Our Barred Owls, 2012

The barred owls that we have reported on before are raising two chicks this spring. Earlier in the year, there were few photographic opportunities: the owls would make their calls ("Who cooks for you, who cooks for you-all?" and a chimpanzee-like "hoot-hoot-HOOT") at dusk or after dark. The first weekend in May more than compensated, because we got good looks at the two young owls just after they left the nest.

Joan discovered a toddler owl on the ground below the sycamore early on May 3rd. It looked bewildered, as would you or I after falling 20 to 30 feet from the nest. His/her coordination was lacking after spending a lifetime in a crowded tree cavity, and he/she could barely climb up on a large stick lying on the ground.

The parent was keeping a watchful eye out for any threats, and changed perches frequently.

The sibling began to peer out from the cavity an hour or so later.

The young owls have the instinct to climb, to get higher above the ground, even though they are yet incapable of flight. Flapping vigorously assists the effort made with beak and talons, however.

This chick ended up backwards, and several times we were sure he would soon lose his grip, fall, and join his brother on the ground.

He eventually fell back into the nest cavity instead.

The next morning we rushed downstairs to check on "our" owls. Overnight the second had joined the first a few feet above the ground, in a tiny sapling that offered no new heights to climb.

They squirmed on the sapling but didn't move to a new tree. Such maneuvers happen only overnight.

When we checked again a couple of hours later, the parent was visiting and grooming the children.

Then we departed for the weekend, but the first thing we did on our return Sunday afternoon was to go on an owl safari, to see if we could find them. The toddlers had clearly gained strength, as they were now much higher up, and each in a different tree. We located the first one quickly.

The second was hard to find, but we knew it would not have gone any distance, so we searched around the old location and around the parent, and discovered him cloistered in foliage.

We consider ourselves truly privileged to have observed these barred owls over the last three seasons.

Fairfield 4 -- Treatments at the Raj

Last November (2011) I returned to Fairfield, Iowa for sessions of extended group meditation, but the novel focus of this trip was seven days of Ayurvedic treatments at The Raj: it had been 13 years since I had any panchakarma, as the treatments are called. I was fortunate to have two friends from Columbus, Rick and Ernie, also in Fairfield during the first half of my visit.

General Stuff

My visits to The Raj did not start for several days after I arrived, while Rick was taking four days of treatment starting right away. This required him to set aside six afternoons, because the treatments are preceded by an interview and followed by an interview. If there are enough days of treatment, there is even an intermediate interview to see how things are going. This all meant that I had the opportunity to show Ernie (his real name is Frank, but that's another story) some of the campus and nearby areas; Ernie hadn't been to Fairfield in decades. Here, Ernie is standing in front of the bridge carrying the Jefferson County loop trail over Highway 1.

The loop trail is now complete -- 17 miles to circumnavigate Fairfield. Ernie and I explored the newest section of the trail, a dedicated path, not just a sidewalk, in the northwest quadrant of town.

We also discovered that the Dome Store (technically the Golden Dome Market and Café), close by the women's Dome on the MUM campus, was undergoing an dual-sided extension. This will give it more room for goods to offer, expand the café, and create a dedicated kitchen (currently the food is brought over from the MUM Student Center.) Even now, the Dome Store Café has its own chef and a separate menu from the Student Center.

Also lodging at Jan's, where I was staying again, was Fabbio Navaroli of the Tuscan Bar in Melbourne (Australia). Here Fabbio stands in front of a recent concrete pour; it's quite likely that bicyclists and skateboarders zooming downhill couldn't stay on the original, narrow ramp.

After a pause due to the economic downturn, work has started again on the Sustainable Living Center, which should be open next spring.

A lot has been done since last March:

 

At The Raj

But most of my time was spent in the men's Golden Dome or at The Raj. In a nutshell, I would arise in the morning, drive to the Dome, be there all morning and then drive to lunch at The Raj. After lunch it is time for treatments (2½ to 3 hours), followed by driving back to the Dome for the afternoon meditation program. Then back to The Raj for dinner, and optionally an evening talk. Not much slack! Because I wasn't lodging at The Raj, I never had breakfast there, and because I was in the Dome the rest of the time, I didn't partake of any extras available to guests, such as yoga lessons or exercise equipment.

A tip for those doing treatments at The Raj and meditating in one of the Domes: schedule your treatments for 1:30pm. Mine were scheduled for 1:50, and sometimes I was rushed, and once I was too late to get into the Dome (doors lock at 5:00).

When I turned off Jasmine Avenue The Raj was sitting at the end of a long driveway.

This is the face it presents at lunchtime.

And in the evening, when I would arrive for dinner.

The meals for guests undergoing panchakarma (PK) treatments are designed with the goal of purification in mind. There were no heavy, slow to digest foods offered. At lunch and dinner there was always a digestive concoction to start (a shot of herbs and spices in a gingery liquid, which might have been water or might have been a juice -- I didn't have the recipe). Then there was a cup of lentil soup (dal), and then the main plate, which would have rice or quinoa, most often quinoa, and two or three veggie offerings which might be asparagus, artichoke, fennel heart, okra, kale crisps, or others which I have since forgotten. There was a lassi (yogurt drink) and herbal tea, and there was always a chapati (Indian flatbread). On alternate days, corresponding with more intensive treatments, the main courses were blended together into a slurry, and there was no chapati -- no solid food. Dessert was often some stewed fruit, but there were occasionally other sweets.

At first I thought the diet would leave me feeling hungry, but it didn't. Perhaps the PK treatments slowed my digestion, and The Raj knew just how much would be enough. One could always ask for more, but I never did. I had intended to buy a Raj cookbook, but forgot -- I will the next time I'm in Fairfield.

The view across from The Raj is classic Iowa cornfield.

Behind The Raj are a small lake and several villas.

Behind the lake is where the true VIPs stay.

The interior is plushly appointed; here is part of the lobby between the two wings.

I don't want to go into detail on the PK treatments, lest I accidentally reveal something considered part of the "secret sauce." I will state that everything starts with a dietary program at home for several days, followed by a self-administered procedure that, shall we say, is a twin to colonoscopy prep. Next is your entrance interview at The Raj, where they take your pulse -- deep pulse diagnosis -- and ask and answer medical questions. From all this they prescribe the sequence of treatments that you will receive in the coming days. By "they," I mean persons trained in Ayurveda as well as knowledge of Western medicine. When I was there the director at The Raj was Mark Toomey, Ph.D. I was fortunate that during my stay the Ayurvedic doctor, or Vaidya, named Vaidya, was also there, so my pulse reading and interview was a collaborative effort of the two of them. (Yes, you would say "Vaidya Vaidya," to the same effect as if there were a doctor whose first given name was Doctor.)

Most treatments start with a two-technician sesame oil massage before the individualized portion. Having two techs takes massage to a new level; for example, when it's time to massage the arms, they both get massaged at the same time, with perfect symmetry.

I attended three of the optional evening knowledge presentations. The first was by Lawrence Scheaff, an artist who has works spread throughout the public areas of The Raj. He specializes in abstract work where every arc, straight line, and dimple are drawn by hand (click to enlarge).

On another evening the talk was given by Ken Walton, which was about cholesterol and how it has been demonized unfairly by the medical establishment. Did you know that cholesterol and vitamin D differ by only one chemical bond? And that lowering the cholesterol too far increases the risk of stroke? Ken also referred us to many on-line resources.

The third talk I attended was about Vedic lifestyle and routine. In other words, proper diet, proper rest, meditation, proper housing, etc. I had heard much of it before, and although the speaker was enthusiastic the topic did not engage me. There are only so recommendations one can endure at once, and being presented with the whole panoply of programs can seem like climbing Mount Everest. I, like most, pick and choose.

After three talks I decided that they were keeping me up too late. They often started a few minutes late and went long, and I had to drive to my lodgings to have the first and only opportunity of the day to check email!

My mid-treatment and exit interviews with Mark went well. The list of foods to cut back on had a horrifying overlap with my usual diet, so I picked one or two resolutions to act on, such as eating more asparagus. I'm already eating a decent amount of spinach but it would be good to add kale to the rotation.

Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf

Near the end of my stay Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf gave a lecture on the MUM campus, entitled "Seven Secrets of Health After Fifty." The timing of my visit to Fairfield couldn't have been better -- I had just turned sixty! The lecture hall was standing room only.

Although Dr. Lonsdorf's practice specializes in women's health, this talk was aimed at everyone. One example of the gems in this lecture: 20% of the general population over age 55 is low in vitamin B12. Getting your vitamin B12 and D levels tested is on her checklist alongside colon cancer screening, blood sugar, and bone density, among others.

Fun in Fairfield

Lest you think that the Fairfield experience is solely one of somber self-improvement, I have another short episode to tell. One day, near the end of lunch at The Raj, a fellow flying his powered parachute made a couple of broad circles near The Raj's driveway. I dashed out to get some pictures. Because he was moving, I got only one really good one.

The Peanut Butter Story 

At one point Bevan Morris, the president of MUM, was speaking to the participants in the extended meditation program (Invincible America). He told an amusing story about a meditator who was disturbed by his lack of progress, of feeling that nothing much was happening during or after meditation. Maharishi checked various points and finally queried about the person's diet. The response included 'a sack of peanuts' for lunch. We might think of this as a small snack size, but at first Maharishi interpreted it as one of the large shipping sacks for peanuts. In any case, Maharishi recommended that the person stop eating peanuts to improve the quality of his meditation, a point that Bevan made clear applied to us here and now.

This was also the day that a big turnout at the Dome was being encouraged: the effect of the group program on the environment is supposed to increase with the square of the number of participants. As we were leaving the Dome, the organizers of the turnout effort were handing out cookies as thank-yous. They had sugar cookies and ... you guessed it ... peanut butter cookies. I guess PB can't be that bad for you!

Spoon River Rest Area

Those of us who drive between Fairfield and Columbus consider the eastbound Spoon River Rest Area, on I-74 in Illinois, the best rest stop. It's conveniently placed (about 2 hours from Fairfield), and its true claim to the crown comes from the path behind it, climbing a small hill to an observation tower. Here's the view from the tower.

In the center is the main rest area; below that you can see a small footbridge and the path leading to the base of the hill. This is a wonderful leg-stretch and fresh-air jaunt, much better than walking up and down the sidewalk in front of the rest area. The tower looks like this.

And then I was back in Reynoldsburg. 

At The Wilds With Mom

In the first week of October 2011 (Monday and Tuesday) we returned to The Wilds, this time with Ben's mother, Jean. We hoped this expedition would be a highlight of her visit, as it was back in early May, 2010 for our visitors Serge and Jeanne, even if the weather was cooler this time.

The Wilds is located near Cambridge, Ohio. It is one of the largest conservation centers in the world, nearly 10,000 acres, situated on land strip mined in the 1960s and 1970s and reclaimed in the early 1980s.


We stayed overnight in the yurts of Nomad Ridge, on-site lodging offered by The Wilds.

The view from Nomad Ridge had some changes since our last visit: there is a zipline down the ridge and across the lake. You might be able to discern a pair of towers alongside the road on the far side of the lake.

Here's a zoom-in on those towers. (There was mist in the air that evening.)

After a restful night at the yurts, then breakfast, we met our guide and climbed into the back of the Wildside Tour pickup truck, which has padded benches. My 87-year-old mother was welcome to sit inside the cab with the guide, but she chose to dress warmly and sit in the open with Joan and me. The lesson is that if you can climb up a few steps -- there is a deployable "gangway" for the pickup -- and hold onto a handrail, then sitting in the back, where the view is better, is an option to consider.

Our first stop was to visit the persian onagers and, nearby, the camels, who enjoy the grasslands but prefer the roads to travel from point A to point B. The onagers had youngsters to guard.

The camels (Bactrian) knew we had treats, and they weren't bashful. Our guide sat on top of the cab to dispense the goodies.

This fellow smiled knowingly at us.

One of his lady friends was also curious, approaching the other side of the truck.

Both of them enjoyed using their mouths to explore the truck, which turned out to be inedible.

The next area, separated by a gate, hosted a herd of Przewalski's horses. They are known to be irritable, and we carefully kept our hands inside the truck.

From there it wasn't far to the Mid-Sized Carnivore Center, where we disembarked from the pickup and explored the elevated boardwalks. The cheetahs were very relaxed.

We also stopped at the cheetah housing, but this time I have no pictures to share. For more on the cheetahs, see this earlier post.

The dholes, or Asiatic Wild Dogs, were less skittish than we had seen them before, possibly because we were the only people in sight, possibly because they have now been at the Wilds for a while, possibly both. Their countenance reminded us of red foxes.

Sadly, I have no pictures of the extremely intelligent African wild dogs.

Upon leaving the carnivore center we came across a Grevy's zebra. This animal occupies a middle ground between asses and zebras; some consider it a striped ass. It inhabits a small area: northern Kenya and southern and eastern Ethiopia. This one had something protruding from his flank (click to enlarge).

He had been darted. Contrary to what you might see in the movies, it takes a while for the drug to take effect. This Grevy's looks doleful; perhaps he realizes he must soon suffer through an exam.

We drove slowly by these fringe-eared oryx.

Before driving to the giraffe barn (many warm-climate animals cannot overwinter outdoors in Ohio), we saw this mother southern white rhinoceros and her nursing baby.

Then there was this older child and adult.

Our final stop on the tour was the giraffe barn; it was cool enough in October for several species to have come indoors for the winter. We were each offered the chance to feed one of the giraffes, and in this picture the giraffe has just used its long, prehensile tongue to pull the lettuce out of Mom's grasp.

Despite the chilly weather Mom enjoyed her visit, and we were pleased.

This entry has been posted on March 23, 2012, in honor of what would have been Jean's 88th birthday.

Demise of a Time Capsule

For the last 3½ years we've been using an Apple Time Capsule (TC). It has served as our router, our WiFi base station, and a backup hard drive for Time Machine on Joan's iMac. Then it began to fail.

The first failure coincided with two events, so we weren't positive what to judge as the cause. Time Machine announced that the backup drive was full, and it would have to begin removing the oldest versions to make room for further backups. Then the Internet connection failed, and Joan noticed that the TC status lamp was not on. Not green, not yellow, just not on. She unplugged the power cord and plugged it back, and the Time Capsule resumed its duties, for a while.

Then one afternoon the TC spontaneously turned itself off. We unplugged and replugged it several times, to no avail. Then, coming back a few hours later, it was working again.

Clearly it was time to do something. An Internet search revealed that the early Time Capsules had an abnormally high failure rate, most of which were due to the power supply. Eventually Apple extended the warranty for these Time Capsules, under user pressure, but at 3½ years old, ours was out of warranty even so. We were lucky to get 3½ years; many seemed to fail at about 18 months.

The Time Capsule suffers a lot of heat stress, which is what was killing the power supplies. The device has an internal power supply (turning the AC current from the wall into proper DC voltages), an internal hard drive, the wireless circuits, the Ethernet circuits, all generating heat -- and there is no ventilation. It doesn't even have feet to allow air flow under the unit; here's a picture of the bottom:

I went to our local Apple Store to get a replacement Time Capsule. However, the 2 terabyte (TB) model, $299, was not in stock in either central Ohio location. The 3 TB model could be had -- for $499. Given that we'd been happy with a ½ TB (500 gigabyte) model, I wasn't keen to pay an extra $200 for the larger unit. I went home to order online, but, lo and behold, the 2 TB units had a 1 to 2 week shipping estimate on apple.com. Our old Time Capsule was working today, but buying a replacement with an uncertain shipping date and praying that the old unit wouldn't die completely first did not sound like a sound strategy.

I went back to the Apple Store, now much more crowded than during my first visit, and priced my options. I could get an Airport Extreme for $179, which would take care of the wireless and routing functionality, and there was a 1 terabyte external hard drive available for $129.95, which we could use as the backup device for Time Machine. That adds up to $308.95, or $10 more than the 2 TB Time Capsule -- but much less than the 3 TB model. And having "just" 1 terabyte for backup wasn't an issue; we were, after all, replacing a ½ terabyte model! I brought them home.

The Airport Extreme has an external power supply, and no hard drive, so the heat build up should be tolerable, even though it also has zero ventilation:

I also put feet on the bottom of the Airport Extreme. It may not make a lot of difference, but it was an easy remedy to apply.

 Here is a photo of the old Time Capsule below the new, and more compact, Airport Extreme.

The external hard drive (black) is tucked behind the iMac, beside the (white) cable modem. It connects to the iMac through a USB port.

These replacement devices were easy to install and configure. Although the Airport Extreme is warm to the touch, with the separation of hard drive, power supply, and wifi/routing into three different enclosures, overheating should not cause problems. It was an adventurous time, but appears to have turned out well.