Aerie Report, May 14, 2010

Holy Moly! The weather quacks were right on the money today--except for the high temperature. They said we would have some heavy rains this morning and we did as a line of T-storms moved through. However they said it would only get to 74 this afternoon but it got up to 81 under the sunny skies. Should their forecast hold true through the weekend, it looks like I might just get the staining done after all.

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The rains we've had have certainly done the onions I planted a world of good. Every single set has now sprouted and nearly all of them are a good six inches tall. And the strawberry patch is growing like weeds! Flowers everywhere and some young strawberries are already forming. A few are the size of a thumbnail already. I've got June bearing and ever-bearing plants in there so while we will get some, the birds and mice will get a lot, too. That is, if Don and Adam aren't here to pick them. They are going to stain the logs and put stone on the front of the walk-out basement. Both tasks need warm weather with 50 degree nights so they may not get the job done before we leave. (I'm not as picky about the staining of the deck as Don is. As long as the nights are above freezing....)

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For the $12 mil a year the Mets are paying him, you'd think Oliver Perez would be a major league pitcher. The way he's pitching, however, he'd be lucky to survive a go-round down in Williamsport against the Little League teams that show up in August for the World series. Tonight's line: 3.1 innings, four (4) home runs (2 by Dan Uggla who has 4 RBI), three walks, five Ks, and seven (7) earned runs. Used to be you could get the Good Ollie as often as you got the Bad Ollie. Seems like they're both showing up in the same game now. Time to get him out of the starting rotation and figure ut what the heck is wrong.

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The good thing about that bad Mets' game is I can go to bed early. Tomorrow's bird walk is at Colton Point SP again. That's a 45 minute drive west of here. Since the walk starts at 7:30 AM, I've got to get up early to get breakfast at Mickey-D's.

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That hummingbird that showed up a few days ago has been a regular at the feeder. Today he brought a date.

Heard a couple of different warblers and thrushes in the woods this morning so it should be a good day at CPSP tomorrow. At least the winds can't be as bad as last week when they were whipping the tree branches about under 30 and 40 mph gusts.

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Ordered a bug screen for the Tundra today via Amazon and it's already being prepped for shipping and should be here early next week. They say it's easy to install. We shall see!

Also made arrangements for the Tundra to get an oil change and a thorough pre-trip check-up as recommended by the Good Sam Club. I'll see about getting some spare belts and hoses, too--just in case.

We checked out the CB radio this afternoon. I had installed it a couple of weeks ago and used it to monitor air traffic the last time I went up to the Bolt Hole but, while it seemed to receive calls just fine, I never tried to make any. Mark had a couple of hand-held CB radios that can be plugged into the cigarette lighter (they also use AA batteries--eight (8) of them, which I was short on) so I put Terry in the Jeep and we talked back and forth a bit.

Just 25 days to go before we hit the road.

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Just one word about politics. The ads are starting to get hot and heavy for Senator Specter. Especially the ones with President Obama touting how Specter will work hard for his constituents here in PA--just as he has in the past...when he was a Republican. Right! The primary election is next Tuesday. As some wag put it in a comment on another blog, Wednesday's headline should read "Specter Fades Away." When you've turned your coat once, NO ONE trusts you. Sestak should beat Specter on Tuesday but even Sestak will not win in November. He'll have bucked the Democrat's choice (see Obama stumping for Specter) and will still have that "D" after his name at the polls. This off year, that is not a good combination.