Yote

Fetched the SD cards from the trail cameras yesterday.  The camera closest to the house - where the trails meet - has been a busy place.  Including many photos of one or more of the resident coyotes. 

They're all nocturnal photos and once again there's a picture of Wily Coyote with something in his/her mouth.  Rabbit perhaps?

 

Winter Camouflage

Trail camera selfie from last weekend’s abruptly interrupted turkey hunt.  Winter camouflage smock actually works rather nicely.

This was a first.

Raising a toast to Bundeswehr winter camouflage....

click on the image for a closer look

Trail Camera Tales - Redux

Earlier this month I published a series of photos chronicling the critters that stopped by to visit a pile of chicken parts that were leftover from making soup.  The final post was published on Sunday, April 15th. 

I returned to that camera today to swap-out the SD card and see what has transpired over the last three weeks or so.

Looks like it was continuing to get visitors - including crows, a gobbler, a deer, robin and a raccoon.

How to Prevent a Smash and Grab

It is estimated that a vehicle is broken-into in San Francisco about every 17 minutes, or 85 times a day. Thieves tend to prey on vehicles in target-rich environments, like parking garages, large lots or areas of light foot traffic. 

photo - SFGate

 

A pair of signs near Alamo Square Park are not only inspiring chuckles - they include some sound advice.  Especially the part about the angry, poisonous bees.  Complete story here.

Remarkable Recovery

photo - US Navy

 

USS Salvor (ARS-52) is the third of the Safeguard-class of salvage ships.  Constructed by Peterson Builders of Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin Salvor was launched on July 28th of 1984 and commissioned on June 14th of 1986.  Salvor was decommissioned in 2007 and redesignated as USNS Salvor (T-ARS 52) upon transfer to the Military Sealift Command. 

Salvor now has a civilian crew as well as a small contingent of US Navy personnel.   This sturdy ship is designed for salvage operations anywhere in the world.  The boat sports a hull strengthened for busting thru ice, has twin shaft propellers powered by four Caterpillar 388 diesel engines and a bow thruster for greater maneuverability.  Salvor’s mission capabilities include salvage, recovery, diving, towing, mine laying and recovery, off-shore firefighting, heavy lift operations and security functions. 

In 1992 Salvor set the world's record for open ocean recovery by retrieving a helicopter off of Wake Island from a depth of 17,251 feet.   Earlier this year Salvor engaged in the recovery of both an airplane and the remains of a US pilot shot down over the Pacific during WWII near Ngerekebesang Island in the Republic of Palau. Seventy years since the crash Salvor’s civilian crew along with members of the US military completed this amazing mission on February 25, 2018.

You can read the entire story here.
  
  

Friday Music

This English rock band traces its roots to 1962 as the Spectres.  Following any number of changes to their lineup the band changed its name to The Status Quo in 1967 and shortened it to Status Quo in 1969.  Prolific artists they produced more than 60 chart hits in the UK - more than any other rock band.  This song was released in January of 1968 becoming the group's only Top 40 hit in the United States, peaking at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100.  For the states anyway – a one hit wonder…

Taking Flight

Never rule-out the talents of an ever-vigilant trail camera.  Like this action shot.

Hen turkey taking flight.

click on image for a closer look

 

Which reminds me - spring gobblers are on the hunting agenda.....

Guess The Critter

Last week I posted a photo of some tracks paralleling the south bank of Silver Creek.  I guessed they were left by a weasel.  Nevertheless, I sent a photo to my pal who is a biologist with the UW-Madison Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology.  You know her - she's the same person mentioned in Sunday's post.

She suggested mink - so I wasn't too far off.

Last weekend while out turkey hunting I came across these tracks.  About the same size as the mink tracks but in single file.  A critter walking deliberately and not leaping in fits and starts like a weasel.









My guess is feral cat.  

I'll save pestering my biologist friend for the difficult critter identification.

click on images for a closer look

 

Five Lousy Unsupervised Minutes

In a special to the Journal Sentinel - psychotherapist, author and trainer, Philip Chard, published a column that I found both fascinating and alarming. 

The human bond with nature is ancient. transformative, deeply spiritual...and eroding.  Consider that children, on average, spend less than five minutes a day outdoors engaged in unstructured play (spontaneous, self-directed, open-ended), but tally over seven hours face-to-screen, leaving an entire generation in jeopardy of losing this vital connection. 

Allow that to sink-in for just a bit.  Five lousy minutes.  This child of the 50s and 60s is scratching his head and wondering what the heck? 

For the entirety of my lifetime free play time for children has been in a steady decline apparently reaching a munificent five minutes a day.  Disturbingly, it is imposing an obstacle to children becoming balanced, well-rounded and confident adults. 

At risk of becoming preachy my recollection of childhood was one of being a free-range child.  Never feral – yet only indoors when there was peril of wind, rain, lightening, extremes of cold or some other outside force.  My buddies and I would spend an entire day traipsing thru the woods, building forts, playing ‘combat’, hide and seek, capture the flag, kick-the-can and other sports for which we made-up the rules along the way. 

Chard makes a good point about a sizeable body of research concluding that interaction with nature is good for us physically, mentally and spiritually.  It is essential to our well-being.  Moreover, in the absence of embracing Ma Nature there is evidence of increased episodes of anxiety, depression, attention deficit disorder and hurry sickness - an overwhelming and continual sense of urgency.  Add to this evidence of increased aggression. 

I’m trying really hard to not get down in the dumps over this – yet my Spider Sense is tingling as something deep inside speaks to me that this cannot be allowed to persist.  It simply isn’t good for children and other living things.  Do I have an easy solution or a quick fix for today’s 10 second sound-bite minds?  Hardly.  Nevertheless, we should all be making an attempt to leave no child indoors.  It’s for their own good. 

Read the entire column here and visit Chard’s homepage here. And FB page here.

Remote Access to Heathcare

File this under healthcare technology...

By the time you read this I will hopefully be on the mend from my second bout with influenza this season - first being a couple of months ago.

Virtually my entire adult life (decades after repeated decades) has been characterized as influenza-free.  Remarkable or not after contracting the flu a half-dozen or so years ago I have been absolutely compliant about obtaining a flu vaccination every year.  What the hell?  Have my T-Cells taken leave of their senses?  Or is this simply a function of getting-on in my years with an aging immune system?  Plain-old bad luck?  I dunno. 

In any event life in rural America doesn't afford you the possibility of a quick visit to a local Urgent Care Center on short notice - at least very easily.  For me it would be a minimum thirty minute one-way drive.  Thankfully technology (the cavalry) has come to the rescue as there is this:

No Appointment Needed 

Receive care 24/7 via webcam (phone visits are not available) 

Get treated without leaving home   Common conditions — flu/cold, rashes, bladder infection, etc. 

Simple pricing $49 - No hidden fees. 

Care now - In 30 minutes or less you can be in a virtual visit with a board-certified family medicine provider.  

With Jill's help (I was very grumpy) we were able to logon to my provider at 9 PM and within minutes - via video feed - I narrated my symptoms and discussed the situation with a Board Certified Nurse Practitioner.  She diagnosed my collection of maladies as symptomatic of influenza, shared immediate reminders regarding fluids, pain management and submitted orders for a course of Tamiflu for Jill to pick-up in one of the town pharmacies first thing in the morning.  Email notification linking to a summary of the virtual visit followed. 

So why is any of this relevant or important?  Let me count the ways:  It saved a trip to town.  It was fast.  It was convenient.  It was professional.  There was transparency in pricing.  $49 is exceedingly affordable.  It leveraged the use of technology to replace bricks and mortar for the delivery of basic health care.  And I was very engaged in the process. 

Obviously this cannot replace seriously urgent matters such as critical illnesses or injuries - at least in its present form.  Moreover, there might be a misdiagnosis.  Yet I do believe this is just an initial peek behind the curtain of technological resources and the future of healthcare.  Particularly for basic needs and perhaps for on-going and chronic care.  How about remote data feeds of vitals for starters.  Maybe the future includes one stop shopping with a Walmart-Humana 'virtual clinic'.  Or your scrip delivered by Amazon's drug plan by means of UAV.  Who knows?  One need not look too far to see how technology has caused massive disruption and revolutionary change in retail sales.    

Note to self - purchase a blood pressure/pulse monitor.  Better data = better diagnoses = better outcomes. 

Raising a tall glass of Gatorade to technology...

Who Pees in the Woods?

While out turkey hunting the other day I noticed something about five feet from where I was seated in my place of concealment. 

Adjacent to a white spruce and in a worn whitetail trail was what looked for all the world like blue pee in the snow.  Instead of the normal yellow pee stain you would expect to find on a deer trail - this was blue.  Yup, blue! 

I looked around thinking one of the trees or shrubs had blue berries remaining on the branches.  Nope.  Everyone knows spruce don't have berries. 

Maybe a bird was eating a berry and dropped in in the snow creating the blue stain?  Nope.  The stain had no berries or parts of berries - just a consistent blue stain.

Stumped, I took some photos and after returning home emailed them to a pal who is a certified biologist with the UW-Madison Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology.  I asked if it is possible for deer urine to be blue.  She was stumped too - but only initially.  Her reply included the following:

Very interesting! I did some looking on line and I think u are right.  Deer were eating the juniper berries.  Check out the following article about rabbits and juniper berries.  I learned something new today, thanks!

You can learn more about this interesting phenomenon here. 

The $1,000 question is can I convince my deer hunting pals to replicate this in a human trial?

Stay tuned....

No Talking Turkey

After a fitful and interrupted night's sleep I spent almost my entire day on the couch sleeping.  Fever, body aches and nausea along with intestinal issues.  Ugh.

I am pleased to report that while I didn't enjoy a bit of it - today was sunny and warm.  The 56 degree temps and sunlight have visibly melted a significant portion of the remaining snow pack exposing a bit of the lawn and out on the broader landscape standing water everywhere.  For the second time the tree swallows have returned along with the robins.

Raising a toast to Gatorade and acetaminophen.

Talking Turkey

Yesterday was a pleasant hunt - sunny with temperatures in the mid forties.  In the sun it was delightfully warm.

 

The snow is rapidly melting but sill ranges in depth from zero (bare grass) to fourteen inches.  And it is wet, wet, wet.  Low areas in the trails are the consistency of a giant ten-inch deep Slurpee.  In other locations you punch thru the crusty top layer to the slushy layer at the bottom and the suction makes it difficult to extricate your rubber boot.  There remains enough snow pack that I'm still using a winter camouflage smock.  My pal Lawyer pointed-out that if I had my scoped Mauser with me I would be reminiscent of a German soldier wintering on the Eastern Front.

I set-up again where the turkey track comes thru adjacent to a semi-frozen sinkhole. 

I enjoyed a secure place of concealment, observation of all approaches to the point of ambush and plenty of warming sunshine. On balance the conditions and my set-up were about as optimal as they come - under normal circumstances.  This spring has not been normal - it has been abnormal.

I had no birds responding to my calling.  Nary a yelp, kee-kee-kee or gobble.  For a moment late in the day I thought I heard some yelping coming from my neighbor's woods to the northeast.  There again - it was not repeated so it was unconfirmed.

All is not for naught however - I remembered to apply sunblock (I did not get sunburned nearly as badly) and I had some sociable chickadees pay me a call.  Wished I had the presence of mind to have packed a handful of birdseed.  Friendly songbird the chickadee is - if you have food they'll alight on your finger.

click on images for a better look

 

Back at it today...

Talking Turkey

By the time this post is published I'll be back out stalking the wild turkey.  Well, not really 'stalking' as that would imply slowly moving thru the woods to ambush an unwary gobbler.  That is known as 'still-hunting'.  How it got that name is a mystery as you're certain not standing still.  In any event, I'm not using that hunting technique as wild turkeys are really too wary (in my opinion) to hunt in this fashion.  The snow is deep..
For me turkey hunting is characterized by lengthy hours of sitting still from a place of concealment over a decoy set-up, calling every 20-30 minutes and a clear view of possible approaches.

With as much snow as there is on the ground I'm using a winter camouflage smock - a poncho-like garment that I can pull-on over multiple layers of clothing. 

To locate a place to set-up simply hike along a trail until you find fresh turkey sign.  Like this:

click on images for a better look

Friday Music

It would seem to me that this country music band has been around forever.  Ray Benson and Reuben Gosfield formed the group in 1969 in Paw Paw, West Virginia.  Before too long they were the opening act for Alice Cooper and Hot Tuna and in short order relocated to Oakland, California at the invitation of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.  (I told you they’ve been around forever).  They eventually settling down in Austin, Texas on the advice of Willie Nelson.  They’ve released more than twenty albums, charted more than twenty singles on the Billboard country charts and won nine Grammy Awards.   Crank-up the volume for Asleep at the Wheel and Route 66…

Talking Turkey

Spent part of the afternoon stalking the wild turkey.   
There is still plenty of snow out there from last weekend's storm - and it is melting in the 46+ degree temperatures.  It was a bit of a slog thru the wet, deep snow and in afterthought it might have been easier making the trek with snowshoes.  Oh well.

Couldn't get anyone to respond to calling - nevertheless it was a glorious afternoon outdoors.  Just me and a raucous red-bellied woodpecker. 

I even got a bit of sunburn...

Reading List

Eleven people on a plane that will be in the air for exactly 18 minutes before it crashes into the black Atlantic.  Noah Hawley really knows how to keep a reader turning the pages, but there’s more to the novel than suspense. On one hand, “Before the Fall” is a complex, compulsively readable thrill ride of a novel. On the other, it is an exploration of the human condition, a meditation on the vagaries of human nature, the dark side of celebrity, the nature of art, the power of hope and the danger of an unchecked media. The combination is a potent, gritty thriller that exposes the high cost of news as entertainment and the randomness of fate. 

-New York Times

 

This book grabbed me as a social commentary on the media nowadays.  Turning the pages I got a whiff of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, and Larry King in his trademark suspenders.   A clever book from a guy known for writing screen plays.

Noteable Quotable

With all due respect, I don’t get confused

— Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., after she was said to have been confused about policy on Russia sanctions.

Guess the Critter

click on image to enlarge

 

A small set of tracks paralleling the south bank of the creek heading west.  Small critter as they didn't leave much of an impression on the deep wet snow.  

Who left them?

Hoser

Yep. 

Hoser.

It's all about the hat.

For The Birds

File this under possibly interfering too much with the natural order of things.

I will admit to having a soft spot in my heart for song birds.  I enjoy them so much I make a point to discourage introduced predators such as feral cats, I maintain a large number of home-built nest boxes for the cavity-dwelling species and I do what I can to provide good natural habitat otherwise.

This nasty turn of the weather coincided with the arrival of many of migratory songbirds and really put a crimp on their food resources.  As a consequence, I'm working overtime to make sure the three mixed seed feeders are stocked and the niger thistle and suet feeder are filled as well. 

We also established four additional feeding stations on the porch - out of the elements and not as exposed to a marauding hawk.  If only I could get my hands on a bucket of meal worms.  Sigh...

Big Fowl

With the onset of northeast Wisconsin's record-breaking blizzard (haven't had one like this in 129 years) the wintery conditions have likely created some hardship for the resident wildlife.

Twenty inches or more of snow have fallen in the last 48+ hours and the migratory songbirds have been really put-off their feed.  The robins and tree swallows have simply vanished.  To where is anyone's guess.  Everyone else is still hanging-on and we've put the feedbag on for them keeping three of the mixed seed feeders stocked along with a niger thistle feeder and a feeder with several pounds of beef suet.  Beyond that we've established four additional feeding stations on the porch for the juncos, the song sparrows, chipping sparrows, jays, cardinals, redwing blackbirds and other new arrivals to feed in relative security.  For the first time I spied a fox sparrow today.

Wonder of wonders was the arrival of seven sandhill cranes at dusk.  Followed by four more as I tap-out this post.  We're accustomed to the usual pair that arrived last month - now we have a flock.  Is it the tall grass cover that is attracting them?  Open water?  Or has the word gone forth amongst the bird kingdom that this is a safe port in a storm? 

Woops - three more makes fourteen going into the evening.

Spring can make an appearance anytime now...

Northeast Wisconsin Blizzard Update

No sign of the blizzard letting up.

Conditions are brutal for the critters. 

The only way to travel at the present is by snow machine.  

Gotta love spring in Wisconsin.  

And the snow drift along the machine shed is now growing to cover the window...

click on the image for a closer look

Snowshoeing the Blizzard

From yesterday - the girls and I ventured out for a walk in the blizzard.  It was the first opportunity I've had to use my snowshoes this winter spring. 

The wind was nasty and the deep snow really took the edge off a couple of ordinarily high-energy Labs.

Me too.

Snowed-In

Been a long time since this has happened

Ridiculous

From the National Weather Service:

INTENSE STORM TO BRING WIDESPREAD HEAVY SNOW 

Additional snow accumulations of 5 to 9 inches are expected by late evening 

Travel will be very dangerous to impossible...

Trail Camera Tales - Epilogue

Saturday, April 7 – Dawn brings clear skies, sunshine and cold.  With no overnight visitors the crows return yet little remains.  As evidence there is a noticeable lack of traffic as the photo count drops.  The girls and I return to check things out and all we find is bare turf in the excavated snow with not a speck of chicken or a bone remaining.  The dogs give it an obligatory sniff, we fetch the SD card and depart. 

This has been a fun experiment and given the persistent hostile weather conditions I suppose the additional food gave the crows and the hawk a leg-up.  I consider it morbidly grim that chicken parts were used to attract bird to the camera.  Curiously, over six days and 1944 photos there were no other bird species evident. 

The Blizzard Continues

I'm not making it up - the winds are rattling the house.

So it continues. 

Inch after inch after blowing and drifting inch.

Stocks of firewood, bacon and beer are secure....

.

Blizzard

The big city paper says that this is a record-breaking storm.  You can believe it for sure.  Already a foot of snow on the level with more coming down.  High winds are rattling the house and causing drifting of up to a couple of feet.

Under ordinary conditions I would be planting my peas, radishes and beets.  Somewhere under all of the snow is the garden.

Spring is sure taking its time to arrive.

Yikes! 

Trail Camera Tales - Chapter 5

Friday, April 6 – Dawns with more snow.  The morning was dominated by snow squalls that came to near whiteout conditions with accumulations filling what remained of the excavated bait.  Undeterred, the crows resume their excavation.  A whitetail cruises thru as the snow accumulates.  As the afternoon arrives the skies clear and the sun emerges.  The Red-tail hawk returns.

Winter

Whoever said this was springtime is out of their gourd.

Sleet and thunder snow all day today. 

With an approaching storm we're now under a Winter Weather Advisory.
 
5 to 8 inches of snow overnight with another 7 to 10 inches tomorrow. Accumulations around 12 to 18 overall.
 
Eastern phoebes and chipping sparrows showed-up today along with the tree swallows.

Tough birds the little migrators are.  

Ugh.

Trail Camera Tales - Chapter 4

Thursday, April 5 – Dawned with continued excavation of the lure.  A group of whitetail deer move thru and a yearling buck gives the bait a sniff.  The crows persist in their excavation of the snow.  A persistent worker the crow is.  The Red-tail hawk returns at noon and after picking at the scraps flies-off.  As darkness fall you can observe how extensive the excavation has become.  If I had to hazard a guess the bait has been substantially reduced in size.  After four days a nocturnal visitation occurs.

click on images to enlarge