Deer in the Backyard I

Caught a limping buck on camera in the backyard the other day. We were set up to videotape whatever birds showed up at the feeders and got the deer. He was with a doe, but we weren't able to get any good shots of her or the two of them together.

Just a another added benefit from birdwatching.

Feeding the birds that visit our backyard

We have been working this winter on setting up a suitable bird feeder for the backyard. We've had a feeder before with mixed results and we learned.

The above video shows a flock of sparrows feeding. They were around for a couple of hours that day in the afternoon in mid-January. The birch tree style feeder on the left has normal openings for perching birds. The one on the right has the small, narrow openings for Finches. In the center there is the commercial suet "cage" and a tied-up small bundle of animal beef fat from our Christmas Day large roast. Note: We cut off the fat and shaped it in a small ball, then tied store string around it and hung it there.

The upside-down cone-shaped thing is a squirrel guard.

We bought the two birch tree style feeders at the garden center on Highway 10 when we bought the Christmas tree in mid-December. We bought the suet cage and it's block of suet along with the squirrel guard from the Maplewood Pet Shop at 168 Maplewood Avenue, Maplewood, NJ 07040. 973-762-3237. Note: We will have to look up the garden center. We have purchased our Christmas tree there for the last three years. They have always had an excellent selection.

We are set up for what we think will some great bird watching this summer. We can view the birds at these feeders from the kitchen window, where we have a pair of small 8x binoculars and our video camcorder on a tripod to capture the scene whenever there is activity. Note: We are using a Canon [we'll fill in the model no. later] and process the vidoe for YouTube on a Mac [we'll fill in the model no. later].

Bird feeding

And once we have worked out all the kinks in this feeder "station", we'll see what we can do for the humming birds ... including planting suitable flowers in our raised-bed-square-foot-urban-farm-companion garden ... also friendly to honey bees for pollination.


Raised bed gardening

Square foot gardening

Urban farming

Companion gardening

Enjoy!

Publishing a new Creative Expressions Quarterly

This week we published the prototype copy of a new Creative Expressions Winter Quarterly — 2009-2010 for the next Creative Expressions Quarterly (CEQ) project, a forum for creative expression by the residents of a homeless shelter on Manhattan's lower eastside.

The Creative Expressions Quarterly concept is the brain-child of the project editor, Thomas J. Obrzut, LMSW – Tom – and is published by Hilding Lindquist – Gus. Tom and Gus plan to publish all types of creative expression – writing, photograpy, art – in the Quarterly that can be presented in a printed format. We also plan to support the development of video and audio formats for as wide a program as possible for providing an outlet for the creative expressions of the residents of the homeless shelter.

Tom and Gus also plan to offer the program to other homeless shelters to the extent we have funding for the expenses and volunteers to help out with effort. Note: The Creative Expressions projects are not for profit.

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The Quarterly editor, Tom Obrzut, works at the homeless shelter.
Hilding "Gus" Lindquist, retired, is the editor and publisher of this website—the Steese Review.

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Note: If you are interested in learning more about the Creative Expressions Quarterly Program, or in helping to start a CEQ project for a homeless shelter in your community, please contact Gus at steesereview@gmail.com.

Gloria Torrice: Up close and personal! - January 16

3rdSatArts_GloriaTorrice, originally uploaded by Hilding Lindquist.

Post-Christmas thoughts on New Year's Eve, 2009

Christmas2009-IMG_0909-4x6_H640, a photo of the Christmas tree he shared with friends, and originally uploaded by Hilding Lindquist.

Notes from the Editor

By Hilding Lindquist

Looking forward to the new year we are thinking about going to Central, Alaska for the Circle Mining District's Miners Picnic on the first Saturday in August. At least that is when it is normally held. If we remember correctly, it was held on the last Saturday in July at least one year. We will visit children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in Seattle on the trip.

While at Central, we will spend some time at Nugget Gulch. It's about 8 miles off the Steese Highway from Central, up the Circle Hot Springs Road. Note: If you ever want or need a jumping off point for the eastern side of Alaska's Yukon Wilderness Arc and the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, try Jim Crabb's Nugget Gulch. There's an air strip right across the road from Nugget Gulch where private planes can land. There is also an air strip in Central where the Warbelow's Air Ventures, Inc. bush mail plane lands—which we have taken several times for our trips to Central.

And once again—for the second year in a row—we will be doing some square foot gardening. we have a worm factory in the basement that will provide rich, fertilized soil for our starter pots. This year we would like to grow everyhing—at least as much as possible—from seed.

Next week—in the new year following the New Year's weekend—the Steese Review will explore working with a homeless shelter in New York City to publish a new Creative Expressions Quarterly (CEQ) containing the poetry, essays, short stories, photographs, and art of the resident clients. We attempted a similar project this last year. With a change in personnel at the targeted shelter, we were unable to continue, but we learned a lot and should be better prepared for the new project. Note: This is an exciting program for us, and we will keep you informed with information on how it is doing and how you may order a copy of the quarterly.

Then on January 16 we will host the 3rd Saturday Arts Night at Ethical Culture Society of Essex County. This is an ongoing program presenting artists, sculptors, poets, playwrights, as well as other authors—and their work—to the local community. The January 16th program is "Gloria Torrice: Up close and personal!">"

In the coming year we plan to place additional geocaches (See SRG-1) and travel bugs (See SRBT001) in the South Mountain Reservation here in Essex County, New Jersey.

And, yes, we will continue our hemodialysis three times a week for 3 hours and 45 minutes each session. So ... it should be clear to anyone on or facing dialysis ... it is possible to have a productive life while on dialysis.

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Note: If you are interested in learning more about any of these programs or projects, please contact Hilding "Gus" Lindquist, Editor and Publisher, at steesereview@gmail.com.

Winter arrives in the South Mountain Reservation

With the first falling of fresh snow
winter arrives
snuggling me in its soft blanket,
muffling my world.

This is my fallow time.
Still, knowing spring will follow
I think of what I will do
when I awaken again.
-Hilding Lindquist

Winter arrived in the South Mountain Reservation in early December this year. I didn't write down the exact time and date ... because I was hibernating, going into snooze mode ... but I took the following photos. They are up flickr.com. You can view my account there by clicking on the links below the photos.

SMR_Snow-IMG_0897-4x6_W640, originally uploaded by Hilding Lindquist.

SMR_Snow-IMG_0893-4x6_W640, originally uploaded by Hilding Lindquist.

SMR+Snow-IMG_0894-8x10_W640, originally uploaded by Hilding Lindquist.

SMR_Snow-IMG_0898-4x6_W640, originally uploaded by Hilding Lindquist.

SMR_Snow-IMG_0903-4x6_H640, originally uploaded by Hilding Lindquist.

Bill on his trike

trike sitting (600 x 450), originally uploaded by Hilding Lindquist.

One of my best friends, Bill, recently finished reworking his trike motorcycle to carry his oxygen tanks and wheelchair.

He lives in Interior Alaska and since first meeting him in 1996, shortly after I arrived in Fairbanks in September, 1995, we have gone on many an adventure together. One of our best was a trip up the Haul Road to above the Arctic Circle on the 1996 Winter Solstice.

Bill wanted to have his trike ready before the first snow hit. He didn't make it, but not for want of trying. Most if not all other folks in his condition wouldn't have even tried.

I don't know anyone else like Bill, with his courage in the face of disability. He is a guide and mentor for me in my own lesser struggles, how to wrest the last drop of an active life from the relentless rising tide of our infirmities.

wheelchair (600 x 450), originally uploaded by Hilding Lindquist.

That's Bill's wheelchair mounted on the rear of his trike motorcycle. Incredible, wouldn't you say?

Fall has come to Maplewood, New Jersey

MaplewoodFall20091025-IMG_0874-1280W_8x10, originally uploaded by Hilding Lindquist.

Fall has come to Maplewood once again. This is my favorite season here because of the colors.

Check out the fall colors from last year, 2008.