(more) Hot pot!

Hot Pot ingredients! Top row: Pork and Shrimp Dumplings, Chinese BBQ sauce, pork and celery dumplings, noodles, Cubed Tofu. Middle Row: Hot pot soup flavoring, fried tofu cubes, cilantro, shaved sirloin. Front Row: Shrimp Dumplings and Fish Dumplings, Fish balls, Bok choy, mushrooms, Japanese Sweet Potato

Dipping bowl! fried tofu cub, dumpling, dipping sauce and cilantro

Ryan, Kait, Nick. Rick and I all shared a delicious hot pot!

Water water everywhere

The roads, especially of rural Iowa, are slowly sinking underwater. Forecast says more rain.
At least the Coots are happy!

Coots in a ditch! 

Coots swimming across the road.

The "walking path" at Ada Hayden - the trail is underwater in at least 4 places

The pier at Ada Hayden - that water in the foreground is usually the walking path and grass.

A lake side bench at Ada Hayden. 

Lord of the Rings: War in the North

Rick got a new game for his computer. $5 download off Amazon.
We've been taking turns playing it.
I love fighting Orcs!!
Speaking of Orcs, Rick also got a new frisbee golf disc.
It's called "The Orc" and is bright blue with a rainbow orc on it. So funny.

Happy Birthday Anita!

Anita's birthday Ice Cream Cake! A delicious mint and chocolate concoction.
Unlike Rick, she did not throw it on the floor.

Birds and counting

Rick and I have been keeping a list of all the birds we've seen, 121 different birds so far! We'll keep adding as we find more.

1.     Ross’s Goose

2.     Canada Goose

3.     Mute Swan

4.     Wood Duck

5.     Mallard

6.     Blue-winged teal

7.     Northern Shoveler

8.     Green-winged Teal

9.     Canvasback

10. Redhead

11. Ring-necked Duck

12. Lesser Scaup

13. Bufflehead

14. Red-breasted Merganser

15. Ring-necked Pheasant

16. Wild turkey

17. Common Loon

18. Pied-billed Grebe

19. American White Pelican

20. Brown Pelican

21. Double-crested Cormorant

22. Great Blue Heron

23. Great Egret

24. Green Heron

25. Turkey Vulture

26. Osprey

27. Bald Eagle

28. Northern Harrier

29. Red-shouldered Hawk

30. Red-tailed Hawk

31. American Kestrel

32. Prairie Falcon

33. American Coot

34. Sandhill Crane

35. American Golden-Plover

36. Killdeer

37. Western Sandpiper

38. Bonaparte’s Gull

39. Ring-billed Gull

40. Royal Tern

41. Rock Pigeon

42. Mourning Dove

43. Barn Owls

44. Great-Horned Owl

45. Burrowing Owl

46. Barred Owl

47. Ruby-throated Hummingbird

48. Belted Kingfisher

49. Red-headed Woodpecker

50. Red-bellied Woodpecker

51. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

52. Downy Woodpecker

53. Hairy Woodpecker

54. Northern Flicker

55. Pileated Woodpecker

56. Acadian Flycatcher

57. Eastern Phoebe

58. Eastern Kingbird

59. Blue Jay

60. American Crow

61. Purple Martin

62. Tree Swallow

63. Violet-green Swallow

64. Northern Rough-winged Swallow

65. Bank Swallow

66. Cliff Swallow

67. Barn Swallow

68. Black-capped Chickadee

69. Tufted Titmouse

70. Red-breasted Nuthatch

71. White-breasted Nuthatch

72. Brown Creeper

73. Golden-crowned Kinglet

74. Ruby-crowned Kinglet

75. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

76. Eastern Bluebird

77. Mountain Bluebird

78. American Robin

79. Gray Catbird

80. European Starling

81. Cedar Waxwing

82. Nashville Warbler

83. Yellow Warbler

84. Yellow-rumped Warbler

85. Yellow-throated Warbler

86. Pine Warbler

87. Palm Warbler

88. Black-and-White Warbler

89. American Redstart

90. Prothonotary Warbler

91. Northern Waterthrush

92. Common Yellowthroat

93. Scarlet Tanager

94. Western Tanager

95. Eastern Towhee

96. Chipping Sparrow

97. Field Sparrow

98. Lark Sparrow

99. Lark Bunting

100.                Grasshopper Sparrow

101.                Fox Sparrow

102.                Song Sparrow

103.                White-throated Sparrow

104.                Swamp Sparrow

105.                Dark-eyed Junco

106.                Northern Cardinal

107.                Rose-breasted Grosbeak

108.                Black-headed Grosbeak

109.                Indigo Bunting

110.                Dickcissel

111.                Red-winged Blackbird

112.                Eastern Meadowlark

113.                Western Meadowlark

114.                Yellow-headed Blackbird

115.                Common Grackle

116.                Brown-headed Cowbird

117.                Baltimore Oriole

118.                House Finch

119.                American Goldfinch

120.                Pine Siskin

121.                House Sparrow

Birdwatching at Ada Hayden

A pair of male Mallards

Purple Martin colony

Baltimore Oriole

Brown Headed Cowbird

some kind of giant bee?

American Redstart

Black-Capped Chickadee

I haven't figured out what this guy is yet

Hot Pot

Ryan, Kelly, and Mingfeng joined Rick and I for a hot pot!

Daikon, tofu, sweet potatoes, dumplings and cilantro are all floating in the broth, thinly sliced roast and tofu skin to the side

SOO yummy!

Panthers in Cyclone Country

Rick sits in the Anderson Sculpture Garden on Iowa State's campus that features two oversized bronze panther statues by the artist Christian Petersen. 

Happy Birthday Rick!

Matt, Kelly, Ryan and I planned a surprise party for Ricky's birthday. We celebrated with pizza, "Reeses Blizzard" ice cream cake from DQ and a game of Settlers of Catan!

Tragically, immediately after the previous picture was taken,  Rick dropped his cake on the floor.  After scraping off the carpet-fuzzed frosting, we enjoyed it anyway.

Kayaking with Bob

Bob and Rick take Rocinante for a paddle at Saulsbury Bridge Recreation Area

Back on the Water

After a long winter in the garage, Rick and I finally got Rocinante back on the water for some paddling, fishing and birdwatching!

a little Painted Turtle

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

a Green Heron shakes off water

Rick caught this little Channel Cat on a jug and stinkbait

baby Snapping Turtle

Rick caught this big Channel Catfish on a homemade jug and stinkbait

Golden Plovers

American Golden Plover

Rick and I spotted this flock while tilling the field so Bob could plant. At first we thought we'd stirred up a quail covey (they've been flushed from the fence-line of this field in the past) but upon inspecting the pictures, we realized they were something we'd never seen before. A little research ID'd them as Golden Plovers, a shorebird with one of the longest migrations in the world. They spend the winter at the southern part of Brazil, but nest north of the arctic circle, and along the way, they like to hang out in freshly tilled fields.

Moo-ving day

A break in the rain let things dry out enough to move the cows and calves from the barn and cement lot where the calves were born, to the pasture where they'll spend the summer.

Rick and Bob herd the calves towards the area of the pasture where their mothers are gathered

Bob, Rick and a few of the calves enjoy the fresh grass and sunshine

Birdwatching at Lake Macbride

On our way home for a week off between the end of the semester and the start of Rick's summer classes, we stopped at one of our favorite places to do some fishing and birdwatching.

Eastern Towhee

Wren (not sure which kind)

Baltimore Oriole 

Prothonotary Warbler 

White-throated Sparrow

Green Heron

Rick and a pretty little Bluegill - caught on a fly

Birdwatching at ISU

The warblers are migrating and Iowa State's campus is hopping with them! 

Palm Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler aka: Butter Butt

Ruby Crowned Kinglet

Rabbit

Nashville Warbler

Butter Butt

White Throated Sparrow

Downy Woodpecker

Black and White Warbler

Pine Warbler

male Mallard

Leucistic Squirrel - she's not quite an albino - she has some pigment and her eyes are dark instead of red, but this squirrel has a similar mutation that makes her fur white instead of red-gray.