Jay Gaulard - My Personal Blog

Hummingbirds at Hummingbird Feeder

July 30, 2011

I am quite excited about this post for a few reasons. First, we got some neat video of many of the hummingbirds that have been using our new hummingbird feeder, and second, I used the Youtube video editor.

Let me tell you about the Youtube video editor. It’s really cool. I didn’t know how easy it would be to use. I think I made this one video from seven source videos and I really like the way it came out. I trimmed each video, used transitions, used the anti-camera shake feature and then added music. The adding music part was probably the most challenging part because I wanted it to be very subtle in the background. There was a lot to choose from. I think guitar is a good choice.

Now let me tell you about the new hummingbird feeder. It called the “Droll Yankees WH3 Window Mount Hummer Feeder with Nectar Guard” and I think it’s awesome. We have two other hummingbird feeders and nothing comes close to the action we get with this one. I’m not sure if it’s because of location or what, but we can sit at the kitchen table at any given moment and are pretty much guaranteed to see some birds.

Here are some pictures of the hummingbird feeder…

…and here is the video.

Hummingbirds at Hummingbird Feeder

And for those who want to see a cute hummingbird video, this is for you.

Amazing Pet Video – Rescued Baby Hummingbird

Simon the Cat is My Blogging Assistant

July 30, 2011

While I was writing the Hummingbird post, Simon decided to jump up on my lap to help out.

He started to fall asleep, but I got a picture right before he did. Isn’t he beautiful?

Allen Deluxe 4-Bike Hitch Mount Bike Rack

July 30, 2011

One of Amazon.com’s best features is each item’s review section. For almost any product, you can visit Amazon.com and check out the public’s opinion of it. Pretty cool. But there’s something a little weird about the people who write the reviews.

If you visit a product page at Amazon and scroll down to the review section, you’ll notice a link that says, “See all my reviews” next to the person’s username who wrote the review. Generally, each user only has a review or two. But every so often, you’ll see someone who has written hundreds of them. I always wonder why they do this. It’s a free gift to Amazon and this content can easily be monetized through a blog. Why are they writing on someone else’s website? I guess the entrepreneurial spirit doesn’t easily flow through all of us.

To my post. I just opened the garage door and was greeted by my new bike rack. In an earlier post, I mentioned that we have been walking/biking at the local rail trail. The one time we went biking, I had to load both big, heavy mountain bikes into the back of my car. This wasn’t fun. Bikes are cumbersome to say the least. Two bikes on top of one another are extremely cumbersome. I decided to buy a bike rack.

I visited Amazon.com and searched for “bike rack.” I liked the first one that came up. It’s called the “Allen Deluxe 4-Bike Hitch Mount Rack” and I believe I paid $84.54 for it. I got super saver free shipping because I bought some other stuff I’ll write about later.

I was eager to see what this little piece of equipment would look like on the back of my car, so I quickly opened the box and set it up. It took about five minutes. I have to say, it’s heavy, strong and very well made. The only thing that I wish was different was the bolt that holds the rack to the hitch. It’s a “no-wobble” bolt and it needs to be attached with two 3/4″ wrenches. Not a big deal if you are as relaxed as you should be, but I wish you could just use a regular (or locking) trailer hitch pin. I have a locking one and it would make me feel a little better if I was on vacation and had to park the car overnight.

Anyway, I wanted to take lots of pictures for anyone who might be interested in this bike rack. I haven’t placed the bikes on it yet because they are hanging from the ceiling. When I get them down for our next ride, I take some pics and you’ll get the full deal.

Nolan Thomas – Yo’ Little Brother (1984)

July 29, 2011

I received a phone call from my brother yesterday evening around 5. Apparently, he was in town, had some free time and wanted to have dinner together. Since I have been living alone for almost two weeks, I thought this would be a refreshing change of pace.

The minute I got off the phone, I called and made a reservation of one of my favorite restaurants in the area, The Brushmill by the Waterfall in Chester, CT. This post isn’t about that. I’ll cover the restaurant is very light detail in my next post.

What I wanted to show you this evening is a video my brother introduced me to last night. Here’s how the story goes…

On the way back from the restaurant, we started talking about music. Remember how I mentioned that I was graciously given a whole bunch of CDs back in the day?

Tears For Fears – Woman In Chains Featuring Oleta Adams

“A long, long time ago, my brother went away to college. He left behind many items and gave me explicit instructions to use them as I wish. Over the years, I have.”

While driving, I decided to take the same road we take to go riding on the rail trail. It’s a really nice road and is actually marked “scenic” by the town. I have no idea what credentials a road has to meet to be considered scenic, but I do know that it requires purchasing a road sign to inform the public that the road is, in fact, scenic.

Anyway, we were driving along and of course, I brought up Tears For Fears. Now, my brother is what we like to call a music connoisseur. You don’t just go haphazardly tossing out a name like Tears For Fears without expecting a response. I am generally not the type of person who has an appreciation for music or gets into discussions about music, but let’s just say my life has been strange lately.

We started talking about this particular group and compared and contrasted them with the usual crew. We agreed that they are indeed very talented and that few others out there can in fact, as I stated previously, “hold a candle to them.” We also discussed other New Wave groups from the UK, such as “When in Rome” and some others. It was a really good conversation and I learned (again) how similar my brother and I are to each other and how enjoyable it is getting excited about the same exact stuff. It’s taken me this long to discover this. I’ve been told that I’m a late bloomer.

When we arrive at the house, I told him that I wanted to show him a few videos of the songs I was talking about in the car. I was referring to the typical culprits, such as “Lucky Man” by The Verve, “Are You Ready?” by Richard Ashcroft and U.N.O.S, my snowboarding videos and some others. I think he liked them.

*****

Okay, let’s get to the point of this post. He wanted to show me a video. He mentioned that the younger character in this video reminded him of me. I think it’s hilarious. How he finds these things, I’ll never know.

Watch this video and perhaps you can answer the question I had when I finished watching it. Where is the innocence of the 80s? I miss it.

Nolan Thomas – Yo’ Little Brother (1984)

Our New Lavender Plants

July 28, 2011

I almost called this plant purple, then I remembered that lavender is actually a color. Check it out, it really is.

A few weeks ago, we acquired two Lavender plants after a long and arduous search. For some reason, every place we visited seemed to have a bunch of plants that looked just like Lavender, but that never had any Lavender specifically. It was getting to the point of depression when we unexpectedly found some plants at an Agway we were shopping for some other items at. We bought what they had and planted them in the side garden.

Since planting them, the plants have bloomed into some pretty nice specimens. The specific name of what we planted is “Herb Lavandula” or “Munstead Lavender.”

“One of the Lavandula angustifolias or English lavenders, Munstead Lavender is a fragrant robust lavender that, due to its short size (about 18 inches) and tightly held blooms (about 8 inches), makes a great hedge. It can also be used for knot gardens. It flowers profusely in the spring, after which a good pruning will provide an attractive gray bush with highly aromatic leaves.” Source.

From looking through some photos of Munstead Lavender on Google Images, I am discovering that what we have should really take off next Spring. Looking at the sizes of the flowers in the photos, I am actually a bit nervous. I guess it’s nothing that can’t be trimmed if things get out of control. For now, I’ll simply enjoy our little plants.

Best Cool Season Grass Seed For Heat and Drought

July 20, 2011

Okay, so I am probably thinking the same thing everyone else out there is thinking right now. What is the best cool season grass for heat and drought? That’s right. If you are reading this post, you most likely live in the “cooler” areas of the U.S. and are experiencing very stubborn and annoying heat. You are also probably looking at an ugly brown lawn.

I, for one, can’t stand it. I put so much work into this lawn for the past two years and have seen it wiped away this Summer. I’m sure it will look better in a few months, but not before all the dormant grass comes back and I get rid of the weeds. Yeah, lawns seem to have a funny way of going dormant in the Summer months, which opens the door for all sorts of weeds to grow like crazy…crabgrass being the worst one. I’m ready to throw my hands in the air and just mow crabgrass for the rest of my life. Uggg. At least it is thick and really needs no maintenance.

Back to my question – What’s the best grass seed to buy that will deal with this heat and drought that undoubtedly come every year? In the middle of Winter, we don’t think of this, but in the middle of Summer, it’s hard not to.

I did a little research and came to the conclusion that Tall Fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass are the best to get. They are cool season grasses and can withstand heat and drought. Now, I know what you are thinking right now – “What? Kentucky bluegrass for heat?” Yup. I bought the Scotts Thermal Blue Kentucky Bluegrass last Summer and planted it around September 1. It’s just about the only thing that looks good in the front lawn right now. I am not sure about its claim that it spreads to fill in bare spots, but as far as staying green in dry soil, that seems to be holding up.

This is straight from the Scotts website:

“Scotts has developed an exclusive grass called Thermal Blue Kentucky Bluegrass that can survive heat and drought and spreads like ordinary Kentucky bluegrass. It can survive wherever tall fescue grows.”

So that’s what I am going to do come September. I am going to pick up some Pennington Tall Fescue Blend grass seed and some Scotts Thermal Blue Kentucky Bluegrass grass seed and plant it about October 1.

Oh, that reminds me – here are some tips on how to plant or overseed grass seed in the Autumn. This comes from personal experience. Plant on October 1, not early September like people recommend. September is still hot and dry and you will be driven mad by the amount you have to water. I have seen people in this area (Connecticut) plant in November and have great results come Spring. Also, aerate the lawn first. Aerate like it’s going out of style. You can count on all the grass seed that doesn’t fall in a little holes created by the aerator to not germinate. The grass that does make it in the holes grows nice and full with deep roots. You would be amazed at all the nice green “dots” we have on this lawn caused by the stripes from the aerator.

I think that’s it. Any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment.

Tears For Fears – Woman In Chains Featuring Oleta Adams

July 17, 2011

A long, long time ago, my brother went away to college. He left behind many items and gave me explicit instructions to use them as I wish. Over the years, I have.

One cluster of items he left behind was a stack of CDs. To this day, he says I stole them. I keep telling him that he gave them to me. He has a faulty memory that will be a timeless wedge between the two of us. Little does he know, his gift to me has opened up a whole world of music that otherwise would have been left unexplored. I would call it “80s” music, but I am sure there’s some 70s mixed in there too.

A few days ago, we were in the car driving to the rail trail. We were engaging in some idle chit chat while listening to “Tears For Fears.” Now, Tears For Fears has never really meant much to me. They were mentally lumped in with Mr. Mister and Thompson Twins. If someone had asked me what the difference between the bands were, I couldn’t respond with anything of any substance.

As we were driving and talking and talking and driving, the song “Woman In Chains Featuring Oleta Adams” began to play. The sun was setting just the right way and we were heading through some pretty rural land. It was another one of those Summer nights I am so fond of. If you have been following this blog over the past five years, you would have read descriptions of some of my most favorite times. In case you haven’t, you can read them here:

– My Hazy Summer Nights With Garrison Keillor
– Epiphany Project with John Hodian and Bet Williams
– Thistle & Shamrock with Fiona Ritchie

Boy, I’ve been writing for a long time. I have to say that this has been one of my life’s most worthwhile endeavors and I’m not sure anyone has enjoyed this blog more than I have. Sometimes I sit at my desk and go through my old posts. It’s like reading my diary.

These Summer nights are life changers. They always include the arts and open me up to something I didn’t know before. I swear, I am biologically altered after some of these experiences.

So there we were, driving along. Since we had been listening to Tears For Fears for most of the ride, we were primed for the song that came on at the moment I described above. I don’t know, we just got quiet. We listened to the song which lasts for more than six minutes.

Have you ever heard one of those songs that you need to listen to over and over? It’s a talent that’s few and far between. I wonder how someone does it…how they find the magic that enables them to assemble something so beautiful.

Tears For Fears – Woman In Chains Featureing Oleta Adams

The thing with this one is that it last long enough to hook you. It really hooks you, and I’m not alone in thinking this. The comments on Youtube on each and every version of this video are all the same:

– Such a strong voice he has. I always come back to these guys when I need a break from the messed-up world we live in.

– Although not featured on the video, that’s Phil Collins on the drums. What an ethereal piece. Perfectly structured, layered so richly with perfect rhythms and harmonies – it takes you to another world. The power of the lyrics matched only by the power of the vocal harmonies. Wow. Just wow.

– This music video sends chills down my spine. One of the most beautiful pieces of art I have ever been privy too. What a treasure.

– Man what a beautiful song. It just pulls at your heart.

– For me the very, very best song ever recorded! Once I put it on I listen to it over and over…….and then over again.

When something like this happens in the car, I wonder what the other person is thinking. I slowly increase the volume to the point of enjoyment and expect something to be said. When nothing happens, I increase it a bit more and drive. We both look at the land and enjoy.

Tears For Fears has talent. There is so much I listen to on all their albums without forwarding through much.

So here’s what happened. When it came time to take them out of the CD player in the car, I thought I would see if I could find something similar in Mr. Mister and the Thompson Twins. The next time we drove to the rail trail, we flipped through both of the albums and couldn’t find one thing that held a candle to Tears For Fears. I mean, we were comparing something that was one dimensional to something else that was five dimensional. There was a serious difference and I began questioning the earthliness of these two.

I don’t know. I guess I’ll just chalk it up to another memorable Summer night that I’ll be reading about in the years to come.

Charlie The Unicorn

July 16, 2011

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was dreaming about unicorns walking to candy mountain. If you had no idea what I was talking about, you’ll want to see this video:

Charlie the Unicorn

I first saw this video years ago. I love it – it’s such fun humor. What I didn’t know was that there are now more video about Charlie the Unicorn’s life. I’ll post them for you below.

Charlie the Unicorn 2

Charlie the Unicorn 3

Charlie the Unicorn 4

Walking Along the Salmon River in Connecticut

July 16, 2011

We have been discovering the most amazing places lately, and believe me, I don’t use the word “amazing” very often. When I hear that word, I usually think of a twenty something responding to a question like, “How to you like your new job?” “Oh, it’s AMAZING.” Or something like, “Do you like the new town you moved to? “Yes, I love it. It’s AMAAAAAZING.” Very overused word and I make fun of that demographic because I’ve heard it a thousand times. But remember, I love all demographics and I think very carefully before I make fun of one of them.

Anyway, we have been riding along the Airline Trail and have enjoyed almost every minute of our rides. I’ll talk more about it in my next post, but one topic I want to tell you about today is a small section of the Salmon River that runs along the rail trail. The area of river is next to what they call, “Former Airline Railroad Bridge at River Road, Colchester, CT.” In case you couldn’t guess, I lifted that from a photo description on Google Earth.

Here’s a picture of the former airline railroad bridge:

There is a dirt parking area right North of the bridge.

The first time we saw this section of river was during our last trip on the trail. We rode over the bridge and looked to the left and there it was. Hugely exciting, partly because only a handful of people in this world have seen it. It’s back there and to explore the area, you would need to meet a few conditions, such as: you must own a bike, you must like to ride it, you must ride it on the trail, you must ride it on this particular section of the trail…on and on.

Since we were riding bikes the day we saw the river, we decided that we would come back later in the week to walk down for a visit. River Road is awful to ride on. I went in on the bike for just a bit and came right back out. Way too much rock in the road.

Here’s a section of the road. This doesn’t look too bad, but believe me, the other sections were worse.

When we made it down to the river, I was excited to see such a diverse area. The river twists and turns and has a lot of rock all around. There were some kids walking up the road and they told me they just got done tubing down a section of the river. I love seeing people out and enjoying secret places like this.

Here is the part of river I am talking about:

We played around for a while and I took some pictures, then we continued our walk down River Road. It’s a nice road that has the river running along it on the left side and on the right, a huge, steep hill that goes up to the rail trail. If two people were so inclined, one person could ride a bike on River Road and the other could ride along the rail trail and they could yell back and forth to each other. Just a thought.

We walked for about a mile and then turned around. There were a few families hanging out and fishing and stuff like that. I thought that was cool because my faith in society has been kind of hammered as of late and when I see people doing things I used to do as a kid, it makes me think things aren’t as bad as they are. It’s good that these parents were bringing their kids there to explore the wild.

Now that I know about these neat areas, I have been calling friends and inviting them to come visit. I really want to go for a bike ride to show them these things. You know, kind of “show off” a little bit. I know just what these guys like and I think they would really enjoy it.

Riding the Airline Rail Trail From North Westchester To Colchester, CT

July 16, 2011

This is two rides merged into one. I only have two decent pictures of the second ride, so I figured this was just easier.

We have been astounded, that’s right, astounded at what we have been finding while riding on the Airline State Park and Rail Trail. Rivers, waterfalls, bridges, wetlands, big valleys with great views…it’s wonderful. I think the part that strikes me the most is how these old railroads cut right through nature. The areas are quiet and calm with the very infrequent biker or jogger passing by. It’s a treasure that many know about, but only a few take advantage of.

As you would imagine, riding miles on these trails gives the rider a lot of time to think. Even if you are riding with someone, you aren’t necessarily side-by-side. One train of thought I have had on our last few rides have been about the people who actually made this old railroad. What a project and what an achievement. I wonder if they knew that one day all their hard work would be disassembled and what was left would be used as a recreational area for people to enjoy.

The first trip we took started in North Westchester on Rt. 149, right off Rt. 2. There is a parking lot there and on the night we took this ride, there were a few ladies chatting while sitting on a bench. I feel terrible because they were sitting there when we left and they were still there when we returned. That’s not why I feel terrible. This is: As I passed them by on our return trip, I said to one of them, “We just finished the entire rail trail.” Her face lit up and it looked like she was going to jump out of her skin. She was excited. I had to quickly yell out, “JUST KIDDING!!! I was just kidding, I am a horrible person.” I have a very dark side to me, as you can see.

I am guessing that from point to point on these two rides is about eight miles. On the second trip, we ended in Colchester, a few miles away from the center of East Hampton. Since there isn’t much to say as far as a story would go, let me just post some pictures and describe them on the way down. That would be easiest.

As promised, I took a picture of my bike on my new bike rack. I have decided that I really like this bike rack. While it’s kind of a pain to pull that pin out every time I want to open the rear hatch on the car, it certainly isn’t worth an extra hundred dollars to have a quick release handle. Also, it will get a bit easier as the pin wears in a bit. Right now, it’s kind of tight. Otherwise, the rack is strong and awesome.

As we rode along the rail trail from Rt. 149, and believe me, it wasn’t a very far ride, we were confronted with, or better yet, we encountered an area that gave me great pause. I stopped and as I paused, I decided to take out my camera for a few pictures. I kind of felt guilty stopping so soon because we had only ridden for about two minutes, but hey, you know?

What you should be looking at is the photo directly above. It’s a section of wetlands that is adjacent to River Road. It’s chock full of wildlife and the area can easily entertain nature lovers for hours. There’s even a bench for said lovers.

As we stood there for a while, we became kind of hypnotized by the slow motion action of the animals in the wetlands. Just as something would fly away or go under water, something else would take it’s place. I contemplated setting up a nice video camera to record for about a half hour. I’m sure people would get a kick out of that if it were done correctly.

Moving on…

As you can see, I am not sure if the bridge crossed the Salmon River or another one. One river joins another and…wait, you know what, it is the Salmon River. I just checked Google Earth and the other river is the Jeremy River. So there you go.

Also, the map of the Airline Rail Trail you see above was located in the dirt parking lot I talk about in a post below. It’s right before the “Former Airline Railroad Bridge at River Road, Colchester, CT.”

Lastly, there are many areas with really good looking ledge all along the trail. When the sun hits it just right…

These are actually photos from our second ride in this area. What you are looking at is called the “Lyman Viaduct” and it’s quite spectacular. I didn’t know these types of hills existed in this area, so when we crossed this section, we kind of just stopped and thought about it. That’s when the true appreciation of what we had in our own back yard kind of kicked in. It also made us think about what else we’ve been missing. You know, it takes effort finding these types of things. I should be more aggressive in this area of my life.

These pictures are from our ride back during the first trip. It was remarkable because looking at the same scenes, just at a different time of day completely changed things. The first picture of the three above is the same wetlands that I wrote about earlier. Beautiful, isn’t it? The second and third photos are from the same spot…I just turned a few degrees and then turned a few more.

I guess my point with all this is that we are really enjoying ourselves on this trail. It’s giving us some new perspective on the area we live and giving us some exercise as well.

I am sure that our rides will continue and I’m sure that my picture taking and writing will continue as well. So, if you like pictures and reading about rail trails, please be sure to stop on by again.