Baby Eagles

EagleCam | BioDiversity Research Institute

I've been watching this website for a while, the eagles laid eggs and were incubating them, or so everyone thought. After leaving the nest unoccupied for over 3 hours in freezing weather, and not seeing any eggs on a flyover, the biologists concluded the eagles either didn't lay eggs, or the eggs died.
To everyone's surprise, we saw one of the eagles move to the edge of the nest this morning, and saw a little eaglet in the bottom of the nest! Big excitement!
Cool video to watch and listen to, interesting blog to read, and a worthy cause to donate to!

Knut Mania

Have you heard about Knut? He is the first Polar Bear to be born at the Berlin Zoo in over 30 years.
Rejected by his mother, he is being raised by a zookeeper- and this is causing all sorts of controversy among animal activists that claim this is making the bear a domestic pet.

"Hand-rearing a polar bear is not appropriate and is a serious violation of animal rights," Bild newspaper quoted animal rights campaigner Frank Albrecht as saying.
"In fact, the cub should have been killed," he added.

HELLO- Herr Franc. Violation of animal rights? This is a Zoo!! Isn't that by definition a violation of animal rights???

Zoo Berlin / EXPERIENCE / Young animals / Ice Bear Knut

This just in-Knut's mother used to be a performing animal in an East German zoo.

Knut's mother Tosca – formerly a performing animal in an East German zoo – rejected Knut and his twin brother shortly after their birth. The twin died but Knut was "adopted" by zookeeper Thomas Doerflein.

The polar bear is bottle-fed, washed and cuddled by his adoptive father, who moved in to the zoo to sleep in a bed by the bearA's crate. Newspapers report that Doerflein also plays him Elvis songs on the guitar and gave him Christmas presents.

Apart from all the controversy, Knut is so darn CUTE that you can't help but make little squeeky baby noises when you see him! ooh, look at that liddle piddle face!

Throwplace.com - The Internet's Landfill Alternative

Throwplace.com - The Internet's Landfill Alternative

This is an interesting site-

Throwplace.com® is a Web site where global Businesses and Individuals may list excess inventory, possessions or goods for donation. Charities, Businesses or Individuals registered with Throwplace.com® are able to search the site for things that they can use, and make requests for items of interest. Items listed on Throwplace are not for sale—they are to be given away.

I like the idea of this- sort of a global recycling agency. I hope it turns into something big!

zoomquilt2.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)

Worlds within worlds within worlds, this may give you motion sickness! Caution, some of the images are very disturbing. But the idea behind it is very cool.

zoomquilt2.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)


8 am 52 degrees
Partly sunny

Water is coming up!

Not a great photo, but you can see how the water is coming up in the inlet. There are two guys in a boat fishing there. If you go back to February I have a picture of the same spot, mostly dry. The shale wall is now completely underwater, making it about 8 ft deep in that spot.


8 am 53 degrees
9 pm 58 degrees
Sunny and hot

Greenhouse update 3-25-07

Well, all the arches are up, and the purlins (things that connect the arches) are up too. It doesn't look like like all that much work, but it was! And dragging that scaffolding around was fun, too...

That Casey!

Casey likes to sit on things, and I mean SIT on things, like she is a person. She's quite a character, there are a lot of little odd things she does, but she is the biggest sweetie and loves to be petted and brushed. Her fur is so soft!

More Wildflowers

Two more wildflowers, I'm not sure what they are called- if you do, please let me know!

Spring is here...

White blossoms






Yellow Trilliums (I think)
They smell citrusy.
Trillium cuneatum var luteum?











I guess this is the north side of the tree??


8am 55 degrees
5pm 84 degrees
Sunny and HOT (88 degrees)

Greenhouse update

Well, today the guys from Trinity Construction gave us a hand and helped us put up the last 4 spans. Then Harry clambered around on the scaffolding all day trying to get the purlins in place. (The purlins are the long supports that run the length of the greenhouse and anchor the spans in place- I think!) Each purlin is about 8 ft long and heavy! One end is swaged, or narrowed, so it can fit into the end of the next piece. Each purlin has to be threaded through a fitting on the span- not easy when you're standing on the scaffolding 12 ft off the ground! Poor Harry. It was a lot of hard work on a warm day.

On a more positive note, Happy Birthday Madison!

8 a.m. 52 degrees
7:15 p.m. 73 degrees

Happy Birthday Madison!

Today it is Harry's granddaughter's birthday. Happy Birthday Madison!

8am 52 degrees
7:15 pm 73 degrees
Partly cloudy

Tryin to kill my dog???

News of the pet food recall broke Sunday on the Anatolian Shepherd Dog list, and Monday I checked out the Menu Foods website to scan the list of recalled food. So far it is only canned or pouched food, but I'm still worried since we use a few of the affected brand's dry food or biscuits.

Tonight after an update on local pets on the news, I rechecked the list. What the???? Now we have a recalled can of food- Paws with Lamb Cuts and Vegetables. Did I miss it the first time I checked? How scary!

We don't routinely feed our dogs canned food as a meal. They do however, get a little snack every night of a spoonful of canned food. I've been meaning to open the Paws can but since it is a 22 oz. can I wasn't sure my plastic lid I use on the cans would fit. Right now I'm so happy I never opened this can.

You know, the can has no indication on it that is is made by Menu Foods in Canada. As a matter of fact it has "Product of USA" printed on the label. Tsk! Shame!

I'm getting a little scared about food. Just a few weeks ago we had to toss a jar of peanut butter because that brand recalled them. Hope they never get my Cheetos!

8 am 50 degrees
5:30 pm 68 degrees
cloudy, rain in late afternoon

Pine trees

We have a really nice neighbor in Mike Coffee. He and his wife Karen are also new to the area, and between us we are finding good places for lumber, salvage, eating, renting equipment, etc, etc, etc!

A few weeks ago we had a conversation about planting trees. In Wisconsin the Natural Resource Department would sell reforestation trees at a very reasonable price, and we both hoped to find something like that in TN.

Yesterday morning Mike drove down our driveway and said, "how many trees do you want?".
He had been out running errands and heard on the radio that the Forestry service was giving away pine trees- small seedlings, 8-10 inches tall. Wow! How nice!

This morning Harry and I went down the road to plant them. Our road comes off a frontage road, and there are pines running along it blocking view of the freeway and blocking some of the noise. In a few areas there aren't any trees, so we planted ours there. When they grow up they'll help keep things quiet.

8 am 30 degrees
4:15pm 50 degrees
Sunny

Happy Birthday Carie!

Happy Birthday Carie Bryant!

rained all night last night. cloudy today.

8 a.m. 55 degrees.
6:30 p.m. 39

You, Turkey

You'll probably have to click on the photo to enlarge it, but see if you can count the turkeys in this picture. We have a large herd in the area- we've counted over 30 birds. They are wonderful and awesome. So big! I hope no one shoots them! Here they are casually strolling away since they've spotted me in the distance.


8 am 55 degrees
6:30 pm 39 degrees
rained all last night.

Puppy's Birthday

Puppy is our big dog that we got through Anatolian Shepherd Dog Rescue. We initially signed up to foster him, but even before we got him home we knew he was our dog. My big fuzz ball.

Today is the Ides of March, and we picked Puppy up 4 years ago, so I guess we can consider this his birthday! He got extra brushing and petting today, and this afternoon I took him for a walk all by himself, and let him go swimming. He was a pretty happy dog after that.

8 a.m. 55 degrees
7 p.m. rain.

Google Mars

Harry loves Google Earth, and spend hours looking at it, seeing far off places and sites of interest. Now he can do the same on Mars!
Google Mars

Woop Woop?

The other day, I was googling Australian nicknames and Australian slang. Since I like to grow Australian plants, I thought I'd give them some cute or funny names. WOOP WOOP is slang for a remote or backward location, and since we just moved to Tennessee, where the nearest town boasts 2,000 residents, I thought it would be a perfect name for a gardening blog.

Goin' Swimmin'

This morning it was so nice I walked Puppy and Casey down to the lake and let them wade a little. You can see how much more water there is in the lake now.

7 a.m. 54 degrees
4 p.m. 74 degrees
Sunny

Starting actual Greenhouse

Today Harry started attaching the GH feet to the base boards. It was pretty hard work, all the screws had to be put in by hand.
I helped him, but he did most of the work.

It felt good to get started on the greenhouse.
7 a.m. 41 degrees
4 p.m. 73 degrees
Sunny

Greenhouse update

Robert and Mark finished up the greenhouse base today. Wow, it is really tall on the side. And to think I thought the ground was pretty level!

In the afternoon I went to work in the inlet and burn some branches and logs. Within minutes of me lighting the fires, the wind started gusting. The bonfires leaped higher and higher, and some leaves about 20 feet away started smoking and then burning. I tried to pull the wood piles apart so they wouldn't burn as fast, but was afraid that would cause more sparks to fly.
All I could think of was that I would be on the news! The woman who caused a forest fire! Or even worse, burned down her husband's dream home 4 months after they move in! I was in full panic mode and this time I used the cell phone to call Harry for help and urge him to come down and help me. To make matters worse, a neighbor across the inlet came down to see what was going on. I felt horrible, I kept saying "I have a burning permit!" "It wasn't windy when I started!"
Harry finally arrived and helped pull the brush piles apart. I was worried that now the wood would burn too slowly, and possibly smolder all night. I suggested dowsing the fires with water, and Harry agreed. It took lots of buckets from the stream, but I felt much better putting the fire out completely.
The experience dampened my enthusiasm for burning all the driftwood in the inlet, I won't do any more burning until we get some rain. There had been two other bad forest fires in the area- one in Knoxville and one in Pigeon Forge, and I'm so happy I didn't add to them.

7 a.m. 37 degrees
2 p.m. 70 degrees
Sunny

Greenhouse Arrives!!

This morning we got a call that the greenhouse was on its way. The driver was about 50 miles away. When he got to our house, there was some bad news. The greenhouse was in a full size semi trailer, 52 feet long. The driver wasn't worried about driving down our driveway, but he didn't think he'd be able to turn around once he got to our house. Somehow someone (not me!) came up with the bright idea of backing the truck up the driveway to our house. Now, I wouldn't even back a car down that steep, narrow driveway! And it is 2/10ths of a mile from the road to the house!

We also had to get the greenhouse pallets off the truck by ourselves. We don't own a forklift, so Harry planned on pulling them out with his tractor.
The truck driver walked back to our house and said we'd have to unload up at the road and bring everything down on our utility trailer. We weren't too happy about that but felt better when the driver offered to help us lift the boxes.

Luckily one of our neighbors was driving by. He owns a tractor and tire center and called for one of his tow trucks. By the time we got up to the road the flatbed tow truck was backed up to the semi. Although our greenhouse was all the way in the front of the semi, the tow guys hooked a chain on it and pulled it all the way onto the tow truck. Then they drove the truck down our driveway, tipped the flatbed part up, and slid the pallet onto our driveway. What lifesavers!

Did I mention all the greenhouse pieces were on a 19 foot long pallet? It would have been almost impossible for us to get that up to our house, even using our 8 ft long trailer. And moving everything by hand? Our Bill of Lading said the shipping weight was 4542 pounds. We can't thank those tow guys enough! They were very, very nice.

7 a.m. 37 degrees
4 p.m. 70 degrees
Sunny and breezy

gh update

Boards are all on. Now they will cut the tops off the post and put a board running along the top edge.

7 a.m. 27 degrees
6 p.m. 57 degrees
Sunny day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COOPER!!

Happy Birthday to my nephew Cooper! He is a cool kid and VERY smart!

7 a.m. 42 degrees
8 p.m. 61 degrees
rain

Greenhouse update

Boards start to go up.

7 a.m. 43 deg
6:15 p.m. 52 deg
Cloudy with a cool breeze.

Greenhouse Construction

After the end of the second day, all 18 posts are cemented into the holes.

7 a.m. 27 degrees
5:45pm 64 degrees

Greenhouse Contstruction Starts!

Greenhouse construction started today!
Harry hired Trinity Construction to build a base for the greenhouse to sit on, since the ground isn't flat at the site.
Robert and Mark came out and started work today- first they dig 18 holes for the footers. Poor guys, they really earned their money. The ground was so rocky they had to use a pickaxe to dig the holes- and the holes were two feet deep. Ugh!
7 a.m. 47 degrees
5 p.m. 59 degrees

Computer woes

I always felt sorry for people that seemed to have a lot of computer problems. Today, it was my turn! I was using my laptop and set it aside on the floor to eat some pizza. I partially closed the top of it, but was in the middle of updating the Lakeside Callas website so I didn't want to turn it off. Horrors- as I reached for a glass of grape juice, I tipped it and it spilled on the computer (and the chair, and the floor, and my papers, and the sofa...). The computer initially seemed OK but then I couldn't turn it off- and then later I couldn't turn it on. Loss of the computer I could deal with, but I had never backed up anything from my hard drive- mostly hundreds and hundreds of photos I didn't want to lose!
After a lot of searching, we could only find one computer repair place in the area. The owner seemed nice but she was doubtful about repairing a Dell, so I continued looking.... I ended up calling Dell, even though the computer was out of warranty. They could repair it, but could not guarantee the hard drive.
Luckily, it didn't take them very long to repair it, and when I plugged my hard drive back in, everything was back to normal! Of course, the first thing I did was burn all my photos to CDs!
7 a.m. 19 degrees
5:30 p.m. 52 degrees
Partly cloudy day

Snow!

7 a.m. 34 degrees
We celebrated Valentine's Day by waking up to snow! Everything had a light covering and it looked so pretty. Didn't last very long, though.

Another Visitor

This is a terrible photo, but I wanted to share with you some little visitors we had this week. Bluebirds! Eastern Bluebirds, to be exact.
They are so incredibly blue, especially when they fly. Their feathers are the same blue as the blue on plastic tarps.
And Dad, that's T-a-r-p.
Not Carp.

Bryant's Inlet Part 2

As you look at the photos of the inlet, keep in mind that in April, this will all be water- right up to the tree line. The only thing I don't like about our lake is that you can walk around the water's edge like you can in lakes up north. The photo with the very orange soil is of the main channel of the lake. Again, that will all be under water soon.

Bryant's Inlet

OK, so that really isn't the name of our inlet, but we like to call it that. It doesn't seem like it would be interesting to have a lake inlet with no water in it, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. There are all different sorts of rocks- quartz and shale, other types too. The bottom isn't flat like you would think, it is full of hills and valleys. Sort of like walking on the moon... Driftwood blows into the inlet, here I'm burning a pile of it left behind once the water level dropped.

A Visitor

A Red- Bellied Woodpecker. He's so big he flips his tail up to help hold him on the feeder.

Quicksand!!

Although it rained a few days ago, I thought it was cold enough to walk the dogs in the inlets today. I should explain that we live on a TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)) lake. This lake was formed by building a dam and flooding part of the countryside. The water level is lowered in the fall until our section of the lake looks like a small river. Our street runs down the middle of a peninsula into the lake, our property is on one inlet and the folks across the road are on another inlet. During the winter, the inlets are almost completely dry, and they are very interesting to walk in.

First we walked down our neighbor's driveway to check out their house (they were out of town). After walking around the house, we headed down the hill to their pier. The ramp to the dock was pretty steep since there isn't any water in the inlet and the dock is sitting on the bottom. Although there was a thin layer of frost on the ramp, I thought it would be OK to walk on... oooh, was I wrong! Puppy and Casey walked on OK, and I gingerly stepped out- with the first footstep I though, "this might not be a good idea" and as soon as I put my second foot down, we all started to slide down the ramp like skiers on a ski jump! I knew there was a small gap between the ramp and the dock, and didn't want any of us to get caught in that- so about halfway down I flung myself off the side, Casey and I fell together and Puppy leaped on his own. We were all OK, although my behind was a little sore where I fell...

We continued on our walk, it was such a beautiful cool morning, sunny and bright. I had on my long winter coat so was warm as could be. As we walked out of the inlet, Puppy decided he wanted to go towards the lake to check it out. Fine, no problem. We had to step across a winding rivulet about 6 inches wide on the way. The ground was frozen with a thin sheet of ice covering it. As I stepped over the rivulet again, I heard a "crack" and my foot went through the ice and into the mud underneath it- up to my knee. I couldn't get my foot out! It felt like it was in glue! As I tried to pull, my other foot broke through too, and I fell so I was sitting on the ice.
Of course, there was no one around. I thought about calling Harry on the cell phone (that we bought mostly for when I'm walking the dogs) but knew it would take him probably 20 minutes to get to where I was. Then I got the bright idea of trying to walk in the rivulet... I pulled out my second foot, and stepped into the water- and my foot sunk up to mid calf! I started feeling pretty desperate and Puppy must have realized that. He walked over on the ice, reared up on his back legs , then pounced, using his front feet to break a hole in the ice. Not helping!
After he did it a second time, I said "NO!" and he seemed to get the hint.

Somehow I remembered some nature show I had seen long ago that said you could swim out of quicksand by moving slowly- so I lay down on my back, and made some mighty pulls until I got my feet out (what a relief that was) and then shimmied along on my back until I made it to drier ground. Then I had to walk home! The amazing part was that even though my legs and shoes were covered with mud, my feet were dry! (Yay, Nike tennies!) Still, cleaning up was a mess!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Today is my little sister's birthday.

Happy Birthday Karin!

This was also my Grandpa's birthday. He and Karin were born on the same day, 60 years apart.

Sun and Snow

We don't always get to see a pretty sunrise since the hills block the sun coming up, but once in a while there is a beauty! Later in the day we went for a drive up English Mountain (Westernmost Mountain in Smokey Mountains). We couldn't get very far up the mountain, but saw some pretty views. Although our dusting of snow this morning melted, there was still snow on the mountain...