800

800th Post.

Weekend in a blurr.

Friday after work Needles and I came home and did some last minute cleaning to get the house in order for our weekend visitors. Our guests arrived a little after 5pm and while we caught up with each other Needles had homemade chili simmering in the kitchen. After we got our belly's full we watched the Olympics until time for bed. The next morning I got up bright and early at 6:15am and got up to get my shower and get coffee and breakfast under way. Before long Ragged and Cynical joined me with Needles last to shake off the vale of sleep. We enjoyed coffee, scrambled eggs, turkey beacon and toast before we got showers and out the door to visit the local yarn shop for the ladies. After the yarn shop we stopped off at a local sandwich shop called Quickies with their rather peculiar menu. After we ate we ventured over to a gourmet popcorn shop called Pop Around the Clock. We looked over their unusually flavored popcorn. We left with a bag of Chocolate Cherry Bliss, Death by Chocolate, Cookies and Cream and Confetti. We then stopped at Rudy, Brando and the gang for a visit and before long we noticed our belly's growling and after consorting with the Magic 8 Ball our fate was decided to eat at Mi Casita. We arrived home around 9pm and finished off the night with more Olympic coverage before bedtime. This morning both Needles and I slept in. Needles treated us to a dessert type breakfast which consisted of Blueberry Crumble Ala mode. Its good to be an adult and eat sweets for breakfast. We brewed some more coffee and visited with each other until all to quickly it was time for our guests to leave. It was a good weekend even though it went by in a flash. Tomorrow it will be back to work and also a added bonus of training on our new Radiology Information System. I have my fingers crossed and lately the going hasn't been so smooth. I am hoping that we are in the downhill side of this project. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Happy Valentines Day!

Blue Jay
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco

More Pictures.

Hawk in flight

Kestrel

Red tail hawk

Red tail hawk

Mallards

More Mallards

Bald Eagle 2-13-2010

Another video of the bald eagles in Mt. Carmel, IL. Wish we could get a sunny Saturday.

Asian Culture Night

Tonight Needles and I went to our second Asian Culture Night at VU. The night started off with some presentations and entertainment by the asian students attending the university. We then were released upon the authentic asian food. Korean bbq and edamame wasabi salad were some of the more memorable courses. We then were entertained by Chaitown. An Indian acapella group.

It was a very fun night and we were feed well. It was a great way to kick off the weekend.

Questionable Sanity.

Three to four inches of snow plus windy gusts of up to 30 miles an hours....Sounds like a perfect day for photography. Today "D" and I ventured to Olney and see if we could see the nesting eagles in the area.

When we arrived to the area we observed one of the pair flying over the water and settling down in a field about 150 to 200 yards away from the road. We decided to try to sneak into the nest area a wait on him. Apparently Mr. Eagle didn't get the message for the meeting because after setting in the wind and weather for almost 2 hours without a sighting we decided to leave. We got about half way in our half mile walk back to the Jeep when we saw Mr. Eagle do a cursory fly by of the nest area. Lets just say the Mr. Eagle wasn't the only one cursEry.

Greater white fronted geese

We decided to get lunch and move on to Mt. Carmel and try our luck there. When we arrived both eagles were setting on their favorite branch and just about the time I stopped they both jumped up and flew to the West. They circled and dove and inverted under each other in the air in what I think might be courting and mating behavior as it is just about time for egg laying. They both looked like they were having fun. After they disappeared into the blue, we wondered on back into the back area of the property and viewing station. We didn't notice a lot of activity and pondered if the wildlife might have been smarter that us and stayed in because of the nasty weather. Just before we left we went back to the nest area and had both adult bald eagles setting on their favorite limb and had three immatures fly by the area. The eagle sighting count on the day was six and I think this is the most individuals I have seen before in a single day. Over all it was nice to be out and get to spend time in nature.

Hooded Merganser

The day was overcast, the lighting was crappy and the weather was bad but probably the best time of the whole day was setting on a snow covered tree trunk and talking and sharing stories with "D".

Hope everyone had a great Saturday.