pine hills state nature preserve

As I mentioned, Johnny and Erin and the kids left Turkey Run Saturday afternoon, but we stayed another night. We took another hike on a new-to-us trail behind the inn and into some deep canyons Saturday evening, and we saw a whole tree full of cardinals on the way back.

Earlier in the week, I happened to read about Pine Hills State Nature Preserve, and I noted how close it was to Turkey Run, so Sunday morning, we decided to give it a shot.

We got there early, and it was quiet and snowing lightly. For most of our time there, we were the only ones on the trail, which is always a plus. The trail started in a fairly level forested area, but we quickly arrived at the first landmark, Turkey Backbone. As you might imagine, a backbone in this context is a sort of elevated path with steep drop-offs on either side. This one was high enough to be impressive, but still only gave us a hint of what was to come.

We followed the trail around to see the other landmarks, including Mill Cut Backbone (a cut in the side of the steep canyon where there was a water-powered mill in the 1870s), the Slide (pretty much just what it sounds like, a sharply angled rock face), and Honeycomb Rock (a very cool sandstone formation where prehistoric algae fossilized). But the real show-stopper was Devil's Backbone, which had no guard rails (gulp!) and 100-foot drop-offs on either side. We had to get creative with the climbing to get there, and also had to ford the creek (a development that Mike was NOT pleased about; that man really needs some waterproof hiking shoes!), getting pretty muddy in the process. But like they say, it's not really fun until it's a little dirty. Who are "they"? You decide. (Hint: It's me. I am they.)

balden* eagle weekend

It was Eagles in Flight Weekend again at Turkey Run, and this year, we had bonus fun because Johnny, Erin, Lucy, Richie, and Jesse joined us for the festivities! We got there Friday night, and all the cousins got to eat pizza and play in the (freezing!) pool together (this was definitely on all their lists). Saturday morning, we were up before the sun to go to the covered bridge to watch the eagles wake up. We saw a good number of them (more than a dozen, for sure), though not as many and not as close as last year. The weather has been so weird this year, though, and I'm sure that has had an effect. After breakfast at the inn and a stop in the game room (where Max let a delighted Richie win at air hockey), Lucy, Liam, and Max decided to come with me and Mike to go see a presentation on eagles, so she got to see a huge eagle pretty close up. This particular eagle had been injured when it was young, so one of its wings was permanently damaged, and it couldn't be released back into the wild. Sad, but a perfect illustration of why we need scientific organizations that can provide the care these special birds need.

The highlight of the day BY FAR came in the afternoon, when the other Forts joined us for a hike. It was the first time hiking for Lucy, Richie, and Jesse, and my boys were puffed up with pride at getting to be their guides. Meanwhile, the littler kids were pretty excited that the big kids were giving them such personal attention, so it worked out perfectly. They got to climb and jump and run around and explore, and if I'm not mistaken, I think they've got the hiking bug now too. I foresee much of this in our future.

Erin and Johnny headed home after that, but we stayed one more night, did a lot more hiking, saw a great number of birds, and went to a presentation on birds of prey that was fascinating and funny and really insightful. The speaker was the best sort, slipping serious and important truths in with funny stories about how turkey vultures poop on their legs to clean them (gross!). The thing that resonated most with me was when he reminded us of this fact: The greater the diversity, the healthier the ecosystem. And I don't think he was just talking about animals, if you catch my drift. I might have just found my life's new mission statement.

* "Balden" is Lucy's portmanteau combining bald and golden eagles. I love kid language!

today's work challenge

My sister needed a babysitter for the day, so I offered to keep Jack. For the most part, the day went really smoothly because he is such a good baby. He just wanted to be held the whole time, so I ended up working with him on one side of my lap, my laptop on the other side, and one hand free for typing. The only thing that went wrong was when I realized I had a conference call that I had completely forgotten about (my line of work generally doesn't involve conference calls). I joined in the nick of time, only to have one of the women comment that there was A CHILD talking in the background of the call. Whoooooops! I owned up to it, put my end of the call on mute, and everything was smooth sailing from there. THE CHILD and I actually had a really good day!

in a fog

I had an appointment at the hairdresser Saturday morning, and as I was driving there, I was admiring the fog and lamenting my lack of time to stop and take pictures of it. It turns out I was in luck, though, because Sunday morning was even foggier! Liam and Henry joined me for a hike, and we decided to try our luck again at Tippecanoe River, or what I like to think of as "Indiana's most neglected state park." In my memory, what I didn't like about our first visit there was the bugs, so I had this idea that we would fare much better in January. I had forgotten, though, that the trail itself wasn't well maintained. Oops. We chose a different trail this time, but had the same result. Parts of it were flooded, which can't really be helped, and there were trees down all over the place. I find the obstacles pretty compelling too, so it wasn't a problem ... until we got to a place that was so extensively flooded that we couldn't even see where the trail picked up on the other side. At that point, we decided to turn back and visit the playground and the river overlooks instead. That turned out to be a winning plan: The boys got to play on the playground in the dense fog, and I got to set up my tripod to take some pictures. I don't want to blaspheme here, but in some ways, Sunday mornings on the trail are my church, and I can only hope that people who go to actual church get the same feeling of rightness that I do in the quiet woods.

 

trail 9, chain o' lakes

 I know, I know, the state parks project is over. But working from home — being stuck at home all the time — really wears on me. I want to be outside more. So Sunday morning, I dragged my family from their nice, cozy house, and we all went on a hike at Chain o' Lakes.

We've been to Chain o' Lakes a few times now, but only to kayak, so it was fun to see it from land too. Turns out there's a butterfly habitat at the start of the trail we picked (note to self: go back in the spring/summer!), and then the trail winds up and around a hill, around a lake, past another lake, and finishes back at an old one-room schoolhouse. The ground was frozen, and there was ice on the lakes, but it was warm enough that it kept cracking and groaning. The sounds were fascinating and almost mechanical. In places where the ice was really thin, we got to watch shelves of it collapse. So neat!

There was only one wooden boardwalk/footbridge on this trail, which was kind of a bummer because I love those sorts of features, BUT I was consoled when I realized there were amazing ice crystals that had formed in between each of the boards. I'm sure you'll be surprised (no you won't) to learn that I immediately dropped down to lay on the cold, cold ground to take pictures of it.

We also had to cross a small stream with no bridge, with was fun, but the best part was that there was a huge dam. No beavers, but we saw plenty of evidence of their work.

While I really like these hikes, they're sort of hard to coordinate. Henry is a very (unbearably) early riser, so we really have to leave early in the morning or we risk losing his attention/interest/good behavior. This, unfortunately, was not one of the days where we've been up and ready to go at the crack of dawn, so by the end of the hike, Henry was pretty much in full meltdown. I'm thinking next time maybe I will just go with one or both of the big boys, and let Henry hang out at home with Mike. We'll see. We're still perfecting the system.

happy christmas

This year, instead of getting each other gifts, Mike and I got something both of us have wanted for a long time: a set of cabinets to go in front of the half-wall in the kitchen. We've had a sort of cobbled-together system of shelves there to store pots and pans, but it was unsightly and also tended to collect dust and pet hair. But now we have cabinets that match the ones that are already in the kitchen! My dad helped Mike bring the cabinets home and install them, and he moved the outlets from the floor up to counter level. We even have a fancy outlet now that has USB ports, so we can charge our phones! We didn't even try to match the countertops in the rest of the kitchen, opting instead for a butcher block counter. I've been oiling it every day for two weeks now, and it's finally ready for business. And while we were in for a penny, we went ahead and installed a new light fixture too. I love the look of it, and it is SO nice to have conquered (at least for now) one little area of the house.

Here is the before shot, along with a couple of after shots. Excuse the crookedness of my framing; it's a pretty awkward angle to photograph. Take my word for it, though, that it looks gorgeous in person ... or, you know, come see it for yourself.

first day hike

Last year, to kick off the state parks project, we tried to do a first day hike, but everywhere we went, we ran into (literal) roadblocks. There had been a big storm a few days before, and every park we went to was closed because of flooding and/or downed trees. This year was much better, though. We went back to our old favorite, Potato Creek, this morning. It was cold enough that the ground was frozen, which was great because otherwise it would have been really muddy, but warm enough that we were all comfortable in sweatshirts. We checked on the beaver dam (not much going on there this time of year), and listened to the birds calling, though the only ones we got pictures of were black-capped chickadees. We found lots of birds' nests in the lower shrubbery, and Henry found some deer tracks that were preserved in the frozen ground. A pretty great way to kick off the year!