Where Are You?

I have an electric ice cream maker.  I don't use it very often but a friend of mine posted the ice cream she made from hers and got me to thinking, I need to make some.  I know the bowl is in the freezer downstairs and the book is in one of the drawers in the work center in the Kitchen.  But where is the base?  I looked all the places I thought it could be and nope.  I tore the kitchen apart and nope not there, how about the laundry room where I keep appliances on top of the shelves, nope not there either.  OK I give up where can it be?  I would not give it away or throw it away so where is it?  I bet the cats hid it.

The more I thought about it the more I decided I wanted to make ice cream it was in the 90's with heat index of over 100.  SO I went online and was amazed at how much they cost these days, I sound like my dad.  I found one at Kohl's half price and another half off with rewards and percents off.  It is cute and small and makes a cup which is ok.  It is really bothering me that I can't find the base of mine, so I went looking online to see if I could just buy the base. Nope I can buy the bowl but not the base. 

SOOOOO..... I ordered a whole one and figured now I have a spare bowl cos they have to be in the freezer for 24 hours in between batches and I can always have ice cream on hand when I want it.  It will be here Tuesday and I can start making ice cream.

Peaches and berries are on sale so I see some summer ice creams and sorbets on my list of things to do.  Afterall we are stuck at home, we may as well eat ice cream.

Sunrise, Rose of Sharon, and Lemondrop Melon

Around here if you see a breathtakingly beautiful sunrise you best grab a picture cos 5 minutes later it will change or be gone as these 2 were 5 minutes apart. 

My Rose of Sharon has finally started filling in with lots of blooms.  At least those nasty little beetles have not found her yet, they seem to be next door.  Hopefully they stay next door. I know not a great picture I need to wash my windows.

Sprouts had these lemondrop melons the other day.  Sounded good so I bought one. This morning I cut it open. I was expecting more of a cantaloupe than a honeydew.  I tasted it, no no no never again.  It tasted like a sour lemonade powder in need of  some sugar. It was very overpowering.  I set it out for the racoons, we shall see if they eat it.  It was nasty.  I tried it and I am done.

Found the Milkweed

I just happened to be looking out the window at my flower bed and this beauty flew by. I quickly grabbed my phone and got a couple pictures while on the milkweed.  How beautiful are the colors.

RIP Bucky

I had to let Bucky go this morning. I did not want to but sometimes we don't always get what we want.  She had not been eating and just laying around, she would try to eat and then just walk away.  I thought maybe she had an abscessed tooth. So off to the vet yesterday morning. She had just been there in May for her annuals.  She has aggressive liver cancer that just seemed to come on like a freight train rolling over everything. She has lost 1 1/2 pounds since May and this started over the weekend.  Based on where she is she does not have that long and would more than likely have such an awful life that I won't do that to her just to keep her around.  So I give her back to God.  She was 16 in April, so she had a good long life I just wanted more.

One day I was in DC for a meeting and my mom called me that night and said there are 12 cats on your deck, WHAT?  There was a momma cat along with 2 of her offspring who all had 4 kittens each.  So when I got home mom and I rounded up the kittens, I could not deal with them and no one wanted a kitten so I took them to the vet to have them humanely put down.  One of the last ones I caught was Bucky.  It was muddy and there I was in the back yard sliding around chasing her and when I finally caught her she bit me through my leather glove and pooped all down the front of me. I decided I needed to keep her and so I did.

She was the most onery cat I ever had and so I named after Get Fuzzy Bucky cat.  Her full name is Bucky Crookshanks cos my niece said that was Hermione's cat's name and I already had a Harry and Hermione, so keep it all in the family.  She leaves a huge hole in the house and it will be quiet because she won't be on the counters pushing things off.

She would eat anything she could get in her mouth. She loved to go out in the garage and forage for whatever she could find.  She ate plants and got sick so I got rid of all the ones she ate and that was not good for cats. She once tried to eat a worm in the garage.  She was my get on the counter and knock stuff off girl.  She would often get on top of the fridge and when I went to look for her that paw would come swinging down and smack me on the head and scare the crap out of me.  There was never a dull minute with the Buckster in the house.

She once broke a bone in her foot jumping off the kitchen island and had a cast for 6 weeks, did that stop her jumping on things, no. She would go running off clomping the let with the cast and swing it around and bonk people.  

Thank you Lord for giving me 16 wonderful years with her but now I give her back to you.  She can be with her buddy Harry again and I know my dad will watch over her along with all those who have gone before her.

Around the Yard

My tomatoes are coming along, lots of blooms and it is getting hot so I should be seeing some red coming on.

 My Zinnias are small.  I borrowed some seed from Powell Gardens and they are a happy mix of color.  Zinnias are one of my fav flowers, they just seem to make things happy.  I want a whole yard of them.

 This pot had my lavendar which you can see tucked inside.  I thought it had died so I planted these seeds in the pot, I don't know what they are but I see a yellow bloom coming on.  And the lavendar is growing so we shall see what it does.

I had a bunny in the yard this morning when I got up, there is a lot of clover so he should be happy.

 The 2 pictures above are what I call The Beast.  This flower bed got way out of hand and the grass was so bad in it I had to dig the shoots out, this took about 3 weeks to get here.  So now it can easily be maintained and on around the corner of the house I go.  I have the side of the house to take care of and the bed under the deck where I have planted 4 hostas that need to be taken care of as well.  Then I can continue to work around the yard and take care of things.  I have spent the past 4 years taking care of things for my parents and now I finally get to spend some time on my home and yard.  You can see my female feral Smudgey. The concrete blocks are from my dad's garden, so I have a touch of him in there to guard the flowers. 

D35 has a Transmitter

This morning at 5:45AM, RRP Board Members Brett Mandernack (of Eagle Valley Nature Preserve) and David Lynch, John Howe (Executive Director, RRP), and Carole Mandernack and Ryan Schmitz (both from Eagle Valley Nature Preserve) captured D35 for the purpose of applying a GPS tracking transmitter and leg band. D35 was found to be in great health, and was determined to be female (using measurements of the beak, tarsus, and hallux talon) with a weight of approximately 10.3 pounds. The capture process went very smoothly and D35 was released back at the Decorah Fish Hatchery at approximately 6:50AM and has since been observed flying well around the nesting area. If you have questions about the transmitter, please read this post: https://www.raptorresource.org/2020/07/01/your-transmitter-questions-answered/.

D35 will now join the other Bald Eagles in the Eagle Valley Nature Preserve Bald Eagle migration and travel study that has been ongoing since 1999, providing valuable data that will help ensure the preservation of Bald Eagles within the Mississippi Valley flyway, and other areas. This study had been previously funded by Kohler/Eagle Valley Nature Preserve, but the funding expired on the original study in 2019. The RRP Board of Directors and staff then voted for RRP to further fund for the purpose of gathering more migrational data from birds with a known origin/natal nesting area. We are very excited to compare a male and female eagle sired by DM2 with male and female eagles sired by Dad Decorah…and of course we are excited to compare siblings. Studying the eagles helps us to identify and eventually preserve habitat and resources and also provides valuable insight into their lives and behaviors, which is very valuable to people who rehabilitate and care for bald eagles.

Brett Mandernack and RRP have NO further plans for anymore captures for the 2020 nesting season.

We would like to thank all of the RRP fans for their support and we look forward to learning more about the travels of D35 and D36 along with you!

David Lynch

Raptor Resource Project, Board of Directors

D36 has a Transmitter

Raptor Resource Project (RRP) would like to announce the successful banding, transmitter application, and release of the juvenile Decorah Bald Eagle known as D36.

This morning at 5:50AM, RRP Board Members Brett Mandernack (of Eagle Valley Nature Preserve) and David Lynch, and Carole Mandernack (from Eagle Valley Nature Preserve), Ryan Schmitz from Eagle Valley Nature Preserve) and Kolton Loeffelholz (of Eagle Valley Preserve), captured D36 for the purpose of applying a GPS tracking transmitter and leg band. D36 was found to be in great health and was determined to be a male (using measurements of the beak, tarsus, and hallux talon) with a weight of approximately 8 pounds. The capture process went very smoothly and D36 was released back at the Decorah Fish Hatchery at approximately 7:00AM and was observed flying well later in the morning.

D36 will now join the other Bald Eagles in the Eagle Valley Nature Preserve Bald Eagle migration and travel study that has been ongoing since 1999, providing valuable data that will help ensure the preservation of Bald Eagles within the Mississippi Valley flyway, and other areas. This study had been previously funded by Kohler/Eagle Valley Nature Preserve, but the funding expired on the original study in 2019. The RRP Board of Directors and staff then voted for RRP to further fund for the purpose of gathering more migrational data from birds with a known origin/natal nesting area.

 

 D36 is my fav from this year. He came out spunky and remained so. He did not take anything off of the older ones.  This is a surprise that he got banded as the last one was D27.  I love him almost as much as D14 who will forever be my fav.  FLy high and we look forward to those postcards you send home via your transmitter.

It's a Girl

My niece is having a girl. Do you know how much knitting I have to do before January 2021?  There are so many cute patterns out there it is hard to pick one.  My dad always bought my niece girly dresses for Christmas, so I am going to make one for my great niece from my dad.  I found one I think he would approve of.  I will be posting pics as I get things done.  Babies need so many things, where do you start?

D27 has reacher her summer home

D27 has reached her summer grounds on the shores of Lake Severn in Northwestern Ontario! Over 750 miles passed beneath her wings as she journeyed north into Canada's great boreal forest. We wish her the best summer vacation ever: cool waters, plenty of fish, and other eagles to play with and steal meals from! Fly high, D27, and don't forget to write!

As always, a thousand thanks to Brett Mandernack and the staff of Eagle Valley for sharing their data, expertise, and maps with us! To follow the travels of any of the eagles we've tracked, visit our interactive maps at https://www.raptorresource.org/learning-tools/eagle-map/.

What is the boreal forest and why is it important for all kinds of birds? You can read more about that here! https://www.borealbirds.org/boreal-forest

This Is All We Can Do Right Now

My grandmother once gave me a tip:

In difficult times, you move forward in small steps.

Do what you have to do, but little by little.

Don't think about the future, or what may happen tomorrow.

Wash the dishes.

Remove the dust.

Write a letter.

Make a soup.

You see?

You are advancing step by step.

Take a step and stop.

Rest a little.

Praise yourself.

Take another step.

Then another.

You won't notice, but your steps will grow more and more.

And the time will come when you can think about the future without crying.

- Elena Mikhalkova

D20 and Current

Hard to believe 6 years ago this handsome boy was rescued never to fly again. He is an Ambassador now and an adult already.  He is called Decorah now but he will always be D20 to me.  My fav has been D14 who is no longer with us and my niece's fav D18 was D20's nest mate.  If you want more information on this handsome raptor check it out here:

https://soarraptors.org/2018/05/decorah-faq/?fbclid=IwAR0QjL0d1mSrDJ-nbBYFxTbu3FvzgVvwRZFKj0hxPwPiVCWhBKMcF9b87H8

So this morning we had an oops per RRP:
A quick update - we've found some number of fledglings, although we're not sure who or how many since ID at a distance is really, really tough! One of the eaglets was seen briefly hanging upside down this morning! That most commonly happens when a fledgling either blows a landing or slips off a perch. Bald eagles have a ratcheting mechanism in their feet that they can't always unlock right away. We're not sure who it was, but they were able to disconnect and fly away safely!

I Have Lost My Mind

Every so often a pattern comes along that I just have to try.  Several years ago it was an Alice Starmore Fair Sweater, Water Lily. Her patterns are so garish in color and I don't have the skill to re-work the colors to make them look good that I did Lily because they are colors I would wear.

Next thing you know this cross stitch patterns comes across my FB feed.  Several of my online friends received it as well so now we are thinking of doing a life long stitch along.  I can't decide which color to use. I was going to do periwinkle and white for my bedroom but putting this much work into a piece deserves to be seen. So I have a wall in my living room where it will just perfectly fit, so what color now?  My current color is terra cotta but I want to go teal, so I am going to look for teal thread to use.  I actually had a yard of white 16ct aida in my stash, I wanted 18ct but hey I have this so I will use it.  I am thinking maybe I want to go off white with the teal instead of white thread.  I am gonna go look at colors this week and see what I like.  I could do teal and gold as I like those 2 colors together and I did make the IC gala shawl in those 2 colors this year.

Here is the piece, yes I have lost my mind. 
https://www.longdogsampler.com/?fbclid=IwAR0nnRTFyBsZ058i-HLJIq5P-5mkB79tpynk-Y7ZVf3DD5cfi6044o3-b7g

Downey, Zinnias, and Rock

I love the little Downeys and caught this one on the suet feeder on the deck, he had a good meal.

My Zinnias are starting to bloom, they are one of my favorite flowers.

I have no idea what this yellow flower is.  2 years ago i bought a hanging basket with petunias, and other flowers and planted it in my whiskey barrel.  This made it through the winter and just grew last summer, this year is has filled the barrel and is blooming.  The leaves have a velvety white coating on the sage green leaves.  It is a Dusty Miller of the Silver Leaf Family.

 Dusty Miller is an interesting landscape addition, grown for its silvery gray foliage. Lacy leaves of the dusty miller plant are attractive companions for many blooms in the garden. Dusty miller care is minimal when the plant is established. Dusty Miller Care Although the dusty miller flower blooms in mid-summer, the small yellow blooms are small and not considered showy. Foliage of the dusty miller plant, however, is long lasting and drought resistant. As with most silvery, furry plants, growing dusty miller helps the garden remain attractive through the heat of the summer. It will also tolerate frost. The dusty miller plant is often grown as an annual and discarded after the first season; however, it is an herbaceous perennial and may return in USDA plant hardiness zones 8 to 10. Growing dusty miller can handle the heat, but is best planted where afternoon shade is available during the hottest months of summer. The dusty miller plant is adaptable to many soil types, thriving in acidic clay to sandy loam soils. Soil must be well draining to avoid root rot. Water regularly right after planting and withhold water once roots have developed and the plant is growing. Dusty miller care may involve a midsummer trim if the plant becomes leggy. The dusty miller flower may be removed to keep the plant compact. This specimen can grow as tall as 1 foot, but often remains shorter. Leave a few flowers to bloom in late summer if you wish the plant to self seed.

I have been working on the "beast" flower bed.  I started 2 weeks ago and the grass was waist high, this is where I am today.  Channeling my dad and putting down black plastic and then cardboard and then pebble rock.  Instead of planting in the ground I am doing container planting.  I hope this helps me keep this large bed under control.  Container gardening allows me to change pot locations, add new pots or take them away and just cover up the space with rock.  The salvia in the front is in the ground and too big plus I have had it too many years to disrupt it and lose it.  So for now it stays.  I did accidently tear off a piece so it is in one of the small clay pots and has bloomed.  I also accidently broke off a stem and it was blooming and is in water to see if it will root so I can have another start.  Now if I can only get that ugly stump in the front of the picture out of the blocks. That may be an all day project involving the chain saw.