I've Got (Half) a Ticket to Ride

 The big local news is snow.

We are socked in. But that's not the focus of my day. This is one of those stories that goes on so long it becomes ridiculous. I've been trying to get a train ticket East to go to the 2025 Flower Show.

I started trying to get a ticket yesterday. I already knew the Amtrak web site is bad, but how bad? I could get the round-trip ticket and the correct dates etc in my cart, but could not pay for it. I also could not see the return trip times. That seemed worrisome, but I used their live chat and it was explained to me how to see that, which I then could do.

Kept trying to pay for the ticket. Of course, after 5 minutes the site times out. Tried to log in, but it said I don't have an account. Well, I did... so I wonder how long that lasts before they dump a customer out of their database. Ran out of time before Monica picked me up yesterday.

Started trying again today. Created a new account Tried in two different browsers. Still no way to actually pay for the ticket, and every time you have to start over because it times out. Tried to get help through the chat. Explained it all. They bumped me up to a supervisor. Explained it all again. No go. That person told me to call the 800 number to make my reservation.

Ten minutes on hold. Their voice activated system could not understand me saying the word "reservation." Last I knew, I speak standard English. Lady with thick Spanish accent finally came on. She said I sounded like I was talking under water, and she could not understand me. She hung up.

I installed the Amtrak app on my phone, loaded in all the info for the trip yet again. It would not take a payment.

Called the 800 number again. Got a robot named Julie! This is possibly good. It speaks English. It took the reservation and quoted me a price that was double the online price. I hung up.

Tried the web site again in both browsers. No. Tried the phone app again. I got it to take my payment!

The e-ticket arrived and it is one way.

Well, I'm going East at the end of February. We'll see if I am returning. I really can't tolerate working on this any more today. I've already spent over two hours.

This is the kind of thing that makes me absolutely NUTS.

Now, here's what I really wanted to share today. I had posted this picture once long ago on Facebook, but then I couldn't find it. Well, the original slide is somewhere, but I knew I had it digitally. It just wasn't filed where it belonged. Anyway, here it is!

This is from a Girl Scout campout either my junior or senior year in high school. I actually don't know most of the girls because it was some kind of council exchange thing where our troop went and camped with another troop.

I have no idea who owned the truck. It was borrowed for the occasion, but my mother agreed to drive it. My mom had spirit! She is sitting on the running board.

The woman standing on her right (picture left) is Delores Bush, the school librarian who was our assistant scout leader. She was rigid and severe at school, but had a fun sense of humor and spunk when one got to know her.

I am sitting top left in the picture with my hands on the head of Vienna Louma (nickname Vanilla. I was Chocolate, and another girl with red hair- not in the picture- was Strawberry) whom I met at Camp Comstock. She was from Ithaca. Sitting next to me is Faith Hiltbrand, a friend from school. She died a couple of years ago. The only other person I recognize is Lexi King of Trumansburg who has her head sticking out of the cab window (or maybe she's standing on the running board).

The truck makes this look like it's a scene from about two centuries ago instead of only one! We didn't care. It was a truck to haul our tents and gear, and we had a blast. Thanks to whomever trusted the ladies to borrow it. I'm wearing my standard out-of-school uniform. Jeans and t-shirt. See My Natural Habitat

I am pretty much in a snit about the ticket. Edited a little, but I'm busy snitting. See you tomorrow.

See Sunrise from the Train

How to Flip a Day

 You can see how the day started. The deer don't care if I mow or don't mow. They just take over anyway.

I was working on various projects. But I ran into (temporary, I hope) roadblocks on a couple of them. So I decided to deliver something to Cathy.

Ha! That turned into playing Mexican Train Dominoes with her and her mother...

And of course, she had a jigsaw puzzle going in her basement. She had most of the yellow done already. The rest is detailed and fussy, and more difficult than a lot of the Charles Wysocki puzzles. This one is called "Ice Riders on the Chesapeake Bay."

We got a lot of it done, and she fed me pizza. So I'm happy. I always hate to not be in on the finish of a puzzle, but it's ok.

I edited, I tried to do some other things with online tasks attached... some serious issues there. Sent support emails. I worked outside a little, but then it started raining. So, I went to Cathy's!

See Table Fix

The Color is Yellow

 Most of the leaves are down, but there is still some color to be found.

This planter of chrysanthemums is bright yellow.

Norway maples are an alien species, but they are the most common maples used for street planting. This one is holding on to a lot of its leaves.

The leaves that have come down are still pretty.

It was a hugely people-y day. Meeting with someone in the morning. Meeting with someone in the afternoon. Bell choir practice, followed by my return (since pre-Covid) to Ludington Writer's Group.

And I walked to do errands, edited, and wrote Chapter 35 in Vacation from Dead Mule Swamp, 809 words. I'm ready to call it a day.

And these gals were waiting outside the church after bell choir. There is a much-too-large urban deer population in Ludington. You can see how concerned they were about being "shined" in the headlights. Not.

Miles walked in 2024: 527.

See Orange We Glad?

Shiawassee Wildlife Refuge

 Driving home today, I made a stop at a place that I can write about for my next "Get Off the Couch" column in the paper. Did you know there is a national wildlife refuge over near Saginaw? It's the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.

Some refuges have more hiking trails than others. This one has multiple choices. I did all of the Woodland Trail (almost 4 miles), and sampled the Fergusen Bayou Trail. It's over 4 miles long, but I went in as far as the first observation platform and back out. The two areas are quite different. The Woodland Trail is through a wet woodland. The Bayou Trail is on dikes through a marshy area with wildlife observation decks.

This will just be a sampler. Of course I came home with too many pictures. For you, I have 2 trees, 2 flowers, and 2 wildlife picture.

The Swamp White Oak, Quercus bicolor is supposedly found in Mason County, but it's a lot more common south of here. It's easy to spot. The leaf is much wider at the tip than at the stem end, and the leaves are very white on the back side-- "bicolor."

Another one I don't see too often is Red Hickory or Pignut, Carya glabra. The odd thing is, this is pretty much an upland tree, but it was in this bottomland hardwood area. But the bark and everything I can see at this time of year makes me fairly sure of the ID. Anyway, another cool find I don't see locally.

Flowers in abundace were the Canada Anemone, Anemone canadensis. This is a really handsome late spring flower, and it will agree to grow densely enough that it could be used in flower beds.

And yet another wild rose that I have trouble sorting out because I can't seem to remember what to look for. However, I'm pretty sure this is Smooth Rose, Rosa blanda. Ha! The U of M Herbarium says R. blanda does not grow in Michigan. Well... it has very few thorns and the leaves are very blunt at the ends. The wet habitat makes me suspect it's Swamp Rose, Rosa palustris, which would make sense here. But the leaves aren't right, and of course I didn't look for other key characteristics when I was there. I can definitively say, "it's pretty."

There was the requisite spring picture of a family of Canada geese. Actually, I saw several families, but the babies were smaller and cuter in this group.

I saw a number of birds, but getting pictures of those was illusive. The birds were pretty active for mid-day. Several great blue herons, a pileated woodpecker, a brown creeper, and all the usual suspects.

Here's another typical spring picture. Mama was there, but stepped out of the picture. The baby stood completely still, as they are "supposed" to do.

I think there is a particular kind of beauty in wetlands, sometimes even the places that some people might not find so attractive. Here are two examples.

Busy day. Chatted with my host, took two walks, drove 3.5 hours, unloaded the car. Tomorrow, another adventure is planned. Stay tuned

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 243.7.

Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, Woodland Trail and part of the Ferguson Bayou Trail, total 6.3 miles

See Montezuma Wildlife Refuge

The Twins Post Spots?

  My little orphan twin deer are still hanging around, I think. They have joined up with some other deer, but there is still a set of two, one a little smaller than the other, that come very close to the house. Of course it gets increasingly difficult to recognize individual deer after a while. Here they are in September.

And here they are this week. I'm pretty sure it's the twins because they pay attention when I talk to them and don't get spooked. All the others lift their tails and prepare to leap away, but the larger of these two just looks at me, and the smaller one glances between me and the larger deer. Similar behavior every time.

I was thinking about doing a philosophical post about the hike today, but Om and I went to a movie this evening, and now I'm just too tired to write something serious. Another day.

In other news: I edited in the morning, did laundry, made yogurt, and worked on the trailer all afternoon. Made good progress, but I don't get to cross off a single thing. Movie this evening. 36 BIG ITEMS and 21 small ones to go. 43 days left.

See Still Babies

Still Babies

  I hadn't seen the twins for quite a few days. I hoped that meant they might have joined up with some other deer. But they showed up in my yard again today. I got a picture with the two of them. The larger one is farther away so they don't look too different in size, but they are even more different than a week ago now.

Here is the small one. She (I am assuming) is very thin, and her coat doesn't look too healthy. I don't think she's grown since last week.

Here is the larger one. It (he?- not sure) is quite healthy and frisky. They don't mind me coming out on the deck and talking to them.

In other news: This was day two of the Midwest Writer's Workshop. There have been four sessions already. I skipped one about creating comic books, but have two more this evening. I couldn't sleep last night, so the good news is that I wrote a chapter. The bad news is that I'm really tired already. But the sessions have been really great.

See How Are the Twins?

Even Seeing Water Makes Me Feel Cooler

  Cathy and I hiked familiar trails at the State Park today. The best thing about it was all the views of the water. The humidity was brutal, and seeing all the blue just made us feel cooler. I think it actually was cooler than at my house. Usually is. We walked out to Hamlin Lake. You've seen this view a lot of times now, but it's still refreshing.

We took a short break on a bench at Inspiration Point. An eagle soared right in front of us, but I couldn't get the camera aimed fast enough. Ditto with a blue heron. That would have been a neat picture because we were above it, but that one didn't happen either.

Here's Hamlin Lake just above the dam. This is full summer at Ludington State Park. Lots and lots of people out enjoying the water in so many ways-- motor boats, tubing, paddleboards, kayaks, fishing. I went out of my way to try to exclude them from the pictures.

And the dam.

Just below that the water becomes the Big Sable River again. Now we have green instead of blue. We saw some fairly big fish, but my pictures aren't worth showing you. The reflections were nice, though. We did not walk as far as Lake Michigan.

How hot and muggy was it? Even the deer were hunkered down, resting. Two bucks in velvet sharing a small valley. This one has four points.

This one has eight!

About a five mile hike. Hilly.

In other news: I edited all morning. I fussed with the trailer, still with no results except information gathering. Since I got home I've been writing. About half done with the next chapter.

Ludington State Park, MI. Piney Ridge Road to Hamlin Dam to footbridge over Big Sable River and back. 5 miles.

See Views of Hamlin Lake

How are the Twins?

  The twin fawns are still hanging around, and relying primarily on each other. One is clearly larger than the other. I don't know if that suggests the larger one is a little buck or not. They are surely growing slower than fawns that have a mama. But they seem to be doing OK.

This is the smaller one.

They have almost no fear of me, unless I try to get closer than about 20 feet. They clearly own my yard. This is the larger one. I had to look closely, because it's usually the little one that comes closer to the house, but it was the other way around when I took these pictures.

I've seen an adult doe with them twice, but she never stays. I wonder if they will herd up with others this fall by instinct, or if that is something a mother would have taught them. Right now, they clearly prefer their own company.

I also wonder if their too-early in life diet of pure grass has left them more than usually vulnerable/weakened. The smaller one often lies down in the yard. Ordinarily, deer spend a lot of time in the yard, but they are too wary to lie down so close to a human space.

They are totally adorable, but I'm pretty hard-hearted about deer-- we have WAY too many, and they eat everything in sight.

In other news: I edited, I wrote half a chapter and figured out how to deal with a big plot hole problem I discovered yesterday. I cleaned the kitchen and did a little yard work. Not too exciting.

See Sad Baby Stories?

Sad Baby Stories?

  The twin fawns are still hanging around. You can see that the one is quite comfortable. The sad part of this story is that I think they lost their mom last week. They have been alone all but one day in the entire past week. Perhaps having each other will be enough to help protect them. I did see one adult doe with them yesterday, but it might just be from the larger local herd. I've never seen a mother leave fawns so small on their own. And there was a full sized doe dead along the road. The twins are clearly still alive, but probably missing whatever lessons mama teaches baby deer at this stage of their development. Probably to NOT lie down on the lawn so close to humans. And the one that is lying down seems to be growing more slowly.

My other baby story definitely has 1 out of 4 parts that is sad. On Saturday night, Dave and I went on the deck to look at some fireworks. My toe hit something soft. I turned on the light and found two baby phoebes on the deck floor. One was flat and had been dead for a couple of days. The other seemed fine, but had no flight feathers. Clearly too small to fledge. We put the live one back in the nest, and there were two others still in the nest. So 3 of 4 were alive. Mom and Dad had no problem with me handling the baby.

But they chose today, this chilly wet day, to fledge. Number 1 spent most of the afternoon on the deck floor. I did see one of the parents taking it something to eat once.

But now, two have taken flight into the cold wet grass and weeds. I'm sure Mom and Dad know where they are, but will they be warm enough if they get wet? One is still in the nest.

This has to be the second brood of babies for the phoebes in this nest, this year. The previous picture in the link below was in May. Those babies should be long gone by now. I wonder if the three that were alive on Saturday will make it to adulthood. Life in the wild can be brutal.

In other news: Rain all day. I did some volunteer work, I edited, I wrote. Trying to be good, but the humid air is oppressive. More of the same for tomorrow.

See Little Things

Twins

  OK... I had an event that ran long this evening, and now this is what you are getting. Just smile. I'll try not to think about all the plants I'd like to keep that they are eating. Sorry, this isn't a very intriguing post or even a very good picture. One of them held still for a nicer picture.

In other news: Busy day- editing, talking with some people about book marketing, shopping, writing, meeting this evening.

See Newborn fawn

Half an Accomplishment

  I did half of what I hoped to accomplish today, but it was the difficult half. Sue came with her truck and trailer. Can you see what's loaded (picture is confusing with my fiberglass trailer behind it).

Here's the answer- say goodbye to the old lawnmower. It's truly dead and it needed to leave. It didn't owe us anything. We bought it new in 1990.

As we were pulling out of the driveway, something made a very strange noise. Sue hopped out to see what it was, and this is what she found.

It's VERY new. My guess is it was born this morning. The noise or vibration of the truck must have scared it. It bleated repeatedly, then walked a little ways and then settled back down in the long grass. I'm sure mama will find it.

Got my fill of Sophie and Anabelle kisses, and they got to sniff lots of new places.

The other half was supposed to be buying a new lawnmower. So, we went to the store with the trailer... and they are sold out. So I got a raincheck and came home, with no mower.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Sue for helping me move that old mower!

Now here's the amazing part of this story. I've been looking, with no success, for a used lawn tractor for nearly a year. I found nothing that was quite right, and wasn't sure if I did buy one, if the sellers were trustworthy. But, it just doesn't seem too sensible to spend the money on a new one. I can't imagine we are going to be taking care of this house and lawn for another 20 years.

Got home again and immediately, a friend posted on Facebook that they were selling their lawn tractor. I was #2 in line to possibly want it... Just got the word that it's mine!

Some of you will just say "coincidence." I say that this is God taking care of me yet again. PTL!!!

In other news: I did a load of laundry, and am getting ready for my 20-mile walk for World Vision tomorrow. Cut my toenails (no small task- they are so damaged it's a major chore, but Om got me some really good clippers for my birthday and these do allow me to actually cut them instead of just ripping pieces off- thanks Om!), packed up all my stuff- making sure I have things like enough water, enough food, cough drops (for dry throat), and all the other little stuff that just lives in my pack. However, I wanted to make sure I really have everything. If I don't have something for a 5-mile hike, it hardly matters. However, it's much more annoying to be without something for the time it takes to walk 20 miles.

So, tomorrow night, I should be quite tired but happy. See you then! As of right now, people have contributed $1275 toward clean water. I'm pretty much in awe - this is so much more than I could ever have given on my own. You can still give yet tonight or Saturday (tomorrow). See World Vision 6K

See Kisses from Sophie See Wildlife Sanctuary