Getting the Girls on the Road

Alison, Kim H, Sarah, Tracy and I hit the road to Indiana to see the migrating Sandhill Cranes at Jasper-Pulaski.  On our way, Sarah suggested a stop at Fair Oaks Farm.  We got delicious ice cream made with fresh milk from this huge dairy farm.  We wandered over to the Birthing Barn, and were lucky enough to witness the birth of this female calf!  Here she is, just a few minutes old, being licked by her attentive mom.

This is the fall migration for Sandhill Cranes.  They are on their way south for the winter, and make a stopover at Jasper Pulaski  in Indiana (among other places).  They are large birds: stand 3 1/2 feet tall, weigh 10-12 pounds, and have a wing span of 6+ feet.  They have a loudy, "croaky" call that is very distinctive, and was amazing to hear with large numbers of birds.  Although we did not see the 10,000 that were estimated to be there last week, we did see many, many birds.  The cranes arrive around sunset, spend the night in the field, and at sunrise they take off again to forage in nearby fields and wetlands.

OK, so that's the nature-fact part.  The girls' road trip part?  Hmmm.  We decided to all ride in my Jeep, and we headed east on the tollway.  Sarah provided her I-Pass.  I rarely drive tollways any more, and boy, you crash thru ONE little tollbooth gate and the crowd gets ugly!

Then there was the time zone thing.  Depending on which map you checked, Rensselaer (location of our Holiday Inn Express) is in central time, and Jasper Pulaski (location of the birds) is in eastern time.  We never quite knew what time it was.  Overall, not a concern, except when it came to discussing the times for sunset/sunrise, and what time we should get up on Thursday morning.  The more we discussed, the harder we laughed, the more confusing it got.  Poor Kim H did her best to clear it up, only to cause more hysteria.

We wondered how we would decide room arrangements.  We had adjoining rooms - seems that Sarah & Kim H like to crank up the heat, Alison, Tracy and I like arctic temps, so that made the decision easy.  We Eskimos made the Equatorials close the middle door and keep the heat on their side.

I nearly forgot to mention dinner!  When arriving at JP, we stopped at what passes for a visitors' center.  It's really a place for hunters to check in.  Did I forget to say that it's hunting season???  Lots of camoflaged guys around, and we could hear gunshots from time to time.  We got a little info from the fellow behind the desk, and someone asked him to recommend a place for dinner.  I somehow did not notice that he had few teeth, and we later laughed hysterically over that, too.  Not laughing because he had few teeth, but that we were taking dinner recommendations from him!  Funnier still - we took his advice, and the little place called Schnick's (in Wheatfield, IN) turned out to be quite nice.

The Holiday Inn was quite nice as well.  Our rooms were clean and comfortable (except for Alison's pillow struggles), no sign of bedbugs.  After seeing the cranes take off at sunrise, we returned to the HI for breakfast.  Hey, it was free.  Sarah did have to settle for a toaster-style waffle instead of the make-your-own kind, but they did have pretty good scrambled eggs and cinnamon rolls.

I had a great time, and I'm pretty sure the rest did as well.  Nothing like girlfriend time, some good food, and a hefty dose of nature thrown in.  And if I ever drive the tollway again, I'll be more aware of those annoying gates!

Getting Busy at Home

So....it's back to the midwest, and facing the long winter ahead.  I still don't have my head around the fact that winter is nearly upon us, and recently "under-dressed" for two outside activities.  Layer, I need to layer!

Attended seed harvest in Batavia last week, and not long after we got started, the rain came.  I was collecting Elm Leaf Goldenrod, trying to lean over my bucket to keep out the rain.  I was wearing a rainjacket, but not dressed nearly warm enough for the damp chill.  Big thanks to Sarah for letting me wear a hoodie she had in the car.  As much as I love seed harvesting, I was not sorry when Ben had us stop after an hour.

Yesterday was "Survival Supper" - one of our LFE classes (Learn From the Experts - or "Eccentrics" - as I have also heard) .  Despite once again not dressing warmly enough, I enjoyed the 3 hours out at Tekakwitha Woods with some other nature nerds and wonderful forest preserve staff (and you too, Pam).  We learned about some essentials to have on hand for survival, about some edible plants (and inedible ones, too).  We collected dried leaves, milkweed fluff and sticks and a roaring fire was a most welcome sight.   Imagine my dismay at finding out that no, S'Mores are not essential to survival.  Well, that just can't be right!

Another welcome sight was Valerie, wearing her skunk-skin hat.  Not so welcome, to me at least, was when she pulled both male and female pheasants from her vest!  Valerie is probably the only female hunter I have ever known.  I am not opposed to hunting (with the exception of sport hunting), but I have no desire to participate in the process or the results.  I distanced myself from watching the birds be plucked and prepared for cooking.  It also meant I distanced myself from the fire...but the added chill was better than watching the procedures.

If I can get over my post-Arizona slump, I will take advantage of the coming milder temps to finish some things in the gardens.  I never enjoy putting the beds to bed for the winter, but it's a necessary part of the change of seasons.  I really am having a hard time adjusting to the the fact that we are almost in mid-November, it is now getting dark around 4 pm, and Ken and I are already squabbling over the temp in the house.  With the thermostat at 65, he is freezing and I am roasting.  It's going to be a long winter...