Camping

It's been warm, but I have managed to go camping anyway.  I much prefer cool nights where you actually need a sleeping bag, but just getting away from everyday normal is worth it.  North Carolina was our destination this time.  Here is a scene from the Blue Ridge Parkway:

I like just driving along the Parkway, and of couse stopping at every overlook, whether you can see anything or not.  I have yet to drive along the section that starts in Cherokee, near the Great Smokies.  I hope to make that journey this year, but once summer ends, schedules become pretty tight on the weekends.

While camping along the Parkway, we were lucky enough to have a Park Ranger host a program about skunks.  I really got into the program... as you can see below...

I learned that peroxide and soap will neutralize skunk odor in about a week.  I also learned that these guys will eat just about anything and are absolutely not afraid of anything.  Interesting and fun little creature!

On this same camping trip we made it to Mount Mitchell.  I will leave you with a photo from the summit.

Flown the coop

It is summer time and I have found myself too busy to take the time and write to the blog.  I really do not know how some people write daily, or even several times a day.  Summer means hiking, biking, camping, and canoeing.  I sit behind a computer enough at work as it is.

Time to catch up.  I never finished posting about the owls that nested in our back yard.  About a week or two after the first post, they flew from the nest.  Here is a picture of one of the babies on its first night out.

He was in a tree about 4 feet of the ground.  I walked up to it and stared him right in the eye while he stood stone still.  For the next few days, they lived in the woods just on the edge of my yard.  I learned to call like the mother owl and the babies always called back to me.  It made it easy to locate them.  Here is a picture of them sleeping during the day, about 20 feet up in the trees.

The baby is hiding behind the large branch.  The mother had three babies, of which two survived.  I found the one who didn't make it and could not find any thing broken about it.  I can only assume it fell from the nest and was injured internally.

We enjoyed watching them eat and hoot at night and I hope that we'll see them again next spring.

Owls in the Owl Box!

Several years ago, I built a screech owl box, using these plans (click here).  I installed it about 30 feet up in an ash tree.  Since then, I have seen squirrels examine it out of curiosity, but not much else.  Until this year.  This year, a pair of screech owls have decided to take up residence and they have a couple of babies. 

She feeds them each evening starting around 8:30 pm.  Her pattern is to fly to a nearby branch and call to them.  They squeal back, and then she flies up and feeds them bugs.  Apparently, she is quite skilled at catching them because she flies back to the nest about every minute.  Here she is in action; the best I could do considering it was after dark.

I also learned that owls make a warning sound when you get too close, a sharp snapping of the beak.  She has flown just overhead snapping her beak at me a couple of times while I have been taking pictures.  I read that owls will sometimes rap a human on the head if they get cranky enough and if a person gets too close.  We sit back a little farther now and use the binoculars to watch her feed.  It's a great show at sunset! 

Here are the babies making their sounds... you'll have to excuse the loud whistling at the end; it's me:

We enjoying watching them in the evenings.  I hope they will make it on their own and we'll get to hear them at night making their high pitched calls.  If I get any better pictures or video, I'll post it.

Honor

I don't know where to credit this photo... it is found all over the net.  But it reminds me that actions always speak louder than words. And while I'm at it, kudos to the men and women in uniform.  Where ever there is a dirtbag that needs tossed overboard, or a nation that needs a chance to be rebuilt, the US is there to try and make it happen.  Our soldiers are buried all around the world for their efforts to bring freedom to the people. God bless the USA!

Times Square, New York at night

I had an opportunity this week to travel to New York city for a couple of days and take in the sights and sounds.  We had a gruelling schedule of landmarks and activities to try and take in while taking a bite out of the big apple.  I have to admit that I missed the culture and buzz when I returned to my quite home in the mountains.  Of course, culture and buzz have quite the premium these days, so I am thankful that the company I work for covered the costs.

We took in the subway, rode a taxi with a driver hell bent on qualifying for the Daytona 500, and saw the New York skyline from the Staten Island ferry.  Of course we took in some Broadway shows, explored international cuisine, and managed to do some shopping as well.  We also took a stroll through Central Park, which I have never done before.  I managed to literally walk into Sigourney Weaver, but that's a story for another time.  Overall, I give New York a thumbs up as a vacation destination if you've never visited before.  Just do your homework and find a hotel you can afford near a subway station.

I'll leave you with this video of Times Square at around 11 pm at night.  You can't really tell it's night unless you look between the skyscrapers!