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Saturday April 21, 2007 7:00 am Lethbridge Sunrise 6:28 Sunset 20:32 Hours of daylight: 14:04
A. Morning Musings
7:00 am It is -1 C with a high forecast of +12 C. The sky is blue, for the first time in a week. Even better, the forecast is for warmer temperatures. Today should make +12 C and Tuesday the forecast is for +21 C. That would be nice. The last 5 days have been unseasonably cool.
Here are the news.
CBC Headline: Native Protesters Remove Ontario Rail Blockade
Mohawks from the Bay of Quinte near Deseronto blocked the main CN/VIA rail line between Toronto and Montreal to protest the lack of progress on a land claim involving a quarry after 24 hours of disrupted train service. I cannot support this resort to illegal means to achieve one's goals, even though I understand the level of frustration that can occur when dealing with governments and lawyers.
Canadian Headline: see above
Australian Headline: (from The Australian): Combet Demands IR Detail
"AUSTRALIA'S union chief has warned Kevin Rudd to finalise his industrial relations plans in one week, at Labor's national conference, or run the risk of failing to win over cynical voters at this year's federal election." This is more campaigning leading up to the national election.
My weight is down 3 to 184. Much better. I has hoping for 185 after a strenous coulee walk yesterday, and a reduced calorie intake, but 184 is great. Now to hold that steady and try to get it down one more pound at a time.
B. Plan
Immediate Mathematics Continue reading "Algebra: Abstract and Concrete" by Frederick Goodman 1 hr Literature Read & make notes for book 4 of "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
1 hr Birds Update database to include 2007 Mexico trip 1 hr Bird watching trip to west Lethbridge 2 hr Later Technology Convert LPs to MP3 format Make notes for chap. 4 of "Switching to the Mac" Burn backup of images onto DVD Mathematics Read & make notes on The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems Read "Symmetry" by David Wade Make notes for "Mathematics: A Human Endeavor" ch 1 Read "Fearless Symmetry" chap 9: Elliptic Curves Model Trains Add ground cover to oil refinery diorama Follow tutorial for version 8 of 3rd PlanIt Continue assembly of coaling tower Purchase DCC system Birds Create notebook pages birding in Mexico 1 hr History Begin reading "Maya" Read Watson "Ideas" Philosophy Read & make notes for "Breaking the Spell" Begin reading "How Are We To Live?" by Peter Singer Literature New York Times easy crossword puzzles GO Complete reading "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go" Puzzles The Orange Puzzle Cube: puzzle #10
Major Goals Learning Review week's pages each Sunday Review all pages for the month at the end of each month Technology Review & edit iPhoto files for 2006 Model Trains Become proficient with 3rd PlanIt software Install DCC on model train layout GO Learn to play GO at something better than a beginner level Drawing Learn to draw!! (I keep saying this, yet I have yet to put a pencil to paper). Mathematics Continue to play with mathematics. Literature Continue to read Literature Bird Watching Continue to engage in bird watching activities.
C. Actual/Note
10:30 am A good beginning to the day. We are back from a good one hour walk (every little bit helps: both for my weight loss as well as for my general fitness and health).
While on our walk we noticed a woodpecker. It had two distinquishing features: a prominent white patch on the lower back and a small red crest on its head. Looking at our Sibley book, that suggests that it was an Acorn Woodpecker - which is very rare in this area. We are not such experienced birders that we have total confidence in our judgement, particularly since we did not have either our binoculars or a camera with us.
I have just finished updating my web page and data base for bird watching on February 16.
11:30 am Here are two more photos showing the beginning of the spring activity of the May tree in our backyard. There is no snow in these images.
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2:10 PM I am back from a bird watching trip to Nicholas Sheran park and then to the green strip walkway north of the house. The original idea was to see if I could see a woodpecker that we saw this morning and which we were not able to identify. I returned with both binoculars and camera, but first stopped off at the lake in Nicholas Sheran park to see if there were any new waterfowl. The answer was yes. I saw both a Ring-necked Duck as well as a pair of Horned Grebes. Both were new lifers for us. In addition I saw a number of Coots, about 6 Mallards, 2 Redheads, a Northern Flicker, 3 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 2 Hairy Woodpeckers and a Slate-colored Junco. This latter was a new bird, but it is officially classified as a Dark-headed Junco, which we have seen before. A very good trip. I took a number of photos and will try to get a web page up for this trip in the near future.
D. Birdwatching
Here is the link for today's birdwatching activities.
E. Reflection