Bionic Travels: Personalized Programming

My VERY EXPENSIVE implant comes with a fancy remote control.  Our audiologists program these remotes so we can tune our CIs to the current hearing situation. The standard programs work well, but I thought they were a little boring: Everyday. Noise. Focus. Music.

My last blog post mentions that my audi is a little low on the W/F scale, so I was hesitant to present to her the list of the programs I NEED to hear in my life situations. If I am going to be BIONIC, then my programs need to reflect this. How is “Everyday” bionic, I ask? 

I have previously mentioned that I was hoping for the Metaphysical Ancestral Communication program. In particular, I would like to say “Hi” to my mom, happily residing at Table with friends and family in heaven. She knew I was heading in the CI direction and it was she who ‘offered’ me this opportunity through our shared genes. But, alas, my audi denied me this program.  I must ask Jesus to say “Hi” to her for me. That works, but I was hoping for a more direct line.

I love being outdoors and I figured The Earth Goddess program would enable me to hear the grass grow. I’d also enjoy personalized weather reports, a mosquito alert system, and automatic birdcall recognition. But again--denied.

Keeping is simple, I thought the Simultaneous Translation program would be easily accessed.  I want to visit my cousins in Hungary, so Hungarian is on my list since it’s such a difficult language.  Why not just add Romanian, Icelandic and French? How hard can it BE??  

My idea of Bionic encompasses all those things plus the ability to chat with the fairies who will soon be visiting all the little ceramic houses I have been making for them.  The Celtic Fairie program would cover that.  And, the Narnian Animal Language program?  Perfect for telling our resident deer family that, while they are cute and generally behave politely, the late night Tulip Tasting Sessions need to end. The Narnian Owls and their awesome hearing abilities are close by. I know they are. If only I could reach out to them….

Boldly I showed my audi my list.  She said with a grin, “I’ll pass this onto Cochlear and see what they can do.”  That means all I can do it wait and be content with Everyday. Noise. Focus. Music.  Stay tuned….

Marsh Beaches

When I was in my early twenties and working for an organization with campus ministers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, I didn’t want to move to Ohio because they had such boring license plates. Yea, I was shallow, but thankfully God was not and eventually I landed here.

Ohio is a great mix of urban and rural. Our cities may be rusting around the edges, but our countryside is in full bloom. We may be in the top 10 states for obesity rates, but we also have miles and miles of bike paths and a national park. Once upon a time a squirrel would have been able to cross the state without ever touching the ground. Not so any more, but we can fish for steelhead trout in the rivers off of Lake Erie and we have a dune eco system where humans have actually preserved wetlands and marshes. Living in suburbia, I forget this sometimes. It’s good for me to escape to Lake Erie a couple of times a year to be reminded of the habitat diversity found here. Ohio isn’t only about the river that once caught on fire or boring license plates. 

I took one of my infrequent trips up to Lake Erie the other day.  Julie had a rare weekday of vacation and off we went to the appropriately named “Old Woman Estuary.” Birds, plants and other creatures like estuaries, no just old women. We always have our eyes to the sky as occasional birders – unlikely we will ever get our official khaki birding vests or a high powered spotting scope or pursue a Big Year. But, occasional birding is like a little treasure hunt and we happily go on those as often as we can. Lake Erie, especially during migration, has some of the Great Lakes Best birding spots.

I counted 8 hawks along the high way en route, a nice way to start the day. Overall, the day’s bird list was short and boring, but it was refreshing to walk along the lake, feel the breeze and have sand fill my shoes. I don’t do beaches when it’s hot outside or requires swimming or contains the scantily clad of Ohio’s obese population. The marsh beach with scattered dead fish, and flotsam and jetsam on a 70 degree day is fine with me. And this trip there was also an added bonus: I heard the waves. You might not be able to hear them as you see a few of my photos, but you can pretend (just like I’ve been doing for years!) 

Snow Geese

I will admit it. I am a birder. The info is lacking from my blog profile and from my Facebook profile, but it's true. I think birds are one of God's Top Ten. Finding them is like a treasure hunt and I take great delight in observing their personalities and behaviors. I have a loosely compiled life list. I enjoy discovering birds on my travels, though I will admit, I have yet to travel FOR the birds. Except the snow geese. I traveled to Skagit Valley in Washington to find them. (Never mind the fact that I was out there already visiting family!)

I keep my bird feeder full some of the time. I take my binoculars hiking a lot of the time and I wait for the perfect bird photograph pretty much none of the time. I'm not a particularly patient photographer. Therefore, upon encountering thousands of snow geese in Skagit Valley during migration, I was in bird heaven! No photography patience needed. The birds were everywhere and the photos ops were more than abundant.

We had to search a bit to find said geese as you never know which field they will be spending the day in, nor if they will even be there. We spotted them off in the distance looking like a picket fence. However, we knew that white picket fences are not the norm on Skagit Valley farms, so off we went to find roads that took us closer and closer. Jackpot! We ended up on a country road in between two fields populated with these noisy characters.

Laughing ensued! How can one not be filled with delight in being surrounded by frenzied feathers flying furiously! It was so much fun. Even when I felt something fall on my shoulder, I was still having fun. I was traveling with Dad. "Dad, did a goose just poop on me?" "Eewww...why yes, yes he/she did." Clean again in no time, ready for another 100 photos. (Nice of me to chose only six to share, isn't it?)

We never did figure out what made them all take off in one huge raucous swarm, but being in the midst of them as their wings clattered and their honking crescendo-ed, we were awestruck. The noise was deafening, but in a grand and glorious way, even for one who is nearing deafness, as I am.

If my travels take me back to Washington during migration of the snow geese and trumpeter swans again, as I hope they will, to the Skagit Valley I will go. If my travels take me there a tad later in the spring the consolation prize will be acres and acres of tulips. (Some which are exported to Holland, but don't tell anyone...) Fields everywhere hold treasure hunts of birds and flowers, but rare are the moments as dramatic and scenic as in the shadow of Mt. Baker on a clear day when the snow geese are flying!