Kowabunga

Yesterday we went to the "Living Green Expo" in St. Paul. It was something my wife convinced my to do as she thought it would be fun. Since it was going to be a lousy weather day and wouldn't get anything done, I figured what the hey. Besides, they were going to have a few workshops that fit into our long range plans, including composting and getting started with raising chickens.

The focus of the expo was "Global Warming" and ran as keynote Al "I Invented Global Warming" Gore's presentation/slide show "An Inconvenient Truth" which I conveniently missed.

The exhibitors ran the range from organic farming, including various products from milk, ice cream and cheese, to more conventional produce farming, as well as the folks running the workshop on raising chickens in the city with several of their birds.

Lots on composting and planting native plants in your landscapes as well as a number of home improvement folks.

There were also a number of organizations, including one on home schooling (which I stopped by and picked up info) and the Minnesota DNR. And yes, the expected anti-Bush zealots pushing bumper stickers and the like as well as the Communist, I mean Green, Party. Okay, is there really a difference between the two?

Both of the workshops we sat in on were interesting and informative. The focus on the getting started with chickens was for an urban setting (as opposed to rural setting) and contained valuable information on overcoming the hurdles that one faces when raising chickens in the city. Shocking, there are laws one has to follow, and you need to get a permit from the city, and approval of the majority of your neighbors. What was impressive is the number of people attending this workshop who are interested in raising chickens. Hopefully some of them will pursue it.

Overall, it was a good time, and educational. Gave me food for thought on raising chickens as well as some badly needed info on composting before I build our compost heap.

Tags:

Living Green Expo

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We finally recevied our first decent snowfall since the beginning of November. At least now it is cold enough that it should stick around for awhile.

Here in rural Minnesota, we received snow somewhere around 5 inches in depth. It's a fine, light powder that is great to look at, but makes for lousy snowballs and snowmen. Sigh! I may have to try and get the stuff to cling together enough to build something for Miss Anna anyway.

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It is the day before Crhistmas, sometimes known as Christmas Eve, although it i still morning as I write this, and my lovely wife's Birthday (Happy Birthday Sue!).

As always, the first thing I do once I get up in the morning is take the doggies out for a morning walk. This morning had an interesting surprise instore for us. Once we hit the road (about 500' from the house) we started to head west, towards one edge of the property, and the doggies taking care of thier morning business as well as sniffing verything out. It was about 20 degrees without the wind chill, so a bit colder than that, once you figure the wind chill in.

There was sudden movement in the clump of trees that corners the property. suddenly, a red fox burst out of the grass and began to run across the field away from of. Of course, this caught Tasha's undivided attention as she wanted to give chase and meet this new, potential, friend.

The fox ran about a hundred yards or so, then stopped to check for pursuit. Seeing we were not following, he decided it was safe, and laid don in the middle of the field for a bit. After deciding he was really safe, he headed off towards the woods that line the river and eventually disappeared from view.

Now, normally, I'd be going "rats" about not having a camera with me. But, let's face it, even if I had my camera, there is no way I could have gotten it out fast enough to snap any pictures.

There is a fair population of foxes out here, including at least one den about a half a mile from the house. I am guessing that's where this one lives.

all in all, a fun start to my wife's Birthday (even though she wasn't with me on the walk), and a great start for this very Holy weekend.

Merry Christmas!

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One of the advantages of living in the country is that you have more space to set off things like fireworks.

I'll post a video when it is up.

The other neat thing last night was, after the fireworks were over, we spotted a satellite passing over head.

Update: I've got steaming video working. Below is a short video clip from the fireworks display. I had a little trouble turning off the autostart, but found some tips that pointed me in the right direction. This is an MWV file, so if you are using Apple or Linux, very sorry.

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For those of you who have been following my Blog, you may have noticed a lack of posts over the last few months. Sorry about that.

My life has changed...dramatically.

I have entered the world of Daddyhood, and everything has changed...and for the better.

However, I do want to keep writing, and will endeavor to get back on the ball and keep things here at Kowabunga updated on a more regular basis. Let's face it, there is so much going on in the world, I have to ask myself, where to begin.

And maybe I should post a few pictures of the apple of my eye.

As always, thanks for stopping in and giving my blog a read.

Posted by Sqotty at 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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Living in the country is, to me, the best way to live, and, other than a long commute (and dealing with high gas prices for said commute), I have found very few disadvantages about living in a rural setting. Today, however, I found one.

The first thing I do every morning when I get up is take the doggers out for their morning walk, even if, as it was this morning, still dark. I had to get an early start as I had to give a talk up in Lakeville. Generally, it is fairly peaceful, rarely interrupted by anything other than an occasional neighbor driving by with a honk and a wave, or a few minutes of chatting. Or the occasional deer that the girls would really love to chase, which is why I keep them on leashes.

This morning, still being dark out, we headed down the driveway towards the road, when Katya and Tasha caught wind of a critter and began to strain at their leashes. I spotted a dark lump at the end of my driveway that I figured was a raccoon, as they are fairly common, and are about the right size as what we were looking at. Raccoons can be dangerous, and carry rabies, so we stopped and watched yon critter to see if it would scoot across the road an into the surrounding cornfields.

Move it did, but not across the road, but positioning its main battery up the driveway in our direction, and allowing me to spot those white stripes down its back. Fortunately, it did not let loose a blast at us. Instead we gave ground and headed back to the house, and settled for an abbreviated walk. Skunks not only have that odiferous main battery, they also carry rabies, so two darned good reasons to leave it alone.

Ill have to make it up to the girls when I get home tonight. And maybe I should look into getting a varmint gun.

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I would like to take a moment to announce the birth of my daughter, Anna Marie.

She was born on September 20th, 2005, wighed in at 8 pounds and 5.8 ounces, measured 21 inches in length.

And Lord, is she beautiful...

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I have often been asked why I like living in the country so much, and there are many reasons I can give, but none make it so clear than coming home on a crystal clear night like tonight.

It's already dark when I arrived home, my dogs anxious for their evening walk The night sky is, as I mentioned above, crystal clear. I am forty miles from major metro lights, and being out in the country, there is just a little bit of light leakage across the sky from the smaller rural ciities. There are no street lights, and it is late enough that the few houses around me have their lights out.

Putting the leashes on my dogs, we went out into the night for their final P and P patrol for the day, and I marveled at the beauty and serenity of the night sky above me.

The Big Dipper is the most recognizable constellation, and one of the few I can identify without any aid. This is something I should work on changing; I need to learn the consteallations.

I have never gotten over how beautiful a night sky is out here. Nothing like what I have lived with during all my previous adult years, living in San Diego, LA, or the SF Bay area, where the night sky is overwhelmed by the city lights, washing out many of the stars that are clearly visible to me here.

Soon, I think, I shall have to get my camera out and try my hand at some time lapse photography, and post it on my site. It is the most remarkable sight to behold, and unlike my travels to remote places where there is virtually no light polution, I get this on every clear night.

And then I thank the Lord that I am able to live like this, out in the country, surrounded by farms, woods and wild life, and able to enjoy the tranquility of a marvelous starry sky.

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After two solid weeks without rain, and watchng the crops suffer, as well as my trees, we finally had a series of rian storms roll thorugh the area last night, leaving a fairly healthy amount of rain.

No need to continue with the rain dance for a while.

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John and Abigail Adams are regular visitors in my neighborhood. This is not a big surprise as they have nested near here for a number of years, and the tree they perch in, Eagle's Perch, is just down the road fom my house and is a favorite spot of theirs due to its proxiimaty to the river.

However, this particular day was a bit unusual as they were both perched there at the same time. I rarely see both John and Abigail at the same time. Since they were there, I was able to get my camera and take a few pics of them.

They are truly a magnificent sight. After four years of seeing them, I am still amazed at their beauty and majesty.

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Sometime during the holiday break, the Sciota Township Hall was burglarized. Aside from a bit of property damage, only a couple of small items were stolen. I'm not sure why the thieves made off with anything at all, as there is literally nothing of value in the building.

Okay, it would have been nice if they had at least emptied the mouse traps while they were there. Wishful thinking!

Why our township hall? I guess they figured it was an easy target. Fortunately, most thieves are stupid. If they had a lick of sense, they would have realized that small townships have nothing of value to steal.

Downside: door and locks needed to be replaced. Yeesh!

Posted by Sqotty at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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Contrary to popular belief, there are many advantages to living in the country, especially in my neck of the woods. I regularly see quite a bit of wildlife on my morning walks with the dogs, and today was no different. In fact, today was so good, after walking the girls I headed back out with my digital camera. The camera I used is not a spectacular instrument for shooting nature pics, the resolution is 5 Megapixels, and a 3x zoom. Not super stuff, but I figured it will do. And it did.

My main subject is one of the Bald Eagles that nests nearby. I spotted him up in the tree I named Eagle's Perch, as they both regularly use that tree for a place to watch the land.

While I approached him from the East, I spotted a couple of deer nearby and took a shot of them. Not a super great shot, but considering the tools at hand, not a bad shot at all.

As I closed in, the eagle began to stretch his wings, preparing to fly off.

Once in motion in the air, he flew over my head, affording me some very nice shots, before he disappeared into the woods along the river.

On the way back to the house, I spotted another deer hanging around and got a decent shot of him before he also disappeared into the woods.

To me, this is one of the greatest benefits to living in the country, as nature's children abound, playing in the woods, fields and streams.

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