Early Brrrr...I mean Birding

Back on March 20th, when winter was still showing only a few signs of departing, I got a bit of cabin fever and decided to drive up to the south end of Seneca Lake and Watkins Glen do see what birds were on the water. It was a mostly sunny day with the temperature in the upper 30s and I knew from having driven through that area the week before that the lake was pretty much ice free with only a bit showing up to clog the few bays and inlets so things were promising. What I didn't count on was a fairly strong--and cold--wind out of the north-northwest that brought the wind chill down to near ten degrees.

While there were lots of Ringnecked Ducks and Canada Geese along with a few grebes, Mallards and assorted others bottled up on the south end of the lake, it was the huge number of Ring-billed Gulls on the ice and the breakwaters that impressed.

They were also the only birds I got close enough to to get a halfway decent photo.

Ring-billed Gull testing the waters of Seneca Lake on March 20th.

Too Cold!!

The Ring-bill is the most common gul of the Twin Tiers, BTW.

On the way south from Watkins Glen to the Aerie I decided to check out the Hammond-Tioga Lake area. While Hammond Lake was pretty much completely ice covered, and Tioga had just a small open area near the weir/connector to Hammond Lake, the spillway was wide open and running high and turbulent. There were a couple of immature Bald Eagles taking advantage of the wounded fish that would occasionally float up but they were w-a-a-a-y over there when I arrived and stayed out where a 300mm lens wasn't going to help.

There was one Great Blue Heron, however that seemed to pose along the spillway. For a short time anyway.

Great Blue Heron along the spillway in Tioga.

Great Blue takes off as I made too much noise(?)

Great Blue aborts his flight...

...only to discover the water's deeper than he thought!

GBH takes off to more isolated fishing grounds. (i.e. somewhere I am not.)

Amazing wingspan on the GBH as he continues to trail his landing gear.

I never see one of these guys in flight that I don't think of the Bugs Bunny cartoon with the buzzards slowly flapping their wings.

(From "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid" which I can not find in its entirety.) 

"I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee...."

That's All Folks!

More photos tomorrow.

Pretty Much

From: Despair, Inc.

I'm baaaaack! (Sorta)

It’s been more than a month since I posted here. No excuses just not much drive to post upon the multitude of idiocies that have been going on in the world.

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The Tundra got its new brain. It took just a bit over an hour for the mechanic to install the (very expensive) computer. Everything seems to be going well.

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Dallas Seavey won the Iditarod by 2 minutes over Aliy Zerkle. The 2013 winner, Mitch Seavey, (Dallas’ dad) finished third more than three hours later.

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A plane disappeared somewhere in the Indian Ocean and the 24/7 cable news channels do nothing but speculate as to its fate. Day. After. Day. After. Day. (I’m glad I don’t bother to watch TV news unless it’s an occasional peek at what passes for local news here in the middle of nowhere.) 

Searching “Flight 370” (with the quotes) on the CNN website produces 754 results. A similar search on the MSNBC site yields 134 hits. And FOX News gives 149.

Speculation, and that’s all it really is and continues to be, as to what happened runs the gamut from mechanical failure to black holes. 

Meanwhile those same stations virtually ignore political corruption and gun smuggling occurring from coast to coast.

@Mayorof Charlotte resigns after public corruption, bribe charges

(He’s a Democrat, but you’d have a hard time finding that tidbit in this article.)

@Fewcan reconcile Leland Yee with the charges against him 

(He, too, is a Democrat and a California State Senator—who strongly pushed for strict gun control. You’d be hard pressed to find that in this article.)

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My sister hosted a family reunion party at her house in New Jersey. Descendants of my Mother and her sisters gathered from Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Cousins, their kids and grandkids along with various spouses got together. Those on the west coast and the south didn’t make it but we had a great time just the same. 

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Baseball season has started and I'll be following my Mets--at least until July fourth, longer if they start doing well. Unfortunately, my TV contract does not have MLB access and recently dropped the YES network. (I don't mind the latter unless the Mets are playing the Yanks.) I can watch the Pirates, Phillies and even the Cubs on a fairly regular schedule. 

I lost the nail on my frostbitten finger. A new one seems to be growing. It’s slightly deformed but we’ll have to see if it becomes more “normal” with time.

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The bears are back. We have had two visits: one from a mamma and her yearling cub and one by a two year old. As a result, the bird feeders have to come in at night.

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My knees were doing very well until about a month ago. Then I suddenly developed a sharp pain in the right knee just above the joint. It only happens when climbing or descending stairs but it’s enough to make me go to the orthopedist tomorrow.

 I started doing yard work in the form of felling a couple of trees along the edge of the yard, limbing them, cutting the larger into fire place lengths, and using the new chipper/shredder to clean up the smaller branches.And I slipped on some of the snow that was on the ground while I was cutting down the trees. Didn't think I hurt myself at the time, but ever since the pain has been getting worse.

I might have pushed too hard in the warm weather we’ve had in fits and spurts. I started doing lots of birding doing several walks on consecutive days.

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As far as birding goes, I did have a good time going to various spots in Tioga County, PA and even got up to the southern end of Seneca Lake (Watkins Glen) in New York. I took lots of photos and will be posting some of those in the days ahead. The birds that migrated south have begun returning and/or passing through on their way north so there’s plenty to see. I missed a few that have already gone by, like the Snow Geese (although I may have seen a flock or two wing overhead), but there are more showing up every day.

 The Goldfinches are getting more and more yellow, a sure sign of Spring(?) even if the peepers aren't sounding off and the Woodcock haven't returned to the mountain. (Some have been seen down in the valley, however.)

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Finally, March Madness has culminated in UConn vs. Kentucky for the National Championship as I type. On the women’s side it’s two undefeated teams (Connecticut (37-0) vs Notre Dame (35-0) squaring off in the title game Tuesday night.

Interesting Week

And, yes, "May you live in interesting times," is a curse.

*sigh*

Went to the Post Office Friday morning to get the mail. As I got in the Tundra and turned the key, the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. Check engine, ABS, 4HI/4LO, Brake...all were lit up and/or flashing. Still, the truck turned over and rolled freely (no brakes or 4-wheel drive).

As I drove down to get the mail, I noticed the odometer wasn't working and neither was the speedometer or the computer that calculated the mpg and range.

Called the mechanic and took the Tundra to get looked at. The ABS Actuator (the computer brain that runs just about everything) needs to be replaced...next Thursday. This is a $2K headache I didn't really need.

I carefully made sure the gas tank was full and discovered the gas gauge DOES work. Thank goodness!

Still, I'll be parking the Tundra in the driveway until next Thursday morning.

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The latest winter storm may turn out to be a bit of a dud as far as we're concerned. As the storm approaches and the forecasters fine tune the track of the storm, it seems to be shifting to the south. We've gone from the "foot or more" area to the "3-6 inches" and now to the "1 inch" zone. I'll take it! AccuHunch will become my new Bestest Friend--for now--if this holds true.

Those in the central and southern portions of the state remain in the "oh my God" zones, however. 

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It's been wicked cold here...again. We've seen a couple of mornings this week where it got below minus 5 degrees. But, aside from a few snow squalls that briefly produced white-out conditions, we've been relatively snow free. I don't believe we've seen so many sub-zero readings since we moved here in the winter of '06. And we're not done yet. Forecasters are saying we'll get another blast of super cold air once this storm moves off to the east. I saw a minus 10 prediction for Wednesday.

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The Iditarod ("The Last Great Race!") kicks off this weekend with the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage scheduled for Saturday and the official start out of Willow on Sunday. The route has been plagued by comparatively warm temps and low snow fall all winter. Wish we could send them some of ours!

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They finally closed on the sale of Mom's house in NJ. The money, however, will be held in escrow until the state signs off on the remediation of tiny oil leak that was discovered when the empty oil tank was removed from the front yard. That could take months to years according to the realtor. Even though there was an inspection done on site as the work from a licensed contractor scooped out the little soil that was contaminated (tests showed that nothing got into the ground water), the paper work must make its way through the halls of bureaucracy.

The closing almost got cancelled as the buyers and their attorney, kept bringing up niggling little items at the last minute. As first time buyers, they kept expecting a 60+ year-old house to be perfect. If either Terry or I were there, the sale probably would have been cancelled, but the estate's attorney has a little more patience than we do. Even so, even he is reported to have stood up at one point and said he was going to put the house back on the market.

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On a positive note, yesterday was the first day of official spring training baseball games. Between now and Opening Day there will be stories of prospects and veterans who look good/poor; injuries; hopes; and dreams. Few will write about the teams that "haven't got a chance in Hell" of making the playoffs and few fans will admit that their team is out of the running. Hope springs eternal.

Lunch Guest

We had a guest for lunch today. Just as Terry and I sat down for our noonday meal, a black squirrel appeared on the deck. It's not the first of its kind at the Aerie. We had one show up in the winters of '06-'07 and '07-'08, but this is the first we've seen since then.

Add it to the rather odd, nearly all white striped skunk we saw on our way to the Audubon meeting last night.

Black Squirrel 

Black Squirrel

Black Squirrel

Pet Peeve/Rant...or Two

I find it frustrating that when you comment on a Facebook post that needs to be corrected because it is soooo wrong, that all you see on your timeline (and presumably all your friends see) is that you commented on that ill-written, stupid post and NOT what you said about it. To see what you said, your friends would have to click on the post and scroll down to find your comment.

I commented on a post about Bill Nye appearing on The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell

What I said was that Bill Nye (The Science Guy) is dead wrong to assume there is a consensus among the scientific community on AGW/Climate Change.

Yes, the climate is changing. It always has and always will.

Has CO2 been proven to be the cause of global warming? Not yet. CO2 levels have been going up. Global temperature has been level for the last 15-17 years. And the scientific computer models Nye loves so much didn't predict that plateau nor can they explain it.

Why have those pushing huge changes in our life style only targeted North America, Europe, and Australia vis-a-vis reducing CO2 emissions when other nations/continents produce more and continue to increase their production of so called greenhouse gases? Have they even noticed or acknowledged that the US has reduced its CO2 output since the Kyoto Treaty wasa passed? And, despite not signing that worthless piece of paper, is the ONLY nation to successfully reduce its CO2 emissions? (You can thank fracking and the boom of natural gas production for that, not windmills or solar energy.)

From what I've seen of those following and supporting AGW and Climate Change, I'm not impressed with their scientific abilities. As con artistis and scammers however....

What Else Happened Today

To celebrate the recovery of my middle finger from frostbite--and as a belated Valentine's Day outing--Terry and I went to Red Lobster for dinner. Lobsterfest is all it's cracked up to be! The mushrooms we had as an appetizer weren't the only thing to be stuffed.

We also went to Barnes & Noble were Terry got a couple of romance novels and I picked up books by Stephen King and Janet Evanovich on the writing craft as well as a novel by Sarah Hoyt (A Few Good Men) and two by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (The Long Earth and The Long War).

We also stopped at JoAnn's so Terry could get some material for a couple of projects she's working on.

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We got another delivery of propane today. Our tank was nearly half full so the volume of the delivery wasn't much above 225 gallons but the price was about $3.65 per, or about ten cents more than the delivery we got last month. That should get us through the winter, however.

I'm not going to complain too much about the price, however. In many places dealers are short of supply and if you're not a regular customer you could get into a bind. We signed on with Williams Oil & Propane when we built the Aerie. They installed our heating system and hot water system and have been out several times to service them. Good, local folks who are knowledgeable, friendly and dependable.

 I've been burning lots of wood in the fireplace but only on days when the lows have been near zero and the highs around 20. It's reduced our usage of propane, but not by much. It's also reduced my pile of firewood considerably! I'll need to cut, haul, split and stack quite a bit this summer to prepare for next winter. Knees, travel and well drilling put a dent in the amount of time I could allot to those chores this year.

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The forecast is for another 3-6 inches of snow late tonight through Tuesday morning. *sigh* Guess I'll be firing up the tractor again tomorrow afternoon. Where I'm going to dump it is anybody's guess. I would prefer to put it all in Punxsutawney Phil's burrow!

They promise things will be warming up later in the week and we might begin to see some of this white stuff turn to water. It might even reach 40 degrees for a couple of days but there could be some rain showers along with that. Then it will get cold again for a couple of days early next week. Winter just will not go quietly it seems. Don't mind the temperature dropping again so long as the measurable (2+ inches) snow falls stop.

Update of Frostbite--All Is GOOD!

Went to Corning to see the doctor about my frostbit finger this afternoon. He was suitably impressed by my recovery and said that, though I might still lose my nail, I will not have to have any surgery nor do I need to see him again.

Feeling has returned to the middle finger although it's still super sensitive and the other three are virtually normal. The tissues of the middle finger are still new, the doctor said, but they should thicken and toughen up with time. He also said I might recover normal feeling--or I might not. Nerves are tough to predict, but if he were a betting man, normal is the way he would bet.

He also said that there are doctors out there who, upon seeing the original condition of the finger, would have pressed for amputation of part of the finger ASAP. He prefers the "frostbite in January, debraid (amputate) in March/April" method of treatment. He prefers this approach because frostbite--and the recovery from it--is so unpredictable.

On Second Thought....

There's a reason I put a question mark at the end of the title of the last post.  (Time To Hit the Road?)

I ran some numbers regarding the cost of fuel, food and lodging on a proposed Grand Tour and have decided that it's a wee bit too costly to make such a trip at this time. Especially since my better half has expressed an interest in doing at least the last half (Texas, the Gulf Coast, Florida and South Carolina) as well. Maybe it's my Scot's heritage that makes me quail at the expense. (The Irish and Dutch portions say. "Go for it!")

We may still make a run south to Florida and South Carolina sometime in March. And maybe a quick trip to Milwaukee and Chicago. But the larger tour may have to wait until the RV is able to get on the road. It may be slower (450 miles per day as opposed to 800) and eat up more fuel than the Tundra (10 mpg vs. 16-18), but campgrounds are less costly than motels and cooking your own meals is  cheaper than eating out every meal.

I'll also get in a short trip or two to the Adirondacks to check on the Bolt Hole before the Big Thaw comes around.

We will get a Big Thaw, won't we? When it comes I hope it's a slow thaw. With all the snow on the ground around here, there's going to be one heck of a runoff problem if it happens too quickly. With most of the rivers iced up, ice dams could produce a huge headache.

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Terry and I spent a couple of hours shoveling the driveway today after Mother Nature dropped another 2+ inches on us. On top of the 8 inches we got on Thursday, I'm rapidly running out of room to put the snow. Luckily much of it goes over the edge of the slope on the north side of the driveway, but there's still a tremendous amount on the west side of the parking area in front of the garage and at the end of the driveway where there really isn't any place to put it. If it goes down the slope, it ends up in the road and the plow just puts it back in the driveway. Where we shovel it off the deck, we've got a ridge that's almost four feet high!

We've now got close to two feet on the level surfaces and mounds on the verge of the parking area and at the end of the driveway that easily measure five feet. And that's after the thaw at the end of December melted our first foot of snow. Sochi should have so much snow!

Forecasts say we'll have a couple of cold days before we get up above freezing. Then it will be above freezing during the day and in the 20s at night right through the end of March. The guys working sugar bushes will be please by that. Maple sugaring could have a boom year.

Time To Hit the Road?

Snowing at the Aerie today. They promised we'd be in the 1-3 inch zone. when the forecast came out this morning. We've passed that and are now looking at 5 inches. Funny thing about weather: The models often get it wrong. (Same is true for climate. Not one model predicted or can explain the 15-17 years of non-warming we've been having.) The snow and the cold (At least THAT hasn't been a problem today. Low of 12 and high of 24 degrees.) got me to thinking.

Since I had my knees replaced last July 15th, I have been--with the exception of one flight to Portland, OR to say hello and goodbye to Aisley Cecilia--pretty much confined to short trips to New Jersey and the doctor's offices in Corning, New York. And it is starting to drive me nuts. That's why I didn't mind the 300 mile round trip to Harrisburg for the Great American Outdoor Show last week.

But it wasn't enough. I'm slowly going stir crazy. When I'm not out moving snow around (something I will have to do on Friday...again) I've been rereading all of Terry Prachett's books, doing crossword puzzles, solving sudoku puzzles, swiffering the floors, and doing laundry. Heck, I even cleaned the range top the other day. And now I've started doing jigsaw puzzles. One thousand pieces takes three days while watching Bones and Castle reruns on TNT. (BTW, I've almost memorized all the Castle episodes up to the 2013-14 season, having seen each multiple times.)

Terry, on the other hand has, in addition to the short, sad trip to Portland, traveled to Poland, Louisville, KY; Dallas, TX; Anaheim, CA; Fairfield, CA; Columbia, SC (twice!); a conference in western PA; and another in western NY. And she's got a second trip to Louisville planned for March.

I'm thinking it's time to pack my bags, load the Tundra with stuff to be delivered to relatives and head west. A grand road trip may be just what I need. (It would be better with the RV but that's frozen in at the moment.) Milwaukee, Portland, Fairfield, and Anaheim seem to be in order. Then maybe San Diego, the Big Bend country of Texas as well as the Texas Gulf Coast. Then on over to Florida and a stop at my cousins' house. before turning north to Columbia, SC. I could do with a stop along the Delaware coast and even the Atlantic City area before returning to the Aerie.

The goal would be to deliver things from Mom's house, visit with relatives and friends, and do lots and lots of birding. In warmer(?) climates.  I figure it would be a trip of about 8K miles and perhaps five to six weeks.

I've a doctor's appointment on Monday for my frostbitten finger, an Audubon meeting Wednesday night (not mandatory!) and nothing until the end of March.

Hmmm. Sounds doable.

Aerie Report: Week...Whatever

Sheesh, almost two weeks since I last posted anything here. Call me a slacker and I won't deny it.

Terry came back from visiting in South Carolina and we had our closing on the four acres. We are now owners of 21 contiguous acres on the mountain. The new lot is the flatest of all and should provide a suitable place to park the RV once the previous owner removes his truck camper when things thaw.

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We traveled into NJ to clear out the last of the things we wanted from Mom's house. Pictures on the wall, towels, bedding, a few pieces of furniture, TV and VCR, etc. Some of it went to the second hand shop, some went into clothing/cloth bins, and some we kept.

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Terry wasn't home more than a few days when we got the call that her cousin passed away, so Terry headed south once more for the funeral. She swung though NJ on her way home to sign over power of attorney to her lawyer so she wouldn't have to rush to NJ again for any closing that may happen...sometime...hopefully soon. The hangup is the report on the extend of soil contamination from the old oil tank. That should be finished today or tomorrow. The purchaser's attorney is concerned that their won't be enough money set aside for the clean-up. Terry has told him that ALL of the purchase price will be in escrow until it's cleaned up but he's still not buying it.

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While Terry was gone, I went to see the doctor about my frost bitten fingers. Three of the four are almost back to normal. At the time, the middle finger, the one that had all the huge honking blisters, the mummified and dry gangrenous diagnosis still had some thick dead skin over most of the final joint and a very black fingernail. Some of the thick stuff had already peeled off and the doctor said that if the rest wanted to come off I should let it go. Well, in the next two days, the rest did come off and I was pleasantly surprised to see how pink the underlying skin was. And I could feel things with the very tip! I may not lose anything except the fingernail after all.

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I also had to go to get the Tundra serviced. The dashboard light saying it was due for maintenance came on. No surprise since the odometer indicated it was time for an oil change. But, at 100K + there were other things that needed to be done, too. That $30 oil change ended up costing over $500 but the beast needed and deserved the TLC. (I still won't take it to the car wash, though. With any thaw we'll be in yet another Mud Season.)

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Also, while Terry was gone, we got a beaut of a snowstorm. Overnight we had a foot of light powder that I spent all afternoon clearing from the driveway and deck. I needed all my tools to get those areas (and the Tundra) cleared. The snow thrower got used to clear a path for the tractor. The tractor's front bucket got the snow over the edge of the driveway and all the parking area down to (nearly) bare ground. It also was handy in getting rid of the huge pile of snow the town plow left at the end of the drive. The broom got the snow off the Tundra's roof and the shovel got the close in stuff around the vehicles where the thrower and tractor couldn't go as well as the stuff on the deck. It "only" took me six hours to do the work. (Knees did well with the labor!)

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Joe and I got down to the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg on Friday. The only thing we really wanted to do was book a fishing trip with Caesar's North Camps for this summer yet we spent over three hours walking around looking at all the exhibits and talking to a few venders. We made a few donations to the NRA-ILA and Hunter United For Sunday Hunting, too. Joe ended up purchasing some gun cleaner that didn't smell like Hoppe's #9. (His wife just doesn't like that odor for some reason.) Gunzilla actually has a very faint floral aroma. We also traveled over to Cabela's where Joe picked up some primers to reload pistol ammo. I looked at some gun safes but passed on buying one knowing that it wouldn't be until spring that I could actually get it into the basement because of all the snow drifts/piles that are in the way. (Knees did well with all the walking!)

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The "birds that I've seen" count has improved slightly. A pair of Downy Woodpeckers have appeared at the deck feeders at the Aerie. Usually they are winter travelers with the Chickadees, Titmice and Nuthatches, but they have been few and far between this winter. On our way to Harrisburg and back, Joe and I saw a pair of Bald Eagles along Route 322 and the Susquehanna River, a Turkey Vulture east of the city along Route 22 and a flock of Canada Geese along Route 61. And, this past Saturday, Terry and I saw a flock of English Sparrows over in Wellsboro when we went to the ski shop to get a really good (and expensive!) pair of mittens to protect my hands from the cold.

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The temperatures have continued to range from near zero all the way "up" to the mid 20s. We got another inch of snow last night--the second such snowfall since the Big One on Tuesday-Wednesday. I have to go out with the shovel to get things down to stone again. Just let me have another cup of coffee and give the sun a chance to get above the trees on the hill.

There doesn't appear to be anything significant in the forecast for the next week or so. Hopefully they are on the money with that and the predicted rise in temperatures for next week. Looking at the rivers as Joe and I drove around on Friday, I sure hope things warm up and thaw before we get any heavy rains. There's lots of ice on the rivers and ice dams could created significant flooding if the water doesn't flow free before the runoff from melted snow/rain occurs.

The first person to complain about the heat this summer is going to get it! POW! ZOOM!

Slow, Snowy Week at the Aerie

It's been a slow week for me. I was home at the Aerie watching the snow and the thermometer fall. Three days we had lows below zero and highs below 15. But we had some snowfall every day. Sure, some days it was barely a dusting, but three times it added up to enough to require some work with the shovel. (The third snowfall is a work in progress and I probably won't get to it until Monday morning.) If each snowfall had been four inches I would have used the thrower, six or more the tractor, but, damn it!, two inches at a time? *sigh*

I was careful to wear warm gloves each time I was outside whether to shovel or to haul more firewood into the garage. (Yeah, barn door...horse gone...I hear ya!) The ring finger and thumb are peeling like they had a bad sunburn only worse. The "new" skin beneath the peeling stuff is still callus-like and the tips are numb. As for the middle finger.... I snagged a part of the dead skin on a log as I brought firewood into the house. This caused a flap of thick, dead skin that I felt needed to be clipped off. I then treated the area with Bacitracin and wrapped a band aid over it, I'll see the doctor a week from Monday and let him deal with it so long as it doesn't show any signs of infection.

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Terry was down in South Carolina from Monday til Friday visiting a very ill (brain cancer) cousin. She enjoyed herself as much as she could as she reconnected with folks we don't get to see nearly enough, met a new baby, taught the "next generation" how to make stuffed cabbage, and more.

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We should be closing on the four acre lot next door to the Aerie later this week. It's a matter of setting a time and place acceptable to the seller and drawing a cashier's check to pay for it all.

The environmental folks in NJ are still diddling around with the oil spilled from the underground tank. Last week's snowstorm bumped their scheduled inspection and testing to this week. The real estate agent is talking about the possibility of going through an escrow sale so the purchasers could move in sooner rather than later. The estate would still pay for any remediation needed due to the oil spill, but at least someone would be in the house.

Terry and I will make another run into NJ this week to gather up the few items that are still in the house and garage that wee want. Purchaser has said they wouldn't mind having the furniture...if it's free. That, at least, would release us from the responsibility of disposing of the bulk of the furniture. We had intended to donate it to either Big Brothers and Sisters or the Salvation Army.

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I'm getting tired of seeing the same old group of birds at the feeders. We've 13 or so species that are regulars and a few rare visitors or fly overs (ravens, crows, pileated woodpecker). It got so bad I went for a drive on Friday to see what might be out there.

The answer is "not much!" I drove up to Ives Run/Hammond Lake to find it completely frozen over. Only a couple of red-tailed hawks, crows and a solitary Eastern Bluebird which flew along side the truck for a short distance. Went over to The Muck off Route 287 and...nothing! The marsh, too, is frozen solid but there were no birds in the grasses or woods nearby either. Finally, I went over to Darling Run on Pine Creek. There was a female Hairy Woodpecker working on the locust trees in the parking lot. And that was it. The creek was still flowing with a channel perhaps 10-12 feet wide but the banks were iced up and ice floes were grinding along the edges. I couldn't help but think that it wouldn't take much to create an ice jam. I had hoped that the open water might mean an eagle or two would be around. (I had given up on any waterfowl as soon as I heard the "soosh" of ice-on-ice.) But there was nothing. I drove an 80 mile loop to spot four species of birds and couldn't even confirm something as easy as an English Sparrow. Next time I stop at Wal-Mart. *sigh*

Week 26: Cold. Very cold. Oh. And snowy.

Yesterday marked the 26th week since I had my knees replace. That's the six month mark and things are progressing swimmingly. The twins are performing well in all facets of life but one: I can't kneel down worth a damn! Putting the knees onto a hard surface like the floor is very, very painful. I'll have to invest in some serious knee pads soon. Or, at the very least, remember to roll up a thick coat, throw rug, or cat before I attempt to kneel even to fetch a bowl from the back of the cabinet.

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Terry got home around 5 PM Sunday, swapped out her clothes in her suitcase, grabbed a few hours sleep, and hit the road south at 6 AM Monday morning. She made it to Columbia, SC by 5 PM with only a few short stops along the way. The road was clear and she reported plenty of sunlight along the way. When she called to let me know she had made it, it was nearly 60 degrees (it was just 25 at the Aerie). This morning it was just 5 degrees here in the Northern Tier of PA and snowing again. (It's been lightly snowing since 11 AM on Monday.) At least there's no wind...yet. There IS a high wind warning for later today. She may not want to come home.

She and her cousins were taking all too much pleasure in mentioning the new palm tree they have in the yard...and the 60 degree temperatures. Wait until hurricane season!

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The light snow has accumulated only about an inch maybe two since yesterday which is fine by me. This particular storm, dubbed Juno by the folks at weather.com, is dumping much more snow to the east and south according to the forecast maps. Southeast PA and northern NJ may see up to a foot. Like I said, Terry may not want to come home.

The snow plow has been up and down our hill already this morning. It seemed to have trouble just on the lower edge of our property. Whether there was a patch of ice or the driver just had trouble getting the right gear, or setting up the cinder spreader correctly he had to back up several times to get a running start that carried him the rest of the way up the hill. I'll know more about his troubles when I go out in a bit to fetch the mail. Should be quite a bit between the post office being closed on Monday and my being occupied shoveling snow on Saturday.

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I spent the better part of Monday turning a bunch of semifrozen butternut squash into mash and then freezing the results for use in pies and soups. The garage turns out to be a poor choice for long term storage when the temperatures get down to single digits--or lower--for extended periods. That or the squash need some insulated protection if they are to reside there. Perhaps I should have put them in one of the styrofoam coolers. In any event, I got four containers of two cups each put into the freezer.

I'll be enjoying the small amount that was left over with a little brown sugar and butter as a side dish for my dinner today.

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While digging out the containers for freezing, I discovered the shelf in the cabinet was cock-eyed. I had to pull everything out, cut a couple of "legs" and put them in to support the shelf and then put everything back in. (Hence the complaint about kneeling above.) Conclusion: We have way too much stuff in there unless we are prepared to open a bakery. Why have five or six pie pans (metal, glass, ceramic), five or six muffin/cupcake pans, five bread loaf pans (again, metal, glass and ceramic), two bundt pans, a couple of specialty baking pans (heart shaped? Really?) and scadie-eight gazillion plastic Tupperware containers and their lids, not to mention at least eight different configurations on a frying pan?

I'm sure Terry has some justification for all of the above. If not she'll just point to my fishing/hunting/wood working gear and say, "Well?"

Certainties: Snow, Death, and Taxes

A series of winter lows are moving along the edge of the cold air that's bulged southward. Again. Friday's low dumped between 2 and 3 inches of light, white powder on the Aerie while the cold air moved in afterward. Two or three inches isn't enough to fire the tractor up nor is it enough to run the thrower, so I spent three hours in 18 degree temperatures shoveling the driveway. Luckily, there was no wind to blow the snow back in my face and my flannel-lined jeans, wool coat and fleece-lined gloves kept me warm when standing still. Once I was swinging the shovel, I even broke a sweat.

Three hours walking back and forth pushing the snow shovel. (I try not to lift and throw too much. Even the light stuff can get to you after a while.) As someone said on Facebook, I really gave the knees a workout. This morning I was still a bit achy. One thing I can be sure of, this won't be the last snow of the season.

Last night's little zephyr passed south and east of us and left only a tiny dusting of powder on the ground. (They say the next couple will do the same.) And the temperatures fell even further reaching a low of 8 degrees at dawn this morning. Yeah, it did shoot up to 22 degrees this afternoon under a cloudless, sunny sky, but it's going down tonight and tomorrow we may not see the teens.

This afternoon, I refilled the firewood rack in the garage from the woodpile behind the garage.  The job would be easier if not for the hump left from the ditch the well drillers had dug and filled. That and the amount of stuff in the garage form Mom's house. The dirt hump means I have to walk about 10 feet from pile to wheel barrow while all the stuff in the garage means I have to do the same at the opposite end. Four trips back and forth to fill the rack but at least I'll be toasty the next couple of days.

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Terry returns form her stitching weekend tonight. She won't be home long. She was going to go to New Jersey to see how things are progressing there, but then we got a phone call from South Carolina. Her cousin Lorraine, who has been battling cancer, has had her brain cancer stop responding to treatment. The prognosis is not good with the doctors saying she could survive for "up to three months" but it's really day-to-day. So, after a change of clothes and a night's sleep, Terry will be rolling down to Columbia and Sumter.

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All the tax info is starting to arrive in the mail. I just pile them up for Terry to deal with. She speaks better bureaucratitis than I do. She can read through the forms without screaming...much. But this year, with Mom's death and all, even she is throwing in the cards and we'll be seeking professional help. As usual, I'll still be writing the checks.

Frostbite Update and More

Two weeks ago (Friday, January 3rd) I suffered a case of frostbite on my left hand. The tip of the middle finger developed huge blisters and, when the fluid got reabsorbed, a lovely rainbow of colors on thick, dead tissue.

After visits to the ER and my primary car physician, I got to see a specialist up in Corning, yesterday. He pronounced it frostbite and confirmed that there's lots of dead tissue particularly on the pad of the middle finger. (Duh!) I may lose the nail. He may have to debraid the dead tissue and possibly snip off the tip of the bone. He would then have to do a skin graft to cover the tip of the finger. There was lots of speculation but little hard decision making. He wants to wait a couple of weeks to see how things develop and if there's any improvement.

He did say there was no need of a bandage anymore. The dead tissue ("mummified finger") provides all the protection I need. And it's all natural! Without the bandage I can bend the finger more and that increases circulation which may increase the chance of some healing.

So, its' a wait and see game. I go back on February 3rd for a further evaluation.

Only one thing is sure: I'm going to need some better mittens.

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So as to ensure that the trip up to Corning wasn't a complete bust, Terry and I also went over to Red Lobster for dinner before stopping at Michael's and Barnes & Noble. Dinner was good, Michael's had some of what Terry was looking for, and B & N is still a fun place to browse even if we only bought a couple of Sudoko puzzle books. (I'm way behind in reading what I've already got at home. Same for Terry.)

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We've swung back into the colder weather. From a couple of days in the 40s we're back to just about freezing. What little snow we got three nights ago, has melted and the rabbits and deer are taking advantage of the lawn. A red fox has been hanging around--probably looking for those rabbits. Never heard one barking before. I thought, maybe, someone had lost a hunting dog until I saw the fox moving back and forth in the woods. We even had a couple of young raccoons come up on the deck a few nights ago to raid the bird feeders. They spooked when I went out of the deck and took off with a little encouragement. 

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Terry is off on another stitching weekend. This one's only a short trip to western PA.

When she gets back, weather permitting, she may be heading to NJ to see what's up with the forensic study of the "oil spill" from the old tank that was in Mom's yard. No idea yet on how serious the "spill" is but it can't be too bad or they would have been jumping up and down and rushing to "mitigate the disaster" if it was. Mom had the tank drained and sand filled under the watchful eye of the town inspector a number of years ago. Can't imagine there was more than a quart of oil coating the innards of the tank when they got done. No oil sheen in the sump pump a short distance away also indicates there was little let loose into the ground water.

The house is sold and we are only awaiting the conclusion of The Great Oil Leak to be cleaned up so the closing can take place. (Since this is in freakin' LINDEN, New Jersey, home of some of the largest oil tank farms on the east coast, I find the concern over a few drops of home heating oil somewhat off putting.) Purchasers wanted to have it prior to January 30th but that now seems like a remote possibility.

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We're still waiting to hear of a closing date for our purchase of the 4 acres adjacent to our property. Should be soon.

Frostbite: It's Serious!

Last week I posted pictures of the honking huge blister that had formed on the middle finger of my left hand after I foolishly allowed it to be exposed to minus 6 (-6) degree air for an extended period of time while clearing the driveway of snow. (See Frostbite: Take the warnings seriously! )

Yesterday I reported on my second doctor's visit (among other things) wherein it was decided I should see a specialist because there was an abundance of dead tissue on the tip of said middle finger and that some debridement (i.e. removal) of said tissue might be warranted. How much needs to go is to be determined by the specialist.

I also mentioned the veritable rainbow of colors sported by that half inch of finger tip. To prove I wasn't kidding, I've got photographic proof:

Nail side of middle finger.

There is some sensation of touch from the cuticle back toward the hand on the top (dorsal?) side of the finger. Going forward to the tip of the finger...not so much.

Pad of the finger.

Hard as a rock with no, nada, zip sensation of touch. Some lovely colors, however!

Side of finger toward the index finger.

 

There's a bit of sensation in the "healthy" looking skin area, but the orange/yellow not so much. The same is true for the side toward the ring finger although the unhealthy colors extend further down the finger toward the hand. (Couldn't twist my wrist sufficiently to get a good photo of that.)

You will note that I wasn't exagerating about the "rainbow of colors" here. I see red, orange, yellow, green (along the cuticle), blue, indigo (toward the side not presented in photo, sorry) and violet...lots of violet!

Week 25: Knees, Fingers and More

Approaching six months since I had both knees replaced and things are going just swell! The only hint of pain I still experience comes from climbing stairs snd even that is les than I was having in the weeks prior to surgery. Once the weather cooperates and I can get out there walking the trails and woods I expect that even that will disappear.

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Meanwhile, I had a follow up withthe doctor about my frostbit fingers. The thumb, index and ring fingers are still numb at the tips--almost like a callus--but they are normal in color and seem to be recovering. The middle finger is another story. The blisters I photographed last week are shrinking as the liquid is being reabsorbed but the entire pad and tip of the finger is numb and a rainbow of colors--predominately purple. The doc was not optomistic about my saving all of the finger. His prognosis is that theres a lot of dead tissue and deep. That could lead to infection or worse. He referred me to a hand specialist/plastic surgeon in the orthopedic offices in Corning. I've an appointment set up for Thursday.

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The weather here at the Aerie has been, shall we say, changable. A week ago Saturday we saw minus 13.5 degrees and then this Saturday it was positive 48 degrees. A 61+ degree swing. While things have cooled off a bit, it has been into the high 30s and mid 40s the Sunday and Monday. As a result, nearly all the snow and ice has melted. The grass in the lawn is once more exposed and deer and rabbits are taking advantage of the fresh forage.

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I've been taking advantage of my forced idleness to peruse the Burpee's Seed Catalog. One of the most difficult things about this time of year is standing on the deck and looking down on the gardens and thinking of what I would like to plant this spring only to realize I won't be able to even turn the soil until the middle of April--if I'm lucky.

Still, looking at the pictures of vegetables, fruits and flowers--both annuals and perennials--lifts the spirit. I always seem to go way overboard when I order from the catalogs which is why I've been picking up seeds and plants at Agway and Lowes the last few years. Besides, finding a window or setting up a light system with trays and heat to propagate seeds with four cats who like to chew on greenery is problematic. Might do it anyway.

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The water from the well is running clear. It's a pleasure to have not a hint of red or gray coming from the taps or even going into the cistern. It even tastes excellent.

Frostbite: Take the warnings seriously!

So you want to know what frostbite looks like? Kinda like this: Only the last joint of the middle finger suffered serious damage. The ring and index finger are still numb and tingly at the same time (!) three days after exposure.

Blistered Finger

Blistered Finger

Bandaged Finger

The loose bandage (after applying some moisturizing cream) is to protect the blisters. Do NOT want them to burst!

I've a follow-up appointment with my doctor this afternoon. 

Week 24: Knees? What knees?

Monday marks the 24th week since I had both my knees replaced. And it's been one hell of a week!

Wednesday night into and through Thursday we got snow. About 8 inches of light, powdery snow. Why was it so light and powdery? Because we also got really, really cold air. Like minus 8 degree air. At least we didn't get the high winds that they were predicting...until Friday night into Saturday. Even then the winds came from the south and had little impact on the Aerie which is protected from that direction by Armenia Mountain Ridge.

This was the second large storm of the season. After the first one we had several days of warmth that melted all the snow. This time we won't be so lucky. After nearly reaching 40 degrees today, we will be getting rain, freezing rain and cold air. Long range forecasts aren't promising any warmth in the near future.

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I spent four hours on Friday in bright sunshine but cold, cold air clearing the driveway using the tractor. The job wasn't difficult but I paid a price just the same. The glove on my left hand kept slipping off my finger tips and I got  a severe case of frostbite. The middle finger of my left hand turned deep purple and is now one giant blister. It looks like I stuck it in the fire for a couple of minutes. Whether I lose any part of that finger and/or need a skin graft won't be known for a couple of weeks according to the doctor at the ER over at the new Guthrie Hospital in Troy. Three other fingers (index, ring finger and thumb) are also a bit tingly but they never changed color or blistered

I'll call my doctor Monday morning for a follow-up consultation. I'll be seeing him on Wednesday anyway for a colonoscopy...which has been scheduled and rescheduled several times. The last cancellation being Friday morning.

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Terry and I signed  a contract to purchase four acres adjacent to ours. We're overpaying for the lot considering the seller is keeping the mineral rights, but there's a flat area near the road with electric brought into that spot. There's also a building site that has had a perk test in the back end of the lot and a home built there would pretty much close our land to any hunting as well as sandwich us between two neighbors. 

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Oh, and my neck is still sore as heck. Heat hasn't helped. And pain pills haven't helped (Although they--the pills--probably don't know what they should target. *sigh*)

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The well is doing as good as you might expect. There's some sediment still coming through but the filter has been stopping nearly all of that crap and the water going into the cistern  and out of our faucets is clear.

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My knees? What about them? They have been doing great! Either the other pains have distracted me or they really are virtually pain free...even on the stairs.