Closing the Book on 2007

Here it is, Christmas Eve and 2007 is drawing to a close. This year has been very different for me. I haven't done many of the things that I normally do - I haven't birded very much - I haven't even worked much (Ok, that's a trick as I retired in June!).

Most of 2007 has been spent working on the cabin that will soon become my home and studio as a naturalist. One lesson that I've learned in 2007 is that building a cabin is hard work especially in that I'm usually not very handy, but I do enjoy hard work.



As I've thought about all that I've done this past year, I realize that to get the things that I want, I have to work at it - to stretch myself inorder to reach my goals. And so I'm closing 2007 with this recent photo from my feeders as a reminder to me that one needs to stretch to reach their goals .

Before this last wintry blast of snow and cold, I had a chance to get some pictures of a few of my other "regulars" at the cabin feeder. I put out a limited number of whole peanuts (available in bulk from Hampton Farms) for the Blue Jays. I limit the amount to a couple of handfuls at a time becuase they tend to cart them off to stash for later.

When they get through with the peanuts, they start in on whole corn before picking through the black oilers. Although, if its not too cold, they will crack open the oilers one at a time for a snack!

I also have a large flock of Black Capped Chickadees in a nearly continuous parade to the feeders during day light. I'd estimate that there are about 20 that zoom in one at a time, take one oiler and go off to break it open to eat in solitude before returning for another.





The suet feeder is fairly new. The chickadees will also sample the suet if it is going to be colder. Unfortunately, they have to share the suet with the nuthatches and woodpeckers. The Pileated Woodpeckers don't stop by regularly, but there are almost always both Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers making short work of the suet that I put out.






Here is a female Downy waiting her turn for the suet. This was taken the same day that the Pileated was pigging out on the suet. Fortunately, the cost for suet is much cheaper than the lard with seeds mixed in that places seem to sell all winter long.

This week, (once I can travel up to the cabin), I'll put out some of a peanust butter-fat mixture to see how that goes over.

Woodpeckers and Suet

Earlier this winter, I built a wire basket and hung up some beef suet. I figure the birds could use a little fat to get them through winter! Of course, it attracted the chickadees and nuthatches along with Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers. But by far, my favorite has been the Pileated Woodpecker who stopped by this week to dine.

They're pretty hard to miss when they stop by being nearly 2 foot long/tall! This is a male as noted by its red moustache stripe.

BTW the most interesting sight feeding on fat this winter has been three Bald Eagles sparring with a group of Ravens for a road kill white-tailed deer.

New Bird at feeders

While working this week (on window sills and trim), I happened to look up and see a new bird at the back feeders.

I've been wonder why the seeds are disappearing as fast I put them out. And here I thought it was due to the wintry weather!

Unfortunately, the cabin is in a "no bait/feed" area for deer due to bovine TB so I won't be able to lure them away to their own feeding station.

Ah well, up north living. . . .

Happy Thanksgiving!

One of the sights that I look forward to at my cabin is the wild turkeys that come in to pick through the seeds below the feeders. While not the most regular of birds to stop by, they are fairly dependable.

My plans for next year is to film and photograph a family of turkeys for the entire year. In the mean time - Happy Thanksgiving - the snows of winter are on their way.

Winter Irruptions

Having my cabin a few hundred miles further north gives me a first peak at winter bird irruptions that are predicted for the year. Previously, I posted about the Evening Grosbeaks.

Today I watched about a dozen or so Pine Siskins devouring the sunflowers at the feeders.

And of course, the resident Turkey flock stopped by for their afternoon snack.

I also had a few Purple Finches early in October, but they haven't returned to photos - yet!

Milestones

Most of my time over the past year has been taken up by my new cabin. Having been just a shell when I bought it last January, I have had to design and complete most of the finish work with the help of my brother. Along the way during this year, there have been milestones of progress that moved the work along.

The first was getting the electrical wiring completed for the rough-in inspection. Part of that task not only involved locating boxes, but also moving a few walls around for my floorplan.

Next was the necessary plumbing work in order to rough-in inspect that. Not being much of a plumber, I hired that work out. A few bumps in the work, but once that was done, I could begin to drywall.

Drywalling was very slow and tedious labor - it was beyond just work! The cutting, fitting, taping, and sanding took on a life of its own and require much of the summer to complete. In fact, it really isn't complete at this point as the bedroom, office, and hall ceilings remain. Regardless, the finishing of the walls was another milestone as it took so long to do!

Now we have begun the ceilings - starting with the tongue and groove in the great room. (We did this as a break from staring at drywall tape every time.) I'm expecting that we should be finished with the bulk of this before the end of the month and will then need to move on to the drywall ceilings that remain.

After ceilings, its floors, doors, and trim. Of course the best milestone will be the Certificate of Occupancy at the end!

All good things

Well, the adventure with the remote feeder has ended now that I discovered that my cabin is located in a "no bait - no feed" zone due to bovine TB in the deer herd. Being a field biologist, I had second thoughts as I really enjoy the turkeys that have come in, but I also understand the need to monitor and eradicate TB from the deer herd. Hopefully, this too shall pass.

Within the next week or so, I hope to have all of the drywall in place so that I'll be down to the priming and painting. Then it will be on to the tongue and groove ceiling, doors, and trim boards!

Tuesday I headed to my cabin - more drywall, priming, and painting! While there my feeders were invaded by a horde of Evening Grosbecks - my first ever. Being from mid and southern Michigan, they never seemed to get there far south in the state. They really hit the feeder hard and were a joy to watch.

Cabin Game Camera

Well, I got my game camera set up behind my cabin finally. I pulled the first set of pictures and found out that I have twin neighbors:

I also got a remote feeder that I set up this past weekend to feed the furry and feathered beasts while I'm away. I reset the camera nearer to the feeder and can't wait to see who shows up to dine next! I'm really hoping the turkeys come in this week.

Cold Signs of Autumn

Officially Autumn is just around the corner and its been dropping hints of what's to come. The last few days have been too cold for this time of the year and I'm hoping for a few more Indian Summer days before this all ends and Winter is on its way.

The birds and animals up at the cabin have been tearing into the feeders like they know that something cold is marching up the hill. Squirrels, blue jays, chickadees, both nuthatches, and others are gathering seeds nearly all the time they are awake.

I'm hoping for some interesting pictures as I bought one of those automatic feeders and a "game camera" to photograph the action. I've left things working up there and should have some photos to share soon.

I still have to order wood for winter - I'd better get that done today or it will really be a cold winter at the cabin!

Summer has come and gone

I always have trouble keeping up with things during the Summer. I think it usually has something to do with the long days and being away from the computer. This Summer was no exception as it has slipped completely away without as much as a peep from me!

The month of June was lost to making the final arrangements of my retirement from working at a job! I have planned the retirement for over a year, but there were many details to be worked out before the end of June. My replacement had been named and was ready to start learning the ropes. In addition, we were opening a second high school that was behind construction, but destined to open on time this Fall. I have agreed to work part time a few days per week training my replacement as well as seeing to the final details of the new school. In late October, I’ll be working a full week when one of our technicians is off to get married and the Department is moving to new facilities!

Part of this Summer was lost to travel. During the first two weeks of July, I traveled to the Amazon in Peru. This is a trip that I had taken back in the 1990s, so I was long overdue. It was also my first trip out of the country post September 11th. I really enjoy traveling to natural areas and did so every year until I landed at Central Office. With that job being year round and most of the opportunities to get things done happens when school is not is session, so it was next to impossible to get much travel in while working. The much higher pay (than being a classroom teacher) was well worth the last five years of nearly constant work. My pension is now nearly what I made as a classroom teacher without any of the work that went with it!

Of course the one thing that has kept me most busy has been the construction of my retirement cabin. Work has progressed slowly with my brother and I getting two or three days per week doing the electrical, insulating, hanging drywall, installing floor tile, tongue and groove ceilings, and working to get it occupied before this winter. I have always thought I’d enjoy working like this but I’ve really not had the opportunities to do so. I’ll update the cabin saga in a separate posting.

Lastly, my oldest brother took a turn for the worse after battling his disability (myasthenia gravis) for the past five years. To complicate his condition, he had a major cardiac issue, pneumonia, and respiratory failure. He spent over two weeks in ICU, followed by over a week as a general patient, and is now doing two or three weeks in physical therapy. As his patient advocate and him being 100 miles away, lots of time was spent driving back and forth. Luckily, he appears to be recovering as well as can be expected.

So that has been my Summer. Now that things have settled down a little, I’ll strive to be more regular in my posting. The cabin will occupy much of my life for another few months, but then I should be back to some kind of normal!

Change is the Currency of Life

It occurred to me today, that I haven't written much about the changes about to take place in life for me. As of today, I have 10 days remaining before I will be officially retired - for the second time for the school district where I've worked for nearly 23 years. Before I came here, I had worked in two other districts for five years each.

About this time a year ago is when I retired for the first time. Even though I had retired, I remained "on the job" for an additional year as a transition year. But now, that year is drawing to an end and so will my world of formal work. It isn't that I don't like my job or am unable to do it, but its time to move on.

Nearly three years ago I had a fairly significant heart attack and at that time, I realized that there were lots of things I wanted to do before it was time. I thought I'd better decide about the future then and put together a plan that has gotten me to the next ten days.

One of the things I've missed for the last five years or so, is traveling - especially to the tropics for bird watching. So that is the first thing that my plan called for. My last official day of work will be June 29 and on the 30th, I'm headed to Peru, a place I visited back in the late 90s.

My plan also provided for the cabin that I've written about extensively over the last few months. The plan didn't have this place in mind, but I knew that once I saw this place, that it was exactly what I had in mind.

I have a few things to get in order before work is over, and I will be working to get those things done over the next few weeks. The District would like me to continue on for a few more weeks and I may do so very part time. However, most of what I have planned for when I return is to throw myself into finishing the cabin so I have "my place" to live in retirement.

New Plant at Cabin

My work at the cabin has been slow as the plumber has been hard at work getting his work completed. I did notice on my last trip, that I have a few new and interesting plants growing close to the cabin. Here is a favorite - a Pink Lady Slipper Orchid.

My plans are to spend some more time looking around through the trees and see if there are other pleasant surprises tucked in here and there.

On the construction end, I hope the plumbing is done this week so that I can get the go ahead and start getting insulation up and the wall work moving. Basically, I'm down to insulation, drywall, ceilings, flooring, and the final wood work trimming.

Now that it is June, I have some 12 days to work this month. The first two weeks of July, I'll be traveling out of the country (A trip along the Amazon in Peru) and then just a couple days of finishing up employment. With luck, I'll be fully retired by Fall!

Notice new visitor at Cabin

Ouch! the price of gasoline jumped nearly 30 cents yesterday while I was at my cabin. I passed several stations in the AM when gas was $3.35 per gallon and when I returned home the same stations were $3.69! I guess the profit taking for Memorial Day started early this year!

On an unrelated note, while I was up north, I noticed a new visitor to the bird feeding station:

Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrels are much more common in open environments such as grasslands, but this sunflower collecting squirrel showed up at the edge of my Jack Pine forest to pack away the sunflower seeds that have spilled from the bird feeder. It's about the right time for raising young, so I'll be on the look out for any kits they may have,

Trout score pretty even

Well the score between me and trout is pretty much a tie at this point. I've hook a few so fair but something less that my goal of one per stream hour!

Luckily for me, work on the cabin is slowed down as the bulk of things right now is with the plumber - but that will change once he's got everything under control. Then it will be back to work and less fishing for me.

Rites of Spring

This weekend is the opening of Michigan's trout fishing season on the Au Sable river near my cabin. As you might guess, not much work got done!

The heat is on. . .

Well, I am finally getting some heat put into my cabin - now that winter is over. Electrical work is nearing completion and next up will be to tackle the plumbing! Every week its a little more and a little closer to being me!

Favorite neighbors

One of the things that I really like about going to my cabin are the animal neighbors I get to see. They are lots of deer and birds that I don;t get to see regularly during my work week. One of my favorites are:

These turkeys that I see along the roads near my cabin. I usually see them in flocks like this, sometimes as many as 15 or 20 of them. They are even up near yards picking through seeds that are put out in yards and in driveways.

I've put up a feeder behind my cabin hoping that they find the it and stop to visit right outside my windows. Right now, there are chickadees, purple finches and nuthatches mainly, but someday they may start to stop by.

Cabin Winter hangs on

This was the view down my driveway at the cabin March 10th - nearly 20 inches of snow!

By Tuesday, the temperature had risen to nearly 60 degrees and now I have nearly 8 inches of water at the road! Ah Michigan, got to love the changable weather.

Winter on its last legs

We finally have gotten a break in the weather and temperatues are starting to warm up. This morning I stopped to do a little birding along the Huron and saw many American Coots, a few Scaup, Ring Necks, Red Heads. Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, and a few Trumpter Swans.

The highlight of the day so far has been another new visitor to my balcony feeder - a Red Bellied Woodpecker. I put out a suet feeder to try to keep the Downy Woodpecker coming in the morning. Because I'm usually not home during the day, this is the first time I've seen the Red Bellied stopping by for a snack.

The Carolina Wrens that had taken up housekeeping on the balcony are still around every early morning with their bubbly songs.

One of my Favorite Things

One of the late winter things that I really like to do is to watch raptors like hawks, owls and eagles. Without the leaves on trees, it makes them easier to spot. Here's a photo of a Bald Eagle I saw recently along the Saginaw River. It had been sitting above a spot of open water eyeing the ducks and gulls in the water below.

I also see a pair on my trips up to my new cabin. They have a nest along the side of the expressway!

Speaking of cabin - work is continuing along and I hope to have all of the electrical in place and take care of the rough-in inspection before the end of March. Progress marches slowly!

Carolina in the sunrise

My little Carolina Wren has found a friend and they seem to spend the evenings on my balcony. How wonderful it is to be awakened each day by their bubbling song. . .hopefully my neighbors appreciate it too!

Work up on the cabin is proceeding as the electrical rough-in work is nearly complete - one or two more trips should do it. After the electrical is ready, it will be time to start on the kitchen and bath with cabinets, appliances, and flooring - construction is so much more satisfying when I get to do the work myself.

Great Backyard Bird Count results

Each year I try to participate in the GBBC sponsored by Cornell Lab of Orinthology. This year, as in the past, I was able to count birds for both my apartment in Ann Arbor and for my mother's feeder in Bay City. Here are the results:

Ann Arbor - balcony feeder and view
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Trumpeter Swan
Mallard
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
American Coot
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren - Came up to bird feeder!
American Robin
European Starling
Northern Cardinal
House Finch
House Sparrow

and

Bay City yard feeder area and view
Canada Goose
Mallard
Common Merganser
Bald Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
American Robin
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Great Backyard Bird Count

This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count sponsored by Cornell Lab of Orinthology. I always try to file a report for Ann Arbor where I live and for Bay City where my mother lives. While the winter has been fairly mild until recently, the birds have been somewhat common - especially those that visit my balcony feeder. Today, in honor of the Bird Count, I was blessed with a not so common bird visiting the feeder:

A Carolina Wren!

"I'm sure there must be a weevil in there someplace!"

From the Frozen Mitten

Hello from Michigan!

The last two weeks have more than made up for our lack of winter weather. The first bit saw us suffering through below zero degree air temps with wind chills into the -20s/-30s F! and not a day of missed work or school for me. Last night we got another bone chilling snow storm that dropped and drifted 5-8 inches of new snow, so its no work or school for me today!

Having the day off is a good thing as I have much to get done after being the rut of winter - awake - work - dinner - some TV - bed and then do it all again the next day.

It's been too cold to venture north to my new cabin to continue the work there, but the nice weatherman is promicing above freezing temps for next week. Hopefully that will give me a few days to catch up.

Ah well, it won't be long and Spring will eventually get here and the garden season will be upon us all.

Brrr edition

The current arctic blast has drop the temperatures down into the low single digits and it looks like it will get colder overnight as there isn't much of a cloud cover. Having been around the block for a number of years, this cold reminds me of any stretch when I was living in Cincinnati during the late 70s and early 80s.

As I recall it was in January when the air temperature was around 25 but we were expecting one of these Alberta Clippers to drop the temperature in the next 24 hours. As I recall, the drop ended up over 50 degrees straight down and with the wind chill the feels like temperature was around -40 something. Not only was school cancelled, but my apartment complex lost electrical service and the cold work me around 8 AM. Luckily, my favorite restaurant had power and I spent the next 24 hours there waiting for electricity and heat. Hopefully, this blast will not be that bad.

Catching up

Over the past few weeks, I've become the owner of the cabin that I've posted about and that has taken up much of my time. Once I got the banking together it was a several day wait to get all of the details and paper work ready, but on January 16th, I signed the closing documents.

Because it is just a shell at this point, much of the time spent has been getting permits together and planning out the work that needs to be done. I've started on the electrical work, but it does go slow.

Travel time up is three and a half hours and without lights or heat it takes planning to make a trip worth while. I am excited about having this size of a project and really want to do as much of the finish work myself as is possible - for the experience if nothing else.

On a different note, as I sat working and catching the birds back and forth to the feeder, I noticed that my Titmouse count is up 6 or seven at times. The cardinal pair has been in and of course the chickadees. There's a light snow falling and they can sense the coming colder weather forcast for the week so I'm sure they'll be stocking up all day.

Every Journey

One of my tasks for the year is to work on my photo collection of raptors. Luckily, today, I was in the right place at the right time and "captured" this Red Tailed Hawk as the first of what hopefully will be many steps along the way for completing this task.

While it may seem that blogging is taking a back seat, rest assured, once I get the cabin purchase settled, all the permits are in place, and the weather begins to be reasonable, I'll be back much more.

Iceman cometh

Well, in one of the final insults to Winter, we got a wintry storm last night, but everything fell as sleet and freezing rain. I guess it did make for a wintry scene although the trees probably don;t appreciate it!

This N That Update

If it seems as if I've fallen into a snowbank and can't get blogging, that's only part of the picture. Actually, we've had very little to no snow here in Michigan, but I have been busy caught up in in the details of buying my "retirement cabin" in the north woods of Michigan. As this is the first property that I have ever purchased (my Bay City property is inherited), I had no idea all of the work that it takes to find some land, make and offer, get a down payment, get a loan for the balance, plan what to do next, and finally get to closing.

Well, I'm 99% of the way there and on Tuesday I should be the proud owner of 10 acres of forest with a new cabin shell waiting for my touch to finish it off! While I'm excited as all get out, the time it's taken to get to this point has sometimes been discouraging.

But finally, let the adventure in ownership begin anew!

Red Bird

Some of the regulars at my balcony feeder include a pair of cardinals. Everytime I see this brightly colored male cardinal visit my feeder, I can't help but to smile and stop to watch as he picks through the sunflower seeds before deciding which to take away to eat.

First Birds

I think of myself as primarily a field biology or naturalist, I also wish I was more of a birder than I am. More often than not, I only get a day or two to get out to find birds weekly. One of my resolutions for the New Year is to get out and about more.

Regardless, here's today's list of "accidental sightings" as I did not make any special efforts to get today:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Mallard
Common Merganser
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
European Starling
Northern Cardinal
House Finch
House Sparrow

All of these were seen either at my balcony feeder or from the balcony window while I pretended to work! (Before you wonder, I can see the stretches of the Huron River from my windows!)

New Visitor to feeder

While it isn't anything unusual really, I started off the New Year with a new visitor to my balcony feeder:

but here is a Downy Woodpecker that found its way to the apple tree top outside my balcony and then appeared up on the feeder that I have outside my windows. Considering that I'm on the second floor, this is the first time that I've seen him stop by. I've got a steady stream of chickadees, titmice, blue jays, cardinals, and even crows, but this was an awesome sight just the same. I guess I'll have to whip up a batch of suet and see if I can keep him coming!