Odds 'n Year Ends

Answering all the comments posted daily to this blog is stealing too much time and creative energy from my annual artistic extravaganza - the Mohr Xmas Newsletter and Advice Column. So the blog is taking a vacation - I'm emailing it to Bermuda, where it can sit comfortably in a speedo laptop under a beach umbrella and sip virtual Coronas (no lime, please - this is a manly, not wimp/yuppie, blog). It will return when there are some new significant wanderings to report. However, I'll have it summarize the last month or so before it packs to go....

The Sedona adventure was completed satisfactorily, albeit without much in the way of bird photo ops - the raptors were yet to arrive. A couple of weeks after our return, we took off for Glenview, IL for Thanksgiving with the (old) Glenview Mohrs, the (new) Glenview Mohrs, and the rest of the kids, kids-in-law, and grandkids (of which there are two more than last thanksgiving). I'll probably post a few pictures, eventually, but most will be repeats of what superblogger Cori has already put in hers - see the pictures at http://midwestmohrs.blogspot.com/ and in her Picasa photo album.
For the third year, the winter drive to/from Chicago met with mild weather, which means either we're very lucky or Al Gore understated the situation. We stopped on the way there to visit with some UW friends - Mike and Paula Bunch in Prarie du Sac WI - and with sister-in-law Joyce Powell in Iowa on the way back.

Well, gotta get the blog emailed on the next packet to Bermuda, so enjoy the holidays, and don't put lime wedges in your Coronas.

Apologies and correction

Obviously, the aforementioned article is from New Yorker magazine, not the NY times, as stated. I regret the confusion that this unforgiveable error has certainly caused, especially in Uruguay and Sedona.

Fanaticism in the Art of Brewing

This post has nothing to do with Chuck, Nancy, Sedona, or Uruguay - much to your collective relief. It has to do with Dogfish Head brewing - an outfit in Delaware. Check out the NY Times story:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/24/081124fa_fact_bilger

An outfit like this deserves customers - gonna try it the next chance I get.

Lunatic or experimental genius? You decide......

Sedona - Our Correspondent's Report

October 31 - Rolled into town - the streets were filled with eerily-garbed residents. November 1 - Relieved to find most of wierdos (adult and child) were simply in halloween costume. Concern grows about the remainder. Must be missing the vortices, as have experienced no out-of-body travel, feelings of overflowing spiritual energy, or channeling of long-dead brewmeisters. Pictures added to "Zion" and "Sedona" folders - Sedona rocks are attractive, but southwest Zion's are better. Many interesting State and Fed parks and monuments around Sedona (and Flagstaff), mostly containing ruins of the dwellings of the Sinagua ("no water") people, so-called, evidentally, because they preferred their single malt neat. So far, have looked at Tuzigoot, Wupatki, Montezuma's Castle (and Well), and Sunset Crater National Monuments, plus a couple of local State parks. More to report later.

Another contest to get your competetive juices churning!

In retrospect, my last contest was a bit too easy (taking nothing away from Bonnie's insightful solution to the conondrum). So this one will be a bit harder, requiring more thought and, mostly, creative activity than the last. Here goes - pay attention to the rules and remember that other active minds are, at this moment, conniving ways to win and deprive you of the valuable prize....

Sure, I've gotten hits from Portugal and, even weirder, Kansas, but my blogscope is severely limited it seems, being clustered mostly about 45 North latitude. This must expand, if my wit and prose are to receive the international acclaim that they merit. So, today's secret word is "Uruguay". I want a bloghit from Uruguay! I don't want to start an internet stampede in Uruguay, so (and here's Rule #1) NO ONE FROM URUGUAY IS ELIGIBLE FOR THE PRIZE - this contest is limited to my friends and relatives residing in the US or its territories. I can hear the Southern Hemisphere groans up here in Idaho! The winner will be the person (outside of Uruguay, as specified above) that persuaded the now-enlightened Uruguayan to look at my blog and document his (temporary) interest in this blog with a blog comment naming the "Qualifying Person" who got him to peek and comment (Yep, that's Rule #2). I am adding a Rule #3, which I refer to as the "Jeff Rule": The blog comment must be believeable, not written in phony Uruguayan dialect and claiming to be from from a displaced Uruguayan residing temporarily outside Uruguay, like, for instance, in Glenview, IL.

I will be the sole judge of what constitutes a believeable comment and exactly who qualifies as a "friend or relative" (but I'm not very discriminating about either category).

The prize is an autographed 8x10 copy of my favorite bird photo - a Wandering Tattler inspecting a tide pool at Punalu'u beach - attractively matted and framed in fine claro walnut. If the prize can be hand delivered, I'll toss in mounting in the frame with non-glare glass. If it must be shipped, the winner buys the glass and does (or buys) the assembly.

OK, get crackin' - the clock's ticking.

Chuck

Response to Blogbitchers

Apparently, there is a blogfrequency standard that I am not meeting (hear that, Bonnie?). OK, this is a NEW POST, so listen up! Yesterday I hauled trash to the dump, string-trimmed the irises and some other silly flower remnants into oblivion, and started making picture frames. Today I will purchase some walnut for more frames, pick up the glass I ordered (for the frames), and wash and clean-up the truck for the upcoming trip to Sedona. Oh, and have Jiffy Lube change the truck oil. Time permitting, I will continue making more frames. At approximately 7:00PM (MDST) I will grill cube steakes and soon after that Mom and I will dine upon them, perhaps accompanied by a robust yet sprightly cheap wine. Sometime within the next couple of days, we will gather our crystals, pyramids, and magic healing stones in preparation for our pilgrimage to the power vortices of Sedona (New Age capitol of the known universe). Gotta remember to get in a couple of hours of mantra practice and wash the meditation rugs.

Jeff wanted something interesting, so here goes: When Sedona was incorporated, the new postmaster sent a couple of candidate names for the community to the US Post Office for official acceptance. The response was that the names were too long to fit on a cancellation stamp, so send something shorter (Maybe "Newageflakemecca" was one of the original choices). The postmaster's wife's name was "Sedona"...... and now you know the rest of the story!

So stay tuned for the next installment, in which will be related the saga "Chuck and Nancy go to Sedona", complete with aura photos, tarot reading results, and, hopefully, a few bird pictures (The Verde River valley hosts many eagles and other raptors during the winter, and Oak Creek is also a neat birding location).

I hope this satisfies you impatient, whining blogstalkers!

SW Yellowstone Hiking - Part Deux

The 3-day hike with Emily along Boundary Creek in the Southwest corner of Yellowstone was quite enjoyable – excellent weather (mid-70’s in afternoon, mid-30’s at night), the start of brilliant fall colors, and OK fishing (not as good as last month's wander, but OK). Wildlife was sparse – heard some coyotes howling and saw a big bull elk along the Bechler River while walking out. The elk are not yet bugling, at least in the SW corner of the park. Unlike last month’s hike in the same area, no fly rods were trashed and no tires blown-out. Check out the added pictures.

The traditional follow-on cheeseburgers (at Big Jud’s in Ashton) exceeded all expectations!

Yesterday's trip to Market Lake

Added some pictures to the album. Ain't the little barn swallow cute?

Alaska Cruise – June ‘08

This year’s amphibious assault was a round trip out of San Francisco on the Dawn Princess (Princess Cruise Line) with grandson Brennan along - grandpa brought him as an excuse for more frequent trips to the ship’s terrific pizzeria. Eleven days of scenery and fine dining. Brennan spent a lot of time in the ship’s kids program, and enjoyed it a lot. Nancy enjoyed a more adult activity – short-term investments (see picture). The first stop was Ketchikan, renown for totem poles and, apparently, an overload of packs of cruiser trash wandering the streets. I mean, there were FIVE cruise ships in port the day we were there – probably close to 10,000 confused, elderly souvenir hunters – and the population of Ketchikan is only 14,000! They could have shot scenes for a remake of “Night of the Living Dead” in downtown Ketchikan! The smart residents probably cleared out of town or barricaded themselves in a few “locals only” bars. Internet research before the trip turned up ample evidence that most locals in port towns DON’T LIKE US CRUISER TRASH. Now there’s a big surprise. Even the resident birds don’t like us – see the pictures of the pigeon guillemot mooning the ship and the glaucous winged gull “dive bombing” it (now that was a lucky, well-timed photo).

But I digress….

Next was Juneau (Juneau how to spell it? If not, I Anchorage you to learn!). Here we were fortunate to talk Mike and Vicki Wilcox, friends formerly of Idaho Falls, to skip an afternoon of work and take us on a tour of the area, including Juneau’s own “City Park” glacier – the Mendenhall. A wonderful tour combined with a pleasant visit. The Catholic shrine/meeting center north of town was particularly scenic. There were salmon jumping and seals swimming around the small peninsula on which it is located, with the mountains surrounding Glacier Bay in the background.

The last Alaskan stop was at Skagway, gateway to the Klondike, which is still milking its gold-rush history for every tourist dollar it can get. We took a train up to White Pass. The scenery was spectacular, as expected, but the weather was crummy – cloudy and raining. That was unlike Ketchikan and Juneau – Mike said the day we visited was one of the nicest yet this year for Juneau. (Juneau where that city is located? It’s right on the Fairbanks of the Gastineau Straight).

We then spent a day cruising up and back the Tracy Arm – a narrow fjord with the same old ho-hum gorgeous scenery as the rest of the coast, plus a plethora of small (but genuine) icebergs spawned by the glacier at its head. We didn’t get to see the actual glacier – something about replacing million-dollar propellers when the ship decides to play ice-crusher. The Tracy arm was probably the highlight of the trip – I’d go back tomorrow, if I could a fjord it.

We stopped in Victoria on the way back, but we have nothing to report of this except the rude pigeon guillemot.

Cruisin’s OK, but next time, I want to do a bit of Alaskan travel in a float plane like in the picture – to a Katmai Park salmon or trout stream or to Brooks Camp to watch the bears versus salmon games at Brooks Falls (the bears always win, just like in bears versus packers games). Incidentally, before Picasa dumbed-up the float plane picture to upload it to the web, you could blow it up and count the rivets on the float. Nice work, Canon! In your face, Nikon!

Now for today’s reader-participation contest: one of the photos in the Alaska 08 album contains (my favorite!) a pun. Yes, it’s true. Obscure, maybe, but true. Be the first to identify it (via a blog comment) and win a matted print of my favorite White Pass “art” picture – also in the album. In case of a tie, duplicate prizes will be awarded. Ha, ha – fooled you. There can’t be a tie, as blog comments are entered in precise chronological order! If there’s no winner by next blogtime, an additional hint will be provided. The decision of the judge (ME!) is final, and no employee of 595 Murdock Lane or its subsidiaries may enter.

Wasn’t this a terrific blogpost? Alaska one more time – wasn’t this a terrific post?

Cheers!Chuck

August Yellowstone Hike

Jon Earhart, Dave Monroe (grad school friends), and I recently took a 5-day backpack in the Southwest corner of Yellowstone, fishing the Bechler and Fall rivers and Mountain Ash and Boundary creeks. Fishing was good (especially for August), and casualties were few - 2 trashed flyrods and a blown-out tire. Pictures have been added to the online album. The trip and follow-on river float, pizza, and bratwurst were enjoyed by all.

Also added a few more bird photos. Next project will be adding photos of the June Alaska cruise that Nancy, Brennan and I took, but much photoshopping is needed first.

That's all for now - come back frequently to check for further scintillating peeks into the Life of Chuck.

Ahem, er.., yeah, I guess thats me, maybe....

Woohoo, I'm a new-age, green-friendly, electronic uncensored blogger! Funny, I still feel like a downhill-slide hexegenarian. Oh well, one kid out of three can't be wrong. Those seeking galactic wisdom or sage advice should check our Steven Hawking or Dear Abby. For the rest of you, especially those curious about fishing conditons in Yellowsone, read on.....

(more bird pictures and lies to follow - this is just a test entry)

Because My Father Is Too Lazy To Create His Own Blog

Some time ago I suggested to my father that he should start a blog. I figured it would be a fun and convenient way to facilitate his incessant bragging about bird photos, fishing trips, hiking adventures, woodworking creations, world travels, and general senile ranting. As is par for the course, however, he neglected to do so. In the meantime, he has continued to take photos and occasionally email them to friends and family. The madness has got to stop!

I know, this newfangled internet thing is a bit confusing for the elderly. That's why I took pity and decided to start my father's blog for him. Should he need help learning how to negotiate his entry into the blogosphere, I'm sure his children, children-in-law, or even grandchildren would be happy to help. At the very least, Pa, you can just upload your pictures, type out some one liners, and email your buddies the URL so they know where to find you. I think you'll be fine. In fact, I'll start you off with a couple of pictures from my collection. Let the blogging begin!