Anatoli the Anole

My husband rescued a baby Carolina Anole (Anolis carolinensis, a.k.a. Green Anole) from certain death. He recovered nicely, and is now living in Geckie's old cage.
He's much more swift and agile than Geckie, and unlike a leopard gecko, he can cling to the glass sides of the aquarium.
We named him Anatoli. Yes, that's Anatoli the Anole, in keeping with our ludicrously juvenile reptile-naming scheme.
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See FC's recent post on Mood Lizards for a great series of pictures of a Green Anole changing colors.

Chickadee nest

Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) have made a nest in one of our bluebird boxes. It's apparently not an agreeable spot for bluebirds -- none have nested there in three years -- so I'm glad the chickadees found it.

I was surprised at the amount of cedar tips cushioning the nest.
There's a little blue feather on the lower right of the first picture, and I wonder where it came from. Did bluebirds start the nest, and the chickadees just finished it? Or maybe a bluebird stuck his head in to see what was going on, and left a calling card.
The chickadees could have just picked up a pretty soft blue thing as building material. We see swallows picking up duck feathers all the time, so I know some birds "feather their nest" with other species' feathers.
One of the first birdsongs I learned was the Carolina Chickadee's. A friend and I chased all over her property for a frustrating hour before we finally pinpointed the bird who sounded exactly like a rusty porch swing. You can listen to him here.
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Friday Ark is up!

Devil Track River Adventure

What a great day. Hiked up the Devil Track River for the first time (I know... one of those things... I've livedin CookCountymy whole life and never gone up there before!), got a LOT of cool new pictures, then headed into Grand Marais and had a late lunch, pizza at Sydney's Frozen Custard, WOW was that ever good! The strawberry banana smoothie made the meal unforgettable! THEN saw a CRAZY COOL storm front come over Grand Marais with some freaky clouds and a lot of lightning. AND last but not least, an awesome double rainbow over the lake as we drove back home to Grand Portage!


Devil Track Riverwas such an amazing, mind-blowingly beautiful hike that I myself can't believe I had never done it before. I had so much fun photographing the many bends and cliffs along the river. We spent almost 6 hours on the river and I could have easily spent 6 more that day. Each curve in the river revealed views even more interesting than the ones we had seen just moments before. Jessica commented that she felt like she was in a different state :-)I can't wait to go back and explore it some more!




During our hike we saw a lot of cool and interesting trees, but one stood out from the rest as being by far the most fascinating. On one bend in the river this large cedar tree was protruding out from the bank and upon closer inspection we realized that the trunk itself was no longer touching the ground at all! This large tree is holding on by nothing more than its roots... due to erosion the soil between the trunk and the bank had all washed away. It was a mesmerizing tree and even had small colonies of ferns growing on some of the larger roots.




After our hike we headed in to Grand Marais and when we arrived in town the weather was absolutely perfect for a late summer/early fall day. Virtually no wind, sunny sky and lots of "popcorn" clouds. A couple of hours later a storm front moved in from the west and before we knew it the sky was dominated by this huge wall cloud that was rolling in overhead. Lightning flashed every few seconds as the storm approached. There was an eerie calm that preceeded the storm, but once the "wall" was over us, the wind hit shortly after and then the rain came. It poured for about half an hour, the wind blew and the lightning flashed. As we drove back home we were following the storm and were treated to a nice display of lightning ahead of us while a rainbow floated out over the lake to our right. By the time the sun went down everything was calm again.

Silliness

Some would say that it's silly to ride 173km over two mountains with a total of over 2,400 metres of climbing in the middle of the summer heat in Queensland. After yesterday I'd probably agree with them. That said, I'd probably do it all again exactly the same way. It was obvious fairly early that it was going to be a hot day, and the delay in having to detour around a triathlon course probably didn't help things. Nevertheless, I managed to make reasonable, if not spectacular progress through the gorge to Canungra, and up the old winding road to O'Reillys.

The road winding up the mountain has a gentle gradient for about 15km, and a lot of old-world charm. Personally, I think narrow winding roads like this should be heritage-listed and never altered in anyway beyond basic maintenance. In other words, f*ck the hoons. The fact that a few of them wipe themselves out there isn't necessarily a bad thing, and certainly no reason to destroy a part of our heritage.

Of course, the forest at the top where the gradients steepen has as much charm as the road has character, with all sorts of creatures calling it home. There was mild frustration at the picnic ground at the top -- with "improvements" making water refills difficult. It was virtually all downhill back to Canungra, but the temperature rose by 16 degrees C in little over an hour on that descent.
In Canungra I had a decision, do I ride home the normal way, and possibly forego a century and the back climb of Beechmont on account of the heat (it was 34 degrees C at this stage), or do I just climb it anyway. I opted for the latter option. The western climb of Beechmont is much harder than the front road. It's gradients are steep and it sees little breeze. Early on it wasn't such a problem, but the kick near the Marian Valley monastery was a killer. I made it, just. I've had some great times up on Beechmont Plateau, but I've never been so glad to reach the summit as I was on this sweltering afternoon.

I now had to ride the familiar roads across the plateau to Lower Beechmont, before the descent back to the coast. The trouble was that my legs were toast after the last climb, and with the northerly blowing like crazy on the mountain, I really had to take my time. Fortunately, the scenery provided plenty of compensation for that.

The final descent back to the coast, and even the final 15km from Nerang were strangely quiet. Not that I was complaining about this fact. Somehow I found the power to finish the ride strongly, before heading straight for a cold shower on my return. I know I made plans to destroy summer this year, but it's going to be a little more difficult than I thought. Still, this gives me century number three for the month (and year), and takes my total climbing above 12,000 metres. Next stop, Crows Nest next weekend.

Real Scottish men...

...obviously have wide reading tastes.

Photo courtesy of my son, from a Glasgow branch of Tesco.

Coming soon to a Rotisserie near You.. well, Me

Lily Pad Paradise

Here's a recent shot from a paddling outing on the Brule River and Northern Light Lake along the Gunflint Trail in northeast Minnesota. This is such a beautiful location to spend the day paddling. You start out paddling downstream along the Brule River and eventually the river empties into Northern Light Lake. This shot was taken near where the river meets the lake. Where the two waters meet there are lily pads everywhere. For the past few years I've been trying to get a nice shot of lily pads with anice sky full of summer clouds. This is my favorite attempt so far at this type of shot.

Update from Camp Tiffin & Trevor’s Mods

Camp Tiffin — Red Bay, Alabama
Temps: Lo 47F / Hi 70F (8C / 21C)

(If you’ve come to the post just to see the mods, scroll past the up-front text.)

It’s kind of sad when you see a bunch of Tiffins on their way to the service bays streaming past you and you’re sitting tight because you didn’t get the “call.” Sniff, sniff.

I’m jesting of course, since we’ve had two days of bay-work done already. Actually, I’m enjoying just sitting here on another blue-sky day — our third such day in a row, and it’s already up to 57F (14C) at 9:30a. We certainly can’t complain about the weather, especially now that the nighttime temps have warmed up. They even turned on the water yesterday (not that being without a water hook-up was a problem).

No sooner did I write the above that Craig, the tile guy, came by. We’re now pulled up to his work area and I’m continuing this post from our location adjacent to Bay 46.

It’s nice that we can stay in the coach while the guys do their thing. We’re hooked up to power, so I can even finish drying the clothes I’d thrown into the washer ;-)

Continuing from where I left off …

Looks like we’ve earned our Red Bay “Star!”

Our first service day was Monday, February 4th. We reported to Bay 10, which turned out to be a generalist work area where they replaced the driver’s window (appointment item) and took care of a whole bunch of other stuff that was on our list. The next day, we reported to two separate bays — first, to the welding shop to have the levelers replaced (appointment item); and next to the wet bay shop to have the floor replaced (recall item). But I’ll write about all that separately.

I mentioned in my previous post that we used the services of Trevor Nichols (of Nichols Customs) for a few small mods. A former Tiffin craftsman, he is familiar with all of the coaches, and we are pleased with the work he did.

Dashboard Cover

In addition to re-binding the slide carpet (photos here), we asked Trevor to make us a custom dashboard cover to protect the vinyl. He offered two color options, laid out the one we selected and cut a rough outline, took it to his shop to bind it, and returned the next morning to install it. Here they refer to the fabric as felt, but it’s more like a thin carpet-like material without the rubber backing. The cover is held in place by the vents, so no slip sliding around.

Having done a lot of these dashboard covers, it doesn’t take Trevor long to do a rough cut.

Installation is done in a jiffy, too.

The finished look.
the cover is held in place by the two vents, which he removed before the installation
and then screwed back in place once the cover was in position.

Entry Mat and Step Covers

Next, we had Trevor make us a contoured entry mat that goes between the cockpit seats and all the way under the gas/brake pedals. He offered a choice of black or brown carpet with no-slip backing. We chose black since our living/dining area rug has black in it. The entry mat comes with matching inside step covers. Small strips of velcro helps keep everything in place. All of this will help with the dirt that seems to get tracked in no matter what.

Left: temporary step covers Mui fashioned out of carpet remnants;
they served us well for two years, but they were in dire need of replacement.

Right: our new step covers and a glimpse of the entry mat.

The floor mat as seen from the living area.

The contoured portion around the steering area.

As I noted before, we are pleased with the work Trevor did for us, and would not hesitate to recommend him. He also installs adjustable lumbar support in the cockpit seats, and does the LED change-out using fixtures with wood trim. We did not avail ourselves of those services, but thought I’d mention them for anyone who might be interested in that kind of work as well. Trevor does not have a website, but he can be reached at 662-279-4461.

ONE MISTY, MOISTY MORNING ...

I woke early this morning and found that during the night low level ribbons of mist had formed over the field, which really enhanced the lovely magical feeling that early mornings hold for me. I fed the cats on the low wall outside the utility room and watched as the sun began to rise over the old railway line. Pip and Toby were patient enough for a few minutes but then they reminded me that they needed their breakfast - quickly.





Today was Louth Farmers Market Day so I made a quick trip to buy quality local food. It was really strange to buy in relatively small quantities for just George and I. I am so used to getting a 'shipping order'.





Jonny, this is Pip getting up to a bit of a run earlier this afternoon ...





...not a great photo but seconds later she was head down and rolling on a dead rat. Lovely girl.





Lunch was delicious and very simple - Lincolnshire Poacher cheese, artisan bread, home grown tomatoes, home made chutney ... and because you are not home, cucumber!!

Your Pa wanted to do the dreaded aerial/signal strength re-adjustment for the television - horror of horrors. I agreed, but said he could only have ten minutes to do it (why didn't we do that last time Jonny?) it worked - and he only took seven minutes.



I spent a little time working on some sewing,

while George worked in the wood for while, coppicing some badly neglected hazel. Young Harry came across with two cupcakes, which he had helped to make and decorate. Naturally we had to eat them, so that means I have to do a bit of extra running tonight!

Hope all is going well in Shanghai; it was lovely to talk to you yesterday!

Love,Mumx

Longest Ride of the Year

Very light wind, sunny, mid to upper 30s - bike ride time!!! It has been a long time (Nov 8th) since I rode the hybrid, so decided to ride it.
The bike computer was not working when I was ready to ride - just took some cleaning of the housing contacts. Headed from the Wabash trailhead for the Trail Center. Stopped there, felt good so figured I might as well ride to the new bridge.
Weather turned cloudy for a while. Later the sun came put again.
In spite of the weather, they are making progress. Directly opposite from the bridge apron, they are building a short ramp/connector down to street level.
When I got back, went on up to Xtreme Wheels - get in a couple more miles. Ended up 27 miles today - June 6th was the last time I rode 27+ miles in 1 day! Probably will be tired and sore tomorrow.
OH, almost forgot, I got my new "Share the Road" license plates. They are pretty cool.

Stormy sunset over southern Utah

As we continued down Cottonwood Road after finishing the Yellow Rock hike, the clouds were continuing to build and soon we were hearing thunder. Driving the last few miles approaching Highway 89 we could see rain falling from the clouds all around us, but only a few drops fell where we were. Soon after reaching the highway and heading west towards Kanab, Utah we did drive through some heavier rain and also the wind got pretty fierce for a while. Sunset was fast approaching and soon we crested a hill and were treated to an AMAZING view of the storm clouds just as the sun was going down. I couldn't resist... I had to pull over and take some pictures :-)