Early Warm Weather!

We had a really mellow weekend spent mainly around Mount Horeb. The weather has been unusually warm for days now, with at least one day reaching 82°F! It feels so much like summer already, it's making us excited. Before we know it, we'll be swimming at the lake near our house!

On Saturday we took a nice walk to a small restaurant called Fink's. It's right at the end of the street we're moving to. I'm happy to say that we enjoyed the food, and the "local feel" of the place. I have a feeling there will be at least one of two mornings/month spent there! On the walk back I dropped by the Grumpy Troll for our weekly growler of their Baltic Porter. When I walked up to the bar, I asked, "so you guys make this particular porter all year round?" I was told that no, it's a special brew that takes 6 months to make. As the bartender rang up my purchase, my growler under the tap, we saw something that almost brought me to tears. The LAST of the porter only filled my growler half way! He handed me back my money, the half full growler, and told me THAT WAS IT! I choked back sobs as I met Teri & Freja in the book store and told my wife the news! The real kick in the pants was by the time we walked home, the half full growler had made the beer go flat. Thank goodness I'd picked up some of Tommy's Porter made by Lake Louie the night before!



The rest of that day was spent preparing food for the next day. I carefully prepared a leg of lamb, cubing it, and then marinating it in olive oil, garlic, fresh parsley, salt & pepper, etc. I also made a tabouleh salad, all for Sunday's dinner. As I worked I enjoyed my beer, and watched out the back door for the finches to show up. They'd arrived a few days ago with the warmer weather. I wanted to try to get a shot of them, and was rewarded for my patience. The male actually put on a display towards his mate, which I was able to capture.

Sunday I was able to go adventure on my own while Freja and Teri spent time together in town. About 20 minutes from where we live there are a series of small trout streams that meander through hilly terrain. I found an access parking area and enjoyed a nice, long stroll. While there were plenty of birds, I didn't get a shot at any of them. I then drove around a bit, finding other access points the streams, and natural areas. I even met a fly fisherman who shared some great information with me on the lay of the land. These are areas I plan on getting to know very well as time goes by. Instead of fishing these streams, I plan on wade/walking them in order to take photos of wildlife/nature.



I found a number of cool places for me to explore in the future, but I wasn't finding any wildlife to shoot. I could hear birds, frogs and insects all around me, but wasn't getting a chance to snap a photo. At one point I stopped on a dusty road to take the photo of the rock formation you see above. As I turned to get back in the jeep I spotted the eagle you see in the photo below! It was just sitting in a large tree, directly over the trout stream. This tells me this stream must have some nice fish in it for sure! I may just have to get my fly rod out of storage...



Speaking of storage; less than two weeks until we move into the new house!! Soon our storage pods will be arriving, and we'll be able to actually get to our stuff!

Spring is HERE!

It's been a great early spring weekend! Friday was a perfectly sunny day. It was still cold, but there was a spring feel to the crisp air. I wanted to go on a photo safari but I also had our weekend grocery shopping to do. Instead I took a long, rambling drive into the city. The terrain around our new home is not what I had expected before we came to Wisconsin. I'd thought it was all flat. The area we settled is on the edge of the Driftless Area. It feels a lot like Western PA.



After shopping I ran into Freja's preschool early. It was fun to spend some time there with her. She spent most of it showing off for me, riding a tricycle around and around. I never knew she could move so fast on one!



On Saturday the temperature climbed almost 30°! The winds were also too strong to spend a lot of time outside, so we just relaxed around our apartment. In the early afternoon we walked to our favorite place in town, The Grumpy Troll. We really love their Baltic Porter!




Today, Sunday, the weather was truly the first day we felt that winter is OVER! Warm sun, no need for jackets, and mostly dry ground to hike on. After a leisurely morning we went to nearby Pleasant Valley Conservancy. This is easily becoming a favorite place to go and just relax. Today we also met the land owners, and found out more about their organization. I'm tempted to volunteer there.



As we left the apartment, I outfitted my camera for shooting birds. I had a feeling this would be a good day for it. The very first thing we encountered was a pair of newly returned Sandhill Cranes! Then the owner of the conservancy alerted me that she'd seen a Red-headed Woodpecker. We have so many woodpeckers back in PA that I truly thought it was going to be a species I'd seen before. It was a great surprise to find out I hadn't.




SPRING!!

Pine Relict Forest Adventure

Today Teri & I were able to go exploring, just the two of us. We've found a really nice local girl to baby sit for the day. The weather was sunny, cold and there was a fresh coat of snow on the ground. We loaded up the snowshoes and cameras, and then went to see what we could find in our new home range.

Our first stop was a short drive to the nearby town of Blue Mounds. There's a very, very special bakery there called the naked elm bakery. It's just the kind of place we love! We met some really nice people, enjoyed food that made us happy, and the coffee was good too! I can honestly say this is how I've always wanted to have breakfast when I go out. Just a relaxed atmosphere with a meal that doesn't disappoint. I also really loved meeting the guy running the place this morning, Mat. He reminded me a bit of myself when I was a young buck...



After leaving there very content, we headed to the nearby Ridgeway Pine Relict. It's a state owned natural area, but not a developed park. We studied maps and satellite images until we figured out were to access it. It's not a straightforward, "park here, follow that trail there" kind of place. We loved it!



When we first thought about moving to Wisconsin we both pictured endless miles of flat terrain, covered in pastures and corn. It does have a lot of that, but there are also these gems of geological beauty. Best of all, they're close to where we live! To think, there's so much more out there for us to explore!




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Eagles at Dawn

I left the house early this morning and drove to Prairie du Sac, which is along the Wisconsin River. At this time of the year most of the waterways in the state have frozen over. Scores of Bald Eagles gather at places like this town, where dam spillways have created open water. The birds gather here to feed on fish in the mornings.

I expected to see a few birds and was really surprised at just how many I actually saw! There were well over twenty raptors at one viewing spot alone! The majority of birds were very far, so my 70-200mm, even with a 1/4x extender, was not the best lens. Oh to have an extra $13K for a 600mm lens! I can't even imagine...



I'm also going to try and learn more about The Ferry Bluff Eagle Council, the organization that monitors the birds. I'd bet there are some interesting folks involved.