Florida

E and I took C, M, and K to Florida for a quick vacation over Halloween 2010. We stayed in Orlando and traveled to the coasts to find some beaches and to swim with the manatees at Crystal River.
Interesting creatures and a very cool place even though we were in a residential area surrounding a small pocket of National Wildlife Refuge. There was a large double spring leading from a very narrow channel that feeds the river and keeps the manatees warm and fed in the winter.
Looking at the National Wildlife Refuge (see familiar sign with the goose on it)

Looking in the opposite direction.

Procrastination

It has been a busy fall as usual, so it has been easy to procrastinate posting. Another reason is that this post has been on my mind for a while. I somehow keep losing the picture that E took and that inspired the thoughts surrounding it, and of course the subject isn't the easiest to write about.
So I named the picture "And then there was one". It is a strange feeling to grow up in a family of five and then over time have everyone except you die. Nobody ever expects things to turn out the way they did, you expect things to go on forever, just the way they are, but here I am.

I am lucky to have the rest of my family, truly blessed in fact, my children (J, C, M and K), E, and a few good friends. So we will continue and be thankful for what we have and for the those we no longer have with us.

Lux Cafe

We went to Chicago for "The Cousin's Christmas party". The Girls went to Tea at the American Girl's Store, unfortunately there were only three spots left at the tea so Ed treated me to lunch at the Lux Cafe (600 N Michigan). It was a cool place, Art Deco and good food.

Fossilized Alien Heads

I like to collect FAHs. This is a pic of one I found in the Straight River last weekend. This one is different than most, it seems this alien met a rather tragic ending based on the contorted grimace.
Some interesting FAHs originate from the Omarolluk region of eastern Hudson Bay. Apparently a large number of aliens met their end sometime before the last ice age or two. Their fossilized heads were transported and deposited by glaciers all over the upper Midwest. Here is another one that may have an origin other than Omarolluk based on the color. This is more like your stereotypical alien head, note the distinctive elongated face and eyes, lack of a mouth.
Here is a link to a summary of the origin of Omars.
http://www.erudit.org/revue/gpq/2000/v54/n3/005654ar.pdf

Tornado

The TFF experienced a small tornado the last week of July 2010. Small I guess is relative depending on whether or not you were affected. Some Island campers were badly injured and many of the campsites had to be closed.
We lost a half dozen trees and had some damage to others. Neighbor Jim didn't fair so well, about 30 trees, mostly spruce required 25+ loads with a 12 ft trailer piled as high as possible were hauled to the dump. The neighbor on the other side lost a few really nice old spruce trees. The five red pines on the south side of the cabin only had a few broken branches, any of these would have wiped out the house.
So instead of four days of fishing with my new GPS enabled bow mount trolling motor (Virtual anchor - awesome!), we had a day and a half of decent fishing and spent the rest of the time cleaning up.

Harvest Sampler

The garden is coming to an end. Some successes, some failures. Here is a pic of the better results. And a look at this years patio sculpture.

Boston

Once again I am a tag along to a big city. These trips usually involve some nice meals. The first night I passed on the "Clam Bake" for grilled swordfish. The fish was good, but why do they call a Lobster Boil a Clam Bake? WTF, I sat there with my little piece of nicely grilled fish, and everyone else is served lobster! (with some clams on the side). I learned not to make that mistake again, and ate two lobsters the next night. The third night was yet another "Clam Bake", this time on Spectacle Island, a former garbage dump in the Boston Bay turned into part of the National Park System. A 20 minute scenic booze cruise brought us to the dinner, a well run affair, completed by an intense sunset and walk on the beach.