Rental Properties Are for the Birds! Bluebirds and Orioles

  I am just getting around to writing this story about my summer of 2015. It seems appropriate since on November 5th, it almost seemed as though summer just ended. A cold front has just come through after 4 days of sunny 70 degree weather. Actually it was 3 non consecutive days of 70 degrees. There was a 69 degree day in that 4 day stretch. Today temperatures will only get to about 50 degrees and there is a stiff gusty northwest wind providing a chill. But it is November; this is expected. Fifty degrees is really not that bad at all. So I will summarize one of the best stories of my summer and also provide some photos to illustrate.
    
     Some of my readers know that I am a bird watcher and a bird lover. This last spring and early summer I was deeply involved in trying to manage my bird properties. I did a brief breeding count on my property in June and reached the sum total of  20 pairs of birds nesting on my approximate 3 1/2 acre piece of land including the Lake Michigan bluff. These birds were known to be nesting on my property by observing them collecting nesting material and following where they took the material, or by directly observing the nest either in bushes, chimney, light fixture, or nest box. I have 5 specific bluebird houses in function, 3 wren boxes, one chickadee box, and a tall pole of 8 purple martin boxes to which I have never been able to attract martins even with fake birds perched there or by playing recordings of their calls. We had three pairs of robins, 3 pairs of wrens, a cardinal pair, a tree swallow pair, a pair of mourning doves, two pairs of catbirds, chimney swifts ( I don't know how many pairs), bank swallow, a pair of red bellied woodpeckers on property, and chickadees and white breasted nuthatch nearby, of course house sparrows,  and my special  treat this year -- the bluebirds and the northern oriole as close neighbors to each other and to we human residents.

Robins raised two broods on our downspout immediately adjacent to front door.

Empty robin nest from another pair in arbor vitae adjacent to our garage.

One of my 3 wren houses, occupied in the photo.

     It is with the nest boxes that I have had the most difficulty this year. For some reason only one pair of my wrens agreed to use the wren nest box. Three other pairs were insisting on using my blue bird houses. I evicted them several times until finally I found a wren nest with 3 tiny white speckled eggs in it. I couldn't bring myself to evict them so there went one of my bluebird houses, taken over by the wrens that I allowed to continue with their nesting process. I was evicting wrens constantly from the far front bluebird house and occasionally also house sparrows. I was also evicting wrens from a house closer to our front door, but bluebirds often didn't like this house because it has a predator guard on it (a block of wood which significantly deepens the hole.) So I was less careful about my property control there. With all the fighting with wrens and sparrows, I decided to erect a brand new bluebird house on a rise very close to my back patio. I kept evicting wrens from it faithfully and the final time the wren's pile of sticks had a nice grass liner to the nest. That female was very ready to lay eggs and I had evicted her. Well, as is characteristic of wrens, she was very ingenious. She decided to make a quick nest inside the metal birdseed feeder that I was not filling so far this summer. Nice digs! Certainly dry and the feeding hole would not admit any other species except a little wren. That pair went on to fledge a complete brood from the feeder. Within 2 days of their fledging, the male had "married" another female and was setting up a nest in one of my wren boxes that I had moved closer to that feeder to try to get the wrens to use it. The first female was no doubt still tending to the first brood. What do you think? Is 10 feet far enough away from your exwife's house to set up your mistress housekeeping? Anyway I did have this and one other wren house now performing in the way they were intended. 

The metal bird feeder, one wren pair chose for nesting.

      Meanwhile house finches have used our back porch light fixture for nesting for several years. My husband evicts them by pulling out the nest. They rebuild it within days. Finally for the last brood last year and this year I have just let them live there. We almost never use that fixture so I am not worried about fire. The female is very brave. She sits on the nest even if I come in and out of the back screened porch. If I exit on the back stoop she does fly away but without any verbal complaints. And she comes right back to continue her rearing of her babies. I admire bravery in birds and I allow them to continue in this nest.

     Since I was having so much trouble keeping my bluebird houses free for them, I decided this year to buy a new house and mount it close to my back patio. If I could attract a pair there, we would be able to closely watch them from our picnic table and from the house. My other bluebird houses are at some distance from the house. I put up the house with predator guard and purchased some meal worms from my favorite store, Wild Bird Unlimited. I set up my pretty dish meal worm feeder right next to the blue bird house to really tempt Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird.

The bluebird house in the center with its predator guard. This is the view from our patio.

Mealworms in a bowl that will tempt the bluebirds.

Note the female bluebird in flight right center of photo.

     And it worked! The female who often makes the nestbox choice soon found the house near the mealworm dish. Her mate soon joined her and they began slowly to build a nest. I was able to observe all of the bluebird behavior that I love, including the good night greeting every evening at dusk during the incubation period. The male always comes the last thing to the hole to say good night to his mate. Sometimes he brings her a nice insect morsel. Then he goes off to roost for the night. And in about 14 days we had these lovely 5 baby bluebirds in the nest, here just beginning to show some blue fuzzy down.

The male guarding his nestbox.while hunting insects from it.

Five tiny bluebirds just starting to show some blue fuzz.

     Meanwhile I had spotted a pair of orioles that were sticking around much longer than usual and still coming to my orange slices and grape jelly feeder. I began to suspect that maybe they were considering nesting in our area. I returned to Wildbirds Unlimited to replenish my mealworms and told them I suspected I might have a nesting pair of orioles. The sales person talked me into purchasing some white polyester nesting material that the orioles would use to make their nest in addition to grasses and stems. I put the nesting material in a kitchen whisk and hung it near the oranges. It was just an hour or so before I witnessed the female oriole taking some of the nesting material. I followed her and saw her enter a lower branch of our big cottonwood tree, actually almost just above the bluebird box. She made several more trips that day and also took some of the mealworms. I was able to get a somewhat obstructed view of the oriole nest in among the large cottonwood leaves. As the days passed, I took some photos.. Interestingly the side of the woven basket shaped nest toward our house must have been completed before I put out the nesting material. It was made of grass and natural material. The side toward the lake which was still hanging free was mostly white with polyester. I continued to feed grape jelly and daily mealworms throughout the incubation and feeding of the nestlings for the orioles. The bluebirds never found the mealworms where I had moved them near the oranges. But they had plenty of insects all summer and were often seen hunting in our yard and in the neighbor's yards.

Right in the center of the photo, note the grassy bulbous shaped nest with cottonwood "cotton" around it.

The other side of the nest shows as a whitish woven area amongst the leaves right in center of photo. 

     The summer passed as we watched the bluebirds and the orioles feeding their young. Interestingly, the male oriole if around the nest branch at all would not let any other birds perch in that branch. He chased away even mourning doves and grackles, and even a crow who are all very much bigger than he is. And yet often the male bluebird perched in that cottonwood branch to keep track of his nest and to hunt insects in the grass below. I never saw the male oriole chase away the bluebird. It was as though they acknowledged that they were neighbors and both there for the same reason.

     I was able to get some photos of the orioles at my feeders  but none near their nest. They were always very quick at entering the nest, avoiding calling attention to themselves. During most of the oriole incubation period and nestling period, the two orioles were silent when near the nest. Only near what I had determined was near fledging time for the oriole young, did I hear them calling near the nest, probably trying to coax the young to leave the nest. 

The male oriole with his beak full of mealworms to take to the nestlings.

I continued feeding grape jelly throughout and only put out mealworms once or twice a day.

Male checking out the feeding station.

Female checking out the feeding station.

        Meanwhile back with the bluebirds, these youngsters have really grown. They are getting close to fledging size. This was the last time I opened the box, on about day 11 or 12 because I didn't want to force early fledging. These youngsters now recognize that my opening the box is not their mother or father. They don't open their mouth expecting to be fed and they actually hunker down and stay very still.

Day 12 after hatching.

 
      On the day that I had calculated the bluebirds would fledge (about day 14), I sat on my patio for hours trying to catch a first flight. Nothing happened; the mother went to the hole and tried to persuade the babies; the father stood on top of the box and leaned over and called to them. But nothing happened. I was sure it would happen the next day. I was unable to spend a lot of time on the patio that day due to other commitments and I was sure I was missing the event. But the next morning the babies were still in the box. I didn't open it, but I could see at least some still there moving around inside. It was not until the next day, 2 days after my calculated fledging date, that finally the nest was empty. I was unable to catch any of the first flights, but below is a photo of perhaps the most precocious of babies sitting boldly in the hole. But it took a long time for these reluctant little ones to leave the protection of that cozy nest.

Mom tries to persuade them.

Daddy speaks to them from the top of the nestbox.

One precocious youngster looking out, but not flying.

     After fledging, the bluebirds hang around the area for a while. I would hear the adults calling. There have been years when the whole family is seen digging in our eaves for insects under the fall leaves, or getting a drink from our birdbath or even from my water feature (some pots with water lilies and fish.) But this year after a week or so they disappeared.

     I never saw the orioles fledge. I did sit near my jelly and mealworm feeders to try to catch the orioles bring their young to teach them to visit the feeders. I sat at this cafe table and chairs for several stretches. The orioles had moved to some tall trees in the front yard but the adults were still coming to the feeders. When I followed them to the front yard, I could hear the young birds begging. I did catch one adult feeding a youngster among the branches of my magnolia tree which stands adjacent to my feeding station. There is a photo here of this event. That is the best that I could do.

Here's where I sat to try to photograph the orioles at the feeding station to the right.  Very pleasant place to wait.

Left center is an adult male oriole leaning down and feeding a youngster. See the open mouth and black head.

     What an exciting summer for the birds! I am closing with a few photos of my flowers among which I kept track of all these bird families.

White peonies putting on a show, late June. Everything was a couple weeks late this year.

More pink and deep red peonies.

Blue, yellow, apricot, and white irises that I didn't stake up. They provide an informal look to the garden.

Mauve foxglove always produce a showy focal point.

Alium blooms mixed with snow on the mountain blooms.

Several "Globemaster" alium standards.

Blue iris at dusk. I have a white iris re-blooming now in November. Also clematis.

Astronomical Serendipity. All in a Line!

     I am constantly amazed at how serendipitous life is. Of course, many people would say it is not serendipity but rather occurrences are predestined, preplanned, preordained by a power much higher and stronger than we insignificant human beings. I don't know which it is, but I am thankful for the small things.
     This morning I awoke at 4:30 AM. At my age, getting up at night to use the bathroom is not unusual. But if my awakening is so close to morning, I sometimes can't fall back asleep. I lay in bed for a while thinking about various recent events. I shifted position again, curled up tighter in my warm nest under the covers (we haven't put the heat on in the house yet). Still no sleep came. I began to think about the fact that I had not posted on this blog for some time. (My cousin had questioned me about any recent posting during a recent gathering and I had admitted my delinquency.) Finally I could see a rim of light on the horizon over Lake Michigan to the east. I decided to get up and look at my blog and see if there were any drafts that could be worked into a posting. I went to my favorite chair in the great room and turned it toward the Lake view. Low and behold, an astronomical event appeared before my eyes -- not as dramatic as the recent lunar eclipse certainly, but still quite cool.
     The waning crescent moon hung 45 degrees from the reddening horizon. Below it, at a 45 degree angle was Venus. I very easily sighted these two heavenly bodies. But closer to the horizon, there was a third "star" in that geometrical straight line created by the moon and Venus. Immediately, my computer was on my lap and I was googling "moon and Venus in the sky". Below is the link that came up and two sky charts I have chosen to reproduce here. It turns out that this line up of heavenly bodies is not just the moon and Venus. It includes also the next most bright object in the sky, the planet Jupiter, which is the third body I saw.

http://earthsky.org/tonight/moon-venus-and-jupiter-align-in-morning-sky-october-2015 

       EarthSky link tells me that there are other celestial bodies to be seen. Mars is in between Venus and Jupiter. I couldn't see Mars. I got my binoculars, and sure enough there was Mars. And Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, the Lion was easily seen next to Venus. What a lovely line up!
    Even better -- These heavenly bodies are going to be lined up like this for the next 3 mornings but the crescent moon is going to slide downward along this line, viewed lower and lower each morning. So if you chance to wake up early and can't get back to sleep check out this alignment for the next three mornings. And if you happen to live in Australia, there is an even more unusual astronomical situation. Here in North America, the crescent moon will aim its concave side toward and will contain Venus at some distance on the morning of October 9. But in Australia on that day, the moon will occult Venus. This is a term I had not heard before. Occultation occurs when the moon actually moves in front of Venus hiding it from view.

     The EarthSky link shown above is the source for the two sky charts pictured in this post. This link seems like a good source of information about these sky events. I have bookmarked it for myself. So the next time you are lying in bed, unable to sleep and getting anxious about that fact, follow your inclination. You never know what you might find.

Is Our US Healthcare System Broken?

     Major Question: Is our healthcare system broken?

     This post really has very little if anything to do with Obamacare, unless someone can somehow blame the current care provided on various unintended consequences of that omnibus law, passed without anyone even reading it in its entirety.
 
     As a retired internal medicine doctor, a couple months ago I had medical needs and made a decision to seek care at a local emergency room. I woke up one morning with nausea and vomiting. It continued throughout the day and in spite of putting myself on a complete liquid diet, I still could not retain anything I drank. At about 8 PM that evening my husband said (in typical logical husbandly manner) "Wife, (his romantic endearing name for me), you had better make a decision if you want me to take you to the emergency room. It's either now or wait until tomorrow morning. Don't plan on waking me at 2 AM to take you." So I tried to drink a little more room temperature soda and it came right back up. Off we went to the ER.

      Everything started out fine. When I arrived the place seemed pretty quiet, no one in the waiting room, and they took me right back to an exam room. Soon two nurses were in the room having me get undressed, and taking a brief history from me. They accessed my records on the computer and asked me a few questions about my medications, my diabetes, what my blood sugar had been running, etc. All well and good, I thought. One of the nurses took my blood pressure and pulse and temperature, and another checked my blood sugar again. An IV was started to give me some fluids as I knew I was terribly dehydrated. The nurse that started my IV had a little difficulty finding a vein, and finally had to use one in my right antecubital area (inside of the elbow) where there is normally good sized veins.  Blood was drawn for lab tests as well from that IV. Then the nurses left. After 15 or 20 minutes, a young woman in a white lab coat came in and introduced herself as the PA (Physician's Assistant). She took a very brief history as well, with only a couple more questions than the nurse had asked. She asked me if I had any abdominal pain. I told her, "No, but there is a lot of gurgling and activity there." She did NOT examine me in any way, my mouth, my chest, and most of all, not my abdomen. She never placed a hand or a stethoscope on my body, and soon left the room saying the Doctor would be in shortly.

     After perhaps another half hour, my husband commented that he had forgotten to take his evening medications and perhaps he would drive back home to do that and then presumably come back to pick me up after I had received some IV's and hopefully felt better. As he was leaving the exam room, he said, "I don't think your IV is running at all." I couldn't see it as it was hung up behind me. I just knew that I was still rather nauseous and my mouth felt like the Sahara Desert. Apparently he went and told the nurses before he left that the IV was not working so soon the male nurse that had started my IV came in and said, "I hear your IV is not running." As he checked it, he said, "Oh, my bad! I forgot to turn it on." Supposedly he turned it on and got it running again. And he did at this point, give me an injection of Zofran to treat the nausea. About 15 minutes later, a different nurse came in and said the doctor had ordered a CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis. I made a questioning "Huh?" sound and said "Was my white count up?", and the nurse said, "Ya, I was surprised at that order also. Let me look at your lab work." After looking at the computer, she said, "Oh, my, your white blood count is 17,890 with a left shift." For the lay people among my readers, that is in the range of "appendicitis or pneumonia" level, definitely seeming to indicate other than just a viral gastroenteritis. Hence the CT scan order. I still had not seen a doctor at all and no one had examined my belly or my lungs, nothing. As the nurse was leaving my exam room, the transporter for Xray came in to take me on the gurney for my CT. The nurse said, your IV isn't running very well but we'll have to disconnect it now for you to go to the CT scan. So off the transporter went with me.

     In the CT room, the tech had to give me an injection of contrast for the CT but she noted that the IV seemed to be plugged. The injected medication didn't want to go in. She untaped the IV needle and moved it around a little bit and then felt that it was running OK. Being the doctor I am, I asked her to try a bolus of saline first to make sure. I really didn't want all of the Xray contrast media to infiltrate the tissues of my arm because the IV was blocked. She told me she was convinced it was working and she gave me the contrast through the IV. The remainder of the CT procedure went fine. I did notice that the machine didn't take long at all. The only CT I had ever had before was of the Head and that was a much slower machine. Back to the exam room in the ER. A nurse came in after a while and, hooked up my IV again and told me they were waiting on the CT results, did I need anything. I told him that my mouth was still very very dry, could I have a moist swab to moisten my mouth and lips with. I knew that kind of medical supply used to be available. The nurse thought a minute and then pulled out something all sealed in a cellophane wrapper and handed it to me. He left the room. I opened the package and there was a swab all right but it was dry, not moist. I didn't know what good that was going to do me.

     Another 45 minutes to an hour passed. I guessed my IV was working now, because I felt a little better. Finally another nurse came in and brought along a cup of ice water. She said, "Your CT is normal, just some diverticulosis but no diverticulitis." I know what this meant. There was no riproaring infection in my belly. Apparently I just was so dehydrated that my white blood cell count was elevated due to that. The nurse said, "I guess if you can drink some of this water and keep it down, you can go home. I have called your husband and he said he would come to get you." I did drink some fluid, kept it down, and I was released to go home.

     At no time did I see a doctor through this entire ER visit with only a nurse and a PA taking a brief history. At no time did anyone, nurse, PA, or doctor touch me in any fashion in the way of examining me. Yes, the elevated WBC did earn me a CT of the abdomen and pelvis. I thought: "I wonder if there is an outcome study that says it is no longer of any value nor is it worth the time and money, and training required to actually examine a sick patient in the ER. Maybe such an outcome study says that you just send everyone for at CT scan. I was in the ER (and CT suite) for a total of about 3 1/2 hours. I think I got about 45 minutes of fast running IV fluids during that time. I did get an injection that stopped my nausea. I did get a CT which provided me with a lot of other negative information such as no cancer, no blockage of bowel, no appendicitis, etc. And I took home a prescription of anti nausea pills in case the nausea came back. (It didn't.) I was lucky! There was nothing seriously wrong with me, probably just a severe gastritis virus that caused severe dehydration.

     I have repeated this story to doctor friends of mine who work at this hospital. I told a retired doc in my luncheon group who was a surgeon. I told my son the professor of Surgery at Indiana, and he commented that I probably should not have been sent for the CT with contrast before I received any IV fluids, because I am a diabetic on a drug called metformin which in combination with dehydration and the CT contrast can cause kidney failure. If my white blood cell count was so elevated just from dehydration, I could have been at such risk. Well, that didn't happen. I had my kidney blood work checked 2 days later before restarting my diabetes medicine and it was normal. Again I was lucky. But none of these doctors can believe my story, especially the fact that I was in the ER for a total of 3 1/2 hours when it was not overly busy, and I never saw a doctor. Now I know that the doctor was probably involved behind the scenes somewhere. But his name was listed on the bill for services performed. I also felt I would like to send for a copy of the records of  my visit and read the notes where someone wrote: "Exam of the abdomen is benign, shows no tenderness, and no masses. Bowel sounds are normal."  Because no one laid a hand on my belly. But to get paid for such a visit, one must document certain bullet items and one big item is an examination of the parts of the body affected by the illness.

     By the way, I did tell the male nurse that I was a retired internal medicine doctor and where I had worked just 7 years ago, telling him after I thought he had gotten the IV going. So it should have been known there that I knew what to expect in the ER when it comes to care. One friend said maybe I intimidated the whole bunch and they stayed away from me for that reason. I thought about that but I don't think I am intimidating, and I never complained to anyone about any of these oversights. I thanked the Xray tech profusely for getting my IV going.

     I related this story to some of my lady friends. Of course, everyone comes forth with a similar tale about mistreatment, mistaken diagnosis, and other tales from treatment in ERs, hospitals, and clinics. I normally ignore these tales because I have known for years that patient expectations are way out of balance and are subject to misinterpretation due to lack of medical knowledge. But one friend told me her experience where she had taken her father into an ER. He was told in the ER after a CT scan of the abdomen, and without much interaction previously with the ER doctor, that he had colon cancer with metastases to the liver and that he didn't have long to live. After admission to the hospital, his own doctor told him he had diverticulitis ( a bowel infection that can swell and look something like cancer) and he had a couple benign cysts in his liver. A couple weeks later I read a personal essay written by a medical student in one of our medical journals describing exactly the same occurrence to the student's relative: diagnosed with terminal cancer in the ER, this time a hematological malignancy much like leukemia. This student's relative only had an elevated white count like I had due to reversible illness or infection. All of these tales are leading me to wonder where our healthcare system is going? Have the time pressures that even I was subject to in my practice finally caused a breakdown in the care given. Are ER' understaffed so that there is no time for caretakers to deal with the patient face to face? Where does an ER doctor almost unknown to the patient deliver what he/she thinks are the correct diagnoses when it might be a terminal diagnosis? Does this speak to the training of the doctor? Does it speak to a lack of caring communication? As I said, I was lucky. But what if I had a pneumonia causing my elevated WBC? No one listened to my lungs. What if the CT with contrast given to me on top of severe dehydration and metformin had caused kidney failure? At the very least I would have been sickened further and hospitalized.

     My advice to all: When you seek care for being very very sick in an unknown way, take an advocate with you, preferably someone who has at least some degree of knowledge about medical care and is not afraid to speak up in your behalf.

     Here is an op-ed piece from the latest JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) which decries much of the same phenomenon, but this time from the voice of a radiologist, someone who would even gain financially from the overuse of CT scans. He is complaining about over-utilization.

http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=2278951&utm_source=Silverchair%20Information%20Systems&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ArchivesofInternalMedicine%3ANewIssue07%2F07%2F2015

     Now combine this overuse of tests and imaging to try to achieve certainty with a tendency to not even talk with or examine the patient, but just to enter test orders, you have a big reason for why our healthcare dollars spent are skyrocketing. Surprisingly it doesn't cost very much to have a doctor or PA place their hands and stethoscope on a patient.

Another cold winter and ? cool spring?

The Full Worm Moon.

      The Algonquin Indians had a name for everyone of the full moons of the year. The third full moon of the year was called the Worm moon. This nickname probably arose because in the month of March, the frozen ground begins to soften, and the earthworms begin to become active. Their castings are first seen on the surface of the soil. And of course the presence of these earthworms moving near the surface of the soil attracts our well know harbinger of spring, the American robin to come north to its breeding ground where it can now easily find food in the form of the earthworms. Some tribes also named this full moon the Sap Moon because the maple syrup begins to flow in the month of March.

    This full moon of March 5, 2015 drew my attention this evening, rising over Lake Michigan. The round disc had a certain light orange cast at first which is often associated with the Harvest moon of the fall. But this is no harvest moon. This one created a typical path on the lake waters that I love to view so much. But the path was a short one. There is not much open water on Lake Michigan, just an indigo blue band near shore this afternoon, perhaps with the help of some warmth in the bright March sunshine. Tonight the surface ice has moved back in and is interrupting my well loved moonlight pathway on the lake surface.

     The March 4th percentage ice coverage of Lake Michigan was about 80%. Lake Superior and Lake Huron are 95 % covered. Lake Erie is 100% ice covered. Lake Ontario is like Lake Michigan, about 80% covered.  According to the Chicago Tribune monitoring service, on Feb 18 the percentage of coverage of the entire Great Lakes with ice was 85.2%, a little bit higher than last year on Feb 18th. A warmer day or two had reduced this value, but now at least on Lake Michigan the last Arctic blast has again increased the ice coverage back up to its high of mid February. Below is a Chicago Tribune photo taken from satellite on about Feb 18, 2015.

     While we gazed outside at bright sunlight with a high of 14 degrees this afternoon and are looking again at below zero temps tonight again, a snow storm crossing Kentucky and Tennessee dumping almost 2 feet of snow has stranded a 30 mile long traffic jam of trucks and cars on the freeway. People have been stranded in their cars for up to 18 hours. One lady said she was melting snow to provide herself some drinking water. Of course we all know the Boston area and other east coast cities with their record levels of snow fall this winter.

      This extraordinary winter has created several interesting tourist attractions. Here is a link to a Chicago Tribune article with a video of frozen Niagara Falls. Of course portions of the falls always freeze but this year has provided much more extensive ice formations. One intrepid man even climbed the frozen portion of the falls as though climbing a miniature El Capitan in Yosemite. The following is a link to the video showing Niagara Falls.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-frozen-niagara-falls-20150220-story.html

     Closer to home the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore again for the second year in a row has opened the shoreline ice caves to the public. Supposedly these are quite the natural structures to see also. Unfortunately I will not be visiting them and will not have my husband's photos of them to show here. We are not up for winter walking on ice to get to these caves. But here is a photo from the Chicago Tribune.

     What do you think the source of all this winter weather is? Well, the answer is less than certain. but scientists do believe that global warming, with warmer air from the south which carries more moisture leading to larger snow falls when that warmer air moves north. In other words these produce more extreme storms with more rainfall and more snow, but longer periods without precipitation creating drought in some areas. Coupled with these storms, the polar vortex has become unstable in the last few years, broadening and sending colder air down into temperate zones. It is postulated that the normal cold winds that form over Arctic ice stabilize the vortex. With less summer Arctic ice the sea water temperature changes; the melting ice slightly freshens the sea water, changing ocean currents; and these factors may alter these stabilizing winds allowing the vortex to move further south. If you would like to learn more about these forces, here is a link that explains better than I can:

  http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/cold-snow-climate-change.html#.VPkb9-EvxYY

     But tonight's weather forecast is looking brighter. This night of below zero temperatures may be the last for this year, we hope. Temperatures will rise into the thirties this weekend and next week we may have temperatures in the high forties all with a fair amount of sunshine. There will be a spring. It is on the 7 day forecast now. I am going through the garden catalogs. Can't wait to get my hands dirty.

Tear Sheets and Four leaf clovers!

     I have been going through some of my stacks of tear sheets of articles, or quotes, or other writings that have moved me. I must whittle down my stash. We have a big house, but we are slowly being pushed out of our closets and upstairs rooms by stacks of stuff that at one time I thought I should save.  I am somewhat of a frustrated writer, having had a dream all my life of writing essays, articles, a novel... something that would be published somewhere. Maybe I thought some of these tear sheets would help me write something someday. And of course, now you can find most of this information on the Internet anyway. Someone has created a Wikipedia post on the topic. If not, there are others with such interests and the information is usually there. So I must cull these collections of paper.

    Well, while culling.... I found an article from the June 2001 magazine: "Personal Journaling": Writing about Your Life. Of course this article suggested saving these little snippets in one of your handwritten journals, cutting them out and pasting them in, and perhaps jotting down what moved you in reading the piece in the beginning. But I have a lot of hand written journal also and they are piling up. I have started entering some of these little blurbs into a piece of software that I have, called InfoSelect. It is a personal information manager and is meant to also handle email, contacts, etc. But I like its method of storing information and the ability to call these little snippets up in small windows so you can look at them together, separately, etc,--however you wish to look at them. But I haven't figured out how to scan things into it and so entering a lot of these pieces of information by typing will take a lot of time.

     At any rate, the article from "Personal Journaling" I was reading talked about how to notice things around you and how they change over time. For example, look at what's posted on your refrigerator door now, perhaps doctors' appointments now, and think back when it was primitive crayon drawings done by your children. Look at the foods in you pantry or in your refrigerator and recall the jars of baby food and now if you have teenage sons, the steak, spaghetti, and pizza, next to your own healthy celery sticks and yogurt. Check out your phone numbers you use most now and think back to your list of most important numbers from the past: maybe babysitters, the cleaning lady, or the carpool members---now, your internist's phone number. What about the types of paper in your recycling bin. Has it changed recently? Have the types of magazines thrown there changed? What about the catalogs that you now receive in the mail? What about styles of clothing and shoes? You must have different clothes in your closet that you no longer wear. How is it different from what you are wearing now? Noticing all of these changes might show some very dramatic changes in your life and demonstrate how your daily life has been modified. And more importantly noting these changes will stir memories and recreate states of mind that you thought you had forgotten.

     The secret is in the observations of these minute and mundane segments of your life. There is history, feeling, and perhaps understanding in these vignettes that this exercise creates.

     We often think of ourselves as always having been and continuing to be the same person. I have often said: "I don't feel any different now at 70 than I did when I was 30." I allow for those first 30 years of life to achieve some degree of maturity, but I believed that my thought processes were the same now in older age, as they were at young maturity. But this is not a true statement. Our experiences are always changing. We are adding new ones and forgetting older experiences. Our brain pathways come to prominence through high use and then fade when those uses become infrequent. One could say that even our materialistic self is constantly changing. Since our intake of food, water, and even the air that we breath contains different molecules every time we engage in these survival actions, replacing molecules that are lost through excretion and breathing, we are a totally different person than probably 6 months ago. We are totally a different molecular structure. Life consists of recorded memories of experiences and even those experiences and their memories of them are constantly changing. This exercise emphasizes this point.

    The article ended by the author describing while on a walk with her teenage son in a park, leaning down and picking a four-leaved clover. She walked a little further on and found another, and still another, amazing her son. She was able then to show him how to find two also. She says all you have to do is look. All of the three leafed clovers look the same but the 4 leaf one is different. You have to learn to look for that difference.

    My grandmother on my father's side could do that. She would walk across a yard whether at her home, at our home, or even a neighbor's yard and reach down and pick a four leafed clover. I actually have a five leafed clover preserved that she picked and gave to me when I was a teenager. No archival polyethylene sleeve for me; I just placed the clover on some adhesive tape sticky side up and covered it with Saran wrap. It has preserved it for about 60 years. But I could never get the hang of it finding these little green treasures. Maybe I will try to use the method of looking for something different, not the same. But we are in the middle of a winter cold blast and also there is snow all over the ground here in Milwaukee, so trying this trick will have to wait until spring. Anyway, my husband takes great pride in his green turf and we do not have a lot of mowed clover. Maybe I could look in my "wild flower" area, my jungle as my husband calls it.

     Contemplating four leafed clovers makes me think of a photo. I wonder if I can find that photo now. I have to give you a back story on this photo. My father's father was a tease. He made me cry as a child with his teasing. My grandmother would stop him: "Ubbo, leave her alone now." But it was just in his nature to be kind of a mean tease. At least it seemed mean to me as a child. My grandfather ran a threshing ring and so young men in the family knew him. My uncle recalls working around the thresher and actually being kind of afraid of my grandfather. But he did admit that he had learned that my grandfather respected hard work and if you put yourself into the job, he would lay off you with the teasing. Anyway, I have this photo of this grandfather who made me cry walking across his backyard with my grandmother, both bent over at the waist. I know what they are doing. They are looking for four leafed clovers. Grandpa is helping Grandma in her searching task. Seeing that photo now forms a entirely different view of my grandfather. How could a man who would do as shown in the photo -- walk slowly across the yard with his wife looking for 4 leafed clovers possibly be mean? He couldn't. It is a nice view of my grandfather who died when I was 11 years old.

     You see what this old article has done for me? It has brought out memories and it has even transformed my memories. These old stacks of snippets and tear sheets have served a purpose for me.... But I know I must cull them. I will be moved by something else I read and will feel the strong need to keep the piece. I will tear it out and store it away in some unorganized pile somewhere. Indeed, there will be more to take their place.

The Iconic Clock: Astronomical Clock in Prague.

     Prague is a beautiful old European city. Interestingly this wonderful city also has a large population of North Americans (US). In fact our airport limo driver was from New York, but resettled in Prague. As of 2011, it was estimated that there were about 6,000 Americans living as residents of Prague, and another 1300 with extended stay visas. This expat community tends to live in a couple of the districts of the city and therefore socialize. Reasons given for this large North American community are the affordability of living in Prague, its old world charm, a slower life style, and availability of business ventures and entrepreneurial support.  Some American residents say that Prague seems like a more recent "left bank" community (comparing to the artsy world of the Paris Left Bank of the Seine.) In addition, one reason that is given is the advent of streaming of NFL football. The games draw Americans and help to knit the expat community together.

     Prague, of course, has a very long and rich history. It has existed as a city on the banks of the Vitava River for 1,100 years. It served as the capitol of the Holy Roman Empire and the seat of two Holy Roman Emperors. It also was important in the Hapsburg Monarchy and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After World War I, it served as the capital of the created country of Czechoslavakia. This rich history has produced a city with historic landmarks, a large number of museums, and universities, and the entire old city is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Prague is the current capitol of the Czech Republic and its largest city.

     The Astronomical Clock is located in the southern wall of the Old Town City Hall in Old Town Square, in the city of Prague. Another name for this clock is The Orloj. It consists of three main mechanisms: the astronomical dial which shows the position of the Sun and the Moon in the sky; a clockwork hourly display of the 12 Apostle statues; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months of the year. This mechanical clock is the third oldest clock ever constructed and is the oldest working such clock. It was first constructed in 1410, made by a clockmaker, Mikulas of Kadari and Jan Sindel, a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Charles University in Prague. The clock has been repaired many times. It was almost completely destroyed, at least its wood part, in 1945 during the Prague Uprising, but by 1948 it was repaired and working again.

     Below are some other photos of landmarks in Prague. It is indeed a beautiful city.

Our Lady Church on Tyn, across Old Town Square

Prague skyline with Prague Powder Tower on left, St Nicholas Church in center.

Charles Bridge and one end tower.

Prague skyline viewed under Charles Bridge across Vitava River.

Mulinic;s and Gehry's Dancing House

Narrow street looking toward Old Town Hall.

St. Wenceslaw Square.

Old wooden mill wheel, still operates.

St Vitus Cathedral, main entrance

St. Vitus Cathedral, back view.

Prague Castle with guardhouses.