2008 – WEEK #17 – MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST BLUE BIRD UPDATE

Ok, Blue Bird fans, it’s Week #17 update time for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Program in the city of Long Beach, on the 45-acre campus of the South Mississippi Regional Center!

So, here is what ‘Master Naturalist’ buddy John and I found today, June 27, 2008, walking around campus during a Friday morning, taking the Blue Bird Trail nesting survey.

There are dozens of gray squirrels on the SMRC Campus.

Here are this week’s Survey results:

Box #1- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #2- 3 Blue Bird babies. – Last week: 3 Blue Bird babies, 2 Blue Bird eggs.

Box #3- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Another campus gray squirrel.

Box #4- 4 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: 5 Blue Bird eggs.

Box #5- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #6- 3 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: New Blue Bird nest, 1 Blue Bird egg.

Box #7- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest on Friday afternoon.

The Killdeer babies on the campus have really grown during the past week, and almost look like their parents now.

Box #8- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #9- 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird babies.

Box #10- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #11- Few old straw. – Last week: Few straw, no activity.

One of the Killdeer parents is always near the babies.

Box #12- 5 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: e Blue Bird eggs.

Box #13- Empty Nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

During the past several days, ‘pop-up’ thunderstorms have been very common on the Mississippi Gulf Coast area, and yesterday, provided a very heavy rain storm over the SMRC Campus.

Totals This Week: 12 Blue Bird eggs, 3 Blue Bird babies, 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest, 0 sterile eggs,
7 empty nesting boxes, 3 Killdeer babies.

Totals Last Week: 12 Blue Bird eggs, 7 Blue Bird babies, 0 Sterile eggs, 7 empty nesting boxes, 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest, 3 Killdeer babies.

Master Naturalist buddy John continues to be very enthused about the activity, and reports that during the last 17 weeks of the program, 36 Blue Bird babies and 6 Chickadee babies have flown from their nests, and we also have 3 Killdeer babies who have left their ground nest in one of the grassy areas on campus, and have joined their parents in feeding on the ground, during this first season of the new Blue Bird Trail.

The weather today was partly cloudy, light wind and about 88 degrees.

Another update will be along next weekend.

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JUNE 26TH UPDATE ON STEVE

I want to provide a quick update on the medical condition of my nephew Steve, who is in Intensive Care at a Madison, Wisconsin hospital this week.

During two serious operations two days ago, Steve came to be in critical condition, after massive internal bleeding requiring over a hundred units of blood to be moved into his weakened body. Doctors said last evening that there were indications that his kidneys were failing, and that the family should come in to the hospital, as he might not survive the night.

The word is today that he did make it through the night. This morning, the doctors administered drugs paralyzing him, so that a ventilator could do all the breathing for him, and his system would be at a minimum stress.

This evening, after just talking with my wife, who just returned home after visiting Steve and his mother in the hospital, his condition is ever so slightly more stable than last night, and the ICU staff are watching his stats very closely.

As I shared last evening, Steve lost his wife to cancer about 5 years ago, a very painful time for all involved. During that time, he was a rock of support and strength and hope for his wife. After being alone since that most difficult personal loss, he was blessed to be able to find a wonderful lady last year, and last September, the two ‘kids’ were married.

At their mid-September wedding, I was their photographer, just as I was at Steve’s first wedding many years ago. Lisa, Steve’s new bride, a small animal veterinarian, never married previously, is a wonderful, loving lady. We were all so happy that he had been able to find another sweet soul to love and spend the rest of his life with. And now it is only a short nine months later, in the rest of their lives…

One of the major things the doctors did during his surgeries two days ago, was to remove his entire stomach, which was no longer functioning as it should. This recent medical problem is related to a previous stomach surgery Steve had some 5-6 years ago.

Steve has some major challenges ahead of him during the next several days, and each day will be a wait-and-see situation, on how well his weakened body will be able to respond to what he must go through to survive.

My wife (Blond Girl) of 40 years (this Sunday), is able to go to the ICU Wing at the hospital every day to be with him and my sister and other family and provide comfort and support in that way.

For me, being all the way down here on the coast, over a thousand miles away, is kind of hard not being able to also go up to see him each day, as I would like to be able to do. But, that is yet another small sacrifice made to be able to do what I am doing down here to help families.

I remember vividly going to visit Steve and his first wife during her final days in the hospital, before she passed from cancer, and it meant a lot to all of us that I could do that. This time, however, it’s being here alone, with the stress, worry and, yes, some tears, and only being able to use the cell phone to check on them and let them know I love them so very much, that adds pain of another kind to the mixture.

Your comments, thoughts, sweet words and prayers have helped to soothe and ease that pain, and for that, I am so grateful.

Thank you again for your prayers for Steve and his family, and please keep them coming..

God Bless!

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PLEASE SAY A PRAYER FOR STEVE

For the Coast Rat, these are most anxious days and hours.

When my cell phone rang yesterday afternoon at 3:30pm, and I saw that the caller was my brother, I knew something was wrong.

When a member of my extended family calls me during the day, it is seldom just to pass the time.

I punched answer, and said “Hey, what’s up?”

He says, “I’ve got some bad news for you.”

Me: “OK, what is it?

Brother: “Our nephew Steve, is in pretty bad shape and isn’t expected to last through the night.”

Bam! Right between the eyes!

My brother went on to explain what happened to Steve during the day, when he was in one of the Madison hospitals having surgery done, and things went wrong.

Then it was another surgery, with massive internal bleeding, and the doctors said: “We’ve done all we can do; the rest of up to God.”

When I talked with my wife last night, she had spoken with Steve’s mother, my oldest sister, only a few moments before that, and the appraisal was the same.

Pray for Steve.

Steve is about 40 years old, has four children, and lost his wonderful, loving wife, about 5 years ago, to cancer, when she was only about 28 years old. It was very sad.

This morning, I called my sister, and she talked about all that happened yesterday, and that Steve had come through the night, was in ICU, and was stable for now, with a couple of encouraging signs.

She said during all the surgery of yesterday, Steve had received over a hundred units of blood. Pretty serious stuff going on…

This evening, just a little while ago, my brother called again.

Well, things are not looking so good; his kidneys are failing, and they are calling in all the family again, to expect the worst.

As you might expect, I am very upset about Steve, and fear for him very much.

Those of you who are still up yet this evening, and into tomorrow, I would ask that you please include Steve from Madison, Wisconsin in your prayers this evening, and ask God to be with him and his family.

Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.

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HARBOR LUNCH IN ‘THE PASS’

Yesterday and today, I had the pleasure of hanging around with Master Naturalist Buddy John and Emily, the Tree-Climbing Wonder Dog, out at John’s home north of Pass Christian, Mississippi, on Bayou Arcadia, north of The Bay of St. Louis.

You got a bit of a look at John’s place in my recent post, “Week #13 – Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Update.”

The weather this weekend has been pretty nice, with daytime highs around 88 or so, with moderate humidity; not nearly so nasty as it has been the past couple of weeks and will be again soon, as we slide more into the heat of the gulf coast summer.

A rain shower passes by John’s home on Bayou Arcadia, north of Pass Christian, Saturday afternoon.

I had done quite a bit of work for John last summer and fall, helping to build a new bathroom in a ground floor room (he calls it his ‘shed’) at his home, and he and I were doing some more modifications to his ground level area this weekend.

As you can see from the images in “Week #13 – Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Update,” John’s home is quite a ways up off the ground on wood pilings, but still not so high that he could escape having 5 feet of storm surge during Hurricane Katrina in the living area of his home. That amount of water made it necessary to completely gut the inside of the home up to the ceiling level.

John had the foresight to have had flood insurance on his home structure, and that allowed him to repair it after Katrina finished with it, much of it done with volunteer helpers. He has been frugal in choosing the materials and sources for re-doing his home, and has been able to end up with a beautiful home to live in.

He has planted a large number of flowers, plants and trees on the property, especially in the back yard, between the home and the pier on the bayou. One of the most interesting things he has growing on the ground floor area, above the fish-cleaning table and lower back deck, are the young Banana Spiders. The largest one he has there at the moment, is about the size of an old half dollar. John advises that they will grow to be the size of a canning jar lid, and be beautiful. Yeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh, I can hardly wait…

While cutting some boards this afternoon, we chased a Brown Recluse female spider down through the deck floor boards, where the Black Widow spiders hang out. Maybe some of you would like to come and help the next time I go out there to work, huh? If not, I’ll understand.

The beach next to Pass Christian harbor on Sunday.

John doesn’t let Emily out in the back yard now without watching her so she doesn’t go near the pier and water, since he saw a gator measuring about 6′ in length swimming around there two days ago. If the gator hangs around, he will call the Game & Fish to come and trap it and transport it to an safer location.

After finishing working yesterday afternoon, John and I went over to Kimball’s Shrimp Cafe in The Pass for lunch. They have giant cheeseburgers and great shrimp po-boys. While there, we ran into a fellow I work with and his sister, who is rebuilding her home in The Pass, which Katrina totally destroyed.

This afternoon, with most local cafes closed, John and I went to Shaggy’s Cafe on the beach, in the Pass Christian Harbor, for lunch. Shaggy’s Cafe is located right in the middle of the harbor, on the water, up high on pilings, with various private boats and shrimpers moored nearby.

Shaggy’s Cafe in the harbor at Pass Christian, Mississippi.

They had a pretty good size crowd when we arrived, and we ended up sitting at a small table out on the deck in the sunshine, directly overlooking the water and boats.

John ordered some Gumbo, while I had the Shrimp Po-Boy, and we dined watching various boats come and go all around us.

A big thrill was when a 39′ banana boat with three engines pulled in and docked directly below our table, and we got to watch the crew unload several large yellow-fin tuna from the fish hold, into the lower portion of the restaurant. The six people on board had been out two days and caught the tuna halfway to Mexico.

Part of the harbor in Pass Christian, Mississippi.

After we sat down at our table, a young waitress who John knew, named Katie, stopped by our table and said hello to John. He introduced me to her, and advised her that we had been working at his house earlier in the afternoon. I told her I was from Wisconsin, and when I did that, she grabbed my arm and punched me in the shoulder. Then she said she was from Wisconsin, too!

I said, “You’re kidding, where from?” And she says, “Most recently, Madison. My mother just got back from there last week.” I said, “Girl, my home is just south of Madison. What a small world!”

The next time she walked by us, I asked her, “Where are you from originally in Wisconsin?” She replied, “Tomah.” I said, “Really, I used to eat at the supper club in Tomah, ‘The Teepee.'” She says, “No way! My family and I went in there to eat all the time!” Then she said, “I’m going in and call my dad and tell him about this; this is amazing!”

Yes, it is a small world, at times.

Shaggy’s Cafe at the harbor in The Pass.

As we dined at Shaggy’s, I couldn’t help buy notice the many shrimp boats which were tied up at piers in The Pass Harbor, rather than out in the sound or gulf shrimping. Shrimping season started during this past week, but many shrimpers were not going out, due to the high cost of diesel fuel and the current low price of shrimp, due in part, to the competition from shrimpers in southeast Asia.

Like I said, it is a small world, at times, and what happens on the other side of it, does affect us on this side, more and more as time passes.

Rebuilding Pass Christian, and the rest of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, is proceeding along, and much has been done to repair and replace homes, businesses, schools, churches and public buildings damaged or destroyed by Katrina. However, much remains to be rebuilt, as evidenced by the large numbers of empty home slabs remaining, as well as the large numbers of Katrina Cottages and FEMA trailers still left around the coast. Those are families without permanent homes, still waiting to get their lives back.

It is that challenge which brought me to Mississippi Gulf Coast a year and a half ago, and which I will continue to play a small part in the rest of this year.

Thanks for stopping by!

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2008 – WEEK #16 – MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST BLUE BIRD UPDATE

Ok, Blue Bird fans, it’s Week #16 update time for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Program in the city of Long Beach, on the 45-acre campus of the South Mississippi Regional Center!

So, here is what ‘Master Naturalist’ buddy John and I found today, June 20, 2008, walking around campus during a Friday afternoon, taking the Blue Bird Trail nesting survey.

These very large Blue Bird babies flew from Nesting Box #7 this afternoon, about 5 hours after this image was taken.

Here are this week’s Survey results:

Box #1- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #2- 3 Blue Bird babies, 2 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: 5 Blue Bird eggs.

Box #3- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

A Killdeer parent with one of its three babies on the campus.

Box #4- 5 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: New nest, 2 Blue Bird eggs.

Box #5- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #6- New Blue Bird nest, 1 Blue Bird egg. – Last week: 2 Blue Bird babies flew the next, 3 sterile Blue Bird eggs, nesting box cleaned.

Box #7- 4 very large Blue Bird babies (in morning), 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest in afternoon. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird babies.

Growing Killdeer baby.

Box #8- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #9- 4 large Blue Bird babies. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird babies.

Box #10- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #11- Few new straw. – Last week: Fresh new straw.

Growing Killdeer baby.

Box #12- 4 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: Half of a new Blue Bird nest built.

Box #13- Empty Nesting box, no activity. – Last week: 3 Blue Bird babies flew the nest.

Watchful Killdeer parent.

Totals This Week: 12 Blue Bird eggs, 7 Blue Bird babies, 0 Sterile eggs, 7 empty nesting boxes, 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest, 3 Killdeer babies.

Totals Last Week (June 12, 2008): 7 Blue Bird eggs, 8 Blue Bird babies, 5 Blue Bird babies flew the nest, 4 sterile Blue Bird eggs, 7 empty nesting boxes (includes the 2 boxes where babies flew the nest).

Late this afternoon, Master Naturalist Buddy John and myself walked over to Nesting Box #7 to show one of the campus officials the large size of the Blue Bird babies in this box. John advised that he had thought with the very large size of these four Blue Bird babies residing in this nesting box, he couldn’t understand why that had not flown from the nest yet.

At Nesting Box #7, we slowly pulled the front open and there they were, four very large Blue Bird babies, all hunched down in the nest. As the official took a couple of quick pictures, one of the babies jumped to its feet, and decided it was time to make the maiden flight, and took off flying from the nest, over to a nearby tree branch.

And just like that, one-by-one, each of the other three babies stood up, and flew from the nest to nearby trees, where the mother and father Blue Birds joined them in a real chirping festival. What an amazing experience, to actual see the babies fly from the nest! Those four brought the total Blue Bird babies who have flown from the nest, to 32 birds, a substantial additional to the area Blue Bird population.

Master Naturalist buddy John continues to be very enthused about the activity, and reports that in addition to the 32 Blue Bird babies and 6 Chickadee babies who have flown from their nests, we also have 3 Killdeer babies who have left their ground nest in one of the grassy areas on campus, and have joined their parents in feeding on the ground, during this first season of the new Blue Bird Trail.

The weather today was partly cloudy, light wind and about 92 degrees.

Another update will be along next weekend.

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BLOND GIRL’S SURPRISE TWENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!

In my recent post “JUKE BOX MAGIC – THE FIRST TIME I REALLY ‘SAW’ THE GIRL I WAS GOING TO MARRY” I wrote about ‘Blond Girl’ and explained how I came to go on my first ‘date’ with her, to a movie.

Fast forward to May 11, 1967.

It was Blond Girl’s twenty-first Birthday.

She had transferred to the State University Campus located in the southwestern part of the State that semester, and was living in one of the women’s dorms on campus.

I was on a hiatus from school and was working as a Line Supervisor for the SCM Corporation, at an assembly plant about 60 miles from Blond Girl. I had made arrangements with her to take her out to eat on her birthday, to a Supper Club located about 15 miles south of her campus.

Around 6:30pm that evening, I stopped at her dorm to pick her up, and we drove south to the Supper Club, which was called ‘The Dugout.’

After parking in the Club parking lot, where there were only a few cars around, we walked inside into the bar room for the start of what she was expecting to be a quiet, intimate birthday dinner for two.

As we walked into the large bar room, Blond Girl’s jaw dropped open in surprise, as sitting there on the other side of the bar having a drink were her mother and father, and beside them, my mother and father.

Talk about a surprised young lady!

Blond Girl just could hardly believe that I had arranged for both of our parents to come down to help her celebrate her 21st birthday!

We walked around the bar where we were both greeted with hugs and handshakes, and she received many expressions of Happy Birthday! A few minutes later, we all adjourned to a table in one of the private dining rooms, where we ordered supper and talked until it arrived.

After a great dinner, both sets of parents gave Blond girl birthday gifts, which she proceeded to open and admire. At that point I reached under my chair and handed her a smallish, neatly wrapped, shirt-sized box, which contained my birthday present to her.

Blond Girl opened the box and the wrapping paper inside, and then BURST OUT LAUGHING!

Inside the box I had given her, all neatly folded and clean, was her waitress apron she had worn to work at my parents Supper Club the previous Saturday night, when she was home for the weekend, and where she helped out on occasion. She had inadvertently left the apron at the Club when she finished her shift then and had gone home without it.

Then as she took the apron out of the box to hold it up for all to see, she stopped, noticing something was in the apron pocket.

“What’s this?” she said, as she reached in the pocket and pulled out a small, wrapped box.

“Hmmmm,” I said, “maybe you should open it and find out.”

And so she did, carefully removing the wrapping paper, and then slowly opening the small, hinged box.

Looking at the open box, she froze, her mouth once again locked open in time.

She looked at the box, then looked at me, then looked back at the box, and then at me again…

Inside the box, was a very large, marque-shaped diamond engagement ring, mounted in silver gold, with a small piece of paper sticking up in the rear of the hinged box, which asked: “Yes, or, No?”

When another 5-10 seconds passed and she was still speechless and hadn’t said anything, I finally asked her: “Well…?”

She silently nodded her head slightly up and down twice.

I then took the ring from the box and put it on her finger, which was followed by a kiss and long hug.

At that point, both moms were crying, and I believe that both dads were wiping away a tear or two themselves, having been present at and witness to a most special event in their children’s lives. Both sets of parents expressed their appreciation for being invited to this special evening.

When we all finally left the Supper Club a little later, I drove a now engaged Blond Girl back to the University campus and her dorm, and said goodnight.

When she got back upstairs to her third floor room, her roommate, Jeannie, from Boston, now was the speechless one when she saw the new ring. The news spread throughout her dorm like wild fire, and soon almost every girl there had to come by and see the newly engaged Blond Girl and her large rock.

It was definitely a special birthday celebration!

Meanwhile, 40 some years later…

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MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE BUFFET… OH, MY!

It was about 3 weeks or so ago, that I posted “Dammit! (Not you, Maggie)” about my experience during an evening supper at a Buffet in west Biloxi, when four women sitting at the table next to mine, all ended up talking on their cell phones at the same time.

After finishing my day job late this afternoon, I was over in south Gulfport this evening, working on a home about two blocks north of the gulf, and after finishing up there, decided that as long as I was that far east, and it being the end of my birthday week, I would drive a little more east and treat myself to supper out at the Chinese Buffet I was at three weeks ago.

When I walked inside the restaurant, I was seated in the same general area where I sat last time, and after a quick glance around, I noted with relief that the same four women were not in attendance this evening.

Shortly after I arrived and started eating my food selections, a young family with three children, probably ranging in ages from 5 to 10, were seated at a table next to mine.

As they approached their table, I ventured a quick glance in their direction and noted that the mom was a stunning, young woman, about 5’9″ tall, buxom, slender, long, black, shoulder-length hair, with a low-cut, black blouse on top of a pair of snug, designer jeans. Dad was in a white t-shirt and jeans, also.

What was particularly noticeable about the woman though, in another glance their way a few moments later, was the design of her loose-fitting black blouse.

How can I accurately describe it and due it justice?

Well, it was constructed so that the black fabric stretching from the left shoulder crossed the center of her chest and went over the other expanse of fabric coming from her right shoulder and attaching at her left side. The most notable thing about the blouse, though, is that it was cut very low and very open! In fact, the opening in front was so large as to just about expose most of her breasts.

The next time I glanced over at their table as I was taking a drink of Diet Coke (and yes, I continued to eat my supper; I didn’t freeze and just stare open-mouthed), I almost spit the Coke all over the table, when I saw that her left breast had escaped from her blouse and was right there in the open like a grapefruit sitting there waiting to be picked!

About the same time, her husband, who was sitting across from her, noticed the gate was open, and said quietly to her, “Honey, your breast is out of your top.” She looked down at it, made a quick comment: “Oops!” and deftly tucked it sort of back inside the blouse.

No on else was sitting close enough or at the right angle to have noticed the ‘action’ as myself and her husband had, and as I took another drink of my Diet Coke, I said to myself, “This could be a long meal!”

As it turned out (no pun intended), “IT” happened 3-4 more times during their supper, with the husband noticing and telling her each time, to cover it up.

When the wife/mom went back over to the buffet lines a few minutes later to refill her plate, a younger man from the other dining room came out to refill his plate also, and ended up being near her as she made her way along each line to check out the foods.

It was interesting that when she walked from her table over to the buffet, the husband stopped in mid-bite, kind of like he froze in place, watching every move she made, as well as how close the guy from the back dining room was to her during her selection process. When ‘they’ would become partially hidden by a post or other patron, the husband would half stand and stretched right or left to try to see his wife and what she was doing.

I couldn’t help suppressing a chuckle watching his movements as he watched her so closely, wondering just how much he really trusted her. When she was just about back to their table, the hubby ‘un-froze’ and started eating again, watching her as she sat down. He then said something very quietly to her, so softly that I didn’t catch what was said, but she just kind of made a face and shock her head a little and went back to eating, pretty much ignoring him as she did. A short time later, they finished their meal and left.

I sat there for a few more minutes at my table, slightly shaking my head and chuckling to myself, thinking that one never knows what human drama will play out near him as the minutes and hours of his life pass.

I finished up, paid the bill and then stopped by the Sears store in the Crossroads Mall for a few minutes to purchase a new screwdriver, to replace one I had lost a couple of days ago.

I then headed back west towards Gulfport and Long beach, driving on Hwy 90 along the gulf shore, enjoying the beautiful sunset to the west.

It was an interesting day, and an even more interesting night, down on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Earlier this afternoon, just before punching out from my day job, I spent about 20 minutes sitting on the sidewalk beside one of my favorite clients at the Center, Gary, who is wheelchair-bound, repairing his super squirt gun, which had sprung a pretty good leak.

During each afternoon I am at the center, when I see Gary in his mobile chair near his cottage, I usually stop, go over and see if he has his squirt gun with him, and if so, I’ll go inside the cottage and fill it with water, so he can squirt everyone who comes along. Gary gets a great kick out of it, no one else seems to mind, and he ends up fulfilling one of the staff goals for him to flex and exercise his fingers on the one hand he does have the use of.

When ever I see Gary tooling around campus in his motorized chair, we always stop and exercise a crisp, military salute to each other, each one a reminder of our friendship with each other. When I catch him when I am out of my work truck, and am fairly close to him, we also do an ‘Incredible Hulk’ upper body flex action at each other, and then knuckle bump before parting company for that time.

When I finish my two-year hurricane relief personal mission down here around the end of this year, and head back up to Wisconsin, I am going to miss terribly seeing and interacting with client friends like Gary. It will be very hard to leave them.

Tomorrow, I will be working on another home just north of Pass Christian. Hope it isn’t too hot and humid.

But it probably will be.

After all, it is mid June in south Mississippi…

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2008 – WEEK #15 – MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST BLUE BIRD UPDATE, HOW WE BUILT OUR BLUE BIRD TRAIL

Ok, Blue Bird fans, it’s Week #15 update time for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Program in the city of Long Beach, on the 45-acre campus of the South Mississippi Regional Center!

So, here is what ‘Master Naturalist’ buddy John and I found today, June 12, 2008, walking around campus during (this week) on a Thursday afternoon Blue Bird Trail nesting survey.

Following the Survey results, is the nesting box program we used to build the BLUE BIRD TRAIL in Long Beach.

Master Naturalist Buddy John checks one of the nesting boxes.

Here are this week’s Survey results:

Box #1- Empty box, no activity. – Last week: Empty box, no activity.

Box #2- 5 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird eggs.

Box #3- Empty box, no activity. – Last week: Empty box, no activity.

John inspects another nesting box.

Box #4- New nest, 2 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest.

Box #5- Empty box, no activity. – Last week: Empty box, no activity.

Box #6- 2 Blue Bird babies flew the next, 3 sterile Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: At least 2 Blue Bird babies.

Box #7- 4 Blue Bird babies. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird babies.

John inspects one more.

Box #8- Empty box, no activity. – Last week: Empty box, no activity.

Box #9- 4 Blue Bird babies. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird eggs.

Box #10- Empty box, no activity. – Last week: Empty box, no activity.

4 Blue Bird babies in nesting box #9.

Box #11- Fresh new straw. – Last week: Empty box, no activity.

Box #12- Half of a new Blue Bird nest built. – Last week: Empty box, no activity.

Box #13- 3 Blue Bird babies flew the nest. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird babies.

Totals This Week (June 12, 2008): 7 Blue Bird eggs, 8 Blue Bird babies, 5 Blue Bird babies flew the nest, 4 sterile Blue Bird eggs, 7 empty nesting boxes (includes the 2 boxes where babies flew the nest).

Totals Last Week (June 6, 2008): 8 Blue Bird eggs, 11 Blue Bird babies, 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest, at least 1 sterile Blue Bird egg, 7 empty nesting boxes.

Master Naturalist buddy John continues to be very enthused about the activity, and reports that so far, 28 Blue Bird babies and 6 Chickadee babies have flown from the nesting boxes during this first season of the new Blue Bird Trail. The weather today was partly cloudy, light wind and about 87 degrees.

Another update will be along next weekend.

HOW WE BUILT OUR BLUE BIRD TRAIL:

Although we are well past the halfway point in our Blue Bird nesting season here on the Long beach campus, I thought you might like to know how our Blue Bird Trail was laid out and the nesting boxes assembled and deployed, in case you might wish to try our methods in your program this year yet or next year.

Prior to early March when we constructed and deployed the 12 new Blue Bird nesting boxes and poles, there was only a single nesting box on the entire campus. That nesting box annually had a Blue Bird pair raise several batches of young birds.

Around that time, Master Naturalist Buddy John and the SMR Center Director decided to greatly expand the Blue Bird nesting capacity of the campus, which translated into assembling nesting boxes and mounting materials to add another 12 nesting boxes on the campus.

Following are the materials contained in one nesting box mounted and ready for occupancy:

1. Blue Bird Nesting boxes: we obtained our nesting boxes from WalMart, at a cost of approximately $10.00 each.
-the nesting boxes open in the front, pivoting at the bottom of the box, and appear to be made of cedar wood.
-box size: 13″ tall, 4 7/8″ deep, and 5 3/8″ across
-roof slants from high in the back to lower in the front.

2. Mounting materials (per each assembly):
2 1/4″ – 3 1/2″-long stainless steel stove bolts
2 1/4″ – stainless steel nuts
4 1/4″ – stainless steel flat washers
1 1 3/4″ x 8′ long metal electrical conduit (these come in 10′ lengths – need to be cut, and drilled with 2 holes near the top one end)
1 2″ x 8′ long PVC electrical conduit (these come in 10′ lengths – need to be cut)

3. Need a post hole driver and stepladder to drive the 8′ metal electrical conduit into the ground 2′.

4. Need a drill to drill 2 1/4″ holes in one end of the metal conduit and the back of the nesting boxes.

5. Need socket wrenches to mount box to pole.

How to prepare poles and boxes:
1. Measure and cut the metal conduit poles to 8′
2. Measure and drill two holes in one end of the metal poles; hole spacing should be about 3″ apart.
3. Measure and drill the same sized and spaced holes in the back of the nesting boxes
4. measure and cut the 10′ PVC pipes to 6′ each (can use two sections together where one has the “bell” on one end

Proceeding with the nesting box deployment:

Nesting box placement: Each box should be placed in an open area, if possible, with the box facing south, with each box located at least 100 yards from the other boxes. If possible, place the box so that there will be a fence or a tree(s), or bush at some distance in front of the box, so that when the young birds fly from the box, they will have something higher than the ground to land on during that first flight.

5. At selected nesting box placement site, use step ladder and metal post driver and pound metal post 2 feet into the ground, with the end with the two holes on the top side. Box mounting holes should face north and south.

6. Slide 6 feet of the gray PVC pipe over the metal pole down to the ground level. If using a piece with a bell at one end, open end of bell should face down towards the ground.

7. Mount the nesting box to the top of the metal pole, using the 2 bolts, 4 flat washers (one inside the box and the other on the back side of the box). The bottom of the box should end up being approximately 5′ off the ground.

8. Turn the front of the box so that there will be a tree or fence somewhere to the front of the box opening, so that when the young birds fly from the box, they have one of those to land on in that first flight.

Please note: this is not the only way nesting boxes may be constructed, assembled, facing and deployed. It is the way we used, after John ontained instructions from several notable Blue Bird sites, and it has exhibited excellent success in having Blue Bird pairs nest and raise babies there.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR BLUE BIRD NESTING PROJECT!

Happy Birding and have a good week!

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ANOTHER YEAR GONE – BIRTHDAY TIME!

Well, another birthday is just about in the books, hot, humid and all.

When I woke up this morning, and felt the pain in my right, lower back was still there from this past weekend, I seriously contemplated calling in to my supervisor and taking a sick day. But I told myself that once I got up for and moved around awhile, it might just get better, and I wouldn’t have to burn a day.

As it turned out, by the time I was ready to leave for work, the ole’ back was revin’ up like it might just kick into high gear and go completely out on me this morning. This all came to pass because of last week’s hectic experiences at work, one of which was a main water line explosion on the campus, caused by some outside workers installing new hydrants and sprinkler systems in several of the cottages.

Because of the break in the main water line, the water had to be shut off to the entire campus, including all of the cottages. So, it was get moving fast and furious to dig up buried valves so the the main could be shut off so the line could be repaired.

Once I arrived at work this morning, and went to punch in, I felt like I would be lucky to make it to the morning break. Two of us had to drive over to one of the satellite buildings in Gulfport and tote back several tables to the main campus. During the trip, I activated one of the many cold packs I had taken in to work with me earlier, and put in behind me to help soothe the aching muscles in my back.

Throughout the day, whenever I could spend 15 minutes sitting in my work truck, I popped another cold pack for the back, and by the end of the work day, my back actually felt pretty decent.

After work, I stopped back at my trailer, turned on the air, and fielded a phone call from my youngest son, who called to wish me a Happy Birthday. Then it was check the email and reader quickly, and head for north Gulfport for gas, and a special stop at the Barnes & Noble bookstore, for a birthday treat of my favorite coffee drink and a turkey & cheese panini sandwich, and to pick up a couple of cards.

Then I perused a couple of books on autism and AS, then it was gas up at $3.86/gal., and head back here for the night.

If you all wouldn’t mind, I want to ask y’all to help me out with something.

Namely, I would ask you to GOOGLE Coast Rat, and leave a kind word or two about my site, so that that goofy question mark thingy can be gotten rid of, that is currently next to my site name. Thanks to all of you who have a few moments to help me with that. **Blogger’s Note: I discovered that the question mark actually came from my McAfee Security software, so please ignore my request here.

Now, it’s time to do a little reading and commenting, then get some sleep to end this pretty decent birthday far away from home.

Tomorrow, I get to call my little sweetie, my-soon-to-be, 32-year old daughter with Blond Girl, on HER birthday! Pic follows… Isn’t she a cutie…?

Stay cool!

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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF ANOTHER KIND

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a story about personal experiences of my wife and friend cast as ‘extras’ in the filming of the hit movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Yep!”, filmed out at Devils Tower, Wyoming.

During the same period, while the missus and I and our first-born were at home on the range, there were other ‘Close Encounters’ that I experienced.

Living and working on a western cattle ranch is not all marsh-mellows and iced tea. Crook County, Wyoming is made up of rough, rugged and mountainous country, where cattle grazing, timber harvesting and mining are the chief economic attributes. All three industries have dangers inherent for its employees, especially ranching.

My work on the cattle ranch included lots of fixing fence (remember, the ranch was over 18,000 acres), clearing fence lines, chainsawing, dynamiting, driving heavy equipment, operating haying equipment (haybine, large tractors pulling chisel plows, disks, drags and grain drills), deploying the sprinkler pumping truck, large sections of irrigation pipe, and the ‘Big Gun’ sprinkler unit.

And then, there was spending time in the saddle, calving, moving cows and calves, roping, branding, castrating, separating calves and administering various medications to the animals.

In the spring of each year, calves were being born in the calving pasture, and each day, we had to go looking for those newborn calves so we could give them vitamins and other meds, dip the navals, impress ear tags and make sure they were nursing OK.

Sometimes, we would not see a new calf for a day or two, if the momma had them both well hidden. And on ocassion, when we would approach a couple day old calf to try to catch it on foot, it was strong enough and a little spooky, that it would take off running, and then the fun started.

When we had a calf run on us, we would hop back on the horses, and take off after the calf, trying to get close enough to lasso it and then do what needed to be done with meds, tagging, etc. Sometimes the chase was not exactly as successful as we would have liked.

One time when we were chasing a spooky calf running full out, with both the boss man and I running along side by side, both of us whirling our lassos to try to put a loop around the head of the calf and rein it in, with me and my horse running on the right side of the calf, the little critter suddenly made a sharp cut to the right, cutting straight in front of my charging horse.

The calf, horse and yours truly went rolling ass over tea kettle in the dust in one big pile of legs, arms and bodies. The calf got up, my horse got up and both shook the dust off, apparently none the worse for wear. However, your author didn’t get up, as he was lying there in the dust, fortunately with nothing broken, but unconscious with a concussion.

The boss man rode back to the buildings to bring out a truck to haul me back there, and then my wife hauled me 55 miles to the east, over the Little Bear Lodge Mountains, to the hospital in Belle Fourche, South Dakota (where our first two children were born), for an overnight stay for observation.

I was able to go back home the next afternoon, but didn’t get back on a horse for a few days. I was lucky this time.

On another calf chase that spring, in almost that same scenario, with the calf having a little longer lead on us, and us going full out on our horses, it suddenly darted quickly to the right again in front of me, but ahead far enough so my horse didn’t stumble over it. What the boss man and I had not noticed in the hot and heavy of the chase was, that when the calf darted to the right suddenly, it was doing so to avoid running into the barbed wire fence just ahead of us!

Once the calf had left us, both of us suddenly DID see the fence there a few yards ahead of us, and pulled up on the reins to stop as quickly as we could. Fortunately for me, I got my horse stopped just shy of the fence, and was able to veer away. The boss man, however, wasn’t so lucky, and didn’t get his high-powered horse stopped in time to avoid going over the horse’s head and right into the barbed wire fence! Uuuuuuuuuugh, that hurts!!!! Fortunately, he got away with a few minor cuts and abrasions, and lived to ride again another day.

That next February, late in the month, we had to move the one cattle herd to a pasture closer to the ranch buildings, in preparation for calving season, a move of about two miles by horseback. The snow was already gone then, but things were still brown, and the ground pretty hard.

The boss man and I loaded up our horses in the six-horse trailer and drove over to the far end of the pasture we were going to clear, parked and got the horses out and ready to go. Boss man hopped on his horse and took off for the far end of the pasture corner, while I finished tightening the belly cinch on my saddle. In moments, we were alone.

As I put my hands on the saddle horn, reins in hand, put me left boot in the stirrup and went to swing up into the saddle, my horse decided that she wasn’t ready to be ridden yet that early spring and she took off running and bucking, with me bouncing along in mid-air, left boot in the stirrup, not over the saddle yet.

Well, feelings of deja vous instantly flooded through my thoughts of similar experience, in a dry creek bed in southwest Montana in the summer of 1964, and in a second or two, I once again found myself air born and headed toward the hard ground where I made a two-point landing, one point of which was my head, and suddenly the lights went out, again.

I’m not sure how long I was unconscious, but when I finally work up, feeling very disorientated. There I was lying on my back, the horse trailer and truck parked a few yards away, and no one else in site, including my horse, which I instantly christened “She Bitch II.”

Slowly, I crawled over to the pickup truck, crawled up into the drivers seat (thank goodness, the keys were in the ignition), started the truck up, and drove back to the ranch buildings, parking in front of our ranch house.

As I slowly got out of the truck and made my way around to the front of it, my wife came out of the ranch house and asked what was the matter, and where was my horse. I told her what had happened, as best I could, and she ran back into the house to get our truck keys and a bag for the baby, and we were soon on our way back over to the hospital in Belle Fourche, where I again stayed over night for observation. The damage estimate the next day showed only bumps and bruises, including a good-size bruise on my forehead.

Fortunately, that was my last horse accident while I was on the ranch.

Other personal hazards did abound there on the ranch in northeast Wyoming, though, including snakes.

Particularly, rattlesnakes.

During hay harvest time on the ranch in the hay pastures along the Belle Fourche river, every once in awhile, the Hesston Haybine I was operating would jam, necessitating me getting down, getting underneath where the crimping rollers were, and pulling through the rocks or whatever else was causing the machine to jam.

It was very common to find pieces of rattlesnakes in the rollers, and ocassionally, I would come upon one nearby, or down by the river when I would setup the irrigation pipe. And for that reason, whenever I went haying or to move the irrigation equipment, I always buckled on one of my pistols, just in case, and did end up using it on snakes several times.

One summer evening when I returned back to my house at the end of the work day, I parked my truck around the corner by a shed and was walking over to my home, when I happened to hear my bedroom window air conditioner motor sounding very strange.

As I moved closer to the unit to see what the strange noise was, about 10 feet away from it, I looked down at the ground beneath it and saw a four foot rattlesnake, coiled up and rattling a warning at me not to come any closer. For some reason, the snake had crawled that far, when I happened to drive in walk up, I startled it. Well, I took out my pistol and dispatched it into snake heaven.

I then picked it up by the tail, knocked on the house window, and when my wife looked out to see what was the shot was from, I held the snake out full length for her to see. As you can imagine, that particular incident did not go over too well with her, having rattlers that close to the buildings, especially right outside our bedroom window.

And for that, I couldn’t blame her.

Then there was the time when boss man and I flew into Rapid City in his plane to pick up some supplies we needed back on the ranch. This wasn’t the safest I ever felt in my life, what with six cases of dynamite behind our seats on the trip back, and a box of fuses setting in my lap!

All in all, I did manage to survive ranching without getting maimed or killed. And for that, I am most thankful to the Big Guy upstairs for looking after us. It was an amazing experience, one I will never forget.

I wonder what is yet ahead……..?

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