Stalking a rare bird

While on my morning walk I heard this pounding of wood and a pre-historic bird cry. I stood still and there... do you see it? (click on pictures to make larger)The red head of a Pileated Woodpecker, Minnesota and ND's largest. Come along and I will show you what I saw.About the size of a crow it is very impressive with its bright red head and black body.

Here he is working his way up the tree stopping to whack every once in awhile.
Careful now, I think he sees us...guess not as he gives a couple of more whacks.
That long neck really arches back before he hits the tree with a lot of force.

He must have found something...

Don't move I think he heard the camera shutter.

He's looking right at us now... and gone! So what's the big deal? Well, I am sixty-four and this is the second time I have seen this bird... big deal to me.

A couple of much smaller of God's creatures showed up for breakfast. This chic-a-dee gave me an earful before grabbing breakfast and taking off. (must be a female).

A male ruby-throated hummingbird looks like he just woke up.

A Birthday Dinner fit for a King!

In keeping with Carrie's tradition, and recently followed by her mother, of publishing what we eat, may I present my birthday dinner menu. While many of you, no doubt, were feeling sorry for me, alone with no one to cook for me, and thinking I was probably eating a stale piece of bread or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or worse, had to go out to eat alone on my birthday. To all of you I say, "Wrongo," and present to you my birthday dinner menu fit for a king fixed by my own recently wrinkled dishwater hands. Notice the Sunne Chippe encrusted fresh catch of the day from Eagle Lake, garnished with fresh parsley and some other green thing that smelled good from M's herb garden. Also we have a Red River Valley baked potato with fresh butter; for vegetable we have the very first yellow tomato from TT's garden and accompanying it all is fresh spinach salad with onion, red and green pepper, and a touch of vinegrette dressing. YUM, YUM. Later I shall enjoy the last piece of peach pie alamode sent lovingly along with me after dining with the Andersons last week. Happy Birthday to me indeed! (Click on the picture only if you have already eaten... may create EE ... eating envy)

"Bird Whisperer"

Son-in-law, Rob, has named me the "bird whisperer" because I seem to be able to get them to eat out of my hand (click on the pictures to see how close they were). Here is more proof on a slow day at the lake. A nuthatch ponders which seed to take...the purple finch stayed the longest and just took his time munching seed taking his sweet time.
The chic-a-dee had to check me out before he would take his sunflower seed and high tail it out of there.
Now if I could only get Marilyn to eat out of my hand... hmmmm.
And here are a few more taken today for birdlovers like...
sister-in-law, Jan.... and....
my brother, Lou , Enjoy!

Sometimes you get lucky

I enjoy taking pictures of wildlife. It is a lot like hunting. You have to be at the right place at the right time and have your gun (camera). Sometimes you get lucky... like this morning as I was sitting at the dock. I heard this gutteral sound of a heron and turned around to see him/her sitting on the top of an evergreen tree right behind me. Usually they spook at the sight of humans but I think he was far enough away not to be scared by me. Click on the pictures to get the full benefit of its beauty. I judge the quality of a bird shot by whether you can see the eye clearly.
Not only is the eye clear on these but you can even see cobwebs in the tree.

This is my favorite as he takes off to cross the lake. What a show!

A beautiful night for fishing

Just as I was sitting down on the dock by the lake, my neighbor, Doug, invited me to ride along while he fished. A loon buzzed us and soon...we were anchored and trying our luck at fishing. It was a beautiful night with few bugs and...

and a soft pink glow in the clouds.

Doug caught a few sunnies, look a the size of this one, and then we took a spin around the lake.

A lonesome loon and ...

a lonesome eagle were more wildlife we saw...

as the moon rose and ...

the sun set on eagle lake in August. What a beautiful night for fishing!

Unusual houseboat scenes

Having returned from the houseboat trip (see below), I decided to include some unusual pictures from the trip. Here is an eerie morning fog over the islands in the distance.And notice the huge footprint in the gold bond powder. What animal could make that in the night? And why such a waste of gold bond?
John is getting a creative picture on a distant island.
While Ryan catches an unusual moment of rest.
A favorite time for me to reflect was as the sun went down. Unfortunately that was when the energy of the guys also went up.
"Winners Work" says Mark's shirt and here he is working to mop up the overflowing toilet. Way to go, Mark!
Here is another unusual sight... taking water out of the boat. Guys, the water is to be in the lake not in the boat!
And who has ever seen this? Someone walking on water... the crowd who gathered to see it is in awe as they watch, except Pat and Ben who seem to have discoverd their fingers! (click on the picture)

Here are three buddies enjoying each other's company...

while John enjoys Pastor Pat's culinary masterpiece...crescent roll wrapped brats... yum.

Unfortunately for Chris, he is a whisker away from burial.

No such inactivity for Rand and Tanner who built a raft and paddled to the island and back. Note the paddles.

Yes, mothers, they did take a bath... here's proof.

But only after a long swim to the island and back...

I took a more restful activity of finding and eating wild blueberries.

Jason shows why we brought our own food along. Great catch, Jason!

Here our fearless leader checks the map before heading back to the Crane Lake office to retrieve some forgotten items and necessities. Doesn't he look like an original Voyageur?

Jordan was petrified of the sea monsters who popped up once in awhile. The guys had him convinced that the monster would attack his body parts while he swam. Click on the picture and you'll see why he was afraid!

Even birthdays didn't go unnoticed though the cake was a Little Debbie. Happy Birthday, Will!

I survived the houseboat trip

Last Wednesday I met a group of mostly teenage young men (total of 20) going to Voyageurs National Park for a 5 day houseboat trip on the waters the divide the US from Canada.The boys were more interested in playing games than watching the beautiful scenes outside as we traveled in two boats for hours in the waterways.
Jayson picked up a friend who seemed comfortable on his face and matched the color of his shirt.

Here are the young guys on shore waiting for supper, no doubt. We had to pack all the food for the days including things to drink. We had steak and burgers and brats, along with some other adventures in cooking that Pastor Severson had for us.

Though not overly busy other boats were always present in the waterways.

The islands and water and clouds are all so beautiful. What a great God we have!

Here is our group picture at the end of the adventure and as you can see... I survived... barely. Not too bad for someone four times as old as some of them... thanks Pat and guys for asking me.