Was It A UFO?

It was about 11:15 pm on April 25, 2014. I had just gotten ready for bed. I have taken my flannel sheets off the bed and replaced them with regular cotton sheets, but I haven't taken off my electric blanket. It was a bit chilly so I turned the blanket on for a little while. I got all cozy, but the room seemed especially light. I opened my eyes and could see a bright light coming in the window. Being slightly startled, I got up and looked out the window. Wowza! Something was out on our marsh, and it was coming in our direction. I got my husband up. We watched it come closer and closer. I looked through binoculars but it was too hard to see. The light was blinding. My husband opened the patio door and went out on the deck. He was certain it was a UFO. I stood behind him in my bare feet on the cold deck boards. Then he yelled "What are you looking for?".   There was no answer, but it turned around and slowly went back the way it came. Then in the distance I heard "Goodbye". The aliens could speak English. Then when they turned a little,  I could see it was a boat.  I could see the shapes of people. I could hear them laugh. Then I saw them casting out a white net or a line of some sort. Slowly they moved toward the river, and then they were gone.  My husband said he was correct, it was a UFO (Unidentified Floating Object).

Blinded by the light out on our pond.

Then they started to move away.

And then they were gone.

We stayed up for a while talking about what just happened.  We know it is sturgeon spawning season which I wrote about a couple days ago http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/04/sturgeon-spawning-season-in-wisconsin.html.  We know it is walleye spawning season, and there is a limit on the number of walleye a person can catch.  We were sure that who ever it was out there was up to no good and probably doing something highly illegal.  We were certain they were poaching sturgeon or walleye.  We finally settled down again, the bed was nice and warm on my cold feet and we went to sleep.  The funny part is that my dad was in the next room with all this going on, and he didn't hear a thing.  He claims he doesn't sleep that well, but he did last night.

This morning my husband called the DNR to see if they had any boats out looking for sturgeon.  They said no, but it is Carp bowfishing season.  It was probably just some people fishing for carp or maybe catfish with a bow and arrow.  It is a legal sport.  We have seen them do this during the day, but we have never noticed night fishing before. 

This is the type of boat we saw.  It has a platform, spotlights and a big fan like an airboat would have.

Another Busy Day On The Homefront With Wood Ducks and More

Today it has been a very very busy day on the home front.  I have not gotten anything done.  The minute I start something, I see some new sign of summer.  I got up at 6:00am today because I knew it was going to be a sunny warmish day.  The forecast for the next few days isn't nearly as nice.  The first thing I always do in the morning is make coffee.  It only takes three minutes with my awesome and very old Bunn coffee maker.  When it's done I relax in the chair and look outside.  I love this time in the morning when everything is quiet, and no one else is up.  Today the first thing I noticed was all the wood ducks have paired up.  Up until this point they would hang out in a group with a few pairs mixed in.  Today a pair was swimming in the water, a pair was sitting in the tree and a pair was walking right past the wood duck house and climbing the hill.

Pair of wood ducks sitting in the tree right outside our dining room window.

Male wood duck walking up the hill away from the water.

Either the same duck or another came to sit on my deck railing.

Next I saw a great big bird out in the marsh.  It didn't have a white head but it was as large as an eagle.  I couldn't get close enough to see what it was, but when it flew it was gigantic.  It takes three to five years for an eagle to get its adult coloring.  This could have been a young one.

The big bird is sitting in the photo about half way up to the left of the tree.

In spite of the cooler water temperatures, the turtles are peeking out.  The sun probably feels good.  Soon there will be tons of them out sunning themselves on any branch or surface they can find.  The flooding makes it a little more difficult.

The leaves are budding out.  The pussy willows are gone and the willow is now getting its leaves.  The red winged blackbirds like to sit in the willow tree.

Pussy Willow bush is getting leaves.

Tamarack Tree is getting it's new needles.  Tamarack trees are pine trees that lose their needles like a deciduous tree.

The most convincing sign today was the return of the Tree Swallows.  They usually compete with the Bluebirds for birdhouse space, but there aren't any bluebirds in our yard today.  I see them on the property but they must not be ready to nest.  The Tree Swallows always settle on the same house.  No matter how many choices we give them, they like the blue-gray house.

I could hear them squawking at each other as soon as I went outside.  One must want to live here and the other doesn't.

All this has happened, and it is only noon.  I need to go and get some chores done.  If anymore signs of summer happen, I will report on another day.  Considering we live in the middle of nowhere, there is a lot happening today.  Even the common Male Mallard duck was ready for his close up.

Sturgeon Spawning Season In Wisconsin

 
The sturgeon are spawning again in this area.  I wrote about sturgeon spearing and a little bit about the spawning process last year. Click on this link if you want to read more about the sturgeon.
http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/02/sturgeon-spearing.html

We knew it was getting close to sturgeon spawning season 2014.  Then last night my daughter got a call from her neighbor.  He said the DNR was down by the Fox River netting sturgeon to tag.  They were tagging the fish so their behavior and habits can be monitored.  Since her son is fascinated with wildlife, fish and prehistoric creatures, they went to see the process.  He got to touch the sturgeon and ask questions. I bet all of his classmates are getting stories today.

They use a net to capture the sturgeon.

They take measurements of the fish.

Here they are putting a device under the skin so they can keep track of that individual fish.

Being a little bit jealous that my daughter and grandson got to participate in such a fun adventure, we took a little trip to see if we could also see a sturgeon.  We didn't quite know where to look, but we went to the city park on the Fox River.  There was a policeman walking along the trail so we asked him if he had seen any.  He said there were some a few feet down the trail.  We could see the fin action from where we were standing.  I almost ran to the spot.  We were very lucky to see them.  There is a boardwalk and when the river flooded the boardwalk became a few inches under water.  Apparently the sturgeon flopped over the top and landed in shallow water trapping them between the boardwalk and the shore.  As I was trying to take some pictures, the DNR warden came walking up.  He explained that the sturgeon were trapped, and they would have to find a way to release them.  He said the male sturgeon have to be 14 years old and the females 20 years old before they spawn.  He also said that the water has to be 54 degrees.  Since the water temperature has gone down because of the cooler weather we have had in the last couple day, the fish wouldn't be in our town for several days.  At that time they will bring in a crew to tag the fish in Princeton.  Maybe we will see them again.  Thank you Mr. Game Warden for being so nice.

Sturgeon don't have teeth, they sense food with their feelers (barbels).

Earth Day Cornflake Haystacks

Everyday is Earth Day in my world, but today it is officially Earth Day 2014.  I thought I should make a Tuesday recipe related to earth day but I couldn't think of anything.  I looked up some recipes and many of them were based on the blue marble earth.  They had a lot of blue and green food coloring.  I don't like using food coloring especially red dye.  I think some of those artificial colorings cause a lot of behavior problems in children and probably in adults too.  Then I thought I'd make a dirt cake, but everyone makes dirt cake these days and none of us should have all those calories.  I settled on these.  They are called Cornflake Haystacks.  Not really earthy, but close enough.  They have a lot of calories too, but as it turns out we aren't a fan of butterscotch.  We won't be eating that many.  I sure hope Dad likes them*.  Otherwise, I will freeze them and bring them out when the grandkids come over.  If you love butterscotch, you will really enjoy them.

*Dad loves them.  He has polished off nearly all of them in three days and hasn't eaten any of his other cookies or treats.  

Cornflake Haystacks

1 cup peanut butter
1 (12 oz.) butterscotch chips
6 cups corn flakes

Put the peanut butter and the butterscotch chips in a large pan.  Turn the heat to low and melt.  Be sure to stir often.  When the mixture is smooth, add the cornflakes.  Mix until the cornflakes are coated.  Then take a spoon or a scoop and drop on parchment paper or waxed paper.  Let them cool.

A Trip To The Pottery Shop

 
The week before Easter was Spring break for my grandchildren.  As a special treat my daughter's took the older kids to Medieval Times in Illinois.  They had a great time but the two younger ones had to stay home.  I've written about Jack several times.  He is a character and knew that he was missing some special time with his mom.  So last Wednesday my daughter and I took him to Wisconsin Dells.  We went to the Pottery Shop.  I believe they have them all over the country.  You go in, pick out a piece you want to paint, paint it with all the furnished equipment and then leave it to be fired.  You can pick up the finished piece or have it shipped to you.

They have a lot of pieces to paint. 

He picked out his pieces and got to work.

He chose a little Shark.

He only dropped it once and the fin got chipped, but it doesn't show.

Next was an ice cream bowl.

I bet he will even eat his cereal out of this bowl.

My daughter worked on her own project.

Before the mug went in the kiln.

It's amazing how the colors pop.

The funniest part of the day was the family friendly bathroom.

We had a great day.

Osprey in Green Lake Wisconsin

I'm not going to write a lot of information about the beautiful Osprey.  The internet has all that, but seeing them in person is amazing.  One of our neighboring communities has an Osprey nest on top of one of the spotlights on their baseball diamond.  It is a big nest, and this is the third year they have nested in this spot.  Apparently the lights of the ball diamond doesn't bother them.   We stopped by this week, but I didn't see the bird.  It was a dreary rainy day so the bird was either snuggled down in the nest or out looking for food. This is a link for the Osprey cam.   http://www.greenlakeassociation.com/glaw/index.php/what-we-do/watershed-education/green-lake-osprey-cam/

They also have a Facebook page.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-Lake-Conservancy/211577598900997

This is the nest we saw on April 14, 2014,  but there was no Osprey in sight.

This photo was taken by a member of the Green Lake Conservancy this Spring.

We have seen Osprey in the trees outside our windows but they are pretty illusive, and I haven't gotten a good photo yet.  A year ago I blogged a picture and that is as good as I can get so far.  Click on the link below to see the April 8, 2013 blog post.

http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/04/is-it-osprey.html

The "400"

I wasn't sure what to write today.  It is Throwback Thursday, it would have been my Mom's 90th birthday today and it is my 400th blogpost.  I decided to incorporate all of them.

Our family picture from 1951.  Mom and Dad are 27 years old.
Dad is holding my baby sister and I'm in front of mom.

My mom was born on April 17, 1924.  She was the ninth of ten children.  Her mother died when she was only thirteen years old.  Most of her siblings had gone off on their own so that left her younger brother and herself to run the household and help take care of her grandmother.  Her father worked on the railroad and would be gone from dawn to dusk.  When she was ready to attend high school there was no high school nearby.  They had to rent a room in town, and she would live there all week.  She would go home on the weekend.  No wonder she grew up to be such a strong person and very protective of her family.  When she graduated from high school, she worked until until she met my dad and got married.

Mom with her mom in 1926.  They died on the same day 74 years apart.

 
This being my 400th blog it reminded me that Mom worked in Milwaukee for a while and lived with a friend.  She also had a sister and a brother who lived there.  To get to Milwaukee they took the train.  The passenger train they took was called the "400".  The train was named the 400 because it could travel the 400 miles from Chicago to Minneapolis/St. Paul via Milwaukee in 400 minutes.  I heard about them taking this train a lot when I was growing up.  To make the trip so quickly, the train had very few scheduled stops.  This was before the interstate system and a car trip from Central Wisconsin to Milwaukee was a major trip.  The train was a major form of transportation.

The railroad track is abandoned now.  A bike trail has been constructed along the old railroad bed.  It is called the 400 bike trail and runs from Reedsburg, Wisconsin to Elroy, Wisconsin.   It is a wonderful place to hike or bike.  We need to return soon.  It's been five years since we have been there.

This was Mother's Day 2009.  It was so cold that day that  we had to bundle up.

 

Northern Shoveler's and Ring-necked Ducks On Our Pond

We had two different duck breeds show up after the snow on Sunday night.  I saw them earlier this Spring but they were too far away to get a photo.  One was a Northern Shoveler and the other a Ring-necked Duck.  Each are very pretty ducks.  We have another breed out there today but I haven't identified it yet.

The pair on the right are a male and female Northern Shoveler and the others are Ring-necked Ducks.

Male Northern Shoveler photo came from the Cornell Lab site.

These are the Northern Shoveler ducks.  Notice the wider bill which looks like a shovel.

Ring-necked Duck photo also came from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

I took a video of the ducks.  I need some practice with videos.  My jerky motions have to be controlled better, and the sound is so sensitive that any little sound is heard.  I also should be editing out some of the video with much nothing going on.  Hopefully my next video will turn out better.

In addition to the ducks, more birds are returning to their springtime stomping ground.  This is a Rufous-sided Towhee.

Rufous Sided Towhee

And then there is the Mourning Dove.  They stay all winter but must also think it is time for Spring.   This one has some nesting material in it's beak and is getting ready to build a nest.

Mourning Dove