Happy Father's Day

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my Hubby a  Happy Father's Day.

At this writing he is sitting at an airfield in
Chillicothe,MO waiting for favorable conditions to return to our grass strip here in Central Iowa.

Early Thursday morning we pulled the Voisin 3/5ths out for a long hop down to Gardner,KS, home base of the Kansas City Dawn Patrol. They have a yearly Fly-In on the Friday afternoon and Saturday before Father's Day.

Hubby trailered his plane to the event when it was in the building stages way back when. He has watched the weather every year to see if the flight windows would be open long enough for him to get from one airfield to another before making him sit the thunderstorms out.

When we pulled the Voisin 3/5ths out of the hangar for the this "first "  but much planned for Gardner excursion via the airways, we were aware of  forecast of thunderstorms in the target area. The clouds and rain made their returns known on the radar out in Nebraska stretching southward at the hour of our search.

The air was perfect for departure here at Timber Life, so that he did...

The first leg of his journey took him to Corydon, IA where he met up with his ground crew and another pilot from his local Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter. Things were good until reaching the second stop at Chillicothe on his way down. They sat until 5:00 PM, letting the thunderstorms pass before starting once again on their westward objective. I have been told that they made some in flight decisions as to where they would stop for the night. Hubby's plane is a daylight plane. He doesn't have any landing lights and he found himself landing at 9:00PM, in the dark because of cloud cover at an airport at Lawrence, KS.

Friday morning had them waiting for the short hop back north, again due to strong rain. Afternoon brought them good flight weather and the pilots were able to join the other WWI,WWII and current planes that came to share in the event.

During the very early morning hours Saturday, a popup camper shaking thunderstorm with 70mph winds came through. Prior to sunrise Hubby went out to see if his plane survived the hour long deluge. His heart sank when he didn't find his aircraft tied down where he put it to bed the night before. The Voisin was the only plane to take flight without its pilot in tow. Damage to important parts left the plane not air worthy until  fixed. It was good to have a place to get things patched up even though it took him away from sharing in the festivities of the day.

We expect to have him touch down on home turf come this afternoon. Then we can celebrate his safe return and  another year of being a Dad.

Before I end my post today I would like to wish all the Dad's a relaxing Happy Father's Day with their family and friends...

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!