21 March 2020 Weekend At Lake Metroparks - Day 1

The geocacher who volunteers with Lake Metroparks built an Adventure Lab that required visiting multiple parks.  We decided to spend the day visiting pieces of the Adventure Lab.  Our first visit was to Lake Erie Bluffs.  Some day I will finally be here to visit the viewing tower.  Today we were with the dogs so a visit to the tower was off-limits.

I don't think I missed much in the view as the waves were rolling and there were no birds on the water.

We moved along to Painesville Township Park and visited the new fishing pier.

Our last visit of the day was a familiar stop at the beautiful Paine Falls.

19 March 2020 Chair Factory Falls

I'm still adjusting to working in a very small office at our home.  One benefit so far is the temporary end of nearly two hours of daily commuting.  It means if my day ends at a reasonable time, we can load the dogs in the sport ute and go for a park walk.  This evening we made a visit to a bike trail in Lake Metroparks with a stop at Chair Factory Falls.

17 March 2020 The New Norm Starts

The word arrived this afternoon.  All management and non-site specific salaried team members were to begin working immediately from home.  As an international manager, it was time for me to at least temporarily trade my local office for a space at the house.  Since all our sites but one are essential businesses, my work wouldn't change just the location.  I spent time in the afternoon deciding what tools I needed to be effective from home.  After that, I loaded them in the vehicle and headed for a new "normal".  I stopped on the way home for a park visit and a chance to view a couple mallards on the stream passing through the park.  The mallards have no concept of COVID.

16 March 2020 Feelin' Like Deer In the Headlights

COVID just got real.

People were so desperate they were hoarding mayo...  why?

Take the bread.  Leave the Boboli...  too late.  It was already gone.

Eggs?  I didn't understand the sudden desire to hoard eggs.

No, not the ice cream...

13 March 2020 Rheinstein Woods

I was headed back to Pennsylvania after my final business travel for a long time.  I used to visit this area and cache often.  Today, I took an opportunity for a visit to Rheinstein Woods.  The weather really shouted spring as I was on the trail today.

11 March 2020 Barcelona Lighthouse

I was making what would be my last business trip for some time.  Senior Managers had been told travel was no longer permitted as of the 16th to begin addressing COVID risk.  I decided to go out in style and drive along the Lake Erie shore on my way to the Niagara Falls area.  I stopped at the end of daylight for a look at the Barcelona Lighthouse.  I hoped to possibly spot a bird or two, but was really surprised to see a multitude of ducks.

Many Ducks...

7 March 2020 Eaglets

I was solo this weekend as Ali was back east with family.  I had a few errands to complete and hoped to find a few geocaches.  My usual lousy sense of direction paid off today.  We had visited Tinkers Creek State Nature Preserve once before.  At that time there  was an active eagle's nest.  I stopped to see if the nest or another was still in place.  It's a long view to the nest, but it can be seen in the image below as a small dark mark near the center of the image and the tops of the tree line.

It's almost impossible to see baby birds from the far shore, but I took a few images and was surprised to see the nest was occupied.

3 March 2020 COVID Takes Hold

I've been to the Fort Wayne area many times over the years.  This evening I made my way out for a puzzle in Larwell Cemetery.  Who knew it would be my last find in Indiana for a long time.  If your gonna find a cache that's not in a park, finding one in a cemetery with history and interesting markers is the next best way to go.

I was in town recruiting to fill a vacancy on my staff.  Within days the position would be on hold and my trips would be suspended.

29 February 2020 Walking the Old Canal Trail

We were ready to celebrate Lead Day and had a grand outing planned on the Stark Parks section of the old C&O Canal.  The day was cold, but the skies were bright blue.

Mallards on the cold water

We spotted a number of interesting birds.  I even captured a few in images.

Skunk Cabbage was plentiful in the wet areas of the trail.

It was a perfect day for exercise while thinking of spring.

23 February 2020 Conneaut Lake

The lake was mostly ice free on a spring-like afternoon.  Most years we would be driving through town looking to see daredevil people ice fishing on the partially melted ice.

This mallard was one of a few near shore by the beach.  It looks more like a decoy than a bird ready to take flight at a moment's notice.

A completely true description of me.

22 February 2020 Chapman State Park

We were back at Chapman State Park for a hike in the adjoining gamelands and a wetlands visit.  The snow was a little deep, but the winter sight of Wildcat Run was wonderful.

After we finished our hike along Wildcat Run, we made our way to a wetland at the edge of the park.  It was our first visit to the area.  We enjoyed finding a cache and watching the local wildlife.

19 February 2020 Another Dead Mall

I grew up as a mall rat.  For over thirty years of business travel, malls have been a place for me to kill at least a little time on a week night away from home.  I knew the Carlisle mall was doomed once BonTon went bankrupt.  I was surprised to see the mall "open".  Rather than journey back to the hotel, I decided to stop to see what was still open.  Malls are now home to martial arts "training" places.  The rest of open stores included a nearly empty food carry-out, GNC, Dunhams, and JoAnn Fabrics which was getting ready to close.  I have forgotten all the malls I have visited while traveling for work that have closed.  Geocaching and parks fil the gaps when the days are longer.  I'm not sure how I will cover the last years of my career on the road.  Time in a hotal can be awful.

At least Massey's was open for winter time frozen custard.

17 February 2020 Super 322

We had no idea what was coming...

16 February 2020 Cemetery Train

I was out solo for the afternoon as Ali was returning from Pennsylvania.  I stopped to geocache at Calvary Cemetery.  I was surprised to see these.

One source says these tracks were a streetcar spur that was used to bring a deceased and family to the cemetery via a funeral train.  The train stopped at the end of these tracks where the casket was transferred to horse drawn funeral carriages and taken to the grave site.  During the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, 985 people were buried in this cemetery during the month of November.

8 February 2020 Altered Plans

We had set the day aside to visit Picayune Strand State Forest.  We had unfound caches deeper in the forest and hoped for a long, last day in Florida for this vacation.  When we reached the road leading to the forest, we soon realized this was going to be a different day.  There was a lot of traffic on the road which is usually quiet.  By the time we reached parking there were cars and people everywhere.  There was a large public gathering to introduce people to Picayune.

Somehow we were lucky to spot a place to park.  I decided to walk around a bit to see what was at the event.

We walked around the event area and found some very tasty light honey gathered from bees near Picayune.

We made our way back to the trails.  It was grey, but promised to be a happy time on the trails.

Oops!

This is a lot more water than we had planned to navigate on foot.  We might have splashed along and laughed at the adventure if we weren't flying the next morning.  This appeared to quickly move to knee deep which meant waist high or higher elsewhere.  This is the reason why these caches have high terrain ratings.  For part of the year a kayak would be usefull for navigation.  It was time for the unknown Plan B.

Ali said Caracara Preserve and Cypress Dome.  She also said there were many puzzles there and miles of hiking.  She didn't have the puzzles solved, but was confident of solving them at the park.  It didn't take long for the first puzzles to be solved as we stopped for a short water break.  It was time to hit the trail

Soon the ammo cans were being found,

and a few were not ammo cans.

These gates added to keep the cows in designated areas are great unless the wire fencing is missing on one side.

I am glad those horns are on the other side of a fence.  One bovine encounter this week was enough.

Insect Hotel

I never tire of seeing a gopher tortoise while we are on the trail.

This red-shouldered hawk was staying lower than normal to hunt.  It's payoff came quickly after this image.

It was time to close another week of enjoying the sights and sounds of wildlife in southwestern Florida.