Charlie and Max Now - 1 year 10 months

And here is the latest picture of "the Boys" and nearly two years.

How Quickly they Grow

This past weekend, (which was cold, rainy, and windy), my one year old labs, Charlie and Max, had an appointment with the vet for a shot. In fighting them into the car, into the office, back into the car and finally back home, I couldn't help but to think how quickly they had grown. It was but a year ago this Spring that these two little guys came home with me.

Charlie 7 weeks (2005) Max 8 weeks (2005)

Wandering their way South

My favorite wading birds are the herons and egrets. While the Great Egret keeps me company more days than not, once the cold begins to settle in, they head south. On the other hand, Great Blue Herons will often try to hang on into latest of winter, and even overwinter if they have open water. Along my path to work, I see this heron nearly everyday in the same pond that I pass everyday to and from work. It isn't until the pond freezes over solid that this guy disappears for a month or two and then returns as early as possible in the Spring.

Worst part of Autumn Daylight Savings

I'm not sure who came up with the idea that in late October that we're saving day light by having the clock an hour faster than the Sun and Moon tell us. It seems to me that all it means is that when the temperature starts to drop overnight and there's a frost in air we have to wake up even earlier to scrape the frost off our windows before making that drive in the dark to work!

Sure sign of Autumn

The most reliable sign of the end of Summer and the coming months of cold and snow are the migration of ducks and geese. Like most birds facing winter, they can not survive without open water upon which to rest and feed. well in advance of the freezing temperatures that will ice over the ponds and lakes, the ducks and geese form up into flocks and Vee patterns to leisurely make their jounrey to warmer parts for winter. Their respite will be but a few months before they begin to return early next year.

Frosted, but not frost dead yet

The overnight air continues to get colder and colder and it shouldn't be long before the overnight killing frosts are here. Soon after, the ground freezes and the snows of winter will begin. The tenderest of the flowers outside my door have been touched hard enough by the frosts that they have died, but the hardiest, like the geraniums, will still hold onto life for the few remaining weeks they have before the killing frosts are too much for even them to survive.

Anniversaries

Different people celebrate anniversaries in different ways. This past week, I had an anniversary - of sorts. Two years ago I had a massive heart attack that resulted in a severely damage heart. Fortunately, a few months later, my heart had recovered enough strength that a quadruple by pass was performed and today I am fine and in probably better shape than before the attack.

This anniversary is not an anniversary of the heart attack, but an anniversary of the aftermath and my "new life" . I could have as easily succumbed to the damage as well as survive it. For me, I knew I had to survive as I had many things in life that I wanted to do before I grew too old or frail.

And so, with this week, I continue on, a little more cautious and insightful to the signs my body sends out, but filled with the spirit of having the time now and in the future to truly enjoy life and living.

And soon it's just a fading memory

(Continuing the Saga of the Tree)

When the deed was done and the landscapers where gone, the tree that once graced the lawn was gone. And soon it's just a fading memory

Erasing History

Today outside of my window at work, I saw history being erased. You see a truly middle aged American Elm tree had lost its struggle against the progress of a new parking lot and construction that had disrupted its roots four or five years ago. Having passed. it was time for the tree to go as it had become a fragile catastrophe waiting to happen.





As I watched the men working, I could not help to think about the history the tree had seen. I went out after it was felled and the tree rings told me the tree was nearly 60 years old. This tree had been a seedling before I was born. It had passed through all of the wars, world strife, presidential elections and assassinations, mayor appointments and resignations, and a host of other events.






Somehow, my heart sank a little as the tree came crashing down and all of its history erased forever.











What was interesting, is that the entire tree was completely gone in a short hour complements of three men and an assortment of machines.

Woolly, Woolly Bully, Woolly Bully Bear

While work outdoors today, I came across a Woolly Bear catepillar. According to some folks, Wooly Bears can be used to predict the coming winter. I've been told that if the brown band in the middle is small, it will be a hard, cold winter. If the band is large (like this one), the winter will be warmer and mild. I check with Woolly Bear brothers (and sisters) and they agree - mild winter is on the way.

Of course other people think that the size of the band is related to the humidity where the Woolly Bear grew up - but I prefer the weather predicting version instead!

Alarm Clock - Part Duex

One thing I forgot to mention in yesterday's post is that the entire alarm clock system does not rely just on Blue Jays and peanuts to make it work. No in fact, there is a darker side as well.

You see, the crows - of which several hundred gather in the Fall - have also learned where there's a free meal if they beat the Blue Jays to the the outdoor Diner.

Have you ever tried to sleep through a mob of crows four feet from your window all cawing loudly because there isn't anything to eat? Next to darn near impossible to sleep in!

Monday Morning Alarm Clock

About a year ago, I got in the habit of not using an alarm clock to wake each day. Even though I have to go to work (yet) nearly every day, I've not been late once due to oversleeping. When day light savings begins, it gets easier and easier to wake in the early morning as I don;t close the drapes and the dawn sun easily wakes me from my rest.

However, now that days have gotten shorter and shorter, I've come to rely on another part of nature to wake me every day.

If I forget to put peanuts out on the balcony outside my bedroom window, I'm awakened but the irrated calls of several Blue Jays who expect to find breakfast nuts each and every day, waiting for them in the earliest of morning.

If I could just figure out how to use them as a snooze alarm!

Everyday in my Backyard

While work is a part of us but so is where we live. I've blogged about getting to work, but this AM I took these pictures of where I live - or at least my backyard.




Luckily for me, my apartment is right on the edge of a wonderful arboretum owned by the University and is surrounds by city parks as well along the banks of the river. Whenever I feel
the city closing in around me, I only have to look out on the river to remember why I live where I do and what a joy it is to be here.



Dave

Weekends

Weekends (except in the winter) are never Mondays! Nearly every weekend I travel to my family home where my monther and brothers live - but most importantly, I get to see Charlie and Max - my "boys".

The last few dogs I've owned have been Labs and they are the greatest. Charlie (the chocolate) and Max (the yellow) live at home at my family home to keep my my 89 year old mom company and because I live in a small apartment which is just big enough for me and not the three of "us".

Every weekend (and if I sneak away during the week) I go up to get the boys out into the fields, go for a swim, practice fetching, and generally give my family a break from their antics! While they are both big, they are big babies being that they are not even two years old yet. They are not related, but are only a week apart in age (Max being older).

Little do they know that once I retire in a few months, their days of lazying around will change and everyday will become a day in the field.

Isn't it a Rule?

If it isn't, it should be. NO SNOW BEFORE HALLOWEEN! No if buts, and, or other excuses. I don't want to hear "It won't stick.", "The ground is too warm.", "Just wait until Indian Summer." or anything else to try to make me feel like its not cold and going to get colder before it gets warmer.

Why just yesterday I was writing like Winter was just a dot of light someplace way down the road of the future - yet here is what I woke to this morning on the 12th of October. The only thing I want white on the ground in October is white sand!

Dave

Fallen Leaves

While the trees fight to hold their changing leaves, the Autumn rains begin to fall. Struggle as they may, the falling rain drops gathering on leaf surfaces become too much and the leaves begin their slow drift into the puddles forming on the ground. One by one the leaves will drift until the trees are bear and soon enough the rain drops will go through their change and they too will drift from the skies, collecting not in puddles, but in drifts of white snow. Luckily, those days seem to be in still in the future even though the temperatures are dropping with each passing day.

Dave

New items on Blog

I'd admired a few of the blogs that I read for the "extra" features that they have in their side bars, so I've decided to "borrow" some of these for this blog. I've added in the clock, calendar, and weather forecast widgets into this blog to help provide a little more information for both you and I while visiting the blog. If you're interested in any of these features, you can either view the source code or click on the links provided. From time to time, I maybe adding other useful features as I run across them. Enjoy.

Dave

Autumn Drive

I have mentioned my drive to work in previous posts. This time of year the drive is one feast for eyes. The trees and shrubrs are readying themselves for the coming Winter by painting their leaves in bold colors.

(Speaking of the coming Winter, the weatherman, who used to be my friend, is predicting daytime temperatures as low as the 40s before the end of the week! Let's hope they are wrong.)

Weather - Whether you like it or not

One of the things in life as a field biologist that interests me is looking at patterns in nature. And without a doubt the repeating patterns of the nature world can be precise and like clockwork. On the other hand, some phenomena, like the weather can be somewhat unpredictable.

Regardless, as part of my complusion for record keeping, I decided to equipment my work studio with its own weather station which will allow me to record not only temperature, but humidity, wind speed and direction and even rainfall.

This lastest gizmo in my collection is from Oregon Scientific and includes a complete set of solar powered, wireless remote sensors, base station and computer software to collect, graph, and compare the data over time. For now, I'll mainly get everything set-up and working and then some time down the road, start to include a few weather trends in my observations of the world.

Harvest moons - end of Summer

Now that the rains have stopped, the nearly full Moon is shining brightly in the night sky. Some how, at this time of the year, the air is so thin, the Moon so bright, and in early evening so large, that one can not help but stop and admire it. Looking over its face, I think back to when humans first walked on its surface and I am constantly in awe.

While the new Moon is several weeks away yet, this moon is making its mark at the beginning of Autumn and the end of Summer for another year.

Soon enough, even the last few rustling leaves will fall victum to the coming snow and the quiet that is Winter will come round.

New Camera - Pictures to Blog

Being a bird watcher and field biologist, I have an assortment of 35 mm and (now) SLR digital cameras along with an assortment of tripods, lenses, filters, and attachments. Unfortunately, all of that equipment makes taking a simple picture an even requiring conscious and deliberate effort on my part.

For a while now, I have admired my fellow bloogers who always have a host of new pictures dotting their blogs and websites. I have been envious of their photographic spontanity. However, I shall envy no longer!

I received my latest :necessity" in life - a Nikon CoolPix P3 camera. Hardly much larger than a deck of cards, this little baby will easily slip into a pocket and will give me the freedom to shot pictures at will and even when my "big rig" is sitting back at home.

Look for new sights on this blog!

Scary in London?

It must kind of eerie living in places like London, England because of all of the fog. This AM was drizzly and foggy. When I headed out to work, it was impossible to see more that 25 feet in front of you. Some place in the foggy a flock of Canada Geese were honking on the way. I strained to look, but didn't see them.

I stopped along the way at a field that has had Sandhill Cranes in it and I thought it would make a cool picture - cranes standing in the morning fog. Unfortunately I couldn't see them or even tell if they were there. Suddenly out of fog came their calls as they were apparently just settling into the field when I stopped. They ethereal calls were even more scary in the dim morning blindness.

Dave

"Red Sky in the Morning. . . .

Sailors take Warning. Red Sky at night, Sailors delight."

This dawn, the sky was bright red and one could have thought it was fire and brimstone time! Unfortunately, after the rainy week last and rain on Saturday, it all started again. At least today it will get into the 70 degree range. The bad news is rain and cooler temperatures until Thursday. Hopefully the coming weekend will be nonrainy - Sunny is too much to ask for!

Dave

The Ying and Yang of weekends

Weekends like this always make me feel hurried.

Saturday was rain more on then off all day so that means not much gets done outside - and outside is where everything needed to get done.

Sunday was bright and sunny, but laundry from the past several weeks called all day so there wasn't anyway to catch up from the rain outside. So the only thing to do is to rush around through the laundry and create a frenzy of action outdoors, yet never being satisfied that anything really got accomplished.

It would be so much easy to plan with either Ying or Yang but not a mix in the same time.

Dave