CAMPING ALONG THE RIVER--

MASKED BANDIT

FOND OF JONES’ CHIPS—

While we were visiting the neighbors during Saturday night’s camping adventure in Mohican State Park this pesky raccoon raided our picnic table and scurried noisily into the night with a half-full bag of potato chips.

In addition to the hijinks of the clever raccoon our terrific event featured the discovery of lots of beaver activity, some fishing, some bicycling, and two ambitious hikes along the Mohican River.

Son Brian and grandson Dane accompanied me on this inaugural outing for my camper. While they endured the rather primitive sleeping accommodations of the back of a pick-up truck I was pampered in the relative luxury of a warm camper with a hot shower in the private bath and breakfast with hot coffee via the microwave while the stereo played background music to celebrate Sunday’s sunrise.

Saturday night’s dinner featured Brian grilling bacon-wrapped filet mignon.

The camper was just paroled from winter storage so this was the first opportunity to check the operations of its multitude of components.

It performed flawlessly.

Did I mention the yummy fillets?

I hope this gets to be a habit.

BONDS’ HOME RUN PERFORMANCE--

Babe Ruth’s career record of 715 seasonal home runs in major league baseball was established in 1935. It stood until eclipsed by the awesome performance of Hank Aaron who wound up with a total of 755 in 1976.

Yes, both Ruth and Aaron are in baseball’s Hall of Fame—as they should be─and, records are made to be broken.

But.

Now comes this guy Barry Bonds who is about to shatter Mr. Aaron’s record. However, Bonds’ effort carries the pungent stench of allegedly being done with performance enhancing drugs: steroids.

That is no less an offense against the history of baseball that Pete Rose’s gambling which has carried the penalty, for him, of exclusion from the hall of fame.

Until the cloud of Bonds’ performance being tainted is removed, his record(s) should be a mere footnote in baseball history.

If it is true use of these drugs has infected many of today’s crop of record setting athletes, then baseball’s currently untarnished records should be frozen and all future, artificially enhanced performances should be disregarded.

And, their perpetrators should likewise be barred from the hall of fame so it continues to be a place occupied only by athletes with a lifetime of honorable, human achievement on and off the playing field.

IT IS TURNING GREEN--

The lawn area is painted by the vibrant green of Spring as Max hikes the toboggan run trail.

...AND THIS PICTURE IS?

The photo at right depicts a natural means of reproduction. The object is made of a woody-like fiber and found in a variety of designs, often in great abundance, in a coniferous setting. Max can see lots of these in the upper picture.

Of course, it is a close-up peek at a pine cone.

When pine cones are first produced they usually are green and closed tightly. As they mature they will dry to a brown color and open somewhat like a concentric Venetian blind, thus allowing the winged-seeds within to be scattered by the wind to form the progeny of our future pine forests.

PLUS A NEWS FLASH—

Momma and Poppa Canada Goose are celebrating the arrival of five chicks that hatched in their island nest Friday. No chick shower has been announced.

AND A NOTICE—

Sunday’s blog posting likely will be delayed. A camping trip is scheduled to commence this afternoon and the destination campground does not have internet service. Please check back Sunday afternoon. Sorry for the inconvenience.

US FLAG SUBSUMED ON AMERICAN SOIL--

This picture is currently making the rounds of forwarded emails and, if it makes your blood boil, it should.

Nothing is ever flown above our flag on US soil and our flag is never flown upside down except to signal distress.

Other photos accompanying this one show Mexican-appearing young people hoisting the Mexican flag above the US flag at a California high school--more than a year ago.

They were high school aged students protesting US immigration policy. Read more here:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/mexicoflag.asp

While we tolerate free speech, and, even though this is old news and the students did not attend the HS pictured these photos are nonetheless conduct that should infuriate patriotic citizens of our country.

They certainly do that to me!

WEIGHTLESSNESS ON EARTH--

The best way for astronauts to train for the weightlessness of space (zero gravity) is to be flown through a parabolic arc in a spacious aircraft.

When I did it years ago at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH the air force used a modified version of a KC-135 tanker; a large, four engine jet aircraft.

Except for a few rows of seats, the cabin was stripped and the entire inside of the fuselage was heavily padded.

At an altitude of 30,000 feet the pilot would dive gradually to pick up airspeed. He would level, then under full power, climb; thus producing the up-slope of the parabola.

As the aircraft began to lose airspeed, he would gently push the nose over toward another dive, and, viola; weightlessness for about 30 seconds.

(Remember how your tummy feels funny when you drive fast over a small, elevated road surface, then sink on the other side. Same thing. Smaller scale.)

On the Dayton flight we sat on the padded floor in flight suits, holding a paper cup half full of water as the first climb began. As the pilot nosed over at the top of the arc, my body slowly floated off the floor of the airplane. I giggled.

At the same time little globs of water floated out of the cup and simply drifted with me as I did random, mid-air pirouettes. I giggled some more.

I had complete control of hand and leg motions, but, absolutely no control of my body as it gently caromed off other participants or various parts of the airplane interior. I felt like a pin ball in slow motion.

Then, a bell would ring, warning participants to attempt to get close to the floor as the parabola was concluding. One way or another, on the floor was where you would be seconds later.

Still giggling.

MIGRATING BIRDS—

This seasonal travel, often over great distances, is another amazing performance by Nature’s flying critters.

I was reminded of this semi-annual phenomenon when I recorded my last Junco here April 21st. Then, poof! After being winter-long visitors, I have not seen one since.

Juncos are common in almost the entire lower 48 states all winter, but, they scurry north when mating season arrives in mid spring. There they will populate virtually all of Southern Canada, extending as far north as the Yukon Territory and Alaska.

Another reminder came April 24th when the first Rose Breasted Grosbeak arrived. This handsome fellow very wisely spends his winters as far south as Venezuela and Peru. His breeding range extends across the Eastern US and most of Canada.

Soon, the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds will return here for the summer. Their seasonal preferences mirror the grosbeak.

The grand prize for migration goes to the Arctic Tern who spends breeding season in the northern Arctic then flies across the Atlantic Ocean and south along the European and African coasts to Antarctica where it is summer down there and their food is plentiful.

The photos are a junco(L) and a grosbeak from Oseaux.