2010: 1/3th Done

29 April 2010

Sick today.

It really didn’t come as a surprise. Ever since last weekend, I’ve been ridiculously tired, even thought I’ve gotten 7+ hours of sleep every night. I still went to work, though. I feel like I suffer more if I stay home and lay around all day than if I get up and get my mind off the illness.

After picking Owen up from his aunt’s place, we stopped at the library. Owen wanted to play at the playground there, but I told him I was too sick, and I just wanted to get home. But Owen argued that he’d be willing to let me just sit on the bench while he played, which was very sporting of him. I told him “5 minutes” which, somehow, has come to = 30 minutes these days.

Owen made friends with a kid at the playground. At first there were a bunch of 8-10 year-olds there, but then they left, so it was just Owen, this other 4 year-old boy, and a girl. Owen and the boy chased each other around and took turns throwing rocks down the slide and then sliding down after them (I’m not sure what the appeal of chase-the-rock is). When I told Owen it was time to go, he came right over and said he was ready; no complaints. He hugged the boy goodbye – robot-style – then told me he liked that boy, but that he never got used to the girl. I told him I never get used to most girls, either.

30 April 2010

The radio was on in the lab today, and during an advertisement, radio personality Terry Traen said that winners will receive a party for themselves and 100 of their closest friends. I didn’t catch what the contest was, but I just thought that was funny: One hundred closest friends? I’d have trouble picking out 100 people I even like. On second thought, there are lots of people I can stand in small doses, so maybe if I knew that someone would be coming to my party with 99 other people, I wouldn’t have to be such a stickler about how well I really liked them.

But, still, I’m not sure how I could get to 100.

First off, I think these “friends” would have to live close by. Can’t imagine my Floridian father, for example, hiking it up here for a simple party. Second, how well would I really have to know them? Let’s see…

First my wife and Owen: 2. Then my wife’s family – including parents, uncles, aunts, siblings, nieces, cousins, grandma and assorted others comes to about 25 people. This even includes some really small children and a few people who may or may not actually be part of the family. Then I suppose I could invite my co-workers, most of whom would have a significant other to bring. Counting even there kids, too, I come up with about 35 people; bringing my total to 62. I have a few people who would be considered primarily “friends,” which I am defining as anyone I chose to spend time with even though I’m not related to them or work with them. This adds 20 people, as long as we include their kids.  Then there’s my family, which, these days, actually means “my sister’s husband’s family,” so there’s another 6 people.

Yeah, so as you can see, the grand prize for this contest would be wasted on me.

01 May 2010

As of about noon today, there were 1,000 more trees in the Como Park area of St. Paul. I’m pleased to say that Owen and I planted about ten of them. We hooked up with Happy Trails Nature Club, which in turn was hooked up with the St. Paul Parks and Recreation division for some Arbor Day madness. We met at 9:00, then we split off into groups headed by someone from the P&R who showed us how to plant trees the proper way.

Owen was very diligent about filling in the holes after the tree was planted. When it was time to get the mulch, he stayed back at the tree – which worked out very well, as I could quickly find where our tree was located again. Owen helped spread out the mulch and water the new trees. He seemed a little disappointed that we were dealing with seedlings and not seeds, but he took solace in have earthworms crawl around in his hands. Also, planting trees is extremely taxing when I’m sick. Ugh.

Then, we took off for Hyland Park in Bloomington. The Raptor Center held their yearly raptor release there today. And man, there were a lot of people there. We had to park in the overflow parking area, which is just a grassy hill. There were booths set up to do activities and learn about the Raptor Center and the birds. There was the largest playground I have ever seen. We got to see many large birds with permanent injuries who are unsuitable for life in the wild, but seem to be doing just fine in captivity. And…I’m not sure how this qualifies as a raptor, but…they also had a Blanding’s turtle there, too, and Owen got to pet it.

But the best part was the release of the birds. There were four rehabilitated birds re-released into the wild today. Each one was brought, one at a time, onto a make-shift stage and introduced. After their story was told, we all counted down from “3” (Owen counted down to zero, even though the rest of us stopped at 1), and then the birds was practically thrown into the air. The winds were strong today, so the birds had to use some power, but they all took off with amazing speed.

One bird had been shot by a hunter in South Dakota. Somehow, it didn’t die – in fact, it was discovered by just the right person who got in touch with the Raptor Center. The bird was flown by Delta airlines (incidentally – how much do you change an eagle for a plane ride? Delta says: “Eagles fly free in America”) to the Twin Cities, where it underwent restorative surgery to its wing to fix broken bones. It wintered here in St. Paul and, today, it was again free. Talk about beating the odds.

I didn’t think it would be that cool but…it was. It felt real invigorating. Some people were even crying they were so happy. Owen, sitting atop my shoulders, clapped each time, and said “yay!” when the kestrel was released (he must have a soft spot for kestrels, but who doesn’t?) and I took some pictures:

This bird is a permanent member of the Raptor Center. He has ambassadorial status.

Here’s another permanent member. Sorry, forgot to ask what kind of bird this is.

This turtle’s definitely got a winning smile…but am I the only one who doesn’t get how this reptile finagled its way into a raptor center? It’s a freakin’ RAPTOR center!

Here we see Owen positively beaming with delight as he pets the turtle. The handler explained to us that turtles swim in the same water they pee in, so it’d be a good idea if we washed our hands later. I remembered this two hours later, after we’d gotten home and Owen had snuggled with mama for about ten minutes.

Vulture.

I know this looks like a bad picture, but actually it shows a few of the other – alright, fine, it’s just a bad picture.

By the time I took this picture, the hawk was already behind this tree. See him?

State Representative Betty McCullum, Dem. (as if any Republicans would attend something like this), prepares to release a non-voter back into her district.

Free at last!

Going…

Gone.