Aerie Report, April 06, 2012

A somewhat productive day here at the Aerie.

I had plugged the battery charger into the ATV last evening in anticipation of getting the thing up and running today. The charger accomplished its task and told me the battery was at 100% this morning so I turned the fuel line to on, adjusted the choke, turned the key and pushed the start button. There was a feeble attempt to turn over but no vroom, vroom!

I drained some gas from the carburetor and saw no signs of water, so I pulled the seat off and opened up the air filter and sprayed in some starter fluid. Pushed the start button again and not even a cough to indicate the starter fluid was accepted.

O-kay. I pulled the spark plug and saw there was some moisture (gas) on the tip. The plug was only finger tight--which could have been a problem--but with the plug out but connected, I pushed the starter button again. No visible spark.

Soooo, off to the store I went. Auto Zone was able to provide me with what I needed including the proper sized socket wrench for the plug. (I also got a grease gun and grease but that's for a different project.)

Back home. A little squirt of starter fluid in the cylinder, the new plug in place and hooked up, choke out, key turned, starter button pushed and...VROOM! Success! It died a few seconds later but started up again right away.

I let it run with the choke out until it started to race and then pushed the choke in and let it run for another five minutes. Then I shut it off, crossed my fingers and pushed the start button again...VROOM! It started right up. I turned it off, put the air filter back together and the seat in place. Pushed the button again and...VROOM! It started right up again. I expect, as in past years, it will be just fine from now until put away for next winter.

Now all I have to do is get the air compressor out to inflate the soft left front tire and check the pressure in the others. Then I'll be ready to do more yard work and do some logging and hauling here and at the Bolt Hole.

******

I spent an hour filing some bills and clearing my desk. Not as much fun as working with the ATV, but also a little less stressful as these bills had already been paid.

******

I did get some true fun time in as well. Last summer I had bought a new PSE compound bow but, when I wracked up my knee, I never even took it out of the case for the fall deer season. (I was just barely able to get out during the rifle season.) Today, I opened the case, adjusted the position of the sights a little (it shot 2" to the right at 15 yards when I bought it) and went out behind the house to shoot a half dozen arrows. It's set up at 60 lbs. but has a 80% let down once you've passed the break point. It was a bit tough to draw, but once I had it back I could have held it for five minutes.

The peep sight on the string is new for me. I'm used to anchoring my arrow's nock in the corner of my mouth and using just the sight pins on the bow. With the peep on the string, the anchor point is going to be different--and less important. Now it's more important to sight through the peep to the pin.

Shooting at 15 yards, four of my six arrows hit the three inch circle. The other two were just outside the mark. I was pleased, to say the least. Now I have to go out and shoot more and from further distances. More to get the routine down and muscles tuned up for the 60 lb. pull. Further to see just how far out I can be consistent in--and confident in--my accuracy. With my old bow I was confident out to about 30 yards. The new PSE is a bit faster and flatter shooting so maybe 40-45 yards will be my new range.

******

Tomorrow is our first official bird walk at Hills Creek State Park. The Tiadaghton Audubon Society leads walks at the park every Saturday in April and May. Last week's return of cold weather brought a fall out of water fowl to the lake. Hopefully some of the grebes, scaup, Bonaparte's gulls, mergansers, etc. will still be around. We haven't exactly been inundated with woodland birds. The warblers haven't yet come north and even the sparrows aren't yet here in abundance. The early morning (8 AM) temperature should be around 30 degrees. We shall see what we shall see.

1-0 and 161 to play.

The Mets scored just one measly run today...but it was one more than the Braves! Santana pitched five good innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out five. R. Ramierez got the win when the Mets scored in the bottom of the sixth. Frank Francisco got the save. Byrdak and Rausch had holds as the Mets pitchers limited the Braves to a total of four hits and three walks.

David Wright went 2-for-3 with a walk for the Mets and had the RBI.

The Mets have always had a remarkably good record on Opening Day--ever since 1962. It's the next 161 games they have trouble with.

[UPDATE: From CBSSPORTS.COM "Despite losing their first eight openers, the Mets improved to 33-18 on opening day -- the best in baseball." The Mets lost eight consecutive openers and since then they are 33-10. That's a 0.767 success ratio since 1970 and 0.647 over all. If they could maintain that 0.647 over the course of a 162 game season they would win 104-105 games. IF is a mighty big word for two letters.]

If Only...

I saw this on a couple of sites during the day: Low ratings could end cable deal for Gore's Current TV and it made me smile.

Now, if we could just get all the airport waiting areas, hotel lobbies, etc. to turn off CNN...

(I almost said doctors' offices but more and more of them are tuned to that health station that's pretty much guaranteed to make you feel even more ill after you've sat there for 15 minutes.)

Sh*t Birders Say

Word!

American Goldfinch

I also mentioned that the Goldfinches are becoming more and more yellow. here's a study in contrast to prove my point.

American Goldfinch on March 1st is still in it's Winter plumage.

American Goldfinch on April 2nd has nearly completed it's molt to its Summer colors.

Pine Siskins

I mentioned the other day that I was surprised to see Pine Siskins still coming to the feeders with Goldfinches and Purple Finches. Seems that is not so unusual for these birds which are normally only occasional (irruptive) visitors.

From Birds of North America (Subscription) I learn...

"Reproductive schedule and attachment to a particular breeding area appear to be less rigidly fixed in the Pine Siskin than in many other songbirds. In some cases, members of an irruptive population may linger on a favorable wintering ground long enough to breed."

Pine Siskin on April 2nd and still hanging around for the freebies.

So, if they like the neighborhood, they might stay around and do some reproducing.

I find the whole thing curious because even through the Christmas Bird Count this was one of the species everyone was asking about as in, "Have you seen any Pine Siskins?"

Sounds like a plan!

via email from a couple of buddies of mine:

My inconclusive travel plans for 2012

I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.

I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my boss, work and politicians who affect my life.

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore.

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older.

One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!

I may have been in Continent, but I must’ve been sleeping while traveling through. It's an age thing.

At least it wasn't death...

Terry finished the paperwork and I wrote the checks so we got our federal and state taxes paid this week. It didn't cost us much this year as our pensions aren't taxed by PA and the withholding (almost) covered the federal taxes. If not for Social Security payments--the feds tax 'em and I've no withholding on the benefits--we would have owed even less. (PA doesn't tax those either. The only thing we paid to PA was for purchases made online.)

I'd much rather have to pay Uncle Sam than have to wait for a refund. I am adverse to providing the feds an interest free loan.

Aerie Report, March 31, 2012

We had an ursine visitor last night. Came up on the deck to snack on the little seed left in the feeders and knocked one of them over the rail. Left a bunch of muddy footprints, too.

******

I spent time yesterday (about 4 hours) turning over the two smaller garden plots, raking out the four plots, spreading some mushroom soil, raking that into the top layers, and planting a pound-and-a-half of onion sets. I would have put in some beet and lettuce seeds but by the time I got done doing all of the above my back and knees protested. The circling Turkey Vultures didn't inspire me either.

******

We did get the rain as promised so the onions should get off to a good start. The rain will continue through today. I'd say it was "overcast" at the moment but that would require that the clouds lift themselves considerably. It's not "undercast" either as we are smack dab in the middle of the clouds. The fog is limiting visibility to about one hundred yards. One of the hazards of being at 2100 feet when the ceiling is somewhere around 1500 feet.

******

I've noticed some of the Goldfinches starting to become much, much yellower as the days pass. That's a sure sign that spring is well underway. That and the loud, repetitive song of the Song Sparrow perched on the edge of the lawn. We've still got some Pine Siskins feeding with the Goldies and Purple Sparrows. I always thought of them as a winter bird and expect they will head north soon to nest in the denser fir forests, but maybe I've got some slackers that will be satisfied with the hemlocks, spruces and pines that occur in pockets on the hillsides.

******

Major League Baseball is wrapping up Spring Training this weekend and begins its regular season Wednesday night when the St. Louis Cardinals face off against the Florida Marlins in Miami. That game will be on ESPN at 8:05 PM (EDT). Thursday there are seven games scheduled including the Braves at the Mets. (The Mets had an absolutely horrendous spring going 7-17. Only Cleveland did worse at 6-20. Both are scheduled to play today. The Mets play every day until Thursday.) In addition to the game in New York, there will be games in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Chicago (the Cubs). Hopefully, there will not be any snow postponements.

Opening Day (Fishing Season)

Opening day of trout season in New York State is April 1. There is some reasoning that goes into that. For one, it's easy to remember from year to year. Then there's the whole April First, a.k.a. Fools Day, thing.

It seems that seven out of ten years there's 1) tons of snow on the ground on 1 April, 2) ice on the streams and rivers (or at least ice dams causing horrendous flooding), 3) frigid temperatures throughout the northeast but especially in Upstate New York. If none of these conditions exist you can usually depend upon there being falling snow.

This year we've had a bit of an early spring (although there's been some back sliding lately) and snow on the ground is virtually non-existent and ice in creeks, rivers and (most) lakes is long gone. The daytime temperatures have reached the 70s for several consecutive days during the month of March and the nighttime lows have been, generally, no worse than the upper 20s.

Tonight (Friday night), however, the forecast is for up to 3 inches of snow in New York's Southern Tier. It's arriving a day early. I blame this on the fact that it's Leap Year and that extra day in February through Mother Nature off her game. Like a fastball hitter swinging at a major league change-up, she's just a wee bit early.

PS. I have yet to purchase my fishing license for either NY or PA. I usually get the NYS all-round sportsman's license which includes hunting and fishing but, when I wracked up my knee last fall, I passed on purchasing a tag for NY. PA's hunting and fishing licenses are separate and I just haven't stopped into Cooper's to pick one up. I've got time, PA's trout season doesn't start for two weeks.

Dilbert

Scott Adams is a well known cartoonist who riffs on the workplace. His cartoons are often a hilarious take on the ineptness of middle management and the cubical work place. They are funny because so much of what he targets is true.

It is hard to imagine anything of his would be blocked by his editor but he says that this strip got the no-no.

(Beverage warning. Swallow anything you may have in your mouth before clicking on that link! That is, unless you enjoy snorting it out your nostrils or have a waterproof keyboard/monitor.)

This one, mentioned in the comments to the above, did get published. I guess it's a bit more subtle. ;-)

Mmmmm....

I may have over done it.

This morning the temperature was 35 at 7 AM and it's since fallen to 29 degrees at 10 AM. The wind is quite blustery and out of the north. I've had a fire going in the fireplace for the second consecutive morning but may have to keep feeding it today as the high will only be in the upper 30s and that's "if" the sun breaks through the overcast. Tonight it's supposed to get down to around 20 and maybe even lower than that.

Any trees that popped during the warm spell we enjoyed may now pay the price for their early exposure. That includes some peach and apples up near the Finger Lakes. I haven't seen any in flower around here although some shadbush are white upon the hillsides.

We did get a small amount of rain over the weekend, but areas around us got more.

If March comes in like a lamb must it go out like a lion?

Aerie Weather Report, March 22, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, when we still had some cold weather, the furnace at the Aerie went on the fritz. I called the folks who did the installation and talked about the error message I got on the digital read out. They ordered a replacement temperature sensor (the part targeted by the furnace's diagnostics) and sent someone out to replace it. The furnace hasn't had to kick on since as we've had days in the upper 70s and even low 80s. It's been almost two weeks.

We haven't had any rain either. The warm sun, lack of leaf cover and dry air has created a fire hazard.

Today I took steps to alleviate both problems. First Terry and I put the screens into all the windows. That action should cause the temperatures to drop precipitously within a few days.

Then I took the truck to the car wash and power washed the winter build up of encrusted clay off the Tundra. I dropped 10 quarters for five minutes of high pressure hot, foamy water and another 10 for five minutes of high pressure rinse water. I succeeded in removing 95 percent of the dirt. Some of the bugs crushed on the windshield and grill on my trip down to pick up eels last week are still clinging on. They will require a bit more elbow grease to clear off.

Washing the car is a well known cure for lack of rain.

Just checked the weather forecast and there's a cold front heading this way. Temperature and rain are to fall this weekend.

Peek-a-boo, I See You.

It's that time of year when birds are nesting and webcams are opened dedicated to the voyeuristic pleasure of watching the little darlings hatch, grow and fledge. Think of it a reality TV for bird watchers.

The Decorah, Ohio webcam on the Eagles' nest is up. There seems to be three eggs somewhere under the brooding eagle. If you're lucky, you may catch a glimpse as the adults move about or change duty. You can try your luck here.

There are also links to other bird cams at the top of the Decorah page so if watching Bald Eagles sit all day isn't your thing you can try Mr. and Mrs. Peregrine Falcon, or Turkey Vultures, or others.

Today the Cornell labs announced their Red-tailed Hawk cam was up and running. So if you want to watch another adventure in the circle of life you can go here.

Dentists

Paul, who is Way Up North, had to visit the dentist yesterday. It went well, he reports.

Apparently it wasn't this guy. Which is good because Paul's not exactly like this guy.

It's Spring!

And a young man's fancy turns to love...or something.

Had a pair of cowbirds--the first I've seen this year--out on the yard this morning. I watched for five minutes as the male attempted to woo his lady fair but her attention was plainly upon filling her crop with yummy sunflower seeds.

As they sat upon the electric wire about a foot apart, he would fluff up his feathers, bow his head in her direction, warble a little liquid song and take two steps in her direction. In response she would take two steps away from her suitor. They did this five or six times before she flew down to the feeder and finding it empty fly off to the trees. He quickly followed to perch a foot away from her on the branch.

Then she flew back to the wire and the whole little dance routine would be repeated. This time, however, she flew to the tray on the deck which did have seed. She gobbled a few before HE flew in to do his little dance and she flew off. He followed hot on her tail.

The whole thing was pretty comical. Put me in mind of this song:

"Watching" the Iditarod

So, you ask, how does one follow a 14+ day sporting event that is not broadcast live?

This is the age of the internet, no?

The Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC) has a wonderful web site that's chock full of stuff. The ITC offers a subscription for GPS tracking that follows every mushers move and another for insider videos with reporting and interviews along the trail. They also host numerous free forums where Iditaholics can gather to discuss a variety of topics, keep up with their favorite musher, or follow the race in minute (although sometimes frustratingly vague) detail.


It was in one of those forums (2012 GPS Updates) that I parked myself for the last two weeks. We had a core group of hard core Iditiaots. Some had forked over the dough for GPS and insider subscriptions, but were more than willing to share information with the rest of us. Others shared links to musher's kennel web sites that were often posting information via the dog handlers on the trail, or to newspaper articles/reports, or web cams that were operational at some of the check points. We had folks from all over the world. The core group had representatives from Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington state, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas, Ohio, Massachusetts, Florida, and Pennsylvania; and there were folks from Germany, Norway, New Zealand, and Australia. At any given time we had a running dialogue going on with two or more folks chipping participating. Even in the wee hours of the morning, we could be pretty sure someone, somewhere was going to be able to post updated GPS data and provide commentary so that those who had crashed could catch up on what was going on.

When Dallas Seavey and Aliy Zerkle were vying for first place heading into Nome, we had almost over 300 folks online following along and/or jumping in to root, root root for their favorite.

It was like a late night talk radio program with unlimited open lines. Anyone could participate--and often did. Sometimes the conversations took on a surreal quality as fatigue and sleep deprivation took over, but that was part of the fun and charm.

This was the fourth year I've followed the race on the forums and it was by far the most enjoyable yet. I was able to provide plenty of input and back-and-forth with some of the others. It felt almost like a huge family sitting around the den watching the race on TV--with the sound off and us having to provide the play-by-play. And a talkative group we were, too. When I signed off this morning we had amassed 1275 pages with 12750 comments, photos, GPS updates and 34500 page views.

Next year I may spring for the GPS and Insider (it was only around $40) this year) so I can follow the race even more closely.

Only 50 weeks to go!

(Of course much the same can be done with the Yukon Quest so its more like 46 weeks.)

Hear that?

It's the Fat Lady singing. Iditarod XL, the fortieth running of The Last Great Race on Earth© has ended. The last musher and her team of dogs passed beneath the Burled Arch on Front Street in Nome, Alaska early this morning.

I'm up late last night following the last two mushers on the Iditarod Trail (everyone else who finished was at the banquet taking place in Nome). It got to be 1 AM EDT when they finally left Safety 19 miles from Nome. Based upon their speed to Safety from White Mountain, I figured they would be pulling into Nome between 4:30 and 4:45 AM EDT so I went and took a nap, setting the alarm for 4:00 AM.

Alarm goes off. I get up and go downstairs. Feed some very confused (but willing) pussy cats. Go online to the Iditarod forum and find that the last two have 11 miles to go! WTF?

They've been starting and stopping every mile as they make very slow progress. Why? Good question.
Did one of the dog teams decide that enough was enough? Have numerous females suddenly gone into heat? (Don't laugh. One of Lance Mackey's lead dogs went into heat and he had to pull over and wait for the two leads to finish their business. Another musher had 7 of her dogs go into heat during the last third of the race. Needless to say that really slowed her team down!)
Are the Northern Lights that fascinating and/or photogenic?
Are they drag racing for sled pink slips? ("Race you to that stump down there" "You're on!" "Okay. You won that time. How about we make it two out of three?" "Three out of five?")

We may never know. In any event, they finally pulled in to the Burled Arch in Nome at 2:55:10 and 2:57:03 AM AKDT or 6:55 and 6:57 EDT.

By then I was on my second mug of coffee and had eaten breakfast.

So 14 days 11 hours 57 min 3 sec after the official restart in Willow, Alaska back on Sunday, March 4th, 55 year old rookie musher Jan Steves officially became the Red Lantern of the 2012 Iditarod Trail Race. Fittingly enough this was the 40th Iditarod and Jan's bib number was 40.

A Silver Lining to Every Cloud,,,

It's an ill wind that blows no one any good...

Mass. zoo's cats benefit from Boston power loss

The Capital Grille donated 2,500 pounds of steak worth $20,000 to the Southwick's Zoo in Mendon after the restaurant lost power on Tuesday and the prime cuts of meat were no longer fit for human consumption even though they were kept in a refrigerated truck.

The zoo's two Bengal tigers, an African lion and a leopard dined like kings on Thursday. And there are enough leftovers to feed the cats for weeks to come.

Burp!

Happy story for three (very) little bears

GAME COMMISSION FINDS ADOPTIVE DENS FOR THREE ORPHANED CUBS

After finding three black bear cubs stranded along a road near Troy, Bradford County earlier this week, Pennsylvania Game Commission officials today successfully completed a four-day race of locating and placing the two female cubs and one male cub in adoptive dens in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

It's a sweet story of some impeccable timing and extra effort by the folks in the Game Commission. You can read the rest here, but be warned the pictures of the cubs may have you going "awwww!" (You might also have to scroll down passed a lot of ads before you get to the story...but it's worth it.)

Border Collie Trials

as you've never seen them before:



(h/t to Wyatt at Support your Local Gunfighter)

Danny Boy

As you have never heard it sung(?) before:

Good Day to you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

May the wind at your back
not be the result of
the corned beef and cabbage
you had for lunch.

Back again

Picked up 24K baby eels today and transported them north to the Asaph labs. They will stay there for 6-8 weeks being treated royally and doubling their size. Then it's off to Pine Creek and back to harsh living. At least they didn't have to swim up from the Maryland shore (where they were on Monday) via Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna River. That would have taken them weeks and they would have had to run the gauntlet of predatory fish and birds. Their survival rate would have been far worse.

Why did it have to be eels?

Just to remind you about why we (The Tiadaghton Audubon Society) are providing limousine service to thousands and thousands of squiggly baby eels (glass eels), the Susquehanna River has several dams that block the passage of baby eels as they attempt to swim up river to the freshwater streams and rivers in which they grow and mature. (The dams don't block down stream movements of the adults because they are capable of traveling over land on a little bit of dew or a heavy rain...if they don't get churned to bits in some electricity producing hydro whirling thingy.)

Eels in the small tributaries are vital to the health of freshwater mussels. The baby mussels cling to the eels' gills as they move upstream and thus disburse more widely in the rivers and streams. Mussels can filter up to one gallon of water and hour as they feed thus cleaning the streams and making them excellent habitat for trout.

So, we help the eels so they can help the mussels which in turn help the trout.

Little Wigglers In Abundance

It's that time of year again. Glass eels are amassing on the Maryland coastline. Thousands and thousands of them are being netted and bagged by the US Fish and Wildlife folks in preparation of being shipped northward and inland to be transplanted into rivers.

Tomorrow I make the first run of the year down to Thompsontown to meet up with one of the USF&W agents and picking up a few tens of thousands of baby eels to transport over to the labs at Asaph as part of the project to get eels into Pine Creek.
(Maybe I should get one of those window decals that says "Baby On Board x 50K")

Last year we (members of the Tiadaghton Audubon Society) helped move about 100K eels northward and into different stretches of Pine Creek. Others helped restock Buffalo Creek near Lewisburg.

2 1/2 hours down and the same back plus time to go to and from between Asaph and the Aerie.

More arrivals

Three more pulled in to Nome while I prepared the last post.
7- Mitch Seavey
8- Michael Williams, Jr.
9- John Baker

barring any unforeseen circumstances, the next two should arrive at the finish line in the next hour and a half both left Safety 20 miles away.
10- DeeDee Janrowe at 02:21 AKDT and
11- Sigrid Ekran at 03:17 AKDT

So far it's been taking between 3 and 3 1/2 hours from Safety to Nome.

The First FInishers Are In Nome

Dallas Seavey became the youngest winner of the Iditarod yesterday when the 24/25 year-old crossed the finish line in Nome and passed under the Burled Arch at 19:29:26 AKDT. (My confusion with his age has to do with the fact that I heard it was his birthday. When the race started he was 24. When he crossed the line in Nome he (may have been) 25--depends on what time of the day he was born I guess. Officially they say 25.) The trip from Willow to Nome took Dallas and his team (he finished the race with 9 of the 16 dogs he started with) a total of 9 days, 4 hours,29 minutes and 26 seconds.

The Seavey family has a long and rich history with the 40 year old race. Dallas' dad, Mitch, won the race in 2004 and Grandpa Dan (now 74) raced in the first one in 1973. Both Mitch and Dan are still on the trail to Nome in this years race.

Second place went to Aliy Zirkle who passed under the arch almost exactly one hour later at 20:29:10 AKDT with 10 dogs in harness after 9 days, 5 hours, 29 minutes and 10 seconds.

Other finishers (so far): 3rd Ramey Smyth, 4th Aaron Burmeister, 5th Peter Kaiser and 6th Ray Redington, Jr.

There are still 48 mushers on the trail and they will be coming into Nome in the next couple of days. This race isn't over by a long shot. We may not have to wait for some fat lady to sing, but until the last musher on the trail comes in and blows out that Red Lantern, this thing is still on!

On the Road To Nome!

Dallas Seavey pulled into the White Mountain checkpoint last night just after midnight Alaska time (or more properly Iditarod Race Time since the race seems not to have recognized the switch to daylight savings time). He had a seemingly comfortable lead over Aliy Zirkle who arrived an hour and 11 minutes later. Not far behind, however, was Ramey Smyth who showed up 52 minutes after Zirkle. All three must remain in White Mountain for a mandatory 8 hour rest before they can depart for Safety about 50 miles away and eventually the burled gateway that marks the finish line in Nome another 20 miles further on.
Aliy lost some time to Seavey on the last couple of legs coming into White Mountain and Smyth has been steadily gaining on both of the leaders so this could get real interesting later today.

Further back the winds kicked up across the ice out of Shaktoolik where a couple dozen mushers and their teams have been stuck. With temperatures near minus 10 degrees and sustained winds out of the north at around 30 miles per hour, no one is venturing forth onto the ice of Norton Sound to head into the wind and advance to Koyuk.

Currently there are two mushers running more or less together at the tail of the race (the Red Lantern position). Bob Chlupach and rookie Jan Steves are in Galena on the Yukon River and nearly 400 miles from Nome. The weather is a bit nicer there (only 2 below and 9 mph winds with a light snow falling) but they haven’t moved for quite a while. They had better shake a leg or they will be faced with a decision to be made or made for them.

Ahead of the two at the next checkpoint (Nulato) is Dallas’ Grandfather, 74 year old Dan Seavey. It would be somewhat historical if Chlupach and Steves drop out, Dallas wins and Dan gets to blow out the Red Lantern.

Following the race and chatting with other enthusiasts online in the forums sure beats following the news.

Forth and Back

Whew! Long day today. Both in time and distance. I drove up to the Bolt Hole early this morning, checked the house, barn and garage and then drove home. Round distance was 425 miles. All was well and the ground had just a very small layer of snow and ice (maybe 2 new inches of snow on top of old, crusty, frozen junk).

I checked my records and discovered I hadn't been up there since October 5th when Terry and I went up to pick up the Tundra that had been left behind when I injured my knee back in August. THe house looks like it too. I'll need to spend a couple of days just vaccuuming, dusting and washing the next time I go up. I figure, weather permitting, that will be in a couple of weeks.

Then I had to go back to the Iditarod forums and catch up on not just last night's comments but today's as well! There were close to 100 new PAGES of comments to read.

As far as I can tell, the race is on!

1 34 Seavey, Dallas
2 44 Burmeister, Aaron
3 14 Zirkle, Aliy
Only 4 miles or so between Dallas and Aliy as they head up the coast from Unalakleet toward Shaktoolik.

Behind them areL
4 11 Baker, John
5 35 Seavey, Mitch
6 28 Kaiser, Peter
7 2 Redington Jr, Ray
8 17 Jonrowe, DeeDee
9 21 Smyth, Ramey
10 59 Lindner, Sonny
11 24 Ekran, Sigrid
12 39 Anderson, Ken

In other news, Jeff King faced some recalcetrant dogs about 10 miles short of Unalakleet and after many hours of enduring a sit down strike, he was forced to scratch.

Jake Berkowitz also scratched after slicing his hand ope while cutting sosme frozen fish for his team. (Yeah, same thing happend to Mitch Seavey last year.)

Lachlan Clarke also scratched in Galena when he found himself with not enough dogs. His team had shrunk to less than 10 ready, willing and able critters.

Same for Pat Moon. He's the guy who was air lifted out a couple years back after hitting his head on a tree while negotiating The Steps. Since he hadn't finished he was still considered a rookie this year. Well, he's still a rookie after his team was reduced to jut 7 dogs. And he was still in Ruby with 400 miles to go.

On the Road

I'm going to head up to the Bolt Hole tomorrow to see if it's still standing. I haven't been there since we went back to get my truck after I damaged my knee last fall.

It might be a one day up-and-back or I could stay over night. It depends upon what I find. The weather, at least, will be cooperative. It's supposed to get up into the 50s there and close to 60 here at the Aerie with lots of sunshine on Sunday but a chance of showers late on Monday.

I should be hitting the sack since we'll lose an hour tonight with Daylight Savings Time starting, but there's this race in Alaska I've been following online....

After resting in Kaltag on the Yukon River for 5 and 1/2 hours, Aliy Zirkle has hit the trail for Unalakeet on the Bering Sea. Aliy spend much of the time in Kaltag alone with her dogs. John Baker and Mitch Seavey didn't get there until 3 and 1/4 hours after she arrived. Aaron Burmeister, Dallas Seavey and Jeff King arrived even later. None of them have taken out in pursuit of Aliy as of yet. She may well be in a position to dictate the pace of the race. And if she chooses to push things, she's likely to run the boys into the ground. She's got more than an hours head start as it is and still no one is stirring out of Kaltag.

More from the Iditarod Trail

Mitch Seavey may have been the first into Ruby, but he will have to wait to enjoy his earned reward of a multi-course gourmet dinner. Apparently the Millenium Hotel, chose not to serve the meal on site, but to present it in Anchorage at a time of the musher’s choice.

Seavey, by the way is still in Ruby doing his mandatory 8 hour rest on the Yukon River.

Aliy Zerkle is ell ahead of him and the rest of the pack. She's currently some 30 miles down river heading to the next checkpoint of Galena. She will have to take her 8 hour rest either there or at Nulato or Kaltag where the trail leaves the river. She's probably hoping to build a large enough lead to remain ahead of Seavey and the rest.

On the Iditarod Trail

Musher Jim Lanier claimed the prize at Cripple Checkpoint, arriving at 13:55 AST with his team of 13 dogs. Unfortunately for Lanier, he has yet to take his mandatory 24 hour rest and will/has fallen well behind the race leaders.

Mitch Seavey has taken over the lead pulling into Ruby on the Yukon River this morning at 06:00 AST . Somewhere behind him are Aliy Zirkle, John Baker, Dallas Seavey and Ray Redington, Jr. [UPDATE: I forgot to mention that Seavey gets the gourmet dinner and cash prize for being first into Ruby. As Paul mentions in the comments, Alit Zirkle breezed through Ruby staying just long enough to drop one of her dogs before continuing on. Nine minutes is all it took her.]

Two more mushers have scratched. Ryan Redington withdrew from the race at the Takotna checkpoint citing concern for his dogs. He was down to just 10 in harness at the time. Wade Marrs scratched at the Ophir checkpoint for the same reason. Marrs had just 12 dogs in harness at the time of his withdrawl.

Each musher is permitted to start the race with 16 dogs in harness. It’s not unusual for them to drop dogs along the way due to injury, illness or just plain orneriness. ("Love" might be a reason too. Ask Lance Mackey who is down to 12 dogs.) Many of the teams are still carrying between 13 and 15 dogs but a few still have all 16 in harness. Ray Redington, Jr. (in 5th place), Aaron Burmeister (running 6th), and Michelle Phillips (13th) are all out of Cripple and heading to Ruby with 16 dogs Further back, Rookie Mike Santos (41st) has left Ophir heading to Cripple with a full string as has Art Church, Jr. (55th).

It is unusual for mushers to go with just 10 dogs this early in the race. Like Ryan Redington They are more likely to concede and withdraw…unless there are some extenuating circumstances. Rookie Pat Moon (54th) left Ophir this morning with just 10 dogs, but he started from Willow with just 12 if the charts are to be believed. You have to believe that with his medical history (diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, an auto immune disease that targets the intestines and kidneys at age 15) this is a personal challenge and he’s looking to complete the Iditarod, not win it. (By the way, I love his quote: “Although having an illness is physical, being sick is a state of mind.”

Almost halfway on the Iditarod

The Iditarod has claimed its first musher. Norwegian native Sylvia Furtwangler scratched yesterday afternoon at the Nikoli checkpoint. A rookie to the Iditarod, Furtwangler gave concern for her health as the reason for her withdrawl. She had 13 dogs on her team at the time. (The Dispatch story is here along with other news from the trail.)

Elsewhere, the leader board is in a state of disarray(?) as a whole lot of jockeying is going on. The Current leader seems to be Jim Lanier who left the Ophir chceckpoint at 23:25 (ADT) just a little more than an hour ahead of Trent Herbst (00:35 (ADT)) but that’s likely to be only temporary as neither has taken a mandatory 24 hour rest yet.

This first mandatory rest is also when the difference in starting times back in Willow is corrected. Those who had an early start must wait a bit longer than 24 hours before moving out. Those who started near the end of the pack will need considerably less time beyond the 24 hours. With 2 minutes between each official start back in Willow, the difference in times can be sizable. Start 1st out of 66 mushers in Willow and you might 132 minutes (2 hours 12 minutes) to give back. Your 24 hour rest is suddenly 26+ hours long. It's okay, though 'cause after this, it's all straight racing.

Meanwhile several mushers have taken their mandatory 24 in Takotna and are on the trail. Listed as running in 5th through 9th place, Mitch Seavey, Alit Zirkle, Dallas Seavey, Kohn Baker and Jeff King all stayed in Takotna but headed out between 01:13 and 02:08 this morning. Many more mushers appear to be taking their 24 hour rest at Takotna. Running in 3rd and 4th place, Martin Buser and his son Rohn have been at the Ophir checkpoint since 12:19 and 13:34 respectively so it’s likely they are taking their 24.

Much further back in the listings, in 44th and 45th places, Lance Mackey and Kelly Griffin took their 24 at McGrath but are once more on the trail heading to Takotna. (Lance was probably playing dog whisperer trying to convince his team that as much as he wouldn’t mind having puppies sired by his two lead dogs, there will be plenty of time for lovin’ once they get to Nome. )

The Ophir checkpoint is 73 miles from Cripple considered the “official” halfway point in the race when the northern route is used. The first musher to arrive at Cripple, an old gold rush mining town, is awarded a poke of $3000 in gold nuggets. That’ll buy a lot of kibble!

After Cripple, the next stop is 70 miles further along the trail at Ruby. Ruby is 495 miles from Anchorage, about 480 miles to Nome, and the first stop on the fabled Yukon River. The first musher to arrive there gets a gourmet meal and a cash prize curtsey of the Millennium Alaska Hotel in Anchorage. They actually serve up the meal at Ruby having the chef make the trip.

There’s a lot of prestige (not to mention good food and cash) involved in getting to either Cripple or Ruby first So this stretch is often a bit of a race-within-a-race. But the Big Prize--first to Nome--that’s still a long way away.

The things you see along the Iditarod Trail

Meanwhile, The Last Great Race On Earth continues. Currently, Rohn Buser is chasing his dad Martin between Takotna checkpoint and Ophir. That’s only a 23 mile stretch so one or the other (and Martin left an hour and 15 minutes ahead of his son) should be getting there soon.


The Alaska Dispatch posted an excellent story today about some of the trials and tribulations faced by mushers and their teams on the Iditarod Trail--so far. Titled: A near-death experience for dog in runaway Iditarod Trail team, the stuff they've run into runs from falling asleep and off your sled to collisions with stumps and spruce trees to possible food poisoning to…well, the dog teams are coed and not neutered or spayed so use your imagination but be sure to read all of the article.

Notes from the Aerie

This last Friday I decided to take a short ride up to the Tioga-Hammond Lake complex to see if any of the geese I had seen flying north had put into the lakes.

My first stop was at the overlook above the junction of the two lakes. There's a weir there that mixes the waters of Hammond Lake/Crooked Creek with the acidified waters of Tioga Lake/River. (Drainage from the Bloss coal mines has caused the Tioga River to become something of a dead zone.) The overlook is on an exposed point some 75-100 feet above the water of Tioga Lake. The wind gets funneled through the gap in the mountains in this area and, since it was coming from the south and blowing right up the lake to begin with, was quite strong. I needed to hold my knit hat on for fear it would be blown away. This wind, in conjunction with the warm winter we've enjoyed, had freed the Tioga Lake of any ice but it also kept the number of bird species to a minimum. I was able to spot only a handful of Common Mergansers and several hundred Ring-billed gulls. The gulls were putting on an aerial acrobatics display that was impressive but the wind prevented me from spending much time enjoying it.

A glance over toward Hammond Lake showed that the more protected waters (the wind had to navigate over the mountain and hit the lake at right angles to its length) still had some ice on it. On that ice I saw three large dark birds that I determined were immature Bald Eagles. There was also a Red-tailed Hawk soaring on the wind.

Driving on to the Ives Run Campground area, I spotted half a dozen American Crows working the tall grass of one of the fields near the day use area. Out on the water there were more Common Mergansers and several hundred Ring-billed Gulls but no geese of any kind.

Leaving Ives Run, I drove the Railroad Grade Trail towards Hills Creek State Park. The RGT was not wind blown as it too is protected by the mountain ridge that runs east-west on its southern side but there were no small birds visibly (or audibly) present along the mile and a half length.

Hills Creek State Park had a little more diversity. A dozen or so Canada Geese had taken advantage of the open waters as had several Ring-billed Gulls, eight Common Mergansers, two dozen Ring-necked Ducks, and a pair of Mallards. I heard, but did not see, a couple of Black-capped Chickadees and a White-Breasted Nuthatch in the thickets along the lake shore.

My count from this outing wasn't that great. While it was pleasing to see the Bald Eagles, I have more species of birds around the Aerie and only the numbers of Ring-billed Gulls topped the Goldfinches and Dark-eyed Juncos I see at the feeders on a daily basis.

******

Yesterday (Sunday) I spied a relatively slim ground hog scurrying through the woods here at the Aerie. "Your cousin says you've still got two more weeks of winter, you idiot! Go back to sleep!" I shouted out to it but it kept on going. Then I laughed as the lake effect snow flurries arrived and the temperature remained below 32 degrees. When I go to 15 degrees last night, I (sorta) hoped the little sh*t froze.

******

I've heard several Red-winged Blackbirds the last two days and saw my first of the year when I went for mail this morning. The males typically arrive before the females to set up territories but I wonder how they decide what constitutes a prime site when many ponds and marshes are still frozen and the cattails and phragmities they use for nesting sites are still nothing but humps of tan/brown?

******

The winds today are coming out of the north-northwest so I guess any geese desirous of heading north are going to hunker down where they are for a few days until they get some favorable tail winds. With the cold night time temperatures we are having, it's probably for the best.

******

Our furnace is acting up again. Last year we started having some problems with a "return water temperature sensor." The computerized controls would shut off the furnace when the sensor indicated a lack of electrical juice running through it. We had a repairman come out to look at it then and he gave it a clean bill of health but said if it should act up again, we might have to have the sensor replaced. Well, since Thursday the damn thing has shut down a dozen times. It restarts when we press reset, but it sure doesn't inspire any confidence. Twice we got up to 50 degree temperatures inside. Leaving the house for several days is, naturally, out of the question. The water in the pipes (PEX tubing actually) that normally heat the house isn't a worry. The thermostats tell the circulating pumps to keep that water flowing even though it's not warm enough to heat the house. The supply lines to sinks and showers, however....

So this morning I stopped at Williams Oil & Propane, the company that installed the system, and told them of my concerns. The guy I spoke with tried to contact the manufacturer to pick their brains but had no luck. Their guru was out of the office. The Williams guy will try again and get back to me in a day or two. *sigh*

Weather.com tells me the low tonight will again be around 15 degrees. It will warm up Tuesday (high of 43, low of 28) and Wednesday (high of 60!, low of 40), however.

Heh!

Why?

"Although he is a very poor fielder, he is a very poor hitter."

Ring Lardner, Sr.
(03/03/1885 – 09/25/1933)
US writer

They don't make sports writers like this any more.

Speaking of Things Starting...

Today is the day of the Ceremonial Start of the Last Great Race on Earth, aka The Iditarod Sled Dog Race. The first musher, Ray Redington, Jr., wearing bib #2, will be heading out of Anchorage in just a few hours heading to the Campbell Airstrip 11 miles away. He will be followed by 65 other stalwarts with the last being Ryan Redington, wearing bib #66.

Yeah, Ray and Ryan are brothers. Granddad, Joe Redington, is credited with starting this race 40 years ago and with keeping it going during the difficult early years. (Joe also completed the Iditarod 19 times finishing his last at the age of 80!) Their dad, Raymie, was a participant in the first race in 1973 and has completed 13 Iditarod races. He's not in this year's race, however.

As might be expected, the preponderance of racers come from Alaska but there are a number from the lower 48 and Canada. There are even entrants from New Zealand (rookie Curt Perano) and Norway (rookie Silvia Furtwängler and veteran Sigrid Ekran).

Tomorrow's restart will be in Willow this year. Along with some rerouting of the race the total distance will be 975 miles. Here's a list of this year's checkpoints and the distances involved. You can expect the first musher and his/her team to pull into Nome between 9 and 11 days after they leave Willow. The final musher and his/her team can get to Nome anywhere from 14 to 18 days after they leave Willow.

Good thing I've not much planned for the next two weeks or so.

It Has Begun!

This is the time of year when a young man’s fancy (and many a young girl’s) turns to the smell of new leather rubbed well with neatsfoot oil; the odor of ash rubbed hard with an old bone to compact the wood grain; the fragrance of a freshly mowed baseball field; the pop of a pitched ball into a catcher’s mitt; and the crack of the same ball against that ash bat recently boned to give it hardness as it is sent sailing over the fence.

This is the time of year when hope springs eternal. Baseball season has begun.

Last night, the Seattle Mariners defeated the Oakland A’s 8-5 in the first Cactus League game of the year. Today there will be four more Cactus League games and five Grapefruit League contests—including the first for those damn Yankees and cursed Braves. The Mets do not play their first game until Monday when they face the Washington Nationals. From then until October it will be baseball, baseball, baseball.

Oh, there will be some March Madness on the NCAA front (teams TBA soon), a long and extended NBA playoff (I’m pretty sure New Orleans (9-27), Washington (7-28 and Charlotte (4-30) are out of the playoff picture but as for everyone else…), and a similar NHL playoff (is anyone truly out of it?) leading to a championship or three--and, perhaps some crazy fans setting fire to a city or two—at the beginning/first half of the MBL season. Hopefully they will be done by the All-Star break. And there will be college and pro football to serve as distractions for those fans teams are 20 games out on September 1st. But it will be another summer of baseball. Lots of baseball. And that is good.

Rare (for this year) Visitors

Recently we have been inundated with American Goldfinches. Most of the winter we have had only a smattering of these birds while having copious amounts of Dark-eyed Juncos. Both species would show up at the feeders immediately prior to and after any snowfall.

But this morning I spotted two birds I hadn't seen much of this season: a Pine Siskin and a Common Redpoll. The former drew my attention when I realized its back was brown and not the olive green of the goldies, the whitish wing bar did not stand out nearly as well against the brown not black wings of the goldies and the breast was heavily streaked unlike the smooth grey of the goldies. I didn't notice any of the yellow on the wings the Siskin is supposed to have, but then again, the goldies aren't exactly golden yet either. (When they begin to turn the color of daffodils we'll know spring is in the air!)

The Redpoll showed up while I was watching a mass of goldfinches hitting the feeder hoping to spot the Siskin again. Like the Siskin, it had the stripped breast and brown back and wings, but this little guy had a jaunty little red beret shoved low over his forehead and a reddish blush to his chin/breast.

Both the Siskin and Redpoll are birds of the far north that range south only to feed during the winter. I had thought that, despite reports from others in Pennsylvania--west and south of here, that they had passed us by in this year of a mild winter. Certainly two birds do not come close to the huge flocks we've had over the last two years, but it's better than not seeing them at all.

Neither bird stayed around--or still--long enough for me to get the camera out and snap their photo before they flitted off into the tree. *sigh* Maybe I'll get lucky and spot them again--now that the camera is at the ready.

While I'm taking about birds.... Yesterday we had some really strong winds that reached 40 mph coming out of the northwest. Perhaps that's what carried the Siskin and Redpoll our way. Standing on the deck early in the day I happened to catch a group of approximately 30 Wild Turkeys with their heads down and the wind at their backs hustling up the hill through the woods. In all likelihood they had been spooked from the field below us by either human, feline or canine activity. Whatever it was that got them moving, they were not going to slow down. They were trotting right along.

Snowy Morning At the Aerie

I was going to write about how we have enjoyed some Camelot Snow over the last week or so. (That's an inch or so of snow that arrives over night but melts away during the day.) The weather folks forecast a 2-4 inch fall overnight that would be followed by some pretty heavy rain which would wash it all away. Didn't happen. Those prognosticators proved they were NOT Merlin. We got the snow but no following rain.

Some 4+ inches of heavy, wet snow lay on the ground--which had been completely bare thanks to bright sunshine and 45+ degree temperatures on Thursday. Terry tackled the deck while I started with the shovel on the driveway. I soon gave that up and started up the tractor. (I deemed the snow too wet and heavy for the snow thrower to be of much use.) It took some time and I scrapped a good bit of the gravel and dirt that comprises the driveway, but the job did get done.

Terry headed out to the Bradford library for one of her stitching meetings and I went for t he mail. Our road hadn't been touched by a plow yet and the going was a bit rough but it was down hill. The paved roads and the dirt portion serviced by the school buses (two hour delay) had been plowed and were quite passable. Coming back up the hill I needed to switch over to 4-wheel high and had only a few moments when the Tundra slipped in the heavy snow. Of course, I was followed by the snow plow that cleared the road and spread some cinders in its wake.

The temp is now 35-36 degrees and there's a bit of a drizzle falling so what's left on the road and driveway may well be gone before things freeze up tonight.

The birds are pleased that the feeders are filled. I'm happy that the driveway and road are cleared and Terry should have little difficulty getting home this afternoon with the pizza she'll pick up in Troy. I even saw three deer pass through the back part of the yard when the snow plow created enough racket to stir them from their beds. Even the cats are happy--they just got fed.

Time for another cup of coffee.

GBBC 2012

Sent in my count for the yesterday. I spent the entire morning on the deck and looking out the windows to come up with my list. It's not terribly large but this has not been a winter for either manyhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif species or many individual birds.

Just 14 species on my list.

Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 15
Downy Woodpecker 3
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 7
American Crow 1
Common Raven 1
Black-capped Chickadee 9
Tufted Titmouse 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Brown Creeper 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 35
Northern Cardinal 1
American Goldfinch 18

I didn't actually "see" the Raven or the Crow, but they were calling from somewhere nearby. The voices of the two are pretty distinct.

I first heard the Pileated Woodpecker calling from across the street where there's a tree that has obviously gotten its attention. Then it flew through the yard heading for another excavated tree up on the hill that I saw the other day.

The Red-tailed Hawk flew out of one of the white pines on the hill above the Aerie and circled once before disappearing over the ridge.

I spotted the nearly invisible Brown Creeper working its way up a locust trunk on the other side of the yard. Once it got to the second level of branches it swooped down to another tree deeper into the woods and I lost sight of it.

The rest were visitors to the several feeders I've got on the deck and in the side yard. They are here nearly every single morning--right after I scare the fattening squirrels away.

The rest

The 2012 Yukon Quest is Fini

The Mushing Loon posted this on the Yukon Quest 2012 forum on the Iditirod site this morning at 8:03 AM.

Yukon Quest Update #25
The Red Lantern is in!

The 2012 Yukon Quest officially ended Sunday night at 8:05 local time when Michael Telpin crossed the finish line in Whitehorse. The Russian musher finished with all 9 of his native Chukchi dog...s, winning the Challenge of the North Award as the musher “who most exemplifies the Spirit of the Yukon Quest.”
The race ended 15 days, 8 hours, 5 minutes, 22 seconds after it started.

Rookie Marcelle Fressineau finished only 45 minutes before, making it a closer finish than it appeared it was going to be.

Complete Final Standings got to The Loon's Mushing Report: Yukon Quest

Congratulations to Michael Telpin and his team of dogs upon competing their first Yukon Quest. Congratulations also to the 18 men and women and their teams who finished ahead of Telpin. Four other teams scratched during the race and one never got off the line at Fairbanks because the musher was too ill. Congratulations, too, to the many, many volunteers working to make this race happen.

The Iditarod--The Last Great Race On Earth--kicks off in just over 12 days!

Today's the Day!

Pitchers and Catchers, baby!

It's on!



This year I'm going to find a way to go to a couple of games. Minor or major league won't matter as long as I can get out to the ball park and watch the action while sipping a beer (or two) and eating some peanuts, popcorn, Crackerjacks and hot dogs.



Spring is when every major league hopeful aims to impress and make the roster. Every year some young phenom shows up and heads north with the team. This causes the casual fan to ask the most important question:

Yukon Quest update.

Two men and their dog teams remain on the trail to Whitehorse.

Marcelle Fressineau, in 18th place, has arrived at the Braeburn Checkpoint. Michael Telpin, in 19th place and the current Red Lantern, is approximately 48 miles short of Braeburn and appears to be camped. (His last position was reported some 6 and a half hours ago.

Both men need to spend at least 8 hours in Braeburn before heading out to Whitehorse and the finish line 100 miles away.

IF they continue, Telpin should finish early Monday morning bringing the 2012 Yukon Quest, The Toughest Race In The World, to an end.

Just When You Thought ...

...it was safe to go back in the water.

Sea otters face a growing threat: shark attacks

California's sea otters have struggled for years with diseases, parasites and even the occasional collision with boats. But now the fuzzy coastal mascots are increasingly facing another threat: shark attacks.

For reasons still a mystery to scientists, the number of sea otters killed by sharks has soared in recent years, with great whites as the leading suspects.
...
In the mid-1990s, about 10 percent of the dead sea otters found along the California coast had shark bites. Today, it's about 30 percent -- and growing -- to the point where shark attacks now represent the largest hurdle to the otters' recovery from the endangered species list.

Sea otters may be cute and fuzzy little acrobats in the water, but something out there is doing a number on the population. And scientists aren't sure why the sharks are going after them. Perhaps the sharks need glasses. Or maybe they are just opportunists.

One major change: the abundance of elephant seals. Until 1990, the large mammals were rare along the coast in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. But that year, two dozen came ashore at Piedras Blancas, near Hearst Castle. Now there are more than 15,000.

A small number of white sharks, perhaps juveniles, could be coming into the area to feed on young elephant seals and ending up killing otters, as well, Tinker said. Had the rate of shark attacks remained where it was a decade ago, there would be about 500 more California sea otters now -- around 3,250, according to his computer models. That would be enough to reach the 3,090 population target to remove the otter from the federal endangered species list.

In any case, the sharks have discovered something the killer whales up north have known for a couple of decades: Sea otters taste good.

In the 1990s, Tinker and other biologists published studies showing that orca whales in southern Alaska were beginning to feed on otters there. Since then, the otter population there has fallen from 80,000 to about 5,000.

The question then arises:

Can anything be done?

No, he said. Even if people wanted to try to identify the sharks responsible and somehow kill them, others could easily take their place.

"It's a hard thing to explain to people," he said. "But there's nothing we can do about changes in shark distribution or shark behavior. It's natural."

On Getting Older

These thought about getting older came over the email transom today.

On hunting:

Shot my first turkey yesterday,

Scared the HELL out of everyone in the frozen food section…

It was awesome!

Getting old is so much fun....

Ramblings of a Retired Mind

I was thinking about how a status symbol of today is those cell phones that everyone has clipped onto their belt or purse. I can't afford one. So, I'm wearing my garage door opener. I also made a cover for my hearing aid and now I have what they call blue teeth, I think.

You know, I spent a fortune on deodorant before I realized that people didn't like me anyway.

I was thinking that women should put pictures of missing husbands on beer cans!

I was thinking about old age and decided that old age is 'when you still have something on the ball, but you are just too tired to bounce it.'

I thought about making a fitness movie for folks my age, and call it 'Pumping Rust'.

I've gotten that dreaded furniture disease. That's when your chest is falling into your drawers!
When people see a cat's litter box, they always say, 'Oh, have you got a cat?' Just once I want to say, 'No, it's for company!'

Employment application blanks always ask who is to be notified in case of an emergency. I think you should write, 'A Good Doctor'!

I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older. Then, it dawned on me. They were cramming for their finals.

As for me, I'm just hoping God grades on the curve.

Enjoy Your Days & Love Your Life,
Because life is short and a journey to be savored.

The GBBC is On!

The Great Backyard Bird Count is underway!

Starting today (February 17) and running through Monday (February 20) the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society are sponsoring an event aimed at counting birds all across North America. Participants should count (and identify the species of) birds in any one locale for a minimum of 15 minutes. You can do this in your backyard, at a nearby park or sitting in the woods somewhere. After tallying your list, you can go to the GBBC web site and post the results.

The web site has a multitude of information for those not familiar with such efforts. There are How-to links; an instructional video; and a running tally of numbers of checklists, species and individual birds. Check out all the links on the right side of the GBBC page, too. The Photo Gallery and Learn About Birds are especially enjoyable.

And there are prizes for some lucky participants, too!

Talking Baseball, RIP Gary Carter

It's nearly the start of the major league baseball season. Some players are already reporting to spring training camps in Florida and Arizona although things won't get really going until Sunday, February 19th. That's the date for pitcher's and catchers to report. Position players will be appearing later in the week (Friday, February 24th).

It's a time for hope and dreams to spring eternal. Next Year is here and every player and every fan has hopes his/her team can make it to post season play and, perhaps, the World Series.

Still, there is sadness in the air as well. The death of Gary Carter--aged 57, former catcher of the Montreal Expos, member of the 1986 New York Mets' World Champions, 11 time All-Star, 3 time Golden Glove winner, Hall of Famer--has cast a pall upon the sunlight diamonds. Diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer just last May, The Kid succumbed to the disease on Thursday, February 16th.

He will be sorely missed.

More here, here, here, and here.

I Bet It Was!

Smokehouse Blaze 'Best-Smelling Fire We've Seen In A Long Time': Pennsylvania Firefighters

NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Firefighters in Pennsylvania have managed to save 200 pounds of Polish sausage from what they're calling the best-smelling fire they've doused in years.

Yukon Quest is won!

The Yukon Quest is won! (Not over it won't be over for a couple of days when the final musher and his/her team crosses the line in Whitehorse.)

Hugh Neff out sprinted Allen Moore to the finish line. The time difference was less than a minute. Neff was officially clocked in at 5:14 AM and Moore at 5:15 AM.

Five plus hours later (10:39 AM) third place went to Lance Mackey. Jake Berkowitz took fourth, arriving at 12:31 PM.

There are still 15 mushers on the trail--or possibly only 13 since two seem to have skipped one of the check points at the McCabe Creek Dog Drop.

The Red Lantern (final musher) is Michael Turpin who left Dawson at 19:22 PM yesterday. He's currently somewhere around mile marker 585 meaning he's got a tad over 400 miles to go. Michael is a rookie to the Quest from Chukotka, Siberia, Russia.

I believe the rules say something about 60 hours after the first musher crosses the finish line the race is officially over. Turpin will not make it to Whitehorse in that time--nor will a couple of others just ahead of him. Checkpoints may be closed when they get to them and assistance may not be available as volunteers head for home.

Of course, nothing short of the RCMP will be able to get some of them off the trail. It's not always about being first. Sometimes just finishing is as important.

Many of these folks and their dogs will be setting off on another 1000 mile race in just over 17 days. The Iditarod, from Anchorage to Nome, starts on March 3rd.

Aerie Report, February 12, 2012

I haven't written much this week, but it's certainly been interesting in a couple of minor ways.

Terry got a gift of a vase and a bulb for a paper-white narcissus for Christmas. It sat o n the counter for nearly a month before she added water to it and within a week the roots began to grow. A couple of days later the green leaf shoots started lengthening and then two flower stalks emerged.

Well, for a week and a half we could almost see those greens growing skyward if we just stared at them long enough. Everyday they'd be a half inch or more taller in the morning and another half inch by bed time. Things grew like Jack's beanstalk!

Last Sunday, the flower buds burst open and two clusters of pretty little white flowers appeared.

I was out of the house most of Monday, but on Tuesday my eyes started itching, my nose stated dripping and I started sneezing hard enough to tweek the muscles in my lower back. If I sneezed any harder, the walls of the house would have given way!

This continued on Wednesday and Thursday despite my taking my daily Loratadine tablet every morning. (That little pill makes it possible to have three cats in the house.) Trying to think of what might be causing my obviously allergic reaction we finally settled on the paper-white narcissus and it was exiled to the guest bedroom around noon on Friday.

It took a while before I started to recover, but by Saturday I was back to normal and continued to be itchy-eyes, runny-nose and sneeze free. Coincidence? The only way to find out is for me to go and sit in the guest bedroom for an hour. And I, for one, will not tempt fate.

******

Friday saw the temperatures around the Aerie begin to fall down below the historical averages. Clouds moved in and by Saturday noon hour it was flurrying. Not much, but enough to say it was doing something. Forecast initially said we would have only an inch or so but then they changed to "up to 3 inches" later tin the day. It was to stop by 8 PM. And it did. But then we started to have snow squalls all day Sunday. One minute the sun would shine through a break in the clouds and the next we would have white-out conditions with the wind whipping the powdery snow that fell on Saturday about as much as blowing the new stuff sideways.

And the Sunday morning temperature was just 7 degrees. Got as high as 18 though. Still, that's colder than the folks running the Yukon Quest are experiencing.

Tomorrow, they say, it will be mostly sunny with the temperatures reaching the upper 30s so, except for the deck, I left the snow lay where it fell. Mother Nature can do the cleanup this time around.

******

Terry and I were going to support the local church yesterday by going to their beef and chicken dinner. We scraped the snow and ice off the Tundra's windshield and drove down in the snow and were surprised to see that the parking lot was empty. Either Terry got the wrong night or the wrong church, or the thing got cancelled because of the snow. At any rate, we found ourselves down the hill with no firm plans for dinner. So, off to Mansfield and Papa V's for some fine Italian food.

We passed on the pizza and went for an appetizer of fried calamari and entrees of chicken parmigiano. Mmmm-mmm, good!

By the time we got home, I had to put the truck into 4-wheel to assure we would get up the hill. Drifting snow from the fields and pastures at the base of the hill had filled in much of the road.

******

Only thing that intruded upon a nice dinner out was some college aged kid sitting at the next table with his girlfriend and, I suppose, his mom and dad. The kid was loudly pontificating on the need for more than a high school diploma to get a job, the gas companies, the rise of tuition at Mansfield U, and education cuts made by the Governor.

I finally had enough and asked him to lower his voice since some of us wanted to enjoy our meal and had no interest in his ill-formed opinion. Surprisingly, he did.

I later thought of his comments and, if I had had the desire, could have put him in his place with just a few points. The gas companies are hiring people left right and sideways. Some of their jobs need special training WHICH THEY WILL PROVIDE so even a high school grad can get a gas job. The influx of gas workers has caused a boom in numerous support businesses in the area and there are help wanted signs up all over. I'm sure lots of those jobs do not require more than a high school diploma. How many more high school diplomaed kids would get jobs more easily if the high schools still taught skills like auto shop, carpentry, home economics (specifically cooking) instead of believing every kid must be trained to go to college? (On the home ec front, some entrepreneurial young ladies in the area have set up a housekeeping service to tend to the many single gas workers and drill rig offices that need cleaning up after. They say business is booming!)

Rise in tuition at MU? You mean the school that just had a building spurt and put up a couple of big dorms? Does it still teach things like "women's studies"? Why?

As for the cut in education monies the Governor has put in his budget (some $900 million), spread across the state of Pennsylvania that's not much at all. And in this area we actually had a round of consolidation recently because some schools were being underused. Imagine that.

The fact that this young man was spouting his opinions in an eatery that just doubled its size because of the gas boom and from whose windows one could see a micro brewery that didn't exist a little over a year ago and a Mexican cantina that is just two years old, and just down the street from a local bank branch that handled $130 million dollars in deposits last year--mostly from gas royalties payed to land owners...well, that was icing on the cake.

Changes (For others. Not for me.)

Gregor (aka Sad Old Goth) has changed his location. He's moved his blog from Blogger to Wordpress and also changed its name. He's now at: it's enough to make married men go home...

I'll be updating the sidebar to reflect those changes.

Reasons for his move had something to do with a straw and a camel's back...or something.

Aerie Weather Report, February 8, 2012

This winter has been a weird one. The temperatures have probably averaged right around the average but it's been more of a roller coaster ride than a smooth-lake canoe paddle. One day we might never get above freezing and the next it will be 50 degrees or more. Monday when I went down to Harrisburg and back, the sun shone brightly and the thermometer in the Tundra registered 54 degrees. Tuesday it was overcast and cloudy with a fair breeze from the north and the temp was no more than 30 at its highest. Today it's slightly colder with only the tiniest of a breeze out of the south and a sprinkling of snow flurries.

Speaking of snow, there isn't any on the ground around these parts. That's both good and bad. If it continues this way, there won't be much of a spring freshet in the creeks and rivers so there won't be any flooding to speak of--and after last fall's disaster that's a good thing. The counties and towns are saving tons of money on their snow removal budget which is a boon not soon overlooked. (I just hope they are wise enough to hang on to that money for next November and December.) The bad news is that the little bit of snow we are getting is not adding much to the water table. When it melts now, the ground is too frozen for it to soak in and, as a result, it merely runs off in the streams and rivers heading to the Chesapeake Bay. For all the rain we got last fall, it has been a dry, dry, dry winter.

As to the forecast for the next two weeks, AccuHunch is not terribly encouraging. In the next fourteen days, Mostly Sunny appears just three times, Partly Cloudy twice, Mostly Cloudy once, Cloudy twice, Freezing Rain three times, Showers once, and Dreary twice. (What the heck do they mean by "Dreary?" I have several meteorology courses under my belt and never once saw or heard of a weather condition classed as "Dreary" except in a Jane Eyre or Conan Doyle novel when they spoke of some damp castle upon the moor. Dreary, indeed.

As to the temperatures, it will get colder on Saturday with the high forecast to be just 21 degrees. It will then warm slightly and we'll see the daytime temps in the low 40s from next Tuesday on. (The "Freezing Rain" part must be coming at night when things drop down to the low 20s.) Sounds like the kind of weather the maple sap gatherers would like...if it came a month from now. I don't think the trees are ready to wake up quite yet. Those Ents are hardly hasty folk.

This weather has been playing havoc with our bird feeding. The lack of snow cover means there's plenty of places for the seed eaters to forage. They've only been showing up for an hour or two each day.

The gray squirrels, on the other hand, are another kettle of fish. Sharks. They have been here nearly every day in numbers ranging into double digits. It's not unusual to have four on the deck and the same number over on the side lawn.

It's comical to watch the squirrels at the two stick feeders hanging over the edge of the deck. They grasp the bottom perches and pull the feeder toward them so they can snatch a seed from the openings. They look like little submariners peering through the periscope.

They can empty the one feeder in no time flat. Of the 150 pounds of sunflower seeds I've put out this year, I'd estimate half of it--if not more--went to the squirrels.

Goin' Fishing

Joe and I booked a northern Quebec fly-in fishing trip for the week of August 9 through August 16.

We were able to get the outpost cabin we wanted. It's the same one we took our sons to when they were 8 and 9 years old...20 years ago.

We also walked around the show's floor for 2-1/2 hours and we didn't go to all the display halls but held ourselves to the hunting and fishing halls.

Blogging Award

Paul in Anchorage just awarded me (and others) this blog award. The drill is to pass along the 'love' to other bloggers.


Here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award

3. Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award. (I'm not sure about the followers count for the blogs I've chosen, but I do enjoy the posts at each of them. Just wish some would post more often. That's a hint Dudley.)

4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.


1. Northview Diary (Threecollie, I don't have your email so help yourself to the award.)
2. Stitchen in the Willows
3. At The Water
4. Scary Yankee Chick
5. Dudleys Diary



Aw gosh. Shucks.

Going shoppin'

My buddy Joe and I are heading to the Eastern Sports and Outdoors Expo down in Harrisburg Monday morning. We want to book a fishing trip in northern Quebec with Caesar's North Camps for sometime in August.

We've gone with Olivier's for many trips and enjoyed each one. Walleye and Northern Pike are our quarry. The former for their taste and the latter for their fight. If we get to go to the cabin we would like (the first one we ever went to nearly 20 years ago, Hanotaux), we'll be able to bring some of those Walleye home with us to the delight of the wives.

Besides booking a trip, we'll spend a couple hours walking about and checking out all the booths.

There's more than one way to deal with invasive species...

Puerto Rico to kill iguanas, export meat

The island's government is announcing plans to kill as many of the reptiles as possible and export their meat in hopes of eradicating an imported species that has long vexed residents and entertained tourists.

The U.S. Caribbean territory has roughly 4 million iguanas, which is a little more than the island's human population, according to Daniel Galan Kercado, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources.

"This is a very big problem. We have to attack it," he said in an interview Friday. "It has impacted structures, the economy, crops and the ecosystem."

Puerto Rico has long struggled to eradicate the bright green reptiles that can grow up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) long and have a life span of some 20 years. Iguanas are considered an endangered species throughout most of Latin America, but Puerto Rico is overrun with them, in part because they breed so quickly and have few natural predators.

Maybe they can just run a scam like The Freshman. No. Wait. They didn't actually kill the endangered species in that movie.

I wonder what iguana tastes like?

Heh. Doesn't matter. A little stir fry with snap peas, broccoli, some of those baby corns and Sriracha sauce and it'll be fine. Just like chicken!

Just a reminder: Cold Kills

As a reminder of the devastating effects cold can have on humans, we have this report about the latest cold spell in Europe:

Toll from Europe freeze tops 220

Temperatures plunged to new lows in Europe where a week-long cold snap has now claimed more than 220 lives and forecasters warned Friday that the big freeze would tighten its grip over the weekend.

A total of 223 people have died from the cold weather in the last seven days according to an AFP tally, with Ukraine suffering the heaviest toll.

In addition to the deaths, some...shall we say...interesting weather has occurred. For instance ice skates might become more useful than a gondola in Venice. And you might want to leave the toga home when you go to Rome.

In Italy, Venice's canals started freezing over and even Rome was dusted in snow.
...
Temperatures plunged to minus 35 Celsius in some areas of Poland.

In Bulgaria parts of the River Danube froze over

Snow Falls in Rome as Italy Is Hit by Cold Snap

A rare snowfall blanketed Rome on Friday, forcing the closure of the Colosseum over fears tourists would slip on the icy ruins, and leaving buses struggling to climb the city's slushy hills. Other parts of the country experienced frigid temperatures unseen in years.

Authorities stopped visitors from entering the Colosseum, the adjacent Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, the former home of Rome's ancient emperors, although those already inside the ruins before thick flakes began coming down in late morning were allowed to finish their visits. The director of the ancient arena, Rossella Rea, said there was concern visitors could fall on ice.

The last substantial snowfall in Rome occurred in 1986, though lighter snowfalls have occasionally and briefly blanketed the city since, including in 2010.

Then there's the heating problem in the city...

Since the capital infrequently sees freezing temperatures, heating in homes is only allowed by law for about 10 hours a day, to cut down on pollution. The cold snap, with temperatures hovering at or just below the freezing point, meant Romans shivered in their homes, many with tile and marble floors.

The cold in Poland has halted the annual swim, too.

Deep freeze hits Poland's hardy lake swimmers

"In the interests of our participants' security, we've decided to call off this year's Bath of the Brave," Ireneusz Dzienisiewicz told Poland's PAP news agency.
...
But temperatures in northern Poland have plunged to minus 30 Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit), far below the minus 15 Celsius experienced by swimmers in 2010 during the coldest ever edition of the event.

On top of the risks to the swimmers, there were also practical reasons for cancelling the event.

"The water freezes so fast that we wouldn't be able to keep a large enough hole in the ice," said Dzienisiewicz.

Ho-hum. Nothing new here

Seems ever year we get a report of something like this:
18-Mile Crack Seen by NASA in Antarctic Glacier

In the next few months, scientists expect the glacier to create an iceberg about 350 square miles in area. It will probably float northward, melting as it goes.

And at about this time of year, too. Problem is, the glaciers push out onto the sea, become unsupported from below and crack. Do they then float off as the article suggests? Sometimes. But just as often they refreeze when the Antarctic winter reappears. Which happens to be right around the corner.

ps Don't believe the tag line at the end of the article that says both poles are losing ice. Aint' happening.

Under "You can't make this stuff up"

New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation got so many handwritten comments on hydrofracking, that one of its employees responsible for scanning them into digital form has suffered a shoulder injury. No. Really.

Hydrofracking comments present new problem: Scanning shoulder

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is conducting an ergonomic review of a temporary office for scanning and logging the tens of thousands of responses after an employees' union lodged a complaint last month.

A worker assigned to the "bullpen" -- as the office has been dubbed -- suffered a shoulder injury in January that the union suspects may have been caused by an inefficient setup, said Wayne Bayer, a DEC steward for the Public Employees Federation.

The complaint, Bayer said, led to a shutdown of the scanning for "a day or two" last month. The union claims the injury was likely caused by "improper equipment, improper level of the equipment" or the motion of repeatedly operating the scanners, he said.

Uh-oh!

Okay. Here's the plot. Send a bunch of Russian scientists down to Antarctica to drill thousands of feet through the ice sheet to a lake far, far below the surface. A lake that last saw the light of day when all the land masses of earth formed Pangaea.

And, working under very harsh and rushed circumstances, just as they are poised to tap into that lake (call it "Lake Vostok") all contact with the team is lost. What happened? What did they release when they hit that pocket of very, very ancient water? Will they be found before the Antarctic winter rolls in once more?

It would make one heck of a movie. Except it is real.

Russian scientists seeking Lake Vostok lost in frozen 'Land of the Lost'?

Good questions.

Winter Sports

With college football's National Signing Day over, there's a long, six-month wait until there's a game played. That would be somewhere near the end of August. A l-o-n-g time away.

Meanwhile there's the Super Bowl being played this Sunday. After that there's a l-o-n-g six month wait for a pro football game that means anything.

And Major League baseball doesn't start for real until around April 1. The Mets first game is April 5th, at home, against the Braves. (Spring training does start in February, but that's little more than a time to learn who's on the team.)

There's still things worth paying attention to, however. Saturday, February 4th is the start of the Yukon Quest sled dog race. This year's 1000-mile race starts in Fairbanks and ends in Whitehorse, BC. (They change the direction of the race each year.) You can follow the race through the official web site.

Coming a month before the Iditarod, the Yukon Quest often sees many of the same racers and their dogs. (Some dogs will be switched out between the two races as the teams suffer injuries or the mushers determine which dogs are better at the long distance.) The Quest hasn't got as big a name as the Iditarod and this will be just the 29th running of the Quest compared to the 40th running of Iditarod, but it is just as interesting to follow and has just as much adventure and danger.

The Iditarod itself begins on March 3rd and can be followed here. It's the World Series and Super Bowl of sled dog racing. Like the Quest, the top finishers should end up in Nome somewhere around 10 to 12 days after the race begins. And I'll be following both races from start to finish.

And Phil says...

Oh well, Phil says it's shadows all the way down.

Six more weeks of winter.

Groundhog Day 2012

The eNature Blog asks the question: How Can A Groundhog Predict The End Of Winter?

Thursday's forecast is for a bit of a shower--although the sky here at the Aerie is perfectly clear at 8 PM Wednesday.

At 7:20 AM EST Thursday, February 2nd at Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club will be broadcasting Phil's Prognostication. Here.

R U Rah! Rah!

Today was National Signing Day for college football recruits and my Scarlet Knights succeeded in inking the best class in school history. ESPN ranks this Rutgers' class as the #25 class in the nation and better than any other Big East squad. MaxPreps says it's #23. Rivals has it as #23 and 247 has it as #22. Any way you slice it, when you consider the turmoil created by the departure of head coach Greg Schiano to take the same position with the NFL's Tampa Bay Bucs, this was one heck of an accomplishment.

Those recruits who were truly committed to the Rutgers' program and philosophy, as well as the assistant coaches and Athletic Director did a marvelous job in holding the group together.

As for the class' composition, it meets the teams needs. Six of the 20 in the incoming class are offensive linemen. One, is the #3 center in the nation. Two others are among the top 25 offensive tackles. One is an experienced transfer from Maryland. They are all very, very big guys who have been outstanding players in high school and should help revitalize a running game that has been missing since Ray Rice left to join the NFL Ravens.

Add defensive end Darius Hamilton, ranked by some to be among the top 10 players in the nation. (His Dad played 12 years with the New York Giants.) Sprinkle in a couple of wide receivers, several linebackers and a few exceptional athletes capable of playing on either side of the ball and you've got on heck of a promise.

I can't wait for the 2012 season to start.