Back at the Aerie

This is post #4000 since I started putting my thoughts/interest/comments here on the Interwebs....
[Interesting. This now says this post is #4001 but moments ago it said the previous post was #3999.]

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Back at the Aerie after driving south this morning.

After walking around the Bolt Hole I found there was little need to any mowing. Mark had gotten the entire yard and not just the area visible from the road. I was also pleasantly surprised to find Mark at his cabin on Sunday. (He drove in while I was off at Lowes getting plumbing supplies and I didn't notice because it was already getting dark when I returned.)

So instead of walking about with the lawn mower for a couple of hours, we did some talking and then turned our attention to starting the brush hog. It hadn't been run all last year so it was no surprise that it didn't turn over immediately. We drained the gas, took the air filter off, sprayed a little starter fluid in the gaping maw thus exposed and, while it did kick to life very briefly, it didn't stay caught. It was even more frustrating when it wouldn't stay running after half an hour.So we let it sit.

We then took a look at the travel trailer. We attached the battery (so there would be lights inside) and put the propane tanks in place. There will be some cleaning up to do inside as there were some mice inside. I would have checked the tire pressure, but the damn gauge was not in the truck so that will have to wait until Terry and I go up on Sunday.

Mark went back to his place to escape from the black flies and I went inside to get some lunch and follow the Mets' game. (That didn't work out so well when the Marlins got 6 runs in the bottom of the 9th--including a walk-off grand slam.)

Game over, I went back out to give the brush hog another try. It started and ran. And I let it run for 15 minutes before trying to do any...well...hogging. I did a couple of hundred yards before taking the beast back to the garage.

The rest of the evening was spent sweeping and vacuuming.

This morning's wake-up call came at 5 AM when the birds started singing. Now that I've learned more and more bird calls, it gets tougher to ignore them. You start composing a list of species as you try to go back to sleep. And it gets worse when you hear one you're not sure of.

Anyway...With such an early start, I was able to be on the road by 8 AM. The ride was uneventful and it was only the last 30 miles that I started to get a little spritzing rain. I got back to the Aerie around noon. I fed the kittehs and got my stuff out of the truck. Moments later, Terry pulled up having returned from New Jersey. She ran into a lot more rain along I-80 west of Bloomsburg and northward on Route 15.

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Rain will continue through the evening before slowing down tomorrow before noon. Terry's little Aveo has to go into the shop to get the timing belt replaced. The manual says it needs to be done at 60K miles and if it breaks, the engine will seize up. The Aveo has 80K on the odometer. Who reads the manual beyond how many miles for between oil changes or how to reset the clock?

It will take about four hours for the mechanic to change the belt out. And it will cost about $100 an hour.

While that's being done, we'll get some breakfast and go look at some plants for the vegetable garden. I'll need to get plants and/or seeds into the ground in the next day or two. Once they're in the ground, we'll have to home that Gaia will take care of the watering while we are gone.

Saturday morning in the park.

Here's the results of our bird walk at Hills Creek SP Saturday morning. With the leaves of the trees growing larger and larger, more and more of the birds are first IDed by their singing. That will end soon for some of them as they pair up, build a nest and become a bit more secretive.

Hills Creek SP, Tioga, US-PA
May 12, 2012 7:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Comments: Beautiful morning: Clear, cool (45-60 degrees), sunny, with little breeze.
42 Double-crested Cormorants flew over in a perfect V formation.
39 species

Canada Goose X
Mallard X
Hooded Merganser X
Double-crested Cormorant X
Great Blue Heron X
Osprey X
Spotted Sandpiper X
Chimney Swift X
Ruby-throated Hummingbird X
Red-bellied Woodpecker X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker X
Pileated Woodpecker X
Eastern Phoebe X
Red-eyed Vireo X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Tree Swallow X
Barn Swallow X
Black-capped Chickadee X
Carolina Wren X
Eastern Bluebird X
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
European Starling X
Ovenbird X
Common Yellowthroat X
Magnolia Warbler X
Yellow Warbler X
Chestnut-sided Warbler X
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Black-throated Green Warbler X
Eastern Towhee X
Chipping Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Swamp Sparrow X
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle X
American Goldfinch X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

One mystery solved...

Besides which switch is used for the hot water heater, that is. (Yeah. I forgot. Between rewiring the circuit board last August, not being up here long enough to use the hot water system since September when I drained it, and not updating the paper sheet on the inside of the circuit box's door.... Luckily I had a written copy sitting on the kitchen table.)

I got the toilet to work properly...for now. First an explanation: A flush toilet works by holding a quantity of water (1.5 gallons in the new version, closer to 3 gallons in the old) in a tank. Flushing the toilet requires opening a valve that lets that water rush into the bowl building up pressure to push water over a system of humps inside the base. (Think a combination of water slide and roller coaster.) When the water gets above and over a critical hump, it creates a siphon that pulls the balance of the water (and other stuff) in the bowl into the drain pipe. It all depends upon that valve.

My tank has a flap valve that gets pulled up by a chain attached to the end of an arm attached to the exterior handle that you push to start the whole thing rolling. The simple flap is soft but stiff rubber it's own weight and the weight of the water in the tank holds it firmly closed until the chain pulls it upward. Somehow, while getting all the water out of the tank last year, the chain was adjusted and became too taut. It would not allow the flap to fall that extra 1/10th of an inch necessary to form a seal. I couldn't see that last night until I shinned a flashlight in there. (The inner workings of a toilet are dark and secretive. And the water in the tank was damn cold!)

Solution, let the chain out one link--about 1/4 inch--and everything is hunky-dorey. For now.

All right! (Almost.)

Well, the plumbing repair seems to have worked. I just turned the pump back on and there were no leaks in the pipe!

But now the toilet doesn't work.

The water flows into the holding tank just as it should...but the tank never fills up! I've no idea where the water is going but it's not going down into the bowl. (It did just once fill and flush properly, but quoth the Raven....) There are several spidery cracks in the porcelain god throne but there are NO extreior leaks. It sounds like the water is going right down the drain. How it's getting there is the puzzle. The damn thing may have hemorrhaged internally despite the use of antifreeze.  Considering the number of winters in the unheated cabin the current throne has endured, it's not terribly surpirsing.

Now I'm waiting for the hot water heater to...well...heat the water that currently fills the tank.

It's always something...

There's always some little thing that tries to ruin a perfectly good day.

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We had a good morning birding at Hills Creek State Park today. First we had two new couples and a long lost couple show up thanks to an article that ran in a local free magazine called Mountain Home. It contained information about our walks and several of Gary's excellent bird photographs. Then we had perfect conditions for an enjoyable walk as the temperatures ranged from the upper 40s to the low 60s under clear, blue skies. And there wasn't much of a breeze either.  Finally, the birds cooperated and we spotted some 38 species including a few I don't believe we've seen before..they were certainly new to this year's walks. I'll be posting the complete list probably tomorrow.

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After our bird walk, we had our end of the year picnic for the Tiadaghton Audubon Society. Even that was well attended with the core group of a dozen or so showing up. Even our east-west snow birds made their return from California in time to join in. We had a good time talking birds, travel, gizmos and what-not.

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Around 1:30 PM our picnic broke up and Terry headed to New Jersey for Mother's Day and I headed north to the Bolt Hole to see what needed to be done in and around the cabin and to start getting the trailer in shape for our trip to Cape Cod.

My trip went well with no traffic delays or snarls and I even got to listen to the last two innings of the Mets game against the Marlins. (Mets won 9-3.) I arrived at the Bolt Hole around 5:30 PM. I got a few things out of the truck, turned on the phone and refrigerator and went down into the basement to turn the water on and that's when things got wonky.

Oh, the pump turned on just fine, but for the first time since I bought the place, one of the PVC pipe sprung a leak and water started to spray all along the 3-foot section of pipe. Needless to say, I was not pleased.

I started to rummage around and found the pipe cutter, a length of pipe, properly sized joints, primer and glue for repairs. Unfortunately, the glue had congealed over the winter and was worthless. Soooo...off to the nearest Lowes to get more. (The local hardware store closes around 5 PM on Saturdays and doesn't open on Sunday so the 60+ mile round trip was necessary.) I needed to pick up some gasoline for the lawn mower anyway.

Back at the Bolt Hole it took me about half an hour to cut out the old, split section of pipe, cut a new length, prime and glue the joints to the replacement and then clean, prime and glue the new piece to the old ends. Now I wait while it cures before turning the water on again. Hope the patch works!

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Tomorrow, if the plumbing repair worked, I can get on to the other things I need to do. I'll crank up the lawn mower and get those sections of the yard that Mark has not been maintaining. He's gotten the bulk of the yard done in an effort to make the place lok lived in so that leaves the pieces out of sight from the road.

Then I'll check the tire pressure on the trailer (I brought the air compressor with me--just in case--but left the tool box witht he spare gauges back at the Aerie. Sure home there's one in the truck!) and see what's going on inside. I brought the fully charged battery up to put that in place and will get the propane tanks out of the garage and put them in their cradle.

Past, Present, and Future

It's been a couple of very quiet days at the Aerie. Well, for me anyway. Terry's been running hither and yon doing all kinds of stitching stuff.

After a rainy Tuesday we had a decent Wednesday and I got the grass cut once more. Thursday we had a nice morning but then waves of isolated showers swept in to keep everything nice and damp. And the wind picked up, too. Out of the north-northwest so things got really raw. When the rain stopped, the wind didn't so we had a very cool night with temps dropping to the upper 30s here on the side of the hill. It probably got colder down in the valley.

We're going on the road in about a week. Yesterday we made arrangements to have a young lady come in to care for the cats while we are out gallivanting around--first to Cape Cod and then to Portland, Oregon over a five week period. The first leg of our trip will be with travel trailer in tow and will be a reunion of sorts with the folks from our Alaska Adventure. After returning the trailer to the Bolt Hole, we'll head west to visit with our son and daughter-in-law. They've a porch that needs reconstruction. Terry also has a desire to see her niece and her husband down San Francisco way so we may end up looping down the coast before heading east on I-80.

In the interim, we've got a Saturday Bird Walk to attend to and then a picnic lunch. Then I get to go up to the Bolt Hole tomorrow afternoon to check out the trailer and--probably--cut the grass.

Covering some new ground looking for birds.

This morning six of us went west on Route 6 to the small village of Rexford just east of Gaines where one of our Tiadaghton Audubon Society members lives on the banks of Pine Creek. She led us on a merry little car tour southeast over the mountain and through the woods all the way to the west rim of the Pine Creek Gorge at Colton Point State Park. Our quest to find birds had us stopping on the road numerous times. Sometimes we were in front of private lands and cabins while at other times, we were in wither parts of Tioga State Forest or Colton Point State Park.

Our goal was to locate the allegedly abundant Blue-headed Vireo and we finally succeeded. (Its call was heard many more times than we were able to actually see the little bird.) Along the way we also saw 37 other species according to my list. A couple of the warblers (the Black-and-white and Blackburnian) put on a nice little snow for us but several species were more easily heard than seen as the leaves of the trees are mostly out now and provide excellent hiding spots for the small birds.

Rexford to Colton Pt, Tioga, US-PA
May 9, 2012 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
6.0 mile(s)
Comments: From the Rexford Bridge over Pine Creek we took Painter Run Road to Painter-Leetonia Rd then on to Deadman Hollow Road to Colton Point.
The weather was cool (55 degrees) and overcast. No breeze at all.
38 species

Common Merganser X
Wild Turkey X
Turkey Vulture X
Osprey X
Mourning Dove X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker X
Northern Flicker X
Least Flycatcher X
Eastern Phoebe X
Blue-headed Vireo X
Red-eyed Vireo X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Common Raven X
Black-capped Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
Hermit Thrush X
Wood Thrush X
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
Ovenbird X
Black-and-white Warbler X
Common Yellowthroat X
Blackburnian Warbler X
Yellow Warbler X
Chestnut-sided Warbler X
Black-throated Blue Warbler X
Black-throated Green Warbler X
Eastern Towhee X
Chipping Sparrow X
Field Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco X
Northern Cardinal X
Rose-breasted Grosbeak X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle X
Baltimore Oriole X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Mowing the Grass...again.

Sheesh! Last Saturday I came back from our bird walk and realized that the lawn--which I had mowed on the previous Monday--looked like hell. Some of the grass had started to send up seed heads and all the dandelions that ducked beneath the blade on Monday were standing tall, proud and, in most cases, in seed. So I cut the lawn again. It looked like I succeeded in cutting off some 90% of the flowers and all the seed heads. (Some of the flowers still hugged the ground.)

Then we had some cool nights, a little rain and some sunny days and when I got back from taking another bird walk this morning (more on that in the next post), I looked at the lawn and saw that it was in pretty much the same shape as it was Saturday before I cut it: lots of dandelion flowers and seed heads. So I got out the lawn mower and cut it again before the predicted showers arrive this evening. This time I dropped the blade about half an inch before starting. Once more the lawn looks respectable with about 95% of the dandelions clipped off.

This time I spotted four snakes while working on the lawn. Two garter snakes were spooked from the stone wall that forms one of the raised garden beds and two red-bellied snakes--one of them the largest red-bellied I have ever seen was over a foot long--were on the edge of the driveway. Like the return of certain species of birds, the appearance of snakes on the stone walls and in the grass is a sure sign that summer has nearly arrived.

This is the third time I've had to cut the grass in a week and a half. I'll probably have to cut it again Sunday or Monday. I really do not mind cutting the grass. It's good exercise and a pretty mindless activity. I've already got a huge pile of grass clippings that should be worked into a compost heap by mixing in some soil. But that can wait fro another day.