Osprey

I was watching some geese on our neighbor's pond as I drove by and noticed a large white object in a tree on the far side of the pond. Since this "white object" was about 250 yards away I sent in my drone to investigate. It was an Osprey.



I didn't attempt to get too close to the Osprey with the drone since large birds of prey have been known to attack drones when the birds feel threatened. (Birds win most of the battles with drones)



The Osprey's view of the pond.

Spring Flowers

Still not too many spring flowers in bloom. It got almost to 70F today and the only insect I could find to photograph was this small ant on a crocus.

Spring Gardening - Garlic Sprouting

As soon as the winter snow melts and the bare ground of my garden appears, it's time to check on the garlic crop. Unlike most garden crops that are planted in the spring, garlic is planted mid-autumn and develops its root system so its ready to start growing early in the spring.

This year's garlic crop is looking good.

Sweet Potatoes

Here in the northeast there's still frost in the ground but I'm working on this year's crop of sweet potatoes. Several years ago I found some sweet potato rooted cuttings at a garden center and have been hooked on them ever since. Since I can't always count on finding sweet potatoes at garden centers I start some of my own as a backup plan. I selected a couple of sweet potatoes with new sprouts from last year's crop, cut off the bottom and suspended the sprouting end in water.



As the sprouts grow out they well develop a vine with leaves and roots. When the sprouted vine is about 1.5 inches long, with a couple of leaves and some roots, I cut the vine below the roots and transfer it to damp potting soil and let it grow until planting time.

Another Sign of Spring

The snow from a couple of days ago has melted and I found some crocus popping out of the ground.

Opossum in the Neighborhood

As I was driving past a neighbor's lawn I noticed some Canada Geese grazing in the lawn, but one of the objects didn't look right. After a quick look with the binoculars it was easy to see it was an opossum.



Having an opossum so close to nesting geese is not desirable for the geese since opossums will raid the geese nests for eggs.



While I was having a very blunt discussion with the opossum about leaving the neighborhood it suddenly resorted to a trick of "playing possum", in which it pretends to be dead. At this point I relocated the opossum out of the neighborhood.

Fresh Lettuce

Back in January I planted some romaine lettuce seed in a large mixing tub and placed it in our solarium, now we have fresh salads daily as we thin out the crop.

Henry's Haircut

It was getting near Henry's second birthday and he was do for a big boy haircut.



Step #1: Distract Henry's attention with a kids TV show.



Step #2: Build a working relationship between the child and barber to gain the child's confidence.



Step #3: Make slow, steady cuts and don't disrupt the child's attention with the TV show.



Step #4: Know when to quit. (Good job Chuck)

Time with the Grandkids

We were in Iowa visiting our grand-kids last week. The grand-kids grow up fast, but I'm not sure why Myra is reading this book.



Grandma with the kids before bedtime.



Grandma playing with the train as the kids watch.



Henry showing grandma how to run a railroad.



Henry puts on an apron and a chef hat as he prepares a meal for his dad ...



Clean-up time.



Grandma paints Myra's nails as Henry watches.



Time to clean the livestock.



Henry shows his bouncy moose the train.







Nap time. Grandparents get a short break.

Henry's Birthday

Our grandson Henry (A.K.A "Hank") is two years old and his birthday party was this past weekend. With the presents wrapped and stacked it's time to start the party.



Even though Henry's mother (Nikki) is currently deployed in Kuwait, where it was 2:00AM, she was able to join the party via a Skype connection.



Chuck and Nikki



Henry is confronted with the task of blowing out two birthday candles ...



Some directions from Mom ...



Mission accomplished ...



Now for a cupcake sugar high.



Time to unwrap some birthday gifts, with help from big sister Myra.



A special gift from Henry's Mom. A wooden puzzle that she made while in Kuwait.



The numbered pieces of the puzzle form a turtle (Henry's baby nickname) when completed and message from Mon on the back.



Unwrapping more gifts.



A birthday card from Mom.



More unwrapping and a table full of gifts.



Even a lollipop protector that covers the lollipop when not in use.



Time to enjoy the birthday presents.

Iowa Flooding

We traveled to southwest Iowa last week for our grandson's second birthday and found ourselves involved in record breaking flooding. On March 13th our son got a call that the Nishnabotna River was starting to flood at his property



When we arrived the icy river water was headed for his buildings.



As we started to move equipment to higher ground the water started to flood his driveway into the property.



Moving out Jim's camper.



When we returned early the next day the water was 4 feet deep on the driveway.





Our son's equipment parked near the county road was still above water but the corn field was now a lake. We couldn't access the property at the end of the day and went home.



When we returned early on March 15th (the Ides of March) we found the river had gone up over a foot over the night.



On the other side of the bridge from the driveway we found a vehicle that tried to drive through water flowing across the road and didn't make it. We found out later that the young driver was able to get out safely.



The wind was very strong but I was able to get a couple of photos of our son's property with my drone. His buildings are in the wooded area in the center of the photo.



A view of the flooded property.



Looking south from the property is the river bridge and flooding. The wind is too strong to fly the drone so we head home and wait.



We returned late in the afternoon and the wind had calmed enough to fly the drone. I was able to fly over the trees and drop down into the area around the buildings for a close view of the flooding.



The water has dropped down some and it looks like a high water mark of about a foot on the buildings.



Some of the equipment left behind.



A drone view of the water around the property. We are flying the drone from the truck (right of center in photo) parked on the county road. We head home for the day and watch the online river monitors as the Nishnabotna River sets a new record.



We returned the next day (the 16th) and the river dropped 4 feet over night and we get a good view of the yellow car in the ditch, covered with corn stalks.



Our son's equipment is now higher above the flood water.



The driveway to the property is still under water and plugged with corn stalks but the water level is low enough to walk through.



Our son walks in to check on his property.



While our son checks the property I fly the drone to document the flooding. Looking north from the bridge on Lambert Road.



Buildings on our son's property are on the left of the photo.



Most of this wooded area is our son's property. The Nishnabotna River forms a large "S" through his property.



The Nishnabotna River is back within its banks and damage to the neighbor's corn field is visible.



Looking west from the corn field to our son's wooded property and the Nishnabotna River.



A new sandbar (lower right) has formed in the river on his property.



Looking southwest to his garden area near the river and another neighbor's corn field.



A view of his buildings as the water drains from the fields and woods.