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I've developed quite a few hobbies and interests during my life. Some of these are the result of living where I do, some a result of random things I guess. Probably half of my hobbies and interests are outdoor kind of things, half indoor. I guess that works out because in theory I'm never bored!
Outdoors, I like bird and wildlife watching. My favorite time to do that is very early in the morning. I'm talking about being down at the beach 1/2 hour before the sun comes up. It's easier to do in the winter because being down there before sunrise in the summer means getting up at about 4am! During my early morning forays I've seen River Otters, Muskrats, Raccoons and the occasional snapping turtle.....and he's a BIG one!
The birds around here vary from season to season. Starting in mid to late February, the male cardinals start to turn scarlet and the redwing blackbirds bars get brighter. Shortly afterwards, they start marking their territory with song. In early March, I start to hear a chorus of frogs as they come out of hibernation in the marsh mud. Mid March sees the osprey come back to start repairing the winter damage to their nest. The last of the tundra swans head north, and that's when winter is officially over for me.
Late August sees hints of the autumn to come. The ospreys that hatched and fledged in the spring are now fully capable of flying and catching their own food. The hummingbirds seem to visit the feeders more often, though some of that is due to the still immature hummers using up more of the nectar. All of them are "stocking up" for their migration south for the winter. The Canada Geese start arriving the second or third week of September, along with other winter residents. Following them in November are the tundra swans and the rest of the winter water birds. These guys stay throughout the winter and the whole cycle starts again come spring.
My other outdoor hobbies I've already hinted at. I like taking pictures of the local wildlife and landscapes, I even take a camera long with me when I drive. I've caught some pretty good pictures just because I happened to have a camera at the right time. You'll be seeing a lot of my pictures on these pages, don't worry!
I own just under 3/4 of an acre, so I have some gardens I take care of outside. My main garden is set up specifically as a refuge from the outside word, but I think you'll guess which one that is when you see it. I have one garden set up around a small garden pond. It's a raised garden I installed about 7 years ago with some help from my brother and his wife. The whole garden is watered in the summer using the condensate from the air conditioner. I plan on putting a few tomato plants in there this year.
Once the weather gets cold, my hobbies move indoors. I always get 3 or 4 cords of firewood each fall, and that's what I burn as my main heat source as much as possible. Winter is spent with a fire going if I don't have to go to work. On my weekends off this past winter I lit the fire when I got home Thursday morning and didn't stop feeding it until 6 am Monday. Since the thermostat is right near the wood burning stove the rest of the house goes down to the mid-50's when I have a fire going. Hence, my time is spent mainly in the living room where it's warm! My cold weather hobbies still include early morning walks to critter watch, but that's only once or twice a week. I don't get too many winter pictures because my camera batteries don't like cold weather. In the winter I mainly confine my hobbies to computers, reading, watching TV and building models. On watching TV.......in my defense I mostly watch documentaries and that kind of thing. Since winter hobbies are done indoors you'll be seeing pictures of my house too. Oh yeah...I have 3 cats so you'll see them occasionally.
The other hallmark of the year is an annual camping trip with my friends. It's grown over the years, but the basic premise is I get together with a core group of 4 guys. We've all known each other for 25 years or so and this is the one time a year we specifically set aside to get together. It's always the first weekend of November in Harpers' Ferry at the same campground. They've been going for about 6 years, this will be my 5th year. We get up there on Friday in the late morning. The first thing we do is open a drink and get the tents set up. Because of my weird sleep/wake pattern I sleep in my own 2 person tent...though I don't see HOW two adults could stay in it! Once camp is set up we start a fire and that's the official start of the weekend...we use a piece of wood from the previous years fire, it's a continuity thing. The rest of the weekend is spent sitting around the continuously burning fire eating and drinking. I even took a few naps last year and when I woke up was assured there would be something to eat either being made or left over from the last "cook cycle". We head home Sunday late morning and it's back to reality on Monday.
