Four Big White Birds Again

 

This morning Travalon and I slept in, since we had already gone to Mass, then after breakfast at the hotel (plus half my lunch from yesterday) we went to Guth for coffee. On the way up yesterday we had stopped at the Schultz Cheese Haus so I could get one of their peanut butter cups with tiny M&Ms on top. (True story: on one of our road trips I was jonesin' for chocolate with tiny M&Ms because of these peanut butter cups, and we stopped into a Kwik Trip that had one container of chocolate bark with tiny M&Ms. The person who rang it up said, "What is this? I never knew we had this!" It's like it was there just for me!) Anyway, at the Cheese Haus they had told us these peanut butter cups were made at Guth, so this morning we each got one to go with our coffee. I wouldn't eat one every day, but whatever is in them makes me so happy! I'm just floating afterwards.

We went back to the auto tour in Horicon, and we walked on the boardwalk. Of course Blogspot decided to load this batch in opposite order, so I'll take you on a reverse voyage down the boardwalk. This starts after we got back in the car: a family of geese were crossing the road in front of us.

We saw this egret very close. The green around its eyes means it's ready to breed.

Here's what the boardwalk looks like from the road.

We saw lots of painted turtles.

We saw the same pair of trumpeter swans that were there yesterday too.

Here I am on the boardwalk.

We saw lots of red-winged blackbirds, but no yellow-headed blackbirds today.

More shots of the swans.

And we saw a number of egrets again today.

That fake duck is still there.

Then we drove to the nature center with the part that looks like a pagoda. (We should have taken a photo.) Today it was not open, but the whooping crane was in a nearby field. I guess he does hang out there all the time like the naturalist said yesterday.

We saw pelicans flying around nearby, so today we again saw all four Big White Birds.

Here's the whooping crane again.

As we drove along the road, the guy coming the opposite direction had stopped because this female ring-necked pheasant was just standing in his way. He didn't seem too upset - he was taking pictures of her. Every time we see a male (like Christmas Day in Ixonia), we never seem to have a camera handy.

At the nature center where we often see the white-headed goose, we saw this killdeer.

And lots of geese with babies, but not our buddy with the white head.

We saw more turtles too.

And of course more red-winged blackbirds.

We walked along the path where not one but two people had told us they had seen the white-headed goose this year, but we saw no sign of him. Still, it's good to know he's still with us. 

After that we drove to Theresa Marsh. We have seen lots of cool stuff there, sandpipers and herons and even a whooping crane once, but today we didn't even see the usual turtles. It had gotten very hot by then, so maybe that's why. Here's a view of the railroad track over the marsh.

Here's a view of the marsh.

We did see a coot, but no baby coots. I really want to see babies - they have bright orange-red feathers on their heads.

Then a train came by, and Travalon made a video, which I will try to edit and post at some point. This train had lots of double-decker shipping containers piled onto it. Travalon did take a photo of me in front of the engine at the back of the train.

On the way home, Travalon stopped at the Kwik Trip right by our house, because his gas light came on. And right across the street there was a blue heron in a tree!

That was a good way to end a great birding weekend. Now I am resting up before heading to band practice.

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Magical Marsh Day

 

Yesterday I worked from home, and my neighbor is back, so we walked together. Travalon got some baby crane photos that I will post soon, but there will already be a lot of photos on this post just from today. Because Travalon booked so many hotels in Florida, he got a free night at a hotel, but it had to be used before Memorial Day Weekend, so tonight we are staying at a hotel in Waupun. On the way up we stopped at Patrick Marsh and saw lots of pelicans.

In Waupun we met a friend who lives here for lunch, then we went to Horicon Marsh. Our first stop was the boardwalk on the auto tour. I was bummed that the Old Marsh Road is closed until the beginning of June, since that's where we saw the yellow-headed blackbirds before, but as soon as I stepped on the boardwalk, the magic began. I saw a whooping crane flying away, and I heard what sounded like someone playing jazz trumpet, which seemed like a strange thing to do in the marsh. Then I realized it was two swans flying around, trumpeting to each other. They landed, and everyone was looking at them because they were so close to us. They were HUGE!

We saw a lot of egrets too, and in the distance we saw a whooping crane - the one I had seen flying away. Then we heard it bugling! Here is an egret with the green around its eye showing. That means it's in breeding season.

Here is a male blue-winged teal.

Another egret.

Then the whooping crane flew by us!

And there were lots of baby Canada geese. This family only had one gosling.

The trilliums (trillia?) were in full bloom.

And this tree looks like it has a secret door in it. Who lives in there?

We saw pelicans flying by, and then we had seen all four Big White Birds at Horicon.

As we drove along the highway, we saw a yellow-headed blackbird sitting by the side of the road, so we parked the car and crossed the road. By then he had flown away, but I heard his call... and then we saw him!

There were also a lot of coots, and I had always hoped to see a baby coot with its bright red feathers on its head, but we didn't see any babies. We did see ruddy ducks with their turned-up tails and bright blue bills.

Sadly, we also saw a dead beaver by the side of the road. Here is a much larger goose family.

And this is either a red-headed duck or a canvasback.

When we drove by another nature center that never seems to be open, we saw another whooping crane!

The nature center was actually open today, but when I told the naturalist that there was a whooping crane outside, she just said, "Yeah, he's always there." She also had no idea where to see baby coots. 

Here is a photo of the marsh from an overlook.

And yet another goose family.

We went to the nature center where we often see the white-headed goose, but we didn't see him again. People say he has been around this year. But look what we did see - a snow goose! He's much smaller than the Canada geese.

This pelican and cormorant seem to be best buddies.

Here is the pelican in a silly pose.

And four sandhill cranes flew right by us.

We were planning to go to Mass in Fox Lake at six, but just after five we passed the church in Horicon, which has Mass at five, so we snuck in during the first reading. There were five first communicants (although seven were listed in the program, so what the hey?), and the priest had one of those mustaches with the waxed curly ends like people had at the turn of the last century. He was young and seemed kind of hipster, but he did talk about Theresa of Avila's Interior Castle during his homily, so I liked that. Then we got to Fox Lake about halfway through their Mass, and the church was a lovely old one, so we decided to peek inside. Only, they lock the doors during Mass. (Did something happen once?) A guy saw us and let us in, and we tried to explain that we had just gone to Mass and only wanted to see the church, but he seemed so eager to have us come in that we felt bad for just peeking in and then leaving. I think they would have appreciated our presence a lot more than the big, modern church we went to!

Our friend works at a restaurant in Fox Lake, so we went there and saw her, but they had a forty-five minute wait, so we went to another restaurant we like there, but they were closed for a wedding. We ended up going to an old-fashioned diner and having deep-fried food and kiddie malts that were served in adorable cups with sea creatures on them, so we kept ours. Even that place had a bit of a wait, so we entertained ourselves drawing on an old Mallards ticket with "crayangles," triangle crayons provided by the diner, and a pen I had in my purse. For example, I drew a horse and noted that he was "out standing in his field," and Travalon drew a bunch of turtles racing and called it the "Okeefenokee Grand Prix." The only color crayons we had were Bluebird Blue, Gator Green, and Duckling Yellow. Then we came back to the hotel, swam in the pool, and hung out in the hot tub. I had to call Rich for technical support with New Boethius, but it was an ID10T error on my part. As usual. Otherwise, what a magical day!

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Happy Star Wars Day

 

May the Fourth be with you! Today I worked on campus, and I went to a dedication of a sculpture representing the twelve clans of the Ho-Chunk nation. There were speeches, there was drumming and singing, and afterwards there were Ho-Chunk treats, but I had promised my boss I would get right back to work, so I didn't get a chance to try any. They mostly looked like rice with berries on top, but there were intriguing things that looked like blue donut holes and other intriguing things that looked like crab Rangoons. It didn't look like there were enough for the number of people who came, anyway, so just as well that I didn't take any, but I sure was curious. 

Then a strange thing happened as I waited for the bus. The bus stop where I catch the 28 bus heading north is on Johnson Street, one of the main arteries in town, and suddenly a cop pulled his car into the intersection, stopping traffic. He did this for a few minutes, then he let everyone go. I thought it was because there was so much traffic that they decided to stop it to let it clear up, but later I heard there was a big protest on University Avenue and Park Street, which wasn't far from where we were. I don't know for sure what the protest was about, but I suspect it had to do with a strange, racist rant posted to social media by a college student. The black students are understandably upset, but some of their requests are things that the administration has no legal power to do. I don't envy the Chancellor - she's really stuck in a tight spot! At least the Ho-Chunk gave her an awesome beaded medallion of Bucky Badger. I hope this crisis gets resolved soon, though I have no answers about what to do. You can't charge someone with a crime for  saying terrible things, although it's possible they could charge the student with a threat because she said she wanted to kill all the black people, in a weirdly specific way hearkening back to plantation days. What would possess someone to say something like that is beyond me. There has to be some reckoning, but what? I'd be lying if I said I had any idea how to solve this dilemma.

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Faculty Retirement Party

 

Today we had a retirement party at work for two faculty members. They were hired at the same time, so they decided to retire together too. The party was at six, two blocks from my office, and I get done at five, so I took a walk and then went back to my office to get my stuff. I heard a train, so I rushed back out, but it was gone by the time I got outside. If I'd gone to the building where the party was and just sat outside, as I had thought about doing, it would have gone right past me. Sigh. 

There were a random assortment of people at this party, of course people from our department, but also people from other departments, and my old boss Handy Woman, and faculty who retired before I started there five years ago so I had never met them. My coworker, who has been in the department for maybe two decades, knew a lot more people there. I also talked a lot to the young Yiddish professor, and her son who will be six later this month - he gave me an acorn. He wanted to make cards for the two retiring professors, and he asked what their favorite animals were so he could draw them. One was easy, because we knew she loved bunnies, but we had no idea for the other one, so I said, "Bears?" He drew a bear, and then a crocodile for good measure, because who doesn't love crocodiles, am I right?

Travalon came to the party when he got done with work, and he and my coworker talked sports a bit. He would have loved my boss - the other day I had a one-on-one meeting with him, and we wasted half the time talking about the Bucks' pathetic postseason run, and how the Sacramento Kings could have been a team to watch but then Steph Curry came alive in Game Seven and demolished them. Unfortunately, my boss had to do something this evening with his school-aged sons. The food at this party was not as substantial as I'd envisioned, especially since I pay the bills so I know what we spent for it (it was some fruit and some cubes of cheese and some brownies), so Travalon and I left to go to Banzo for a real dinner. We didn't have any points, so we had to pay full price, but then we got enough points that when Travalon decided he wanted iced tea instead of just water to drink, he was able to get it for free. I guess we used all our points before that so I could get Banzo socks with smiling chickpeas on them. Speaking of socks, I got a gift card from our wellness program at work, and the World Wildlife Fund will give you animal socks for a hefty donation, so I am thinking a perfect use for this gift card would be some narwhal socks. They even look like real narwhals, and not sparkly unicorn dolphins like so many depictions of them on things you can buy. I swear seven years ago nobody I talked to had even heard of a narwhal, and now they're everywhere. Just like how Travalon is now on a Florida panther kick, and suddenly they're everywhere too. At least if endangered animals become trendy, maybe people will be moved to save them...

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Why the Little Catholic Colleges Are Closing

 

I'm still so bummed about Cardinal Stritch University closing. I keep thinking about all those people who are going to lose their jobs. Travalon said he was texting with his old high school teacher, who taught in Catholic schools for years, and he said the reason all these little Catholic colleges are struggling is because of Act 10, the law passed back in 2011 that said state workers can't collectively bargain. (You may remember all my blog posts about the protests.) So this is the law of unintended consequences: Walker may have been trying to screw over state workers, but after that there was no salary advantage for teachers to have a Master's degree, and these little colleges got a lot of their income from teachers getting Master's degrees or continuing studies credits. I don't know if that's the whole story, since apparently the population of young people is plunging so that public high schools are consolidating, but I'm sure it didn't help.

Today I worked from home, as usual for a Tuesday, and while on my lunchtime walk, I ran into the mother of a famous late comedian who lives in our neighborhood. I often see her and one of her other sons at St. Peter's, and she said, "Didn't I see you at St. Peter's on Sunday?" So we got to talking about different parishes, and her daughter often goes to our usual Mass downtown, so I wonder if I've seen her many times? A deacon says our church will only have Mass in Spanish after the mergers, and St. Patrick's won't even have weekend Masses, only weekdays at noon, so we would have to go down to St. James if we stay in that parish. No thanks! That's a lot further away for us. Maybe we will become official at St. Peter's if this all comes to pass, although Travalon has said he also likes St. Bernard's, and that's not too far away, so we could check them out.

Travalon sent me a couple of photos: his Florida panther Pounce gazing out at the marsh, and Stanley the mascot for the Florida Panthers hockey team celebrating their win. (They won again tonight, which makes Travalon happy now that the Bucks and also the Sacramento Kings are out in basketball.)

And here are some photos he took this morning from the dock. First, this male blue-winged teal looks so tiny next to a Canada goose.

And this male scaup looks a lot smaller than the male mallard.

Here is the mallard.

And here is the scaup. We only saw one scaup, which seems odd. There were more than one mallard, and coot, and teal, and goose.

I hope this little guy finds his friends. How lonely to be the only scaup in the neighborhood!

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Cardinal Stritch University

 

It's been several days since I've written, and I forgot to mention that on Thursday Travalon picked me up from work, then we took a walk on Picnic Point, and then we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. On Friday we decided to get fish fry at Brothers 3, and it was such a beautiful evening that we sat outside. Their bluegill was so tasty! It was a good way to end the week, especially since that was the first day that I felt like the fog lifted from my COVID brain, so I worked really hard to get caught up at work.

Saturday morning Travalon woke me up, saying, "It's 10:30! We need to get going soon!" I must have really worn myself out working so hard on Friday, because I slept for ten hours!! We got going and drove to Milwaukee, where we met Tiffy and went to a burger joint for lunch. Unlike the two previous days that were so beautiful, it was cold and blustery, so we decided not to take a walk by the lakefront. Instead, we went to Cardinal Stritch University, a small Franciscan school that is closing at the end of the month. This is very sad; it is 86 years old, and also I feel like Franciscan spirituality is not appreciated by a lot of Catholics these days. I was raised by Franciscan sisters; well, not literally, but they were the ones who taught me all about religion, and they presented Catholicism as a welcoming, kind religion. All these traditional schools are closing, like Travalon's old grade school, but these new Catholic academies are popping up that have a "bunker" mentality, that they want to be shut away from the evil world instead of working to convert it through love. The campus itself is not that old, just dating from the 60's, and the buildings are not lovely, but there were some stained glass windows. I took pictures, because who knows what will happen to them once the buildings are sold?

Then Travalon dropped Tiffy and me off at St. Paul's Episcopal Church for an Early Music Now concert. This one was called "Angels and Devils," and it featured music by Vivaldi and Corelli, as well as other Baroque composers. Of course it featured Tartini's famous "Devil's Trill." It was a wonderful concert, but the church has very few bathrooms. At intermission Tiffy and I wound our way through the basement and found some little kiddie toilets, but it turns out those belong to the daycare and not the church, so we weren't supposed to use them. Tiffy said it felt like one of those weird dreams where you're looking for a bathroom in your old school, but everything has changed. It had been very hot in the sanctuary, so we stepped outside, and we saw fritillaries.

 

I love them because they are checkered flowers. We also saw this stunning tulip.

After the concert, Travalon returned from visiting little local bookstores, and the three of us walked to County Clare, an Irish restaurant, for dinner. By the time we got home, it was too late to blog - we just went to bed. I slept my normal seven hours that night, but we still couldn't get going in time to go to the usual place for Mass, so off to St. Peter's we went. They had a bunch of kids receiving First Communion, so that was fun to see. I wish I could have worn a pretty white dress like that for my First Communion, but mine was in the Episcopal Church, and I guess they don't do that...? I remember mine being very anticlimactic - I just went up to the communion rail like I always did, but instead of getting a blessing, I got a communion wafer. Nobody made any kind of deal of it at all. Can you blame me for crossing the Tiber?

It was another cold, rainy day, so Travalon, Jilly Moose, and I took a walk at the East Towne Mall. After that we went to the Asian supermarket nearby, and we got bubble tea. I also had to get something called "watermelon cake," because I am terminally curious. It was more of a pastry than a cake; it kind of looked like a danish, but it was not that sweet so I really liked it. It seemed to have some sort of bean or lotus seed paste inside, but it didn't really taste like watermelon. Then I had to head home for Irish class, and after that I went to band practice. Hardingfele decided not to show up for some reason - she didn't say why not - so we only had one fiddle. I ended up playing melody, which is something I don't do much anymore. I said I should have brought my violin, and the fiddler said I could use her grandson's violin, but then she couldn't find it, so I just played the melodies on the mandolin. I was feeling very brain-addled, but to my surprise our bass player said I was doing so well mentally for having just gotten over COVID. It's no joke - COVID brain is real. But it seemed to clear up like the sun breaking through the clouds on Friday, so at that point I was just experiencing normal brain drain from doing something out of the ordinary. It's good to keep our brains nimble at my age!

Today was cold and very windy, with some drizzle in the morning. I was very disappointed to spend the first day of my favorite month wearing my winter coat. I went for a walk at lunch, as usual, but it was too windy to go by the lake, so I ducked into a nearby greenhouse. Check it out - their monstera deliciosa is blooming! As a botany nerd, I find even these non-showy blooms very cool.

I have a monstera delicious up in the loft. Will it ever bloom?

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