Chasing the Sun

What a hobby!

2011-05-28T13:04:00.001-07:00

We stopped at Charlie and Ruth's in Lexington on our way back to Minnesota this year. They've worked on this for years and Ruth has a story to tell about each little tableau right down to who's married to who and what they do for a living. She's the main caretaker and in this case had "help" from her granddaughter, Violet.

Yellow Crown Progress

2011-05-19T10:38:00.001-07:00

New addition, just laid today!

New Nest

2011-05-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

Below our bedroom window, two yellow crown night heron are building a nest. Too bad we won't be around to see if they raise a family.

Beach walk

2011-05-10T10:57:00.001-07:00

A beautiful beach walk today. The water was crystal clear and the most beautiful azure color. Wading in two feet of water I came upon a school of 15 small snook lallygagging along. Also saw huge schools of bait fish being attacked by schools of small, shiny guys. They churned the water like a blender.

Super Bowl Sunday

2011-02-06T11:15:00.001-08:00

Went for a long walk on the beach this morning, considering I still can't run without a lot of pain in my back. One thing I can say is that once again I've confirmed our decision to live within walking distance to the beach. Seeing the weather this morning, overcast and a bit gloomy, we would never have made a day trip to the beach. As it is, the beach was beautiful, not busy, flat, and warm. I don't know if walking helps my back. It may that the rest of me is happier so I don't notice the pain as much. Whatever it is, I'm always glad I go, just like when I was running.
Jean ran on the beach this morning; not as great an experience as it was very humid for a run. She needed gills, I guess.

Fox News War on Christmas Anti-ACLU Lie of 2010?

2010-12-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

Body update

2010-06-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

Having not run since March 15th due to a bad back, I started physical therapy Wednesday at the VA. My PT says I have a misalignment where the spine meets the pelvis and that exercises can help. She had me do a couple and it helped some immediately. Hopefully continuing to do these things will get my back to running.

Update Ttime

2010-06-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

On about March 15 I did something to my back which has resulted in no running ever since. In fact, I have been doing very little physical activity until very recently when I started doing a core strengthening routine that my VA doctor gave me. It seems to be helping a bit. I go in for physical therapy on June 23. Here's hoping.

Best run

2010-02-26T11:47:00.000-08:00

Long one today, a beautiful, cool, sunny day. 66 minutes, long for the year. Here's the map link: http://bit.ly/d0aec8

Painless running!

2010-02-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

Ran 46 minutes today after 45 on Tuesday. No pain except for my shoulder which could hardly be called a running injury....

Back at it

2010-02-18T14:11:00.001-08:00

Ran about 30 minutes today. First time in a long time. Very slow and very cognizant of striking heel first in my Sauconys. No pain in the calf and nothing else wrong either. It's a miracle!

Again?

2010-01-13T16:46:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday I tried to run again. That lasted 4 minutes until my calf heartily balked again. Ended up walking for a half hour and soaking in the hot tub. Today I walked again and while still feeling tightness in the calf at least I'm not limping (much).

Bad Run

2010-01-02T16:57:00.000-08:00

Ran just 8 minutes today on the beach before popping a calf muscle. Still hobbling around the house tonight...

Barefootin'

2009-12-30T15:28:00.000-08:00

I ran ten minutes on the beach today using my new Vibram five-finger shoes. Pretty cool, through water, over shells, etc. Felt fast. Later I ran 40 minutes in my regular shoes. Too early to compare the effect on this old body.

Running

2009-12-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I ran 55 minutes at moderate speed and felt really good. So Monday I decided to kick it up and pay attention to my speed with an occasional fahrtlich. Turns out I could do it for a full 30 minutes which is encouraging after running more and more slowly for the last year or so.

Ah, Minneapolis

2009-06-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

Having out of state visitors gave us an excuse to revisit some wonderful places.

2009-04-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted much lately even though I take pictures every week. It seems that by posting to Weekly Shots I fulfill the need to post. Anyway, here are some recent shots. The gator is from Myakka State Park, the birds are from Little Estero Preserve right by our beach.

Wasting Away Agin in Gatorville

2009-03-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

We took Stephanie and Isabelle to the Everglades for a day of gator sighting. It was a fun day and boy did we see gators!

Strutting

2009-03-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

I had a fun time watching these guys fishing.

St Patty's on Ft Myers Beach

2009-03-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

Sun Down

2009-03-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

I lost a good and valued friend this week, one of the "good guys". Jim Voight had so many friends and affected so many people that our small relationship was just a blip on his life. But to me, there are few out there with the same intellect and compassion that Jim had. He had a knack of being able to talk to anyone, at their level, and make each person feel wanted and appreciated. That was his special gift and it will be missed. There is so much shouting today that we often overlook the quiet persistence of caring that Jim brought. We should perhaps all make an effort to mold a little of that into our own lives. I'm going to try......

Rainy Days

2009-02-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when you are chasing the sun it hides from you. Such is the case today. Even the egrets don't like it much and huddle on the mangroves. The picture looks a little blurry but that's just the rain messing things up. I spent the day finishing up a good book, Out Stealing Horses, by Per Pettersen. (translated from the Norwegian). He writes in the Hemingway fashion, spartan but strong.

Row, row, row.....

2009-01-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

Here's our new toy. We use it to cruise around the back bay and canals, enjoying the birds, and visiting some more secluded beaches.

Bad Hair Day

2009-01-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

At least I don't have to worry about this sort of thing happening to me.

Fun in ChiTown

2008-10-17T09:52:00.001-07:00

We went to see the Chicago Marathon on October 12. Kirk and Anne both did extremely well in spite of the warmer than normal temps

End of Summer

2008-09-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

We pulled the boat off the lake yesterday. Although we were happy to do it on a nice warm day (85), it always brings a little melancholy to bring another summer to an end. There are only so many....

Day at the Zoo

2008-09-13T12:51:00.001-07:00

We went to the Minnesota Zoo on September 10th to see if the Grizzly Coast exhibit would live up to its hype. We got free tickets through the Library Museum Pass which was an added bonus. The exhibit cost the Zoo $24 million and was very well done. The entrance has some very nice metal sculptures and a water fountain. Of course the hightlight of the area was the grizzly exhibit. We were extremely fortunate to get there as two of the three grizzlies were "duking it out" right in front the glass lookout area. I took a lot of pictures but of course none were able to capture the playfulness of the bears or how massive they are even though these aren't fully grown.

2008-08-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

Had a good time up at Jack and Cindy's near Bemidji last weekend.

Cat Proofing

2008-06-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

Pip finally forced us to do something to contain him after breaking out for the third time. I ended up installing lattice all the way around the porch. After a first pass, he tore down one of the sections and I had to reinforce with additional screws. We'll see if this last fix works.

Colorful Evening

2008-04-02T13:26:00.000-07:00

Caught some beautiful light the other night in the tidal ponds near the beach.

Miracle on Island Pines

2008-03-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

Here it is, a picture of sunrise over Ft Myers Beach. I must have been sleepwalking or something as I normally get up at around 9:00. I'm reminded of what a cruise ship captain once said when he was trying to get rid of people early in the morning: "Watch the sunset; it's the same".

Very good advice.

2008-03-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

Test Document for Blog

Ready for Summer (Already)

2008-02-23T07:27:00.001-08:00

So, here is the final stage of summer dress for the laughing gull. Soon most of these will look like this.

More Birds

2008-02-17T16:25:00.001-08:00

Surprise, Surprise, I've been out with my camera chasing birds. The first two shots show just how delicate egrets really are. The gull is here because as you can see, he is switching to his summer look. In the winter they have white heads and in the summer, black. If you can figure out why, you're smarter than I am.

Weather Report

2008-01-29T16:08:00.001-08:00

I heard something new on the local weather report last night. He showed a satellite view of Florida and had drawn an arrow to the nearest cloud ------- 430 miles away! Now that's a high pressure center. Anyway, here's my picture of the same phenomenon. No clouds, nohow, noplace, no time.......

A Foggy Day

2008-01-24T09:11:00.000-08:00

Here's proof that even though I'm chasing the sun, I don't always find it. It's been foggy here for a couple of days and the effect is a little eerie. I took these shots off the front balcony of our condo.

Shared Items

2008-01-22T11:53:00.000-08:00

I've added a feature to this web page. It's called shared items and it's made possible through the Google Reader. The one thing I'm sharing now is a site I love by a 108 year old Australian woman named Olive. Once you've accessed the shared site you will be able to look at more of her postings. They are worth the effort, especially the video clips. The link is at the bottom right hand section of this page.

Carribean Cruise

2008-01-17T07:28:00.001-08:00

We've been on a little cruise to the Caribbean. We only made two stops, Grand Cayman and Key West. Actually we like the cruising aspect so much it really doesn't matter where we go. The food and service on Celebrity is just so good we could sit in Miami and have a good time. One "highlight" of the trip is that I got bit on the finger by a stingray at Stingray City. He mistook the index finger on my right hand for a squid. I had a squid in my left hand but he missed by a little. It wasn't much of a bite but there was lots of blood so Jean thought I was looking a little like shark bait.
Other that that we just did the normal cruise stuff, ate fancy dinners, ate sushi, ate canapes, drank rum. You know, the usual.
The boat we traveled on is the same one we will be on in July when we go to Norway to celebrate our 40th. It's an older style boat than the new megaships but we like it a lot, very relaxing.

And now for somthing completely different......

2007-11-26T06:03:00.000-08:00

This from my friend David Ascher in South Africa:

EUROPEANS HEIGHTEN THREAT LEVELS

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent
terrorist threats and have raised their security level from 'Miffed' to
'Peeved'. Soon though security levels may have to be raised again to
'Irritated' or even 'A Bit Cross'. Londoners have not been 'A Bit
Cross' since the blitz began in 1940 and tea supplies all but ran out.
Terrorists have been re-categorised from 'Tiresome' to 'A Bloody
Nuisance' The last time the British issued 'A Bloody Nuisance' warning
level was during the great fire of 1666.

Also the French government announced yesterday that it has
raised its terror alert level from 'Run' to 'Hide'. The only two
higher levels in France are 'Collaborate' and 'Surrender'. The rise was
precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag
factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.

It is not only the English and French that are on a heightened
level of alert.

Italy has increased the alert level from 'Shout Loudly and
Excitedly' to 'Elaborate Military Posturing'. Two more levels remain:
'Ineffective Combat Operations' and 'Change Sides'.

The Germans also increased their alert state from 'Disdainful
Arrogance' to 'Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs'. They also
have two higher levels: 'Invade a Neighbour' and 'Lose'.

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual and the
only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to
deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new
Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Perfecting My Hobby

2007-10-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

I subscribe to a site: kimkomando.com.

In her "Tip of the Day" she directed me to a PCWorld article showing how to do this trick with a digital photo. Nifty, huh?

2007-10-08T09:46:00.001-07:00

We spent Sunday, October 7th watching the 26th annual Twin Cities Marathon. What a scorcher! It was almost 80 degrees at the start with very high humidity. In spite of that, both Kirk and Anne did a great job. Kirk finished 54th overall in a group of nearly 8,000 runners, third in his age group division. (The winner of the race was in his division). His time: 2:50:02. Anne finished 374th overall and 12th out of 485 in her division. Her time: 3:31:44. I've included a picture of the finish area to show what a crush of people participate in this event.

Infrequent Visitor

2007-08-23T09:31:00.001-07:00

Here is a bird that we have never seen while living in Minnesota. (Since 1974). Although we have seen many Nuthatches, this is a Red Breasted Nuthatch which, according to my book would usually hang out further north. Just shows that it's always worth looking. You may see something new.

A Trip to Bone Lake

2007-08-13T13:47:00.001-07:00

We traveled to Bone Lake in western Wisconsin this weekend to visit our friends Jim and Jeanne. When we visited Chateau St Croix to do a little wine tasting we happened upon the owners' hobby: polo-crosse, a combination of polo and lacrosse. Unfortunately we were only able to witness a training session but it was still interesting and a verification that we don't just drink wine.....
The last picture pretty much captures some of the allure of the "up north" lake experience.

Minnesota Symbols

2007-06-27T15:32:00.001-07:00

We had the opportunity to travel to Bemidji last week for a stay in a housekeeping cabin at Finn n Feather resort. It was a trip down memory lane as our little family used to vacation there every summer back in the 70's and 80's. These pictures were taken at Bemidji State Park just north of down on the "Bog Walk". We had never before seen the Minnesota state flower (Showy Lady Slipper) in the wild. There were probably fifty plants or so as well as numerous other wild flowers. The second one is a pitcher plant which forms a little bowel, secrets liquid into it, and entices little critters like ants into it for a nice dinner. The loon needs no explanation although if you click for a closer look it shows the green band on its neck quite nicely. The last picture is of Jack, Cindy, Jean, and I on the Bog Walk. They were able to get away for a few days to join us fishing and enjoying the great north woods.

Good luck

2007-05-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

No explanation needed.

Sign Abuse

2007-05-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

For my last post before returning to Minnesota I thought it appropriate to show a couple of rules violators. Here is a poor little crab who found out what happens when rules are violated. Jean is shown cleaning up after him. As for the big blue fellow I guess he can't read the sign or just doesn't care.

2007-04-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

I hit the jackpot last night when Jean and I went over to see the sunset behind Holiday Inn and I luckily had my camera with. As we were heading to the water I noticed a splash of pink to the left and lo and behold there was a flock of Roseate Spoonbills. I've been trying get a decent picture of these birds since November but they are pretty elusive and even when I do spot them there is rarely enough light to capture a decent shot. Last night was different; just enough light and a place where I could get close enough to them. So enjoy these rare shots.

More dancing

2007-04-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

I happened upon snowy egrets one afternoon and watched them cavort around for probably 15 minutes before I got tired of their antics. No telling how long they went at it or why they were doing what they were doing. Perhaps it was a mating thing or a little territorial dispute. All I know is that I'm never bored when I'm out watching the birds. It's always something different.

2007-04-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

I was walking in the lagoon area on the south end of the island when this Reddish Egret landed in the mud flat practically right next to me and started fishing. According to my bird book the little fishes like the shade provided by this fellow's wings and he then makes them pay the price for their bit of respite. Anyway it was a riot to see him hopping around in chase.

We hear from the 28%

2007-03-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

There were anti-war rallies this week and the media here stressed the few people out protesting the protesters with signs that said "Support Our President and Our Troops". For some reason this picture came to mind.

Shelter from the Wind

2007-02-21T16:39:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was a cool and windy day (not really conducive to beach activities) so we decided to take our friends Ron and Nancy, who were visiting from Minnesota, to the Audubon Conservancy east of Naples. It turned out to be a good move as the woods provided good cover from the wind for both us and the birds. This was our third trip and we saw more birds than the other two times. The most unusual was the one above, the American Bittern. It is normally quite reclusive but spent a lot of time showing off for about 20 of us. In this picture you can just make out the little craw fish that he just snared. The white guy is a Greater Egret, very common here. The flower appears to be a trumpet honeysuckle although it's not supposed to be blooming now according to my Audubon field guide. The last bird is a Red Tailed Hawk, quite common in both Florida and Minnesota but this one was exceptionally accommodating to us as we took pictures.

Another birding day

2007-01-30T10:06:00.000-08:00

Today this woodstork paid us a visit. It's the first time I've seen one on our property. I got the closeup by climbing down the wall behind the pool and wending my way through the bushes. As a bonus, in the wide shot, I caught a kingfisher just to the right of the stork. You can see it by clicking on the photo for a higher resolution view.

Birds of Ft Myers Beach

2007-01-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd share a bit of my Florida atmosphere. It seems that any time I drag my camera out to the beach or lagoon I'm rewarded with something new. Here is a little blue heron that allowed me to walk within 20 yards or so.
It's rainy and cold here today, in the fifties. Tomorrow promises to be a little better though and fortunately bad weather doesn't last long here.

Charity Begins at Home?

2007-01-09T12:53:00.000-08:00

We decided to spend New Year's Eve at Ft Myers Beach Times Square. To avoid traffic and parking woes, we decided to take the trolley from our place at the south end of the island. Our trip to town was great; we met friends at Jimmy B's and enjoyed the music of Deb and the Dynamics. At midnight the Chamber of Commerce put on their fireworks show and all was right with the world. Welcome 2007! Shortly thereafter we decided to catch the trolley home. Big problem. After waiting about 45 minutes we had had enough, especially since the crowd was getting a little unruly about who was there first and who would get on the next trolley. So we decided to start walking and maybe pick up the trolley as we walked along instead of waiting any longer. After a while we noticed that there still weren't any trolleys coming so we gave hitchhiking a try. Things got interesting then. For one thing, probably half the people passing us up were under the influence so we got numerous cat calls and laughter. There were also many very nice Cadillacs, BMW's and the like with two people who obviously thought we looked a little too threatening to give a ride. Finally, after probably 200 cars went past us, a young law student at the University of Indiana in a pretty modest little station wagon stopped and let us in. He drove us all the way to the end of the island even though his place was at midpoint. I don't know why he stopped while no one else would. He wasn't a local, that's for sure; he's from Mali, a country in western Africa bordering Algeria. In any case, it sure was appreciated and the experience is cataloged under "you never know...."

My kind of photo op

2007-01-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

I've been trying out a new lens on my camera so I've basically been shooting anything that either moves or doesn't. Today I spotted these Ibis drinking from a holding pond by the condo. It all looks so natural until you notice that the reflections are from buildings surrounding the pond. Oh well, guess I'll take nature where I can find it. There is an interesting perspective on this spoon feeding of nature in the book Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen. It's a very good read, easy and humorous in a conservative bashing sort of way. (Not that there's anything wrong with that).

Loony Day

2006-12-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

Running the beach today I happened to see my first loon. This is the first time since we started coming down here that I've seen a loon in saltwater. He/she looked busy, diving repeatedly and doing the familiar little loon strut and flap, showing off his very white breast feathers. The winter shading is so different from what we normally see on our Minnesota lake. Right now they are a bland brown with none of the beautiful greens and black. Anyway I got thinking that if a loon can figure out to leave Minnesota in the winter is it any wonder that I would finally figure it our after enduring 37 years.......