F.R. “Fritz” Nordengren (beta)

Pheasants (Take Two People)

I know many people anxiously awaited the email this week.  No, not the one about Obama’s running mate, the other email  The one about the pheasants.

One of the new projects this year was to raise and release pheasants into the habitat on the ranch.  The first pheasants arrived the week of June 12, and were well on their way to a release date sometime in October.  When they were put out into the fly pen — a 25 x 45 foot enclosed netted pen with top and side netting — 32 of the original 52 were still alive.  Over the next few days, a predator snuck into the confines and ended up killing most of the birds.  Although the hatchery suspects a mink, its just as likley it was a raccoon or a few raccoons.

So in my son Noah’s words, “Take Two People”, 52 more chicks were shipped from the hatchery and arrived at the end of July, and this weekend, I moved their brooder into the fly pen, and have done a series of staged releases.  15 were released Sunday, and 15 more today.  Assuming no predators attack tonight, I’ll release the final birds into the fly pen tomorrow, and then they grow for another 10 - 11 weeks before being released to the fields on the ranch.

With any luck, they will be safe under the watchful eyes of Steve, the watch rabbit.

Bonfire and a Vanity

The big cabin has been pipped for water, but I held off on installing the kitchen sink.  Thursday, my son and I installed the sink, and Friday, I connected the water and drain.  The sink is an all-in-one kit from Lowes that includes (most) all of the plumbing fittings and faucet, sink, and cabinet.  The sink is very deep, and is a utility sink that can work for dishes, canning, laundry, fish cleaning……

Saturday’s project was a bonfire to burn off some left over construction materials and some old rotted posts and scraps.

Scars heal

Chris Cagle sings a chorus that goes like this:

Scars heal… glory fades
And all we’re left with are the memories made, oh yeah
Pain hurts, but only for a minute
Yeah life is short so go on and live it
Cause the chicks dig it

Living at Two Mile has open my eyes to all kinds of things I didn’t see before.  Take scars for example.

The first photo below is taken shortly after buying the land.  You can see the old fence line and the tallest tree on the left is now at the edge of the deck.   The second image is during the trenching for the waterline.  We cut a 5 foot trench over 300 feet to bury water and electric and when we were finished, there was a 2 foot hump — a scar — running through the property.

It quickly weeded over, I couldn;t run a mower over it, and the one time I ran along side it with the tractor, the front tire caught the edge of the trnch and burried it to the axles.  Unlike the first time I stuck the tractor in the ground, I managed to get it free but adding power when it mattered.  So mostly, for four and a half months, I’ve tried to ignore it.

Last night, I walked over the length of the scar and felt the ground was settled enough to run the mower over it and see what shape I was in.  The result is below.  Looking pretty good, all things considered.

As a side note, in May, I fell 9 feet from the top of a ladder and landed on my left shoulder.  I was fortunate, no dislocation, no fracture, and perhaps no rotator cuff tear, but enough pain and discomfort that it has significantly slowed my building.

So as I sit on the deck tonight, I realize that scars do heal.  The best cure is nothing at all, but time.

Merlot ‘08

This weekend, my colleagues from two different projects and I participate in a panel discussion at MERLOT
Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching.

My co presenters are Becky Hines from The Screen in Flat and Ann York, my co-producer of the podcast series Dispatches from the Graduate Classroom.

This is the Eighth International Conference

MERLOT: Still Blazing the Trail and Meeting New Challenges in the Digital Age

Our discussion description from the program.

The Screen is Flat - Reinventing Libraries for Information Literacy
Track: Track 5 – Reinventing Libraries in the Digital Age
The Screen is Flat panel discussion will converge the viewpoints of a librarian, a graduate school professor, and a multimedia information designer to create a team strategy for transforming physical and virtual library environments to the computer screen. The panelists will engage participants in visualizing libraries in the Web 2.0 world and beyond, outline three critical skill sets for information literacy, and illustrate how personal learning environments will be shaped by collaborations in and out of the classroom. Attendees will leave with tactics, references on best practices, and a network of colleagues to continue dialogue as they implement change.

Steve! The watch rabbit

There was a television show about a popular neighborhood bar called “Cheers” and one of the characters was named “Norm.”  And when ever Norm would enter the bar, he would say Hi, everybody”, and the entire bar would yell “Norm!”

Earlier this spring, a very small and skinny rabbit was around he cabin and Noah said “I’m going to name him Steve.”

“Steve”, as it turns out, decided to be a quasi mascot and pet, each morning he would greet me near the car, and many times, would hop down the driveway in front of me before darting into the tall grass.  He’s made a burrow in the barn, and –much to his credit and salvation — has not eaten the garden.  Most days, he can be found near the pheasant fly pen.  One of these days, I’ll update this post to include a photo.

By habit, when I see him, I yell out “Steve” like the folks in the bar in Cheers did for Norm.  This seems to have rubbed on my others, as “Steve” has become the mascot of the ranch.

If he could only defend the phesants against preators, I’d plant him his own garden.