Nearing the End

Saturday, as we near the end of 2006 the back yard was relatively quite. Only the squirrels were busy and one in particular may have had its clock twisted by the warm weather, or maybe it knows something about the cold and snow which will be coming in 2007. Anyway this particular squirrel spent the afternoon climbing up and down the tree finding just the right size branches to reinforce the its nest. I was able to get several pictures and hopefully you will be able to see him/her in action either gnawing on the limbs (twigs) or carrying them back to the nest.

The other squirrels were feeding at the base of the bird feeder or doing acrobats to get the corn off of the corn wind mill. Occasionally they would drop over to the bird bath for a drink, but none of them were concerned about rebuilding the nest. My wife would say that it was a female doing the work while the males fed them selfs. I don't know how to tell a female squirrel from a male squirrel from this distance and don't think I want to get close enough to tell anyway.

Hope everyone enjoys the pictures.

Industrious Squirrel Must be the female!






This must be a male waiting to be served at the table.

Back home today

Not much to report today. Squirrels are out and about and a Nuthatch made an appearance at the bird feeder. See these below.

Wednesday's trip to Banner March and other points

Wednesday we drove up to the Flanigan area to see if we could see a Snowy Owl, well no luck so we drove thru the country to just North of ElPaso and then headed into ElPaso for route 24 West. It was a cloudy day that had promised to be somewhat sunny but only reached the partial sunny stage for a few minutes. Sight seeing as we drove we went through Eureka to the bypass around Peoria and then South on 24 through Bartonville, Mapleton and Kingston Mines to Banner, the town. Supposedly Eagles had been spotted in this area. We did see a couple of birds high up in the air, around Kingston Mines but couldn't tell if they were hawks or Eagles.

At Banner we drove out the dyke road which parellels the Slough from Copperas Creek to Rice Lake and the Illinois River. The drive was pretty but would have been better had the sun been out. While we heard a few birds we mostly saw hawks perched in the trees. I would like to go back on a nicer day maybe next Spring. I have posted a few pictures of the trip below.

Christmas Day a time for family

Today I am copying a portion of a letter dated July 26, 1982 written by my Uncle Paul to my son Andrew. Family might find this interesting as we the first Christmas since Uncle Paul's passing.

Dear Andrew,

Today we received the letter and picture of Peter both of which we were happy to receive. I have been planning to write to you for some time and have often composed letters in my mind but have never got to the typewriter - typewriter because you would have almost as hard a time reading my handwriting as your father did that of my father. As time permits I would like to share with you some of the stories about our family and in the event that I never get to put them down elsewhere on paper, you might like to file these away for future reference. I myself keep a file of all letters I receive and have been asked to make provision for them to be turned over to the Indiana Historical Society or at least for copying. Over the years I have had correspondence with many of our relatives regarding past history of the family. This was the reason Fred Griffin the county historian for Harrison County, Indiana asked me to make such arrangements. I hope you will find them interesting and some times informative- I have been told that mnay people do. I like to think that this is an inherited attribute from my great great grandfather Aaron Patrick McKim. I am only sorry that his letters have disappeared. He went off to the Civil War-on the North side and died in Columbia, Kentucky from measles. During this time he wrote to his wife and I have been told that m;y great great aunts and uncle use to pour over these on rainy days. You see after he died Grandma Mary Jane Smith McKim married again and had ten additional children so letters could be anywhere, but I think that they crumbled apart from age and lack of care. Grandfather Aaron's son our Grandfather James I McKim was my mother's grandfather. Mom always thought that there was no one so important as her grandfather McKim. I remember as a childhow his letters would always bring joy into our household and each one usually had a poem. Grandpa had several of these published in the local newspaper. He was a Republican, but the poems were published in the Corydon Democrat because it was one with more circulation and actually it still is published whereas the Corydon Republican no longer exists. I only saw Grandpa McKim once when I was ten, but he has had a far greater influence on me than any other family member. He died the year your Aunt Patricia was born and he so wanted to see her for she was she was his first great great granddaughter. When he visited us he took my sister and me to see a Shakespearean play and since then Shakespeare has always been one of my favorites. Don't expect my letters to be properly organized, because I do better when I rattle on and on.

Saturdays trip to Lexington included these photos:

My Great Grandfather William Henry Shickel Lexington Pleasant Hills



My mother Alice P Shickle Bloomington EastLawn



My Aunt Leora Zelma Maude Shickle Bloomington East Lawn



My Uncle Paul Eugene Shickle Bloomington East Lawn



My great grandfather had two families. The first wife provided my grandfather and sibelings and later he married Minerva Brown and this is the family plot of the second group of children located in Pleasant Hills Lexington, IL.

Christmas Eve

I haven't posted for several days because of the heavy pre holiday activities at work and around the house. I did buy a few gifts this year, wasn't going to but I made a noon hour trip the day my wife told me not to show up for lunch as the girls were coming for brunch that day.

Yesterday my son Andrew came over to help move a new futon down to the basement so that the youngest son will have a place to sleep if he makes it home Christmas Day. He starts out at 6:41am in sunny Southern California flys to San Fransico, home of the reocurring earthquakes, on to O'hara and then to the Central Illinois Regional Airport. We decided that if the futon leaves the basement neither of us were going to carry it out in one piece! Going down the stairs it could slide it will not slide up the steps.

Below are a few pictures from Saturday. It appears the hawk may have left the area as the song birds are slowly returning. Yesterday I spotted a Nuthatch, couple of Northern Cardinals, plent of Doves, a Carolina Wren and even a Gold Finch. Today these were all back and even our Red Belly Wood Pecker has made it presence known. Maybe filing the bird feeder and putting suet plugs out have encouraged the birds back, but the hawk certainly kept many of the song birds away.

I drove up to Flanigan Illinois yesterday afternoon, listened to Christmas Music, until I had my fill while driving, I had seen reports of the spotting of a Snowy Owl, but failed to spot the creature. I did see a couple of beatiful hawks, but none would stay put long enough for me to take their picture. The fields were very wet with water standing in all of the low places and at least one river was flooded in various places.

Pictures below are of the NutHatch, Carolina Wren and a few ducks on a pond near Lake Bloomington.

A Cloudy Day

Sunday afternoon is probably better for sleeping, but after watching the Bears on television I decided it was time to watch a little of nature. Went over to White Oak Lake and caught a few Mallards and Canadian Geese swimming. It was a bit nippy with the wind and no sun. Then headed off to Comlara Park. I found the deers in their normal spot and all four of them headed off into the woods as I approached. Did get a couple of pictures as the tree are barren and therefore the deers can't hide very well.

Below is one of our back yard squirrels that loves to pose to get his picture taken. I did oblige him and he is cute.

What's that up in the tree?

Birding has been rather slow the past two weeks and I was wondering what I had done to scare the birds away from our feeders. Today I may have discovered the reason. As I turned to look out my view window a rather large bird flew into the tree in our back yard. Normally my camera is right here and all I have to do is grab it and turn it on. Not today, quickly I got up and hustled to the dining room to retrieve the camera and on my way back turned the camera on and stopped at the kitchen window to aim the camera at what we now believe to be a Cooper's Hawk. I took one quick shot and aimed to take another shot and he started into flight once again. The two picters are rather poor quality, but they do prove that our Normal Back Yard had a hawk visit.

Talking to Birds Unlimited later today we learned that indeed a Cooper's Hawk would cause fear in smaller birds and maybe even cause them to look elsewhere for food until they felt safer. I know that I have spotted a hawk in our yard at least twice before today. The first time was in late September as one landed on our fire place chimney and flew off before I could take his picture. Then last Saturday on flew into the same tree out back. That time I had the camera ready but when I turned to find the camera he flew off.

One of the members of the Central Illinois Birding Forum has a blog web site and she has neat pictures of Bald Eagles which nest near the Illinois river. Her blog can be found at: http://walkwithmepart2.blogspot.com/

Fare Well to Roger

I seldom see the local newspaper unless it is Saturday or Sunday as I am usually in too much of a hurry to read. Sometimes my wife will lay something out for me to read, but usually not very often. This weekend I noticed that a former acquaintance from years ago had died at the age of 61. The first thought in my mind was that he was a year younger than me. An then I begin thinking about how our lives crossed and then each of us went our own separate ways.

We first met at our church youth functions, both of us attended the Evangelical United Brethren church in Bloomington. Since then the church has changed names and many of the people I remember have transferred their membership to other local churches. It seems almost strange to say we met at a youth group as we are now older than our parents were when we met. Roger and I were never close friends, rather his younger brother and I actually spent more time together. One of his older sisters was in my class at school and two of his older brothers were were well know to me as Ed was a friend of my neighbor and Bill was often seen riding his bike all over Bloomington-Normal. I don't think Bill ever learned to drive so even as he neared 50 he would be seen on his bike.

Our youth group was very active and included guys and girls numbering anywhere from 25-50 at any event. It was from the youth group that we drew our friends as opposed to our school mates as we had a common interest. After high school we all went our separate ways and seldom have we seen each other since. I did become reacquainted with Roger about 10 years ago as he visited the church I was attending for a brief period of time and then he chose somewhere else to worship and we no longer had any contact.

It is a shame that in this fast paced world of which we live, we no longer take the time to stay in contact with those who have crossed our path as we are consumed with the present needs and desires. The truth is that even our closest friends and family do not hear from us as much as they deserve.

On another note, the Georgia Peach is getting new ear tubes which will hopefully help to keep her more healthy. Her daddy is now swamped in work as he now is the boss for his regional distribution center. The Christmas season is the peak time for his center. Congratulations Steve on your well deserved promotion!

Willow Wonders

In late October I took my wife back home to see her brother and aunt. While there we took numerous pictures of the farm and nearby everyday sights of the Village of Willow.

Willow, was originally named Dutch Hollow and rename Willow in 1818. Willow sits upon the Willow Road which runs parallel to the Muddy Plum River. Back in the late 1800's this was a thriving village which covered about a 1/2 mile strip. The family farm was on the East end of Willow with only a United Brethren Church, a US Post Office and a Wells Fargo Stagecoach facility be farther East. To the West of the family farm was a sorgaham mill, plow factory, blacksmith shop, Bishop Store, Willow United Methodist Church,furniture store, coffin maker, cheese factory and a one room school house(which back in the early 1950 was in use). Most of these are long gone now, but the United Methodist Church which was built in 1860 with its basement showing the logs used to support the structure not only still in existence but attended weekly by neighbors. The one room school house and cheese factory are now single family residences.

I have posted pictures of the family barn which was built around 1876 and is still being used as a dairy barn. This barn has been featured in Barn Again on public TV as the oldest Grade A Dairy Barn still in operation, featured in calendars, and has also served as a model for a series of barns by Ertyl Toy Company. Lowell Thomas was the artist that created this barn series and the family barn was featured as a Victorian Barn.

Close up of Barn



Front view of Barn



View from the East



Close up 1876 painted on window



Close up of the stone wall of barn

A New Day

The sun reappeared and "salted" the street with its rays and the ice is beginning to melt. The street is almost passable as more of the actual street is beginning to surface.

At least one squirrel has found the corn and devoured three of the ears and starting on the fourth, the other squirrels are simply feeding off of the spilled bird seed that is lying on the ground. Pictured is the industrious squirrel.



Here are a few more pictures of our Spring Fox debuts.

Slip Sliding Away

The lesser used streets in our fair Town are pathetic at best since the winterly storm hit us. Our street in particular is covered with ice and ruts making driving treacherous. Yesterday our furnace repairman came to check our new furnace. Before he even arrived his van got stuck in the middle of the street and couldn't move. Along came another motorist upon the scene and slid into the repair man's van. Only minor damage, but after flagging down other motorists for help they freed the stuck van in time to see another motorists sailing down the street in a precarious fashion. The repair man ask the driver which way she was originally going only to learn it was the opposite direction of which her vehicle was facing.

This morning my wife started gazing out the window, so being curious, I asked her what was going on outside. Well another vehicle was over the curb in the neighbors front yard with the tail end still in the street. Once again we had a stuck vehicle, but traffic just kept coming and they would fishtail but get by somehow until a nice brown ban spun completely around coming to rest against a legally parked car opposite of the stuck vehicle. It was time to call the police department as my wife had already called the street department and got no answer, oh well it was before 8:30am.

It was interesting that the command center did not ask if anybody was hurt, but they did want to know if our car had been struck. No, our vehicles are in the driveway, hopefully safe from the street traffic. I wonder if it had been our vehicle if we would have been instructed to exchange information and then come into the station.

The driver of the van went up to the neighbors house to see if they owned the car, then left a note on the parked car which had been bumped and then she got into her van and went off to school or home with her children. In the mean time other vehicles were slowly passing the commotion until a male driver got out and helped the original stuck vehicle off of the curb.

Fifteen minutes after my wife's phone call, and after everything had been cleared the police arrived. The officer did get out and look at the struck vehicle and noted the note attached to the windshield. I had finally gotten dressed and was headed to work and stopped to relay what I had seen, not sure it was of any worth as no questions were asked of me by the officer.

Later this morning my wife called to say a salt truck had been down the street. I went home for lunch and after sliding all the way from Fell to my house asked my wife if the salt truck had spread any salt, she replied, well I didn't see any coming out.

Well, my Normal Back Yard is a safe haven for the squirrels and birds, wouldn't want them out front! Too Dangerous!

Still Fall

Our Downey Woodpecker braving the cold.



A Northern Cardinal in a very icy tree.



Woodpecker feeding on the plugged suet feeder.



Ice covered tree in back yard.



Woodpecker and squirrel feeding side by side.



I looked at my calendar this morning and realized that Winter will not be here until December 22! Wonder if mother nature knows that? The ice from Thursday night is still hanging on the trees and it is a wonder that more limbs aren't falling. Maybe the wind hasn't been as strong the last few days.

We have a house in our neighborhood that is rental property and in the past has been rented to athletes at ISU. They had a fire several years ago and since I haven't seen much activity. I know the owner had repairs done including taking out the front basement wall and replacing it. Well, he has another chore as a hugh tree limb is lying across his roof. I suspect that he might have a hole in the roof although you can not see an actual hole from the street. I need to get a picture as it is quite unusual. My wife called the NPD as we do not actually know the owner's name but she had little confidence that the owner would be notified based upon the questions she had to answer. No it isn't a hazard and no electrical wires are down, just thought you might have access to the owners name so he could be notified.

My friend "Thedecrepidoldfool" sent me a cartoon about this loading up his car with bird feed, I wonder if he had seen my car with the bag of bird seed in the back seat? The last time I was at Wild Birds Unlimited I had a free bag coming so I ended up with two bags. The pests, either squirrels, possums or raccoons get into the seed if left in the garage and my wife will only allow so much in the house so I left one of the bags in the car.

The birds have been feeding in our back yard this week end. Our Downey Woodpecker sure likes the suet we put out and the Starlings love to try and get to the suet. We have a suet feeder that has the suet underneath and the Downey can easily get there and hold on, but the Starlings really have to work at it as they can not hold on like the Downey. It is fun to watch the Starlings try to imitate a Humming Bird as they hover underneath the suet feeder and dart up and down until they tire.

This year we only have a couple of squirrels, and they don't seem to smart. Placed the corn out Friday and they still haven't found it. My wife thinks that they are just to lazy as they would rather gather the dropped seed on the ground then have to climb the post and lean over and grab the corn.

Certainly Winter!

Well, I usually doubt the weather projections, and this was no exception, but I was wrong. I have been out to the cars twice this morning and still can't get the doors open. The back yard was next, as I had to knock the ice off of both bird feeders and the corn wheel. Feeders are now functioning and squirrels have corn.

Here are a few pictures from this morning. One gives a better view of the milk jugs keeping the squirrels out of the bird feeder. Our visitors this morning were Starlings a plenty, a White Breasted Nuthatch, our friendly Downey Woodpecker, several sparrows, doves, plenty of Cardinals and the snow birds (Darked eyed Juncos).

Happy Birthday Andy

The projections for today resembles the day my middle son was born thirty-four years ago. It was very cold and we had freezing rain which made the streets slick. This was the day our second child was to be delivered by cesarean birth. I skidded across town to deliver our two year old son to Grandma's house and then headed for the hospital. The operation was scheduled for the morning, but the weather had created a few problems. A major water main break in Bloomington delayed the surgery for a short time. My wife had already been prepped and now was laying in bed awaiting the blessed event. She had come in the previous night which was standard back in 1972,but not today.

While my memory often fails, I seem to recall someone saying something to the effect, "There's a water main break in Bloomington, so don't wash your hands". That was the last thing we heard as they then ushered her into the OR and another healthy baby boy was born into our family. Every year my wife likes to tell Andy about the day he was born and the activities that took place that day.

The picture below is from our Normal Back Yard and was taken a year or two ago, but if the weather predictions hold out, this could be what it looks like tonight or tomorrow.

Back to Normal

We had a splendid trip to Georgia! The weather was great with only a slight mist for a brief period in Southern Indiana as we returned Tuesday. Monday we stopped in Murfeesboro, Tennessee to view the Stone River National Battlefield, a Civil War Battleground where nearly 24,000 men lost their life in less than a week! Now we have seen two Civil War battle fields and my wife says that any others would look the same so no more. The history presented is both revealing and interesting.

We traveled back up the Pennyrile Parkway in Kentucky just to see what the sights looked like during daylight. Even as we near Winter the browns and sparse greens were pleasant to view. We were going to stay in Evansville, Indiana, but the traffic was heavy and finding the entrance to a motel was frustrating especially in the dark. We drove on north to I-64 and Indiana Route 41 and found a place to stay. Right across the road was a Stoll's Amish buffet restaurant where the food was good and the price very reasonable! The normal price for the evening meal was $8.50 plus tax and we got a senior discount of 10%.

Tuesday we continued our trip taking Indiana Route 41 North by Vincennes and through Terre Haute before switching to Indiana Route 63. Traffic was sparse and plenty of Walmart's and Dollar Stores to stop and shop. Made it home about 4:00 PM and was plenty tired.

Here are a few pictures: The Georgia Peach and a few birds pictures from Georgia.