Cedar Rapids, apres les blizzard

Well, it's February 4, I'm back in Cedar Rapids, and I'm looking out at a snow-covered landscape. I spent several hours yesterday shovelling out about a foot of snow in my drive-way, and clearing away the nearly 4-foot high snowdrift in front of my garage door. Like many Iowans I am waiting for this nasty Winter to be finally over. I arrived back from Peru and Ecuador on January 21, after two weeks of adventurous travel with daughter Susan. Before we started our travels and while we were still in Lima, Susan invited some of her Peace Corps friends to join us for lunch at a local restaurant where we dined on ceviche, the national dish of Peru.

There were many highlights of the trip, but two stand out. The first was our 5-daystay in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, located in the so-called "Valley of Longevity". We stayed at a resort hotel where we treated ourselves to massages at the spa located there. We did a lot of hiking and exploring, including a trip to the cloud forest. We hired a local guide, a lawyer by profession, who was very knowledgeable about the areas bird life and natural history.

One day we hiked all around the perimeter of Vilcabamba, stopping at the small Vilcabamba zoo, where we saw an Egyptian vulture, the most colorful of all the world's vultures.

Before we left Peru, Susan's host family threw Susan and I a Going-Away party, that featured dancing and much drinking. Periodically during the festivities the band would stop and they would read a message about Susan, thanking her for all she had done during her 3 years there with Peace Corps. I think I danced with every woman there, ranging in age from teenagers to 80+ year old grandmother. It was obvious to all that the members of the family had taken Susan to their hearts and would greatly miss her. When we departed their modest home the next day, to take the bus back to Lima, everyone was in tears.

When I returned to Iowa I brought back her laptop and two large bags of "stuff". She is currently travelling in Chile and now is somewhere near Mendoza in the wine country of Chile. Just before the most recent blizzard, which delivered one of the heaviest snows in a long while, I drove up to my cabin and acreage in Clayton County to check things out. There was so much snow piled up in from of the gate leading to my access road, I had to park the car at a friends house, and hike in. A friend had left several deer carcasses by the gate, which had been fed on by bald eagles and other animals. I dragged the carcasses to near the cabin and hung them up in trees near the pond. In a short time the birds had discovered them, and chickadees, white breasted nuthatchs, and both downy and red-breasted woodpeckers, were feeding on the meat and fat. The deer have been very active near the cabin. There were many footprints and several areas where it was obvious they had bedded down. Some of my white pines have been heavily browsed, and I could see where the deer and rabbits have been eating some of the other trees I have planted, including my service berry and hazelnuts.
Several days ago to ease the winter blahs and help hurry the thought of Spring along, I drove out to Menard's and came home with packets containing the seeds I want to plant in the garden come Spring.