It's SHAKING!

Sitting here at my desk this morning after 4:30 I felt shaking and a little rolling of our house. My chair and desk were shaking,paper in the printer was vibrating...WHEW!!! I live in a mobile home presently and from one end to the other we have an elevation. Stacked concrete blocks were placed under the axells to level the structure. The first thought was that the increased ground moisture had made the blocks settle further into the ground under the weight of the building. Then the report came over the early morning local news that the USGS had reported a 5.4 earthquake at West Salem,IL. located on the New Madrid Fault line. My research on the USGS website revealed the exact locations that experienced the tumbler directly. SELECT EARTHQUAKE LOCATION DATE TIME MAGNITUDE 22 miles SSE of Olney, Illinois (ID hwb0418a) APR 18 2008 04:36:59 CDT 5.4 21 miles SW of Vincennes, Indiana (ID 2008qza6) APR 18 2008 04:36:58 CDT 5.2 19 miles SSE of Olney, Illinois (ID 851141) APR 18 2008 04:36:57 CDT 5.4 Hey Folks ! How many of you felt the earth move this morning???

Rapid City Cabela's News

According to the Rapid City Journal, Cabela's will be hiring as many as 150 sales associates to man/woman their new store. Beginning next week, Tuesday, April 22nd, thru Saturday, April 26th, anyone interested in becoming apart of the sales staff can apply. The store is going to be managed by the company's first ever female general manager by the name of Mary Bollock. She has been apart of the Cabela's experience since 2000 as an associate in the hunting department of the only other store in South Dakota , located at Mitchell. She has held various positions in her lifetime. Before starting with the Cabela's company she was a member of the air national guard and held the distinction of "first female weapons loader" in South Dakota. She worked with her husband in a family business before working as a supervisor for the Boyd's Gun stock factory in Mitchell. She is an avid hunter and fisher woman, bringing her hobby skills with her into the job, as do many of her co-workers. Mary, was quoted as saying"I am thrilled to be leading a team of dedicated employees in one of the most beautiful parts of the country." In my opinion she sounds like a positive influence in the world of the hunting supplier... Cabela's.

The"Eyes" Have It !

Sunday, April 13th, I changed the location of one of the field cameras to the back of the garden. Deer activity is always busy back there so I decided to get pictures. What has been comical is the up close, curious attitudes of some of the brown, four-legged creatures.

This picture was caught back in January, in a place not far from the one on Sunday. I have shared it before, but it's entertainment value continues to make me laugh...

Up Up and AWAY!!!!!!

The weather has brought out the birds of all kinds. Those that come by it naturally, and one that has decided to defy gravity with an engine, flaps, and rudder. This is the second flight of the year - originating from our home grass strip. The plane is my Hubby's concept creation taken from an actual WWI French Voisin Bomber.

The goal is for Hubby to finish flying off the required 40 hours within a 25 mile radius of the home base since he received his inspection by an agent of the FAA. He has 8 hours to go. There are some extended trips in the works after he proves the plane airworthy. Three destinations in fact. He would like to head to Columbia,MO. to an event called "Salute to Veterans 2008", in a little over a month from now, Memorial Day weekend. A friend from the"Kansas City Dawn Patrol" has submitted Hubby's plane for presentation, so of course he wants to be able to follow through. Then a trip to Gardener,KS. over the Father's Day weekend to the home base of "The Kansas City Dawn Patrol", and the last seriously considered , most important flight, off to the Experimental Aircraft Air Adventure 2008. If things work out for him he will point the plane in the direction of OshKosh, WI. the last week of July into August. All of his future plans depend on weather conditions, because he doesn't ever plan on taking the plane apart again to trailer it from place to place. For now he is watching the weather, and wind, trying to get in every minute he can to get those 8 hours put into the past...

Birds, Birds, and MORE Birds!

Look what the warmer temperatures are bringing north. Twice a year we experience over populations of a bird called the Common Grackle. Migrations from the far north to the south in the fall and back again this time of year. So, after snapping the pictures above, there was a pair of birds that seemed to be walking around looking things over. Placing human values on their activity; it was if they were checking out the surroundings in an effort to find suitable accommodations. We have had geese in the neighborhood for years, because of a pond they adopt for raising a family on their return from the south, but until now, they have only visited the surrounding fields. It wasn't long after I got this picture they felt the need to flee, hmmm... or is that fly?

Water Quality Concerns

Iowa water quality is being put to the test... Sample results of spring runoff in the State's waterways have led officials to look at farming practices on frozen ground. Measurements beginning the first part of March, when periods of snowmelt were being experienced, showed some increased ammonia levels in municipal water systems. According to The Des Moines Register, the capital city of Iowa, Des Moines, which uses the Raccoon River, to provide drinking water needed to implement auxillary plans to keep up supplies for all its constituents. Researching the issue has opened other avenues of why we are seeing conditions on our lakes and rivers that have influenced oxygen supplies for our fish. I don't want to infringe on copywritten information. So, to be safe I will give you the urls I found particulary informative. These sources may not have Iowa based information. However, they clearly spell out what I would like to share, about the science behind some of the problems we experience in the Spring after ice and snow melts. IMPORTANT WATER QUALITY FACTORS INFORMATION: www.h2ou.com/h2wtrqual.htmhttp://anchoragecreeks.org/pages/water_quality/fire_creek.php

April Showers Bring May Flowers

APRIL Showers...Bring MAY flowers! Well, it started off with showers this morning. The contrast from today to tomorrow, and beyond is that we are going to be seeing the sun and get up to the upper 50's and beyond. HURRAY!!! This little Junco was the only bird that would sit still long enough for me to take its picture. Had the WHOLE suet cake to himself. The bluejays,cardinals, chick-a-dees, downy and hairy woodpeckers, red bellied sapsuckers,and nuthatches all took flight when the backdoor swung open ...

Pictures for the photo album..."Remember the last Iowa Spring snow on April 3rd, 2008. " Famous last words?

Deer Meat Recall

The Iowa DNR issued a warning to the people in the State that benefit from the HUSH Program(Help Us Stop Hunger). Distribution of donated ground deer meat has been halted until officials get the all clear from the tests being done at the State Hygenic Lab in Ankeny, IA.. Residents of Iowa are still waiting for releases to be made for the charities to begin using the meat again. People with private supplies should not become alarmed and dispose of the meat needlessly. This came after Health officials in North Dakota sent out a recall Wednesday, March 26th. Being tipped off by two Bismarck doctors they x-rayed 95 packages of donated deer meat and found 53 of the packages carried metal fragments. Minnesota, decided to follow the lead of the other two states in temporarily withholding pounds of protein that charity groups depend on to help cover the needs of the needy. It has been pointed out that Iowa hunters primarily use shotguns for hunting whitetail. Our North Dakota, co-horts however are allowed to use high-powered rifles, lead tipped high-velocity bullets. RECALL UPDATE: After testing the donated deer meat Iowa Officials have found only two incidents of a tiny amount of lead fragments. The supply has been cleared for public consumption once again as of April 1st,2008.

Garden Dreams

This is the time of year gardeners are getting a need to play in the dirt...I am among them. Thus the name CDGardens... Last year,I didn't cultivate my deeply ingrained need to start plants from seed. Through the winter the seed offers me the best option of continuing to be productive. To watch life spring forth, mature, and then return to the earth. In the past I used to start seeds way back in January. My kitchen became a jungle as the plants needed to be given more potting mix to maintain its health and continue to grow.By the time spring arrived I was ready to empty out the house. As soon as I placed the plants outside,it wasn't long until they were chewed off by one animal,or another. Then of course I felt great loss,because in just a few days all my work had been reduced to wilted heaps. Eventually, I built some fences to try to keep marauders of all sizes at bay. For a brief moment it worked. That is until the rabbits decided to go over the top of the rabbit wire at the base of the fence in the big garden, and under the gate of the little garden, even with a board across the bottom. You can surely say, "Where there is a Will - There is a WAY." The wildlife aren't doing things to be mean. They are looking for an easy source of nourishment. More times than not, the rabbits would chew the plant mat-erial in two, realizing afterward they really don't find the taste all that appealing. Little critters either smelled or saw fresh greens . BLESS their Pea Pickin' hearts!!! Happens year after year...They have a lapse of memory. My gardening dreams still continue in spite of set backs, because it seems to come from deep within the heart of me - so I continue on with determination. The Farmer/Huntress syndrome?

Spring Time

Spring time ...Guess, I should wipe my glasses off to see if it changes the view. Nope, nope... That didn't change the view any. Still see that white stuff filling the air and covering the ground.

I must be thankful for what we are seeing as far as weather goes. So many people have had to face tornadoes, flooding, and feet of snow in parts of our country. My heart goes out to those touched by recent disaster. I know that fortitude, family, and friends will be the way that the challenges for each new day will be faced. So, now that the picture was taken the snow is subsiding ...maybe even a little melting going on.

Yesterday I was out picking up limbs and raking...

The Joys of Spring!

Feeling the Pain

Denny, at Backwoods Drifter ,is sharing with us some intense emotion about the destruction of local flora and fauna with the practice of mountaintop removal for the purpose of coal mining. Now,it is reaching his own backyard, so to speak. It is definitely a hard thing to pass through when EVERY thing familiar is going to be rearranged,scarred, and have no rhyme or reason for years to come, maybe never. Trees,animals,rivers,buildings, and people all take a beating in situations where the practice of dynamiting away huge rock surfaces becomes the norm to reach an end result. Human nature has a way of ignoring the situation when it doesn't want to face the facts. Either on the side of the commercial entity - turning a blind eye to the people's lives that are irrevocably damaged, or the residents of the affected areas that shove it under the rug in the backs of their minds - telling themselves it "won't happen to us." My hope is that big business can start being up-front with the populations in the areas where they plan their next excavation. Or is that EXplosion ? In closing, there are many issues that can lead us to become proactive about the spaces that we live in. I hope that somewhere along the mountain road each group involved can find a solution that will satisfy the needs of both...