Nice weather

Today was beautiful. I went out for a walk this afternoon. There was a brisk wind blowing from the south, but the temperatures were in the 50’s and the sun was, at last, warm. Hundreds of sandhill cranes flew over in waves high, high in the sky. I went out to the wetland to spread some seed that I found when we were preparing the garden order. I collected seed from some of the native plants I have growing here and there, stowed it in lunch bags with my garden seeds, and forgot about it until it was time to inventory our stock and figure out what we needed for this year.

The wetland is very wet. Canada geese hang out there often. I hope some of the seeds we planted survived. They are supposed to be adapted to wet conditions. I’m pretty sure the birds have eaten all of the oats. I put more oats out along with native seeds. I also spread some coneflower and New England aster seeds in the drier bare spots. The coneflower seed head is wicked! I should have used gloves or beat the seeds loose with a stick while the heads were still in the bag. When I got back in the house, I pulled 5 splinters from my thumb.

The wet wetland

When I was done seeding, I walked back to the creek. The water is high, but nowhere near flooding. Not much sign of plant life yet.

The creek

Last week one of the Aracauna chickens laid a tiny egg. Hilda boiled it along with some regular sized egg. It was very cute. We don’t know if it means that one of our hens has started laying again after taking a break or is on the verge of giving it up forever. We have more chicks coming in May. When they reach maturity, we are going to have to make difficult decisions about the old girls. 

A tiny egg next to a large one.

Spring break

While Terry made a quick trip to North Dakota to visit family and friends, I had a staycation with Jane. We spent Monday and Tuesday cleaning closets, removing a total of 32 garbage bags of clothes for Goodwill.

We set aside Wednesday morning to have fun. Pat told us about enormous croissants at the Village Bakery in Fox Lake. Neither Jane nor I was familiar with the area. We found the bakery with a little help from Jane’s GPS. The croissants were, as Pat reported, as big as the plate. While they weren’t the flakiest croissants I had ever had, they made up for it with a huge log of marzipan-like filling in the middle. Given that it was after 10:00 when we got to the bakery for breakfast, the croissant was enough to do me for all day.

Giant croissant on dinner-sized plate

As long as we were in the area, we drove north on Highway 59 to Grass Lake Rd. Grass Lake Rd. went between Grass Lake and Fox Lake. On one of the bridges we saw three loons on Fox Lake and a small flock of buffleheads on Grass Lake. On the other side of the lake, we went north to Chain-O-Lakes State Park. Shortly after entering the park, we came upon a pair of sandhill cranes in a wetland. I took a picture with my little camera. We hadn’t set out to bird watch and thus did not bring the good camera with telephoto lens or even a pair of binoculars.

A pair of sandhill cranes

Down by the lake, we saw a large bird in a tree. We couldn’t tell what it was without any means of magnifying the image. We decided to call it an immature bald eagle.

It was a beautiful day for a drive, even if it was cold. Despite the persistent night freezes, we have lost most of the snow. Sad, ugly piles of grey slush, riddled with pits where sun-warmed stones have melted down, line the roads. I can’t wait for it to all be gone. I wonder if the grass with ever get green again. 

Too late for eagles

On Saturday, Jane, Jan, and I went down to Starved Rock to look for eagles. We knew we were late. The eagles hang around in January and February, fishing in the open water by the lock and dam on the Illinois River. Still, it was such a bitter cold winter that we thought there might be a chance that the ice wasn’t yet gone.

Jan’s father loved the lock and dam. As a child she went on family trips there often. Thus, she could navigate our way past Utica, IL to the road along the river. We saw a bufflehead duck in the flooded lowlands next to the road. And geese. Canada geese everywhere. There was no ice, however. Not a good sign for eagle watching. Jan saw a large white bird which she thought was a swan. I wondered if it was a pelican. I never heard of pelicans in Illinois.

We pulled into the parking lot at the Lock and Dam Visitor Center. The Visitor Center had an upper and lower outside viewing area. We spent quite a while on the upper deck. There were no eagles. We were too late. The large white birds were, in fact, pelicans. I loved watching the pelicans in North Dakota. I nearly drove off the road more than once watching flocks of pelicans soar over the prairie potholes. There weren’t so many here, but we did see a few of them soaring.

Three pelicans

Several pelicans sat near the dam on something solid. I couldn’t see exactly what it was.

Pelicans hanging around by the dam

 

The lock and dam is right across from Starved Rock. I had never been to Starved Rock, so Jan explained the story. A tribe of Indians sought refuge from their enemies on the top of Starved Rock. They were trapped there and starved to death. I figured that they didn’t call it Starved Rock because there was a cheerful story behind it.

Starved Rock

We crossed the river and entered the park. It was after 11:00 now, and I was getting hungry. We drove up a hill to the lodge.

Ravine near the Lodge

 

Most of the Lodge was built by the CCC in 1933. “I always think of Louie when I hear about the CCC,” Jane said.

“He was in the CCC?” I asked. Louie was the ranger at Camp Pokonokah Hills, where all of us had worked for many years, although my time did not overlap Jan’s.

“Yes, he was.” Jane said.

“I didn’t know that either,” Jan said. That surprised me. I though Jan knew Louie at least as well as Jane did.



Lodge entrance

The Lodge was built of huge logs that were still round. It was a good, solid, enormous old building like the CCC could only build. They stand the test of time, those buildings.

We went inside. The gift shop was amazingly high end. There was a sale rack of women’s clothing and scarves that made no reference to the park at all. I saw some fleeces embroidered with the park name and some pine trees for $37, which was pretty reasonable. I didn’t buy one, though.

We got a table by the windows and had a lovely lunch. I had a grilled portabella sandwich with an enormous pile of home-made potato chips. Hooray! I love home-made potato chips. I made the waitress take my plate before I finished every last one.

Jan and Jane at lunch

After lunch, Jane and Jan waited on the outside deck of the lodge while I hiked the 0.3-mile trail to Starved Rock. I went down a lot of steps and came out at the Starved Rock Visitor Center. Damn it, I thought, I should have taken my phone and called to tell Jane to meet me down here. Meanwhile, Jan and Jane were thinking, “We should call Bev and tell her we will pick her up at the Visitor Center.”

Jane’s first call, for reasons we do not understand, went straight to voice mail. Meanwhile, I continued hiking across the flat part behind the Visitor Center and up the stairs to the top of Starved Rock. There I learned from a plaque that it was an Illini tribe that was trying to escape the wrath of Ottawa and Potawatomi. I had assumed from Jan’s story that those pesky European white folks had been involved, but the story (never verified) dated from pre-European settlement.

The view down the river from the top of Starved Rock

I took some pictures of the river from the overlook. Jan and Jane thought they spotted my red coat and tried to call again. This time, the phone rang—in my purse that was stowed in the front of Jane’s walker. I stopped at the Visitor Center to use the rest room, my logic being that it would be that much less weight to haul back up the 150 steps to the Lodge. I counted on the return trip.

The first of 150 steps to the Lodge. Steps continue to the right in the background.

One of numerous chain saw-carved sculptures

 

We stopped at the first of many ice cream parlors we came to in Utica. We got lucky. The shop had ice cream from the Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company of Madison, WI. I got a kick out of the disclaimer that was on the side of the building.



Sign outside the ice cream parlor

We asked the girl what the most popular flavors were. She said “This Just Got Serious,” which was salted caramel, cashews, and fudge ripple and “Yippee Skippee” which was peanut butter ice cream with salted caramel ripples (salted caramel is everywhere these days), brownie chunks, and chocolate covered pretzels. I had one scoop of “This Just Got Serious”; Jane had one scoop of “Yippee Skipee”, and Jan had one of each. It was most excellent ice cream.

It was a good day in spite of the absence of eagles.

 

The boys are back in town

When I got home Thursday, Terry told me that he had seen four tom turkeys. He pointed out the window to tracks that led from the house out toward the wetland. And I missed them! They had come up to eat the bird seed that had fallen to the ground.

Turkey tracks leading away from the house

Turkey tracks up close showing where the foot went down and the wing dragged in the snow

The next day, Terry and the turkeys surprised each other when Terry rounded the house to come in for the night. I was upstairs grading online projects when I heard him yell, “The turkeys are back!” I raced downstairs for my camera and telephoto lens and back upstairs to the deck. I was able to get a picture; I was not able to get the turkeys in focus. Nice view of the river birch, though.

Four tom turkeys

The girls have been venturing out to enjoy the relatively warm weather. The temperatures have edged up above freezing for the last several days. The chicken run is going to be wet for a long time. There much be three feet of snow in there. Note how high it comes up the fence post. Yesterday I shoveled the snow away from the netting as far as the second pole. With the snow leaning on the fence, it had become nearly impossible to get the fence attached to the chicken coop. It’s much easier now. Should have done it weeks ago.

The girls get some fresh spring air

Carb loading

More snow yesterday, probably 4” by the time it was done. We had tickets to a book reading by Michael Perry at the Woodstock Opera House last night. The roads weren’t great, but let’s face it, if we didn’t drive in the snow this winter, we would have never left the house. I thought we should leave at 7:00, which would give us 15 extra minutes for a trip that usually takes about half an hour. Terry said, “That won’t give us enough time.”

“The show doesn’t start until 8:00,” I countered. “We should be there 15 minutes early.”

“We’re not going to be able to go very fast,” he said.

“Fine. How about if you just tell me when you want to leave?”

He did the calculation out loud. “Well, it’s 20 miles, and we probably can’t go faster than 40….We need to leave at five to seven.”

Oookaay. I think that means that I was right, but he didn’t want to admit it.

I informed my parents of the change in schedule. We left the house promptly at 6:55 and got to town in plenty of time despite being stuck behind less winter-worthy vehicles than my parents’ Subaru. We enjoyed the show. Michael Perry is very funny, and an hour and a half went by very quickly. He is from central Wisconsin. At one point he said he wasn’t going to apologize for getting us out in the weather because we’re from the Midwest, and we’re supposed to be out driving in snow. My thoughts exactly.

Today is my dad’s 88^th birthday. And it is single-digit cold again, despite being the second day of March. Nothing for it but to make bread, which I did. I’m doing a beef roast dinner tonight. Hey, we can always eat!

Cinnamon swirl raisin bread--comfort food for a cold day