Cinnamon vs Annie’s

"Hey, what's in this box? It smells kind of interesting. Is this for me?"

"It's from Annie's? Harumph, I don't approve of that, they have that cartoon rabbit they claim approves all their stuff. I doubt that rabbit has been certified!"

"What is all this stuff? You're not gonna eat it are you? What, are you mad? I don't care how good it smells you must not eat this, I don't approve!"

"Now listen to me, I said stay away from this. This is not good, they are just bribing you. Hands off! I disapprove! (crunch crunch) Oh my! Well now, this is crunchy."

"Hey, this isn't bad (crunch crunch). Let me double check it and make sure how I feel about it (crunch crunch).

"I can't quite reach the food inside, let me get back on the big box to get at all this crunchy goodness!"

"Let me try and shake the box..."

Birdchick Note: Cinnamon lifted the box off the floor several times and tried to flip it to get the Bunny Grahams out. I haven't seen her like this since the time I hid her mineral block. So, does Cinnamon actually approve of Annie's? She would not commit but I did catch the photo below...could this be the first documentation of bunny approval?

Blurry, I know, but intriguing...

Bunny Approval? Ch.

I admit it, I'm one of the eaters of Annie's Shells and Cheese but I've never really looked at the box until recently. Check out the label:

What's all this about "rabbit approval"? I grew highly suspicious of Annie's labels wearing a bunny of a approval. I even suspected that Annie had in fact never lived with a rabbit. Anyone who has ever lived with a rabbit knows the pain of never meeting a bunny's standards. You will note, that the Bernie on the box is smiling and approving. You will also note that the Bernie on the box is a cartoon. If you look at the real photos of Bernie, you can see that he does in fact disapprove. For further examination, take a look at one of the oh-so-tasty Annie's Bunny Grahams:

That looks like a sweet graham cracker of a disapproving bunny if I ever saw one. This leads me to believe that the folks at Annie's are in denial about their rabbit, it's not approving of anything. But perhaps that's why their food tastes so good--a vain attempt to win Bernie's approval. What does Cinnamon have to say?

"I don't approve of smiling bunnies and I never authorized my name to be on a box of "bunny grahams"--I can't believe you named me after a flavor."

I on the other hand, heartily approve of Annie's food and eat it any chance I get.

Cinnamon Demands

"Um, excuse me, I need your attention."

"Hi there, what are you up to? Um, what's this button do? Gee, that's great, can I have your attention please? Hey, what are you typing about me right now?"

"Hey, I don't approve of you writing that about me on the internet! And I don't think you understand my meaning, pay attention to me right now or I delete this blog entry you've been composing for the last twenty minutes!"

"There, was that so hard? Now, be a smart girl and learn to type one handed, and say nicer things about me. Oh, a little harder behind that right ear...ahhhhhhhhhhh."

Cinnamon’s Rampage At Grandma’s

I think for Cinnamon, my Mother's condo is the happiest place on earth. Everything except the kitchen is carpeted so she can run like the dickens all over the place. You will periodically see a streak of brown out of the corner of your eye accompanied by the pitter patter of her tiny feet. When she's too tired to run, she conducts experiments on Mom's cats.

The cats appear to be oblivious as she stalks them (above, she's stalking Copernicus in the distance on the right). I think the cats have chosen to just ignore her hoping this problem creature will go away.

Cinnamon is fascinated by their tails. She keeps creeping up behind them, sniffing and almost nibbling. Instead of sensibly giving her a bap on the nose with their front paw, the cats swish their tails back and forth further intriguing Cinnamon. Eventually, the just run and cower in a closet in fear.

Mom's other cat, Sappho tried sleeping on the couch as her defense, but even she was not safe from the siege of the lagomorph. At first we all thought (oh dear, I just used "we all", yes ladies and gentlemen, I'm back in Indiana) Cinnamon was just trying to check out Sappho, but Sappho grew tired of this invasion of privacy and evacuated the couch. I though for sure Cinnamon was going to chase after her like she does with Copernicus, but it became clear what Cinnamon's true intent was:

Here she is, Cinnamon Triumphant. She apparently wanted the couch for herself. The really weird thing is that we are having a tough time keeping Cinnamon away from the cat food. I could kind of understand Cinnamon's interest in dry cat food--it's so processed, it kind of resembles a pellet or some type of treat, but now she's going for the wet food. What's that all about?

One for the Cinnamon Fans

Non Birding Bill and I spent a relaxing afternoon at a nearby park with Cinnamon. I would like to say it was splendid day of cuteness.
Cinnamon loves her dandelions. How could anyone think Chet Baker is cuter than she? Alas, that was a brief moment in the afternoon. Here are her true feelings about me trying to turn her into a flower child:

"Get this frickin' flower off of my head, you stupid hippie!"

I’m Back At Chez Stiteler

If you are still having problems using the blogger photo upload button, I feel for ya'. Sometimes I can use it, and sometimes I have to use Cyber Duck. One thing I have noticed: if your issue is after you have selected your photo and hit the download button, it starts to load and then shows a blank box with a little "done" a the bottom. Try again, sometimes by doing it four or five times, it will finally show the right box. Also, if you keep numbers out of the name of your photo, that seems to make a difference too. That's how I got photos in this entry. It's a pain, but it's an option. Spell check is still not working. Whoa is me (har har).

I'm Home! No thanks to Cinna-bunny-butthead. Apparently, she disapproved of leaving the carpeted hotel room with a king sized bed to hop on and hide under. I got a late start anyway, and then on top of that it took me a half hour to corral Cinnamon and get her in the car. It was the first time the whole trip that she was really naughty. Rabbits are a lot like cats, they have their moods when they want to be cuddled and moods when they want to be left alone, moods when they want to explore and play and moods when they want to hide. This was Cinnamon's mood to not travel in the car. Once we were in the car, she wedged herself between her litter blox and the insulation on the floor of the passenger seat and pouted all the way home--the whole 600 miles. When I pulled up out in front of our home, I couldn't get her out of the car, she somehow managed to thump and splash hay all over me. She must have enjoyed the cranes more than I realized...or the ladies at Red Lobster who spoiled her rotton with veggies and parsley.

The drive home was GORGEOUS! The sky was a vivid blue, enhancing the snowy landscape. Roads were very clear so I could still notice all the raptors on the way home. During a mile stretch I saw an adult red-tail soaring, then a dark morph adult red-tail sitting on a fence post (it looked like a life sized chocolate hawk), then a perched red-tail so light, at first glance its head looked like a ferruginous hawk (unlikley for central Iowa) and a couple of kestrels.

During a four mile stretch in southern Minnesota we counted 9 red-tailed hawks, one harrier, one rough-legged hawk and five kestrels.

So, now I must tackle my massive to do list. Thanks for all the well wishes for a safe journey, they worked, we arrived home without incident.

Did I Stay Or Did I Go?

I'm staying another night! They finally opened east bound I 80 after 4pm and I took a quick drive to test the roads. However, they still were quite slick and as I was driving I started hearing a list of accidents being reported on the newly opened I 80. So, I'm in Kearney for another night. I have to say, the folks in Kearney are all being very kind and patient with their stranded travelers. The staff at the Fairfield Inn extended our checkout time so we could listen to road conditions and see if and when I 80 would open. After this trip, the Fairfield will be my number one choice when staying here. I used to stay in a different hotel, but they lost points when two years in a row either I didn't get a wake up call or participants in my tour group didn't get them and that's not good when you have to be at a prairie chicken blind at 4:30am. All the restaurants I've been to have graciously given me extra vegetables for Cinnamon--she's like a celebrity. The girls at Red Lobster pictured above really spoiled her by sending me back to my hotel room with a healthy serving of parsley, carrots and spinach. They really wanted to meet her but I didn't want the restaurant to get in trouble for having an animal running about so I brought her over and met them in the door way. In the photo the girls look so cute and Cinnamon looks so focused on the parsley.

While I was out testing the roads I managed to see a couple of cranes. This flock pictured above had a few snow geese and greater white fronted geese mixed in. It just seems to stretch for miles. In the distance, the dark lines are more cranes.

It was fun to watch them move against the snow, especially when the danced. It made me wish that I hadn't already packed up all my digiscoping equipment and do the cranes and the landscape justice.

Horned larks and western meadowlarks were all over the sides of the road (pictured above). The snow really made the horned larks easy to pick out in the fields. All sorts of birds were hanging out right on the roads. At first I thought they may have been after the salt, but I saw more than one meadowlark flying away with some kind of worm hanging from their bills. Other highlights included seeing a kestrel fly off with a horned lark and a female bobwhite sitting on top of a snow bank.

So, cranes, trumpet away. Tomorrow morning, Cinnamon and I head bravely back to the Twin Cities. I just realized that I have been blogging about snow for the last week: first in Minnesota, then in Wisconsin and now in Nebraska. Hopefully, this will be the end of it.

Oh, one quick word of warning: avoid the Lobster Bites at Long John Silvers. I love the LJS, their chicken and fish makes me salivate. However, the Lobster Bites are the worst thing I've tasted since that one time in college I tried to make tuna helper (yeah, I know, but it's okay, I didn't inhale).

An Entry To Pass The Time

I'm excited to learn that my blog is on the Blogs of Note list on the blogger start page--I'm so excited, I feel like I'm sitting at the big kid table. It's certainly a silver lining to my snowed in, stranded day in Nebraska. The local weather man is saying that we are getting an average of an inch an hour. Check out one of the hotel snow drifts:

So, how am I passing my time?

By fighting over a bag of almond salad garnish with my bunny while watching reruns of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and Walker Texas Ranger. I just discovered that Little House on the Prairie will be on later this afternoon--my life is complete. Actually, I am getting quite a bit of work accomplished since the hotel has internet access and I can work on processing some of the booth receipts from the Rivers and Wildlife Show. Plus, I have a couple of articles due (okay, make that a tad overdue) and I will for sure finish those today.

I have to hand it to the Fairfield Inn in Kearney, they are taking good care of their stranded guests. The restaurant next door, Carlos O'Kelly's (potato tacos anyone?) decided to closed for the day, but worked with the hotel to provide lunch and dinner for us. I asked at the front desk if it would be possible to get some fresh veggies for Cinnamon and extra lettuce was provided.

I wonder how all the cranes are doing? I would imagine that they are sticking pretty close to Rowe Sanctuary. The crane cam is running, but I'm not getting any sounds from it. It'll be interesting to check at dusk to see what they are doing on the camera. Today is the first time since I've been here that I can't hear them when I am outside. The wind is just too strong and again, I don't think they are straying to far from Rowe. I know birds have nictitating membranes over their eyes to protect them, but it still must be a pain to fly in this weather.

Speaking of birds, I got a response from Bud Anderson about the long-billed red-wing blackbirds we say yesterday. Here's what he had to say:

"Incidentally, Pat Redig says there is another long-billed peregrine currently breeding in downtown Minneapolis.

As you can see, I have forwarded your message on to the people most involved in the long-bill work, Colleen in AK, Julie in MI and Chuck in OR. Colleen is collecting records of all LB birds in AK and now further afield, Julie has been working with LB passerines for over 10 years (and wrote the first comprehensive article on the problem) and Chuck is currently trying for funding from USGS to study it here on the west coast. I am getting about a record a week now. Although I have not counted them up in 6 weeks or so, I think I am around 115-120 raptors, mostly here in WA where I live."

Incredibly interesting and disturbing all at the same time. Again, if you notice any long-billed birds at your feeders or anywhere, let Bud know at bud@frg.org or let me know and I will forward it along.

I forgot a couple of highlights of the Rivers and Wildlife Celebration. I met Gary Lingle, (pictured above) who helps surveys the cranes in the area. If you ever plan on birding this area on your own, I highly recommend his book, Birding Crane River: Nebraska Platte. I learned from him that a whooping crane has already been spotted in the area this year (which is very early) and another group found a common crane (also known as Eurasian crane)--highly unusual to get this Asian species here on the Platte River any time of year. Gary is tough on binoculars, he accidentally melted a pair (and I thought I was tough on binoculars). Apparently, he was working a controlled burn and accidentally burned his truck. He ended up buying two pair of binoculars, an Audubon HP 8 x 42 and a Vortex DLS 10 x 42. These at least have a good replacement warranty.

Of course, a festival, just isn't a festival unless I buy some souvenirs. Cinnamon helped me realize that I wanted one of Mark Urwiller's photos by nibbling the frame. I didn't know it, but I really wanted this snow goose image. I really do like it, it reminds me of the massive bird traffic you see during migration here. He also had a really cool western meadowlark photo too. There she is in the above photo, lurking under his table. Poor Mark, he thought she was being friendly, but she had sinister intentions. Perhaps she was getting even with him for picking her up the day--her disapproval knows no bounds. Anyway, I'm very happy with my snow goose photo. Thank you, my naughty bunny.