas Eve at my sister's returning to the Aerie on Christmas Day. But, just like last year, ice is in the forecast for Christmas Day. AccuHunch this morning said up to 0.8 inches is possible. If it moves up I may have to forgo the journey just as I did last year. Snow I don't mind driving in, but ice is another thing altogether.

******

The birds are taking advantage of my largess in great numbers today. The chickadees; tufted titmice; white- and red-breasted nuthatches; juncos; blue jays; goldfinches; mourning doves; red-bellied, downy, and hairy woodpeckers are zooming in and out like jets at O'Hare. Unlike the jets, rather than circle the clearing in holding patterns they perch in the trees or cling to the tree trunks around the yard to await their chance at choice feeding spots or to hammer at purloined seeds . I find the activity of my feathered horde exhausting. I may have to follow the cats' example and grab some shuteye.

Brain Freeze (or That Senior Moment)

Ever have to dial your cell phone from your land line because you forgot where you put the cell?

How 'bout not being able to find that item you put in a "safe place" a month ago?

We moved into the Aerie in December of 2006 after moving out of our NJ home in September. Now, losing things in transit is not unusual but I still haven't located that box--put in a safe place--that contained over two dozen different bolo ties.

And that battery charger for the Nikon Coolpix I put away last spring is still AWOL, so I had to purchase another online.

More and more frequently I look at a common tree, plant, bird, etc. that I've seen a thousand times and know all the habits of only to ask, "What's its name?" And forget about people!

As for tools and stuff...With two domiciles (Aerie and Bolt Hole) 220 miles apart, I now own three of everything. And they are always at the other place when I need them.

Maybe that's why Terry forwarded this to me.

Rutger Over UCF, 45-24 in St. Petersburg

In case you missed it last night, the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers won their fourth consecutive bowl game when they trounced the Golden Knights of Central Florida 45-24.

The win gave Rutgers a 9-4 record for the season. Two of those loses, to Pittsburgh 24-17 and to West Virginia 24-21, could have gone the other way with a few breaks. They got blown out by Cincinnati in the opener 47-15 with Dominic Natale under center, and--inexplicably--31-0 to Syracuse.

And things look bright for the near future. nearly all the offense returns including Freshman QB Tom Savage, who threw for 294 yards and two TDs last night, and Freshman WR Mohammed Sanu, who ran for two TDs out of the wildcat formation and scored another on an 11-yard pass. Freshman D.C. Jefferson, a quarterback in high school, is still learning the tight end position but should be a big (literally at 6' 6" ) target next year. All of RU's running backs will be returning and the only receiver they will lose to graduation is TD Timmy Brown. The offensive line will lose the most, especially if, as expected, junior left tackle Anthony Davis opts to enter the NFL draft.

The defense will see several players graduate and/or opt for the draft, and not all of them will be easy to replace. Senior LB Damaso Munoz will be playing on Sundays next year. Cornerback Billy Anderson, who came in for an injured Devin McCourty and ran an interception back for a TD, is graduating. McCourty, listed as having a year left, may join his brother in the NFL. SS Zaire Kitchen, LB Ryan D'Imperio, and DE George Jefferson will graduate.

The roster holds plenty of underclassmen who are waiting their turn and the recruiting class is strong once again. With a stronger out of conference schedule in 2010, RU could join the Top 25 early and stay there.

Pine cones

I like pine cones. The symmetry they display is remarkable when you look closely at them. And the little winged seeds tucked under each scale serve as food to red (pine) squirrels and lots of birds. yesterday, on one of my stops for the Christmas Bird Count, I came upon a stand of pines that still held many of their cones. They must have still had seeds inside too, because the Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches were all over those trees.

The birds didn't stay still long enough for me to get the camera to focus but the pine cones did.

Pine Cone at Ive's Run.

Morning weather at the Aerie and east

It dropped to 16 degrees overnight at the Aerie. That's not real cold but it is still below the average low for this date. It never did get above 25 yesterday and isn't likely to do so today as the breezes (can't really call them "winds" as the air is barely moving) are blowing out of the north.

While the east coast got dumped on, we here in the interior a couple of hundred miles from the ocean got bupkis, nada, nil, zip in the way of any new accumulations. Oh, occasionally there is a very fine crystalline form of precipitation falling, but it has neither filled in the squirrel tracks on the old snow nor covered any part of the wood on the deck.

Meanwhile, Terry reports that she and Jessica received around 11" of light powdery fluff during the night. They had both cars parked in the driveway which is about 5 normal cars long so all she had to do was clear the end of the drive and the sidewalk before heading off to church. She'll get the balance of the snow cleared when she gets back. Jessica had to go off to work early as The Mall At Short Hills' tape message said they would be open today. As long as they had a crew available to clear the snow from the access roads that's probably a sound decision since the snow has ended and it is one of the few malls with a large, multi-tiered parking garage.