just foolin around

Yes, dear, what can I do for you now?

Just trying out some features of blogspot.  I would like to make my blog look a little more interesting!  Maybe a different font would change things up a bit. a bigger font might be just the ticket for my older friends. Can you read this?   How about this?  I'm not really liking the background color thing.  I want a solid background.  And what is a jump break?

How do I place a link in my blog?  I went to the zoo today.  I will see if this works.  Maybe I will learn more if I just keep playing with this.

 

What about videos?  Should I try one and see.  Let's go for it!

This is a road in Norway called the Atlantic Rd.  It actually crosses part of the Atlantic and took 6 years to complete.  This was filmed in December so I am hoping that if Sharon and I decide to drive across this road that is sunny with no wind.  Well, I am going to publish this mess or maybe I will post another video.  It seemed simple enough.  Check this out!

And this is why I would like to visit Norway!



Friday, February 22

Lily and Luke at Lego Mania in Richmond, Va

A super hero seems to have Luke by the hand!

I thought that I might just spend the week doing nothing but that didn't happen.  Well, I really didn't do much but I was busy doing it.  Tuesday was zoo day and just like about every Tuesday, it was freezing.  The best part of the day was going to visit my "former" neighbor, Beth, at her new condo.  She lives just minutes from the zoo off of Glick Rd.  I was very impressed with her choice and even though it is in the city, it was really nice.  She has a very nice sized lot that overlooks a beautiful pond.  She has several white birch trees right off of her large deck and what really drew me in was the fact that she had not one, but two Eastern bluebirds sitting in the tree behind her house.  I couldn't be upset with her for moving if she was going to have bluebirds in her backyard!  We had lunch at Shanghei Lily's to top off a perfectly wonderful visit.  On Wednesday, I drove to Cincinnati to watch Evelyn while Sara went for an interview.  I also went with Sara to enroll Evelyn in daycare.  She found a new daycare facility, near their apartment which just opened.  The best part is that it is part of a sports facility for kids.  The father runs the sports facility and his daughter, who just graduated in education is the director of the daycare.  Evelyn visited her room and seemed to really enjoy herself for the short time we were there.  They have access to the tumbling areas during the day so it looks like a win-win.  The sports facility has a swimming pool, basketball courts, gymnastics equipment and offer classes during the evenings and weekends.  Thursday, I spent most of the day downloading team photos from our basketball and volleyball coaching years.  I was asked by a student at West Jeff for help with a project that she is doing about the effects of Title IX on girls sports.  When she interviewed me, I offered to get her some pictures from the first basketball team at the middle school.  Once I started scanning my photos and the sports pages from old yearbooks, I decided that I would just do every year that I had coached.  Between Mr. B and myself we coached from 1975-2011.  I coached both volleyball and basketball until 1996.  I took a year off and then came back but only to coach basketball.  When I retired in 2003 I did not plan to coach any more but came back in 2004 to coach 7th grade basketball and 8th grade volleyball in 2006, 2007 & 2008.  I will share some of those photos in a future post but it was a pretty nice trip down memory lane.  Today, I went to the library to pick up some books about Sweden for an upcoming trip and visited my mom at the Madison House.  And now I am here for the evening.  Didn't do much but I wasn't idle either.  Have a nice weekend.

Evelyn looking a little devilish on the bean bag chair her mommy made for her.

The Campus Kids First Daycare

Evelyn running amuck in the lobby while mommy signs her up for daycare.

Just one of the gyms where the kids can play during the day.

Saturday & Sunday ~Owl Symposium~Feb. 16-17

Barn Owl

Great Horned Owl

Gail Laux holding an Eastern Screech Owl

We made it back and I am pooped.  Lots of walking, lots of snow and Lots and lots of cold!!  But it was beautiful and I loved every minute of it.  Saturday morning we had two excellent speakers beginning with Tom Bartlett who had been netting the saw-whet owls the night before.  He talked about his work, netting and banding the owls as they pass through Kelly's Island in Lake Erie.  He thinks there are as many as a thousand Saw-whet owls that over winter here in Ohio.  Following his talk, Gail Laux, the director of the Ohio Bird Sanctuary, brought some of her rehab owls in and gave a very informative talk on owl biology.  We saw barn owls, a barred owl, a screech owl and the largest, a great-horned owl.  I actually heard a great-horned owl in our woods just last week.  I learned that they are powerful hunters and have been known to carry cats and small dogs to their nests to feed to their young.  Screech owls, on the other hand, a common and smaller owl that is quite common in Ohio feed on moths, small rodents and occassional songbirds.  Our walk yesterday afternoon was not as fruitful as we would have liked, due in large part to the weather.  We did see several rough-legged hawks, red-tail hawks, at least 5 bald eagles as well as downy, red-bellied woodpeckers, white and red-breasted nuthatches, black-capped chickadees and some other pretty common birds.  The best part was that our guide was Jim McCormac.  He is one of the top birders and botonists around and writes a column in the Dispatch twice a month.  I have been on walks with him before and he is awesome.  It is like being with a walking encyclopedia.  Last night after a delicious dinner at the lodge our keynote speaker was Denver Holt, who has been studying the Snowy Owls in Barrow, Alaska.  I have been to Barrow so I found his slide show super interesting.  The weather last night was not condusive to netting owls so that was cancelled which let us get to bed a little earlier than the night before.  This morning we had breakfast and one speaker, Julie Zickefoose, who is super talented.  She sings and plays flute in the band, The Rain Crows, she is a biologist and naturalist as well as a wonderful water color artists.  She also writes bird articles for the Bird Watchers Digest.  At 10 we hit the birding trail once more.  The trail we were going to take was deemed too dangerous because of the ice and snow so we checked out some spots where evening grosbeaks and red polls had been seen.  The red polls and pine siskins we saw were both life birds for me.  We also saw a nesting bald eagle and we visited Malabar Farms.  We attempted to call in a barred owl but we think it was just too cold for even an owl to bother responding.  By then it was 12:30 and Barb and I decided to head on home.  My garmin was being a little testy and decided to bring us home the back way.  It was a lovely drive but we never did find I-71 until we were all the way back to Delaware and by then we decided to stay on the back roads all the way to Barb's house.

Jim McCormac leading us through the Mohican campground

Searching for the Evening Grosbeaks during a snow squall, saw them this morning

Brief sunlight, view from trail at the lodge

Lodge entrance

Barb in her docent coat learning the birders stare

The lake outside the lodge where we saw all of the bald eagles

Friday, February 15

Sitting here at Mohican State Park Lodge getting ready for bed.  We arrived here around 6, it was much further than my mapquest led us to believe.  We ate in the lounge and then went next door to listen to a birders band that calls themselves the Rain Crows.  They write their own music and lyrics and are quite good.  They are also very well known birders.  At 9, I went with a group out to an area where they were mist netting Saw Whet Owls, the smallest owl in Ohio.  They had captured and banded one owl and we got a close look.  They are amazingly small, about the size of a robin.  Tomorrow we will listen to several speakers in the morning and then hit the trails in the afternoon.  Looking forward to meeting new people and finding new birds.  Later tomorrow, got to hit the sack!!

The Rain Crows

Tomorrow's speaker, Tom Bartlett, with a saw whet owl

After the owl is banded, it was released.  But first it sat and let us take pictures. 

Thursday, February 14~Happy Valentine's Day~

A big hug for Molly

Evelyn had Shorty's leash and was trying to put it on Molly, guess they were going for a walk!

We have spent the last several days enjoying the company of Sara and Evelyn.  Matt has been training for Time Warner in Columbus this week so the gals were staying with us to be close to him.  Evelyn is changing so fast now and it is fun to watch her as she enters that age of discovery.  She loves Molly and has been laying all over her.  When we first brought Molly home, Lily was about the age Evelyn is now and every time Lily got close to Molly, Molly would move away.  Now Molly just quietly tolerates Evelyn as she lays on top of her and steals her toys.  Of course, Molly always steals those toys back and places them in her nest when Evelyn loses interest. Tomorrow Sara and Evelyn will head back to Cincinnati and I will be spending the weekend at Mohican State Park for the Owl  Symposium sponsored by the Ohio Ornithological Society.  A docent friend of mine will be going with me and I am excited to be getting back into the birding world once more.  It has been several years since my last symposium.  A night ago when we were returning from dinner with Sara and Matt we heard a Great Horned Owl in the woods by the house.  This is breeding and nesting season for owls and hawks.  Hopefully, we will see a few of these magnificent birds over the weekend.  I just wish it were going to be a little warmer.  At least we are staying at the lodge so we will be able to warm up each evening.  The last workshop I attended, I camped at Maumee State Park.  That was in September 2008, pre-accident, so I am excited to be back out on the birding trails.  I think the last time I went to Mohican Park was when the middle school teachers took a canoe trip there more than 30 years ago.  I will try to post some photos of the area.  No matter what the weather, it should be very pretty!  Below is a video of Evelyn dancing with Jack's Big Music Show!

Thursday, February ~Where the mind goes~

Last night I was driving home from my Wednesday night art class in Grove City and as I got on I-270, the traffic was at a standstill.  As I sat in the backed up traffic and watched all the crazies driving on the berm and making U-turns in the median, one car even got stuck, I was listening to Cousin Brucie on 60's on 6 on Sirius.  Personally, I had never heard of the Cuz but Andy said he has been on radio out of New York forever.  He had asked the listeners a trivia question, "What is the tallest mountain peak in North America?" The answer of course is Mt. McKinley which immediately brought vivid images to mind.  When Sara was a junior in high school she applied to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.  Andy and I decided that a college visit was definitely in order if this was something she was serious about.  We decided to go in October over COTA weekend because we could use personal days before and after the weekend without being docked.  So we left on the 5 day college visit that was to be the beginning of my love affair with Alaska.  Getting back to the trivia question.  We flew in to Anchorage and transferred to a smaller plane and headed to Fairbanks.  I doubt there were more than 12 people on board our small jet and when we neared Mt. McKinley, originally called Denali, the pilot told everyone that if we moved to the right side of the plane, he would be flying over the summit.  That image is as fresh in my mind today as it was 15 years ago.  We were so close to the peak that I could see the snow swirling around, covering and uncovering the ragged peaks.  I remember thinking to myself that mountain climbing would never be on my bucket list if it involved climbing through the elements that I saw below.  The stark harshness of the scene below me made me realize that we were indeed in the far north and it was not for the faint of heart. As I reflected on that image, I began to think about other experiences in my life that left similar impressions.  Experiences that immediately conjure a sharp image for me include early Sunday morning fishing with my dad.  At the time, I wasn't crazy about getting up at 6 a.m. but as we climbed out of the car at Beach bridge or the bridge at High Free Pike I would literally drink in the sights and sounds.  The myriad of bird sounds would echo through the trees as we made our way along the bank to stake out our fishing spot.  If we were at the High Free Pike bridge, Dr. Maggied's donkey would fill the air with his braying.  Then there are the sounds of the ocean waves breaking on the beach that always take me back to our first trip to the ocean.  I think I was 11 or 12 and we camped.  For some reason, Judy and I had to sleep in the home made luggage carrier on top of our car.  Dad had fixed the lid so it could be propped up and there was mosquito netting over the opening.  The part I loved was that we would fall asleep and wake up to the constant sounds of the ocean.  I love any ocean but I am partial to the Outer Banks because that was my first.  I could go on and on but I will save something for another post.  I find it fascinating that sights, sounds or mere mentions of places can bring back such wonderfully rich memories.  I also find it a little confusing because most days I can't remember what I had for breakfast.  Maybe you could take a few minutes and walk down memory lane.  As for me, I'm headed to bed with the sounds of the ocean in my head.

Madison Lake always reminds me of learning to swim.  Dad just threw us out in the deep and told us to start paddling! Guess it worked we are still here.

Oceans are the pulse of the earth

Sunday, February 3

I admit that the last 2 weeks that we spent in Florida were warm and wonderful.  We spent hours in the sun, sightseeing, shopping, birding, kayaking and relaxing.  Oh, and did I mention, eating? Yes, there is a lot to be said for escaping the Ohio winters but as I filled my bird feeders this morning I had to admit that a part of me really enjoys the wintry weather that we are experiencing now.  There is nothing more striking than the scarlet colors of the cardinal on a backdrop of snow or following the tracks in the snow. Was it a fox, deer, rabbit?  My chickadees were "chick-a-dee-dee-deeing" up a storm when they realized the feeders had been filled after being empty for the last two weeks.  Don't get me wrong, I had a great time photographing the many birds that reside full or part time in Florida.  I loved walking through the diverse habitats and spotting the birds and wildlife that were so abundant there.  But I think I find some commonality with our Ohio birds.  They are survivors.  No heading south for them.  No, sir, they are here to stay.  They will face the elements, fair or foul, and sing all the while.  Four years ago, when I was making those daily trips to the hospital and Dodd Hall, I remember on one very snowy morning as I was leaving, I could hear a song sparrow singing in our hedge.  Even in that cold, and it was bitterly cold, this small bird could still fill the air with music.  I think that is why I enjoy birds so much. Life is not easy for them. From the time they hatch out of that egg, they are competing to survive.  They have to forage for food all day long while at the same time watching for predators that are intent on one thing, eating them, and somehow they still find time to soar through the skies and sing. May we all take time each day and sing a song of thanks.  Matthew 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. 

Saturday, February 2~Ground Hog Day~

Beef O'Brady's in Naples

Betty with her "special" drink

If there were ground hogs in Florida we would be looking at 6 more weeks of winter.  Lucky for us the ground hogs in Ohio not only didn't see their shadow, I bet they didn't even come out to look at it.  3 degrees? Really?  This morning we woke up to a sunny 66 degrees and 5 hours later we were walking off the plane in Columbus into snow showers and 25 degrees.  Surprisingly enough it didn't seem that cold as I was shoveling the deck around our house. We picked up Molly on our way home from Sharon's and she was very happy to see us.  After a nice, relaxing trip things are back to normal.  Andy is asleep in his lazy boy and Molly is asleep behind my lazy boy.  As for me, I'm watching the Buckeyes playing Nebraska

Behind our condo at Greenlinks, Lely Golf Resort in Naples, Florida 

5 hours later in West Jefferson, Ohio

Friday, February 1 ~Last Day~

Since today is our last full day here in Florida, I wanted to go out birding early this morning.  I didn't get out real early but I was on the boardwalk by 7:30, the temperature was a balmy 47 degrees and very windy.  My first trip around the 1/4 mile loop I saw a palm warbler, several yellow-rumped warblers, a red-bellied woodpecker, a catbird, a woodstork and several egrets and herons on the other side of the lake.  The second time around it was a little warmer and a few more birds had ventured out.  I had several good looks at a blue-gray gnatcatcher and at the observation deck the wading birds had moved to this side of the lake and there was a scarlet ibis among all the other waders.  It possibly was a hybrid since it was a light pink but I'm still counting it.

Rookery Bay Preserve

Catbird with an attitude

Tri-color heron

This is what a Florida catbird looks like when it is 47 degrees

Boardwalk at Rookery Bay off Shell Island Road

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Scarlet Ibis

Scarlet Ibis with two Snowy egrets

Snowy egret

Two White Ibis in foreground, Glossy Ibis in background

I went back to the condo had a little breakfast and then went back out with Sharon in tow.  This time we went to Eagle Lakes Recreational Park which was teeming with waterfowl and other bird life.  As we first got on the trail we saw an osprey sitting in a tree eating a fish.  We also saw an immature bald eagle. After our walk around the lakes we took a pizza home from Boston's for lunch.

Loggerhead Shrike

Osprey eating lunch

American Coot

Sharon's new favorite bird, the Anhinga

White Ibis with several juveniles

Tri-color heron

Anhinga

This was one of my favorite walks, the views were great

The loggerhead shrike was still in the same spot when we left.

We spent the rest of the day around the pool!  This evening we went to Beef O'Bradys because Betty said they had entertainment at 7 pm.  They had karaoke at 8 so we didn't stay and came home to pack.  The best part of the evening was cleaning out the freezer which meant that we ate every bit of the ice cream that was there.  Yum, yum!!

Greenlinks swimming pool

Hitting the hot tub