Breakfast, Birds and Brats!

I awoke today bright-eyed and bushy tailed - ready to start the day - without an alarm, no less. I sprang out of bed, threw on my clothes, washed my face and brushed my teeth, grabbed my camera and ran out the door.

I went to Ernie's Cafe for my Saturday morning breakfast. I read my book and watched people while I ate my scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and a pancake. It's the kind of place where you pull up a chair wherever there's room - I shared a table with two girls who were gossiping about their bridezilla friend. They swore they didn't normally talk about people like that. I didn't care.

I ran some errands after breakfast then headed to Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area near McBaine, MO. It's one of my favorite places to be outdoors. Here's why:

The fall colors are starting to show on the bluffs over the Missouri River.

The moon, late for bed, hung in the sky while chickadees and titmice gleaned their breakfasts from the tree branches overhead.

The smell of fertile soil and freshwater hung in the cool, crisp morning air.

Pied-billed grebes floated lazily in this pool. Their feathers were dry - perhaps it was a bit too chilly to dive for breakfast.

I took a leisurely walk down a levee.

A belted kingfisher rattled at me as I flushed it from its perch over this pond.

As I strolled down the levee, blurs of red and black exploded from the reeds. Red-winged blackbirds were assembling en masse to continue their journey southward for the winter months.

I startled a great blue heron from his morning routine.

My shadow

The profile of a birder

Name that bird!

Birds for the day:

Mallard (of course)
Gadwall
Northern Pintail
Northern shoveler
Ring-necked duck
Blue-winged teal
Pied-billed grebe
Great blue heron
Belted kingfisher
European starling
Red-winged blackbird
Brown-headed cowbird
Purple martin
black-capped chickadee
Tufted titmouse
Carolina wren
Purple finch
Northern mockingbird
Northern cardinal
Blue jay
Cooper's hawk
Northern harrier
Red-tailed hawk
Osprey
Bald eagle (juvenile)
Turkey vulture

I left Eagle Bluffs CA and headed east one hour to Hermann, MO for Oktoberfest. I strolled through town down to the festival. It was shortly after 13:00 - already there were a lot of drunk people. Not my scene. I kept to myself, took some pictures, and waited in line for a bratwurst. Of course, I thought of the day I met Byron at the Sunday Market in Astoria. I took my brat down to the riverfront park to eat lunch. There I photographed a defunct grain elevator and a Union Pacific train.




From Hermann, I headed west about 5 miles and stopped at Graham Cave State Park. I hadn't ever been even though I've passed it tens if not hundreds of times. It's a beautiful little tract of land nestled a stones throw from I-70. It has archaeological significance thus the cave is gated off to visitors.

I thought about skipping down the trail with Byron, hand in hand.

Paw-paw trees grew around this rock ledge.

This reminded me of when Byron and I found paw-paw fruits on our trip. First on the trail at Big Spring. The trees were spindly and tall - maybe 25-30 feet - with their fruits way at the top. Byron would shake the tree and I would catch the delicious, mango/banana-like fruit when it fell. Well, in theory that plan was fantastic, but in reality, our prize went flying 20 feet out of my reach and landed with a loud thud on the rocky trail. I picked it up and he razzed me for missing it. We ate the mushy pulp as we watched the spring flow down the river.

Next was at Pull Tite campground on our way up the road to the showers. Byron found paw-paw fruits that hung just out of our reach in trees on the side of the road. He climbed up the trees not unlike Mowgli in the Jungle Book. I was impressed! =) The fruits were still too far out on skinny limbs and I was planning out in my head what I would do when he fell. Finally, he came down to earth and grabbed a stick with a Y on the end. He plucked the fruits and lowered them to safety, bunch by bunch. We ate them with dinner and for snacks. Delicious!

The earth, water and sky all in one!

Graham cave from the outside looking in.

Graham cave from the inside looking out.

Graham cave from the top looking up.

I left Graham Cave SP heading for Columbia. I went home and geared up for a bike ride. I road about 20 miles - not many - but I rode hard to make up for the lack of distance. For dinner I reheated Thai food and watched The Perfect Storm. Oh my goodness, what a tearjerker!

That brings us to present time - I'm at Kaldi's coffeehouse. Daydreaming about sharing stories with Deanna over coffee and lunch. Words can't be said to explain just how much I miss her. My heart aches and I get excited when I hear her cheery voice on the phone! I miss you, sister! I hope Vermont is treating you well!

What's around the bend in this road?

The road I've been on for the past few years has been awesome! I've had great times, working toward and finally earning my B.S. degree in a field I *love*. On this road, I learned about tick-borne diseases and raccoon disease ecology and I interned for a summer at NOAA in La Jolla, CA where I made an atlas of cetacean distributions. It was here that I fell in love with seabirds. I studied conservation in Thailand for 3 weeks - I helped establish a coral nursery to aid in the tsunami recovery. I rode elephants through the jungle and kayaked through a mangrove forest. I held very endangered clouded leopard kittens at the most successful clouded leopard captive breeding program in the world. I spent an amazing summer in Oregon gaining a ton of experience in my field.

Lately, in the past month, I've come to a bend in the road. It feels like I could travel hundreds of miles and still not see around the bend or know what's coming next. My current job here in Columbia ends in a couple of weeks. I'm very stressed about my predicament. I need to find a job, fast. I'm waiting to hear back from the USGS in Columbia as well as an NGO (non-governmental organization) in Mt. Vernon, WA. If I land the job in Mt. Vernon, I'll be moving west again over the week of Thanksgiving. If not, then I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm seriously considering moving home to Des Moines, where I have no idea what I'll do. I'm also seriously considering pulling this anchor and sailing west. Environmental jobs are easier to come by out west. At the very least, I'd be much happier with my location. I'll keep you posted.

Ending on a super high note, I'm visiting Byron and meeting his parents on 16 November in Michigan at his parents house! Woo!