Crossword Puzzles are Awesome.

    Yes, I do really like crossword puzzles. When it comes to crossword puzzles you're either a rabid fan or you hate them. No inbetweeners. 


    I started with crossword puzzles after I finished high school. I could take them or leave them. Later on it became absolutely necessary to do the daily crossword puzzle. I've also been know to do a crossword puzzle book or two. 


     Crossword puzzles give many benefits. First I find crossword puzzles very relaxing. You have to concentrate so your mind leaves the things that stress you out. You have to have some basic knowledge of definitions, general knowledge, history, art, performing arts and more. Most puzzles throw in something from another language so if you have a background in another language it comes in handy. 


     I like a crossword puzzle that is of medium difficulty. Too easy..I don't do them. Too hard and I'm not that patient. I don't like mammoth puzzles. I like something that is short enough to finish in 20 minutes or so. I sometimes will come back and finish later.


    There are many varieties of puzzles to keep everybody's interest. Some topics can be very obscure as in plants.


    I have tried online crosswords but haven't got to like them. You can't work at it for awhile and then drop it. only to pick it up later. 


    On some occasions I used crossword puzzles with my middle school students. I had a book of easy crossword puzzles. We would do one as a class with everybody hollering out answers. Then they got to work in partners to do a second crossword puzzle. So some of the kids really liked the puzzles and others hated them just the same as adults. 


     So at this stage of my life you will find me doing the crossword puzzle right after breakfast since we get our paper in the morning. You have to get your day off to a good start. 

Crime Update

     My last post was about a break in three doors from my house. There has been some development in the case since then.


     The two dirt bikes were found in another subdivision. A woman was checking her garage and found two dirt bikes  that didn't belong to her. She asked her son if he knew anything about them. He said he was keeping them for a friend for a little while. His mother pressed him for more details and finally said that she wanted more info or she would phone the police. So she phoned the police. Meanwhile the kid took the bikes to a school yard and ditched them. 


    The police picked up the bikes and asked my neighbor to come and identify them.


     The police told my neighbor that they know who the guy is who stole the bikes and that they have a description of him.


    So progress has been made. Hopefully the shock of such an event will fade.

A Crime Too Close for comfort.

     At 2:00 AM last Friday morning thieves took two dirt bikes and a quad from my neighbor Barb's  garage.


     Now for the rest of the story!


     We have a security light at our front door. It goes off and on during the night for various reasons. Seldom do we get up to see if anything is amiss. At 2:00 AM last Friday morning my wife did get up to look out. She noticed someone standing at our corner. The guy appeared to be looking around as if looking for something. My wife came back to the bedroom to get me to look out. By the time I got there the guy had disappeared. We also noticed that the light was on in Barb's garage. So my wife said the guy looked clean cut. We debated phoning the police but somehow thought that it was unnecessary. I also said, "Well Barb probably forgot to shut the light off." So we went back to bed. 


     On Sunday morning I asked another neighbor if he had seen anything early Friday morning. He hadn't seen anything but he told me then that Barb's garage had been broken into. 


    The bad guys had found Barb's car window down a tiny bit. They entered the vehicle and took the garage door opener and so entered the garage and took the loot. 


    On Friday Barb didn't go to her garage and didn't drive her car.. After supper she was going to go to the store and found a mess in the front of her car. She couldn't understand why the mess. Then she noticed the garage door opener gone. She checked the garage but didn't notice anything missing. The bikes and quads belong to her son and the bikes and quad went in and out of the garage. Just to be sure she phoned her son on Saturday. He said that the bikes and quad should be in the garage. 


     So the wheels turned very slowly and finally more than 24 hours later it was discovered that there was a theft.


    Meanwhile my wife and I felt very badly that we hadn't reported the person on our corner. Just maybe he or his friends may have been found and questioned in the area.


    So this was a crime that was close and so far away in many ways. There are the what ifs? There's the feeling of being too trusting. There's the feeling that it could have been me for some strange reason.


    So it's a wake up call for our community to join together and be much more aware of what is happening in the neighborhood.

Spring Bird Count : Day Two

     Today was my second session of spring bird count. Today I counted at a location called Slack's Slough. This is about 150 acres of water and then about 150 acres of riparian area. The soil around the slough is fairly alkaline so the general area has grass which grows under these conditions . Of course, there are no trees or brush. Most of the water's edge has a heavy growth of reeds. There are very shallow areas suitable for waders. 

The whole slough is rimmed by a heavy reed  bed.

    As you look across the slough there are 100's of birds. There is a wide variety of species. Since the distance is great and the reeds are thick there is a challenge to see some of the birds you hear. A good scope is really needed as further out I can not see the colors. I know that there are three species of grebes out there but I cannot identify which is which. I was lucky to find a beautiful Amereican Avocet right by the parking lot when we arrived. 

There are a few trees in some areas.

     So I picked up 17 species and hundreds of individual birds. It was a very pleasant two hours sitting on a viewing stand.

My friend Mike who called out the names of the species for me to record.

    

Spring Bird Count

     This weekend is our spring bird count at Red Deer , Alberta. I count in a area that I have done for about 35 years. Part of the area is the ravine shown in An Evening Bike Ride.   It's about 150 acres and has a lot of old growth forest. Piper Creek winds back and forth in the ravine bottom.


     I usually find  12 -18 species and 60 - 100 birds. I'm sure there are more species and if I had enough time and patience I would find them. For example, I know there are Downy, Hairy and Pileated Woodpeckers in the area. I have seen Brown creepers but only every five years or so. You hear many Warblers but they stay in the canopy and unless you're really lucky you can't see them. I am not confident enough to identify them by sound. 


     Today my friend Mike came with me. When I bird I find them by sound more than anything else because this area is heavily forested. Mike and I like to visit. Since we are both in our seventies and somewhat hard of hearing we talk quite loud. I'm sure the birds heard us coming from a long way off and fled to safer areas. 


     We did find 16 species in 2 1/2 hours. We walked about 5 km (3 mi.)

Red, the birder taken a long time ago.

    We are also supposed to count any plant that is in bloom. Since birds don't pose too well and my camera is limited, I do have some flower pictures. I took these last year and didn't have to repeat them again this year.

Buffalo Bean (Thermopsis rhombifolia)

Early Blue Violet (Viola adunca)

Saskatoon Berry (Amelanchier alnifolia) 

Fairy Bells (Disporum trachycarpum)

      I apologize for not taking a picture of the dandelion!!!


      The weather was beautiful so we had a very pleasant morning.

An Evening Bike Ride

      I have been posting on cycling lately so I thought it was time to actually give you a ride. In our city of 100000 people we have around 80 km (50 mi) of bike trails. All of my riding is done on these trails.

Then I enter the bike trail and wind through the trees in a ravine.

Over a handsome foot bridge.

Then out of the ravine

Winding trails on the flat

Across another bridge on a more open part of the ravine.

Winding under the power line for three Km.

A two km straight stretch beside a busy road.

    Then I retrace some of the trails and I'm home again. 
     I find a 10 to 20 km bike ride in the evening to be a nice finish for the day.

Did You Ever Fall into Your Compost Bin?

    Well, I unfortunately fell into my compost bin a few days ago.
    
    Now before you can say, "What an idiot!" I can explain. Before you say, "Well, he'd make good compost!"  I have a reason. So I've covered all the bases for the "smart mouths."


    I was preparing a fence for painting the other day. The compost bin is close to the fence so there was not much room to maneuver. I was backing up and some rotten wood under my foot squashed and the next thing I knew I was falling backwards and very lucky for me I landed squarely in the compost. Now at first I thought , "Good , nobody saw me!" Then I thought , "How am I going to get out of this place?"  My feet were hanging over the side of the bin. I was in the bin. How was I going to get my feet under me? Well, I did get out in a few seconds.


    Now for the explaining. In a previous post I told how that I had been diagnosed with seizures. These are not the seizures with uncontrollable shaking. For seniors some of the being confused and not responding correctly  is due to seizures. There is a part of your brain where the activity is more rapid than normal. Now these seizures aren't a problem for me but the neurologist insisted I go on medication and I'm not going to argue with her. She says whether I have a driver's license or not. The biggest problem is the medication. They give the same medication for seizures as they do for schizophrenics and bipolar disorder. It doesn't make you feel very good. I have problems with balance on the stuff and that's why a fall. It also slows down your reaction time . So by the time you get your feet in gear to prevent falling into the compost bin, you're in the bin!


     However, I will take the medication if it prevents me from becoming confused or worse. I also know that I can't just stop taking it. There is a protocol for going off the medication.


    So there's my explanation. There's my reason. I also smelled like compost for the rest of the day. So my advice? Try really hard to stay out of the compost bin.