Well here we are again, it's that time of year when we reflect on what happened, or didn't happen during the past year. As I'm attempting to write this year's review, I'm finding it difficult because my newest fur-baby Izzy is sacked out on me. Isabelle Starr came to us from the Brown County Humane Society in New Ulm, MN. Right now she is 9 1/2 months old and and an absolute sweetheart. We couldn't ask for a better cat. I just wish she would get along better with our other cat Cheyenne. Neither cat likes the other one, but they have agreed to live on different levels of our house, at least for now. Hopefully soon they will become best friends, who am I kidding, I guess I'd settle for just tolerating one another. Since we have a new fur-baby, unfortunately that means we lost one of our other babies. Lakota left us to live in Heaven in April. He was 19 years old. Miss you baby! Our feather baby also left to live in Heaven. Rikki was 25 and is sorely missed as well.
As usual we went on several day trips mostly around Minnesota but one in Wisconsin including: Big Stone Wildlife Refuge, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, Sibley State Park, Frontenac State Park, Tiffany State Wildlife Area in Wisconsin, Hok-Si-La City Park, Banning State Park, along with various locations along both the Luce Line Trail and Glacial Lakes Trail. We also spent a weekend in Cloquet, Minnesota hiking along the Superior Hiking Trail. Our big trip this year was to Nebraska and Colorado. We spent a week hiking around Scottsbluff and Rocky Mountain National Park. I think my favorite place to go this year was the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha Nebraska. I've been waiting to go here for a very long time and let me tell you it didn't disappoint. Definitely on my must see again list. If you ever get the chance to go I highly recommend it.
There were a few new species spotted for us this year including Moose, Pica, Yellow-bellied Marrmot, Savannah Sparrow, Common Nighthawk, Greater White-fronted Geese, Barrow's Goldeneye, Green-winged Teal, Great Horned Owl, Spiney Leg Willowfly, Flower Fly, Least Flycatcher, Sedge Wren, Dogbane Leaf Beetle, Dicksissel, Johnson Jumping Spider, and my absolute favorite find of the year the Yellow Garden Argiope. The cool thing about this was we spotted her on 2 separate occasions. The second time we saw her, 2 weeks after we originally spotted her, the original web had been destroyed by rain and she had moved over one clump of flowers and made a new web.
We did some major home repairs this summer (removed the stucco and replaced with siding (removing and replacing rotten wood underneath), removed and replaced the flat roof, and gutted the powder room, removed chimney, and rebuilt bowed-out bricks) that although we didn't do ourselves, seemed to occupy much of our time. The entire project lasted almost exactly 2 months and was very stressful. The end of 2015 saw surgery for me to fix my bum toe. I am really hoping this will make hiking pain-free and more enjoyable in the new year.
We are already in the planning stages of many one day trips and a couple of bigger trips for next year. We also want to try canoeing. We see how that goes. Here's hoping we stay dry and safe. 2016 looks to have many fun adventures. I hope we get to see many new species for us and get a chance to photograph them too.
Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year
Karla and Aaron