July is Already Ending?!

It has been well over a month since my last post and time has not flown by, yet seems to have escaped me instead. Still haven’t even taken notes for my next movie review, though I did glance at the movie briefly while making sure the PC monitor is still calibrated. Being an early adopter of Windows 10 meant finessing the video settings on my Nvidia GTX 670, though I’m one of the lucky ones with no Nvidia Windows 10 problems (other than having to enable vertical sync in all games).

A lot has happened since the middle of June, including FFT (Forced Family Time) when my sister and her family visited the week before Independence Day. Starting with cleaning house before hand, I’ve been run into the ground this summer making life quite difficult.

So what does that have to do with bald eagles?

Being the typical modern touristas constantly on the go during vacation, my sister and her family had a busy agenda of visiting Wabasha to check out the National Eagle Center and Lark Toys. That all day affair nearly killed me and I won’t even discuss the horrors of playing miniature golf. For the record, my coming in dead last has nothing to do with the trauma.

The first leg of the trip to the National Eagle Center was an adventure in its own right, involving three children, two adults, and one “adult” packed into a minivan SUV. Said adults sat up front while the four humanoids in back ignored the beautiful Mississippi River scenery since they kept their heads down playing video games on iPhones. That included the toddler and the father, by the way.

Warnings had to be made well in advance of each stop in order to get them to put the electronic time wasters down. Sometimes this actually worked.

Barely making it to the scheduled presentation in time, we learned a great deal about Bald Eagles and their habits during the informative show. Live feeding was part of the event, but unfortunately it was the eagle being fed raw fish rather than the humans. Was’aka gorged himself until his crop feathers were exposed while I snapped pictures, some of which turned out.

For some strange reason, I came out of the room wanting sushi.

The young male raptor from Florida turned out to have something of a winning personality or at least a little unusual by eagle standards. One of Was’aka’s quirks is liking to bathe after eating, so when we were allowed out to the glassed in observation area of the communal eagle room, there he was having a grand old time in a small tub filled with water.

Piercing battle cries arose from the room periodically, when the ironically named Angel (picture at the top of the post) spied wild bald eagles flying by outside. Being a member of an antisocial and highly territorial species, she was infuriated by the trespassers. Acting like an angry old man screaming at local kids to get off the lawn, she made quite an impression.

Much more mellow was Donald, the sole Golden Eagle in the enclosure. Mild interest was shown in the humans photographing him giving an impression of benevolent acceptance of the two legged mammals.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one hungry after leaving the center, so we went on a quest to find a restaurant on the river at Wabasha. Amazing as it may sound, we did not find one and had to settle for a place that was more of a bar. The food was excellent even if the view was not.

Next on the agenda was Lark Toys, the most incredible toy store out in the middle of nowhere you will ever see. Part museum, part toy store, and part micro amusement park, it features something for everyone and every age. The main attraction is the wide assortment of toys and collectibles with the wood carousel being the other big draw. Heaven for kids with shelter for adults to be found in the bookstore and the food court is how I would describe it.

My favorite parts of Lark were the glassed off alcoves displaying vintage toys of different eras. Most were divided up by themes, such as the science fiction toys seen above. There was even a replica TARDIS filled with Doctor Who toys. Temptation was mastered despite the officially licensed neckties on sale calling out to me to purchase them.

There is a miniature golf course attached to the store and that is all I will say on the matter.

Other things happened in July too, but I won’t be bothering with covering them. It has been a month of being unable to recover much stamina, over exertion, blown commitments, and struggling to function most of the time. The only comfort has been occasional distractions such as going to the local movie theater in Spring Grove.

Weird things happened, life went on, and so it goes day after day, week after week, and month after month. On to the next crisis…