Author: turndoozie

Ice, 30 degrees, and no electricity. A typical January day in Mid-Michigan. Wait, no, it’s the middle of April. Who did we piss off?

We had a nasty little ice storm and lost power for most of yesterday. The outage was somewhat localized. Just a few miles away they had power. Lise was out with the car and Molly felt sorry for me sitting alone in a cold dark house. So, she picked me up and we killed the afternoon together. She will be heading to Temple in a few months so I’m going to take every opportunity like that I can.

April 7^th and 8^th we went to Ohio State University for probably the last water polo  tournament we will watch. Molly has a tournament in Iowa this coming weekend, but we will not be able to make it. It’s been a great run since sophomore year of high school. It’s  a tough sport and I’m glad she took it up. It was worth sitting in hot chlorine filled natatoriums on bleachers designed to torture prisoners. She has gotten a lot out of the sport and I know I’ve learned a bunch about sports photography trying to capture the  action.

Cool under pressure.

She shoots, she scores

On the D. She does a good job forcing turn overs. The girls she covers rarely do much and almost never get to shoot.

One of my favorite polo shots and it came in probably the last game I’ll photograph. Sarah came waist high out of the water and blocked a shot from the girl on the left. I caught it just as Sarah nailed nailed the ball. Their feet can’t hit the bottom of the pool. She got this high out of the water while treading in deep water.

 

 

Some abstracts from the OSU campus.

OSU Stadium in reflection.

Tomorrow we are heading to Lynn’s place near Lock Haven, PA. Upstate Pennsylvania, where the internet goes to die. To get cell phone reception we have to go about eight miles up the road to Renovo and stand outside the Sons of Italy club. Internet connectivity doesn’t exist.

We are going to spend a couple days helping Lynn open the place, do some hiking and sightseeing, and just relaxing. Which should be easy to do since you can’t do anything  else.

Yesterday was a multipurpose day. It was Easter, for those that observe, it was April Fool’s day, for those that observe. and it was my birthday. I turned 64. At least the Beetles wrote a song for me.

The day was pretty laid back. I worked out, did some woodworking, and Lise made a great meal. Which we had with some great company. Molly and Mitchell joined us for dinner and then Lindsay joined us all for dessert. Life is good when you’re with people you like.

Lise, Molly, and Mitchell, dyeing Easter eggs.

We spent the previously weekend living vicariously through Molly, attending her water polo tournament down in Ann Arbor. They looked good and did well. Molly didn’t score but she was hell on defense. Only a couple more tournaments and we will be done with water polo. I’ll miss it. This is my main photography outlet in the winter around here. I took 1,200 photos over six matches during this past tournament.

Molly on the offense.

 

Tenacious defense.

This really captures the game. Jill came up from under the water, grabbed the ball, and  back-handed it to the goal. The girl that was holding her under the water is behind her.  This is a tough sport.

Giving the term “full contact sport” new meaning.

Lise and I have been thinking out some future plans. It looks like next year is my year to try the Appalachian Trail. If things work out right I will start heading north on my 65^th birthday.

Doing a thru hike will take at least four months and five is more like it. Six months is not out of the question. So, there are a few details to work out. Not the least of which is, where does Lise live while I’m gone? We’ve been planning to move once Molly graduates. That happens this May, and she will be moving to Philadelphia not long after graduation. If I do my last hurrah teaching this Fall semester that would give us a couple months to sell this shack and move before stating the trail. Which means Lise will be stuck someplace new by herself. Just a hunch, but I have a feeling that may not work
out well for all involved.

Well we have lost one of the great minds of science. Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking died yesterday. Time to go back and reread “A Brief History of Time” again. I’ve read it about four times now. One of those great books that you can always get something new from each reading.

We got out to do a little road birding on Tuesday, hoping to get a late Lapland longspur. Didn’t get any longspurs but thanks to Lise’s great spotting we did get our red-shouldered hawk for the year. And a crow munching on a deer carcass. Nature isn’t always pretty. One of those great circle of life things.

A crow munching on a deer carcass. Yummy.

So far this year I’m at 78 species for the year and Lise is at 81. Not a great count, but OK considering the amount of time we have gotten out. In a month or so spring migration will pick up and we should have the dragonflies popping out too. Always something good to look forward to. Like the Republicans losing a congressional seat in a district that tRump carried by 20 percentage points. It’s starting to look like tRump’s purpose in life is do something that nobody else on the planet could do. Unite the Democratic party. Now let’s see if the Democrats are smart enough to use this gift.

I finally knocked off a new wood shop project. Something I planned to have finished about a month ago. A set of cheese boards and a cheese board/serving tray. Made with maple and purple heart. I’m still on the woodworking learning curve, somewhere about the level of a good high schooler. But, getting better. And I still have all ten fingers.

Cheese boards..

We’ve been busy since that little exercise in water pressure and hydraulic conductivity that led to a couple sleepless nights. The Red Cedar River crested Friday, Feb. 23.  As soon as the river started dropping we could see a difference in the amount of water coming in. So, Saturday we drove down to South Bend for the Notre Dame Invitational water polo tournament. In addition to a fun tournament we saw our first sandhill cranes of the year. When we came back on Sunday we were greeted by just a few very controllable puddles. Looks like we may get by with just having to repaint the basement floor.

Molly on the offense

Molly on the defense

Since the tournament it’s been a regular drill eating up our time. For amusement we watch the U.S. Presidency go from being the respected leader of the free world to closely  resembling a Mexican soap opera.  Always good for a couple laughs. The more serious uses of our time have been working out, doing some work for a land conservancy, getting household jobs done, and a little playing in the workshop. Nothing very fancy or artistic. I built Lise a standing desk from some IKEA furniture and a piece of plywood. I also built a platform that will allow us to set up a ladder on the steps and paint our stairwell.

Lise at her $25 standing desk.

The stairwell platform. It ain’t pretty, but it works.

What we haven’t been doing is getting out much. Molly used our van for a Spring Break trip to New Orleans. We had her VW Beetle, but it wasn’t really suited for hauling birding and camera gear. We got the van back today and made a run up to Maple River, chasing  some Lapland longspurs. Didn’t get the longspurs but we did get our horned larks for the year.

Big doings happening here in Okemos. The Red Cedar River, about a quarter mile from us, hit its highest level in about 40 years. It peaked about 9.5 feet, a half foot above full flood and 2.5 feet above starting flood. Unfortunately our basement is at about 7.5 feet. Apparently the Red Cedar River decided to drain itself through our basement. So we have been manning the shop vacs almost non-stop since Tuesday evening.

Red Cedar water level gauge, compliments of the USGS.

The first 48 hours were tough. I haven’t felt like this since aircraft carrier duty. Kind of like a long General Quarters or Flight Quarters. You do what has to be done. You’re on  deck until the operation is done and everyone is back. My longest carrier shift was 36 straight hours. No sleep, just some breaks for a quick meal. I also did a 30 hour shift, and more 24 hour ones than I can count. Nothing quite like the jitters that come from being wired with no sleep, too much coffee, and just enough stress to make life interesting. It was kind of fun in my 20s. That just ain’t where I’m at right now. But I think we beat the bastard and things are under control. We’re going to a water polo tournament tomorrow. We may come back to a wet basement, but something manageable.

The Red Cedar, about a quarter mile from our house. The normal channel is between the two trees under the arrows. All that water headed for our basement.

We have been some busy campers. The weekend of Feb. 10 and 11, in the company of Barb, Ellen, and Joanna, was our annual Eastern Upper Peninsula birding extravaganza. Actually it was five of us driving for hours in a car looking for winter birds, visiting such well known birding hotspots as the Dafter Landfill, the Dafter Post Office, and the Kinross feeders.

Eastern U.P. snowy owl. One classy bird.

We also went to Hulbert Bog, on the eternal futile quest for gray jays. OK, maybe not quite eternal but futile is a good descriptor. Barb has been dragging us there for about ten years in unsuccessful attempts to find gray jays. In all fairness we always got there in the late afternoon when everything has settled down. This year we did things a little different and went directly to the bog. Didn’t even swing into the Dafter Dump on the way there.

There were other groups at the bog, chumming for the gray jays by throwing seed out on the road. We did a couple of futile passes, driving the length of the bog. Joanna and I decided to walk while the others did another drive through. We walked maybe 50 yards past another group when, lo and behold, two gray jays popped up.

We flagged down the group we passed but our group was too far away. By the time they got back the jays took off. So Barb didn’t get to see the gray jays but she did get some vindication. The gray jays would have been better but you gotta take what you can.

Barb, chumming for gray jays.

Waiting for the jays to show again.

Lise and I stayed another day and did a run up to Tahquamenon Falls. The falls were icy and very impressive. The light was terrible, mostly overcast with snow squalls blowing through. Still, worth the drive. Especially since there is a brew pub inside the State Park. Can’t say I have ever seen that before.

Tahquamenon Falls on a snowy, cloudy day.

Tahquamenon Falls.

Tahquamenon River, where Hiawatha built his canoe (by the rushing Tahquamenaw)

Snowstorm blowing through.

Brew pub in the State Park.

No North-woods brew pub would be complete without dead animals hanging on the wall. Actually no North-woods establishments of any sort would be complete without dead animals hanging on the wall.

This past weekend was the MSU Woman’s Water Polo invitational. Nice to have a tournament here at home. Friday was senior night where they announced that Molly will be going to Temple University to pursue a PhD. So I guess it’s official.

Senior night.

On the offense.

On the defense. She was described to me by someone from another team as “scrappy”.

It’s been an interesting weekend. Starting on with Friday Punxsutawney Phil predicting another six weeks of nasty weather. To think we had a party in his honor. Someone should be seriously looking at eating that nasty rodent.

Who could believe this sweet little rodent would wish another six weeks of nasty weather on us.

Water polo tournament season has started. Molly’s first tournament was this weekend down at Purdue. Also, we also planned Lise’s Groundhog’s Day party for Sunday. We went down Friday night so we could catch the Saturday games, and then hightailed it home Saturday evening to get ready for the party. Just missing snowstorms along the way. A quick trip made possible by Ike’s Autobahn. That nice Interstate Highway System that brings you crunchy strawberries in February.

This was a perfect pass to the hole set, who immediately flipped the ball in for a goal. The goalie never had a chance. Players from another team sitting behind me just said,  “sweet.”

Then there was the Groundhog’s Day Party, the gala event of the year. Attendance was down a bit due to weather conditions but still a good group. This event started as a party for the parents of Molly’s friends and all their various progeny. The basement would be set up to entertain the hordes of underage drinkers. Now, 15 years later, those kids are all of legal drinking age and still attending. Three came to this party even though Molly wasn’t here. I am really enjoying their metamorphosis into adulthood and their new adventures. Rachael spent time studying in South Africa. Lindsay’s gearing up for an internship in Ireland. Ian literally just got back from Uganda and South Sudan where he was interviewing war lords and gun runners. Wow. I’m sitting here whining that it’s too  cold to play in the workshop. I may need to sign up to ride shotgun for him if he goes again.

Not too much going on in Schools’ world except cold weather. Two years ago, we were basking in the Costa Rican heat. Now we stare out the window at the snow on Kewanee Way.

I really don’t mind sweating. At least I can work in the unheated workshop when it’s hot. Tonight, we may hit single digits. Somewhere around the IQ of a typical Republican Congressman. I really don’t like getting political but they’re such easy targets. Not much you can do when things are slow. Bother the lizard or hit the Republicans. Both are easy targets. But, it’s a lot more socially acceptable to trash the Republicans. The lizard only has about a six-cell brain. The Republicans probably have more, they just use only six of their available resources. If they wanted to drop a couple cells they could probably be a
Republican president.

We did a little trip to Oshtemo for one of Lise’s projects. Got to stop at Johnson’s  Workbench in Charlotte. Fun place. A woodworker’s candy store. With high end  chocolate and very expensive licorice. We’re not talking Hershey’s.

High end chocolates,

and very expensive licorice.

This will be an interesting weekend. We scheduled the Groundhog’s Day party for Sunday, then Molly informed us her first water polo tournament will be that weekend. Down at Purdue. So we will be going down to West Lafayette Friday, catching two of the  games on Saturday, then hightailing it back Saturday night for the party on Sunday.

Not a whole lot going on in our world right now. We are in the gray phase of winter here. Not real cold, maybe warm by arctic standards, but gray. Basically, blah.

Sunday Lise joined several thousand others on a gloomy January day for the Lansing  Woman’s March. Several thousand XX chromosomes are not to be trifled with. I did a quick visit then high-tailed it to a coffee shop to get some writing done.  There seemed to be a lot of different causes represented but there was a central theme. Vote them out,  especially the jackass at the top. I really hope this energy can carry through to the mid-term elections and the next presidential election. I really like the “Grab them by the Midterms” posters.

 

Ignore at your own peril.

We went for a little walk at Lake Lansing Park today. Got our brown creeper for the year. That brings me to 56 species and Lise to 59 for the year. Better than a species a day so far.

Nothing too exciting going on here in Okemos. We mostly just sit around looking at the  thermometer, wondering which could sink lower; the temperature or Trump. Currently,  Trump is winning the race to absolute zero. We’re in the single digits, his IQ seems just a bit lower.

It’s been too cold to do much in my workshop that Lise wants to use as a garage. The  workshop/garage isn’t insulated or heated. I try to make it useable with both a kerosene  and a propane heater.  At one point it was cold enough that the lubricant on the table  saw motor gummed up and wouldn’t let the blade spin. If I tried to run the saw, the blade would start spinning, then stall and pop a circuit breaker. I had to lower the blade and turn it on for a couple seconds, then quick turn it off. Each time I could get to go a little  longer. It took about ten minutes to get the blade spinning without popping the breaker,  then another five minutes of running before I could cut wood with it. That was with both heaters going.

Lise hurt her hip so we haven’t been getting out much for hiking or birding. About the  only species we’ve added to the yearly list is a snowy owl that was found a few miles  from here.  We were driving and scanning the area where it was reported, with no luck.  We were getting ready to head back when some birders pulled up and pinpointed it for  us. The owl did an excellent job of urban camouflage. We drove past it a couple times  and I looked right at it thinking it was a farm building vent pipe.

Snowy owl camouflaged as a vent pipe.