Monday, March 18-Art Show-

We dropped Luke off at preschool and headed over to the breakfast buffet at Dover Casino.  It is another cold and rainy day here in Dover so there have been no outdoor activities.  I picked Luke up from school and we went to the movies to see The Lost Medallion.  We were going to see it yesterday but they didn't have a matinee and I really didn't want to miss the Ohio State game.  I think I may have enjoyed this movie more than Oz:  The Great and Powerful.  They were quite different but I think The Lost Medallion was actually a better kids movie for 5+ and old geeky grandmas like me!

The Princess

The highlight of the day was the art show at the Little School at Kid's Cottage.  Each classroom had been working hard all year on crafts and art work to be displayed during this evening's show.  The kids were all very proudly showing parents, friends and grandparents around and pointing out the work they had completed.  All of the classes did a fantastic job and it was so much fun seeing their work.  Tomorrow I head home.  I hope it doesn't rain the entire trip!

The featured artists, Luke & Lily

Lily with her snow person

Luke refuses to smile in any of my photos

This was Luke's class last year, this teacher always puts together some awesome artwork! 

Sunday-Happy St. Patrick's Day

Just saw my last post and realized how long it has been since my last post.  Keeping busy seems to get in the way of posting.  I am writing this from Dover, Delaware so that explains why I haven't had time to write out here and I really can explain how busy I was up until I left on Thursday.  Let's see.  Last Monday Dad had an appointment at the VA, Tuesday was zoo day and I went to the grocery to fill Andy's grocery list, we also went to Mt. Sterling to buy a mower that would fit his new tractor, Wednesday I went to the Ohio Wildlife Diversity Conference in Columbus and had art class and Thursday I left for Dover at 6 am.  I picked Luke up from a neighbor's house at 2:30 because Trish, Chad and Lily had to meet with her oncologist in Philadelphia.  See, I got worn out just explaining it.

Thursday night we celebrated Lily's good news from Dr. Rupon that in all the scans there was "No Evidence of Disease".  I guess they don't use the work remission any longer.  But what ever they call it, it is great news.

Friday the kids had a St. Patty's Day party at preschool and in the afternoon we went to see "Oz The Great and Powerful" movie.  It was a pretty good movie but a little slow in the beginning for the kids and even for me.  Lily only made it for about 30 minutes and after making 3 trips to the restroom with Lily, Trish just left and the two of them walked around the mall while Luke and I watched the movie.  The last 40 minutes were actually very good and luckily we were both still awake to enjoy the action.  It might have been a little better in 3-D but we chose to fore go the glasses and watched the 2-d version instead.

Today we just hung out here at the house.  The weather is not very nice, temperatures around 40 degrees and gray like at home.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a little warmer but Philadelphia is calling for sleet so I'm not holding my breath.  Luke and Lily are having their Art Show at pre-school Monday evening, the real reason I came out!

Go Bucks!  Got to love the competition in the Big 10 this year!!

Wednesday, March 6

What a difference one day makes!!  I knew last night as I was driving home that we were in for a big snow but I am not sure I expected this much.  Trees were bent by the weight of the heavy wet snow and it was amazing that the snow could build up as high as it did while balancing on a small twig.  Our trees out front looked like someone had thrown scoops of ice cream on them.  We lost power from 5 am until about 9:30 which very seldom happens to Ohio Edison.  I tried to start the ATV but the battery wouldn't turn it over and with out electric to charge the battery I just fired up Andy's new tractor.  I must say it is a pretty sweet piece of machinery and was very user friendly.  I didn't get too far though before Andy came out and took over.  The snow is melting fast but it sure was pretty while it lasted.  We did lose several branches and one small tree split in thirds from the weight of the snow.

Tuesday, March 5

Today is going to be a long day.  I am going up and work at the zoo for several hours to chop the aviary diet and then I'm going to meet with a friend who was a docent and North America Region Leader when I became a docent.  He is an eagle "nut" and follows them throughout the year.  Today we are going to visit several nests that are in the central Ohio area.  At 7 pm I will return to the zoo for our North America Region meeting. We are having a guest speaker, Jim McCormac who writes for the Columbus Dispatch twice a month.

I pulled up to Dave's house around 10:15, we loaded into his van and we were off on our adventure.  Dave and his wife Candy visit many of the Metro Parks so we began with Blacklick.  I have not been to many of the Metro parks on the east side of Columbus so this was a special treat for me and Dave was a wonderful guide.  Unfortunately, the nature center didn't open until noon so we headed out and our next stop was Pickerington Ponds.  I wish it had been a little sunnier and less windy but at least it wasn't raining or snowing.  At our first stop we could see an eagles nest but it didn't appear to have any activity so we went across the road to a pond that also had a duck blind.  Here I could clearly see a heron rookery and I picked up 4 ducks to add to my life list.  The redhead duck, we have one in the aviary who is in permanent time out right now for beating up on the other birds, a northern pintail, an American Wigeon and a Ring-necked duck.

Northern Pintail

American Wigeon

Redhead (left & back), Ring-necked duck (front right)

Heron nests (called a rookery)

We visited Three Creeks Metro and also went past a newer park Walnut something, can't remember and then parked in a church parking lot where we could view another eagles nest.  Again we could not see any activity but it was very windy so if they were on eggs they would more than likely be laying low in the nest.  From here we went to Greenlawn Cemetery in hopes of seeing a Great Horned Owl that has nested there for the last few years.  We found the nest, or beginnings of it but no owl in the vicinity that we could see.  Next we got on Rt 104 and got off at Anderson's Concrete where there are two eagles nests.  The one didn't look as though it was occupied but the other had an eagle sitting in it.  When we first got there we could see her, or him, moving around but after they settled in it was hard to see.  Once in awhile we could see a head pop up above the edge of the nest but that was about it.  I did see a mute swan on the lake while we were there.

tree where the Great Horned Owl nested last year

Greenlawn Cemetery

Eagles nest near Anderson Concrete

Mute Swan

By now we were ready for lunch, I was famished because it was 2:30.  We stopped at Bob Evan's to recharge and then drove out to Granville for our last nest.  From old 161, far off the road in an old sycamore tree, there is an active nest.  We could see the head of an eagle but I had my eye on the traffic as we were watching from the side of the road.  We had a great time and I know Dave enjoyed getting out as much as I enjoyed seeing everything he had to share about the parks and eagles. 

Eagles nest near Granville, old 161

Our region meeting was fantastic, Jim talked about migration and the facts he shared with us were amazing.  Did you know that a ruby-throated humming bird, the ones we have here in Ohio, migrate across the Gulf of Mexico?  They take off from points near Gulf Port, Texas and fly 500 miles non-stop at speeds of 30 mph.  The trip takes them about 16.5 hours.  And now you know!  The trip home following the meeting was less than amazing unless you count the fact that I was amazed to make it home.  It was raining when I left Dublin at 9:15 pm but the farther west I went the more snow and by the time I got to Rt 42 I couldn't even tell where the road was.  It took me an hour to get home!

Jim McCormack, ODNR & Columbus Dispatch columnist.

Monday, March 4

Oh, My!  That is about all I can say about last week.  It all started after church a week ago.  I came home with our usual Sunday dinner, Flyer's Pizza.  A small pepperoni with bacon is the most often ordered, though we sometimes change it up and add mushrooms!  As we watched the Ohio State Men's basketball team Andy handed me an ad from the Sunday Dispatch.  It was an auction at Green and Sons near Mt. Sterling.  His interest centered around several small Kubota tractors with front end loaders.  I questioned him as to why we really needed a tractor and his reply was that he couldn't get our Ford started without jump starting it each time.  I understood that but I still didn't know why we really needed another tractor when we seldom used the one we had.  He was clearly wanting to go look at tractors so I relented.  After all, we sold his truck when he learned that he would never be able to drive again, so who was I to tell him he couldn't have a tractor if he really wanted one.  So on Monday we drove down SR 56 and scoped out all of the tractors that would be in Tuesday's auction.  We also priced new tractors so we would have some comparison prices.  After talking with the salesman we decided that it might be worth our time to go to the auction and see what kind of prices  these tractors might sell for.  We were really only interested in two tractors that were going to be in the auction and we were told those would begin to sell around noon.  Tuesday morning I drove to the zoo, chopped the aviary diet as quickly as I could and hurried home to get Andy and head down to Mt. Sterling.  Of course, as is the case on most Tuesdays, it was cold and raining really, really hard!  We arrived a little early and Andy decided to check out what was selling out on the lot.  Rain was coming down in torrents and it was muddy everywhere you stepped so, against my better judgement, I told him to go ahead but I would be waiting inside where it was warm and dry.  After about 20 minutes I began to get worried that he couldn't find the building I was in so I went looking for him.  I wandered around out in the rain for about 15 minutes before I gave up and went back to the building, by now I was pretty much soaked to the bone.  I checked my phone and saw that he had tried to call me.  I called back and he was standing in another building the whole time.  Long story short, the tractors began selling around 12:30 and by 3:30 we were owners of a 3 yr old 3200 Kubota.  I was pretty proud of Andy during the auction even though he did hesitate a little too long at the end and I had to make the final bid. He was very happy with his purchase and I was happy that I would not have to repeat this tractor buying experience again. 
Oh, but silly me!  The tractor had a front end loader but it did not come with a mower.  Andy was certain that he wanted a finish mower that would fit on the 3 point hitch behind the tractor and I was inclined to agree as I felt it might be easier to put on and take off.  Oh, but then Daniel, who graciously agreed to help us get the tractor home, told Andy that a belly mower would do a much better job cutting grass.  So, low and behold, Andy was having me get him on the internet and he was soon surfing the web looking for a mower.  Before I knew it he had contacted someone from Craig's List about looking at a mower.  All I knew was that we were going to Cambridge and then south on
I-77 to exit 25 then we were to call this guy on his phone and he would meet us and lead us to where the mower was stored.  I must admit I did not have a very good feeling about this whole arrangement and expressed my concerns to Andy.  He could not understand why I would be apprehensive about following a stranger into unknown lands.  I made all my final arrangements, called a friend to let her know where we were going and if I didn't show up for church on Sunday to call the police.  The story actually had a pretty good ending.  The young man met us at a BP station, we were about 25 miles from Marietta, and we drove about 2 miles to a barn where his fathers tractor and mower was stored.  Andy negotiated a pretty good deal, $75 dollars off of the already low price, the young man and a friend loaded it onto our truck and we headed back home.  Six hours later, after a meal at Cracker Barrel, we made it back home, safe and sound, with a mower for our new tractor.  I will say that I am thrilled that Andy is so excited about this new tractor thing, but it is about to wear me out.  My "to do" list keeps growing when he needs WD 40, a grease cartridge for the grease gun, a new grease fitting for one that appears to be missing and on and on.  We are also going to have to have someone help us get the brackets on the tractor and get it mounted.  Maybe then I will be able to rest.  Hopefully this snow storm will give me a little reprieve!