Rescues

I am one of the people in this Southeast corner of Minnesota that can go capture up injured raptors to first bring to my friend Foxfeather for stabilization (she is our local wildlife rehab professional), for eventual transfer up to either the University of Minnesota Raptor Center or the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for non-raptors. On September 28 I got a call for a vulture down. I was able to locate this poor unfortunate bird with the help of the person who had reported it. Eventually I found that the bird was put down, as its injuries were too extensive, and its condition very poor. When I caught it, for the 30 seconds I held it before placing into the box for transport, a whole bunch of mites jumped off the bird and onto me. This is not a good sign, when parasites are looking for any available source to abandon the host they are on, especially when the new host is not a much warmer bird. I had to go right home and take a shower!!

A short time later on the same day I was contacted for a supposed Merlin in someone's back yard here in my little town of Saint Charles. I was just a little skeptical, as this is an uncommon bird for our area, and many people don't know how to properly identify raptors. 

Rich and I responded, and walked around the large backyard not finding the downed bird, then turning, and looking in some shrubs next to the house . . . . and Holly Sh**t!!  It really IS a Merlin!!  This is an intermediate sized falcon, larger than our smallest kestrel, but smaller than the iconic peregrine. I happened to have brought along my box of assorted hoods just in case. I popped one onto its head to keep it calm for its journey to Fox.

This bird too unfortunately was deemed beyond saving, and was euthanized by the Raptor Center, but for a brief moment I was able to hold this little bundle of fire. Falcons truly are very wonderful creatures, even when they are injured.

Camping and Satisfaction of a Bucket List Item

 

It has been quite a few years since I have gone camping. My gear has been gathering dust, and a few mouse droppings in the closet downstairs where it is all stored. Recently, I felt a need to get it out and put it to use.  I almost spent a night at a local State Park, until some unexpected rain cancelled that plan before I purchased a site for the night.  Minnesota has gone all digital now for park access. It is slightly annoying in that the camp site fee is usually about $25 to $30 for the night, but every transaction charges a $10 fee to use the service to make the reservation. There is no other option!  The State is going all "Ticketmaster" on us. I don't mind the money going to the parks. I do mind that they seem to have to hire out the service for reservations, who make a profit off it, because the State can't build their own reservation system that doesn't charge to use the service. 

It has been way too long since I have had any time off from work. I am not the only one! I do have 18 days off coming up in October, which can't come soon enough. I want to do more camping then.  However, recently over a 6-day window off I got from smooshing my normal 3-days-a-week at each end of a 2-week schedule, I was able to sneak in a first camp night out. I coordinated it to tick off a "Bucket List" promise I had made to Rich.

There is a couple of "Big Dumb Boats" up in Duluth. Rich seems to really like touring things like that. I am quite indifferent. In an effort to make sure we also do stuff he is interested in, I tried to fit in seeing the last above water and not scrapped for steel Whaleback ship, the SS Meteor (click to follow link), which is permanently dry docked, having been retired in 1969 after sustaining a fatal injury to her single hull. Her owners chose to not repair her, and instead sell her to be a museum piece. We missed being able to see her last year because I didn't make a reservation. I made one this year to assure he could see the spider-infested thing.

I picked a State Park not far from Duluth/Superior for us to set up the tent and enjoy a night under the stars.  The closest park is Jay Cooke, but I went for the next closest one a little further South, Moose Lake.

We were camping on a Wednesday night, so not a whole lot of competition for sites. I had also picked what is called a "walk-in site". The walk-in part is probably about half a football field from where you park the car and where the camp site is located. It does allow you to be just a little bit more isolated.  Add to that the minimal other campers in the park, and none in the sites right next to us, and the experience is rather a private one. We hauled our stuff to the camp site.  I set up the tent. Rich started the fire to cook our dinner. A couple of industrious rodents, a ground squirrel and a red tree squirrel, foraged and played and scolded us from the canopy.

We've not slept on the ground for several years. I was OK with the plan, but My Man was not particularly thrilled by that arrangement.  Well, we can't afford a fancy travel trailer, so ground sleeping it is.  I do have a nice air mattress and a cozy sleeping bag for two.

The path to my car above.  Rich chilling below after starting the fire.

Me chilling, waiting for the wood to burn down some before grilling our dinner.

Steaks on an open fire, with beans.  YUMMMY!!

I enjoyed my dinner with a ginger beer (I don't like "real" beer).

Rich had a "real" beer. Well, as real as a berry-infused beer can get.

After our dinner we cleaned up and secured away any food, not leaving anything out to attract racoons or bears. I do think we were far enough up North where bears may roam around. Then we just enjoyed the fire as the sun went down. I had not brought any marshmallows. **Darn!** We were far enough away from good cell signal to make staying off the technology time suckers easier. I think there was a game going on that Rich would have liked to follow, but I was just fine with being in the moment. As it got dark a barred owl awoke and called a few tentative contact calls. Later in the night the local coyotes sounded off for a few minutes. The night was clear and still, and would remain that way. I left the rain flap off the tent. Around 9:30, with it getting dark, and no digital distractions, we decided to go to sleep early. One last stop down our path to the toilet vault, and we crawled into our sleeping bag.

Many years ago we purchased a sleeping bag for two. It is quite cozy, but maybe just a little smothering for the partner sleeping in the fold side of the bag, instead of the flap side.  I snagged the flap side. Just worked out that way. After all, I was the one that made the sleeping arrangements.  We did awake around 1 in the morning, and struggled out of the tent and shuffled down the path for another bathroom break, old people that we are. The August Blue Moon was large in the sky lighting our way.

In the dawn that followed, I captured a quiet morning outside the tent window, as I snuggled down in the cozy sleeping bag. In the distance you can hear traffic on I35. The whole time of our visit at our camp site it was calm.  There was some bird song, but not that much. It was late in the summer, and has been very dry, so many of the song birds have probably already abandoned the North woods for places down South, where there is more rain and insects. Briefly a pair of loons on the nearby lake called out, probably contacting each other, but their song was so fleeting I could not catch a recording.

I got up and promptly made coffee.  I have become very much a morning coffee drinker. I came to it late in life, mostly enjoying tea up until my 30s. I consider myself somewhat of a coffee snob. I buy my beans whole from a reputable roaster and grind them at home. I make my cup with a square of dark chocolate, and a good amount of cream. For this trip I decided to try out something new, and purchased a French Press.  Oh My God!!  What have I been missing for so long?  Pouring boiling water over fresh ground coffee and allowing it to steep pulls out so many more flavor notes to the coffee.  This is probably going to become part of my regular morning coffee routine.

Morning Coffee is GREAT! Morning Coffee in the Woods is even BETTER!!

We would pack up our tent and gear, and go in search of some breakfast. But first, we visited the lake that is part of Moose Lake State Park. Oddly, it's not Moose Lake, which is just a little further East.  Below is a panoramic picture of Echo Lake, at the point where there is a swim beach. Click the picture for a bigger view.

When traveling, I like to find small diners to patronize. They usually have the best food in the area, and supporting non-chain establishments goes further to benefit the local economy of the town being visited.  Also, usually, there is no real choice other than a local small diner.  We scored our breakfast at the Lazy Moose Grill (click to follow link).  The breakfast specialty was their Kalevala Hash, which according to the menu is a "unique signature breakfast potato made with russets, sweet potatoes, grilled onions, bacon and a mixture of tasty spices."  You can see it above on my plate.  It was quite good. They had cute coffee mugs for sale, so I bought one to add to my coffee cup collection at home.  If you visit me, I will invite you to pick from an assortment of beautiful and sturdy coffee mugs, then fill it with coffee, or other drink of choice, and sit down and visit.

After breakfast we made our way into Duluth, and beyond to Superior, and got down to the serious business of checking off the "bucket list" item of letting Rich finally visit the Meteor.  As ships go, it is rather small.  Most of the freight delivering vessels on the Lakes have become quite large, limited only by the dimensions of the locks they must pass through on the Lakes. Our reservation was for 11:30, but we were early, and the tour guide was willing to let us go at 10:30.  We had the tour all to ourselves, despite this being a terribly popular tourist hot spot.  😆 Are you catching my snark??  Being a stationary object right next to water, and in the warmer months, it was absolutely covered in spider 🕸 🕷 🕸 webs.  For whatever reason, spiders like to be near water. I let the tour guide and Rich lead the way. Working on such a cramped, industrial ship like this seems rather depressing to me, with tight spaces, an extremely hot and dangerous steam engine, minimal comforts, and limited bland food. I take small comfort in knowing that when she would have been operational, women would not have been part of the crew.    

Thumbs up for Rich finally getting to see the Meteor.

Rich seems to like visiting tourist locations like these derelict ships. Maybe in a previous life he was a sailor.  

One of the most dangerous, and thus high paying jobs on the ship was the oiler. A man's entire responsibility was to go over all the points in the giant boiler engine that had to be constantly lubricated. Imagine that this is done while the engine and all its parts are moving, and you understand how they lost fingers, frequently.  The boiler room, per the tour guide, was often 120℉, or hotter.  What a miserable place to work.

Rich seemed pleased to finally tick off this tour.  I think he first mentioned it to me way back in 2009 (click to follow link), when we first visited Duluth together, when I took my exam that allowed me to become a Respiratory Therapist. We have since visited Duluth many times, and just about every time he speculated if we could get over to see the Meteor.  Well OK, now we FINALLY did it!!

He even has the T-Shirt to prove it.  He appears meditative in the accomplishment . . . or I just caught him blinking.