Details for the Rubbish Regatta

I spoke with the Rubbish Regatta's organizer, Larry, last week.

This is a first time event that was planned in response to last year's flood and all the trasht left on the shores of Saylorville Lake. The Des Moines Sail and Power Squadron focuses on education through its water safety classes. This event is an extension of its education arm.

The Rubbish Regatta course will be set in the water, approximately waist deep, with lanes roped off with fence posts. The participants will be in the water next to their boat able to assist without touching -- blowing or pushing waves of water to move the boat to the finish line.

Three age divisions are planned for the race: 0 - 7 years old, 8 - 12 years, and 12 - 17 years. Because Larry plans to have prizes for everyone (bags of goodies from Scheels) and because it is a first year event, he would really appreciate pre-registrations. He doesn't mind walk-on registrations, but the prize bags will be easier to manage on his end if he has registrations.

He has planned for special prizes for entries in categories. Categories will most likely be something like "looks most like a sailboat," "most imaginative" (junkiest looking), etc. Everyone who performs three hours of lake shore clean-up will be awarded one free night of camping in one of Saylorville Lake's campgrounds.

Details: Rubbish Regatta
no entry fee to participate, just your time and effort
Sat., July 11, 2009
8:30 Sandpiper Beach
1 - 2:30 Boat construction
2:30 Boat races
Register with Larry, 515-257-8143 (local call in Des Moines)

CITO, Regattas, and Free Camping

We geocachers practice Cache In, Trash Out (CITO) all the time (ideally). While shopping at Scheel's (a favorite store of mine), I found a flyer at the check-out counter that reminded me of CITO. I think it sounds fun. It would be an Earth Day activity, but during July. If you cannot or do not want to participate, remember that many caches are hidden in the area. You could cache, then watch the regatta without participating. I have been unable to find anything online about this event, so this blog post will have to be the online info source!

Bare bones:

Perform Saylorville Lake shore clean-up for 3 hrs. and qualify for the Rubbish Regatta and one free night of camping in one of the Saylorville's campgrounds.

From after this paragraph until the end of the post, I am copying all punctuation, capitalization, coloring, and wording, etc. as it appears on the flyer. I will add hyperlinks where possible.


Details:

Model Sailing
"Rubbish Regatta"
July 11, 2009

"Come Sailing with USPS"
The Des Moines Sail and Power Squadron, in cooperation with The US Army Corps of Engineers at Saylorville Lake is sponsoring a Lakeshore Cleanup Day.

- Orientation: 8:30 a.m. at Sandpiper Beach. Trash bags and gloves provided.

- Lakeshore cleanup: 9 a.m. to noon. Long pants and sturdy shoes suggested.
** Participation required to build a boat.

- Lunch: noon to 1 p.m. On your own.

- Rubbish Boat building: 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Adult and child teams, supplies provided.

- Rubbish Boat races: 2:30 p.m.

- Prizes will be awarded.

Be sure to bring a swimsuit and sun lotion as child will be with the boat in the water!

Volunteers who complete 3 hours of clean up will qualify for the Rubbish Regatta and one free night of camping in one of the Saylorville Lake campgrounds.

Sign up at the Saylorville Lake Visitor Center or any Saylorville Lake campground.
For more information, call 257-8143.

US Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District

Firefly Watch

The spittle bug bubbles reminded me about two other bug related things we're doing at our house.

A citizen science project that we just began is the Firefly Watch. My youngest and I have noticed that there are two kind of glowing fireflies -- one with wings and one without wings. Since the heads are the same on both, we think one is larval. You can see in the photo of its underside, that the two with wings (top photo) are different from the one without wings. The wingless blinker is also longer.

We have all good intentions to do the Lost Ladybug Project, but we don't have a place in our yard where we've consistently found them. I'll have to talk to the kids again about it.

I have also attempted The Great Sunflower Project (bee observations) for what feels like ten years, but my sunflowers always get eaten before they are large enough to be of any help. I feel unproductive and wasteful about that. I will make an effort to report my non-sunflower sighting this year.

Spittle Bug

Found while seeking Tommy Boy (I just understood the clue this afternoon in the car. duh!).


These are kind of fun to find. You can find masses of spittle on leaves and stems. There are many spittle bug species. I don't know that I'll ever know what kind it is since I didn't see the animal itself.

The adults are sometimes called froghoppers -- they hop from place to place instead of flying. They look like a little shield, matte finish.

#200

juliecache at Cowboy, 6/6/09

I think this is safe to post. It's an event cache, so it will probably be gone after this week. Any spoilers here will be valid for just a few days. Cowboy was part of GEOSENSE, one of eighteen geocaches hidden as part of a geocaching event. As you walked up to "ground zero," you noticed a lasso hanging from a tree and a camo container in the water. Finders had to lasso the container, sign the log, then replace everything. You can see that I'm holding the rope (it was dry when we arrived, so jbhodj and drake and I were First to Find (FTF)) and the container is floating to my right. This cache was fun. The great wind today made everything even more fun.


Events are a great way to meet others and build community among other hobbyists (and manics), and it's easy to find a buddy to cache with. Mr. GAIN is always afraid that something bad will happen if I hunt for caches alone. We scored a few FTF's, which always gets your spirits up.

My caching partner today was jbhodj and drake, and we definitely found caches quicker with each other than solo. He also called me when I lost my phone in the tall grasses. Zippered pockets are high on my priority list from now on.

More may apple

I posted about the ephemeral may apple a while back here and here and also here. I snapped this shot in Schafer Drug Store at Living History Farms. Mandrake is another name given to the may apple.

100 Species Challenge #56

Specimen #56

Canada Anemone

Anemone canadensis

How nice is this? The staff at Living History Farms had all of my work done for me! This plant has been identified, listed its Latin name, and shows Native American uses for it.

Anemone is Greek for wind. Think anemometer (that spinning cup wind speed gauge). According to Greek mythology, the anemone sprang from Aphrodite’s tears as she mourned the death of Adonis. So maybe anemone could be interpreted as loss or mourning. There are many anemones, unrelated and related to each other. Rue anemone, here, is unrelated. I don't think it even looks like this plant.

For me, the leaves really set this flower apart when identifying.

Canada Anemone is endangered and extirpated in a few states east of Iowa.

100 Species Challenge #55 Grapes

Specimen #54 Grapes

Vitis riparia (Frost Grape)

viti = vine
ripa = bank of stream

So, riverbank grape.

Photo by me in my backyard. The neighbors have a vine that grows everywhere. I think it takes up fences of three other yards plus their yard. It was planted less than five years ago. I have no idea if Vitis riparia is what they planted, but we have confirmed that we've seen Vitis riparia in the wild.

Recent posts involved the vines poison ivy and Virginia creeper. I remembered one other vine that we run across while caching -- grapes. Near ... a rock in a hard place GCPVD2, now permanently archived, you'll find a lot of grape vines. The greenbelt near my house also has a lot of grape vines. Their leaves look nicely amber in the fall. We also encountered frost and fox grapes last summer during our stay in Wisconsin. I've never really tried to identify grapes until my son's Boy Scout troop asked me to lead a required nature hike and identify plants.

I found a nice book on Iowa Plants through ISU Extension and Iowa Association of Naturalists here. From that book:

Wild grape (Vitis riparia) is a very common vine of Iowa woodlands. Grape vines sometimes climb to great heights, making use of many tendrils. The leaves grow alternately on the stem, are toothed, and have several shallow lobes. Wild grapes are edible for both people and wildlife. The fruits are small, dark, and sweet. Nearly 100 different species of songbirds and many other birds and mammals are known to feed on grapes.

I'm finding a lot of internet sources that claim wild grape jelly is fantastic. Hm. I may have to try that. I do know that my kids kept daring me to eat the grapes near ...a rock in a hard place, and that my grandpa laughed when I told him this. He says that they would be very sour. I'm more curious than afraid now, so I may try a taste this year if I remember.