Blog Hiatus

Good day all!

I wanted to stop by my blog and let people know that right now I am out and about. Experiencing the outside,working on the house Hubby and I are building , helping my Mother begin her transition from one living arrangement to another,trying to get a garden established...

I would like to apologize for not stopping to read my blogs that used to be my daily ritual. Some days I just don't want to concentrate.

Writing blog posts mentally is entertaining, but if I don't put it on paper when I'm thinking about it ,I lose whatever could have been thoughts to share. You might call it a "fleeting thought".

Again, I would like to wish  you all a Good Day! I hope to check-in again soon...

Marsh Moments

The American White Pelicans continue to captivate me when I stop to visit Hendrickson Marsh.

I have witnessed the single file skimming of the water surface to move as a flock from one place to another.
They are extremely graceful  in motion... a very beautiful sight.

The big birds have found a comfortable environment - one of the last groups to arrive seems to be lingering as they build-up reserves to move further north.

Pulling into one of the four parking areas around the Marsh I spotted an Eagle flying at tree top level.

I tried to get the camera to focus ,but the noble bird's tail feathers disappeared from view before I could get a shot.

In my usual fashion I went to two more of the parking areas. It wasn't until I almost reached the last one that I caught the Eagle sitting on a Muskrat den. My aim didn't seem to be steady for a clear picture, but I am sure you are able to catch the image.

There are two pools for the Marsh,divided by a gravel road, sometimes bird species differ from side to side.

On this last visit I was fortunate enough to see a pair of Great Egrets doing a little feeding with a few other migrating water birds still taking advantage of a revitalized habitat.

This Egret was in motion when I stopped to survey what was next for a picture model.

The day couldn't decide between sun and clouds - at the time of my visit the clouds were more dominant.

I spent a little while watching this Mallard couple.They would end up with head totally submerged, feeding on the marsh bottom - feet and tail bobbing above the water's surface.

The colors of the ducks and geese seem to be quite outstanding. A reminder to me of the season of Spring when everything seems to takes on a brand new vibrant  appearance...

As I sat watching the activity around the area I saw a heavy bodied, black waterfowl take to flight occasionally.

Then I narrowed in on some groups of these birds sitting low in the water.

My search led me to the Double-crested Cormorant to classify what I was seeing.

In summary of my Marsh Moments it seems we are still seeing the Spring migration, but the number of birds are most definitely dwindling in number.

I know the time will  fly-by swiftly until the southern return begins in late July or August for some of the species spoken of in this post. Another opportunity to share my Marsh Moments views with you on the Fall migration...

Have a great day!

Evidence of Spring in the Timber

This morning brought a little trek over a deer path, or two, to retrieve the trail camera card which hadn't been viewed since Friday. The weekend brought a few other things to do ;I thought maybe there would be a bunch of deer activity if I stayed away for awhile.

Our thunder chickens have been calling in the vicinity of the camera and that was another reason I made myself scarce since I didn't get a Spring license to be out sitting in wait for them to parade at the edge of the timber. Maybe they would by chance leave a digital impression for future viewing. It hasn't happened yet this season...

Along the trail I found some May Apples starting to send up their whorls. This weekend we had some summer like temperatures which seemed to spur the plant growth  already awakened by the seasonal highs.

I wonder how long it will be until they are in full flower and the morel mushrooms are popping?

Little violets can be seen sprouting above the surface of the ground...just big enough to know what type of plant it will become in the future.

Honeysuckles are sending out leaves as are the rose brush,raspberry brambles and gooseberries.

One of the concerns I have again this year is that everything will be encouraged to bloom and then an extreme cold snap will happen at the same time. A chance for snow this coming weekend still has things not totally out of harms way. The forecast said it won't last long. Here's hoping that is true.

We have lost some acorn production the last couple of years due to ill timed freezes. Fall deer food supplies were short and the winter was  frigid ....Created some stress that some hadn't overcome from the last long winter.

I did a small experiment beginning the last of February, when the snow initially started to disappear. Having some empty spots in our yard where the grass had been killed off by construction materials for our new home, I decided to seed some turnips. It is my understanding when some of the perennial broadleaf weeds start to grow you can plant cole crops and things that enjoy cooler temperatures to germinate. So, I gave it a try. This is my first seeding which became more prominent this past week.

These little turnips were planted just before the rain came last week in one of my small deer plots. The winter greens had been totally chewed away so I wanted to get something going to get some food supplied to build up for the upcoming fawning season. The wind helped the seeds clump together while I was broadcasting so might end up doing some thinning. 

My experiment leads me to believe that the turnips still need ground temperatures into the upper 40's for sprouting to occur,but pre-planting allows them to come up as the weather becomes optimal. 

I am thankful for the moderate days we have been given and definitely looking forward to the sweet scents that will soon be wafting on the calm breezes emanating out of the timber at Timber Life.

Have a good day!

Tornadoes Hit Northwest Iowa

The beautiful April Spring weather turned tempestuous in Northwestern Iowa as a supercell thunderstorm came charging in from Nebraska on Saturday.

Blogspot Storm Chasers from Kansas and Iowa share their eye witness experiences of what they saw when this weather system started its destructive path.

I found the following videos from the weekend  at Tornadovideos.net  , a website devoted to showing us the extreme weather that has a growing number of people trying to capture digitally for others to view. More and more information is being gathered and the tools some of them use is quite sophisticated to track the developing storms.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the communities that were touched by the numerous funnels. Reports say that as many as 27 twisters were spawned as the system passed over from mid-afternoon into the early morning hours.




Mapleton,IA




Twin Tornadoes at Pocohontas,IA

We were not apart of the extreme weather here at Timber Life, but did see the lightening and hear the thunder in the distance to our north as the storm raced on to adjacent States...

Eaglets Hatch at Decorah,IA Raptor Resource Project

Video streaming by Ustream

Good News has come to the patient and watchful eyes viewing  the Raptor Resource Project  Decorah,IA Eagle Cam. Over the weekend two of the three eggs have hatched with the third expected to make its debut in the next couple of days.. 

Mother and Father Eagle still are taking their turns in providing nurturing heat and now hunting for food to feed their growing brood.

I hope you will continue to enjoy catching the activities of the now globally watched Iowa Eagles.

Have a great day!

Spike Buck still Carrying

My trail camera has been out watching for events such as you see in the picture to your left . This individual has yet to shed his little spikes from last season. The picture came off the camera on March 22nd. His first digital capture.

 I have wanted to keep an eye on antler growth of our Whitetail Buck population passing through daily.

Some of the bucks still show recent effects of rubbing their antlers off; others are on their way to new velvet development.






This picture came off the camera this morning. The young buck still seems to have no indications he might be losing his little spikes anytime soon.

We will just have to keep an eye out and see if we can catch him later sporting a new look.







This is one of my favorite trail camera pictures I have gotten this Spring.

I'm going to head off topic here -

Adding a bit of art has made it appear like a print I would like to put in a frame at a future time.

Hubby and I were given a Kodak EasyShare P730 digital frame for Christmas. We got it out of the box recently and plugged in a memory card. Easier and more economical than printing ALL my pictures off.

Oh my! Did the creative ideas begin to form then. I can keep the deer walking around the house all day.They'll never get off the trail again...

Have a great day!

Disclaimer: I am not in anyway affiliated with the Kodak company and will not receive any monetary funds for mentioning their product in my post.

Take Action to Stop Gun Ban

We are again being asked to garner public comments on a recent study of  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

The Firearms Coalition is making gun owners aware of the actions now being considered and the timely manner in which our responses need to be submitted. Please checkout the link for more specific information.

Below is a sample comment you can paraphrase or simply cut and paste into your own email:

Subject: I Oppose Further Restrictions on Shotgun Imports

I strongly oppose further restrictions on the importation of shotguns and disagree with the findings in the ATF shotgun study.

The constitutional authority for import restrictions based on a vague “Sporting Purpose Test” is highly suspect in light of the recent Heller and McDonald Supreme Court decisions and the Court’s previous decision in Miller.

Under the definitions contained in this study, virtually all pump-action and semi-auto shotguns would be banned because all of them are capable of accepting a magazine – box or tube – capable of holding more than 5 rounds.  This and other characteristics determined to be “military” in the study are utilitarian and often significantly enhance a gun’s usefulness, particularly for people with disabilities.  Denying access to certain designs or features can effectively serve to disarm (for personal defense and sporting purposes) vast numbers of disabled veterans and others with disabilities resulting in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

There are a variety of popular and growing sports which utilize shotguns with “military” features.  These guns are dominant in USPSA, IDPA, IPSC and other popular shooting sports.  Refusing to recognize these sports as they relate to shotguns based on the implications such recognition might have on rifle and pistol importability is disingenuous at best.

Applying import restrictions does little more than increase costs and complicate compliance for US shooters and gun owners.  Foreign manufacturers remove features and adapt their firearms to comply with US import restrictions and then US shooters modify the firearms back to the desired, original configurations.  This can be expensive and legally dangerous since failing to comply with obscure provisions of the laws related to altering imported firearms can result in unintended commission of multiple felonies which carry serious penalties.

ATF should shelve all plans to implement any of the findings of this study.

           

           Respectfully submitted,

I strongly recommend adding some personal opinions of these actions and your feelings of potential,broader restrictions that could  be implemented. If they get the ban for shotgun imports put into law...Will they then work on domestic brands? 

After the series of shootings that has happened, we see the push to take away the rights of individuals to carry firearms of any sort. I am going to echo the frame of thought that it isn't the gun acting on it's own that causes the problem,but the person handling it...