Visitors to the Aerie Cafe

With the cold and the snow cover, we've become a primary source of food for our feathered neighbors. Each species seems to have increased its numbers at the feeders. There really hasn't been anything new this winter as far as species is concerned. We're still waiting for the redpolls and the purple and house finches to show up.

Still, the antics of the regulars can be entertaining. Here are a few of the pictures I took this morning of the regular crowd.

Blue Jay

There are around a dozen Blue Jays that come to the aerie on a regular basis. There can be as many as seven or eight vying for position on the deck tray while just as many are at the hanging feeders on the side.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Only this one shows up at the feeders on a daily basis (we call her Winnie) but I can hear another call in the distance while she is here. She'll wolf down seeds with the best of them or stop at the suet feeder for some fat.

Dark-eyed Junco

Lots and lots of juncos come up to the deck to pick up seeds on the deck itself or to hit the tray feeder. These are ground feeders so they don't bother with the hanging feeders at all. They'll also forage in the woods or the tall weeds around the edge of the yard. This photo gives you a good look at the pink legs and beak this species sports.

Northern Cardinal

Like the Red-bellied Woodpecker, we've only got one pair that comes regularly to the feeders, even then, it's usually the male. On rare occasions, the female will visit the side feeders but I've yet to see her on the deck. They usually come to feed very early in the morning or just after the sun sinks in the evening. Seems a shame to waste that beautiful red color when the light is so poor for viewing.

American Goldfinch

It started with no more than half a dozen, then each brought a buddy and they brought another. Now we've dozens and dozens of these little birds feeding everywhere. They even, finally, rediscovered the thistle feeder on the side of the yard. We'll keep an eye on the males and when they start molting into their bright yellow breeding jackets, we'll know spring is soon to arrive.

White-breasted Nuthatch

I've seen as many as half a dozen of these guys in the yard at one time. They're still out numbered by almost everyone else but they are sharp looking.

There are others that show up regularly as well. Chickadees, of course, downy and hairy woodpeckers, red-breasted nuthatches, tufted titmice, and the ever increasing mourning doves.

Let's go somewhere!

You can go to Colonial Williamsburg, or the Louvre to look at the art or to Hershey, PA watch them make chocolate.

Just a few of the 100 Incredible & Educational Virtual Tours You Don’t Want to Miss

Be warned, however, you can spend days doing all the tours so ration yourself...or get rations before entering.

(h/t to Theo Spark who had the link over at The Last of the Few)

Playoff Football

The Jets will be going to San Diego to face the Chargers after the Ravens dismantled the Patriots yesterday. Traditionally, the Jets (like the Mets) don't fare well on the west coast. This year, the Jets made one trip out that way and walloped the Oakland Raiders 38-0 but that's hardly a measure to trust--everyone beat up on the Raiders this year.

The Chargers' strengths are their passing offense (#4 in the NFL) and their rushing defense (#5). The Jets' strengths are their passing defense (#8 in the league) and their rushing offense (#12)--and improving after the last two weeks. With WR Vincent Jackson having an achilles problem and listed as questionable for the Chargers, it will be interesting to see who Darrelle Revis of the Jets is assigned to guard. As goes Revis, so goes the Jets' pass defense seems to be the popular wisdom, but they will also need more pressure and sacks from the front line.

******

Did you watch the Green Bay-Arizona game yesterday? This has to have been one of the most entertaining postseason games in a long while.

The Cardinals 51-45 overtime victory over the Packers set a postseason record for points as Warner and Rodgers came out slinging as they combined for 801 yards through the air. Rodgers had 422 yards and 4 TDs while Warner had 379 and 5 TDs. Yet the game was won on a defensive play. After featuring virtually only a token defense by either team resulted in a 45-45 tie during regulation, it was the Cardinals' defense that won the game with a Karlos Dansby fumble recovery returned for a touchdown. You might say that that play was the answer to the Arizona place kicker Neil Rackers' prayers after he pulled a relatively short field goal attempt with seconds on the clock.

During regulation, it seemed only a matter of time before the offensive team scored a TD. The defenses could only slow the proceedings and not prevent the result.

Best line of the day was delivered as they went into overtime the TV announcer, who was probably massaging his sore neck from having to swivel his eyes back and forth across the field so quickly to follow the plays, said something to the effect: "It's a good thing we're not playing college overtime rules or we'd be here all night." Up to that point, he was 100% correct. It didn't seem as if either side could make a stand. (Although, ironically, Green Bay did force a punt early in the fourth quarter that allowed them to score two consecutive TDs and tie the game at 35 apiece.)

Morning Report from the Aerie, January 11, 2010

The winds shifted over night and are now coming out of the WSW instead of the NNW. As a result (I guess) that Blue Blob is no longer on the weather.com radar screen this morning. That makes me believe it was a result of up slope lifting air currents.

Oh, the temperature only fell to 11 degrees over night. Heat wave! On the other hand...weather.com is calling for a 70% chance of snow showers this afternoon and snow tonight. One to three inches, they say.

About My Bowl Pics

Someone (an anonymous commenter) asked what my record was in the bowl pics.

I was 19-15 (0.589)

Got let down big time by TCU, West Virginia and Nevada. The latter two had to deal with the retirement of Bobby Bowden at Florida State and some really bad decisions made by players (academic and otherwise) at Nevada that kept two 1,000-yard rushers out of the game.

Minor disappointments with Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Fresno State, Houston, and Temple all of which I thought would prove victorious. (I guess I bought into the hype about the PAC 10 being such a good conference!)

Brrr!

Just 3.4 degrees at the Aerie this morning at 7 AM under clear skies and with rime ice coating all surfaces. Virtually no wind--thank goodness! (Weather.com agrees on the temp. AccuWeather says it's minus 4.)

That is all.

ps. Oh, that Blue Blob still hovers over Armenia Mountain on the weather.com radar despite not a cloud in the sky.

pps. I just checked the AccuWeather radar and the Blue Blob is there as well! This has got to be cause dby the northerly winds being pushed up the Armenia Mountain slopes. The ridge runs on a line that would be from the ENE to the WSW and the Blob stretches from one end to the other. BUT ONLY ALONG ARMENIA MOUNTAIN. There are half a dozen ridges in the area called The Endless Mountains and the Northern Tier. Why us? Will the Blob disappear when/if the wind shifts?

J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS!

The Jets did the job today in defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 24-14. They gave up 171 yards rushing. (169 of them went to Cedric Benson who was the one bright spot for the Bengals.) But Sanchez threw one TD to Dustin Keller sandwiched around rushing TDs by Shonn Green and Thomas Jones.

As a team, the Jets matched the Bengals with 171 yards gained on the ground. But they also had a fumble recovery and an interception

The quarteback lines were:
M. Sanchez 12 of 15 for 182 yards 1 TD 0 INT
C. Palmer 18 of 36 for 146 yards 1 TD 1 INT

Palmer got sacked three times including twice in a row to end the Bengals final drive.

******

The Jets will be in Indianapolis next week. [Or maybe San Diego?]

LOL

Watching the Jets beating the Bengals. The two-minute warning comes and they go to commercials. One for Cialis comes on and I notice, as the talking head on screen goes through all the cautions and warnings, this little sentence appears in the lower left of the screen: "See our ad in Golf Digest."

Luckily I had just swallowed my beerage or it would be all over the laptop's screen.

College Bowl Wrap-up

The college bowls are over and we are into the NFL playoffs. I thought I'd take a look at how the college conferences did in the 34 bowls.

The best showing by a conference with five or more teams playing belongs to the Mountain West with a 5-1 (.833) record. The only lose the Mountain West had was that of the TCU Horned Frogs.

Of the six BCS conferences (indicated by an asterisk), the best record was the Big East's 4-2 (.667). The problem for the Big East is that the two teams (Cincinnati and West Virginia) that played in what could be considered "major" bowls ended up losing.

ACC* (3-4 .429)

Big 10* (4-3 .571)

Big 12* (4-4 .500)

Big East* (4-2 .667)

Conference USA (1-4 .200)

Mid American (1-4 .200)

Mountain West (5-1 .833)

Pac* 10 (2-5 .286)

SEC* (5-4 .556)

Sun Belt (1-1 .500)

WAC (2-2 .500)

IND (1-0 1.000)

What the....?

What's wrong with this radar?

The blue blob in the center of the screen is supposed to represent snow. It's along the Armenia Mountain Ridge. It's been there for at least five freakin' days. Now, during the last four days it was, indeed, snowing to some extent along the ridge. I know because the Aerie is on the western edge of that effing blue blob. However, today it is not only NOT snowing but the sun is shining brightly! I believe that blue blob has been so persistent that the weather.com radar has had it burned into their screens permanently.

On the temperature front, it was just 8 degrees at the Aerie this morning at 7:30 AM. It's now "up" to 9.0 degrees in the 10 AM sunshine. Tonight is supposed to be even colder.

Terry saw on the news this morning that it was 13 degrees in Elmira, NY, just a short distance to the northeast. At the same time they reported it was 12 degrees overnight in New Orleans, Louisiana. And there was snow and freezing rain as far south as the Tampa Area of Florida. I wonder if the Florida forecasters have ever had to use the phrase, "..and there will be snow in the higher elevations."

The news also showed footage of the ice rinks that were the Atlanta, Georgia roads with all the comedy gold of slipping and sliding southern motorists.

[UPDATE: You have GOT to be kidding me! THere is not a cloud in the sky and yet...
the infamous Blue Blob is still there!]

Aerie Report, January 8, 2010

The very light powdery snow that fell all night and throughout this morning let up around 1 PM. Heck, even the sun made a (very) brief appearance. I thought it was done so I donned my boots, gloves and coat and went out to clear the driveway.

I was disappointed to find there was a mere 4 inches on the ground. Thinking that might not make the use of the blower worthwhile, I started with the shovel and cleared half the area in front of the garage in a little less than an hour.

Not long after I started the sun disappeared and a pretty serious snow squall hit. It didn't last long but it gave me an excuse to take a break and ponder my options further.

The squall stopped after 15 minutes and I started the snow thrower. heck, after the plow had gone up the road, I knew some deeper snow was ahead of me. So I wrestled the thrower over the second half of the area in front of the garage, the driveway and the plow-made drift. It took me about an hour. I saved about 30 minutes...maybe.

While I did the drive, Terry did the deck and replenished the bird feeders much to the delight of the juncos, chickadees, nuthatches. etc.

When I finished, Terry produced a cup of welcome hot chocolate and I sat down to the computer. As I type this, it has commenced snowing again. Checking the weather.com radar that damn blue bubble is parked right overhead...again. *sigh*

If this keeps up there may be enough snow on the ground to get out the snowshoes.

Winter

My cousin sent me this this morning.

I found this beautiful winter poem and thought it might be a comfort to you... It was to me, and it's very well written.

I felt it really captured my own feelings about winter.

'WINTER'

a poem by

Abigail Elizabeth McIntyre

SHIT, It's Cold!

The End

My cousin lives near Tampa, Florida.
Prior to that she lived in northwestern New Jersey. I think living in Florida has thinned her blood.

I didn't really mean it that way

The other day I was complaining about the 1 and 2 inch snowfalls that were much too little to get the snow blower out and just barely deep enough to require the shovel. I don't recall if I said it on this here blog or elsewhere.

Wherever I said it, Somebody must have been listening. He obviously assumed I wanted more snow, not less. I need to work on my communication skills.

That little green dot on the weather map from several days ago? Hasn't moved. And it called in reinforcements over night. A light, fine powder has been falling since just after dark. The forecast called for 2 to 4 inches. We've already got the 4 inches and it's working on five. Another inch and it's snow blower depth. It's supposed to continue until noon. We shall see.

On the other hand, this weather has brought milder temperatures It stayed in the mid 20s overnight. That won't last, however. Weather.com says tonight it will dip down to 12 degrees while tomorrow's high will be just 17. Saturday night will be coldest of all with the low down around 6 degrees. They do promise the sun will come out on Sunday though. Be nice to see the old boy again.

Unofficial AARP Eye chart

This version is for the guys.



[ps. Don't bother trying to click to enbiggen. It's still not going to get large enough.]

Alabama 37, Texas 21

An interesting game the outcome of which will be discussed for quite a while.

After all the hype and build up about Heisman candidate QB Colt McCoy of Texas squaring off against Alabama's defense and Heisman winner running back Mark Ingram facing Texas' defense, we got precious little of the former (just five plays) and a lot less of the latter than expected. McCoy got hit hard on a quarterback keeper on the fifth play ad game out of the game dangling his right arm by his side. He never returned. Ingram sat out almost all of the third quarter and a large chunk of the fourth with sever cramps in his legs. Alabama's offense was stifled during that time going three-and-out four consecutive series.

Still, the game did have it's share of drama.

Why did Saban call a fake punt so deep in Alabama's end on the first series? That didn't work too well and led to a Texas field goal.

That was followed by Texas pooch kicking the ball high and short. The Tide players were caught off guard and failed to corral the ball. That set up another Texas field goal.

True freshman Garrett Gilbert played nervous for the entire first half (he compelted just oone of eleven passes for minus 2 yards), but showed a lot of promise in the second. That shovel pass at the end of the first half? It should have been buried--i.e. never thrown. That Marcell Dareus (the Alabama defensive lineman who put McCoy out of the game) was able to pluck it out of the air as it bounced of hands, chests, asses, etc. and return it 28 yards for a TD...well. that should never, ever happen. But it did and made the score 24-6 at the half.

With Ingram obviously pained from cramps in his legs (or maybe that grimace on his face was from all the pickle juice they were forcing him to drink), Gilbert started to hit McCoy's roommate wide receiver Jordan Shipley (10 catches fr 122 yards and 2 TDs) and suddenly the Tide's lead was only 24-21. With just 6:15 left in the fourth quarter, Texas had the ball on their own 7 yard line and a chance to make history.

But a blind side sack and a fumble recovery on the 4 yard line lead to one Ingram touchdown. A few minutes later, after Gilbert's third interception of the game, Richardson would score the final Alabama TD. to make it 37-21 after the extra point attempt clanged off the left upright.

For Alabama, Ingram ended the night with 22 carries for 116 yards. Trent Richardson had 19 carries and 109 yards. Marcell Dareus had one tackle (knocking out McCoy), one interceptions (of THE shovel pass at the end of the first half), and one TD (on the 28 yard return of same).

The Kid, Gilbert, finished the game 15 for 40 for 186 yards, 2 TDs and 4 INT. He should have had more completions. There were at least four passes that were in receivers' hands and dropped. And I can guarantee that he will never, ever throw another shovel pass into a crowd.

Congratulations to Alabama and Coach Saban on bringing home the National Championship.

OMG!

Eugene, Ore. police have arrested the Tooth Fairy!

Bag of teeth links man to Seattle-area dental burglaries

After reading the story, this 26-year old is anything but The Tooth Fairy.

Shane Carlson had long been on the radar of Seattle-area police after his numerous arrests — and convictions — for car prowls, home burglaries and office break-ins. One Edmonds police detective describes the 26-year-old as "an equal-opportunity burglar."

Seems if it wasn't nailed down, he thought it was fair game.

Sounds like he'll be spending some serious time in the slammer, however.

Global Cooling threatens species!

Or, at least, makes it easier to catch/kill them.

Iguanas, a non-native of southern Florida, are having trouble with the latest cold snap.

Cold Killing Iguanas Extended cold could kill invasive iguanas

With this week’s evening temperatures falling toward the upper 30s, strange fruit may drop from South Florida trees: non-native, invading iguanas that many residents consider more pest than pet.
...
It is legal to kill iguanas, but it must be done humanely. Among the options is decapitation.

The adult iguanas can measure up to a yard in length. There is no closed season or bag limit. Might be a good place to take the air rifle for some small game hunting target practice. (Can't be "hunting" since the durn things are pretty much immobile which precludes any semblance of "fair chase.")

No recipe at the site but several commenters say iguana tastes just like chicken.

Any way. Go read the entry at Watt Up With That? And don't forget to read the comments. Some of them are hilarious while others are informative.

Old Fart Pride

Another item that came over the transom. I wondered why I got it from my buddy (who is five years younger than I and received it from a hunting buddy older than we are who is certainly an Old Fart) but realized after reading it that being an Old Fart isn't such a bad thing after all.

I'm passing this on as I did not want to be the only old fart receiving it. Actually, it's not a bad thing to be called, as you will see.

Old Farts are easy to spot at sporting events; during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, Old Farts remove their caps and stand at attention and sing without embarrassment. They know the words and believe in them.

Old Farts remember World War II, Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Normandy and Hitler. They remember the Atomic Age, the Korean War, The Cold War, the Jet Age and the Moon Landing. They remember the 50 plus Peacekeeping Missions from 1945 to 2005, not to mention Vietnam .

If you bump into an Old Fart on the sidewalk he will apologize. If you pass an Old Fart on the street, he will nod or tip his cap to a lady. Old Farts trust strangers and are courtly to women.

Old Farts hold the door for the next person and always, when walking, make certain the lady is on the inside for protection.

Old Farts get embarrassed if someone curses in front of women and children and they don't like any filth or dirty language on TV or in movies.

Old Farts have moral courage and personal integrity. They seldom brag unless it's about their children or grandchildren.

It's the Old Farts who know our great country is protected, not by politicians, but by the young men and women in the military serving their country.

This country needs Old Farts with their work ethic, sense of responsibility, pride in their country and decent values.

We need them now more than ever.

Thank God for Old Farts!

Pass this on to all the Old Farts you know.

I was taught to respect my elders. It's just getting harder to find them lately.

C.Michigan 44, Troy 41 in 2 OTs

Another entertaining bowl game if not bowl game coverage last night as the Chippewas of Central Michigan defeated the Troy Trojans 44-41 in double overtime.

Despite two powerful offenses, the score was just 10-9 at half time and you could sense that the ESPN crew was bored. Or maybe they were just upset that they were not covering The Big One, the National Championship Game, to be played tonight. Now, I wouldn't blame them for frequent promos of the #1 Alabama vs #2 Texas game DURING COMMERCIAL BREAKS, but in between plays by the play-by-play crew? Way to keep your audience focused on the game at hand guys. At least they sat up and started paying attention after Central Michigan's Antonio Brown ran the kickoff back 95 yards when it seemed Troy, having just taken a 31-19 lead, was about to put it away.

Chippewas' QB Dan LeFevour made like Bret Favre completing 33 of 55 for 395 yards and one TD. He also ran for a 13-yard TD in the first overtime period. Hard to believe he didn't play quarterback in high school until his senior year. He ends his college career as #2 in total yards with 15,853 total yards. Only Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang did it better (16,910). LeFevour also moved into fifth place in the FBS in career completions and 10th in yards passing.

But last night he was almost out gunned by Levi Brown of Troy who completed 31 of 56 for 386 yards. Add in the one completion by Trojan Cornelius Williams for 17 yards and Troy did out throw Central Michigan 403 to 395.

With both defenses bending like hell but not completely breaking, field goals made the difference. Andrew Aguila, after missing from 46 yards early, converted on kicks of 28, 35, 44 and 42 yards in regulation. At one point early in the third quarter he gave the Chippewas a 12-10 lead.

After Antonio Brown's kickoff return made the scorer 31-26, LeFevour lead a drive resulting in a TD and then a two point conversion to make it 34-31 Central Michigan with a little over a minute to play in regulation. But Troy's Michael Taylor made a 46 yarder with about half a minute to go to tie it up.

The teams traded TDs in the first OT with LeFevour's 13-yard run matched by a Shawn Southward 1-yard run.

Troy's attempted field goal in the second OT was blocked meaning ANY score by Central Michigan would win it. The Chippewas played it conservatively and set up a 37 yard attempt which Aguila nailed for his fifth field goal of the night. And the celebration was on.

An excellent game which ESPN seemed to be overlooking for much of the evening. And that's a shame.

Speaking of driving in the snow/ice.

Don't be afraid of the former but do be cautious. Don't travel in the latter if you can help it.

If you must travel on ice, wait for a salt/cinder spreader and latch on to it's tail like a remora on a shark. Just be sure to stay far enough back that the particles the truck is spreading hit the road in front of you and not your windshield. You can spot the vehicles of people who have tried this but misjudged their distance. The crack all across the windshield sorta gives it away. By May large numbers of vehicles from certain northern and mostly rural states sport this indicator of the combination of snow/ice/cinder/gravel.

Actually, get some studded tires and you can do pretty well on the ice. They used to run auto races on an oval track on Lake Placid in the '60s using specially studded tires.

If driving in the snow remember one thing: Never, EVER pass the snow plow if his blade is on the road. Even if the plow is going only 20 mph in a 55 mph zone. It's there for a reason and if you peek to the right of the plow you'll probably see the snow/ice/slush shooting off in a lovely curl reminiscent of those from the Maverick's surfing competition off Half Moon Bay.

Remember, too, that the brake peddle is your enemy and so is your accelerator when the roads are snow covered. Keep your foot off the brake as much as possible and if you must use it do so slowly and well in advance of where you want/need to stop. If you are IN a curve, do not use your brake. You will likely go off the edge of the curve if it is slippery as your vehicle will slide in a straight line. If you feel you're going too fast for an approaching curve, slow down using a light touch on the brake--pretend there's a raw egg between your foot and the peddle--or gravity/friction (take your foot off the gas, dummy!). Once in the curve, your accelerator can be used (again, lightly as in egg-and-peddle) to get out of the curve. This works best with front-wheel and four-wheel drive vehicles where you get pulled instead of pushed.

If your vehicle is a rear-wheel, two-wheel drive and the snow is piled up on the road way, park it in your yard, make some hot chocolate and sit in front of the fire. Okay, maybe you can't do that because you have to get home from work/school/play. Use caution as detailed above.

And if you've got an automatic transmission put it into a fixed gear (those are the numbers on the console next to the "D" and "R") or into low (that's the "L"). This is especially true when going up hill. When going up hill you want to maintain a constant velocity--not necessarily a fast one, but constant. If your auto transmission starts to shift on you when you're part way up the slope, it's going to screw up that constant part of your velocity just the tiniest bit and quite possibly cause you to lose traction and set you to spinning your wheels.

If the worst happens and you start to skid, remember that you want to steer into the skid. That is, if the rear end decides to head to the right, you steer to the right. If it heads to the left, you steer to the left. The idea is to keep the front of your vehicle--well--in front! This will allow you to maintain some control as you leave your intended path. Steer the opposite way and at best you'll set your self up to roll onto your side although more than likely you're going to be doing a 360 or worse. And be sure to keep your feet off the brake and off the accelerator! Let friction and gravity do the work until the skid stops. THEN you can lightly press the accelerator or brake as needed to get control of your vehicle.

When I was a kid, my Dad took me out driving on immediately after the first snow storm and showed me how to handle the family car under these conditions. We used the wide open spaces of the school parking lot. An acre or more of black top without concrete curb or grassy barrier between rows. The best words I heard that day were, "Okay, now put her into a skid!" I don't think you can do that sort of thing today. I know my son got a ticket at 12:30 AM for driving in a figure 8 in a vacant mall parking lot back in '00.