This is Halloween...

Well, for the first Halloween I had trouble deciding on a costume to wear out. So I had to go with what I wore last year, and that was my goth/punk outfit. It served me well last year, so it got recycled.


I had more fun helping out Laura this year with her costume, a Pink Lady from Grease. I think her shirt came out great, and I enjoyed helping her put it all together. We had a fun time out, and saw lots of great costumes, and I got a good idea for next year...Clint Eastwood.

The Dark Side

Just wanted to post this photo for your viewing pleasure of two fake pumpkins I carved for Brian last year. Happy Halloween everyone!

Weekend at Beery's

Do we need a reason to visit the family in Ohio? Nope. Did we have lots of reasons. Yeah.

The catalyst for heading to Shreve this October was a wedding. After long discussion we decided that Laura's great aunt's daughter Sara was marrying Laura's new great aunt's son-in-law, or something like that. The bottom line was we were invited, and we wanted to go, so there we were. It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful wedding, and it was great to see the Yarnell side of the family.

Of course, the next day we saw all of the Yarnell family again, at an early "Thanksgiving" with Grandma. You see Grandma Nina leaves for Florida, so all the local siblings gather for a meal before she goes. Sharon gave us a great "antler" decoration that I will proudly display in the rustic room. I scavenged an old "tree farm" sign from Scott's dumpster after I passed on an large aluminum canoe. Is this a random entry or what?

We did manage to also get a trip to Books in Stock, our favorite used book store in. We also got to visit for a little while with Grandma Beery. That evening we had a great time with Brian, playing regular and Disney versions of Scene It! We enjoyed pizza, and laughed our guts out.

On Monday, we got up way to early (for Beery standards) and went out to hide and find some letterboxes. I will not disclose locations, but we managed to hide one box before we were informed by an "official" that the land we were on was closed to the public at that time because of the upcoming waterfowl hunting season, and they didn't want us scaring the ducks. No need to worry I thought, the hunters would have plenty of time to "scare" them on their own. Anyway, we cut our loses and headed to another great park to find two letterboxes, as we admired the lovely fall foliage and snowflakes in the air. It was a great morning of hiking and exploring, and was glad to have rbbceo and Daffy Lady with us!

Fall Planting Weekend

Well, you getting sick of reading about all my great weekends? If so, skip over this one, because it was another fun one! Sandy visited us to help us plant fall bulbs and plants. First she had to drive all over southern New York to get to us, since the NYS Thruway got closed because of the big snow storm in Buffalo. The longer drive was scenic though, and she saw no traces of snow.


Though some of our fall flowers were still in bloom, it was time to think about next year. Laura and Sandy planted close to a hundred bulbs and plants around the yard. They divided plants, and spread them around. I dug a new bed behind the deck to put in the new hibiscus that Sandy bought for us. It was hard work, but I think it will look great. We had a cold weekend, but we dodged the raindrops and got everything done.


We did find time to do other things though. We went to the movies. We ate out at the Crystal Barn. We watched football and hockey.


We found a good balance, and Sandy always helps us keep the house in order, doing all our dishes and being a gracious guest. No wonder we like when she visits!


We even got some letterboxing in. We walked an old railroad bed, enjoying the fall colors. Joystar and Daffy Lady are seen here making the grab!

Test Drive of Gabcast: New Audio Service

Click on the "play" icon below....

The Big Sit! Wrap-Up

The morning started before the "crack of dawn". I wanted to be on site for a 7 a.m. start. Laura needed the car for the day, so that meant she had to shuttle me up to Durand Eastman Park. It was early for her, but she willing to get up to help me out. When we arrived, not a sole was around as expected. We shuttled my gear to the spot, and I was birding.

The moon still had a few hours before it was to set. However, the morning sun was coming up to chase it away. Luckily there weren't too many cars and dogs to chase away my birds. I saw 85% of my birds before 10 a.m. The morning was cold, in the forties. I had on a knit cap, gloves, and multiple layers. I didn't sit much, trying to stay in as much sunshine as I could and keep moving. The morning was beautiful though.


You see a lot of strange people this early on a Sunday morning. One guy pulled up his white truck the parking area, pulled out his golf bag, and hit golf balls into the lake for a good fifteen minutes. What a loser. I enjoyed watching the birds on the lake in the morning though, before the armada of boats hit the water, I saw a large flock of cormorants diving for fish, and the gulls would surround them to get any scraps, it was exciting birding.


The sun started to hit my seventeen foot circle, and I was able to take off some layers. The people and dogs started to arrive as well, and the birds started to take cover. I think I saw more species of dog then I did birds. I couldn't find anyone I knew who had a scope I could borrow, so I resorted to using my telescope. I called it my "poor man's scope." A passerby asked me if it was a cannon. It had 15x magnification though, while my binoculars are only 7x. It did help bring in some birds on the lake and across the road for positive ID's. I'm glad I brought it along.


Another observation was the changing light. Photographers always talk about this, and if you have never sat in the same spot all day long, you don't fully understand this. When birds are backlit, you can't tell what it is very well. So certain trees weren't worth looking into at some times of days, while others were lit up with sun and fall colors and were great. Its all about angles I guess.


The afternoon brought out sailboats and visitors. Dom and Mary stopped by for a chat and a walk on the beach. A pack of my letterboxing friends showed up to offer their support, enjoy the weather, and collect the stamp I carved for the event. I also got a call from Connie wishing me good luck. It was great to have all these visitors, because there wasn't much bird activity. After this bunch left, Laura stopped by for the rest afternoon with me.


Laura sneaked in a nap in the chair, but this gave me long enough to get my last bird of the day, an Osprey. I watched it as it soared by with its fresh sunfish catch in its talons. Laura awoke and we together tried as we could for one more bird, but it wasn't to be. I finished the day with 21 species, a respectable number, but a few shy of what I had hoped. Where were the robins, cardinals, starlings....I didn't even get a house sparrow! None the less, I'm sure I got some species I wouldn't have got in my backyard. Special thanks to Laura for being a good sport about crazy ideas like this, and for being willing to help me out with them. I couldn't have done it with out you!

The Official List: (in order of sighting)
American Crow
Mallard
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Double Breasted Cormorant
Song Sparrow
Mute Swan
Red-winged Blackbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Black-capped Chicadee
Hairy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Bonaparte Gull
Blue Jay
Red-tailed Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Osprey

The Big Sit! Official 2006 Results

Festival of Ales

Imagine a Fall afternoon, where you had nothing to do other then sample the styles of a local brewery in an outdoor pavilon, with a charity chili cookoff, and a band in the background. Sounds like a good day right? Well that was Saturday at the Fesival of Ales in Honeyoe Falls.


Custom Brewcrafters is an amazing business and brewery. They make custom beers for bars and restaurants all over Western New York, in as many styles as you can think. They brew porters, brown ales, stouts, IPA's, lagers, etc. Each has a unique recipe and flavor.


Dom was my sampling buddy, and I couldn't pick a better partner. I'm so glad he convinced me to go. We have similar tastes I think when it came to both the beer and the chili, and both found we liked the Canaltown Brown Ale one of our favorites, with its hints of real coffee.


Kate (left), Rebecca (center), and Katie (right) all volunteered to pour for Jerimiah's, a great bar and restaurant here in Rochester. They didn't have to pour for long, because they ran out of beer, so we got a chance to chat and compare notes.


I was a bit surpirsed at the turnout, it was incredible. Though we had to wiggle our way to tables to get samples, the huge crowd was friendly, and we didn't have to really wait in long lines for pours. The rain held off too, until just after we left. For those who have not tried out Custom Brewcrafters work, I strongly recommend you ask for a pint they next time you are at one of the many places that carry one of their masterpieces.