Chippewa Valley Butterfly Effect: Eau Claire home filled with bu - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports

Chippewa Valley Butterfly Effect: Eau Claire home filled with bu - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports

Once again, Jim has done a wonderful job explaining the native butterflies of Wisconsin!  Love the footage, too!  It documented the Butterfly House to a *T*!  Enjoy!  --LKR

Yesterday...

The snow kept coming down, yesterday, so I ventured out into the woods to check it out.

The trails were both mud and snowFall color everywhere!!! This year, at least in our neck of the woods, fall has been less than spectacular. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of leaves that haven't even begun to change color. And lately, we're having temps in the 30's which is unseasonably cold for this time of year! While this may not harm the trees, it's dampened many a hope for a warmer autumn! --LKR

Valentine Outing

Valentine greetings to you all! To celebrate this beautiful--but frigid--day, Hubby and I went to visit the south side of Big Falls County Park in the snow and ice.

It was a beautiful--but sometimes slippery--walk through the woods to get to the Eau Claire River.

My jaw dropped to see how the snow had melted in this part of the park. If the weather were not a factor, one would think this was a mid March day, here in western Wisconsin!!!

Yup, this river is full of shards of ice! Way cool! Hard to believe, but in all my years of existence, this was my first real up-close and personal look at a river in winter! Ponds? Yes. The Jersey shore? Of course. But never a river, and growing up, we were surrounded by the Passaic River and one of it's branches!!!

Cool, huh?! There were several formations like this close to the shore line.

Look at all the layers on this large piece of ice!!!

This kind of reminds me of the scene in the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeve where he finds out who he is and where he came from.

This looks too much like spring, doesn't it?!

Shortly before we left, we heard a horrendous cracking, heaving, and crashing noise. We supposed it must have been a huge chunk of thick ice that broke free on the upper, more spectacular part of the falls at the north of the park. --LKR

Sunday's Song

How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
--Carl Boberg, 1885

Woodland Wonders

Let's take a quite walk through the woods, shall we?

--LKR

A Walk in the Woods and Wetlands

"Mom! Hey, Mom! This way, this way! Let's go this way!" Oh, I forgot, I did. She has an agenda, today, she does. We're going onto trails she's never walked before, we are! An adventure we're off to, what fun! What fun!

We'll start off on the usual paths, we will. And be linking unexplored trails to the ones we know well, too, Mom said. Lowes Creek County Park has many trails for bikes, "leave it joggers", hikers, and us poochies on leashes. I love to come back here, I do!


We've walked for quite a while, we have. We usually don't walk this fast. There's always too much to smell and see, so we usually stop a lot, we do. But, not today!

I love walking through this part of the park, I do. It's so peaceful and tranquil. The leaves are pretty too,they are. Mom likes it too, she does.


By now we are out passed the trail "Red Flint". It turns into lots of other trails, it does. Mom's figuring out which is what and where they lead. But she knows exactly were we are, she does. If we go further east, we will be out by 93! See that blue in the top left corner? That building is on 93!


Remember Mom's blog on Waste Research and Reclamation Environmental Services? This is the back of WRR that was on fire, it is. That big black tower had huge flames coming from it, it did, and was on tv. It made really big news!

I remember it well, I do. It's not that often Mom takes me out before 7AM! But this day she did for sure, she did!

I got to see those thick black clouds of smoke, but mainly just sniffed the air. I doubt one of you would have smelled it where we lived, but Alpha sure did, he said.

He had been on 93 and got to see the huge balls of fire pouring from that tower right over there, he did.

Mom believes we are now where the polluted wetlands are. They got even more toxic after this fire, they did.


I got a drink back here. From standing water, uh oh. We just had rain, we did, but Mom was not too happy. Neither was my vet when he found out, he wasn't. "Deer ticks and toxic water--not very good", he said, shaking his head.

But pretty things still grow here, they do. We saw lots and lots of late blooming wildflowers and weeds back here! And pretty yellow butterflies and bees, too!


Look! See?! Take a peek at this, please do! Mom saw this and took two blurry pictures, she did! She said it freaked her out, it did. I did not smell what she saw. I was busy watching what Mom calls "leave it joggers", I was. But it does look like a man by the door, doesn't it, you think?

We're heading back now, we are.
Mom and I bring home little deer tick from here, we do. They are small and hard to find, even when they get bigger this time of year.

Mom forgot to put natural tick repellent on us both. She makes it with essential oils in olive oil, and it's always worked well for us, it has.


We're back to where we started from, we are. This is one of the paths us locals take to enjoy these trails. Many bicyclists ride these trails and can get in at several places.

I need another drink, I do! I can't wait to get home, I can't! We've been out here for three fun hours!

We're almost to the van! We're almost to the van, we are! I can't wait to go bye-bye in the van! We live only one block away, but Mom drives us here, she does. I don't stay in my yard, I don't, so she drives us to this local's entrance. I do think she's right, I do. If I smell my scent walking here, this would become part of my big backyard too, it would! --Mister Poochie

A Three Hour Walk...

Okay, so you know, the title is meant to be sung to the theme of "Gilligan's Island"!

Poochie and I walked, photographed, and sniffed our way through some trails in Lowes Creek County Park I haven't been on in a long while. (I'll let you figure out who did what!) It was a beautiful day, and we both were really enjoying ourselves. It was in the low 70's, and absolutely perfect weather to be out in the woods and prairie. 

Poochie and I alternated on the sunny Fitness Trail and Bike Trails dappled in shade.  Another poochie was taking his owner for a walk through the park, and we all exchanged friendly chit chat before heading on.  It was a very relaxing walk!

 

We rushed back home when I realized the kids were already home from school. You could hear the school buses rumble down the road from the particular trails we were on. Sure, they're old enough to be left alone, and sometimes they really like it that way. "Humm--Mom's not home, so we can play on the computer, watch tv, and eat those special treats she was saving and say we didn't know we weren't supposed to!" (I hear this from them even when I am home!) Oy!

Since we started off with a song, we shall end with one! "Kids! ...What's the matter with kids today?" ("Kids" from the musical "Bye Bye Birdie") --LKR

A Walk in the Woods

When my family of five moved from Villa Park, IL almost three years ago, we all lamented leaving behind our beloved Prairie Path on which we spent many happy hours—and memories--walking. Shortly after moving to the south of Eau Claire, WI (technically in the town of Washington), the kids and I blissfully discovered the local’s entry into a magical wooded world that rivaled anything we had ever encountered this close to home.

With temps reaching into the high 80’s and low 90's this past week, I retreated onto these wooded trails of beautiful Lowes Creek County Park three times. Twice I was able to drag one of my three children along. For some reason unbeknownst to me, they now balk whenever they are asked if they’d care to join me on one of my treks.

With all honesty, I have to confess that when surrounded by nature, I tend to get absorbed by my surroundings. That said, I have to conclude that the hours which are mere minutes to me as each new bend on a path, rustle of leaves…, or damselfly beacons me to follow a bit further, deeper into their world, takes me farther from my children’s. It does not help that I bring a camera along!

The trip I made alone was the most enjoyable. It was quite incredible as I was totally awed at new vistas on a newly explored trail. A butterfly I had long sought after, a Baltimore checkerspot, suddenly flew past me, landing on the grass. It allowed me to get really close where I discovered that this black and orange winged beauty--with striking orange-tipped antennae--also had orange palpi, eyes, and legs!!!

Also encountered was a deer posing on a narrow path, a red spotted purple butterfly weaving through the canopy of trees above, and several wild columbine flowers that were still in bloom—something I’ll be able to share with my children through photos. --LKR

6/18/07