Hmm – four days into the new year and just one walk taken. The squirrels are no doubt fitful, looking at one another and asking “is Linda coming back?” I am hopeful for a Park excursion this morning. We had freezing rain New Year’s Day p.m. which messed up roads and sidewalks Saturday, then Sunday was a slushy mix of rain and snow with below-freezing temps. So much for great beginnings in this newly minted year.
But then, 2020 was a year that began with such promise … a shiny new decade. On January 1, 2020, I could not help but reflect on what I was doing twenty years before. On January 1, 2000, I was overjoyed that the dreaded Y2K digital meltdown did not happen at the stroke of midnight as many had predicted – whew! I recall I held off buying a computer until after Y2K, so on January 2, 2000, I went to the Gateway store and bought my first desktop P.C.
If we thought the advent of Y2K was scary business, imagine if we had known how COVID-19 was going to affect our lives by March 2020. We went blithely about our daily routine, until mid-March when life, as we knew it, certainly put on the brakes.
Some of you were ultra-productive when COVID jail began.
For me, not much changed at the outset. Having worked from home for nearly a decade, there were no adjustments there and I always buy enough pantry items so I don’t have to shop all Winter, except for perishable items. So that was taken care of. I could live without perishable items and I never bought groceries until May.
Some of you were forced into lockdown mode with no school or work which gave you lots of time to hunker down at home and clear out clutter, renovate, read some books, binge-watch shows on Netflix or hone your cooking skills. I saw tons of brown boxes, paint cans, old carpeting and sad-looking vanities in the ‘hood on my daily walks, so for sure our homes reaped the benefits of lockdown mode.
Truth be told … I have done diddly-squat during this pandemic.
I have clutter galore and my first goal whenever I retire is to return to a clutter-free house … it’s been so long that I can’t recall what the house looks like upstairs or downstairs. There was a mad scramble to make the house look presentable on the day after Christmas when a plumbing issue cropped up. I resented needing to do that on what I had deemed my “down time” but, to keep up appearances and avoid raised eyebrows and silent judgments by the plumber when he entered the house, I ran around like a mad woman. Then placed the call to the plumber. Evidently, he changed his cellphone number, never called, the problem resolved itself … that’s life. Then I found a wasp nest in the garage – really?!
I did get out and about more in 2020 and …
… pared down my “Trek Bucket List” by going to Huroc Park, Willow Metropark, Crosswinds Marsh and I finished exploring the Rouge Gateway Trail during my virtual Mutt Strut 5K. During the 2019 Mutt Strut the event took us to part of it … I wanted to see more. I’ve still not made it to the sunflower farm and this year I may just grow my own. I used my Metropark pass plenty, but I’ve still not used my state park pass that I add onto my driver’s license fee. Maybe this year.
And, I put a bit of a dent in my “Birdie Bucket List” …
… Woo hoo!
Here it is when I published it on March 5th last year.
Well I pared down a few. Let’s see. I finally saw a hummingbird and got a few photos! (More on that later).
I hoped to see a Mute Swan Mama with her cygnets nestled beneath those snowy feathers. I was lucky, but it wasn’t quite that heartwarming scenario I pictured in my mind. A pair of Mute Swans were on the Detroit River, with one nearly grown cygnet between them. The motorboats raced by and the current made the bobbing cygnet submerge every few seconds. The parents didn’t care as I stood in shocked disbelief, thinking it may not surface again. It lived but I’m sure it gulped gallons of funky Detroit River water into its tiny lungs.
Up until June 2020, I had visited every watery venue I could in search of Mallards and their ducklings, to no avail. Then right under my nose I found Mama and 10 sweet ducklings trailing behind her at Council Point shortly after it re-opened after being closed for a month. Then, I would go on to see many more ducklings at Coan Lake at Heritage Park during June. They seemed to be everywhere I looked. I guess it was Mother Nature’s gift to me.
I saw Cooper’s Hawks a’plenty – usually going after my little furry buddies at the Park, but I did not get any photos.
I did dabble a little though …
“Dabble” is an interesting word.
When ducks dabble, they turn upside down, peering below the surface of the water for some tasty aquatic plants to nibble on. Their feathery duck butts are straight up in the air, but sometimes, like here, they just poke their head into the water … it looks less comical this way.
Last year I scribbled down a few New Year’s resolutions for 2020 while sipping eggnog and polishing off the rest of the Christmas cookies. Must. Read. More. After all, I had enjoyed reading three books from Thanksgiving through the New Year’s long holidays. Inspired, I got more reading material and even bought a couple of book lights to take downstairs to clamp onto those books to read as I perched atop the exercise bicycle for those mornings I would not be walking. So, we had a wonderful Winter with very little snow, so very little bike/book time. So much for that worthy resolution.
I dabbled in gardening with real plants.
I once lived for my garden where I made the backyard into a paradise for butterflies and birds and yes, squirrels, but in those days I fretted when they dug up the lawn or flowerpots to bury or search for the peanuts that I fed them – a real Catch-22 situation. Then a neighbor’s dog out 24/7/365 brought rats and back-to-back Polar Vortex events killed off most of my garden. Disgusted, plus in conjunction with my walking regimen, I vowed never to garden again. I resorted to silk flowers and planted them in pots and baskets – no weeding, deadheading, watering. I was set. Then a friend in North Carolina and I chatted about gardening. I confessed I once was a green thumb outside, but would kill any plant I brought into the house. She said “you can’t kill Oxalis – I’ll send you some of mine if you give me your address.” I politely insinuated she was wasting her time. Undaunted by my exasperation, Betty Jean express-mailed me several bulbs of flowers you may know better as “shamrocks” – but it was hot weather, the express mail package arrived some ten days later. With a defeatist attitude, I told Betty Jean they likely would not make it from being held up by the mail so long, but I dutifully planted them and gave them a few doses of Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster and waited.
Here they were a few weeks later.
And, here they were on Labor Day weekend.
They bloomed well even after the last frost but I finally brought them in … they are now dead as a door nail.
I dabbled with cooking.
I follow a blog called “In Diane’s Kitchen” and friend and fellow blogger Diane kept posting pictures of crock pot meals. After salivating over far too many of those delicious-looking dinners, I got a crock pot and several recipe books from Amazon. I paged through them and put sticky notes on what I planned to make, but when I told Diane she had inspired me so I had ordered a crock pot, she said “get recipes from the Facebook sites for easy crock pot meals!” I’ve not cracked open the cookbooks since but at last I can cook without burning the meals. Yay me! The crock pot also helps since I await the transition to Windows 10 at work and have nowhere else to plug that laptop in, so it has been sitting on the stove glass top since June 2019, plugged in behind the stove.
I dabbled with hummingbird feeding.
I had high hopes for having some fun and maybe photo ops after glimpsing a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird flitting around a pink weed near the door. I had never seen a hummingbird up close, just in photos. But would I get its picture? To increase my chances of a photo op and perhaps have a new hobby, I ordered two hummingbird feeders from my former HVAC tech, who, along with his wife, now own a Wild Birds Unlimited store. Of course, there was all the paraphernalia to go along with the care and feeding of hummers. I don’t bake and had no sugar in the house, so I ordered powdered nectar to mix up in the special hummer bottles, port hole cleaning brushes … okay, I bought into this new hobby hook, line and sinker. I had to get new shepherd’s hooks because my original hooks had an expressway of ants running from the bushes to the feeder and were cemented into the garden long ago, but then my neighbor’s Trumpet Vine brought more ants and spiders so I had to move them again.
I HAD named my hummer “Homer” then never saw it … for weeks, maybe a month or so. Dutifully I filled both feeders and remained ever-hopeful, while thinking I not only wasted money, but now was wasting my time. Then one day I was hanging up the feeders with fresh sugar water and looked over to see this hummer suspended in air, with whirring wings as it waited for its breakfast. As I watched it taking swigs from both feeders, I noticed it was a female, as it was missing that signature red throat. I re-named this little bundle of energy “Hope” and it would take another month to get these not-so-great pictures, which happened one morning when I opened the door to find it raining and Hope sipping at the feeder. I bolted to get the camera lest she leave.
So, what am I to learn or accomplish in 2021? The year is young and as of this writing, I only have 1,253 more miles/2,016 kilometers to go to meet my goal. Wish me luck!
[Google gone kaput image was what appeared on my screen one time. I kept it specifically for this post.]
After lots of fits and starts, in a year like no other, I am happy to tell you I am closing out the year with 1,320 miles/2,124 kilometers walked in 2020. That is 65 miles/104 kilometers over and above my original goal (1,255 miles/2,020 kilometers). As you will recall, the 2,020 kilometers goal was derived from the year 2020 and was a challenge to me by a fellow blogger. Next year I will up that goal amount by one measly kilometer to 2,021 kilometers/1,256 miles … easy peasy right? I like my posts to publish early in the morning; I am not sure if I’m walking today and won’t know until daylight. Yesterday we had some freezing rain and a wintry precip at times and will have the same ugly weather for New Year’s Day – ugh.
So, this year was not wonderfully memorable for what 2020 brought to the table (not much good and I think you’ll agree), but for me it was monumental as I have never walked this many miles in a single year before.
I even took a week off in April to ponder whether I should continue walking at the Park during the pandemic, then returned to my favorite nature nook, only for it to be shut down a few weeks later due to City-wide COVID restrictions. Thus, I spent the month of May returning to my roots, walking in the ‘hood, just like I did before I discovered Council Point Park in May 2013, almost two years after beginning my walking regimen.
We had a blazing hot Summer and high humidity to boot. But I persevered and only drew the line for walking when there was ice, snow or heavy rain. It’s a good thing I reached my goal on November 29th, as the weather has been iffy ever since. I counted on Christmas weekend as one to enjoy three leisurely walks and it turned out I only walked on Sunday as Christmas and the day after were snowy and slippery. We were supposed to get a dusting to one inch of snow and it turned out we got 3 ½ inches/9 cm. People were ecstatic for a white Christmas – me, not so much.
The image above of the ceramic boot and rock with a smiley face was at the base of a tree in a neighborhood where I was scoping out election signs back in late October. I took the photo knowing it would be my year-end tally post header image.
I have one more image to share while we’re mentioning boots.
Back in 1973, in my senior year in high school, I walked alongside another classmate in the Detroit-area March of Dimes 17-Mile Walk-a-thon. We solicited money from friends and family members to help us raise funds to fight birth defects in babies. It was a long march that day and it took us through the streets of Detroit and around Belle Isle (also in Detroit). Though his name is not on this official March of Dimes Order of the Battered Boot certificate, the leader of the pack, walking, plus cheering us on, was Detroit rock-n-roll legend Bob Seger. It was a fun experience and how did I ever walk 17 miles at one time? Betcha I had shin splints the next day … or blisters. It’s a blur now, but I have the certificate and little feet stamp to prove it.
On a lark, I reached out to the March of Dimes – Michigan to see if, by chance, they had some facts or stats, or even photos about our 1973 Walk-a-thon to include with this post. Even if I came in dead last and had umpteen blisters on my feet, I was prepared to tell all. Jamie, at the March of Dimes Facebook site, was eager to help but discovered the March for Babies’ records only went back to 2002 and Jamie even tried asking co-workers for any info, but unfortunately it was too long ago to glean any info from those folks. Thank you anyway Jamie – you really went the extra mile and I appreciate it!
I always had my trusty Kodak pocket camera with me but not on this occasion unfortunately.
So onward and upward in 2021 … I hope the next year is not such a steep hill to climb on many levels!!!
Winter had still not arrived on the day I took this walk at Council Point Park. But you could have fooled me – it was gray, gloomy and very cold. This was Saturday, December 19th and I’d not been to the Park in two days. While walking home Wednesday morning, the snow flurries were flying furiously, then by afternoon, the landscape was white. We didn’t get much snow, but layered in, once again, was a little freezing rain, which slickened up driveways and sidewalks. A little overnight snow Thursday night provided an additional frosty layer. This time, however, fewer homeowners shoveled or swept, which necessitated walking in the salted street if I hoped to make it down to the Park without wiping out along the way.
When I arrived at Council Point Park, the parking lot was a mishmash of small piles of salt and hunks of snow and ice in other spots where the salt spreader had totally missed, so I opted to walk on the grass to get to the start of the perimeter path, that “fork” that I showed you recently in the four-seasons photo.
I didn’t fare much better on the pathway, as it had not been plowed and ice and crusty crud crunched under my feet as I set out. The winds had picked up a bit and buffeted me as I picked my way along the path. Very quickly I decided to walk on the grass and hurried to the Safe Haven Tree, where a few furry friends scampered over and a Jay heralded my arrival with a few screeches to put out the call to his brethren. I had brought sunflower seeds as a treat since I know they’d missed two days’ “droppings” and I sprinkled them liberally over the memorial stone and spread peanuts too.
Puff descended the Safe Haven Tree lickety-split and bolted over to the sunflower seeds, completely bypassing the peanuts.
I wanted to feel his forehead, while thinking “why didn’t I get more sunflower seeds to leave for those bad-weather days when the predicted forecast tells me I will not be showing my face at the Park?”
I was right up close to Puff when I snapped these photos of him sporting a smidgeon of snow. “He must be freezing” I thought as he bounced around, despite his added girth. The dull daylight, made his usually glossy black fur, look like it was tinged with brown.
A few more squirrels and another Jay had joined the feeding frenzy so I moved on. I eyeballed the pathway ahead and sure didn’t like the look of the lumpy-looking, snow-and-ice-covered surface and decided that I wasn’t going to walk it, despite wearing lug-soled hiking boots. I quickly cut across the loop, by walking on the snow-covered grass. I’m still counting my steps, but since I’ve passed my goal already I decided now was the time to cut corners.
I headed over to the woodsy area which I have designated as a second “safe haven area” and was pleased to see a few furry and feathered friends come to greet me. I’ve been feeding the squirrels and Jays, even a few Cardinals, at this location for about a month now. I knew that collection of logs and the tree stump left behind by the tree cutters back in early Fall could serve some purpose, so I’ve been placing peanuts and treats there. This woodsy little nook is not large, but the logs provide a refuge from flying predators and the Creek bank is behind the log, so no hawk is going to risk swooping through the branches and harming itself. No worries guys … I’ve got your backs!
So, I left peanuts there and some sunflower seeds that quickly disappeared into the snow – oops, I should have cleared the “table” off first, but they had a surprise when the snow melted!
Fluff, my cute gray squirrel peanut pal, scoped the goodies and me out from his perch, the snow serving as a nice backdrop for this shot.
A Fox squirrel grabbed a few peanuts and posed nicely.
Soon a friend joined him and they sat in the still morn, noshing nuts contentedly.
I stayed a few minutes to ensure everyone was tucked into this little niche and no predators were flying about. I didn’t see any other squirrels, geese or ducks, so I just returned the same way to leave for home. It was a short visit, but it served a purpose of getting some fresh air, racking up about three miles and feeding my furry and feathered friends.
This Hunny-Bunny made me shiver!
I left the camera out as I wanted to take a photo on my way home of this Cottontail Rabbit nestled in the snow. It was there earlier and hadn’t moved at all.
I took this picture …
… and, when it didn’t flinch, I stepped a little closer, snapped the photo, then returned to the sidewalk before I scared it (or got my hand slapped for trespassing).
I first saw this bunny a few weeks ago. Its brownish fur blended into this homeowners’ lawn. I did a double-take when I saw it, hunched down into the grass, its ears slicked back. Immediately I was concerned it was sick, but I didn’t want to approach it closer to startle it, so I continued on my journey. Belatedly, I remembered my neighbor was mowing the lawn many years ago and found a bunny nest right out in the open. The mother had abandoned her kittens (the term for baby rabbits) and Marge went to the pet shop to ask how to take care of the babies. She came home with nourishment and tiny bottles to feed them. Unfortunately they were so small, they did not survive.
Since that time, I’ve read you should ensure to check your lawn carefully before mowing for any rabbit nests. I’m not sure if this is just a resting spot for this bunny as it does not appear they breed and have kittens this late in the year. I know she’s got that soft fur, but surely it is not enough to keep her warm on these bitter cold days and nights while resting in the snow.
Of course I feel badly for all the critters as Winter marches on. All I can do is hope they have a safe place to curl up for the evening and food to sustain them until Spring, then beyond.
The Winter Solstice arrives today at 5:02 a.m., just as this post is publishing. As my long-time followers know, Winter is my least-favorite season. I dislike driving in the ice and snow just as much as I dislike walking in it. Once it is icy and dicey on our City streets and sidewalks, the same conditions are usually found on the perimeter path at my favorite nature nook. This curtails my walking regimen immensely as you might imagine. I really don’t mind the cold, and, since I took the bus to Downtown Detroit for over three decades, I have amassed a collection of woolen hats, warm wraps, mitts and gloves, plus lug-soled boots. As long as it is clear and dry outside, off I go to walk at the Park.
If you don’t like the weather in Michigan, wait five minutes.
The first Christmas Day I walked at Council Point Park, back in 2013, we had a pop-up snow squall on my second time around the perimeter path. Earlier that morning, people lamented on social media about our lack of fresh snow to add a little Christmas ambiance. I was the opposite of these folks as I was overjoyed no additional snow had fallen, since it had been slick and slippery at the Park the last time I had walked there. It’s no joy having to step around layers of snow and ice on the pathway, so I figured this was Mother Nature’s little gift to me.
But, soon into my walk, I realized I had been a tad overconfident about the wiles of Mother Nature. The sky quickly darkened and I remember looking up and thinking “well, that’s a snow sky if I’ve ever seen one.” Mere minutes later, enormous snowflakes began to fall then swirl around my feet. In a heartbeat, the huge snowflakes began to slicken up the path and I couldn’t see what icy patches were beneath, so I cut across the grassy “donut area” to head for home. Home is just one mile away, but the snow was flying furiously by then and snowflakes had drifted and deposited heaps of the white stuff on the streets and sidewalks. Additionally, a stiff wind had blown up and I struggled to keep my balance as the gusts buffeted me. My parka hood insisted on flipping backward, and, unbelievably, by the time I reached home, snow had glommed onto every crease or crevice of my parka and the hood was filled with snow.
That was the longest walk home ever! I brushed off all the snow and with a nose as red as a cherry, (just like Santa and also my parka), I hustled into the house, grumbling all the way. “What just happened here?” I asked of no one in particular. I was sure a mere half-hour before I was enjoying my walk and working up an appetite for an early Christmas dinner and here I was with a saturated coat and hat, plus numb from my nose to my toes.
We’ve been fairly lucky so far in November and December, except for the November 30th snowstorm where the snow melted in a few days and last Wednesday’s minor accumulation blip. I wish we could remain unscathed by wintry weather the remainder of this season, but two mild Winters in a row likely won’t happen.
A year of seasons.
Once before I captured four images, one for each season, of the identical fork in the road, er … beginning of the walking path. This was the collage I made back in 2017.
I always start off on the right side, as it runs parallel to the Creek, has the most trees, thus many squirrels and birds. I prefer going in this direction, though it really doesn’t matter, however, when going to the left, I sneak up on Harry the Heron when he’s fishing and he freaks out more than usual. Here are the photos taken to mark each season in this new decade. I would have liked a photo with lots of dandelions for my Spring picture, but dandelion season happened the month the Park was closed due to COVID (May 1st through June 2nd).
Just ten more days until 2020 comes to a close … we all can’t wait!
It seems like the holiday season is the perfect time for reflections, especially in 2020, which will likely go down in history as the year with an asterisk.
Social media lit up like a Christmas tree back in October when we learned the perennial Peanuts favorite “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” was not going to appear on network TV for the first time since its debut on October 27, 1966.
People were aghast – what a letdown! They knew their children would be disappointed too, especially in a year that was already fraught with frustration. After all, not everyone has cable, nor streams their entertainment. I’ve not turned on the TV in almost eleven years since I cancelled my cable.
I was already a “big kid” when the first Peanuts TV special aired.
There have been many Christmas specials for kids over the years. In 1965, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, which was based on Charles Schultz’ comic strip characters, made its debut. I was nine years old and I don’t recall watching it, but we still lived in Canada at that time, so perhaps it was not shown on our network stations.
But I sure remember the TV special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.
Growing up, we had a ritual during the school year. After dinner on school nights, I sat at the kitchen table to do my homework. With the exception of National Geographic specials or a nature show, every night my after-homework routine was a bath, hop into my PJs, then off to bed.
There was only ONE Christmas special that my folks permitted me to stray from that rigid weeknight routine and that was the annual airing of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. I was no stranger to the characters in this wonderful children’s story, having read the book many times and I even had a bright-red, 45 rpm vinyl record that I got to play on Mommy and Daddy’s record player (with supervision of course). Gene Autry’s 1949 recording will always be the best version of this song in my opinion.
The movie “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” debuted in 1964 and because this was an era before VCRs, DVD players, streaming or cable TV, if I was going to watch this animated show live, there had to be an exception to all the rigid rules and regs in the Schaub household. So, one time a year we had an easy dinner that night … sometimes even a Swanson’s TV dinner, a rare treat in our house since Mom was all about having a hot, home-cooked dinner on the table seven nights a week. Homework was done and checked, then I ran into the living room to park my bum in front of the TV set. In the photo above, I am sitting next to the TV, my baby picture displayed on top of the console and the “Reader’s Digest Abridged Version” volumes on a shelf beneath it.
With rapt attention I watched “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” while Mommy and Daddy read the newspaper, except periodically I would hear my mom humming to the song “Silver and Gold” by Burl Ives or I’d hear an off-key rendition of the title song coming from the kitchen.
Even when I got older, I continued that ritual of watching “Rudolph” for many years and began including “Frosty the Snowman” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” as my go-to movies for getting into the Christmas spirit, even if I was cramming for exams in college, or had other events swirling around in my life. This was “must-see TV” long before that phrase was coined.
My folks loved the grown-up Christmas TV specials – I guess I did too.
It was a one-TV household for many years with a black-and-white set in a wooden console that took up residence in the living room. Saturday nights during the holiday season, there were specials featuring crooners like Andy Williams, Perry Como and Dean Martin. My parents never missed one of those shows. We would crowd around the TV to watch the singers, clad in heavy ski sweaters, with plastic snow twinkling down in the background and pretty young women clustered all about. We’d be munching on “Nuts-and-Bolts” a snack mix Mom always made during the holiday season. I searched to see if “Nuts and Bolts” was just a salty snack in the Schaub household, but it seems it is a “Canadian thing” … you probably know it as “Chex Mix” or “Doo Dads” here in the States. Mom made a batch for my dad, garlicky like he enjoyed it and a plain version for us. So we munched and crunched away while enjoying the annual holiday specials.
Flash forward a few decades or so.
Television viewing habits at the Schaub household sure changed circa 1989 when the first VCR was brought into the house. Suddenly I could tape my favorite holiday shows to watch them anytime. Because I’m a saver, not a thrower, I still have that original VCR tape where I put a sticky note on the box … maybe some of you have never seen a VCR tape?
Wow … now I could transport myself back to being a kid again by watching my favorite holiday shows anytime I wanted!
Then Mom surprised me by ordering the boxed set of “Rudolph” and “Frosty” (my all-time personal favorites) from Blockbuster Video one year for Christmas.
Sadly, I’ve not seen those shows in ages … in fact, I not only stopped watching TV but unplugged the TV set. Perhaps these two shows are just the ticket to garner a few smiles in this extraordinary and certainly forgettable year. I know the story lines by heart and the songs as well. Heck, I could probably recite some of the conversations had by Rudolph and Clarice, Hermey and Yukon Cornelius, even the roar of Bumble, as well as the chatter between Frosty and Wendy. I must confess there are portions of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” I know by memory too. I laugh at myself as I’ve never watched the classics “White Christmas” or “Miracle on 34th Street” to completion, but I make no apologies for this holiday faux pas.
Taking a nostalgic trip down memory lane is a chance to remember the good times … surely simpler times and chock full of fun memories. There is joy in the journey, whether it is walking along a path or revisiting the past.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 