Travels and Wildlife

This past weekend I had a whirlwind tour quick trip down to the Twin Cities. I went down on Thursday evening and ran through a really exciting hailstorm about halfway down there. What made it exciting was that the air conditioning in my care decided to stop cooling and I had to have the windows open at 70mph. I didn't dare close them all the way or I would pass out from the heat, but that let some of the hail into the car. I had slowed to about 40 at this point because visibility wasn't so good and it looked like marbles on the road.

The reason for going was due to my brother's treatment for his prostate cancer. You might remember mine was last fall. He was just carrying on an old family tradition. He is doing fine, thank you. After we got back from the hospital at 4:00 pm I thought I better try to get the AC fixed. It was predicted to be in the low 90's for the weekend and I would surely melt. I had forgotten that the Big City holds all kinds of available services 24 hours a day and they all want you to use their offerings. To make a short story even shorter I  called a place at 4:30 and by 6 I was driving in the cool again for less than a hundred bucks! Here it would have been two weeks for the appointment and then another week for parts. It's all about trade-offs.

Speaking of deer, I stopped by our friend Andie's on my way out of the metro area and had a lovely breakfast and conversation the likes of which I rarely encounter. Andie lives in the midst of hardwoods and lakes and while looking out where her deck used to be 9Her house is in a serious remodeling phase) I thought I saw a rabbit. Well it was a pair of ears, anyway. Turns out to be a fawn with its spots wandering around. A minute or so later the mama deer comes along keeping an eye on her curious child. So the first thing I do when I get back home, after bidding farewell to her cuteness Andie is check my critter cam and found this on it.

Of course I also caught this critter on a picture in that same spot 2 days earlier in late afternoon.

Yes, that is a wolf about 100 feet from the house.

On the way back home I stopped in Two Harbors for a bite to eat. There had been a classic car show in Grand Marais over the weekend and there were still some stragglers heading home. This '57 Chevy Bel Air convertible was  pretty one.

 The Killdeer hatched its eggs and I got a shot of this one resting. It is about the size of my thumb.