Life in the Marsh

Two families of cranes are on our side of the river this summer.  One with two chicks and another with one.  The 3-crane family has been aerating our lawn the past few mornings, using their long sharp beaks to dig for grubs.  They do some damage but I'm still reluctant to shoo them away.

A NY Weekend

Eileen Nolan is getting married in September.  A bridal shower got Anne and Erin to NY for the weekend.  Thursday: a hot but nice visit with Mimi and Poppy in Rye Brook, cooling down at Rye Beach with a swim and a nighttime showing of "ET" on the lawn.  Friday: down to the city - mostly wonderful Battery Park including a RT to Staten Island on the ferry and visiting with Patrick, Kara, Eileen and Alan. 

Saturday: the shower in Island Park - fun, long day with all the ladies.  Sunday: 6 am flight back home so I can celebrate Ack's b-day with him in Madison via Art Fair on the Square, a turtle from Culver's, a glorious nap, a swim in the lake off the pontoon, and "Snow White and the Huntsman."

HOT day! Cool guy.  

CSU and Cache Le Poudre River

A view of the Cache La Poudre River on July 14, 2012

Ack went to Fort Collins to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the CSU Department of Atmospheric Sciences. A great celebration and an opportunity to see colleagues he hasn't seen in many years, including his PhD adviser Steve Cox.

On Saturday he drove through a section of the Cache La Poudre River to see some of the burnt scares from the High Park fire. The fire started on June 9 and burned across 87,284 acres by early July, taking 259 homes. The recent rains washed the ash into the river, which now runs gun-powder black, as you can see in the photo. Also notice the dead pine trees from the pine beetle and the burnt trees along the ridge line.

Back in DC

I was in DC for a NRC sub-committee meeting. Got to visit two of my favorite buildings!

921 O st. NW; we stayed here while on sabbatical

The building museum!

Madison's Folk Boat

Hours of fun last night on Lake Mendota with Rick, Rho, Asa, Monica, Mark, Ruth, Chris, Nikki.

Farewell, Bloomington

Over the weekend, Ack and Anne visited Erin in Bloomington, we expect for the last time before she moves to SLC at the end of the month.  Did fun one-more-time kinds of things like visit their wonderful Saturday morning Farmers Market; ate at a few new-to-us restaurants including the surprisingly excellent vegan Owlery; and did a few sprucing up projects on the For Sale house and yard, such as painting the back entry door frame blue with an accent line.   Absolute best new site we visited: the Bryan Park Pool.  A glorious way to cool off!

A giant globe in Erin's building

Erin teaching Ack about backgammon - Ack won!

The blue door stripes