December 7, 2013 Catching Up By Clearing Out SD Card in Camera

 

November 10, 2013

Bears Game vs. Detroit

 

The first thing set up is the bar...

...and the Bloody Mary table.

It's a chilly day but everyone is enjoying the sunshine and the alcohol.

Finally some food is being cooked.

Today's beer is named as a tribute to the Lions cheap shot defensive lineman, Endomican Suh.

We might be standing in a parking lot on Chicago's south side, but this is a first class operation, besides Jason' handcrafted beer, there is Mike's homegrown and homemade mustards...

...and hot sauces.

The 'Ditkas' were nice enough to stop for a picture.

Here's the Bears grand entrance from 100 yards away.

The game hasn't even started and Patty is double fisting the beers.

A big Veteran's Day tribute before the game.

It wasn't a pretty game by the Bears. Poor tackling, bad coaching decisions and leaving a clearly injured Jay Cutler in the game too long led to snatching a loss from the jaws of a victory. Here are the players hopefully praying that they play better next week.

 

November 16, 2013

Centennial Park

Munster, IN

It was a miserable day, cold and raining. So I took the dogs to an old landfill in Munster that is now called Centennial Park. We used to sled on this landfill as kids in the late 70's and early '80's when getting about 100 inches of snow was a normal winter.

Roxie did care about the weather, she just wanted to go for a walk.

They have done a real nice job turning this into a park.

Since it was above freezing, I would agree that the ice was unsafe. I don't think you need a sign to warn people today.

 

November 22, 2013

Dinner With Deb & George

 

 

Even though Deb had made reservations at Lao18 for my birthday dinner and when we arrived it was closed for "remodeling", the night was still a great time. We ended up eating at Seasons 52. The food was great and we had a fun waiter. Of course the company we kept was what made it a great night for two old friends. Thanks Deb and George.

 

November 28, 2013

Indiana Dunes State Park

 

Winter has come early to Chicagoland. So I took Oslo & Roxie to the Dunes for a hike in the snow. As you can see there wasn't as much lake effect snow here as reported by the news reports yesterday. We hiked out on Trail 10 and back on Trail 9.

Since Roxie has slowed down, I take her off leash on hikes. Here she is waiting for us to catch up.

Oslo led us out to a different parking lot where I saw this great window decal. I guess they love the 'Walking Dead' too.

We ended up walking back to our car along the roadway. Oslo saw this ice and tried to get a drink. He couldn't break the ice but when Roxie's fat ass walked out there, they both fell through. Then they couldn't get out because those big sheets of ice you see here were sloped down into the water on the edge. Every time they tried to climb out, they slid back in. I was laughing so hard I didn't get any pictures until they finally got out.

 

 

 



November 23, 2013 Sandhill Cranes at Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area

So last week's Social Club Event to Jasper -Pulaski was canceled due to the area getting hit by a storm that created about thirty tornados. Yet on this past Tuesday, the crane count was over 15,000 birds. So I decided to check out the cranes today. Thanks to Cindy and Jack for joining me and to Ken for meeting us there. It was a cold but sunny day in Illinois, unfortunately it was much worse in Indiana. As we drove east there was a massive black cloud over the entire northern part of Indiana. By the time we got to Jasper-Pulaski, the temperature seemed to be in the teens with wind gusting to about 40 MPH. We even had snow every few minutes. There were fewer sand hill cranes than on my previous visits but we did see quite a few flocks landing in the viewing area field but most quickly took off for a more protected area in the nearby woods. Most people stayed for a few minutes. We stayed about an hour and even though I was bundled up, the wind made it impossible to stay any longer. It was difficult to get good pictures because of the dark clouds but the sun broke through right before sunset and put some great colors in the sky.

I still believe this is worth the drive to witness in person. Being able to witness a stopping point along a great migration of birds is something very special. As on previous trips we did see the cranes feeding in the farm fields of Indiana on our way to the viewing area. Then we witnessed the birds struggle with the wind as they congregated in the field. Of course the wind dampened the sounds of the cranes socializing but you could still hear them. Afterwards, we stopped at Marti's Place at Ramsey's Landing on the Kankakee River to have dinner and warm up.

Despite today being the coldest day this fall, I still enjoyed being here. I love that something this cool happens close to where I live. There truly is natural beauty everywhere...please go outside and enjoy it.

November 9, 2013 Mountain Biking at Sweet Woods

I have a lot of things to do around the house today because I'm going to the Bears game tomorrow. So I decided to take the dogs for a hike locally. We ended up at Sweet Woods. It was a perfect fall day about 55 degrees and sunny. What could go wrong? The trails were covered with fallen leaves but they were dry. After hiking with the dogs, I decided to get my bike and return to get in one last ride before winter. Hey the chores will still be there to be done on a crappy day.

Oslo, scratching the ground after taking a dump.

The early morning sun made for long shadows.

Most of the leaves are now on the ground.

Playing with perspective.

The Cook County Forest Preserve has done a lot of work in the parks near me. In the past few years they rebuilt shelters, planted trees and improved the signs especially for the trails.

It felt great to go riding.

The trails were covered with leaves but I managed to stay on the trails...for most of the ride.

Most likely won't see this again this year.