Macavity - the Mystery Cat

Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw--
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no on like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air--
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!

Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly doomed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square--
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!

He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's.
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair--
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!

And when the Foreign Office finds a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scap of paper in the hall or on the stair--
But it's useless to investigate--Macavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
"It must have been Macavity!"--but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, or one or two to spare:
And whatever time the deed took place--MACAVITY WASN'T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!

- T.S. Eliot

America the Beautiful

We are blessed to live in a country with a diversity of natural beauty just waiting to be enjoyed and shared with those we love. May God bless America!

Rainbow over Blackduck Lake, northern Minnesota

Snowmelt makes a charming waterfall in Glacier National Park, Montana

Sandstone formations are exposed by the wind in
Teddy Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Amber waves of grain in Eastern Montana

Low tide in Puget Sound, Washington

Dry wash in the Rocky Mountains, Montana

Waves roll in off the Pacific Ocean, Gray's Harbor, Washington

Overlooking the Yellowstone River,

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

A trail winds through the Autumn woods, northern Minnesota

Wispy clouds pass in front of a mountain, western Montana

A geyser erupts in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Basalt formations form a palisade above the Yellowstone River,

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Flaming maples against the Autumn sky, northern Minnesota

Going to the Sun Mountain, Glacier National Park, Montana

St. Mary Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana

Sunset over the Rocky Mountains, southwestern Montana

Calm bay on Lake Kabetogama in northern Minnesota

Red sandstone bluff, northern Wyoming

Beartooth Mountain, southern Montana

Sunset sets the sky ablaze, southeastern Minnesota

Mineral springs form intricate designs,

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Lazy clouds drift through a valley in the mountains, western Montana

Volcanic action heaves the mountainous stone to form "the Devil's Slide"

Southern Montana

A peaceful glacial lake nestled in the mountains,

Glacier National Park, Montana

Sunset over Rainy Lake, northern Minnesota

Day on the Lake

There is nothing like a relaxing day out on the lake to make a person refreshed inside. Even when the fish aren't biting there is so much to see and enjoy that there is never a dull moment. Below are some pictures from my latest weekend on the lake. These are just a few of the many wonders of nature waiting for those who leave the world of hustle and bustle behind and enter the world of God's created beauty. Get out and enjoy!

Above and below: a Great Blue Heron obligingly drops in for a photo.

Below: a male Redwing blackbird displays his finery to attract a mate.

Below: A hen and drake Mallard were sleeping on a log and woke up when we dropped in.
Notice how the ducks sleep while standing on one foot. How do they keep their balance?

Below: after a sip of lake water, the hen Mallard preens her feathers.
What care she takes to make sure that the one pesky feather lies just so!

Below: the hen scratches her head and the drake lazily

opens an eye to see what all the commotion is about.

Below: a Bald Eagle, our nation's emblem, sits in a pine tree looking over the lake.

Below: a Common Loon rears up on the water and challenges us

as we approach the cattails on one side of the bay.

Below: the mystery of the challenging loon is solved as we see a loon's nest

carefully camouflaged in the cattails. The nest is nearly as big around

as a car tire and the eggs are quite large and slightly speckled.

Below: the loon calms down as we move away from the nest.

Below: a shot of Sullivan Bay on Lake Kabetogama where all but two of these

pictures were taken. It is beautiful serenity like this that makes the lake a

great place to relax and recover your spirits after a day at work or school.

The beauty of God's creation is just a dim foretaste of His own beauty. Why not get out

and explore the natural world...it is there waiting to be discovered and enjoyed!

Ducks' Ditty

Mallards take a break from dabbling

All along the backwater,
Through the rushes tall,
Ducks are a-dabbling,
Up tails all!

Ducks' tails, drakes' tails,
Yellow feet a-quiver,
Yellow bills all out of sight
Busy in the river!

Slushy green undergrowth
Where the roach swim-
Here we keep our larder,
Cool and full and dim.

Every one for what he likes!
We like to be
Heads down, tails up,
Dabbling free!

High in the blue above
Swifts whirl and call-
We are a-dabbling
Up tails all!

The Water Rat's song in Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Bird Watching - Songbirds

There are many fun outdoor activities that can be enjoyed year round and among these is bird watching. Spotting and identifying birds is fun and rewarding. All you need is a pair of binoculars, shoes for hiking, and a bird book. Many of the common songbirds can be seen and identified around the yard. During the migration (my-gray-shun), when songbirds are in flocks traveling south in winter or north in summer, even uncommon birds may be seen around the yard. It is helpful to learn the different songs of birds while learning to identify the birds by how they look. Keep a list of all the birds you have seen and identified and you will be surprised to see how quickly it grows as you learn to appreciate these beautiful creatures!

Black-capped Chickadee

On a walk about the fields with my camera, I came across (above photo) this old bluebird house. I was surprised to see a Black-capped Chickadee looking into the house as though he was about to claim it as his own. I guess he thought it looked like a good spot for a chickadee nest!

The Black-capped Chickadee is very common in the northern United States. It lives in both deciduous (dee-sid-yoo-us) and coniferous (con-if-er-us) forests. Deciduous trees are those which lose their leaves in fall, like oak or maple trees; coniferous trees are those which keep their leaves (needles) year round, like pine or spruce trees. Black-capped Chickadees nest in holes they make themselves in the rotten wood of a dead tree or in any handy hole they may find that is already made. They eat insects and seeds and are attracted to birdfeeders. The songs of the Black-capped Chickadee sound like "phee-phee" or "chick-a-dee-dee-dee." To go to a site where you can hear the songs of this cute, friendly little bird click here.



Below is a picture of a female American Redstart. This female bird can be a challenge to identify because it looks so different than the male with his black head, chest, and back, brightened by his blaze-orange shoulders and wing and tail patches. American Redstarts are common in much of the United States. They live in the brushy understory of deciduous woods where they dart about catching flies, mosquitoes (mow-skee-tows), and other insects. To go to a site where you may see a picture of the male and hear the call of the American Redstart, click here.

female American Redstart

Another very common bird to see and identify is the American Goldfinch (photo below). You may see this bird just about anywhere in the United States. It loves weedy fields and lawns where it can find seeded-out dandelions and thistles, which are some of its favorite foods. It also likes to eat sunflower seeds and the seeds from trees. The song of the American Goldfinch sounds like "per-chik-o-ree" and may be heard by clicking here.

American Goldfinch

The Eastern Bluebird (below) is an American success story in the world of birds. Once this bird was in trouble because it didn't have enough nesting habitat (habitat is all the stuff a bird needs to live and have babies like water, food, and spots to nest). When people began making special bluebird nesting boxes (like the one in the first picture that the chickadee was peeking into) the Eastern Bluebird began to recover and now it is a common bird to see east of the Great Plains.

Above and below: male Eastern Bluebird

The Eastern Bluebird prefers to live in more open areas such as farmland, open woods, swamps and gardens where it feeds on insects of many kinds. The call of the Eastern Bluebird is a pretty whistling which you can hear by clicking here.

male Bobolink

In the picture above is one of my favorite grassland birds, the Bobolink. The male Bobolink has a yellow patch of feathers on the back of his head that looks like a dandelion in bloom when the bird is sitting on a grass stem! Bobolinks live in grasslands and hayfields and eat insects. They have a very cheerful and distinctive call which can be heard here.

White-throated Sparrow

There are many different kinds of native sparrows (native means that they were not brought to this country, but always lived here) all with their own special songs and habits. They are pretty and useful little birds and are fun to identify. In the picture above is a White-throated Sparrow, a very common bird in areas with dense brush. This bird is a seed eater and has a call that sounds like "oh-sam-peabody-pea." To hear the call of the White-throated Sparrow click here.

These are just a few of the hundreds of songbirds just waiting to be discovered by you while on an outdoor adventure. Learning to know our native songbirds is fun and makes being outside a treat for the eyes and ears every time you get out. The next time you are looking for fun outdoors, grab a bird book and a pair of binoculars and enter the world of songbirds!

Bears

Until I moved up to the north woods with my husband the only experience I had with bears was with the stuffed Teddy Bears that all kids love. There were bears where I lived, but they were so shy that I never saw one. However to be married to a wildlife specialist in bear country introduces a whole new world in which bears can play a prominent part.

Funny how pictures of bears always show the bruins in a wild surrounding, eating ants or grass, maybe gobbling down berries. That is what bears usually do, but not always. In a year when the berry crop is poor the bears make do with what they can find and that is where the problem comes in. Very few people up here have not had the unpleasant experience of cleaning up after a bear has raided the garbage or attacked the birdfeeder. These big critters can make a major mess in a short period of time.

In the early years of our life up here a problem bear was trapped in a live trap made of a chunk of large culvert with a spring door. Bait was hung in the trap attached to the trigger for the door. The bear entered the trap, grabbed the bacon and the door closed trapping the bear inside. Wildlife personnel then hooked up to the trap, which is on wheels, and carried the bear far away into the woods away from homes. The door to the trap was opened (always the tricky part) and the bear was free to leave and find a new home. At least that was the intention on the part of the wildlife personnel; the bears had another idea and made a beeline back to the spot where they got into trouble in the first place. What are fifty or sixty miles to a bear? They would be “home” in no time and back to raiding the garbage and birdfeeders. Eventually the idea of relocating bears was abandoned and our days of trapping bears came to an end. We were left with plenty of memories of the “old” days, though.

When a bear was trapped we always tried to get out immediately and relocate the bear so that the critter would not have to spend a long time in the trap. There was a dual purpose in this: of course we didn’t want the bear to suffer, but even in a short time a bear can make a real mess inside a trap. We had to clean out the trap and it is no joke to clean up after a bear has used a trap for its bathroom facility. I remember one big sow that we caught at a resort. It was a hot summer day and when we got out to haul the bear away we had a very unhappy sow on our hands. We drove her way out into the woods and prepared to release her. She was snarling and acting very aggressive, and since we had to unhook the door manually before she could get out it was a tense situation. Hubby gallantly elected to risk himself unhooking the door and sent me to the front of the trap to distract the bear. The sow was extremely crabby by this time and refused to be gently distracted so there was nothing I could do but clap my hands and yell at her. She swapped ends in a heartbeat and lunged at me preceded by a wave of waste that sloshed through the bars of the trap and covered me from head to foot. It was ghastly and I stank like the proverbial pig sty until I could get home (hours later) and shower. Hubby did get the trap unhooked, the bear got out and ran for the woods, but it was a long and stinky drive back – one which we will never, ever, forget to our dying day!

Another memorable experience involved a young bear that was foraging in garbage late in the season for bears. A trap was set and caught the bear…which proceeded to curl up and hibernate! The wildlife guys covered the bear well with straw and backed the trap into a garage stall at the office. The bear spent the winter with the DNR (Dept. of Natural Resources) and was released in the spring when it woke up. Not too many bears can brag of that experience!

Bears are a fact of life up here. I have been nearly run over by a bear (it was as surprised as I was), been challenged by bears (I backed off as gracefully as possible) and have enjoyed seeing bears up in trees eating acorns. The bruins are part of the world in which I live and even though they can be pesky at times I wouldn’t be without them.

Why do Hunters Hunt?

Hunter with a wild turkey she harvested

Minnesota has a rich hunting tradition that spans the state and makes each spring and fall a time for making memories. There is a great deal of anti-hunting sentiment these days, but I have found it to be largely the product of misunderstanding of hunting in general and ignorance concerning the role of hunting in wildlife management.

Too often hunters are portrayed as being heartless Bambi killers. True, there are some out there who call themselves hunters while being anything but; they are shooters and care little for their targets. But the vast majority of hunters are anything but heartless. They love and respect the animals they hunt, and those that I know or have had contact with are lovers of all animals. Some hunters are warm and fuzzy hearted to a fault. But hunters are also outdoors people and understand the role in nature of the animals they hunt. Hunters understand that encroaching civilization has upset the pristine balance of nature and has allowed some species to flourish while chasing out others. The most effective way of restoring this balance is through hunting, especially as it is generally the large predators who have suffered most from losing habitat. Loss of large predators has allowed animals like deer to reproduce at a rate their habitat cannot sustain. Many hunters have seen the effects of an uncontrolled animal population boom. It is not a pleasing sight to see animals that have suffered starvation or died from diseases caused by over population. Hunters take over the role of harvesting animals that had been harvested by large predators. By keeping the animal populations at a healthy level, hunters contribute to the health and well-being of the animals.

Another misconception about hunters is that they are in the woods and fields solely to kill animals. Nothing can be further from the truth. Hunters are in the woods because they love nature and all the sights, sounds and smells associated with it. Ask a deer hunter what he saw while sitting on his deer stand and you will be regaled with tales of chickadees, woodpeckers, squirrels, and the occasional sightings of other mammals. As an aside he or she may mention that no deer were seen, but it was a glorious day in the woods. Hunters are out to enjoy nature and filling the hunting tag is a bonus that means meat on the table.

In future posts I will be sharing stories of my own hunting and fishing experiences, most of which involve humorous or even ludicrous mistakes and the outcome from them. Anyone who thinks that filling a tag is simply a matter of walking out and firing a gun at a defenseless animal needs a refreshing dose of reality. Animals have keen senses and while they may not be able to shoot back they are very capable of taking care of themselves and making a hunter look inept.

To all those hunters out there, happy hunting!

The Duck and the Kangaroo

Said the Duck to the Kangaroo,

'Good gracious! how you hop!

Over the fields and the water too,

As if you never would stop!

My life is a bore in this nasty pond,

And I long to go out in the world beyond!

I wish I could hop like you!'

Said the duck to the Kangaroo.

'Please give me a ride on your back!'

Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.'

I would sit quite still, and say nothing but "Quack,"

The whole of the long day through!

And we'd go to the Dee, and the Jelly Bo Lee,

Over the land and over the sea;--

Please take me a ride! O do!'

Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.

Said the Kangaroo to the Duck,

'This requires some little reflection;

Perhaps on the whole it might bring me luck,

And there seems but one objection,

Which is, if you'll let me speak so bold,

Your feet are unpleasantly wet and cold,

And would probably give me the roo-

Matiz!' said the Kangaroo.

Said the Duck , 'As I sate on the rocks,

I have thought over that completely,

And I bought four pairs of worsted socks

Which fit my web-feet neatly.

And to keep out the cold I've bought a cloak,

And every day a cigar I'll smoke,

All to follow my own dear true

Love of a Kangaroo!'

Said the Kangaroo, 'I'm ready!

All in the moonlight pale;

But to balance me well, dear Duck, sit steady!

And quite at the end of my tail!'

So away they went with a hop and a bound,

And they hopped the whole world three times round;

And who so happy, -- O who,

As the duck and the Kangaroo?

Edward Lear

The Quangle Wangle's Hat

On the top of the Crumpetty Tree

The Quangle Wangle sat,

But his face you could not see,

On account of his Beaver Hat.

For his hat was a hundred and two feet wide,

With ribbons and bibbons on every side

And bells, and buttons, and loops, and lace,

So that nobody ever could see the face

Of the Quangle Wangle Quee.

The Quangle Wangle said

To himself on the Crumpetty Tree,

Jam; and jelly; and bread;

Are the best food for me!

But the longer I live on this Crumpetty Tree

The plainer than ever it seems to me

That very few people come this way

And that life on the whole is far from gay!'

Said the Quangle Wangle Quee.

But there came to the Crumpetty Tree,

Mr. and Mrs. Canary;

And they said, Did you ever see

Any spot so charmingly airy?

May we build a nest on your lovely Hat?

Mr. Quangle Wangle, grant us that!

O please let us come and build a nest

Of whatever material suits you best,

Mr. Quangle Wangle Quee!'

And besides, to the Crumetty Tree

Came the Stork, the Duck, and the Owl;

The Snail, and the Bumble-Bee,

The Frog, and the Fimble Fowl;

The Fimble Fowl, with a Corkscrew leg;

And all of them said, We humbly beg,

We may build our homes on your lovely Hat,

Mr. Quangle Wangle, grant us that!

Mr. Quangle Wangle Quee!

And the Golden Grouse came there,

And the Pobble who has no toes,

And the small Olympian bear,

And the Dong with a luminous nose.

And the Blue Babboon, who played the flute,

And the Orient Calf from the Land of Tute,

And the Attery Squash, and the Bisky Bat,

All came and built on the lovely Hat

Of the Quangle Wangle Quee.

And the Quangle Wangle said

To himself on the Crumpetty Tree,

When all these creatures move

What a wonderful noise there'll be!'

And at night by the light of the Mulberry moon

They danced to the flute of the Blue Babboon,

On the broad green leaves of the Crumpetty Tree,

And all were as happy as happy could be,

With the Quangle Wangle Quee.

-Edward Lear