Whose Cute Little Tush?

I haven't shown you one of these for quite a while. They are rather permanent fixtures in my yard. Maggie (dog) was fast enough to catch them, so she kept the population down. I suspect the larger blue racers are also helping with that.

Well, of course, it's a thirteen-lined ground squirrel. Never knew anything about these cute critters until I moved to the Midwest. Although these and chipmunks are both in the Sciuridae family, ground squirrels have longer bodies. Some of their habits are different as well. At any rate, they are all very cute to watch as long as they don't eat my flower bulbs and roots.

And I'm happy to say that the birds have found the birdbath again this year. Terrible picture- the camera won't focus through the screen. But it's one of the finches- house or purple. There were three of them there at one time just a few minutes ago.

Today was too humid for me. I managed to work a little bit on several projects, but not a great deal was accomplished. It's cooling down now, perhaps I'll perk up for a final spurt of energy for the day. Or perhaps not.

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Birdbath Wars

I've been getting a real kick out of watching the birds in the birdbath. Today this one flew in and settled down for a real bath.

You need to keep in mind that these pictures are taken through a (very) dirty window, and I can't see details until I clean the pictures up later. I originally thought this was a starling.

In a few moments, a robin showed up. I didn't get any pictures of the best scene. The robin divebombed the dark bird and there was a tussle with screeching, but the robin did not get possession of the birdbath. You can see what the combatents thought of each other.

Pretty soon, the robin backed off and just sat on the porch rail as if it were waiting in line for its turn.

The robin flew off and the brown bird casually finished its bath. So, when I could really see these pictures... it's not a starling, it's a juvenile robin! Maybe the adult robin is not its parent? Maybe the adult robin has decided the juvie is grown up enough that it needs to learn how to share? Interesting questions.

This year, the birdbath has for sure been used by phoebes, starlings, the robins, a downy woodpecker, and quite a few of these guys. This is probably a house finch, but it's pretty hard to tell them from purple finches.

I alternated between working on the gardens and writing. A good and productive day.

See Phoebe on Birdbath

Some Statistics from the Hike

I allowed myself a complete rest day today. The most strenuous thing I did was to fill the birdbath. It's really interesting to me that not a single bird visited it for the first three years I put it out. After they finally began to visit, it was obvious that the word got around, and birds came looking for it earlier this season. And this was after it was never put out last year at all.

Now that I'm pretty much home for the summer to keep it filled, I'll enjoy the visitors. This is an Eastern Phoebe.

Now for some number crunching about the hike. I had originally hoped to finish in 365 days. That requires an average of 13.2 miles per day with no breaks. Or, as I hoped, 4815/15 mpd = 321 days, which would give me 44 days off. Seemed like enough.

Ha! Actual hiking days... it took me 408 days to walk the trail. That is an average per hiking day of 11.8 miles. That's a lot less than I was trying for.

I also took more days off than I had planned on, logistics, weather, the flu, car trouble, blah, blah.

There are some circumstances that changed, but the truth is that although I put in some long mileage days (for me) at 18 miles, and a lot at 15, the short days just dragged down the average. Even as of Nov 11, 2022, before the snow began to take a toll, my average was only 12.4 miles. The ice storm in Ohio gave me nine days of single digit mileages. I did two shorter days after I was sick in April, until I regained full strength. The Kek and the Border Route were accomplished with almost all single digit days.

There is no way I can hike far enough on enough days to make an average recover from hits like that.

And then, once it became clear that I wasn't going to be able to hike the western UP until at least May, probably June, it became less important to me to keep the miles close to 15. The completion date wasn't going to happen until I could do those miles in the Trap Hills, so I did back off a little. The hike was taking a big toll on my body.

Although I managed to hike an amazing portion of the UP in winter, a lot of that was accomplished with single digit days.

True confession time. When I came home for a seasonal break at the end of December, I was really beat up. Even I did not realize how tired I was until I got home. Basically, I could hardly move for two months, let alone try to stay in shape for the rest of the hike. I wondered if I'd done some long-lasting damage to my joints.

But, hey! Solvitur ambulando, hiking cures everything. Maybe just moderated a little. Since there was no point in hiking long mileage days with a completion date in June set in stone (snow), I altered the plan and did a lot of days with shorter mileages. You may remember that at the end of March, Bill and I were hunting hard for any piece of trail or roadwalk that we could even hike.

So now, I've finished all the miles, all on foot, every inch... just not quite as fast as I had hoped. I'm disappointed, but not overly so. Physically, I feel great. The body healed, and I honestly don't feel any older than when I started.

I was joking in November, when the Dec 1 goal was definitely out, that I had better finish before I got to be 75. But that didn't happen either.

We are pretty sure that I am the oldest person at time of completion to hike the NCT. I may be the first person to do it twice. This has not been verified as there is another person who did at least large portions of it twice. None of these "records" is why I hiked it again. I really just wanted to see how much things had changed and to share it day by day with people.

Tomorrow- I'll thank a lot of people who deserve huge orchids, kudos, and praise.

My rest day included an unusual daytime nap. I was in one of those strange, catatonic dreams where I was dreaming that I was dreaming, but I knew it and couldn't wake up or even move my body parts. I was sleepwalking somewhere in Europe with my friends Bill and Phil and Nan trying to wake me up and not being able to. I kept falling flat on my face but it never hurt. If I knew what this meant other than that I guess I was tired, I'd tell you. Haha! Make of it what you will.

See The Final Steps

Wet Enough

 
Another 0.6 inch of rain today, and I didn't get a walk in at all. There was a window between storms when I might have, but I missed it. I sure didn't have to add water to the birdbath today.



What I did manage to do was spend a lot more time working on the dining room project. In fact, it's good enough I'll show you. And if you want to slam me because it's still not really usable as a dining room, go right ahead. It's working for me, and at least it's not just thrown in heaps and filthy.



And I got a few more pieces of trail food for the hike put together. It always goes really slowly at first, because you don't have all the ingredients of each meal yet. But you have to start somewhere.



Then, I got hung up because there was so much clutter in the kitchen I couldn't work, so I had to clean that up.

The only other thing I did was write one chapter in Dead Mule Swamp Mistletoe. I couldn't sleep last night- who knows why? So I listened to music for a while, then read until 4 am. Therefore, I slept late. Whatever... at least I managed to accomplish some things. And still very thankful for a good vacuum cleaner. I know I don't use it as much as I should, but at least it really cleans when I do use it!

	See Relief! See Kleaning Inspired by K
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Hangin' Around the Water Cooler

 
I wish I could have gotten a good shot of this pose, but all I got was one through the screen with my phone. This is the fox squirrel, just relaxing around the water cooler, er... birdbath. What you can't really tell because of the window divisions is that it was just sort of draped casually over the edge, with one elbow hooked on the rim. Sometimes animals take on such human poses. Or is it the other way around?



But by the time I went and got the better camera the squirrel was wary.



But, at least that birdbath is finally being taken seriously by overheated wildlife.

In other news: I gave a program at Montague Library tonight. It went really well and I sold some books. It was last night, but since I blogged last I also wrote another chapter of DMS Mistletoe.

	See Twiggy the Water-skiing Squirrel
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Somebody's Birdbath

 
Can't access my camera pictures tonight. Need a new card reader. So I went hunting for a pretty picture you haven't seen yet.

Here's a nice female oriole taking advantage of a bird bath (from 2016). Not mine, although I do see more birds using mine this year, which is awesome!



This computer switch is no longer kicking my butt. However, there is still a lot of drudge work to do, and then re-creating the files I lost. Sigh.

	See Oriole, Oriole
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Bird Talk

 
I'm really happy about my bird story for the day, but it's not first in the lineup because the picture that goes with it is crappy. So I'll do the stories chronologically.

First is a vireo nest. I found it the other day at Magoon Creek. I had encountered one last year and was stumped. It looks like a tiny oriole nest the way it hangs from a fork in the branches. But much too small for an oriole. So I looked it up then, and this time I knew what I was seeing. I don't think it's this year's, because there was no bird hanging around, but I could be wrong.



Next is a brown thrasher. There is usually one nesting somewhere near our house, but I think this one might be checking out the forsythia bush right in the front yard. It was there yesterday, and again today, so I ran for the camera. This isn't the forsythia (stupid autumn olive), but it didn't go far away. We'll see if it's back again tomorrow.

The baby thrasher that Maggie and I found a few years ago wasn't much farther away, but not right by the driveway.



Now for the best! Remember my lament about the bird bath that the birds never use? Well, I like lost causes and improbabilities, so I put it out again this year. I had added a rock in the middle thinking maybe the birds didn't like the smooth ceramic edge to sit on.

Also, remember the phoebe bookends that would come sit on the two empty bird feeders last year? They came back this spring. Do pheobes mate for life? I have no idea, but I'm guessing at least one of them is the same. So, they've been sitting there, one or two at a time. I suspect the nest is back in the aspen grove.

Last night, when it was still so hot, one of them dipped down to the birdbath and sat on the ceramic bird. I guess that means they aren't scared off by those fakes. Then it took a drink! No chance of a picture.

Today, one of them has gotten a drink five times that I saw. And I've been sitting around with the camera hoping to catch it. I know it's not much of a shot- through the window and screen, and I only caught it sitting on the edge (not the rock- so I guess they don't care), not actually drinking.

But I feel awesome to give the birdies a place to get water on a hot, hot day! I hope others will figure it out. Oddly enough, a few days ago there was a robin on the deck rail, and then a pair of mourning doves. I'd never seen either of those birds on the deck.



In other news: I did book sales accounting, wrote half a chapter in The Bigg Boss, and then wrote my monthly newspaper column. Took a short walk early before it got too hot. Might go out again now. It's cooling a bit- below 80 anyway. Reading another book- about as energetic as I feel at 90 degrees.

	See Bird Bookends See Baby Brown Thrasher
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Birdbath Singularity

 
After all my watching and hoping and not ever seeing one single bird even inspect this bird bath, I had pretty much decided that they were afraid of the ceramic birds on the rim. I was ready to give it away, even though I like it a lot. In fact, it was a birthday present to myself a few years ago.

Then today (after 3 years), a house finch took a nice bath right while I was watching! Of course, all I could do was snap a quick, poor picture through the window and screen with my phone before she flew away. Her mate sat on the porch rail and observed, but he didn't get wet. Will this singular point of success make me keep the dish? Don't know yet.



Later on, the whole landscape got a bath.



Got some things done on my list for the day. Not all. That will have to do for a Saturday.

	See A Little Splurge
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Bird Bookends

 
This has been the view out one of the windows to the deck quite regularly for the past two weeks. It's a pair of phoebes that have a nest somewhere out in the aspen grove.



They come and sit on the empty birdfeeders like bookends around the unused bird bath. It's like a bad joke.

I've tried to get better pictures, but they are so nervous they won't come near the deck at all if I sit outside, and they don't sit still anywhere longer than a few seconds. This is the best I got, through a window. You can almost sense the wariness.



Still, I'm glad to have their company.

I added a rock to the center of the birdbath in case it was the smooth edges the birds don't like. Nothing doing. No feathered creature has been near it. I wonder if the ceramic birds on the rim scare them off.



Look who's in one of the dead aspen branches. A cedar waxwing! They don't usually show up until the mulberries are ripe.

	See Phoebe See Two Birdbaths, No Birds
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Two Birdbaths, No Birds

 
Got some more pictures of the teasel that grows on my easiest roadwalk today. Turns out it's also cut-leaf teasel, the same as the really, really lacy one I saw in Ohio last year. But the point is, the leaves also form cups around the stems which collect water. Look closely, they are very full of water. I was thinking these might make a great place to find a drink on a dry hike, or for a bird to get a bath. But I didn't see any birds hanging around.



Interestingly enough, one study suggests that when insects die in these pools of water those teasel plants grow better. This suggests some sort of carnivorous activity!

Just a reminder of what the whole plant looks like.

I got out my birdbath that was a selfie birthday present three years ago. Here's a joke. I still really like it, but to my knowledge no bird has ever set foot on the rim, in the water, or even beside it to investigate. Ah well. I try.



We had to stop feeding the birds because the squirrel became such a problem. The red squirrel moved on, but now we have a fox squirrel living nearby. The birds have been coming to see if there was food this year. Nope. But there is water. Do they care? Apparently not.

	See A Little Splurge
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A Little Splurge

 
Went hog wild and bought myself a little gift today. (It has a tiny chip so I got 10% off, and it was much cheaper than I thought it would be- all the right things, and blue too!). And the flowers will hopefully continue to give some color for a while.



I want to put it where I can watch the birds play in their birdbath from the chair where I work.

In other news, I started the back section of the roof that is this season's chore. It's a small piece, and I hope it will go really fast. REALLY fast.

	See Looky, Looky, I Played Hookey
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