Getting Back on the Trail

After 3 months of sloth and gluttony, I have broken the spell!  Have walked the Great Western trail the last 5 days in a row.  Yahoo!  Feels great to be out in the cold, fresh air.

Two days in a row, Marcia and I enjoyed great views of a male Belted Kingfisher.  What a beautiful bird!  He flitted from tree to tree along the creek.  We were disappointed not to see him actually fishing, but did see him once with a small fish in his beak.  Cool!  We'll be watching and listening for him.  The pic below is from Google - wish I could take credit for it...

Amy and I enjoyed a wonderful walk on this beautiful Sunday.  About 28 degrees, bright sunshine, and no wind.  Perfect!  Amy made a great discovery - beavers are back!  A few years ago, we would regularly see signs of them, and even saw the critters on a moonlit night hike.  They "disappeared" some time back and we were sad to no longer see them.

Today, Amy spotted some lodges in a marshy area south of the trail.  And then, just below us off-trail, 3 trees that had been chewed!  We made our way down the slope - a true nature nerd does not mind getting caught on thorns, slapped by brarnches, slipping and sliding down a brush-covered slope.  Well, maybe we mind a little...

Using my phone, I got these 2 pics of the "evidence."

There were many tracks around the trees, and on the snow leading to the lodges.  However, I think the slightly warmer temps melted some of the snow, distorting the tracks.  I think this might be a hind foot, but it was hard to tell.  Will be watching for fresh tracks next time we get snow!

We also saw some pheasant tracks, 2 deer, and lots of deer, bunny and squirrel tracks.  A great thing about a dusting of snow - everyone leaves evidence!

Getting Creative

First Annual Pod Party!

                                                              The entries

Never underestimate the creativity (or competitive nature) of a group of nature nerds!  When the "pod contest" idea first came up, talk was of day-glo paint and glitter.  I thought I was being clever by using pipe cleaners...I never could have imagined the amazing works of art that would be the result! 

Thanks to all of you who joined in the fun - pod-ders, delicious treat and wine bringers, all so generous!  It was an evening of good fun and good food, shared among beautiful friends.  Marcia and Tracy, we missed you both and were very sorry you were unable to join us.  But, there is always next year!  (See below.)

Here is the official declaration, by popular vote, Pod Queen Kim H!  Congratulations, Kim!  You certainly earned it with your amazingly decorated basket.  Kim proudly wore her Pod Tiara, and realized that with royalty comes responsibility - it is her turn to host the party next year, and to come up with the contest idea.

The winning creation!

HRH PQ Kim

The voting was tied for  Pod Princess, so we made one designate as Pod Princess and one as Pod Duchess.  Newly honored Pod Princess is Lorayne, who earned her honor with her amazing bird creation.   (Sorry the photo does not show its beauty...)  Incredible detail and use of many natural touches made Lorayne's bird a sight to behold (is a pod in the hand worth two in the bush?). 

Congratulations, Princess Lorayne!

Our new Pod Duchess is none other than Alison, whose graceful Pod Shrine was also very popular - despite the fact that some of us (duh!) did not immediately pick up on its graceful representation.  Beautiful!

Duchess Alison's Pod Shrine

As for the non-royal entries, they included Marcia's lovely pod ornaments:  two smaller single pods, and a very pretty pod angel.  Even though she was too sick to attend the event, Marcia's pods were delivered by her lovely daughter Kylee.  A true competitor!

Marcia's pretty pod ornaments

Using the aforementioned pipe cleaners and other silliness, Kim G. created a collection of "critter-pods."  Most were plays on words, but the bird pod is, for now, nameless.  If anyone has a suggestion, please advise.

Clockwise from upper left:  Octopod, 7 Pods-a-Swimming, Arachnopod, Centipod, part of the un-named bird pod, Tripod, Eyepod, Pea Pod.

The Queen & her court:

commoner Kim G, commoner Carol, Queen Kim H,

Duchess Alison, commoner Sarah, Princess Lorayne









Getting Hungry

Lots of activity at our feeders, as birds (and the shrew) fill their bellies with winter sustenance.  This beautiful Cooper's Hawk has been stalking near our feeders, especially since the shrew showed up.  She (I think it's a female, due to her  large size) has been quite close to the house at times.   Look at those talons!  Run, shrew, run for your life!

Getting Shrew-d

Not a great photo, but this is a little Northern Short-Tailed Shrew.  He was very busy under our bird feeders on Thursday morning.  Was in an eating frenzy for a few seconds, and would dive back under the snow.  He would pop up from another spot, resume eating, repeat.  Reminded me of that "whack-a-mole" game, but my critter-expert friend Pam informed me that moles don't pop up/down that way...This little guy was kind of cute, about 4" long with a long nose and big pink feet.  First one I've ever seen, and I'll be watching for him as winter goes on.

Getting Those Seeds Mixed

The Masked (and one unknown, unmasked) Marvels in the seed mixing barn:  ?, David, Sarah, Alison & Kim.  On
Dec. 3,  the Forest Preserve seed team mixed seeds collected during the season.  The seeds have been processed and are combined for future use in area preserves.  They are sorted and combined according to types of seed and environment (woodland, wetland, prairie, etc).  We all enjoy this event at the end of harvest season - it smells great and is good to see what's been collected.  There is often a lot of dust/pollen, hence the stylish masks.

Afterwards, we celebrated with a potluck that is always delicious and bountiful.  It was a great chance to chat and laugh with fellow team members, pick on Pete, and initiate our new volunteer coordinator, Robb, into the abuse.  He realized he was better off sitting alone on the couch!  Welcome to the group, Robb!




A sampling of the lunch menu



A sampling of the dessert menu!

Burning the milkweed fluff

Feasting!  Sarah, Kim, Ben, Pete, Amy & Alison

It was great to see everyone and enjoy another fun gathering.  By the way, the 1st Annual Milkweed Pod Craft Competition is ON. 

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

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...