Need to catch up

WOW, where did the week go?
Monday marked 2 weeks of radiation treatments to go. Some recovery time from the Sunday bike ride.
Was going to wait until later in the week to ride again but Tuesday it was just tooooo nice. Upper 60s when I got home from the Med Center. Changed clothes, grabbed the hybrid for a bike ride.
Wind from the WSW. Headed from the bike shop toward the trail center. From there, on up to the Bob Bridge.

The river has receded back into its banks. The new park between the levee and the river is still very wet. The same for the construction area West of the levee. At least the gravel detour just at I-480 is drier and ridable!
From there, it "coasting? with the wind toward Big Lake. Wanted to ride op to Big Lake to see how construction was taking shape. The North lake actually looks like a lake, now! And, the new "boardwalk" is completed and open.

Good job Council Bluffs. Looking good!
From Big Lake, completed my "tour de bluffs" (first for the season) down N. 8th, and through town. On up Harry Langdon, Woodbury, and to the Mall. Back at the Xtreme Wheels, visited for a while.
Off the bike Wednesday - needing a good rest!

Gray Sunset over Iceberg Bay

Last night's sunset looked promising for good color right up until the sun went down. Just as the sun was going down the clouds moved in and cancelled the chance of any colorful sky. Still, I found a nice shoreline to photograph and had lots of fun viewing the ice and watching these icebergs roll around in the waves.

Flaming Gorge Utah

We arrive in Flaming Gorge, Utah. We had turned down a job there for this past summer so thought we'd pass thru and see what we missed.It is quite a winding steep drive down the Gorge to the Dam.







The Reservoir is coming into view



Almost there!

Dam! It's beautiful here!



There's a lot of water here. A million cubic yards of concrete were used to build it. It stands 455 feet above the river channel and extends below the river bottom for another 47 feet anchored in bedrock. However, with no fish ladders, elevators or any means of passage for aquatic species, the dam has severely hurt native species. By creating a standing-water pool on a sediment-laden river, the dam has caused the lower Green River to lose its sediment load and decrease in temperature, hurting the native ecosystem and fish.

You can see from here why they named it Flaming Gorge





So nice we decide to camp here for the night and do some more exploring tomorrow.

We walk a 1.5 mile trail to a scenic overlook. Looks like this is the end of the trail.

Yep, I guess it is!







We walk the rim trail / nature trail

Oh Deer! We're being watched!On the way back we encounter a small herd of Big Horn Sheep. I stand there and talk to them for a good 5 minutes.



One of the females slowly comes towards me, but gets startled by something and the whole herd takes off.




They bypass afence and go down the canyon towards the reservoir. They look up to make sure we're not following!



On the way out we stop at this lovely lake.

It was a great stop - not sure it would have been as enjoyablefor a 5 month stay!

It's another long winding and steep drive out of the Gorge down to Vernal, Utah (9% grade) and then a quick trip over to the Dinosaur National Monument.

Till Later!

Meanwhile, we keep on Trek'n

Melissa & Gary

Housekeeping Poll Results

Thanks to all those ladies who answered my poll about how long it takes you per day to keep your house clean. The answers ranged from thirty minutes to more than two hours. Of course, that all depends on your standards of cleanliness, the size of your house, and the number of people living there. My standards are to have a pretty clean house. We have four people living in ours which is a little over .. sq. ft. Not so big by American standards.

I have a cleaner who comes in twice a month to do the dusting, mopping, and cleaning bathrooms, so those are things I never do. Even still, I spend around two hours a day on cleaning and straightening. That doesn't count cooking. I'd like to spend less but don't think that's going to happen right now. I know if I had less stuff in the house, it'd be easier to clean and keep clean. While I admire bare houses, I have a really hard time getting mine that way. I equate certain things with coziness; books, rugs, throws, and pillows all say "home" to me. In the summer I do tend to pare down and have less around.

It's a goal I aim for though, to take less time cleaning. In two weeks, we'll only have three here. A son is going to Russia for a 6-month mission trip, but that's another blog post.

The 'Tween

Darcie in her playhouse.
She just turned eleven; my baby. She wants her own house but is scared to go out of ours at night. She gives me spontaneous hugs yet moves away if I try to touch her arm during church.
She's a bundle of contradictions. Good thing for her that I've learned over the years not to take these things too personally. For I know that she's instinctively moving toward being her own separate person. Little does she know how much she'll want our closeness later in her life.
So for now, I try not to overreact when she moves away a little. It does hurt my feelings though. But I have to be the adult and look beyond these years to the time when we'll be best friends. I keep telling her now that she's my best friend. She believes it, because she feels the same way. But the tug outward continues...confusing for her and hurtful for me.

Cause and effect

The chain of events:

Early one morning, an otter is caught red-handed, gnawing on a freshly killed grass carp.

Attempts at closer otter photography only serve to scare him away.

Late the same afternoon, a juvenile Bald Eagle shows up, for the first time ever.

He flies over the fish several times,

before roosting nearby.

The next morning he's there again, and appears to be eyeing the fish. Harassed by hawks, he leaves before getting too close to the fish.

Later in the day, the cleanup crew arrives.

Jasmine has issues with them off and on throughout the day.

Black Vultures are more aggressive than Turkey Vultures, and kept their kinder, gentler cousins away from the kill for most of the day. The frustrated TVs performed a lot of posturing.

I presume this means "I'm bad" in vulture language.
-----
Cast of players:
Northern River Otter (Lontra canadensis), black-hearted fish-stealer
Grass Carp, aka White Amur (Ctenopharyngodon idella), triploid (sterile) pond-saver
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), American icon
American Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus), raven-vulture clothed in black as for mourning
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura), misunderstood purifying one
Jasmine the Wonder Dog (Canis lupus familiaris), a Great Pyrenees
-----
American Black Vultures are the ones with white just at the tips of their wings. Turkey Vultures have white all along the bottom underside.
Internet searches agree that Black Vultures are the more aggressive, but seem to say that the wing-spreading is only for warmth. That did not appear to be the case in these birds. It looked more like dominance behavior among the birds who had not been allowed to eat.

Bike to Work Week

This morning Council Bluffs Mayor Hanafan and Omaha Mayor Suttle proclaimed Bike to Work Week May 17-21. The Mayors arrived at the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge riding a MAT bus. Their bikes were on the rack on the bus.
While both cities have been celebrating Bike to Work Week for about 5 years, this was the first time the two Mayors held a joint rally. New commuter maps were available. Blue Line Coffee supplied coffee and muffins before the ride. On the approach to the bridge the proclamation was read and the Mayors lead bike rides to their prospective offices.
There were 22 riders that headed over the Bob Bridge onto the streets of Council Bluffs. There was a short reception at Bayliss Park at the completion of the ride.
From there, Zach (Xtreme Wheels) and I rode up to Big Lake. From there we rode the Iowa Riverfront Trail to Riverside Grill (where we had parked). Great ride. Just short of 15 miles with temperature about 65, bright sun, and no wind.
In today's photo, Omaha Mayor Suttle and Council Bluffs Mayor Hanafan with their bikes and the bus that brought them to the rally. (So the bus ride was a little hokey, but it illustrated the point of hybrid mode of transportation in the Metro.)
My photos of Mayor's Bike To Work Week ride are on my photo site. http://win-photo.photoreflect.com

WILD HORSE & BURRO ADOPTION

Go the the Mercedes Livestock Arena to see the Wild Horses and Burros up for adoption. We get there and all we hear and see are cows!











Finally locate where the Adoption is



Wild Horse and Burro Population



The Bureau of Land Management estimates that approximately 38,400 wild horses and burros (about 33,700 horses and 4,700 burros) are roaming on BLM-managed rangelands in 10 Western states based on the latest data available, compiled as of February 28, . Wild horses and burros have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, the agency must remove thousands of animals from the range each year to control herd sizes.



The estimated current free-roaming population exceeds by nearly 12,000 the number that the BLM has determined can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses. The appropriate management level is approximately 26,600.



Off the range, there are 40,600 other wild horses and burros that are fed and cared for at short-term corrals and long-term pastures. (As of January , there are approximately 13,600 in corrals and 27,000 in Midwestern pastures.) All wild horses and burros in holding, like those roaming the public rangelands, are protected by the BLM under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.













I understand the need to keep the herds at a sustainable to number to maintain their health, however, It was still very sad to see the fear in the eyes of these beautiful animals. Running the range wild and free one day and then to end up in a pen in South Texas to be loaded onto a trailer and taken to a fenced in farm.















Theadoption fee is only $125 - $250

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/What_We_Do/wild_horse_and_burro0/how_to_adopt.html