COVID-induced visions

Here we are, concluding 6 months of voluntary and involuntary seclusion. Recent events have strengthened my need to seek the protection of home and masks. First, this weekend I hope to walk into the last half of my ninth decade. Also, starting in early July, an acute flareup of an old problem nearly incapacitated me. Thanks to Prednisone, I can once again tie my shoes and comb my hair. 

"Old folks" learn to live with the joint and back aches of degenerative arthritis, but I was not prepared for an attack of PMR, a condition which was not even "discovered" until after I left Family Practice in 1966 for a career in uniform with the US Public Health Service. After that, my clinical duties were mostly with young active duty military and dependents, so I was not very involved in chronic issues of the elderly. 

My own "discovery" occurred after I Googled "shoulder pain and generalized muscle pain and stiffness," and there is was: Polymyalgia Rheumatica. I tried home remedies such as ice packs and doses of NSAIDs and Tumeric.  

It's an old adage, as Sir William Osler said, "A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient." Early morning walks found me lagging behind my child bride and turning around halfway as MaryLou whizzed by on her way back home. Anyway, I deferred to my Internist and her referral to a fine Rheumatologist whose tests indicated inflammation and confirmed what Google had already told me. 

The morning after my first dose of Prednisone allowed me to turn over in bed and even tie my boots and raise my camera to my face. Since then, except for weather and intervening appointments I have not missed a predawn wetlands walk. My energy has returned, but age plus immunosuppressant drugs are combined risk factors during the pandemic.

There were hints that land bird migration was picking up. The first Blue-gray Gnatcatchers had arrived from their breeding areas not far to the north:

 



Acrobatic Black-and White Warblers also need not wander too far south of their nests (note the spirals of sapsucker wells):

  





It is a joy to walk out on this peninsula in the dark, watch for meteors and listen to the sounds of nature awakening. High water has cut the peninsula into a muddy archipelago. The outermost island is inaccessible without Wellies:

 

Great Egret before sunrise:





Our back yard lake has actually been more productive of wading birds than the wetland lakes and flooded prairies. A Great Egret and a Tricolored Heron seemed unusually chummy:







They were joined by a photobombing immature White Ibis:

A pair of Egyptian Geese lounged lakeside:



A Tricolored Heron put on quite a show one morning.  "I see the fish, I seize the fish, I squeeze the fish, I eat the fish."

"I see the fish and stalk it furtively...



"I seize the fish and quickly carry it to high ground in case I drop it... 

.

"I squeeze the fish and carefully work it up to my mouth...



"I eat the fish after flipping it up in the air and into my gullet in a move too fast for the camera:"





Pop-up storms are a feature of the summer season in south Florida. One morning the sky seemed placid except for a storm cloud on the southern horizon, building fast and moving my way :





Conflicting winds stirred the wispy clouds into random hash marks as I neared the exit gate and heard thunder:



A reassuring hand (or was it an eagle's wing?) extended out and seemed to say "Everything will be OK:"


        
Topping off the week was this uplifting photo of our grandson's wife volunteering for veterinary school:

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Linking to:

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Our World Tuesday

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World

Timeless Thursday

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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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South Dakota Black Hills and Wildlife Loop

Following five nights celebrating our family reunion in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, we joined our younger daughter's family on a road trip back to Illinois. We entered South Dakota by way of Wyoming en route to Blue Bell in the Black Hills of Custer State Park. 

We occupied adjacent cabins in a Ponderosa woodland at Blue Bell Lodge, just off the famous Wildlife Loop:



Anxious to tour the Loop before dark, we made 6:00 PM dinner reservations at the restaurant but waited over an hour before being served. The food was wonderful despite the terrible service. There was no time to drive the Loop's entire 18 miles, but the wildlife viewing was spectacular.

Hundreds of American Bison wandered freely along the road. Fences and cattle guards control their rotation between huge grazing grounds:







Pronghorn Antelopes abounded:





As dusk approached, White-tailed Deer became more numerous. Many of the does had fawns:







Ten-point buck in velvet:



Feral Donkeys, descendants of Wild Asses released by early settlers, approached our auto, apparently looking for treats offered by tourists despite prohibitions against feeding the wildlife:





All too soon, darkness descended and we made our way back to the cabins. This was the scene a little after sunset, under a waxing Strawberry Moon. This is the Algonquin Indian name for the full Moon in June. This year it coincided with the Summer Solstice, a "once-in-a-lifetime" event. (Better make that "twice in my lifetime" as the last time this happened was in 1967 but the next will not occur until 2062):



Birding was not a main pursuit, but during a brief walk around the cabins I found Red-breasted Nuthatches:





Early the nex morning, A Wild Turkey with five poults walked next to a neighboring cabin...







...and a Cottontail Rabbit huddled near the road, perhaps thinking I could not see it:



While I was taking in the beauty of a mountain stream which ran by the Lodge, a deer suddenly crossed the water towards me:



On the way to our next destination, we drove the length of Needles Highway, a winding road through magnificent rock formations and narrow tunnels:







We visited Crazy Horse Memorial, an ambitious granite statue being carved out of a mountain, billed to become  world's largest sculpture, once it is completed. It honors the legendary war hero of the Lakota tribe, whose most famous victory against US troops was the Battle of the Little Bighorn (General Custer's Last Stand -click for more information. )

The carving was started in 1948 but has made slow progress. Only the warrior's face has been completed so far. His head will be 87 feet (27 m) high:







The smaller (60 ft/18 m high) faces of four US presidents are carved on Mount Rushmore, only 17 miles away.  It is an awe-inspiring sight:





On our way to our next stop, Mount Rushmore could be seen in the distance:



Our last glimpse of Mount Rushmore through a gap in the trees as we headed east towards the Badlands:



For the "reflection" meme I must hearken back to a photo I took before we flew to Colorado. A few doors from our daughter's home in Illinois, this silo cast its image on a small pond:



Pale Coneflowers bloomed on the Illinois prairie:



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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to Today's Flowers Friday by Denise

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue
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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display
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