Eclectic travelers

Third base brewery and pub is located on the north side of Cedar Rapids in the industrial area and is a storefront in a small strip mall.  Not much to recommend it until you come in and enjoy the food and the wing.  Great beer, some outstanding wings with many of the sauces including their own beers. Kate and I enjoyed this pub with her Brother Bill Crowley and his wife Mary.  Good sandwiches and what a sampler! Best of all, the beers were all good.  These were my notes - my scales are these - first 1 - 5 light to dark, second 1 - 5 sweet to bitter (think malt to hops), and third how much I like it from 1 - 10.  For an example think Bud, Miller and those other poor examples of beer would be around a 1 - 2 - 3.  Anything over 5 is worth drinking - 5 means easy to drink - nothing outstanding, 6 would be a nice beer with some good attributes, 7 is a beer I would order again, 8 is outstanding and over 9 is on the way to perfection. Unfortunatel...

A new dining and beer experience in Duluth with Kate, Alyssa and Troy. 40 beers on tap - great burgers made with their beers, and fresh cut chips and fries.  A wonderful stop - small, nice bar, definitely a place to enjoy with friends.

WINGIN’ IT By Kate Crowley We were in Iowa City for the Thanksgiving holiday and while out for a pre-dinner walk I heard a distinctive “CHIP” and knew even before turning to look that I would see a beautiful red bird.  There at the top of a cherry tree sat a male Northern Cardinal and as we watched he plucked a cluster of the still dark red cherries with his sharp beak and carried them away to enjoy in a less busy setting.  This particular call which is described as ‘chip’ in the literature has a slightly metallic sound and it the most commonly heard, though not nearly as exciting as the bird’s spring courtship calls of ‘what cheer what cheer’ and ‘pretty pretty pretty’.  It will be a couple months before we can expect to hear these delightful songs. Male cardinals with their ruby red feathers, black face and chin and reddish beak cry out for attention.  Their feathered crest is the exclamation point on an already striking figure. The female of course is much ...

GOING NATURE’S WAY By Kate Crowley We travel to see the world anew. And we don’t have to travel all that far to be impressed by living things we encounter.  For the Thanksgiving holiday we went to Iowa City where my mom lives, 375 miles south of Willow River; best known as ‘Corn country’.  But while on a walk to the grocery store Mike and I paused to look at two kinds of trees we don’t have here in North Central Minnesota; the shagbark hickory and the plane tree (also known by some as the sycamore).  Both of these trees have a very distinctive and unusual type of bark covering their trunks.  We stopped and really looked at the texture and shape of the outermost layer and speculated as to why it was this way. Now that the deciduous trees are bare, we can see their shape and structure; their ‘bones’ as it were. All is revealed, including leftover little nests perched on the lower branches. It is not an overstatement to say that the majority of people take ...

WINGIN’ IT By Kate Crowley Right now most everyone is thinking about turkeys; how big, fresh or frozen, brine soaked or traditionally stuffed and roasted.  But I am thinking about chickens.  Not that we are planning to have this smaller fowl for our Thanksgiving feast, but because I am thinking about eggs; locally produced, free range, and fed with non-GMO grains.  It just so happens, Minnesota is in the spotlight for just these sorts of eggs and chickens. A small company called Locally Laid (Lola) could bring national attention to our state and this type of animal husbandry on – believe it or not – the SuperBowl!  Maybe you have seen some of the ads and news stories about Lola and their efforts to win the contest which would result in an ad to be shown on the televised football game.  But before I describe this effort let’s take a look at the bird (or birds) itself.  Today, the American Poultry Association (APA) recognizes 64 breeds of chicken, bu...

WINGIN’ IT By Kate Crowley For many years we participated in Project FeederWatch, a program designed by a Canadian Bird Observatory and now associated with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  We have taken a sabbatical the past few years, but I decided it was time to renew our membership and once again be part of this great Citizen Science project that helps scientists understand more about the bird populations in North America during the winter months. Through data collected by FeederWatch volunteers scientists can begin to analyze the distribution and abundance of more than 100 bird species.  This is important information because it can provide an insight into the population of birds that can’t be found by any other available method.  Since 1976 in Canada and 1986 here in the U.S., data has been collected through the observations of local citizens.  This sort of long term data can show a decline in a particular species and once bird population scientists see th...

GOING NATURE’S WAY By Kate Crowley November 2 and we still have phlox and snapdragon’s in bloom.  I can’t say I recall ever having flowers so late in the year.  It’s wonderful, but strange.  After a week of grey, drippy, damp weather, the sun came out on Saturday, lifted our spirits and put a spotlight on all the remaining leaves in the forest.  Our silver maple tree still has nearly all its leaves and there are a few aspens with an equal amount.  The oak trees are a rich maroon and they will hang onto many of their leaves well into the winter; just down the road a stand of tamarack have reached the peak of their golden glory. Even on the gray days their needles put out a glow, unequaled by any other tree.  Soon those needles will drop off and we’ll be left with their skeleton forms. We have been waiting for a day like this to complete the outdoor work that so many do in preparation for the coming winter.  For those of us who live in the country...