Christmas in April...

One of my Christmas presents from Pam was delivered this past week as the two of us went to St. Louis to take in a Michael W. Smith concert.  I really enjoy listening to his music, but when he's doing a concert with the St. Louis Symphony, I know it will lean heavily toward performing cuts from his Glory album.  So we chose this placed to spend a nice get-away week trip.

Arriving on a sunny, warm Wednesday afternoon, we were able to spend a few hours in the downtown area, visiting the Arch, walking around the downtown area, seeing Busch Stadium and just enjoying ourselves.

The downtown area was really nice, and the town really backed the Cardinals as all the fountains in the Courthouse area were full of red water.  Unfortunately for them, however, the Reds had just defeated them, 4-0, so sorry about their luck!

We also did the tourist thing and rode to the top of the Arch.  We had been there before, but I forgot how small those pods are that get you to the top of the Arch, some 630 ft. above.  Following that, we were also able to walk around the "Westward Movement" exhibit that is housed in the basement of the Arch complex.  The exhibit serves to highlight the theme St. Louis has given itself as the "Gateway to the West."  Here are some pictures from that exhibit.  I chose the covered wagon because it reminded me of my first "Commander's vehicle" in the Army -- the oldest one in the motor pool.  The Tee-Pee somewhat reminded me "the commander's tent."

The actual Christmas present came the next day.  However, a much uninvited "guest" came visiting during the night as I had somehow, somewhere contracted the stomach flu and spent the entire night (and I do mean entire !!) tossing out my guts.  I know, gross!  Somehow, I managed to get out of bed the next day at about 6:00 p.m. to go to the concert (actually by then I felt almost human and felt that I would not give the plague to everyone in the city of St. Louis) and really had a great time.  But shortly after getting back to the motel, I was back to the same old thing.  In my delirium, I came up with a couple of potential events for the next Olympics (Summer or Winter -- it makes no difference):  HURLING, and DIARRHEA DARTS.  Remember, I was sick for two days (and still had two more days to come), so please forgive me.

Oh, yeah, the concert.  What a great treat to be only five rows from the stage, sitting on an aisle where I could stretch my legs (and have a straight shot to the restroom if necessary).

We were slated to go see the Zoo and other things on Friday, but that was O.B.E. (an old Army saying -- Overcome by Events), and not wanting to pay for a day in the hotel only to see the inside of the bathroom, Pam had to drive home while I tried to sleep in the co-pilot seat.  I am not supposed to go into any details, but I'll just let you know that she also came down with it and here it is Tuesday and we are both just getting back on our feet.

Oh well.  The concert was what we went to hear and that was a very nice evening.  If you like his music, it doesn't get much better than Michael W. Smith playing with the full St. Louis Symphony.  I would also highly recommend his Glory CD.  What a great Christmas present.

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body. (Oliver Wendell Holmes)


Hooah

A busy day in the neighborhood...

Even though we don't have any fish that I know of in the pond, there is still a lot of things going on out there.  This morning our two resident mallards, affectionately known as "Betty and Joe" decided that they would most likely make a nest out by the barn.  I wish them luck as we have a roaming cat in the neighborhood, owls that come and go, and coyotes (although I have not seen or heard of any in the yard or the field just behind the house, I have seen them run through the other side of the corn field) that would probably like to raid their nest when little ones are born.  I assume they know what they are doing and will hide the nest well enough that they will go unseen by these other critters.

But, having said that, there are other animals out there, namely a family of rabbits.  So today when the ducks went to move in, they were greated by momma rabbit.  They all stood there for a while and stared at each other -- about 15 minutes or so, and then the ducks went on toward the back of the barn and the rabbit went back underneath the front of the barn.  It seems some sort of agreement must have been worked out and each staked out its own territory in order to overcome this nesting time.  It's kinda neat how they just managed to settle this.

In the top picture, the male mallard is "working it out" with the rabbit.  The female mallard apparantly isn't real sure of this deal, but, in the bottom picture, seems to be OK with it and started to head back to the area they picked out for nesting. 

And while all that had played out and things settled down, the winds had died and the water was smooth as glass.  Then about noon or so, we got a visit from another duck, this one a Greater Scaup.  These are diving ducks who will swim along the top for a while and then dive to the bottom to get food.  These are very distinctive ducks and really fun to watch.

This one was still here into the dark hours, but I saw it fly off when a real loud Schwans delivery truck pulled up in the neighbor's driveway.  We'll see if it comes back in the morning.  If getting a good day's meal is worth anything, it will return.  That duck spent about a minute or so on the surface between dives.  It sure got a belly full today.

So even though we don't have fish under the water -- at least not yet -- there is plenty of action on top and it sure is nice to sit out in the "Pentagon" sipping my morning coffee as the sunshine inches its way over the fields and yards, turning the frost to glistening water, warming the air, chasing away the fog and welcoming the animals back to another day of "life on McCartyville Road."

I hope all this "nature" is still here the next time our grandsons come to visit.  I think they would really like seeing all of this.

When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look out upon the beautiful world, I thank God I am alive. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Hooah