College Football: Week 2

Well, week two of college football’s fall frenzy has ended. While most games ere played outside the conference, there were a few exceptions. In any case, the shake-up of the top 25 rankings has begun as pollsters get a better idea of what a team is actually capable of this year instead of guessing based on last year’s play. (Did Michigan really, really deserve to be a preseason #5 pick? Based upon the first two games, I guess not!)
(Rankings are based upon the AP/Coaches Polls.)
#1 USC was idle this week and will stay in top position.
#2 LSU took #9 Virginia Tech http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/teams/page/LSU to the woodshed in a 48-7 drubbing. LSU stays put but VT probably falls, but just a notch or two.
#3/#4 West Virginia Had a difficult time getting started against a tough Marshall squad and trailed at the half 13-6. But they play 60 minutes, not 30 and when it was over, WVA, with Slayton and White running over, around and through, had collected a 48-23 victory.
#4/#3 Florida let little Timmy Tebow play with his toys—I mean Troy and the result was a 59-31 win for the Gators that wasn’t really that close as Florida took a siesta in the third quarter.
#5/#6 Oklahoma went out and beat up on the little guys again on Saturday, defeating Miami 51-13. What? It was Miami of Florida, not Ohio? Might not be such a strong Hurricane season after all. Too bad, the teams above did so well, cause the Sooners can’t move up against them.
#6/#5 Wisconsin nearly succumbed to the odds as they needed a late score to edge UNLV 20-13. The Rebels nearly had this one but Donovan’s 29-yard bootleg for a TD with just 1:53 to play saved the Badger’s bacon. This could cost the Badgers a couple of notches in the polls.
#7 Texas was being shut out and trailed #19 Texas Christian 10-0 at the half, but, as I said earlier, they play 60 not 30 minutes. The Long Horns came out of their slumber in the second half and defeated the Horned Frogs 34-13. The slow start might cost the ‘Horns a chance to move up.
#8 Louisville’s offence was impressive in their 58-42 victory in the track meet against Middle Tennessee State, but their defense went AWOL—again. Brohm had a career high 401 yards passing and Anthony Allen a school record 275 yards on the ground for the Cardinals. And they needed every inch of it to beat the Blue Raiders. Sure the Cardinals have scored 131 points in two games (73-10 vs Murray State and 58-42 against Mid Tenn St.), but if they can’t stop anyone, they’re going to have to average those 65 points per game and pray it’s enough. (Slayton, White, Rice, and Teel are probably licking their chops thinking about the Cardinal defense.)
#9 Virginia Tech lost 48-7 to #2 LSU. The Tigers stripped the Hokies to their underwear in this one. While losing to a higher ranked opponent usually isn’t going to hurt you, this one could. Expect the Hokies to fall hard.

#10 California. The Bears offense managed to score enough points to hold off the Colorado State Rams 34-28 but it was a near thing. Leading 34-14, the bears managed to allow Colorado State to score two TDs in a 53 second span in the fourth quarter.

#11/#12 Georgia lost to the south Carolina Gamecocks 16-12 in a game that saw one TD and seven filed goals. This one is going to cost Georgia as it will fall several slots in the polls.

#12/#11 Ohio State. The Buckeyes spotted Akron 2 points via a safety in the first quarter, led just 3-1 at the half, and then ground out a 20-2 victory over the –well, Zips. Should it have been this close? Or were the Buckeyes being neighborly? Up in the polls—no. Down—maybe.

#13/#14 UCLA scored a TD late in the game to seal a close 27-17 victory over the BYU Cougars. The win ended a BYU 11 game winning streak. Whether it will cost them in the polls remains to be seen.
#14/#15 Penn State dismantled Notre Dame 31-10. PSU could move up, but this was not the Notre Dame of the past.

#15/#16 Rutgers handily defeated Navy 41-24. Whether they get to move up or not? [shrugs shoulders]

#16/#17 Nebraska eked out a 20-17 victory over Wake Forest on the road. It probably won;’t help or hurt their ranking in the polls.

#17/#13 Auburn lost to South Florida in overtime 26-23. Expect Auburn’s stock to fall while the South Florida Bulls may crack the top 25 this week.

#18 Arkansas was idle this week. (BTW: Who made up the schedule for Troy (now 0-2)? Week one against Arkansas (46-26) and week two against Florida (59-31)?

#19 TCU. The Horned Frogs gave #7 Texas all they could handle in the first half (they led 10-0 at intermission) before succumbing to the inevitable 34-13. Up? No way. Down? Possibly/probably.

#20/#22 Hawaii won a squeaker of a game at Louisiana Tech 45-44 in overtime. Colt Brennan through for 548 yards and 4 TDs and needed every one of them plus a stopped 2-point conversion in OT to win this Western Athletic Conference contest. This will not inspire voters to move them up in the polls. Down is another matter.

#21 Georgia Tech, after taking apart Notre Dame last week, gave lessons in football to 1-AA opponent Samford. The Yellow Jackets scored 45 points in the first half as they rambled over a wrecked Bulldog squad to a 69-14 victory. Tashard Choice ran for 110 yards and two TD in the first quarter and sat out the rest of the game as the second and third string rolled up time and points to a 62-0 lead at the end of three. Up? Maybe. Down No way, Jose.

#22/#20 Boise State saw their 14-game win streak come to an end at the hands of Washington Huskies 24-10. The Broncos are falling this week.

#23 Texas A & M squeaked past Fresno State in triple overtime 47-45 when a 2-point conversion by the Bulldogs failed. Could cost the Aggies a slot or two.

#24 Tennessee drubbed Southern Miss 39-19.

#25/NR Clemson rolled over Louisiana-Monroe 49-26 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. Looking up for the Tigers.

If any team cracks the top 25 this week it will be Boston College (victors over North Carolina State, 37-17 and now 2-0). Boise State may find itself on the outside looking in.

Damn! I think I've been infected!

Via email from my wife, the Navigator (cause she's always telling me where to go!)

HEALTH ALERT -- DANGEROUS NEW VIRUS

There is a dangerous virus being passed around electronically, orally, and
by hand. This virus is called Weary-Overload-Recreational-Killer (WORK).
If you receive WORK from any of your colleagues, your boss, or anyone else
via any means DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life
completely. If you should come into contact with WORK, put your jacket on
and take two good friends to the nearest grocery store. Purchase the
antidote known as Work-Isolating-Neutralizer-Extract (WINE) or
Bothersome-Employer-Elimination-Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote
repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should forward this warning to 5 friends. If you do not have 5
friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.

Rutgers 41, Navy 24

It wasn’t as smooth a game as I would have liked. There were far too many penalties for holding and pass interference at critical moments. Navy drives were sustained by those penalties when they should have been stopped. Rutgers scores and/or big gains were called back because of them. I’ll confess, that the few times they ran replays on the penalties (something ESPN did not do that often enough), the calls appeared questionable.

However, the Scarlet Knights’ defense made three interceptions when Navy was forced to go to the air. Two of the interceptions were in the end zone to ending Navy drives and the other provided mike Teel a short field to work with and led to an RU score.

Ray Rice made a credible case for Heisman consideration. He rushed for a net of 175 yards and 2 touchdowns on 37 carries and caught 3 passes for 40 yards and another TD. Early on he became the leading rusher in RU history surpassing Terrel Willis (1993-95; 3,114 yards). It was Rice's 17th career 100-yard game.

Mike Teel threw his first interception of the season and his first in 125 attempts (a pass that went off the fingertips of the receiver into a Navy defenders arms), but completed 14 of 19 attempts for 266 yards and 3 TDs.

Tiquan Underwood had another excellent game catching 6 passes for 104 yards, while Kenny Britt caught 3 for 99 yards and a TD.

Jeremy Ito converted all 5 PATs and made two field goals of 28 and 20 yards. He also punted for the first time this season and, although it was short in yardage traveling only 37 yards, it pinned Navy down on the 3-yard line. It was actually a “do over” RU lined up as though to go for a field goal and Ito took tha direct snap, punted the ball and it rolled dead on the 3. But RU was called for a penalty and they had to do it again. This time, in punt formation, Ito sort of side-kicked (is that a word) the ball, taking two or three steps to his right before kicking it almost like a soccer kick. It again rolled dead at the 3-yard line. I don’t know if this will work against some of the bigger lines out there, but it worked against Navy.

For the game, Rutgers generated 476 yards, while Navy, using their option offense, totaled 289, nearly all of it on the ground.

For the full story and stats go here.

Next Saturday, Rutgers (2-0) will face the Spartans of Norfolk State at Rutgers Stadium where RU now has a nine game winning streak.

Aaaachooo!

I don't know if it's the pollen in the air (it shouldn't be with all the damn shots I got to desensitize me to them) or the cat dander I kicked up working in the basement, but something has got my sinuses flowing, my eyes itching and my sneezer sneezing--big time. It sucks.

Holy crap! Can’t anyone here play defense?

The halftime score at the Middle Tennessee State vs #8 Louisville game is—are you sitting down—38-35. The Knicks and Nets would love to have halftime scores that high.

Joe Craddock IV, remember that name. He threw for 221 yards and 2 TDs—in the first half for Middle Tennessee State, remember that school. The Blue Raiders also had 129 yards on the ground and 3 TDs. Kicker Matt King converted all five extra points.

Brian Brohm, QB for Louisville threw for 280 yards and 2 TDs—in the first half. The Cardinals rushed for 132 yards and 3 TDs. Art Carmody made a 32 yard field goal for the other score. (He was also successful on all five extra points.)

There was only one punt and that was by Louisville. And one interception by Louisville. Both occurred in the closing minute of the half.

Second half:

That didn’t take long. MITNST has a three and out to start he first half. Dave DeFatta makes his first punt. But then The Blue Raiders recover a Louisville fumble on their own 44 yard line 2:16 into the half. Then things started to get sloppy with penalty and counter penalty slowing the game down and killing the “drive.” DeFatta makes his second punt.

Finally! Art Carmody made a field goal of 30 yards for the Louisville Cardinals with 6:24 left on the clock in the third quarter. (Bunch of slackers!)

WITNST moves down the field but stalls at the Louisville 29 yard line and then misses the long 46 yard field goal attempt. (Bunch of INEPT slackers!)

Aaaannnndd here come the Cardinals! (I was right. This isn’t a football game it’s basketball with pads. Or maybe ping-pong as the teams bounce back and forth.) With 2:51 on the clock for the third quarter, the Cardinals score another TD as Brian Brohm passes to Mario Urrutia for 22 yards. The extra point is good so the score is now—what a minute while I get out my calculator---nine plus nine is eighteen and you carry the one and…48-35 Cardinals.

But the Blue Raiders …FUMBLE on their own 24 and the Cardinals recover! But they have to settle for a 30 yard field goal. 51-35.

And the gun sounds for the end of the third quarter. Brohm has thrown for 390 yards and Anthony Allen has rushed for 149 for Louisville. Craddock has thrown for 238 for MITNST.

On the first play of the fourth quarter—after being held scoreless in the third, Phillip Tanner rushed for 79 yards and a TD for the Blue Raiders of MITNST. Tanner now has 145 yards rushing. The kick was good so the score is now 51-42.

With a 48 yard rush from scrimmage, Anthony Allen of Louisville has cracked the 200 yard mark for the game with 14:27 to play. Louisville succeeds in scoring on Brohm’s 4th TD pass of the game and the PAT is good making it 58-42, with 11:20 to go in the game. Brohm now has 400 yards passing.

MITNST drives the field but looks to be stopped on a 4th and 3 on the Louisville 23 but converts on a 7 yard pass Craddock to McNair. But wait! Malik Jackson intercepts a Craddock pass at the 1 and returns it 6 yards for the Cardinals.


Louisville ran out the remaining 5:07 on the clock.

Whew!

The scoring slowed down in the second half. Probably due to exhaustion.

While MITNST never lead in the game, they sure were able to move the ball at will. Craddock finished the game 14-26, 286 yards with 2 TDs and 2 INT. He also ran for 55 yards on 10 carries. Tanner rushed for 145 yards n 9 carries and scored 3 TDs. And McNair had 7 carries for 73 yards.

On the Louisville side of the ledger; Brohm finished the night 25-39 for 400 yards and 4 TDs. He also ran 7 times for 23 yards. Allen rushed for 270 yards on 35 carries and scored 2 TDs.

If #8 Louisville really wants to compete in the Big East, they’re going to have to work on their defense.

meanwhile, Cincinnati knocked off Oregon State tonight 34-3

Weekly Birding Report

Gary and I went for a walk along the Mansfield bike trail this morning. We started at the Borough work station behind Grecco's Grocery and walked just one mile up to the new Route 15 overpass and back. The walk is on a paved surface and is very flat. The trail itself runs nearly four miles to the road to the boat launch and a picnic area on Tioga Lake.The area is a mix of open grass fields, mature hardwoods (predominantly oaks and hickory) and softwoods (sycamore and some pine and cedar) and overgrown brush. There is a catch basin for storm water runoff and the Tioga River. (The river, however is quite "dead" along this stretch due to acid runoff from the Blossburg mines.) Things were quite quiet on the birding front with only 23 species sighted. This was somewhat surprising in light of all the forage available in the form of wild grapes, Virginia Creeper, Goldenrod, elderberries, raspberries and wild rose. A few species, notably the Goldfinches, did take advantage of Mother Natures largesses.

In any even, here is the morning report:
Location: Mansfield Bike Path
Observation date: 9/6/07
Notes: Clear morning with light winds out of the south. Temps in 65-75 degree range.
Number of species: 23

Great Blue Heron 1
Green Heron 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Rock Pigeon 11
Mourning Dove 4
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Blue Jay 17
American Crow 5
Tufted Titmouse 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 2
American Robin 5
Gray Catbird 6
Common Yellowthroat 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2
Purple Finch 3
House Finch 5
American Goldfinch 35
House Sparrow 10

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

Aaaachooo! Geshundeit!

Was reading someone’s blog this morning and they were complaining of itchy eyes and runy nose associated with hay fever. And they were cursing out the abundant Goldenrod in the fields and along the roadside. Been there and done that.

When I was growing up, I suffered greatly from hay fever in the fall. The start of the school year invariably would see me sporting red rimmed eyes that, if not accompanied by the runny nose and sneezing, surely would have had me labeled a user of pot by those who didn’t know me well. And like most people, I blamed my suffering on the plant called Goldenrod. It wasn’t until I was in my late twenties and getting allergy shots to desensitize me from my pollen allergies that I learned the truth. It wasn’t the bright yellow Goldenrod at all but a less conspicuous plant called Ragweed that was the culprit. They both just happen to be in flower about the same time.

There are two species of Ragweed found here in the east, Great Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) and Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia). Both are nasty buggers. Pulling them up by hand, especially the Great Ragweed, is not recommended unless you wear long sleeves and stout gloves. (Trust me on this!) Even if you are not a sufferer of hay fever, their prickly stems and leaves can leave an itching rash that you won’t soon forget!

As the eNature.com entry for Great Ragweed states, they are potent plants.

Warning This plant is a major cause of hay fever allergies, and can irritate the skin if touched. Can be toxic to livestock if ingested. (Humans should generally avoid ingesting plants that are toxic to animals.)

I think that warning says it all!

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.), however are showy wildflowers of the aster family that are a boon to insects of many types, but especially to migrating Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus), who find them one of the last of flowering plants along the trail south. There are some 170 species of Goldenrods, many of which are found in the east. They flower from early summer through October and even later as you move southward.

Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), Pine-barren Goldenrod (Solidago fistulosa), and Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciosa) are just three of the more common species typically found in field and forest as well as along roadsides.

I was reminded of the importance of these plants to the Monarchs’ survival today when I drove to the post office and again while working in the yard. Many of the edges of the hayfields and pastures along the way to the post office and the right of way of the power line in my yard currently sport a lush growth of Goldenrod, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the Monarchs. I must have seen dozens today and all were heading south or resting to feed on the Goldenrod’s yellow flowers.

For Monarchs, Milkweed may be the nursery and larder for the caterpillar, but Goldenrod is clearly their traveling food.

(All links to eNature.com.)

All good things come to an end.

The Mets got shutout today 7-0 by the Reds.

John Maine continues having troubles giving up 6 runs (all earned) on nine hits (including two homers) and 3 walks in just four -and-a-third innings.

It's now back to NY for three game series against the Atros, Phils and Braves.

Another reason I don’t like to fly.

I don’t have any goats.

In the WTF category:

Airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god

Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday.

Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks due the problem.

The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft Sunday at Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said.

"The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," said Raju K.C., a senior airline official, without explaining what the problem had been.

Aren’t these some of the same folks that are on the other end of the phone when we call computer tech support?

Mets 11, Reds 7

For the first time all year, the Mets have a five game winning streak as they jumped out in front, fell behind and then walked all over the Reds.

And what a night Paul LoDuca had! Two, count them, Two three-run home runs and another run batted in to make it seven for the night as he went 3-for-5.

Oh, and Beltran tacked on a two run shot as well. And the other Carlos, Delgado, also went 3-for-5 with 2 runs scored. Green was 3-for-5 also with two RBI and three runs scored.

And the Phils beat the Braves 5-1. Love it when the two chasers (can we still count the Braves as a chaser?) beat up on one another.

Sunset

The forecast is for some little bit of rain tonight and tomorrow morning. Perhaps that is why tonight's sunset was so spectacular.





Sure is pretty.

UPDATE: 10 PM Well the weather quakes got it wrong--again. I just went outside and there's not a cloud in the sky. Nothing up there but stars and a few blinking lights from planes. You can even make out the Milky Way with the naked eye, something I could never do back in NJ because of all the light pollution.

I should have gone with the old saying, "Red sky at night, sailors delight."

Walking Stick

I walked out of the basement this afternoon to work on the raised bed I'm constructing and happened to notice this guy on the stuccoed wall. Now in the woods or field amongst the twigs and weeds you would never notice it, but against the gray wall it stands out like a sore thumb. It measured between six and seven inches in length and was as thin as a pencil lead.



We've seen quite a few of them about on the deck or log walls of the Aerie, but even there they are somewhat camouflaged. Not this one, however.

Last of week 1 College Football

As expected, Texas Tech dismantled Southern Methodist 49-9.

Then it was time for the family clash between Bowden and Bowden. #19 Florida State visited Clemson. For the first half it was all Clemson. While FSU came back--a bit--in the second half, the Tigers were able to hold on and upset Dad's team 24-18.

Lets Go Mets!

Pedro recorded his 3000th strikeout and his first win in 2007. The Mets racked up 16 hits and 10 runs, while the bullpen gave up just one meaningless run in four innings of work. The Mets won their fourth in a row defeating the Cincinnati Reds 10-4.

Add that the Braves beat the Phils 5-1 and everything is clearly all right with the world!

I knew there was a good reason to avoid rabbit food.

(Unless you're eating the actual rabbit, that is.)

The rise in year-round consumption of fresh leafy greens such as lettuce and baby spinach is increasing the difficulty of keeping produce free from contamination by food poisoning bacteria, according to scientists.

Lettuce, Leafy Greens And E. Coli

I’ll stick to venison steaks done rare, thank you.

And I will be doing my part to aid them along

Male Deer Are Born To Live Fast, Die Young

And in just a few weeks, millions of hunters will take to the fields and woods of the USA to try and speed their passage.

Say what?

Edwards backs mandatory preventive care

"It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care," he told a crowd sitting in lawn chairs in front of the Cedar County Courthouse. "If you are going to be in the system, you can't choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK."
He noted, for example, that women would be required to have regular mammograms in an effort to find and treat "the first trace of problem."

The man is a loon. This is nannyism to the extreme and far, far worse than socialized medicine.(Which is a terrible concept to begin with.)

Black bears are harmless?

Bear attacks mountain biker in Kitsap park

The man was riding his mountain bike along the park trails with his two dogs ranging ahead of him. (Obviously not on any leash or restraint.) They came upon a bear, possibly one with two cubs that had been reported in the area earlier in the day, and it attacked first the dogs and then the man. The man was mauled pretty badly but was able to cycle out of the park after the bear cut off the attack.

So the response is to do what?

A state Department of Fish and Wildlife officer was gathering a team of dogs, with the intent of finding the bear and euthanizing it.

Yeah, they want to kill the bear.

Folks, letting your dogs run free in bear country (or any park that I'm aware of) is a big no-no. Getting between a Mama bear and her cubs or just too close for her comfort is an even bigger mistake.

I’m a hunter and fisherman but I really hope she and her cubs have gotten far away from the site of the attack.

Aah, the joys of living in the country!

Ky. lawsuit challenges farmer's cannon

A group of residents is suing a farmer, claiming the propane cannon he uses to scare away birds from his sweet corn is too loud.

Well, hell, yeah! What’s the point of putting a silencer on a cannon? Especially when it’s designed to make noise and not shoot a projectile.

Sounds like the farmer might have a chance of winning this one.

Jessamine County's noise-control ordinance exempts from penalties a "noise disturbance created by farm livestock, the operation of farm machinery or noise created by other activities relating to an agricultural operation."

But the neighbors apparently do not understand farming.

Steve Ayres, another plaintiff in the lawsuit filed last week, said that the group doesn't believe a cannon is a normal agricultural sound.

Now, as I understand the operations of these propane cannons, they can be set on a timer and fired automatically. If it weren’t for that, I would suggest that the farmer just get himself some Civil War reenactment materiel and blast away. (Or figure out how to fire a projectile from his cannon the 500 yards to the plaintiffs’ yards.)

If I were the judge in this case my first question would be about time of residency. As in how long the farm has been in operation and how long the neighbors have lived where they do. My second would be about the knowledge of the neighbors as to the presence of a farm next door when they purchased their home.

This probably ranks right up there with the folks in the new development who complained about the smell of manure spreading on the dairy farm next door. They had moved into a development carved out of an old farm and then filed a complaint. The judge asked just those two questions and got the replies. The farm had been a family operation for generations. The "newbies" knew about the farm when they bought their homes. Case dismissed.

Psst! Hey buddy, wanna buy a bridge?

This guy might have had one to sell.

Man arrested for stealing bridge

Russian police have detained a 45-year-old municipal worker for stealing a bridge.
…
In a statement, Ryazan region police called it "the bulkiest theft of the year."

A five meter long bridge? I’ll bet it was bulky! Tough to hide under your trench coat on the street corner.

The thing is, it wasn't like it was on a truck being delivered or something. He removed it from where it crossed the river!

How do you manage to do THAT? Do you put up a sign that says, "Men At Work" and start dismantling the bridge?

"Hey, Ivan why are you taking that bridge apart?"

"I have to take it back to the shop for repairs." or "The Chinese made the parts and it's been recalled."

Elimination Time!

The second best thing about early September (besides college football getting started again) is that the countdown to elimination in Major League Baseball races can be taken seriously. The playoffs and World Series are just around the corer.

So, after going to Philadelphia last Monday and getting their collective heads handed to them in a four game sweep by the Phillies, the Mets went down to Georgia and looked like Sherman. They sucked it up and swept the Braves in a three game set with a combination of excellent pitching and timely hitting. While that was happening, the Phillies who had moved up to just 2 games behind the first place Mets, went down to Miami and lost two out of three games to the Marlins.

[i note that despite defeating the Yankees this afternoon, Tampa Bay has become the first team to be officially eliminated from playoff contention. Sorry GuyK.]

It’s Labor Day and the Mets have moved out to a four game lead over the Phils and an eight game lead over Atlanta. That’s a pretty comfortable position, especially with Pedro Martinez set to make his season’s debut Monday against Cincinnati.

After six games against the Reds (away) and Astros (home), the Mets will again face off against the Braves and Phils for three games each in Shea. They have done well against the Central Division teams this year and a good showing against their division rivals will definitely put them in the catbird seat come September 17.

Of note is that the Mets are one of the oddities in sports. They have a better record on the road, 41-30, than they do at home, 35-30. They have more home games remaining than away games and cold improve upon that record, however.

Brrr!

The Weather Channel says it is 41 degrees down in the valley, but up here at the Aerie, it's only dropped to 47.

Living on the slope of a hill, even though it faces northwest and doesn't get the early sun, has some advantages. The sinking cold air just slides right on by as it heads downhill to the valley below.

At least that's how it works when there isn't a breath of a breeze or a cloud in the sky.

Still more college football

In the late Saturday games:

As to be expected, Idaho served it up to #1 USC on a platter. USC won 38-10. But the Vandals gained 182 yards in the first half which made the USC crowd a little nervous. This was USC’s 34th consecutive victory at home, the longest such streak in the nation.

Arkansas State (who?) made #4 Texas work for its opening day victory. They scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to shave the Longhorns margin to 21-13. Despite winning, Texas might move down in the polls.

#8 Oklahoma did indeed score sooner and quite a bit more often than visiting North Texas 79-10. The Sooners held a 49-0 lead at half time thanks to the passing! game of their red-shirted freshman quarterback, Sam Bradford. Oklahoma finished the game with 403 yards in the air AND 265 on the ground. Next week they have a slightly tougher opponent in the visiting Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes.

#13 Georgia picked up their 11 consecutive season opening victory with a 35-14 drubbing of Oklahoma State.

#18 Auburn got passed Kansas State 23-13 but it was much closer than that. KS did a lot to beat themselves with penalties and a couple of late turnovers.

#21 Arkansas powered passed Troy 46-26.

#22 Texas Christian welcomed the Baylor Bears and then whupped them 27-0.

#23 Hawaii trounced visiting Northern Colorado 63-6. Hawaii’s quarterback Colt Brennan threw for 416 yards and six touchdowns -- in the first half. Northern Colorado avoided a shutout on a QB sneak in the fourth quarter, but then had the extra point blocked and the ensuing kickoff returned 94 yards for a touchdown by Hawaii’s freshman Malcolm Lane. Aloha NC Bears.

#25 Texas A&M defeated Montana State 28-7.

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So, with a couple of games still scheduled for Monday, Oklahoma has the most points scored with 79 just ahead of Louisville's 73.

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Although there many lopsided scores, there were only three shutouts: #2 LSU over Mississippi State, 45-0; #17 PSU over Florida International, 59-0; and #22 TCU over Baylor 27-0.

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There were two games that went into overtime:

Colorado triumphed over Colorado State 31-28 in OT.

After jumping out to a 21-0 halftime lead against Minnesota, Bowling Green had to get a field goal in the fourth quarter of regulation to tie and then a TD and 2-point conversion in overtime to win 32-31.

First Saturday in September and it's football time

While top ranked colleges attempt to schedule an opponent they believe they can handle for their opening game, every once in a while the lamb turns out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Yesterday I wrote” Appalachian State visits #5 Michigan and I’m pretty sure they’re bearing gifts.” They brought pride and execution. They brought plenty of success during the last two years. And they brought their A-game. And they shared it all with the Wolverines and their fans.

Today, #5 ranked Michigan learned that it may not be wise to schedule one of the top 1-AA teams. Appalachian State shot out to a 28-17 halftime lead, fell behind 32-31 a sloppy second half, and scored on a field goal with just 26 seconds left in the game and then blocked a Wolverine field goal attempt—the second FG block in the last 2 minutes of the game--to defeat Michigan 34-32.

Of course, Appalachian State has won the 1-AA championships—which are determined by a playoff—in each of the last two years. TV announcers on ABC are calling this one of the “greatest upsets of all time.” But with the Appalachian State Mountaineers’ pedigree, I would say this was a game Michigan probably wishes it hadn’t scheduled. Oh, by the way, the Mountaineers have the longest winning streak in college football right now with a run of 15 straight. And as for the other teams in the Southern Conference…good luck!

Now for some more of the Top 25 who were in action this afternoon:

West Virginia (#3) scored early and often against Western Michigan. So often did they score that Pat McAfee must have gotten tired. He missed the extra point after the ninth TD as the Mountaineers rolled to a 62-24 victory.

Western Kentucky traveled to Gainesville, Florida to take on the defending National Champions. Not only did they get beaten 49-3, but the currently ranked #6 Florida Gators only needed 3 ½ quarters to do them in. The game was halted due to lightening with 8:23 left in the fourth quarter.

The Badgers of Wisconsin, ranked # 7, doubled up Washington State 42-20.

While they didn’t triumph, the East Carolina Pirates made the #9 Hokies of Virginia Tech sweat. The final score was 17-7.

Number 11 Ohio State beat up upon Youngstown State 38-6. It was the first time Ohio State's head coach Jim Tressel faced the team he coached for 15 years before joining the Buckeyes in 2001.

In a PAC 10 opening game, #14 UCLA traveled up the coast to Stanford where they trounced the Cardinal 45-17.

Happy Valley wasn’t for Florida International. Number 17 Penn State jumped all over the Golden Panthers 59-0. Next week the Nittany Lions host Notre Dame.

The Cornhuskers of Nebraska (#20) ran all over Nevada, literally, and won their 22nd straight season opener 52-10.

The unranked Irish (I can’t say that often enough) did not look very good in the first half against Georgia Tech as the Rambling Wrecks Yellow Jackets took a 16-0 halftime lead over Notre Dame. Georgia Tech, on the other hand, looked impressive. Not only did they shutout ND in the first half, but they dominate both sides of the ball holding the Irish to -9, that’s minus 9, yards rushing on the way to embarrassing ND 33-3 at South Bend. Look for GT to move into the top 25 this week.

Hummers on their way south?

The winds have been blowing out of the north since last Thursday's front moved through and I think it may have spurred my local ruby-throated hummingbirds to start heading south. Last Thursday I had between 6 and 10 birds buzzing around the feeders as they lay into the sugar water to put on the fat for their fall migration to Central America. Today, after two nights when the temperatures dipped into the upper 40s, I haven't seen a one all morning. I'll continue to put the feeders out for the next few weeks just in case there's a straggler from further north who needs to gain a gram or so to make the 1500 o 1800 mile flight.

The black-capped chickadees and the red-breasted nuthatches are still doing a job on my sunflower seeds, however. But, then again, they will stay here all winter long.

UPDATE: To prove that I'm fallible, two hummers showed up about 12:30 PM. Perhaps they were just waiting for it to get a bit warmer. (The temperature has "risen" to 64 degrees.) Or, perhaps, these are from a bit further north and are merely passing through.

Orange got squeezed--hard

Just as I suspected, the Syracuse Orange were the sacrificial lamb in their match up with Washington last night. Yeah, they got out to that early lead at 3-0 in the first quarter, but it didn't last very long. By halftime it was 14-6 Washington and it got worse, mush worse, in the second half. The final score? 42-12 Washington Huskies.

Let's face it, it's been a long time since Syracuse fielded a strong team. Right now they look to be the last place team in the Big East. But they do have a shot of crawling out of that hole if they can muster wins against Pittsburgh and Connecticut, two programs that have also come up against difficult times in the Big East. And the Orange play both of those clubs on the road.

It might just be a long, frustrating season for the Orange of Syracuse--again.

Aahh! College football has begun.

I woke up this morning enjoying the RU victory and to 53 degrees outside. The former was a symbolic message that Autumn is approaching while the latter was much more physical.

Anyway, I went on line to see what other teams had done last night and what might be on tap for this weekend. What I found was the usual mismatches of opening weekend. Good teams try to get off on the right foot by scheduling nonconference games that are not much more than scrimmages. Weak, unknown teams schedule the big boys hoping to pocket some cash and maybe, just maybe, pull off an upset. It almost never happens but, hey, you can't win it if your not in it, as the saying goes.

Here are some of the Field of Dreams scheduled games for opening week.

#1 ranked USC opens the season against IDAHO? Talk about your mismatches. Idaho has struggled for the last 5-10 years to eek out a winning season. They have a new coach and almost no offense and precious little defense.

Last year’s National Champions and this year ranked # 6, Florida opens against Western Kentucky, a virtual unknown as this is their first year playing 1-A. Although the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky have been competitive in the 1-AA scene having winning records in each of the last eleven seasons. But to start their stint in 1-A against the defending National Champs seems a bit of an overreach.

Everybody seems to want an easy first game.

In the Big East:
#10 ranked Louisville whipped Murray State 73-10.
#16 ranked Rutgers beat Buffalo 38-3. (Not as lopsided as I would have liked.)
Cincinnati beat up on Southeast Missouri State by a score of 59-3.

Elsewhere Thursday night:
#2 LSU sank Mississippi State 45-0.
#24 Boise State grilled Weber State 56-7.


Saturday’s schedule has more than a few games involving ranked teams that should be lopsided.

#3 West Virginia should have a very successful home opener against Western Michigan.

Appalachian State visits #5 Michigan and I’m pretty sure they’re bearing gifts.

The Mean Green of North Texas will need lots of help on their visit to #8 Oklahoma who should score Sooner and oftener.

#9 Virginia Tech should have an easy time hosting East Carolina.

Florida International visits Happy Valley and #17 Penn State. (Joe Pa has learned a few things about scheduling in his years as coach.)

#21 Arkansas hosts the Troy Trojans who will need to watch The 300 over and over again to get inspired. (Just forget all that dying stuff, okay?)

Northern Colorado Bears get to go to #24 Hawaii, which would be a good thing in December when it gets really cold in Northern Colorado.

The Montana State Bobcats make the trip to #25 Texas A&M where they should get declawed. It’s going to be a long ride home.


In the Big East:

The Pitt Panthers host much weaker Eastern Michigan and should win handily.

South Florida host the Elon Phoenix? Who, or what, is ELON?

Connecticut is on the road to Duke but should be able to easily overcome the Blue Devils since this isn’t basketball.

Syracuse Orange should get squeezed by the Washington Huskies even though they’re playing in the Carrier Dome. The ‘Cuse managed to find an opening day opponent that’s stronger than they are. Actually that’s a near 50-50 proposition as CBSSports.com has the Orange at 71 out of 120 teams playing 1-A ball.

Let the games begin.

RU, Rice Roll Buffalo 38-3

Indications of great expectations: The Scarlet Knights lead 28-0 at the half against Buffalo. (Yeah, it’s only Buffalo.) Rice has two TDs on the ground and Tiquan Underwood has two long TDs on passes by Teel. Still, Coach Schiano is not happy. Missed TD pass by Teel, fumble by Rice and “not tackling like our guys should be tackling.” RU also had a missed FG by Ito from 40 yards out. “We need to play our game,” he says.
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Early in the second half, Buffalo is forced to go on 4th and 2 on the 12 yard line and fail on a pass into the end zone. RU takes over and goes on offense.

Jeremy Ito missed a second field goal from 54 yards out with 6 minutes to go in the third quarter.

Buffalo gets a FG to prevent the shutout. RU still leads 28-3 but nothing midway through the third quarter will make Schiano any happier as RU didn’t come out an dominate its weaker rival as it should have.

But then a couple of passes (putting Teel over 300 yards for the game) and a long run (41 yards) by Ray Rice (number 3 for the game) and RU goes up 35-3. And there’s still the fourth quarter to play.

38 yard field goal by Ito makes it 38-3 with about 6 minutes in the game.
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Mike Teel finished with 16 of 23, 328 yards passing for two TDs and no interceptions.

Ray Rice ended the night with 25 carries, 184 yards, and 3 TDs. He is just 16 yards shy of becoming the #1 rusher in Rutgers history in this, his 26th career game. He also has 28 career TDs. (He did lose one fumble, however.)

Tiquan Underwood caught 10 passes for 248 yards (a school single game record) and 2 TDs.

Jeremy Ito made only one of three attempts on field goals but converted all five extra points.

The second and third team offense and defense were on the field for most of the fourth quarter.
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(Governor Corzine was wise enough to show up 10 minutes after kickoff. Sure, he missed two RU Ray Rice scores, but then again he didn’t get introduced early and booed.)
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Final score is RU 38, Buffalo 3

The complete story and stats are here.
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Next up for RU will be Navy. They play Friday night, September 7 at RU.

Aaaarrrrggghhh!

A line of thunderstorms just swept through with the promise of heavy rain. As luck would have it--again--a gap between the storms passed over the Aerie meaning we got almost nothing. The gauge reads 1/10 th of an inch. We desperately need rain all over Tioga County (we're. like, 7 inches below the norm for the year). While Tioga and Cowanesque Lakes are bank full, Hammond is still nearly 24 inches down. I'm pretty sure that may now be by design, however. With two of the three lakes full, they'll need somewhere to put the water from one of the many hurricanes that we're supposed to get this year, right?

Birding report

Only Gary and I showed up for the weekly birding outing of the Tiadaghton Audubon Society this morning. Everybody else had other things to do such as doctor's appointments, teaching, and travel.

This week we went to the west end of Cowanesque Lake, another Corps of Engineers' impoundment in northern Tioga County. We parked at the western most end of the Moccasin Trail and walked from their to the Route 49 overpass and then around the town of Nelson's recreation area.

The day started on a bit of a sour note since it was quite foggy and gray making it difficult to see birds and to ID their colors wen we did spot one, but, as usually happens, the fog burned off and we saw more and more species. It was good to see that the lake has risen considerably since the beginning of the summer. Undoubtedly, last weeks heavy rainfall helped quite a bit.

Here's the results of our walk as I recorded them:


Location: W. Cowanesque Lake
Observation date: 8/30/07
Notes: Foggy and warm to start then just very warm and muggy. No wind.
Number of species: 32

Double-crested Cormorant 9
Great Blue Heron 4
Green Heron 1
Osprey 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Ring-billed Gull 2
Caspian Tern 1
Rock Pigeon 1
Mourning Dove 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 3
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 3
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 6
Common Raven 1
Barn Swallow 6
Black-capped Chickadee 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 1
House Wren 1
Eastern Bluebird 6
American Robin 12
Gray Catbird 5
European Starling 50
Cedar Waxwing 18
Common Yellowthroat 1
Song Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 100
Baltimore Oriole 2
American Goldfinch 7

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

Everybody's on the road but me.

Terry hits the road tomorrow to head west to Peoria, Illinois to visit her second cousin for a few days. Then it’s back to Chicago for the Embroiderers’ Guild of America (EGA) National Convention. While in Chicago, she will also have dinner with our nephew, Brian.

She’ll be gone for 10 days or so. Just me, the cats, and the birds (and squirrels, chipmunks, cottontails, and…) at the Aerie ‘til she returns.

Meanwhile, daughter Jessica is heading to Atlanta, GA on Thursday to attend Dragon*Con. Looking at the list of authors and actors scheduled as guests/participants, I wouldn’t mind being there myself if it weren’t for two things” 1) It’s in Atlanta where it’s pretty freakin’ hazy, hot, and humid in late August and 2)The crowds of silly costumed people (one of which will be my daughter). I HATE the three Hs and get very antsy around crowds of more than 20 people. (Which is kinda nuts for a former teacher. But, hey, to teach for 32 years you have to be just a little nuts.)

And, of course, Rick is in Guyana until next July.

Everybody is somewhere else while I’m right here.
Actually, I might just pack the cats up and go up to the Bolt Hole for a few days—but after the holiday weekend. By then I should have the raised bed finished and perhaps even the painting of the basement done.

Some photo's of yesterday's work

I snapped a couple of pics of the things I did yesterday around the Aerie...just so you can see I wasn't kidding.

The short retaining wall on the west end of the deck has gotten most of its back fill.

Compacting of the soil in the filled area after last week's heavy rain required more wheelbarrows full of fill.

The area slopes down toward where I'm standing in this photo and some erosion of the fill took place. That was another reason to add more dirt.

You can see the U-shape of the bed with the redbud in the center. You can also see I have a lot of churning up to do yet before the second row of timbers and fill can be added. (Timbers are 8-foot and 4-foot long.)

Some of the stones/rocks/boulders from just 16 square feet of the area I want to use for raised beds.

So that's how I spent my Monday afternoon. And, with all the stones in the raised bed area, how I'll be spending several days to come.

Moving more dirt.

I spent a goodly portion of this afternoon moving more dirt. The soil behind the big retaining wall had settled with the more than two inches of rain we had last week so I moved some more dirt to top it off and bring the level closer to that of the driveway. The small retaining wall on the other side of the deck had received no fill yet so another dozen wheelbarrows of dirt went there.

Once those areas had gotten their fill, it was time to think of the raised beds for the garden/flowers. Terry and I had picked up 16 landscaping timbers on Saturday with the idea of building a U-shaped bed with the redbud tree in the center of the U. Since there be rocks in that there soil where the bed is to go, the U will not be symmetrical. One side will be 4'x8' and the other will be 8'x8'. A 4'x4' section will bridge the two and form the center of the U. I cut a couple of timbers for the 4' lengths and laid all the first course out where It would fit around the tree and the monster rocks I knew I couldn't move. After diner, I grabbed my big, 16 lb., black iron bar with the wedge on one end and the tamper on the other (I like to call it a Johnson bar) and started lifting and dropping that wedge end into the soil where the timbers would go. I hit rocks. Most were small but there were occasional monsters. I got one out that measures about 16"x16" and was a good 5 or 6 inches thick. Once I levered that beast out of the ground I started trying to loosen all the soil with in the bed area. It's a combination of stone and clay and with out being loosened, any water passing through the fill dirt I place on top will not soak down any further but would pool up making the fill soil mud and probably killing any plants we put into the beds. One hour of lifting and dropping the Johnson bar, prying up more--if somewhat smaller--stones, bending over to pick those stones out of the loosened soil...and I was pooped. I got about 16 square feet loosened out of the 112 square feet of the bed. This is not going to be easy. I almost hope I run into some more large stones like the one I mentioned earlier.

At least if it gets too hot, I can always go into the basement and paint the now sanded walls.

"The Trouble With Islam"

Oh boy! You have got to listen to this clip about "The Trouble With Islam" as described by a British comedian.

(Seen first at Right, Wing-Nut!)

Who turned off the heat?!

After near 90 degrees and 85% relative humidity yesterday that made sweat pour off your brow if you even thought about doing anything physical, a swift moving cold front with attendant T-storms swept through here last evening and lowered everything. The line of storms had a few very intense cells and a couple of gaps. One of the biggest cells moved through the Elmira-to-Ithaca corridor along Route 13 and I figure those folks got hammered for about the third or fourth day in a row. Meanwhile, the Aerie was lined up with one of the gaps and we got just 1/10th of an inch of rain. There was a nice light show to the north of us, however.

This morning we awoke to 60 degrees and about 50% humidity--very comfortable. It's supposed to be like this for two days and then get slightly warmer for a day or two before getting positively cold on Thursday after another front moves through. (The Weather Channel forecasts a low Thursday night of 48 degrees and highs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of just 71-72. Bring it on!

Tornado or Downburst wrecks havoc at the Bolt Hole

My buddy Mark just called to tell me all Hell broke loose around the Bolt Hole last night and this morning. Severe T-storms kept waking him up during the night. Every lightening strike during the night caused sparks to shoot from his electrical outlets.(I wonder if any of the appliances I had plugged in survived the power surges.) He heard tree tops snapping all night and then again this morning a fierce wind ripped through the area. An ancient cherry tree that stood next to my gate was broken off some ten feet above the ground. Four or five trees were knocked down in Mark's 100-yard long driveway, severing his power line. He said that he watched tree tops (mostly from poplars or aspens) go flying overhead: 30, 40, or 50 feet overhead.

More trees were toppled between his camp and Harry's, which sits on top of the hill a quarter mile to the east. So many trees that when Mark and Harry (who lives relatively nearby) started to walk Harry's driveway, they couldn't see the camp until they were nearly on top of it. Luckily there was no damage to any of our buildings.

Mark says there are hundreds of trees down; either snapped off or uprooted. Power is out until at least Wednesday or Thursday. Work crews will have to replace several telephone poles and clear downed trees before they can turn the juice back on again.

No official word yet as to whether this was a tornado or a "mere" downburst.

Mark will be sending me some pictures when he can get out of there tomorrow.

Meanwhile another severe storm is currently pushing its way between Elmira and Ithaca and over to Cortland, NY on I-81. And yet one more little group of T-storms is sweeping between the Aerie and Elmira.

UPDATE: News this morning was saying it was a "mesocyclone" that started near Rome, NY and "bounced" across Oneida and Herkimer counties into southern Hamilton county.

Gonna be a hot one today.

Weather guys on TV predict the real temperatures will get as high as 94 or 95 today but with the humidity it will feel like it's over 100 degrees here at the Aerie. Wha' happened? Earlier this week Terry was complaining it was too cold and she was contemplating turning the heat on.

For that reason, I believe I will NOT be doing any shoveling today. If I get the energy to do any work at all, it will be in the basement where the temp is seldom above 68 degrees even though we have no AC. Or I just might get in the truck and go pick up some materials. (At least the truck has AC.)

Energy...Need more coffee. See ya.

Rain, we had some--need more.

I got back to the Aerie yesterday to learn that there had been two plus inches of rain between Monday and Thursday. (I had none up at the Bolt Hole until I was leaving Thursday afternoon when some quick moving but very heavy thunderstorms swept in.) In all of July we had just 1.9 inches and here we got more in three days. And there's more forecast for tomorrow. Of course if it's like today's scattered T-storms (one past to the north and another to the south after heading right towards us from the west),we'll get nothing on our side of the hill while there will be floods all around us. We could use all we get since this area is between 4 and 5 inches below normal to this point of the summer.

Some of the soil behind my retaining wall washed down, which wasn't a surprise as I hadn't gotten any sort of mulch one the surface. The rain also packed the earth down some so I'll have to use the wheelbarrow some more to fill in the fill.

Of course the heat moved up from the south just as I returned from the north so any work I do will be in 85 to 90 degree work. Manana.

Kinda cute and geeky at the same time

Well, it wasn't a shutout after all.

I very nearly concluded a shutout of the wasps at the Bolt Hole over the past few days. In fact, I did manage to nearly wipe out the wasp nest I posted a photo of earlier. Only a few stragglers were seen by me and Mark as we worked on the garage today. They wold zoom in to the barn and then right back out. Their bright yellow and black striped bodies were easy to spot against the dark shadows of the barn's interior.

It was the second string that got me around noon today. We (Mark and I) were going to put some plywood over rotting, leaking windows on the west side of the garage. I had climbed the step ladder to screw the initial piece in place but had to hammer a stray nail out of the way first. it was then that I heard the loud buzz of a nest inside the garage wall with an entrance in the opposite corner of the window. You can reasonably assume I got off the ladder ASAP! Even then I was unscathed.

When things quieted down, I thought it might be safe to work on the other window. WRONG! No sooner had I moved the ladder and climbed up it than there was a very sharp jab behind my left ear. I swatted--and killed--the little martyr, and then got off the ladder again. Score one for the insect world. (The sting still hurts some 10 hours after it occurred, but, thanks to the allergy shots I wrote about, I was able to walk away without the need of medical attention.) I still had one can of Spectricide spray left and so I counter attacked, soaking the corner of the window as best I could before packing up my tools and calling it a day. I didn't stick around to see if the spray did any good or not.

These were not the same species of wasps as those that built the paper nest in the barn. These were about the same size (1/2 to 5/8 inches long) but were nearly all black with just a bit of pale yellow on their abdomen. I believe they may also build paper nest for, if I remember correctly, they had a small one some years ago under the Bolt Hole's second story deck. I got stung then, too, when I stepped out on the deck and the vibrations of my feet on the deck floor pissed them off.

When I get back up to the Bolt Hole (I'm back at the PA Aerie now) and get around to covering the windows, you can be assured I'll use a long pole to rap sharply on the window sill first to see if anyone is home.

Adirondack birding

Between visits to the barn to keep tabs on the wasps, I took a little walk in the woods to do some birding. There wasn’t a whole lot to see—besides trees. Things have been so dry in the area there are no mud puddles and most of the birds seem to be homing in ton either the berries in the fields around the cabin or the creeks. Anyway, here’s the list I generated from my little jaunt:

Location: Bolt Hole
Observation date: 8/21/07
Notes: Extremely dry conditions. Many birds congregated at the creek pool behind an old beaver dam. Dense understory made some visual observations nearly impossible.
Number of species: 10

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 3
Black-capped Chickadee 17
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Wood Thrush 2
Cedar Waxwing 11
Yellow-rumped Warbler 7
Common Yellowthroat 2

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


[BTW: While it's been sunny here all day, Terry reports the Aerie has had over 2 inches of rain. And the hummingbirds, gold finches and chickadees are eating like they'll have to swim around for a week so they better stock up.]

Round Two

I checked on the wasp nest several times today and found a considerable number of the little pests hard at work trying to repair the tiny little bit that was still clinging to the rafter inthe barn. So I went down to Lowe's to pick up two more cans of spray.

Tonight, after the sun went down and the temperature dropped about 15 degrees to just under 50, I donned my protective cloathing, tucked my shirt in my pants and my pants into my boots, grabbed the flashlight and one of the cans of spray and gave it to 'em again. This Spectracide spray is great! From over 20 feet away I soaked the little paper that was left and coated nearly every wasp with a lethal dose of chemical. I saw them drop to the ground still writhing and attempting to sting. With any sort of luck this will have been the knock out punch. I should be able to comfortably work in and around the barn tomorrow without worrying that the "buzz" I hear is anything but the hummingbirds that are still around.

Allergy Shots

I mentioned in a previous post about the Wasps’ Nest that I was thankful for having had my allergy shots. Let me explain a bit about that.

When I was a toddler growing up in Hawthorne, New Jersey, we used to frolic under the sprinkler on hot summer’s days. With no air conditioning, it was one of the few ways to cool off when the temperature and humidity would become unbearable. Mom would get us into our bathing suits (or sometimes just strip us down to our underwear) and hook up the hose to the oscillating sprinkler and for half an hour or so we would run beneath the frigid water until we had goose bumps over every inch of our bodies.

Somewhere, sometime along all this fun, I stepped on a bee that was probably gathering pollen from the clover in the lawn and got stung. No big deal at the time, the sting hurt briefly and a tiny swelling like that of a mosquito bite appeared. Life went on.

A short time later, maybe the next summer, we were repeating that childhood fun when I got stung again. This time it was a big deal. Instead of a tiny, inconspicuous bump, I started to swell up like the Michellin Man and went into anaphalactic shock. Mom called the family doctor who rushed to the house and administered a life saving shot. I’ve always been told that if he had been ten minutes late, I would have died. I had developed a sever allergy to bee venom after that first sting. At the time, there was nothing else he could do except to say, “Don’t get stung again!”

And I didn’t for a long time. When I was around nine, we moved from Hawthorne to Oakland on Yawpo Avenue just up the hill from the center of town and the abandoned academy with its old riding stables, overgrown fields, fences and woodlands trails. I would wonder those trails for years and never had a problem. But the fences proved my downfall.

One day several of my friends and I were walking one of the old trails taking a shortcut through the fields and, as boys will do, picking up rocks and throwing them at the fence that ran alongside the trail. We would throw as hard as we could just to hear the loud “thwack” the stones would make as they hit the old picket fence. Unbeknownst to us, there was a bees nest on the other side of the fence and they weren’t happy about the stones. Of course I was the only one stung. Several times.

We made it back up the hill to home to report to my Mom and she hustled us off to our new GP across town. He gave me a shot in his office and proceeded to tell my Mom that it might be a good idea if I were to be given a desensitizing series of shots to prevent future emergencies. Medical science had developed a means by which one’s allergy could be reversed. It meant getting several years worth of shots to build up an immunity to bee venom. Sounded good to me!

And so it began. At first, I would get a tiny amount of bee venom every week or so in the good doctor’s office and they would watch for any severe reaction before sending me home. Then, after the reaction became negligible, there was an increase in the strength of the venom and the shots would occur every two weeks. Another increase in the potency and the shots were every four weeks. This went on for about three years. Finally, the doctor pronounced me “cured” of my allergy but still cautioned against waging war on bees.

Many years went by before I got to test the “cure.” About ten years after the last shot, I was doing some research for my Masters Degree when I stepped in (or too damn near) a yellow jackets’ ground nest. Now, yellow jackets aren’t actually bees, they’re wasps but they are as mean as the Africanized Killer Bees. Luckily, they are more territorial than Killer Bees and will give up pursuit after just a few dozen yards.

At the time, I was live trapping mice along the medians of interstate highways. My car was parked on the shoulder of the road with a sign posted in the window stating why it was there and where I was. This day, after being stung a dozen or more times, I got out of the woods to see a state trooper parked behind my car. It was the only time in two years of research that a trooper stopped to check my car. I walked up to the trooper’s car and explained who I was, what I was doing and that I had just been stung numerous times and wasn’t sure if I would have a reaction or not. I asked if I could sit with him for a while—just in case. (We were 15 minutes from a major hospital and I told him to get me to the ER ASAP if I should start to foam at the mouth or something.) We sat and chatted for a bit and when nothing except a tiny tingling sensation appeared to have been the result of all the hits I took, we parted company. I drove to a friends house, who was only five minutes from Morristown Memorial Hospital and we repeated the wait-and-see routine over ice tea. After and hour or so, I felt comfortable enough to drive home convinced that the “cure” had worked.

Since that day, I’ve been stung several times with less reaction than I get from a black fly bite. And every time I do, I thank that Oakland doctor for all those shots he gave me.

A year or so after the Median Massacre, I went to an allergy specialist to see what else I was allergic to and what he might be able to do for me. The test results produced a fairly thick volume of positives. Some I was aware of, such as animal dander, ragweed pollen, insect bites (mosquitoes, deer flies, etc.), and some that surprised me (chocolate and caffeine?). I proceeded to get desensitized to some of the worst (the pollen and insect bites for instance) and ignored nearly all the others, as they had never been a problem for me. I would get six shots in my arms at every visit to the doctor’s office for nearly three years. Now I feel almost nothing from the occasional mosquito and deer fly bites where before I would have an itchy lump the size of a marble. And as for pollen, I seldom have a problem with itchy eyes, runny nose and the like, unless it’s a very, very bad season—and that’s usually in the spring with all the different trees.

I probably should see about getting shots for animal dander, what with the cats and all, but the over the counter pills seem to do the trick and since most of them are available in generic form they’re not that expensive. Besides, I've heard that while there is a shot for dogs, cats, rebellious indepedent as ever, have no such shot.

Oh, and somewhere along the way I have seemed to have lost my allergy to poison ivy. But that may have been a self-induced immunization. I used to get it all the time. Just looking at those three glossy leaves would make me break out in a blistery rash that required bathing in pink calamine lotion. Then, one day when I was about 18-years old, while fishing bare-chested along the Ramapo River along the NY-NJ border, I slipped and fell into a patch of poison ivy. (It was either the ivy or a drop into the river some ten feet below.) While the next two weeks were Hell, I haven’t seriously had a case since. And I’ve done everything but roll in the stuff.

As I said before: Thank God for allergy shots. Worth every penny, needle prick and more.

So far, So good.

This morning at 4 AM I donned a heavy coat, hat, and leather gauntlets do battle with the evil empire’s death star, a.k.a. the wasps’ nest, that had invaded my barn.

Actually, I began with a short sortie last evening just after dark. Around 8:45 PM I girt my loins with battle raiment and grabbed the can of jet spray for wasps and hornets that Mark had found in his shed. With flashlight in hand, I stepped into the door of the barn, located the enemy about 20 feet overhead and let ‘em have it! I soaked the paper nest as best I could before retreating as some wasps were starting to zoom out the door (along with a bat or two). I stepped out into the yard which I had illuminated with the three floodlights mounted above the garage door and realized the wasps were attacking the bright, warm lights. I quickly turned off my flashlight and snuck across the yard and back into the house.

No stings. So far, so good.

I awoke at 3:30 AM just knowing: IT Was Time. Aside from the three lights above the garage door, only the stars illuminated the yard. The first quarter moon had already set. It was 40 degrees and the enemy’s weakness was a tendency to be lethargic in cool/cold temperatures.

I grabbed the 24-foot long poke pruner with the curved saw blade at the business end and headed for the barn. I stopped in the doorway and checked out the hive with my flashlight. It looked a bit soaked and there were no black and yellow striped warriors/workers crawling about. Looked good.

With the pole pruner and flashlight gripped tightly, I reached up to the rafter, laid the blade along the wood, and PULLED. Close to 95% of the hive crashed to the ground. I grabbed the jet spray and let loose with the remainder of the liquid ammo soaking as much of the nest as possible. Wasps were crawling all over the damaged paper nest but few had flown past me. I took a 5-gallon plastic bucket—with a lid—and a snow shovel. Dropped the bucket over the nest, slide the shovel under the hive, turned the whole thing over and clamped the cover on the bucket. Dozens of wasps could be seen writhing on the ground as the chemical agent in the jet spray did its thing.

As I withdrew to the yard, I could hear a few wasps banging on the floodlights. Once again, they had assumed the bright and shiny lights were the enemy. I putt my tools in the garage and flicked the switch to turn off the lights. They had done their job: serving as decoys while I made my attack.

My watched said it was 4:30 AM as I walked across the yard relishing the idea of a nice hot cup of coffee.

Not one sting. THAT is a good days work and the day had just begun. When the sun climbs above the hill, I’ll have to do a complete assessment of my mission.

Oh boy, this'll be fun! (NOT)

I drove up to the Bolt Hole this morning and met my buddy Mark. He did a hell of a joob stacking the firewood and we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 or 16 face cords for the winter.

While we were in the yard schmoozing he told me to go look in the barn. Here’s what I found:

A Wasps’ Nest


Yeah, it deserves the capitals. The Thing is almost a foot in diameter and is perched on the inside roof of my barn. It wasn't there a week and a half ago. As I stood in the doorway, the wasps/hornets were zipping past to add even more to this monstrosity. Sure am glad I've had my allergy shots. I'm going to try and take this sucker out with some spray and a loooong pole as soon as it gets dark.

Chores again

I did get some work done outside today. Hauled another 15 wheelbarrows of soil to the one retaining wall. I'll see how it settles after we get some rain (hopefully tomorrow) and then decide if I need to bring any more to that area.

i also hauled some "flatties", pieces of slate from around the edge of the yard to build up some end walls on both retaining walls and threw a couple of wheelbarrows of stone behind the short one.

Two hours seemed like enough to me after the long day yesterday and when ten or twenty drops fell from a passing cloud, I packed it in.

I'm planning on heading up to the Bolt Hole tomorrow for a couple of days. I've a few chores up there that need doing and some things in storage int he garage I want to bring down to PA. Checking the weather, it seems to have been just as cold up there as here--and just as dry. The rain forecast for PA is not supposed to reach there, however, it's sliding to the southeast. There are some afternoon T-storms in the forecast so I'll have to work around them as I move firewood around and cut the grass. Just hope I don't have to light any fires in the stoves. it's too damn early for that!

Global Warming?

You know, maybe NEWSWEEK got it right...back in 1975. This morning was a tad warmer than yesterday's 46 degrees. Because we were blanketed by clouds (that produced no rain, damn them) it didn't drop below 55. Then again, because we remained on the north side of the cloud bank all day (and still didn't receive any rain, damn it) it never got much above 65 degrees. Could be another Ice Age on the way folks, I'm telling ya!

35th

That's the number that belongs in front of "Anniversary."

Today marks Terry's and my 35th wedding anniversary. We were introduced to one another by my former freshman roommate at Rutgers University back in 1970 when we were seniors at the then College of Agriculture and Environmental Science. She had been an Aggie all along, one of the few females then admitted to Rutgers (as opposed to Douglas), while I had drifted from Biological Science to Chemistry to Environmental Science (with some teaching classes my senior year). We were all on the committee formed to discuss the transition from CAES to Cook College when Bill Clark (now Dr. Bill Clark of Ames, Iowa), knowing we had quite a few things in common, introduced us. You might say it was love at first sight.

We all graduated in the spring of '71. Clark went west to get his Master's and finally Doctorate degrees in Wildlife Biology. Terry stayed at CAES to get her Master's in Environmental Science. I went to Montclair to get a Teaching Certificate. Terry and I got engaged and then married on August 19, 1972.

It's been a hell of a ride since then. We still have many things in common such as our reading habits and love for travel and nature, but have also developed our own interests (mine in the outdoors hunting and fishing, hers in the area of needlecraft as a member and officer in the Smocking Arts Guild of America and Embroiders' Guild of America).

We have produced two great, if slightly weird, children: Jessica, now 27, and Rick who is 24, who share our reading habit and love for road trips and the outdoors. Jess is a talented musician with a degree in Music Education, loves computers and works in the Apple Store. She has also developed remarkable skills in knitting, sewing and other hand crafts that parallel her mother's talents. Rick is...well, unique: Eagle Scout, Marine Reservist who has seen time in Iraq, chef, interested in nearly everything. Last Mother's Day he called from the trail as he hiked in the Grand Tetons with a friend from the University of Idaho. Three days later he was ringing our doorbell at the Aerie after having dropped many of his belongings in Baltimore. He never mentioned this in his phone call. Currently he is in Guyana with WorldTeach.

Seldom dull, our life together has been fantastic so far and promises to continue to be so for many years to come.

Back to the Chores

My sister and her husband left around 10 AM this morning to return to their home in NJ. Al 9my brother-in-law) has an over-50 bowling tournament to participate in on Sunday. He’s more than a pretty fair kegler and I wish him well.

Last night we had a blue norther swept through with winds of 40 miles per hour and just a sprinkling of rain. (We had only 0.1 inch in the gauge this morning.) The front also brought substantially cooler temperatures. Around 10 PM on Friday night we could actually watch the temperature fall some 15 degrees. This morning at 7 AM the outdoor temperature was just 46 degrees while the indoor temp was just 64. Further, the breeze was still quite brisk and the air was very, very dry so it felt even cooler. Perfect working weather.

As soon as Ruthann and Al left, I started out on my earth moving project. I intend to move the 16 cubic yards of earth that were delivered the other day to the space behind the retaining walls and into raised beds. This sandy loam soil will provide an excellent base for perennials along the driveway and for garden vegetables next spring. (That is, if we can keep the raccoons and other critters away from them!)

When the soil was delivered, the driver asked Terry if we had a backhoe to move it to where we needed it. HA! I’ve got the back, a rake, a shovel and a wheelbarrow and I'm not afraid to use them. I donned my work gloves and grabbed the tools of ignorance and went to work.


The tools of ignorance.

While some might call this “work”, and I won’t argue with them, I prefer to think of it as “practical physical therapy.” Instead of doing some silly exercises prescribed by a doctor or therapist, the steady shoveling, pushing of the wheelbarrow, and raking out of the soil, not only exercises your arms, legs and lower back, but it accomplishes something.

In this instance, I worked from 10 AM until 5:30 PM to move around 8 cubic yards of soil from this pile:


To this deep trench behind the 20-foot long retaining wall.



The entrance to the house is now substantially safer to approach (before there was a two to three foot drop to the bottom of the trench and even more before the wall was erected) and there is now some soil in which to plant some shade tolerant perennials.

I’m not quite done with this particular area yet, however. I figure it will take another 12 to 15 wheelbarrow loads to raise the soil level up to the level of the driveway.

On the opposite side of the walkout basement is a second but much smaller retaining wall. That area will also require some stone and soil fill behind it even though it is under the deck and not likely to be a good place for plantings.

So my work is cut out for tomorrow. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 wheelbarrow loads of soil and stone will get moved. The raised beds will just have to wait until I can get some landscaping timbers or pressure treated 2x6 lumber and some re-bar.

Tomorrow's chore

Tomorrow, after my Lil Sis leaves to head back to NJ, I will have the task of moving some more stone behind the retaining walls and then...



...this huge pile of dirt will have to be moved to fill in the remainder of the volume behind the walls. And, although the angle doesn't prove it, it is a huge pile. As reference, the white pipes in the background are 10 feet long and that yellow/green bucket is for kitty litter, measures about 8 inches wide, 16 inches long and 16 inches high, and holds about five gallons. When Terry, who is 4' 10" stands next to it, the dirt pile is higher than she is tall.

With luck, I'll be able to get a foot or two of dirt in there and still have some left over for raised beds. (Which I still need to construct.)

Company gets the tour

My sister and her husband came out to the Aerie last night and we spent the day doing a tour of Tioga county today. After breakfast at Grandma's Kitchen in Mansfield we drove up to Tioga and Hammond Lakes to look at the job the Corps of Engineers did in the name of flood control and recreation.

Tioga Lake Dam viewed from the overlook outside the town of Tioga.


Tioga Lake viewed from the overlook.


Hammond Lake viewed from the overlook.

Water levels in both lakes are quite low, perhaps two or even three feet below normal, due to the lack of rain we have had this year.

We also drove to the west end of Hammond Lake to show them the Ives Run Recreational facility with its several boat launches, many campgrounds and lovely picnic facilities.

From there we continued southwest on Route 287 to The Muck (also known as State Game Lands 313) to show them the bird watching blind maintained by the Tiadaghton Audubon Society .

A view north from the blind at The Muck.

Then it was over to Darling Run on Pine Creek and to Leonard Harrison State Park to get a look at the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.


The view north from the overlook at Leonard Harrison State Park.


The view south from the overlook at Leonard Harrison State Park.

Next we drove into Wellsboro for lunch at the Historic Wellsboro Diner and a little shopping along the main street in town.

That was enough for the day. It was back to the Aerie.

Oh, boy!

While I was out birding this morning, Terry stayed home to take delivery of a huge load of top soil. It's currently sitting in th ward covered with tarps (protection against the forecast rain) and looking ominously like work.

I'll need to use the shovel and wheelbarrow to fill the areas behind the retaining wall first with some stone and then with the top soil. Anything left over will go into raised beds I still have to construct.

Oh joy!

Thursday Birding report

Went out this morning to do some birding with the boys and girls from the Tiadaghton Audubon Society. We went up to the Fire Tower on the north side of Mansfield, also known as State Game Lands 37. Of course there ain't no fire tower there any more, just a microwave cell phone tower but it's still a nice place to go for a ramble (if you don't mind the steep climb back to the parking lot). There were eight of us up there and only Gary and I had been there before. Things were actually a bit disappointing as far as the birds were concerned. They must have missed the memo about our outing or something. Perhaps they didn't like the very dry conditions at the top of the 2400 foot mountain in the oak-hickory forest. Even the food plots planted for game birds and mammals didn't hold much attraction when you can't wash down your seed breakfast. We did find a couple of spots where there were numerous individual birds but most of them were from the same species so our species count was quite low.

Anyway, here's the report:



Location: Fire Tower
Observation date: 8/16/07
Notes: Overcast to start but clearing with breeze. Temps in the 70s. Wind out of the SSW.
Number of species: 19

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 4
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 19
Black-capped Chickadee 11
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Gray Catbird 5
Cedar Waxwing 16
Chestnut-sided Warbler 3
Black-throated Blue Warbler 3
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Yellow-throated Warbler 2
American Redstart 1
Eastern Towhee 5
Chipping Sparrow 8
Song Sparrow 4
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 2
American Goldfinch 3

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

I lied.

Instead of completely relaxing today, Terry and I went over to Sears and bought a lawn mower for the Aerie. I figured it was about time to cut the "grass" that had been growing. Most of it is really weeds of the pasture variety but with fall around the corner I'm sort of hoping that the grass will start to take over and fill in the blank areas. Don seeded it last fall and covered the whole yard with hay straw and a surprising amount of grass did grow on the clay/rock fill--at least enough to slow erosion on the sloping lawn area. Now all we need is some rain to water the grasses that are there.

I'm sure the nightly rabbits will be surprised to find their salad in much shorter supply when the come out in an hour or two.

On our way back, we stopped and arranged to have a dump truck load of what passes for top soil to be delivered to fill in behind the retaining wall and to, hopefully, fill a raised bed or two for garden flowers and vegetables.

National Relaxation Day

I am informed by GuyK of CHARMING, JUST CHARMING, that today is National Relaxation Day. After the hard labor I performed earlier this week, I'm not even going to question his accuracy. Rather, I'm taking the rest of the bloody week off. My back and knees need to recuperate from the heavy lifting of blocks and bending over to stain that I put them through. Tomorrow morning is birding time and then my sister and her husband will be here for a couple of days starting Thursday evening.

Deck Staining--Done

As I said this morning, it was deck staining day at the Aerie. However, before the stain could be applied the deck had to be cleaned of all the sunflower hills and thistle seed the birds have scattered upon it since December. Unfortunately, even though the deck boards were butted up against each other when we laid the deck, some shrinkage did occur and gaps opened up between boards--gaps which were just perfect for thistle seeds and sunflower hills to become trapped. I tried blowing them out with the leaf blower attachment of my shop vac but that didn’t work. Then I tried vacuuming them out using the shop vac and that didn’t work. Finally I resorted to one of man’s ancient tools…



Yeah, it’s a stick with a nail in it.

I got down on my knees and scraped the cracks to get the grunge out. And it worked—mostly. What came out looked very much what you might expect to see at the bottom of a Styrofoam cup at a Skoal convention. I mean, it just wasn’t real pretty.



See. I’ll either have to move the feeders off the deck or get the birds a spittoon.

Anyway, I would scrape then vacuum and then scrape and vacuum some more until I decided I had gotten all that I was going to get and the rest could stay there and rot for I care.



This is my little friend Mr. Shop Vac enjoying his day in the sun. This portion of the deck measures 10 feet wide by 34 feet long. There’s another 10’ by 20’ portion under the covered porch around the corner from where I took this photo.

It was just after noon when I decided it was time to start staining if I intended to finish this job today.



The stain was Olympic Maximum Naturaltone Cedar. I think the dark tone really adds something to the deck. (Don’t let the glare off my pate distract you from the dark, rich color of the deck. And I did put a hat on soon after this was taken so as to prevent my brain from completely frying.) I stained three boards at a time from end to end hoping to keep the edges wet as I worked and thereby prevent any overlap from showing. It mostly worked.

I even talked Terry into doing some of the staining.



Sure, she only did three boards, but I really, really needed a break. (I was going to stain her into the corner but somebody had to finish cooking dinner.)

So there you have the story of how I spent my day. Yeah, I did finish but by the time I did (7 PM) the shadows were quite long and I thought I would hold off on taking a photo until tomorrow.

Now, if you will excuse me, I think I’ll go take a couple of pain pills and muscle relaxants for my back, a hot shower for the rest of me, and then hit the sack. I’m bushed!

More chores today

Damn, I thought retirement was supposed to mean less work! Since I "retired" I've been busting my hump. First to prep the NJ home for sale, then to build the Aerie, next to cut and split firewood for the Bolt Hole, finishing off the basement, starting the landscaping with the retaining walls, and today to stain the deck (had to let the pressure treated wood "age" before the stain could be applied). The list just seems to keep getting longer and longer.

At least today I won't be hauling 85 pound blocks or shoveling stone. No, instead I'll be on my knees (ouch) brushing on stain. I'll take a couple of before and after shots and post them later.

More retaining wall

Yesterday being Sunday, I took the day off from working on the retaining wall(s) and went birding instead.

Today I went back to work and spent six hours moving concrete block to complete one retaining wall and build a second, smaller wall. I hadn't intended to build the second wall but after altering the plans for the first wall, I had 30 or so blocks left over. (I decided not to built the larger wall even taller and so had two full rows of 15 blocks each left.) Despite temperatures only in the 70s, perspiration flowed freely. The job is done, however, and does look rather nice. As an added bonus, the four pallets that held the stone are now relegated to the scrap heap (actually, they'll go up to the Bolt Hole to stack firewood upon) and the piles of stone are rapidly diminishing.

With no rain in the forecast for a couple of days, tomorrow will be time to stain the deck.

Red Skelton explains the Pledge of Allegience

I just happened to go to look at a Red Skelton skit and came across this:


I believe we do not think enough about our blessings as citizens of this country and that those who see only the bad in everything would love to remove those blessings--and our rights--for the sake of domineering central power.

Some bird pics

I took my digiscoping equipment over to Ives Run this morning to see if I could get any decent pictures. Ives Run, on Hammond Lake, is where we went Birding on Thursday and had some excellent views of Great Blue Herons, Ospreys and Bald Eagles as well as numerous smaller birds. Today the big guys weren't quite as cooperative. The Great Blues took off as soon as I was within a hundred yards and the Ospreys and Eagles stayed 150 to 200 yards from me. I tried using the zoom function on the camera, but mixed with the field scope it was too much to hope for. I did get two or three pictures of the Osprey that weren't too bad but there were none of the immature bald eagle that are worth even showing.

Still, I did get 17-18 shots of a very cooperative Green Heron that fished from a rock/log just 20 yards from the fishing pier.





And there were several Greater Yellowlegs wading in the water that gave me some nice silhouettes.



So the day wasn't a total waste.

Here's one of an Osprey taken using the zoom function on the camera. You can see why I wasn't thrilled about it.



I think it was just a little too far for the focus to narrow in on the bird. Oh well, live and learn.

One good thing about digital photography, you get osee your mistakes quickly and they don't really cost you a bundle to have them developed.

This "settled science,"...I do not think it means what you think it means

Sheesh, first NASA has to quietly correct its temperature data because Climate Audit's Steve McIntyre, a British mathematician discovered serious flaws in methods and results and now

Douglas J. Keenan, a former Morgan Stanley arbitrageur and current independent mathematical researcher, identified "fabrications" in such studies that suggest a "marked lack of integrity in some important work on global warming that is relied upon by the IPCC" and that "the insignificance of urbanization effects on temperature measurements has not been established as reliably as the IPCC assessment report assumes."

(Emphasis belongs to Noel Shepherd of NewsBusters who has the entire story: UN Climate Panel Accused of Possible Research Fraud)

Seems that two reports that focused upon the temperature data of China, and that were used in the UN study, claim to have used temperature stations with clear histories of not having been moved or relocated. Unfortunately, 49 of the 84 stations used in the two studies have no such history. This alone makes the use of their data unreliable. Oops.

It’s really nice that all this science is “settled.” I wonder if the massive rush to push the Anthropomorphic Global Warming cart down everyone’s throat was so we couldn’t see there were no horses (data) pulling it along.

(To use another metaphor: It’s starting to look like the Emperor really doesn’t have any clothes at all.)

Via Classical Values where there is also a link to some problems with other data sets…in Russia, and elsewhere.