Tim and I were on a quest today. I wanted to see the snowy owls that have been seen at Jones Beach and was afraid they may leave as the weather warms. We drove out to West End Beach 2 and met a mixed batch of birders. The first group we met was happy to point us in the right direction although we didn’t really know where they meant. The second group was quite a contrast and were quite closed and tried to discourage us from looking. Tim’s strategy was to use the binoculars to look for groups of bird watchers who might be watching the birds we were looking for. This didn’t work too well but then someone told us that the area had become so popular that it was fenced off. This we could find. Even then, we wouldn’t have been able to see the Saw-Whet owl sequestered there until a photographer showed us it hidden in a pine tree. It wasn’t the Snowy owl though so we were off to the nature center. There the guide told us they hadn’t seen it that day but had seen birders in the west end of the park. This seems to be our best strategy, find the birders who might actually be looking at something and then try to find it. We saw a snowy owl but it was off in the distance and really looked like a piece of styrofoam.
Then we were off to the Connetquot State park for a hike. We went to the fish hatchery where even without others, we were able to find trout trying to jump over a dam. The smaller ones had a clear advantage because they could slip between the dam and the bridge over it. The larger ones jumped so high that they rammed the bridge and fell back into the water, perhaps a little dazed, to be snagged by one of the fly fisherman.
When we returned to Fire Island, there was another crowd there enjoying the full moon rising over the lighthouse. Quite a day. We didn’t pack a lunch so I had some chocolate covered almonds in the car, which I saved in a clean exam glove and we enjoyed a snack from the candy man.
Candy Man
There’s a barge offshore and it’s pumping sand onto the beach through a big pipe.
The seagulls are having a feast on the critters deposited with the fresh sand behind the tractors.
from my deck today, when the skies cleared and yesterday. 
In fact, it was so nice today that a charter fishing boat was out.
We awakened this morning to the pitter patter of little feet – above our heads. We looked up and the skylight was covered with what I think were Eastern Starlings that were taking advantage of the ice melting off the skylight.
I am so excited. Since we packed up all our possessions last spring, I stored my well used and seasoned electric waffle maker. I love waffles. In the interim, I have become very creative with different flours, buttermilk and make all sorts of pancakes but they are not the same. And while Tim has agreed to install an oven on the boat for our year of cruising (he can’t go a year without apple pie) we won’t have the power for an electric griddle on the boat or next summer when we move to Massacussetts as lighthouse keepers. Essentially we will be off the grid for the next couple of years and I need waffles.
well not exactly but it’s pretty cold so I have taken to indoor projects. I knitted up a baby set based upon Elizabeth Zimmerman and just love it. I enjoy that her projects get me to think like a knitter and not just follow a pattern completely.
I’ll have to invest in more and think of future projects but will probably stick to one color.
Yesterday, I was on my own so tried my hand at kool aid dyeing of some 
corriedale cream roving and loved it. it was easy, not too messy and non-toxic. My local grocery store didn’t have any blue kool aid so I may have to move on to food coloring. I followed very helpful instructions from 
Island and North Country Life 