Hills Creek State Park

Another Saturday morning bird walk at Hills Creek State Park and today's was special. We had a pretty large crowd that included some die-had campers that were staying at the yurts and a newspaper reporter from the Williamsport Sun Gazette. After last night's heavy rains, we were blessed with a clear, crisp morning and lots of birds. Before we even left the parking lot at the park headquarters we had spotted a dozen different species including a Palm Warbler. The prize of the day was a White-winged Crossbill that took to flaunting itself once it was seen. It just stayed around for the photo-op. At nearly the same spot we came across a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker working on a snag, of all things. It wasn't going to get any sap out of that particular tree but maybe it had some insects to disgorge or, perhaps, it was excavating a nest site. On the lake we had a Common Loon, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Buffleheads, Wood Duck, American Wigeons, Mallards, Pied-billed Grebes, Lesser Scaups, and, of course, Canada Geese. There was a horde of American Crows going through their mob routine and as we snuck up, an owl flushed from the trees. Unfortunately, no one got a good enough look to identify the species other than to say it was bigger than a Screech Owl and smaller than a Barred Owl so it's not on my list for the day.

Anyway, here's my report as posted to eBird:


Location: Hills Creek State Park
Observation date: 4/11/09
Notes: Crisp, clear morning after heavy rains. Temperature between 38 and 43 degrees. Wind out of the north at around 15 mph with gusts up to 20 mph.
Number of species: 33

Canada Goose X
Wood Duck X
American Wigeon X
Mallard X
Lesser Scaup X
Bufflehead X
Hooded Merganser X
Common Merganser (North American) X
Common Loon X
Pied-billed Grebe X
Great Blue Heron X
Turkey Vulture X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker X
Downy Woodpecker X
Northern Flicker X
Eastern Phoebe X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Common Raven X
Tree Swallow X
Barn Swallow X
Black-capped Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
White-breasted Nuthatch X
Brown Creeper X
American Robin X
European Starling X
Palm Warbler X
Song Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) X
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Pine Siskin X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Wow! Just...WOW!

These girls ARE an alternative energy source.

They are The Kings Firecrackers

Photographed at a halftime show for USNA basketball. Watch the audience reaction to some of the action.





(First seen by me at Theo's place.)

What could possibly be wrong with this?

It's not a climate bill, it's a full employment opportunity for trial lawyers:

Climate bill could trigger lawsuit landslide

Self-proclaimed victims of global warming or those who "expect to suffer" from it - from beachfront property owners to asthmatics - for the first time would be able to sue the federal government or private businesses over greenhouse gas emissions under a little-noticed provision slipped into the House climate bill.

Environmentalists say the measure was narrowly crafted to give citizens the unusual standing to sue the U.S. government as a way to force action on curbing emissions. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sees a new cottage industry for lawyers.

"You could be spawning lawsuits at almost any place [climate-change modeling] computers place at harm's risk," said Bill Kovacs, energy lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

This is NOT unintended.

And those computer models of climate-change have been so darn accurate, too. /sarc


(h/t Hot Air)

Dealing with Pirates

The Exurban League has Obama's response to the recent pirate activities.

Obama Reaches Out to 'Moderate' Pirate Community

(h/t Hot Air)

Jon at Exurban League also answers the question of how he would deal with the bloody pirates: Vikings.

Sounds good to me.

Signs of Spring

Last fall, just days before the first snow and freeze up, Terry and I spent an afternoon burying a bunch of bulbs and corms in the wooded area on the hillside and in the garden. Now that the snow has finally disappeared and the frost is leaving the soil, some of those bulbs and corms are starting to poke their green little snouts above ground and produce flowers. (Some of the pictures aren't quite the best. I had the telephoto lens on the camera and couldn't get far enough away to be sure of a focused picture.)

Crocuses

Hyacinths

Irises

In the flower/perennial/herb beds:

Daffodil nods to the strawberry.

Tulips are just breaking ground.

The tulips are on the northeast side of the house nestled between the ell of the garage and the living area and seldom get any sun until very late in the day. This is also where the snow shoveled from the driveway or drifted off the roof ends up. That might go a long way to explaining the slow appearance of these plants.

I've been diggin in the garden

It was a beautiful day today so after I finished planting a flat of marigolds and a tray of lettuce, "watched" on the computer as the Mets blew one to the Reds, went down the hill and got my "new" glasses (slight improvement over last year but there's some astigmatism) from the optometrist, And delayed long enough, I finally went outside to dig in the dirt. It was time to turn over the two large beds that will host most of our veggies this summer.

The one on the side bank made with flatties (stone) was filled with sifted soil last summer, covered with peat moss, grass clippings and some hay straw. Turning it over was a breeze as the soil was nice and loose. Every shovel of soil turned up two or three huge earth worms which was a pleasant sight. Unfortunately, the clayey soil beneath all the organics was soaking wet. If I had squeezed a handful, not only would it have held to ether easily but it would have given up water like a sponge.




The other bed is the 8' x 16' one that I built using landscape timbers. It still needs more sifted soil but the bank I'm "mining" is still too wet from the showers we've been getting. I have a good two or three more wheel barrows from the compost heap but I'd like to add five loads of the subsoil first. Anyway, this bed also got some grass clippings last fall as well as peat moss. Very little straw went in this one, however. There were not quite as many earthworms in this bed, either. Still, it turned easily and will make a fine garden bed.



The bags of top soil will be used in the beds when it is time to plant. I'll make troughs for some of the seed, fill them with top soil and then plant the seeds (beans, spinach, broccoli, lettuce) in the top soil. Other seeds (zucchini) will be sown in mounds of top soil.

So much for a perfect season...

Last night I mentioned how my Mets jumped out in front 2-0 against the Reds only to fall behind 4-2 at the end of the frost inning when Mike Pelfrey got nailed for a three-run homer. The Mets did make a comeback, however, in no small part due to Pelfrey's determination. He gave up no more runs and only five hits in his five innings of work. When he left the game, the Mets had jumped out in front 5-4 on a three run fifth inning. They would tack on four more runs in the top of the seventh and hold on for a 9-7 victory. Rodriguez made the bottom of the ninth interesting by allowing the bases to get loaded (2 walks and an infield error) with just one out. He and the Mets got out of the jam without giving up a run.

Today they sent Oliver Perez to the mound. The man is inconsistent but was deadly against left handed hitters last year (1.59 ERA to lead the NL). So what happens? He gets hammered by the Reds young, left hand hitting first baseman, Joey Votto (3 for 5 and 4 RBI including a three run homer) and ends up yielding eight (8) runs in 4.1 innings. Perez gave up 5 walks and 5 hits but also got 7 strikeouts. (I did say inconsistent, right?) The bullpen did not give up a run again, although O'Day did allow two inherited runners to score in the fifth.

So it's off to Miami to face the Marlins who are a perfect 3-0 (okay, so it was against the Nationals) over the weekend.

This and that.

Not much to say today. Woke up at 6:30 AM and found another dusting of snow on the ground (it continued most of the day but melted as it hit the ground). The high for the day was 43 degrees late this afternoon when the sun briefly made an appearance.

Terry returned to the Aerie arriving home around 3:00 PM. Whatever attacked here system has cleared and none of her friends have reported any problems. We suspect it was some sliced carrots and celery that we had out for guests on Saturday but did not re-immerse in the brine before she took it to snack in the car on Monday. (I don't eat much rabbit food and discarded the remaining stalks when Terry said she was ill. Even the rabbits haven't touched them so far.)

I spotted some Flickers mixed in with a flock of Robins on a lawn down the hill when I went for the mail this morning. With a temperature of just 28 degrees at the time, I don't think they were finding many worms or ants. There was also a group of Turkey Vultures and a Red-tailed Hawk, a few Crows and Blue Jays, and lots of LBJs (Little Brown Jobs) flitting along the road edge.

Back at the Aerie, we've had nothing but the same old, same old. The Red-bellied Woodpecker continues to come to the feeder tray. Blue Jays, Pine Siskins, White-breasted Nuthatches, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Purple Finches, Mourning Doves, Goldfinches (more yellow every day), and Dark-eyed Juncos. We had more of the snowbirds (Juncos) today than at any one time all winter. They were everywhere. I thought I heard a wren out in the thickets but that's one that is hard to spot unless he's right at the top of a shrub.

Did I mention Grey Squirrels? I counted eight at one time today. We've had as many as fourteen during the winter. The Chipmunks seem to have decided to go back to sleep until things warm up again. They were out last time it got close to 60 degrees but I haven't seen any for two...maybe three, days. As far as I can tell, bringing the feeders in each night has discouraged the local Black Bear and the Raccoon posse. And I haven't seen the Opossum since the night a little over a week ago when Julie shot out the door to chase a Cottontail Rabbit and ran right passed the startled possum.

I'll be planting some marigold seeds into six-packs. Last year we planted marigolds around the perimeter of the herb and flower gardens and they seemed to deter rabbits and other critters from chomping on the plants. Even back in New Jersey, the marigolds I planted were the one plant that never got chewed. Day lillies, hosta, tulips...all lollipops to rabbits and deer. But not the marigolds. I'm hoping the plants will be large enough to transplant into the ground when we get back from our trip to Oregon. Some time around May 25th or so.

It write about the idiocies of Washington, D.C. (Black Caucus loves Cuba, the White House science adviser loves atmospheric dust to combat glo-bull warming, the treasury secretary thinks he can run everyone's business despite not paying his own taxes, etc.) and elsewhere but have spent so much time commenting on others' blogs that I've run dry.

I'd write about the Mets but despite jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, Mike Pelfrey gave it all back with interest in the bottom of the first. (4-2, Cincinnati). Antacids are the drink of the night. Pelfrey did redeem himself giving up no more runs in the next four innings and left with a 5-4 lead after five innings. It's in the hands of the bullpen now. Pelfrey may still get the win.

This and that.

The cats let me sleep in until 7:30 AM. When I rolled out of bed I found the ground dusted with snow and the morning temperature of 23 degrees turned out to be the low for the day. It got "up" all the way to 33 degrees this afternoon but the sun never made an appearance. The winds were blowing out of the northwest at a pretty steady 20 MPH with gusts into the 30 MPH range so it felt a good deal colder whenever I stepped outdoors. With snow flurries much of the day, it sure didn't feel like baseball season. More flurries are forecast for tonight and again on Wednesday night. Wednesday's high will be about the same as today's--the low 30s. We should be getting back to near normal on Thursday although the forecast is for a little below the mid-50 average temperature.

Terry called from her mom's to say she's sick as a dog. She felt fine when she left here and right through her dinner party with her friends but woke up during the night with chills and vomited several times. It could be a flu or it could be food poisoning. She had to cancel her luncheon date with our daughter and curled up beneath the covers all day eating nothing but mom's chicken soup. She'll stay with her mom again tonight and, if feeling better, will come back to the Aerie Wednesday afternoon.

I kept the fire going in the living room all day to raise the house temperature to a toasty 70 degrees. Our propane delivery yesterday was for just over 110 gallons which isn't bad for the entire month of March. (Propane heats our home and hot water and runs the dryer and stove. January we used about twice that amount.) I guess you could consider that a sign of our impending spring.

I spent the day scanning 35mm slides into a digital format. Most of today's slides came from 1979 and 1989. You might say I went back in time 20-30 years. Some pictures from my days at Seton Hall (graduate school) and then from a family vacation up through Wisconsin (Hayward's Fishing Hall Of Fame), Minnesota (Duluth and the iron mine country, Grand Portage) and circling back through Canada along the northern shores of the Great Lakes Forts William and Henry on opposite ends of that stretch).

All I can say is that my picture taking back then was really poor. The worst thing about using film is that you have to wait to see the results so if your traveling, for instance, if you screw up a shot, you wouldn't know it until you got home and got the roll developed. When you see the results, it's way too late to go back and take it over again. Today, with most digital cameras, you get instant feedback and the cost of "development" is negligible.

Scanning slides can be a tedious chore. Especially when you're not sure you want to save a particular slide. I say scan them all and be safe. Getting the slides dust free is a task too. Even stored in the original little boxes from Kodak, they still have dust, water marks, finger prints or scratches from previous viewings. The dust can be removed with a camel hair brush and a small puff of air. The water marks and finger prints are almost impossible to remove and forget about the scratches. They are there to stay.

I've now scanned around 1000 slides and haven't even started on Terry and my two big cross country trips of 1976 and 1993. Each of those have their own separate boxes and the slides probably total over a thousand easily.

Aaaahh, Spring!

It's spring time and the weather is acting like a yo-yo. Up and down, up and down, repeat.

Yesterday turned out to be a glorious day after the showers and 40 mph winds of Saturday. Not a cloud in the sky all day, nary a wind to be found and temperatures soaring into the mid 60s. Of course that changed after dark.

Clouds moved in after sunset but still the gibbous moon was shining brightly hen I went to bed at 10 PM. At 3:30 AM I woke up to the sound of heavy rain (and Terry getting up to take care of her beeping, battery depleted cell phone). Then at 4:30 AM Julie started caterwauling at the door and when that didn't get us up, she banged against it. She gave up after 15 minutes. Chester didn't start until 6 AM but he didn't give up--so we did.

Monday morning it was still drizzling and the temperatures had dropped to 40 degrees. The rain would stop but the sun made only very brief appearances when the clouds couldn't keep their act together. And despite the clouds coming out of the south, the temperature got no higher than 45 degrees all day.

Terry took off for an EGA (Embroiders' Guild of America) meeting in Horseheads around 9 AM then she headed off to New Jersey and a party with her lady friends in the Garden State Chapter of SAGA (Smocking Arts Guild of America) tonight. She'll stay at her mom's tonight and tomorrow night, taking our daughter out to lunch/dinner (im not clear on this) on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, I'll be watching carefully to see if we get the 1+ inch of snow that's forecast tonight and/or the snow showers predicted for Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. The high tomorrow will be around 40 degrees--maybe. Then Thursday were back over 55 again and a reasonable day. They say we'll get showers on Friday and temps in the high 40s. Saturday brings a chance of showers and mid 50s again.

The occasional warm, sunny days interspersed with the rain has brought a change in the scenery. I raked the lawn and spread some fertilizer a few days ago. I don't know if the fertilizer has been washed away, but the grass that's out there (and there are lots of bare spots) is turning bright green. You can see it in the fields down below, too. Or at least you can see it on those fields that were cut/cropped close last fall. All of a sudden they are switching from brown to green. You can almost stand on the deck and see it happening.

The shad bush trees are starting to bloom and the red maple buds are going to burst open any second now. The latter are already showing quite a bit of red. Most of the farms that had buckets out to collect sap from their sugar maples have pulled them for the season. It's not cold enough at night and the trees are starting to produce bud sap which has a different and very inferior flavor. You can still see places where they have the plastic tubing up draining into large containers, but most of that will be spilled or go into animal fodder with little boiling to thicken it until they get around to pulling the tubing and its taps (spiles?) from the trees.

Oh, another sign of spring: The Mets won their opening day game today, beating the Cincinnati Reds 2-1 behind 5.2 innings of 3 hit ball by Johan Santana and 3.1 inning fo no-hit ball by Sean Green, J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez. Dan Murphy knocked in both NY runs with a solo home run and a ground out. On a negative side, the Mets had 9 hits and got 7 walks yet only scored 2 runs? What's up with that?

Actually, the Mets winning on opening day is hardly news. As it says at the link above, despite losing their first eight opening day games, they have the best record in baseball ever for opening days. They are 31-17 on opening days. It's September when they seem to have trouble.

Freakin' Amazin'!

Rep. Murtha Wants $134M In Earmarks
"Pennsylvania Democrat Asks for $20 Million for Clients of Firm Under Investigation"

A flurry of federal investigations and news articles about Congressman John Murtha’s funding requests and campaign contributions has not stopped him from asking for $134 million in earmarks for his district this year, including $75 million for defense spending.

The man is a lying piece of dog excrement, one of the few who can truly be called an "ex-marine", and yet, he must have testicles the size of a VW Bug. Brass ones.

Then again, to do anything different from what he's been doing might be construed as a sign of guilt, so perhaps he felt he had to keep on milking the cash cow or be gored by the bull.