Not too much going on in the Lise and Ed world. We’ve been back from our Delaware trip for a couple weeks now. We went to play around, and do some birding, especially to catch the annual northbound shorebird migration. One of the great natural spectacles. Every spring, shorebirds migrate from the southern hemisphere to nest in the Arctic region. This migration is timed such that the shorebirds hit the Delaware Bay area when horseshoe crabs are coming ashore in droves to lay their eggs. The peak time for both the shorebirds and the crabs is around the full moon at the end of May. The shorebirds fatten up on the horseshoe crab eggs, getting enough energy to fly to the arctic.
Horseshoe crabs are not crabs, rather they are arachnids. Like spiders, ticks, and scorpions. They’re an ancient animal, showing up in the fossil record before dinosaurs. In modern times they were harvested by trawlers and cut up to use as fertilizer or fish bait. Once the connection was made between reduced horseshoe crab numbers and reduced shorebird numbers, most states either eliminated or severely restricted horseshoe crab harvesting. A win for conservation. And for humans too. Turns out that the bright blue blood of horseshoe crabs has some interesting properties that make it a highly effective test for vaccines. Horseshoe crabs are captured, bled, and then released. Undoubtedly some die because of the bleeding but those doing the work know that it’s in their best interest to keep the crab populations viable.
Horseshoe crabs getting frisky at Cape Henlopen.
Shorebird flocks.
Willet strutting his stuff.
Not a shorebird but a nesting osprey.
Salt water fly-fishermen at Cape Henlopen.
A storm over the ocean at Cape Henlopen.
Same storm, different view.
Not wishing to fight the Delaware Memorial Day tourist beach crowds we migrated back to Indiana before the holiday. Since then, we’ve just been doing the Indiana thing. Bird migration is done until fall so we’re just chasing the local nesting species we haven’t seen yet this year. I’m at 211 species for the year and Lise has 213.
A non-birding highlight for me has been the arrival of my SawStop table saw. I ordered it last March, but because of Covid-related supply chain problems it was only delivered a week ago. All 526 pounds of it on a pallet in a semi-truck that couldn’t negotiate the cul-de-sac.
The saw cometh.
This thing cost more than most of the cars I’ve owned but it is super safe. If the spinning blade touches your skin the system senses the contact and buries the blade in a block of lead within five milliseconds. That’s 0.005 seconds. I saw a live demonstration where the operator hit the blade with a hotdog he was holding, and the blade disappeared before my eyes. The hotdog was barely scratched. You can find YouTube videos showing the system in action. Considering I watch a YouTube woodworking channel called Stumpy Nubs, this is a good safety feature.
When I registered the saw for the warranty, they had a question about why you bought the saw. Among the usual answers such as “upgrading tools”, high quality saw, “liked the reviews”, etc., was the option “wife demanded it”. I’m betting that answer is selected more than a few times.
The fully assembled beast taking its rightful place in the Ed Shed.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 