Wednesday, June 30, 2010

A Guided Hike

Montezuma Audubon Center
Sandpiper Shallows
(South Pond)

This morning the Montezuma Audubon Center (MAC) held its monthly scheduled event in the Guided Hike series with Naturalist Dave Spier. Today's walk around the MAC while short in distance was long in information. Dave identified and explained the origin of several flowers growing along the trail.

Before joining the group at the MAC I drove down Carncross Road. There was an osprey gliding in the thermals and a great blue heron wading in an irrigation ditch. A painted turtle impeded my progress as I waited for it to cross the road.

Great Blue Heron took flight before I got the camera out.

Painted turtle after his successful crossing.


Then I went over to Martens Tract.


There from the observation knoll I saw a Song Sparrow, a Swamp Sparrow and a Common Moorhen.

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow


Arrived at the MAC at 10:30 AM. Dave assembled our group (Anne-Marie from Syracuse, Alisha and her son, Jake, from Atlanta, GA, and myself) in the foyer. After asking if anyone had a special preference for the day (there were none), Dave lead us out through the parking lot to the lane.

Once on the lane we were joined by Elizabeth and her children, Teddy and Owen. Shortly thereafter this family was joined by a woman and her daughter. Evidently their preference was to view birds so they went on ahead.

The first plants that Dave pointed out were fleabane, pink clover and rough-fruited cinquefoil. Dave shared how people once mixed fleabane with bedstraw to keep bugs out of their mattresses.

Someone asked about a clump of grasses. Dave identified it as timothy grass. This lead to a discussion of monocots versus dicots. Dave had Jake explain the differences between the "cots" to the group.

Dave indicated abnormal outgrowth on a plant. Anne-Marie identified as a gall and explained its function.

We then came upon some St. John's wort. Dave mentioned that St John's wort is used by some as a herbal treatment for mild depression.

St. John's wort


Anne-Marie spotted a butterfly. Dave said it was a Baltimore Checkerspot, getting its name from the royal colors of Lord Baltimore.

Baltimore Checkerspot


Leaving the lane we headed west on the trail towards the ponds. There on the path border were Bindweed and Birdsfoot Trefoil. Evidently Bindweed gave farm equipment problems. Using a Birdsfoot Trefoil bud Dave made a shadow on this palm to illustrate how the plant looks like a bird's foot.

Bindweed


Birdsfoot Trefoil


Halfway down the trail we diverted to the small pond that is on the shortcut path to the center. There Jake found two frogs basking in the sun. Dave pointed out the bulrush, cattails and Grass-leaved Arrowhead.

Cattails

Jake photographing Leopard Frog

Leopard Frog

Group watching Jake photograph Green Frog.

Green Frog


Got back on the trail and walked to to the ponds. Dave drew our attention to Burr Weed and Knapweed.

Burr Weed

Knapweed


In the North Pond was a Trumpeter Swan, a Pied-billed Grebe and several Red-winged Blackbirds. A great Blue Heron took off from the South Pond and flew over heading East.

Trumpeter Swan

Red-winged Blackbird


Since we had gone past the scheduled time and some of us had commitments the group walked back to the center and dispersed.

Dave emailed me this butterfly capture.

Great Spangled Fritillary ©DaveSpier

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Teaser Tuesday (June 29)

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading



page 29 - “You mistake my meaning. The crisis is passed, my dear friend, and the Earl is dead.”

Week Twenty Six - 26 to Go


With Christmas but 6 months away this story made me appreciate that our dreams can be made real.

Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks in 2010

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Teaser Tuesday (June 22)

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading



page 38 - ... "Evil has no geographic boundaries. Anyone who thinks otherwise is barmy."

Week Twenty Five - 27 to Go

Too much bridge to hold my concentration. This is first and foremost a book about bridge, but I was never able to read my way to the other side.

Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks in 2010

Sunday, June 20, 2010

19th Annual Prison City Ramblers Father's Day Car Show


Car enthusiasts gathered in droves on the shore of Owasco Lake on this bright Father's Day.

1948 Chevy Aero Sedan - William & Sharlene Struzyk
1937 Chevy 2 Dr. Sedan - William & Sharlene Struzyk
1953 Chevy Pick-Up - Bob & Bev Good

For 19 years classic car owners have shown off their hot wheels at Emerson Park. Over 600 vehicles rolled into the car show throughout the day.

1966 - Chevy Chevelle SS - J.J. Elmer


A panel of 10 Ramblers members spent the day choosing their 50 favorite autos.


1948 Ford Coupe - Gary Sampo

1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk - Paul Dries


Interior

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Week Twenty Four - 28 to Go


Little Eve and even less forensics. But other Duncan characters, Jane, Jock and Seth, fill the void well. Johansen's attempt to emulate Dan Brown.

Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks in 2010

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Teaser Tuesday (June 15)

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading




page 98 - And there was no question that the mosaic face on the wall had been the face in her painting Guilt. She had been obsessing about the painting, and it shouldn’t surprise her that it had popped up in a dream.

Monday, June 14, 2010

The Drowsy Chaperone



Not knowing quite what to expect Joan and I went to the first show of the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse's 2010 with open minds. The Drowsy Chaperone turned out to be a riot.

The highlight of the evening was the show's lead part of The Man in the Chair performed to perfection by Robert Moss.

Under Ed Sayles' direction the play made for a good time for the audience as well as the actors. Also our personal favorite, Geno Carr, portrayed the English butler Underling with aplomb.

The summer season got off on the right foot.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Founders Day 2010

Hundreds gathered along the parade route for Auburn’s Founders Day 2010. The event is celebrating the city as the “birthplace of talking movies” and the contributions of Auburn’s Theodore W. Case, who invented the first sound films in 1916.


George Kerstetter

Along with Sigourney Weaver, Case’s grandson, Theodore W. Case III, participated in the celebration.


Ron Sharra

One of the focal points of the weekend will be the Case Research Laboratory that preserves Case’s work on Genesee Street behind the Cayuga Museum.


Nick Oristan
Cayuga Museum Docent


Auburn Founders Day Preview , The Case Research Lab Museum



Ellen Ripley & Captain Jack Sparrow




Related articles:
Auburn ready to celebrate Case

Sigourney Weaver tops bill at Auburn's second Founders Day celebration

Weaver tours city, meets with fans

Grandson: Case ‘loved his work’

Case connection draws crowd to fundraiser

You know I have to get Dancin’ Bill in.

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Teaser Tuesday (June 8)

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading



page 68 - The reality, Marcia now knew, was that even idiots get away with major crimes. The reality was, none of us are safe.

Monday, June 07, 2010

The Woodruff House


John Hermon Woodruff and his bride, Caroline Porter Beardsley, occupied this home at 15 Fort Street. John H. Woodruff, a Yale graduate, established in 1876 the Auburn Button Works.

The Auburn Button Works was a pearl button-making business. In 1900, the business moved to Washington Street and the company began making composition plastic products, including photograph records.


The Woodruff House was home to seven children - Anna, Carlton H., Hermione, Carrie Belle, Douglass, Dorothy and Mildred. Carlton H. and Douglass operated the Auburn Button Works after the death of their father. Both Anna and Hermione lived in the home until their deaths.


A fire destroyed the front of the 136-year-old building in 1986. It was then restored to its present condition.

~ Information from the Then & Now article - The Citizen Lake Life (6/6/10)

Sunday, June 06, 2010

Week Twenty Three - 29 to Go


1880s Wild West tale. Virgil Cole & Everett Hitch, while not Spenser and Hawk, are a formidable pair as they mete out justice. These characters prove the old adage - a lot can be learned by simply lookin' and listenin'.

Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks in 2010

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Teaser Tuesday (June 1)

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading




p. 237 - The trouble with marriage was that all the familiarity, the years of arguments and discussions, of practical jokes and conspiracies, meant one’s barriers became invisible to the spouse, easily penetrated. Liz looked though him and read his thoughts effortlessly.