We got a new dog! Gage is a five-year-old Jack Russell terrier. We picked him up from the shelter on Monday and so far he's doing well. He's a total sweetie who absolutely loves the kids. The cats were initially scared, but Gage and the cats now pretty much ignore each other. Scout the dachshund has his ups and downs. Shortly after Gage came home, Scout attacked him over a toy. Gage is bigger and has a much more muscular build, but he more or less stood and took the attack which left him with several scrapes on his face and leg. We moved all of the toys out of the dogs' reach and there have been no further incidents.
Our dog Duncan was hit by a car a little over a year ago. Duncan loved playing with the kids and slept in bed with Logan. Duncan also loved riding in the car and going on adventures. We got Scout as Duncan's "replacement" and while we all love him, he is a completely different dog and not at all a replacement for what we lost. Scout is fine with the kids, but he definitely prefers adults. He hates car rides and adventures. He isn't AT ALL fun to take places because he literally whines and cries the entire time we're gone. Gene has a special relationship with Scout that he didn't have with Duncan and Kaylin prefers the cats, so neither of them felt the gaping loss that Logan and I couldn't seem to shake. We wanted our buddy dog back!
We'd been half-heartedly looking for another dog for months. We stopped at the Peoria and Pekin shelters when we had the chance and I looked at the Petfinder website regularly. We were just sort of waiting for the right dog to fall into our laps. Saturday, Logan and I stopped by PAWS in Peoria just after they opened for the day. We walked into the dog room and the first kennel contained a sweet, cute little Jack Russell who seemed thrilled to see us. We gave him some attention and checked out the rest of the giant, barking menaces before going back to Gage. Hmmm, was this dog really special, or did he merely stand out because he wasn't a cookie cutter of the usual? We watched him for a bit. A shelter volunteer came around and tossed Gage a Kong toy. Gage gleefully played with the toy, tossing and catching it until it dropped into his water pail. We continued to watch as he figured out how to remove the toy from the large pail. That sealed the deal. We pulled his card and asked to meet him.
When the shelter employee brought Gage to the room, he immediately ran to Logan. Point. He then checked me out and submissively rolled over to have his belly rubbed. Oooh, another point! I filled out the paperwork to put him on a 24 hour hold and immediately called Gene, hoping he'd be able to come right down to meet Gage. Gene brought Kaylin, Kira and Scout. I kept Scout outside while Gene and the kids met Gage. He was great with everyone and beyond thrilled with the kids. After meeting the kids, a shelter worker brought Gage outside to meet Scout. I knew this wasn't exactly a true test as it was in a neutral place, but I honestly had no idea how Mr. Jealous Scout would act around a dog we were all fawning over. Both dogs seemed very interested in each other, with not a hint of aggression. Point and Game.
The shelter always makes adopters wait 24 hours before taking an animal home- this gives people time to think and weeds out many of the impulse buyers. Since it was Saturday and the shelter is closed on Sunday, we had to wait until Monday afternoon. We were fortunate that Gage was already neutered or we would have had to wait until at least Tuesday. Gene had conveniently taken Monday off work long before any thought of dog adoption, so he was able to pick up Gage before the kids came home from school.
Other than the little fight the first day home, things have been going very well. Gage sleeps with Logan (though early this morning he was in Kaylin's bed) and loves playing with all the neighbor kids. I've been trying to keep sort of in the background and let Gage develop a strong relationship with the kids, but I couldn't help myself Wednesday morning and took him in the car to get coffee. He loved the ride and wasn't at all stressed or whiny! Hooray! Hopefully, Gage will fill the void left by the loss of Duncan. I know that's not his job or responsibility and we will love him no matter what, but I think we got lucky and found our dog that will love kids and adventures!
Friday, May 17, 2013
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Another May
So, yeah. I guess I continue my 2013 trend as a major blog slacker. I'm guessing there's exactly one person who cares. Sorry, Mom.
May is by far my least favorite month of the year. With all kinds of major projects at work and all kinds of school projects and events it is a crazy time of constant obligations. However, it's also a great month thanks to the amazing weather and the even more amazing birds. I've still been working out an hour every morning and it stinks how much that cuts into my writing and reading the newspaper time. I've been getting the daily paper since I moved out on my own and this is the first time I can remember that I've regularly gone days without even glancing at the headlines. I'm considering canceling my subscription. Gasp! Okay, enough of this boring crap.
Since sometime last semester, I've been in an unofficial daily "race" to school with Kaylin's friend Kira's mom, Lisa. The girls need to be at school at 7:23am, so we leave at about the same time every day. At first, we just sort of noticed that we usually saw each other. Then we realized that Kira's mom almost always passed my putzy little Toyota. One day Lisa tried to pass me (probably not personal, just trying to get to school) and got stuck behind a slow car. I joked that we "won" and Kaylin bragged to Kira. Kira's very competitive and the daily commute turned into a race, with Kira begging her mom to pass me and win. Well, I don't know much about cars, but I know my little Yaris isn't going to beat out a luxury car with dual exhaust pipes. I won't pretend to know or care what dual exhaust pipes do, but I'm guessing they somehow go along with a big, fast engine.
I've spent months and months giggling every day as Kira's mom zips past us. Once in a great while we win and celebrate and rub it in to Kira. Lisa and I gesture to each other (like holding up the number one finger or waving victoriously, never anything vulgar :) When we talk, she almost always apologizes for the competition because aside from the whole thing being incredibly juvenile, she knows she has the major advantage. I don't feel bad at all about losing this impossible competition and our rare wins make it fun. Kaylin also enjoys the occasional win and isn't at all bothered by the regular losses. Logan, on the other hand... He couldn't comprehend why I was "letting" Lisa win every day. I kept telling him her car was better, but I guess with two parents who don't care a hoot about cars, he just didn't understand. He kept telling me I just needed to floor it.
Today the stars aligned and we got our opportunity to really race. We zipped past Kira's house as Kira and Lisa were getting into their car and then hit the long red light at Knoxville. We then hit the light at Pioneer Parkway just as it turned red. Lisa and I were side by side, first in line at the light. We opened our windows to talk and I told her about Logan wanting me to floor it and win for once, but I knew that wouldn't work. We laughed and chatted and I noticed the light turned green a split second before Lisa. I floored it. We sorta slowly took off and I got to see Lisa's shocked expression in my mirror. She jumped into action and easily passed me within seconds and of course beat us to school. Logan finally understood the difference between our cars. "Yeah, Mom, your car is crap." True, but I bet I get a lot better gas mileage. Lesson for the day: Gas mileage is not impressive to 10-year-old boys- speed is. Beepy (that's my car's name) is lame!
I've been doing lots of birding. Meghan and I did the Peoria County Audubon spring bird count last Saturday. I was a little freaked out because the other teams were a bunch of old pros. Our territory was the entire city of Peoria along with Bartonville. We started ~7am and birded until 7pm. I also watched my feeders for about an hour before and after. We concentrated on the major parks and nature areas (rather than randomly driving up and down streets in town) and ended up with 73 species and over 1200 individual birds. I found 19 year birds, several of which were lifers. I still need to go back and look at what I recorded last year to get an exact number. We saw 13 different warbler species, scarlet tanagers, orioles and a variety of other beautiful birds. We picked up Logan to try to call owls at Detweiller Park, but it was a bit early in the evening and they didn't answer. At Detweiller Golf Course, nearly every tree had at least 5 yellow-rumped warblers. It was a fun, amazing day and I want to do it again!
May is by far my least favorite month of the year. With all kinds of major projects at work and all kinds of school projects and events it is a crazy time of constant obligations. However, it's also a great month thanks to the amazing weather and the even more amazing birds. I've still been working out an hour every morning and it stinks how much that cuts into my writing and reading the newspaper time. I've been getting the daily paper since I moved out on my own and this is the first time I can remember that I've regularly gone days without even glancing at the headlines. I'm considering canceling my subscription. Gasp! Okay, enough of this boring crap.
Since sometime last semester, I've been in an unofficial daily "race" to school with Kaylin's friend Kira's mom, Lisa. The girls need to be at school at 7:23am, so we leave at about the same time every day. At first, we just sort of noticed that we usually saw each other. Then we realized that Kira's mom almost always passed my putzy little Toyota. One day Lisa tried to pass me (probably not personal, just trying to get to school) and got stuck behind a slow car. I joked that we "won" and Kaylin bragged to Kira. Kira's very competitive and the daily commute turned into a race, with Kira begging her mom to pass me and win. Well, I don't know much about cars, but I know my little Yaris isn't going to beat out a luxury car with dual exhaust pipes. I won't pretend to know or care what dual exhaust pipes do, but I'm guessing they somehow go along with a big, fast engine.
I've spent months and months giggling every day as Kira's mom zips past us. Once in a great while we win and celebrate and rub it in to Kira. Lisa and I gesture to each other (like holding up the number one finger or waving victoriously, never anything vulgar :) When we talk, she almost always apologizes for the competition because aside from the whole thing being incredibly juvenile, she knows she has the major advantage. I don't feel bad at all about losing this impossible competition and our rare wins make it fun. Kaylin also enjoys the occasional win and isn't at all bothered by the regular losses. Logan, on the other hand... He couldn't comprehend why I was "letting" Lisa win every day. I kept telling him her car was better, but I guess with two parents who don't care a hoot about cars, he just didn't understand. He kept telling me I just needed to floor it.
Today the stars aligned and we got our opportunity to really race. We zipped past Kira's house as Kira and Lisa were getting into their car and then hit the long red light at Knoxville. We then hit the light at Pioneer Parkway just as it turned red. Lisa and I were side by side, first in line at the light. We opened our windows to talk and I told her about Logan wanting me to floor it and win for once, but I knew that wouldn't work. We laughed and chatted and I noticed the light turned green a split second before Lisa. I floored it. We sorta slowly took off and I got to see Lisa's shocked expression in my mirror. She jumped into action and easily passed me within seconds and of course beat us to school. Logan finally understood the difference between our cars. "Yeah, Mom, your car is crap." True, but I bet I get a lot better gas mileage. Lesson for the day: Gas mileage is not impressive to 10-year-old boys- speed is. Beepy (that's my car's name) is lame!
I've been doing lots of birding. Meghan and I did the Peoria County Audubon spring bird count last Saturday. I was a little freaked out because the other teams were a bunch of old pros. Our territory was the entire city of Peoria along with Bartonville. We started ~7am and birded until 7pm. I also watched my feeders for about an hour before and after. We concentrated on the major parks and nature areas (rather than randomly driving up and down streets in town) and ended up with 73 species and over 1200 individual birds. I found 19 year birds, several of which were lifers. I still need to go back and look at what I recorded last year to get an exact number. We saw 13 different warbler species, scarlet tanagers, orioles and a variety of other beautiful birds. We picked up Logan to try to call owls at Detweiller Park, but it was a bit early in the evening and they didn't answer. At Detweiller Golf Course, nearly every tree had at least 5 yellow-rumped warblers. It was a fun, amazing day and I want to do it again!
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Cattitude
Sometime this winter, our 16-year-old cat Tess moved back into the house. We've had her since she was a kitten, but she's been living outside (by her own choice) for many, many years. Before that, she always tried to avoid us as much as possible. At our old house, she had her own little world in the ceiling pipes in the basement. When we moved to our current house in 1999, she became a little more social, but has never been the kind of cat who wants to curl up in your lap and be petted. Tess always did have a wonderful relationship with our nearly 100 pound shepherd mix Brady, but has pretty much hated every other pet we've had.
Not that I would ever be able to pick her up and weigh her, but I'm guessing Tess weighs at most 8 pounds. That doesn't stop her from completely ruling over the other much bigger pets. I can only guess that this sudden bravado comes from senility because Tess has always been terrified of the other cats and dogs and has done everything in her power to avoid them. Suddenly, in the past few months, she started completely standing up for herself and even regularly chasing down the other pets.
Scout the wiener dog is the most amazing. Scout loves to play fetch over and over and over. This drives Tess nutty and she will hide and then jump at him, smack him and chase him as he tries to retrieve his toy. She sometimes chases him for no apparent reason. He will chase her back and they'll go back and forth, but Tess always ends up winning. Sometimes she'll even casually stroll over and steal food out of Scout's bowl and then smack him with her paw when he growls at her. Scout kind of wavers between healthy respect and outright fear of the little old granny kitty.
Princess has only lived with us since late December, but she is the kind of cat who is very much in charge. I assumed from Day 1 that she would be our alpha pet. She takes no crap from Scout or Tiger (or even any of the humans) but she does accept Tess' dominance. Yesterday Princess was basking in a spot of sun in the living room. Tess walked up and gave a sharp meow. Princess moved and Tess took over the spot. Princess never appears afraid, but she does back down to Tess.
Tiger is funny. He spent his kittenhood chasing Tess. At first he only wanted to be friends, but this tiny kitten got such a reaction of fear and hissing and yowling that he couldn't help himself- at every opportunity he chased and tormented the crazy old kitty. Now Tiger is an enormous, obese cat. He has no fear of Scout or Princess because all he has to do is stand his ground. They can't move his bulk. However, when it comes to Tess, Tiger literally quivers with fear. She regularly forces him to leave a spot or even a room. The other morning Tiger was on my lap, purring and enjoying being petted. Tess sauntered into the room and didn't like what she saw. She gave a sharp meow and Tiger's eyes got huge and scared. He looked at the little kitty and slowly got up from my lap and crept away. Tess didn't want the lap spot- she never wants to be petted or fawned over- she just wanted Tiger to go away.
I can't quite imagine what changed to make this cat who spent her first 15 1/2 years avoiding us and the other pets suddenly turn so tough and mean. It's both amazing and hilarious to watch. I'd love to get at least some of the Tess and Scout chasing on video. I know I'll miss it someday.
Not that I would ever be able to pick her up and weigh her, but I'm guessing Tess weighs at most 8 pounds. That doesn't stop her from completely ruling over the other much bigger pets. I can only guess that this sudden bravado comes from senility because Tess has always been terrified of the other cats and dogs and has done everything in her power to avoid them. Suddenly, in the past few months, she started completely standing up for herself and even regularly chasing down the other pets.
Scout the wiener dog is the most amazing. Scout loves to play fetch over and over and over. This drives Tess nutty and she will hide and then jump at him, smack him and chase him as he tries to retrieve his toy. She sometimes chases him for no apparent reason. He will chase her back and they'll go back and forth, but Tess always ends up winning. Sometimes she'll even casually stroll over and steal food out of Scout's bowl and then smack him with her paw when he growls at her. Scout kind of wavers between healthy respect and outright fear of the little old granny kitty.
Princess has only lived with us since late December, but she is the kind of cat who is very much in charge. I assumed from Day 1 that she would be our alpha pet. She takes no crap from Scout or Tiger (or even any of the humans) but she does accept Tess' dominance. Yesterday Princess was basking in a spot of sun in the living room. Tess walked up and gave a sharp meow. Princess moved and Tess took over the spot. Princess never appears afraid, but she does back down to Tess.
Tiger is funny. He spent his kittenhood chasing Tess. At first he only wanted to be friends, but this tiny kitten got such a reaction of fear and hissing and yowling that he couldn't help himself- at every opportunity he chased and tormented the crazy old kitty. Now Tiger is an enormous, obese cat. He has no fear of Scout or Princess because all he has to do is stand his ground. They can't move his bulk. However, when it comes to Tess, Tiger literally quivers with fear. She regularly forces him to leave a spot or even a room. The other morning Tiger was on my lap, purring and enjoying being petted. Tess sauntered into the room and didn't like what she saw. She gave a sharp meow and Tiger's eyes got huge and scared. He looked at the little kitty and slowly got up from my lap and crept away. Tess didn't want the lap spot- she never wants to be petted or fawned over- she just wanted Tiger to go away.
I can't quite imagine what changed to make this cat who spent her first 15 1/2 years avoiding us and the other pets suddenly turn so tough and mean. It's both amazing and hilarious to watch. I'd love to get at least some of the Tess and Scout chasing on video. I know I'll miss it someday.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
The Usual
Due to unfortunate circumstances at work, I've got septic tanks on the brain. My grandpa had a septic tank business, so I feel I should know more than I do, but I'm pretty sure he delivered and installed the tanks and didn't clean them out. He retired when I was around 8, so I guess I was too little to know much of what he did. Let's just say that even though I clean up excrement for a living, I'm sure glad that I don't have to clean out septic tanks! What an amazingly disgusting job. My mind is officially blown.
Other than witnessing the removal of many years of solid big cat waste from a giant tank in the ground, life's been good. The kids are in their final quarter of school and are starting to get squirrelly. Both are ready to be done with school and start Camp Zone. I can't remember Kaylin's title this year, but she will either be a Counselor in Training or a Junior Counselor. Maybe they are the same? Either way, she has big ideas and can't wait for summer. Both kids are playing outside at every opportunity. Logan is completely disgusted with the neighbor kids who often prefer staying in and playing video games. He is constantly out playing basketball, hitting baseballs, swinging golf clubs or just bouncing balls on the driveway. Logan sometimes plays video games, but usually only when it's dark or raining.
And speaking of rain, Gene and I both are done with it. I know we need it, but we are both sick of working in the mud. I'm so done with mud I'd rather go back to the frozen winter than deal with this rainy, rainy week. Come on hot summer and dry ground!
As usual, Logan and I have been doing plenty of birding. Over the kids' spring break, we did our favorite Banner, Emiquon, Chautauqua loop and found a great horned owl on a nest. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen, with the owl hiding at the fork of a tree with only her ear tufts visible. Meghan and I went back several days later and she was in the same place. I'd love to go back and see the fluffy owlets! Last weekend, Logan and I went to the Bloomington area and checked out Lakes Evergreen and Bloomington and Ewing Park. It was a windy day and the water was choppy, but we still saw several common loons. Golden-crowned kinglets were EVERYWHERE and we got some great looks at these tiny, but colorful birds. Saturday night we hiked deep into Singing Woods looking for owls. We saw one flying shortly after we arrived and then heard two great horned owls, but couldn't see them. We were so wrapped up in trying to locate the owls, we didn't notice how dark it was getting and we ended up making a looong trek back to the car in the dark. With no trails, it was a bit of a thorny adventure. Next time we'll start back a little earlier.
Other than witnessing the removal of many years of solid big cat waste from a giant tank in the ground, life's been good. The kids are in their final quarter of school and are starting to get squirrelly. Both are ready to be done with school and start Camp Zone. I can't remember Kaylin's title this year, but she will either be a Counselor in Training or a Junior Counselor. Maybe they are the same? Either way, she has big ideas and can't wait for summer. Both kids are playing outside at every opportunity. Logan is completely disgusted with the neighbor kids who often prefer staying in and playing video games. He is constantly out playing basketball, hitting baseballs, swinging golf clubs or just bouncing balls on the driveway. Logan sometimes plays video games, but usually only when it's dark or raining.
And speaking of rain, Gene and I both are done with it. I know we need it, but we are both sick of working in the mud. I'm so done with mud I'd rather go back to the frozen winter than deal with this rainy, rainy week. Come on hot summer and dry ground!
As usual, Logan and I have been doing plenty of birding. Over the kids' spring break, we did our favorite Banner, Emiquon, Chautauqua loop and found a great horned owl on a nest. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen, with the owl hiding at the fork of a tree with only her ear tufts visible. Meghan and I went back several days later and she was in the same place. I'd love to go back and see the fluffy owlets! Last weekend, Logan and I went to the Bloomington area and checked out Lakes Evergreen and Bloomington and Ewing Park. It was a windy day and the water was choppy, but we still saw several common loons. Golden-crowned kinglets were EVERYWHERE and we got some great looks at these tiny, but colorful birds. Saturday night we hiked deep into Singing Woods looking for owls. We saw one flying shortly after we arrived and then heard two great horned owls, but couldn't see them. We were so wrapped up in trying to locate the owls, we didn't notice how dark it was getting and we ended up making a looong trek back to the car in the dark. With no trails, it was a bit of a thorny adventure. Next time we'll start back a little earlier.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Back Home!
I headed out early Monday morning for some birding. My first stop was a small park with a pond very close to our hotel. The pond was maybe half the size of the lagoon at Glen Oak Park, but there were 5 kinds of ducks, including one white-winged scoter. I also found several bluebirds and woodpeckers. If I lived in that area, I'd bird that park every day! I then headed over to Indiana Dunes State Park. On Friday, there was absolutely no wind and the water was calm. Monday the wind was almost unbearable and the waves on the lake were big enough to surf. The water was so choppy the only obvious birds were gulls. I headed back to the nature center and hiked a trail to the top of another dune. I also walked to the back of the nature center and found a large selection of feeders attracting a huge selection of birds. I think between the park and the nature center feeders, I recorded nearly 40 species of birds. It was a great start to my day!
I made it back to the hotel by 8:30am. Gene and the kids were just getting up so we all had hotel breakfast before loading our stuff in the car. Logan was making himself a waffle and for some reason grabbed the waffle iron and burned three of his fingertips. He has been making his own hotel waffles for years! I have no idea why he was injured this time, but I bet he won't do that again! He has nice, big blisters on the tip of each of the three fingers and was in a lot of pain most of Monday. Fortunately, today he feels fine and the burns and blisters don't hurt at all. We got everything packed and loaded and headed back to the state park. The van smelled absolutely horrible and we realized that Logan had picked up a deer leg bone on Friday and it was starting to stink. He tossed it out of the car, but the smell lingered for a while. We agreed that unless it's a really amazing skull, there will be no more bones in the car :)
The kids tried to play on the beach for a while, but it was so windy and cold it was just miserable. We headed back to the nature center and hiked the same trail I did earlier in the day. We then went inside the nature center. A couple had stopped by with their pair of golden retrievers and a special surprise- ten 3-day-old puppies. They were adorable and we got to look at them and pet them! We then hung out in the feeder observation room for a while before heading out and starting for home a little after noon. The drive home was quick and uneventful. We picked up Scout and headed home to the cats. As always, it was good to return home.
This morning I had a recheck appointment with my podiatrist. I was taken off all work restrictions and don't have another recheck for two months. Yay! I then took my doctor release to the zoo and put up our zoo keeper group's favorite animal contest. That was something that was hanging over my head for so long it was great to have it done. Well, for April anyway... I spent the rest of the day running the kids around and taking them to Galena Marina and Detweiller Park. I'm trying to rest up and force myself to go get groceries tonight. Right now if I had my way I'd just take a nap.
I made it back to the hotel by 8:30am. Gene and the kids were just getting up so we all had hotel breakfast before loading our stuff in the car. Logan was making himself a waffle and for some reason grabbed the waffle iron and burned three of his fingertips. He has been making his own hotel waffles for years! I have no idea why he was injured this time, but I bet he won't do that again! He has nice, big blisters on the tip of each of the three fingers and was in a lot of pain most of Monday. Fortunately, today he feels fine and the burns and blisters don't hurt at all. We got everything packed and loaded and headed back to the state park. The van smelled absolutely horrible and we realized that Logan had picked up a deer leg bone on Friday and it was starting to stink. He tossed it out of the car, but the smell lingered for a while. We agreed that unless it's a really amazing skull, there will be no more bones in the car :)
The kids tried to play on the beach for a while, but it was so windy and cold it was just miserable. We headed back to the nature center and hiked the same trail I did earlier in the day. We then went inside the nature center. A couple had stopped by with their pair of golden retrievers and a special surprise- ten 3-day-old puppies. They were adorable and we got to look at them and pet them! We then hung out in the feeder observation room for a while before heading out and starting for home a little after noon. The drive home was quick and uneventful. We picked up Scout and headed home to the cats. As always, it was good to return home.
This morning I had a recheck appointment with my podiatrist. I was taken off all work restrictions and don't have another recheck for two months. Yay! I then took my doctor release to the zoo and put up our zoo keeper group's favorite animal contest. That was something that was hanging over my head for so long it was great to have it done. Well, for April anyway... I spent the rest of the day running the kids around and taking them to Galena Marina and Detweiller Park. I'm trying to rest up and force myself to go get groceries tonight. Right now if I had my way I'd just take a nap.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Back to the Dunes!
Yesterday was Easter Sunday. I think I mentioned before that when we planned this long weekend trip we hadn't looked at a calendar and had no idea it was Easter weekend because the kids' spring break is ALWAYS the first week of April and it didn't even occur to me that Easter would be the last Sunday of March. Whoops. I'm sad we missed the family dinner and an egg hunt with cousins, but I'm glad we got away.
For the past several years since Kaylin has refused to miss school for family vacation, we have only taken family trips during the busiest times of the year. Hotel rates are outrageous and prices are jacked up on everything. Northern Michigan on Spring Break? Not so much... I'm thinking we might be the ONLY family who decided to do this :) We've had absolutely no trouble finding hotels and when we do, they're like $60 a night, including a hot breakfast and an indoor pool. Right now we're staying at a halfway decent Comfort Inn in Porter, Indiana, and when I drove around the building (on a return trip from a nearby park with a large pond full of ducks) at 8pm, there were only 10 cars parked at this 3 floor hotel minutes from Indiana Dunes. The kids had the pool to themselves for the hour I sat with them and then one family with two small children came and a group of adults came to use the hot tub. Not bad! Also, we didn't go ANYWHERE that wasn't free (including several beaches that charge for entry in the summer) so this has been a pretty cheap vacation. Of course, we did go to Northern Michigan at a time that's still cold and snowy...
My final impression of Michigan is that it is the Land of Litter and Christmas Tree Farms. If I drive past a Christmas tree farm in Illinois, it is such a novelty I think it's cute. In Michigan, it seems like 90% of the trees you pass are or were Christmas tree farms. I have no idea, but I'm guessing the tree farms are better for the environment than corn and beans (especially the ones that have grown up), but they still made me sad. The highway litter was abundant and disgusting. To be fair, it's probably been covered with snow for months, but man, I have never seen such a dirty state except maybe the panhandle of Texas. I was very much expecting Michigan to be similar to Wisconsin- clean and beautiful- and that I would love it. I definitely didn't love it! I would like to go back to the U.P. someday and go to the nature preserves and Whitefish Point. However, I think I'll drive up through Wisconsin.
Yesterday, once we finally made it out of the Land of Litter and back into the Indiana Dunes area, we stopped at a nice beach where you could walk way out to a lighthouse. I found my lifer white-winged scoters along with MANY red-breasted mergansers and horned grebes. The kids played in the sand and we finally got the owl kite up. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, and we stayed at the beach for at least a couple of hours, before heading to our hotel where we ordered pizza and the kids swam for two more hours. As soon as it's light, I'm heading out birding by myself while Gene and the kids sleep in and then we're going back to Indiana Dunes State Park for a few hours before we head home. I'm excited because since it's April 1, every bird I see will be a month bird. We need to make it home before 6pm to pick up Scout the wiener dog. Other than the very long drives, this has been a fun vacation. Both kids want to come back to Indiana Dunes ASAP, so it's great that we got to spend half of our time here. I'm looking forward to several more days off at home and have a huge mental checklist that I'm sure I'll fail to complete :)
For the past several years since Kaylin has refused to miss school for family vacation, we have only taken family trips during the busiest times of the year. Hotel rates are outrageous and prices are jacked up on everything. Northern Michigan on Spring Break? Not so much... I'm thinking we might be the ONLY family who decided to do this :) We've had absolutely no trouble finding hotels and when we do, they're like $60 a night, including a hot breakfast and an indoor pool. Right now we're staying at a halfway decent Comfort Inn in Porter, Indiana, and when I drove around the building (on a return trip from a nearby park with a large pond full of ducks) at 8pm, there were only 10 cars parked at this 3 floor hotel minutes from Indiana Dunes. The kids had the pool to themselves for the hour I sat with them and then one family with two small children came and a group of adults came to use the hot tub. Not bad! Also, we didn't go ANYWHERE that wasn't free (including several beaches that charge for entry in the summer) so this has been a pretty cheap vacation. Of course, we did go to Northern Michigan at a time that's still cold and snowy...
My final impression of Michigan is that it is the Land of Litter and Christmas Tree Farms. If I drive past a Christmas tree farm in Illinois, it is such a novelty I think it's cute. In Michigan, it seems like 90% of the trees you pass are or were Christmas tree farms. I have no idea, but I'm guessing the tree farms are better for the environment than corn and beans (especially the ones that have grown up), but they still made me sad. The highway litter was abundant and disgusting. To be fair, it's probably been covered with snow for months, but man, I have never seen such a dirty state except maybe the panhandle of Texas. I was very much expecting Michigan to be similar to Wisconsin- clean and beautiful- and that I would love it. I definitely didn't love it! I would like to go back to the U.P. someday and go to the nature preserves and Whitefish Point. However, I think I'll drive up through Wisconsin.
Yesterday, once we finally made it out of the Land of Litter and back into the Indiana Dunes area, we stopped at a nice beach where you could walk way out to a lighthouse. I found my lifer white-winged scoters along with MANY red-breasted mergansers and horned grebes. The kids played in the sand and we finally got the owl kite up. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, and we stayed at the beach for at least a couple of hours, before heading to our hotel where we ordered pizza and the kids swam for two more hours. As soon as it's light, I'm heading out birding by myself while Gene and the kids sleep in and then we're going back to Indiana Dunes State Park for a few hours before we head home. I'm excited because since it's April 1, every bird I see will be a month bird. We need to make it home before 6pm to pick up Scout the wiener dog. Other than the very long drives, this has been a fun vacation. Both kids want to come back to Indiana Dunes ASAP, so it's great that we got to spend half of our time here. I'm looking forward to several more days off at home and have a huge mental checklist that I'm sure I'll fail to complete :)
Sunday, March 31, 2013
The Bridge
Well, I have to admit that Michigan has been a bit of a disappointment. It's okay, but I don't like it nearly as much as Wisconsin. I don't find Michigan nearly as pretty or interesting as Wisconsin. The Lake Michigan Circle Drive (or whatever it's called) signs in Michigan are almost nonexistent. In Wisconsin, we never even used a map because the signs were so easy to follow. Also, after days of googling, I still haven't found any good Michigan birding sites or listservs. Oh, well.
We spent most of Saturday driving north. Most of the non-moving water north of Grand Rapids was frozen and the farther north we drove, the more snow was on the ground. We stopped at a Big Boy restaurant in Gaylord for lunch and none of us were too impressed. It wasn't terrible, but it reminded me of IHOP in that we way overpaid for mediocre food. Next was one of our major stops of the trip- the Chillermania! book store near Indian River. It's just a dinky store that only sells Johnathan Rand's books, but it was something Logan REALLY wanted to see. Rand's series "American Chillers" is what got my son to start reading. Each book is about a specific, real town in each state that is being invaded by some kind of monster. They are quick and easy to read, just scary enough to maybe cause a nightmare, but not scar a child for life and interesting enough to keep kids wanting to read more. I've read a couple of them and while I normally LOVE children's books, these are not for me. I do like that while the books are aimed mostly at boys, they all have strong girl characters who are just as brave and smart and important as the boys. Anyway, Logan went through a phase earlier this school year where he was almost never without a book. He finished all of the American Chillers available at the school and public libraries and the ones I could still find on Amazon and then tried to move on to a series by Rick Riordan that is MUCH more advanced reading than the Chillers. He got bored and frustrated and stopped reading fiction. Chillermania! had a bunch of out of print books, along with the earlier Michigan Chillers series that isn't available in Illinois. We bought him a bunch of new books and now I need to find him some other authors more on his level before he completes these. I love you, Johnathan Rand, for proving to my son that reading can be fun!
Hahaha, that was quite a long paragraph for a fifteen minute stop... The Mackinac Bridge was less than an hour north of Chillermania! Let's just say that Gene was not disappointed and that it was totally worth $8 to drive over twice. It definitely made his day. We stopped at the visitor center on the other side of the bridge and when I told the man at the counter I had no idea where we were headed, he loaded me up on Michigan brochures and told us we need to come back in the summer. We ended up driving to Sault Ste. Marie and checking out the locks. The kids were beyond excited to look across the water and see Canada. It really was disappointing that we could have driven 5 minutes and been in Canada if we had passports, but oh, well. Next time. It was cold and ugly and starting to spit rain. Four inches of snow were predicted for the Soo area and rain all day today for northern lower Michigan. We drove back down to Gaylord and found a Hampton Inn with a pool. The kids swam for probably two hours and had a good time. By MapQuest, it's a 5 hour drive back to the Indiana Dunes. It's supposed to be in the mid-50s and only a small chance of rain today, so I think we'll head that way and spend this afternoon and tomorrow morning in that area before heading home. That's where we all had the most fun. It was also the best birding. It seems that all of the cool winter hawks and owls have already migrated, but the spring birds haven't come this far north yet because of all the ice. We might as well go where the birds are! (And the fun beaches for those of us who aren't as into birding...)
Oh yeah, one last thing- It took me a couple of days to identify an amazing bird I saw right around the border of Indiana and Michigan. It was a huge, hawk-like bird, soaring high in the sky, but its markings were very distinct. It had a dark silhouette with round, white markings on the wings. It really couldn't have been more distinctive, but I had no idea what it was. My good, thorough bird book was buried in the back of the van under all kinds of winter gear. When I finally dug it out and searched for my bird, I was beyond thrilled to find it was a golden eagle! A lifer and so far my favorite bird of the trip.
We spent most of Saturday driving north. Most of the non-moving water north of Grand Rapids was frozen and the farther north we drove, the more snow was on the ground. We stopped at a Big Boy restaurant in Gaylord for lunch and none of us were too impressed. It wasn't terrible, but it reminded me of IHOP in that we way overpaid for mediocre food. Next was one of our major stops of the trip- the Chillermania! book store near Indian River. It's just a dinky store that only sells Johnathan Rand's books, but it was something Logan REALLY wanted to see. Rand's series "American Chillers" is what got my son to start reading. Each book is about a specific, real town in each state that is being invaded by some kind of monster. They are quick and easy to read, just scary enough to maybe cause a nightmare, but not scar a child for life and interesting enough to keep kids wanting to read more. I've read a couple of them and while I normally LOVE children's books, these are not for me. I do like that while the books are aimed mostly at boys, they all have strong girl characters who are just as brave and smart and important as the boys. Anyway, Logan went through a phase earlier this school year where he was almost never without a book. He finished all of the American Chillers available at the school and public libraries and the ones I could still find on Amazon and then tried to move on to a series by Rick Riordan that is MUCH more advanced reading than the Chillers. He got bored and frustrated and stopped reading fiction. Chillermania! had a bunch of out of print books, along with the earlier Michigan Chillers series that isn't available in Illinois. We bought him a bunch of new books and now I need to find him some other authors more on his level before he completes these. I love you, Johnathan Rand, for proving to my son that reading can be fun!
Hahaha, that was quite a long paragraph for a fifteen minute stop... The Mackinac Bridge was less than an hour north of Chillermania! Let's just say that Gene was not disappointed and that it was totally worth $8 to drive over twice. It definitely made his day. We stopped at the visitor center on the other side of the bridge and when I told the man at the counter I had no idea where we were headed, he loaded me up on Michigan brochures and told us we need to come back in the summer. We ended up driving to Sault Ste. Marie and checking out the locks. The kids were beyond excited to look across the water and see Canada. It really was disappointing that we could have driven 5 minutes and been in Canada if we had passports, but oh, well. Next time. It was cold and ugly and starting to spit rain. Four inches of snow were predicted for the Soo area and rain all day today for northern lower Michigan. We drove back down to Gaylord and found a Hampton Inn with a pool. The kids swam for probably two hours and had a good time. By MapQuest, it's a 5 hour drive back to the Indiana Dunes. It's supposed to be in the mid-50s and only a small chance of rain today, so I think we'll head that way and spend this afternoon and tomorrow morning in that area before heading home. That's where we all had the most fun. It was also the best birding. It seems that all of the cool winter hawks and owls have already migrated, but the spring birds haven't come this far north yet because of all the ice. We might as well go where the birds are! (And the fun beaches for those of us who aren't as into birding...)
Oh yeah, one last thing- It took me a couple of days to identify an amazing bird I saw right around the border of Indiana and Michigan. It was a huge, hawk-like bird, soaring high in the sky, but its markings were very distinct. It had a dark silhouette with round, white markings on the wings. It really couldn't have been more distinctive, but I had no idea what it was. My good, thorough bird book was buried in the back of the van under all kinds of winter gear. When I finally dug it out and searched for my bird, I was beyond thrilled to find it was a golden eagle! A lifer and so far my favorite bird of the trip.
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