Aerie Report, April 7, 2010

It stayed quite warm overnight with the low only being around 68 degrees. Today's high was 82 and it is still in the 70s at 10 PM. What the hell happened to spring? We seem to have gone from winter to summer with just a passing glance at the usual spring weather.

They (the usual suspects at AccuHunch and Weather.com) do say there's a chance of spring squeezing in another week starting Saturday. We'll see.

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Got an email from my son the other day. Seems he's been bitten (or perhaps I should say "stung") by the beekeeping bug. Although he and Sandy live in apartment in Portland, Oregon, he's managed to "borrow" a friend's backyard and put in a hive. His bees arrived on Tuesday so he had to install them in their new home. He posted some pictures on Facebook but before I could view them, I had to register. (And if I didn't "have to register" it's too late for you to tell me otherwise, I'm in under my real name. I feel so exposed!)

Any way...He says things went well and that he only got stung twice. On the arms because he had only a thin flannel shirt on and the little buggers stung right through the sleeve.



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Terry and I went to the optometrist this afternoon to have our eyes examined and see if we needed new specs. Eyes are fine. No changes in our prescriptions so we had no need for new glasses. Which is good as it saves a bundle. (Our insurance covers the exams, not the hardware.)

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Terry finished our taxes and because of the gas lease we owe both the state and the feds some money this year. Unlike some in the county, we set aside all our lease money for the future with fully one third of it designated for tax purposes. We won't be sending all of that to The Man, but close to it. What's left over from that 1/3 will be going toward the preparations for our Alaskan Adventure. It will pay for the truck cap that's on order.

Making the arrangements for the transfer of funds at the bank today we heard that several folks didn't plan so wisely and spent all they got from the leases forgetting that the piper had to be paid eventually. They will be taking a big hit for their spendthrift ways.

PA gets its check in the mail tomorrow (Thursday). Uncle Sam will have to wait just a little longer just because.

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Still waiting on word from the Alpin Haus as to the trailer. Could be...should be...any day now. Depends upon how long it takes to get the part they needed for the AC. I'm assuming (as I said before) that the furnace and electrical light problem were fixed as the gal that called had no news on either and, as they say, no news is good news. My overnight bag is packed and I've nothing to keep me from heading north on a moment's notice.

Hang on tight!

Wow! A whole lot of shakin' and rumblin' going on...again.

Two evenings ago it was a 7.2 mag earthquake on the southern end of the San Andres Fault right where it crosses California/Mexico border and just north of the Gulf of California.



Then this morning I saw reports that Mt. Redoubt is starting to shake like a bowl full of jelly and there's a possibility of an eruption.




And this evening there was a 7.7 mag earthquake off the northwest coast of Sumatra.

Aerie AM Report, April 6, 2010

We had a wave of showers and thunderstorms sweep trough the area this morning between 5 and 8 AM but they have now cleared our region and any other rain will be to our north so it looks like another gorgeous day is heading our way. The temperature should rise into the 70s again this afternoon as the winds come out of the southwest but we'll get back to more seasonal 50s and 60s this weekend.

I'd start planting some lettuce, spinach and the onions if it weren't for the knowledge that it's still too damn early and frosts might still be on their way. At least that four letter word that starts with an "s" has disappeared from the long range forecasts.

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Got some good news out from Milwaukee way Sunday. Our nephew Brian finally got around to popping the question to his sweetie, Vicky, on Easter Sunday. They've been living together for several years and we all figured it was a matter of time. No word as to the size of the clue bat she had to hit him over the head with but it must have been a doozy.

With relatives all over the country this will be a "destination" wedding for nearly all regardless of where they decide to have it. His parents are in Half Moon Bay, California. Grandma is in New Jersey. Paternal aunts are in Kansas. Cousins are in Portland, Oregon, New Jersey, etc. Her parents are in Tempe, Arizona. And, of course, we are in Pennsylvania.

The two of them were impressed with the way Rick and Sandy managed their affair last spring--small and select without a large hall or band/DJ so I expect that might be in the cards. They also haven't set a date yet. We reminded them of our plans and begged that they try for something that might fit our travel itinerary.

Have trailer will travel.

Sounds like life to me!

Opening Day

Major league baseball is in full swing once again and, as happens nearly every year, fans are sure that their team will finish the year in the playoffs if not the World Series...with the possible exception of Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh. Of course, half the teams lost their opening games. (Baltimore and Tampa Bay are yet to play.)

I was quite satisfied with the Red Sox come from behind 9-7 victory over the Yankees on Sunday night even though I turned the set off in the fifth inning when the Yanks were ahead 5-1.

I was even more pleased to see the Mets defeat the Marlins 7-1 on Monday afternoon. Especially since they were sans their regular first baseman, center fielder and shortstop. That David Wright hit a home run in the first inning was super sweet icing on the cake. Let's hope he has a more typical 30 home run year than last year's measly 10 HRs. The Mets have an amazing opening day record. (For example: they have now won 5 consecutive openers.) It's too bad they have to play the next 161...in the toughest division in baseball.

So, the long season is under way and it's still anybody's game.

Is there a Doctor in the multiverse?

Oh, yeah! And he's battier--and as effective--as ever.

And his companion? She's HOT!


And Theo has a post of the first episode HERE!

Go and take a look.

You won't be disappointed.

Casual Birding around the Aerie

Purple Finch on the deck stick feeder.

Purple Finch on the deck stick feeder.

Whilst hanging about the Aerie today I took mental note of the birds that happened to wander into sight and hearing. These are just casual observations made while sitting in the living room or out on the deck. I made no effort to wander about the property or seek any birds out. I certainly made no attempt to count the number of individuals.

Location: Aerie
Observation date: 4/4/10
Notes: These birds were either seen or heard from the deck of The Aerie between 7 AM and 7:30 PM today.
Number of species: 19

Canada Goose X
Wild Turkey X
Turkey Vulture X
American Woodcock X
Mourning Dove X
Barred Owl X
Downy Woodpecker X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Common Raven X
Black-capped Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
White-breasted Nuthatch X
Song Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
Purple Finch X
American Goldfinch X

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

Some birds, like the Canada Geese, Barred Owl, American Woodcock and Wild Turkey were only heard and not seen. Others like the Turkey Vulture, Common Raven and American Crow were strictly fly-bys. The rest came to the feeders or were seen in the yard from the deck.

I've curtailed my feeding regimen since the black bear destroyed several feeders last week, so nineteen species is quite a respectable number considering there are many more that have yet to migrate back to their home here on the hillside.

I'm still waiting on the return of the thrushes, Phoebes, Indigo Bunting, warblers and Carolina Wrens. And, surprisingly, the hawks that frequently soar along the hillside just haven't been around the last few days--or I just missed them.

What am I doin'? Nothin'!

moar funny pictures

Hope you all had a Happy Easter.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow the Major League Baseball season gets underway once more with the Boston Red Sox hosting the New York Yankees at 8:05 PM EST on ESPN. Pitching for the Sox will be Josh Beckett and for the Yanks C.C. Sabathia. I don't love either team but truly loathe the Yanks and so I may find myself parked in front of the tube to root for Beckett and the Sox.

But Monday! Aaaah, Monday we have the Mets and Johan Santana hosting the Marlins and Josh Johnson in the new CITI Field at 1:10 PM.

National League, baby! No stupid DH rule. Managers have to make real decisions! And (even though they are all too often automatic outs) pitchers have to hit!
(Where, I ask you, would Babe Ruth have been if he did not have to hit as well as pitch?--Okay, he played the outfield between starts for Boston too. BECAUSE HE WAS A HELL OF A HITTER!---And, even if he had never hit a home run he probably would have still made the Hall of Fame because of his pitching. He was, indeed, THAT good!)

I have no idea how my Mets will play this year. Their pitching is a question mark beyond Santana and closer Fernandez--and even Santana is a cipher because of off season surgery. They start the year without their star shortstop. (Reyes was physically able until a thyroid problem laid him low. He's okay now and should be back in the game in a week or so.) Their star center fielder is still recovering from surgery to his knees. Carlos Beltran was originally said to return around June 1 but it now seems he may be back a few weeks sooner. Their starting first baseman injured his knee last week and will start the season on the IR.

In short, they may be further out of first place by the first week in July than I will be from either the Aerie or the Bolt Hole. (Alaska trip, remember?)

Still, I'll root for them and follow their progress (or lack thereof) throughout the season. Oh, I'll bitch and moan and complain too. That's what being a fan is all about.

And it all starts tomorrow.

A day birding is never wasted.

It was too nice a day to stay indoors and the appearance of a pair of Brown-headed Cowbirds in the company of a male Red-winged Blackbird on the deck feeder this morning made me antsy, so I went and made the rounds of birding spots on Route 287. None of the spots produced the huge numbers of new (at least for this year) species I was hoping for. Obviously the birds clock is more connected to daylight than temperature for it got up to the mid 70s this afternoon.

My first stop was at the lookout over the Tioga-Hammond Lakes connector where I hoped to find some Bald Eagles soaring overhead. No such luck but there were lots of Turkey Vultures and Tree Swallows taking advantage of the updrafts. Plus I got to see my first Northern Flicker and Eastern Phoebe of the year.
Turkey Vulture
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle

Tree Swallow rests on the fence at the Tioga-Hammond Lake overlook.

From the overlook, I drove to the other end of Hammond Lake to Ive's Run and took the Rail Road Grade Trail that parallels Crooked Creek west. On the way to Ive's Run an Osprey flew over the road carrying a 7-8" fish in its talons. It would be the first of seven Ospreys I would spot. The others were all paired up on the nesting platforms probably discussing how to arrange the furniture.

I birded the length of the Rail Road Grade Trail from my truck and it was pretty slow. Neither numbers of species nor of individuals were very high.
Wild Turkey
Osprey
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle

Pair of Ospreys on nest pole near the Ive's Run Offices

After completing the slow drive along Crooked Creek, I went back to Ive's Run and the Day Use Area across from the camp store (closed). Still pretty slow and only the half dozen Double-crested Cormorants perched on some exposed logs w-a-y o-u-t there made the short trip worthwhile. Not an Eagle to be seen. I did talk to a couple of fishermen who were working the shoreline from their boat, however. They were having slow day, too.
Canada Goose
Double-crested Cormorant
Osprey
Ring-billed Gull
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
Song Sparrow

I then went down to The Muck to see if there were any waterfowl on the open water. Except for the one pair of Blue-winged Teal and a number of Canada Geese, that would be a "No." As in no Wood Duck--yet, no herons visible, no Kingfisher--yet. Like I said a very slow day.
Canada Goose
Green-winged Teal
American Crow
Tree Swallow
American Robin
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird

Canada Goose stand atop a nest in the reeds.

Canada Goose swimming at The Muck.

Aerie Report, April 2, 2010

Hey! Those of you who were praying for warmer weather a couple weeks back can stop now. Please. It hit 83.3 degrees here at the Aerie this afternoon. It reached 86 in Elmira, NY and even 90 in some spots amongst the Finger Lakes. (I thought it was supposed to get cooler as you went north?)

What happened to Spring? Good question. But AccuHunch says it will be back. Next week. We'll be getting back to seasonal temperatures by the 8th or 9th of the month.

AccuHunch also pointed out some interesting stuff dealing with the snow fall during the last month. If you were along the I-95 corridor--the same place that got hammered in February and set all sorts of new snowfall records for that month--if you were along I-95 from Boston to Baltimore you didn't saw--at best--a trace of snow during March. Even Rochester, NY on the shores of Lake Ontario saw no snow in March; which is just plain weird.

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We went to bed last night with the windows open and the sound of the wind chimes, spring peepers and toads, and the "whoop, whoop, whoop" of the windmills filling the bedroom. (The overhead fan drowned out some of the noise but not much.) With the wind blowing from the south-south west, we seem to be getting a fair amount of dull "whoop" from each blade of the closest windmill. It's not terribly loud, but when you're going to sleep and all else is (relatively) quiet, it's noticeable. Terry said it, along with the wind chimes, kept waking her up but I didn't notice it until I'd had five or six hours of solid sleep. I imagine that when the trees finally produce some leaves, the rustling of the leaves as well as their muffling properties for sound will mean easier sleeping.

And this morning, just around cat-alarm 6 AM, there was a chorus of turkey gobbles and clucks out in the field. Far enough away that I knew they weren't in the yard, but frequent enough that I thought they might eventually find there way to the spilled bird seed. They didn't. At least they didn't--today. They've got a whole month to play their silly head games on me. Opening day for spring turkey is May 1st this year.

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Terry and I continue to do our part to help the struggling US economy. Today we were up in Elmira, NY and purchased a LEER cap for the Tundra from Curren RV Center. I got the Model 180.

I've been wanting to get a cap for several reasons ever since we bought the Tundra two years ago. I like the idea of having a dry place to store/haul things. The short bed (6'6") of the truck will not allow me to haul long boards or even a sheet of plywood without lowering the tailgate, so late last summer I bought a utility trailer for that purpose. Having that UT, I can pretty much haul the log splitter and brushhog as well as the ATV and any large pieces of furniture without putting them in the bed of the truck. And, with our planned trip to Alaska later this summer, a cap on the truck means even more lockable storage space for foodstuffs, clothing, etc. Add the 2-4 miles per gallon increase you can expect from altering the airflow around the cab, bed of the truck, and towed trailer, the cap on the truck makes sense in the long haul.

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While we were in Elmira, we drove down Pennsylvania Avenue and crossed Route 14 to go to The Maine Catch an excellent fresh seafood store. He doesn't carry a super large selection but what he has is very fresh and priced right. We picked up half a pound of bay scallops, a pound of crab salad and two large, meaty crab cakes. (Oh, we also got four thick cedar planks for when Terry starts doing planked fish on the grill again.) The crab salad was our lunch when we got home, and the scallops and crab cakes (sauteed with butter and garlic) and served with french fries and cole slaw (Wal-Mart's is as good as KFC) were our dinner. MMMMMMMM!

Oh yeah, Terry baked a beautiful Babka for our Easter dinner. If it lasts that long!

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I got a call from Alpin Haus today about the trailer. They had found what they think was wrong with the AC unit and wanted to know if it was OK to order the $24.95 part that it needed. The gal making the courtesy call said they would call back as soon as they had a confirmed price from the warehouse and knew how much labor would be for making the repair so I could give them permission to go ahead. I told her to listen carefully, "You have my permission to make the repair as soon as you have the part in hand." She had no information on the heating system, but I can't imagine they would pass on stuff one piece at a time. At least, I hope that "no news, is good news" in this case and that their diagnostic turned up something stupid like a mouse nest or a chewed wire that they could fix blindfolded.

She did apologize because it was Good Friday and they couldn't get the part shipped earlier than Monday and would I mind terribly if they had to hold on to the trailer for a couple days next week? Again I explained that they could have it as long as it took to make the repairs and if they had been holding out on her and stuff needed to be done to the heating system--well, have fun! I had no plans to travel anywhere until May but wanted the HVAC system working when I did. Seemed to make her day!

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While Terry boiled up some eggs to dye, I went out to the Tundra and installed the CB radio. I had waited until I go her help in placing the mounting bracket because it is on the passenger side of the console and that's her territory. Time-wise, the 12-minutes to hard boil the eggs was probably equal to the time it took me to mount the radio. I had checked the CB out on my way home on Wednesday and it received just fine. Not having anything to say, I was reluctant to "reach out and touch someone," even for a radio check. I've got two hand-held CB radios that Mark had laying around that can be plugged into a car's cigarette lighter so I'll be able to check out both sending and receiving using the Jeep or Terry's little yellow Aveo.

New Element Discovered!

It came over the transom this afternoon:

P 311 a dangerous new element.

Discovery Announcement ~ The densest element in the known Universe has been found!

Pelosium:
A major research institution has just announced the discovery of the densest element yet known to science. The new element has been named Pelosium.

Pelosium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 311.

These particles are held together by dark forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.
The symbol of Pelosium is PU.

Pelosium's mass actually increases over time, as morons randomly interact with various elements in the atmosphere and become assistant deputy neutrons within the Pelosium molecule, leading to the formation of isodopes.

This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientist to believe that Pelosium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.

When catalyzed with money, Pelosium activates CNNadnausium, an element that radiates orders of magnitude more energy, albeit as incoherent noise, since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons as Pelosium.

Aerie Report, April 1, 2010

What a glorious day we have for April 1st! The sun is shining and there's a slight, and welcome, breeze as the temperature has reached the 80 degree mark at the Aerie for the first time in 2010 79.3 degrees at the Aerie.

Terry and I took advantage of this beautiful weather to wash all the windows (except for those solid panes (also "pains") way up high, and brush off and install all the screens. Kept the cats busier than ever as they chased us from window to window and room to room! We're now enjoying the late afternoon while the house is airing out.

I certainly hope that this is not an April Fool's joke being played by Mother Nature, the Goddess Gaia, or the Great Spirit. After the winter we had (albeit not a great amount of snow but continuously lousy weather) I'm definitely ready for spring.

More please!

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A few of the crocuses I planted on the hillside have popped up in the last few days. That color, small as it is, is a welcome relief from the drabness of the winter woods. Still waiting for the daffodils to make an appearance.

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Driving home yesterday from the Bolt Hole, I got a phone call from Terry (just as I hit the one construction zone on the NYS Thruway, natch!). She had a call from the Good Sam people about our planned Alaskan Caraventure. Seems they had not gotten a large enough response to the second planned outing--the one we had signed up for--and they were going to have to cancel that trip. Would we be interested in going with the first group--the one that starts two weeks earlier? You betcha!

Sure, we could probably plot out a course and make the trip on our own, but there's safety in having a group with a guide. I mean, what happens if there's a breakdown or an accident? God to have someone along who's been there and done that before. Plus there are lots of special events planned and booked by the Good Sam Club that we might not A) know about or B) be able to get seats for.

So, we're still going to head to BC, the Yukon and Alaska with GSC, we'll just have to move our departure time from the Aerie up a couple of weeks. Glad I brought the trailer into the shop earlier this week! Now if they can only make the repairs ASAP, I'll be able to sleep better.

Winter 2009-2010 in a word: Yuck!

If you thought the 2009-2010 winter weather in the northeast/mid-Atlantic was a little wonky and that the northeast got more than its usual number of demoralizing--if not down right destructive--storms, you are probably correct.

Paul Kedrosky of Infectious Greed has a compilation of the radar maps from AccuWeather from December 1 through March 29 that shows the unending march of storm systems up the Appalachians. Watching the 22(!) Northeast Storms

Sheesh!

(h/t to TigerHawk)