first pond day

I haven't checked the Sand Creek archives, but I think June 1st may be the latest ever First Pond Day for our family. I know there have been first swims as early as April, with ice still visible.

It was just me and Sally, Mr. Attitude, and Starflower (by the way, starflowers are not blooming yet, although they are in Vermont.) The Hermit is away on business, and Calvin should be coming home from a friend's house any minute now. Starflower and I managed to carry the kayak about 200 yards from its winter parking place to the pond. Starflower is one strong girl; I had to stop and rest several times, but she was always ready to keep going!

We kayaked and swam for about half an hour; it would have been longer, had it not been for the mosquitoes. I'm hoping this first hatch will die off soon. It didn't help that we had all kinds of standing water here and there in the woods all spring. The pond water was not yet out of the preferred temperature range for brook trout, meaning, it was COLD! I went in for one quick dip, and that was enough for me.

Not that I spent my whole day in such leisure. By 9 AM I was hauling loads of black dirt from the (former) horse pasture to the gardens, by hand in the garden cart, a distance of about 150 yards over uneven terrain. The garden beds had to be filled, and I wanted to get it done before the sun got too high. I hauled six loads from the pasture, two more than my goal of four. Then I transported three loads from a pile that The Hermit had dumped last fall near the garden. All of the garden beds that needed supplemental dirt got it. I figure each cart load was about three bags of topsoil that you'd buy at the big box garden center, for about $3 apiece. So each cart load was worth $9, x9= $81 plus gas money to drive there and back (40 miles each way). Not to mention the gym membership I don't have to buy because I got a great workout in the process! And, it's really nice dirt. Complete with several earthworms in every shovelful.

Then, mind you, I cleaned and Shop Vac'd the whole house. Well, three tiny rooms, but there was enough hair in the bag to make a new dog or cat.

So I earned the pond dip, and this tall icy drink I am now sipping.

the garden beds are ready...almost

Before

After

I think this may have been the worst year ever for getting the garden beds ready. Due to the cold, wet weather, I wasn't able to get into most of the beds as early as I would have liked. And due to an early frost last summer, and my neglect afterwards, some grasses crept in underneath the boards and established themselves. So it wasn't just seedling weeding, it was like turning over sod in some places. I had to edge the beds with a shovel and carry out huge clumps of grasses, and unfortunately, soil. I also carried out boulders the size of a cat from some beds.

I did manage to get the last seven beds weeded today, which means I'm almost ready to plant. Almost, that is, because some of these beds need a bit more soil, which I can get from the horse pasture once I pump up the tire on the wheelbarrow.

This last bed was done in a hurry, and the picture taken rather hastily, because I was being attacked by the most vicious, bloodthirsty mosquitoes I have ever seen here. I tried to escape them by bringing Sally and a tall cool drink to the beach, but there they were. Finally I went to the new house and had a little shade, peace, and quiet. Except for the occasional shouts from the kids and their three friends who were here for a while this afternoon.

In the morning I was serenaded by an elusive bird with a high, buzzing call. I think it may have been a savannah sparrow, which would be a lifer although I'm sure they've been here with me all this time.

bird antics

I dug deep in my pockets (checkbook) today and paid $22 for a 50 pound bag of black oil sunflower seeds. Ouch. I know full well the birds don't need my charity this time of year, and my feeder is in constant danger of being torn apart by a hungry black bear, BUT...I have a pair of rose breasted grosbeaks who may be nesting nearby, and who greatly appreciate the fast food. And I'm still getting chickadees, red breasted nuthatches, goldfinches, and purple finches, so of course I can't let them down now! And if a bear tears down the feeder, well, it's showing its age and not going to be in service that much longer anyways, and maybe that will be a big hint to my brother-in-law, who built the first one, that it's time for a new one.

Last night I was watching the male rose breasted grosbeak at the feeder. He was apparently very defensive of his space while at the feeder, and would not let even the tiniest red breasted nuthatch land near him. But then I witnessed a moment of bird brilliance. A black capped chickadee was watching the action from a dead spruce branch near the feeder. The male grosbeak was there, chasing other birds away. He briefly went to the other side of the feeder; apparently the whole feeder was off limits. But while he was doing this, the brave chickadee swooped down to the unguarded side of the feeder, grabbed a seed, and flew back into the dead spruce. Hooray for chickadee ingenuity!

The phoebes decided to move their nest. I guess they were getting nervous about their entry ways to the new house being closed up one by one. Anyway, the new nest is...a few feet from where I'm writing this, under the eaves of the cabin porch. This is the site of an old nest that had been abandoned for years. Some kind of phoebe memory going on there?

I have also discovered a blue jay nest, about thirty feet from the cabin, hidden in a young spruce about ten feet off the ground. It's amazing how they nest so close, given the number of cats around here. I guess they can sense that the cats, for the most part, are lazy beings who know there are easier ways to get a meal than to climb a tree and be pecked nearly to death by parent blue jays. When I was little, I had a Siamese cat, Mittens, who learned the hard way not to mess with blue jays. She survived, but used up at least one of her nine lives in the process.

And then there's our "other" State Bird. The mosquito. They are thicker than I've seen in years! We're using an herbal repellent made of catnip, lemongrass, and a couple other essential oils. It seems to work, but then the cats follow me around acting all goofy. :)

time for music

I had a very good banjo practice session today, in a very acoustically friendly place: the new house. After I planted sugar snap peas and weeded two beds, I decided to call it quits if I wanted to be able to move a muscle tomorrow morning. I just get incredibly fatigued and sore these days, to the point it cuts into what I can do. Not good.

Back to banjo, I was trying to explain to The Hermit today how different it is from any instrument I've played before. It's non-linear. To play a simple scale requires bouncing back and forth between strings in ways that don't make sense to a pianist or flutist. But in a strange way I kind of get it, I keep practicing these leaps of faith and they have become part of me, and I'm very happy with the sounds I have been making. I just enjoyed listening to the sound ringing off the cathedral ( or at least, small Minnesota Lutheran church) ceiling. I have to get out there every day.

New yard birds!

What a way to start out a long holiday weekend: Not one but two new yard birds, one a lifer!

I was out by the new house with The Hermit, listening to him think out loud, when a brief flash of blue caught my eye. I saw it light in a dead birch tree. Without thinking, I exclaimed "There's an indigo bunting!" Of course I did not have my binoculars with me, but who could mistake that lovely blue? I think it matches my new roof.

Then, while we were eating breakfast, I looked out at the dead spruce and saw a warbler with a yellow breast streaked with black. It was a bird I had never seen in real life, but I had seen an excellent photo of one recently, on Lynne's blog, Hasty Brook. Magnolia warbler! Thanks Lynne, I didn't even need to get out my field guide for that one!

The great thing is, it's only 9 AM!

kindergarten graduation

The East Central Class of 2022 graduated from kindergarten today. They still have 5 1/2 days left of school, but I think they'll all pass. In celebration, they put on a fun Western themed show. Above is Mr. Attitude, of course, who delivered his lines with a finesse that makes me think he'll be starring in drama productions in high school. Afterwards, he pronounced to me that he had stage fright up there because he could not see me. I reassured him that if he felt any panic up there, I could not tell.

I gotta hand it to the teachers, they really went above and beyond to make this a great show, and to make all the kids feel special.

My stairs

I found out a valuable lesson today: whine a little, come up with a creative solution, and you will get your way. Well, maybe not all the time, but it sure worked this time!

The problem was the space we had left for a stairway. It was small enough that, to build a conventional, boxy stairway, we would have had to construct a landing and do a 180 degree U turn that would have taken up a lot of space. The other option was to move our bedroom doorway over a foot or so. I disapproved. I whined a little. And I put something else on the table.

I had started thinking, a while back, about a stairway based on this one I found at the blog Lichenology. I liked its conservation of space, and just the aesthetic pleasure of working a curve into a square corner. When we got into the hard realities of rise vs. run, I pointed out that the corner space could be used to create vertical drop instead of just a level turning point. I didn't know if our carpenter would approve.

He did, and I most definitely approve!

This really ties the room together. (yeah, another Big Lebowski quote.)

In exchange, I only had to agree to The Hermit's choice of exterior stain color. Actually, I think he made the best choice.

it's finally, officially, spring

The mosquitoes are out. I'm sure they will be more plentiful than in years past, with all the wet weather and standing water we have around.

But for now I have a wood tick bite on my neck, and it itches more than any mosquito bite I've had lately. I think I might be more or less immune to mosquitoes now. But I'll pick up some herbal bug spray tomorrow.

A couple of minor triumphs in an otherwise trying work day: I launched a huge boat (18 foot, and wider than our normal work boats) by myself at a very busy public landing, and I backed said boat into a very limited space in our boat storage garage, ON THE FIRST TRY! All by myself, I might add, everyone else had already left for the day, not that I would have gone to the office begging for help. I just need to reinforce in myself the idea that "I can do this!", once in a while.

untitled

A vision of the life I want. While real life just keeps getting strangled in the details. Nothing bad happening here, just the nagging thought that I'm spinning my wheels lately. My job is better than most, but I just hate the idea of a job right now. Especially when it's planting time.

over the weekend

So the potatoes are not in yet. Neither are the peas. But, we are still getting below-freezing temperatures at night and we've been getting rain off and on, so the garden beds must wait.

I had other stuff to do today. As of June 7th, I will become a step-mother-in-law. I still think I'm way too young to be an in-law if any type! But today was my future step daughter-in-law's bridal shower, so I was obligated to go with Starflower. Beforehand, I had to shop with Starflower for a dress she will wear to both her piano recital this week and the wedding. Luckily she found something quickly at JC Penney. I did not have the same luck. I think it has to do with how I view the situation. If I'm buying a dress, I want it to be something I'll use. For at least ten years. Which makes it virtually impossible for me to buy myself a dress. Now I'm thinking I'll just save the money and wear a dress I already have. That way, I can splurge on accessories. :)

The shower was fine, but I could not help but thinking, "I could be home planting potatoes." I guess I'll be doing that some evening this week. Next weekend looks to be extremely busy, gardenwise.

Hummingbirds...it must be spring

Today, at long last, we had a sunny day with temperatures that reached 75 on my car thermometer. Sweet, if only all of summer could be like today! The Hermit emailed me this morning, saying he had seen a hummingbird checking out the empty feeder I had left up last fall. I emailed back, promising to activate the feeder when I got home. The Hermit had to leave on work related stuff. Sigh.

For lunch, I picked up a sandwich at the grocery store and headed to the muskie ponds to hopefully see some bird action. The warblers were a bit slow, I only saw a small flock of palm warblers and one yellow, but I was treated to one steamy erotic reptilian scene...yes, I saw a pair of snapping turtles in the act of mating! Okay, it wasn't that exciting, but it was kind of cool if you're a wildlife nerd like me.

When I reluctantly arrived back at the office after my slightly extended lunch (hey, you don't see snapping turtles mating every day!) my boss was trying to find me. The school nurse had called, Starflower was feeling ill. :( I felt bad for her, but at the same time...who wants to stay at work until 4:30 on the first decent warm day of spring! So I picked her up and arrived home early, although I still had to drive back to school to pick up the boys because Calvin had a music concert in the afternoon and I had promised I would drive them home afterwards. And I had planned on stopping at the grocery store, which I could not do when I picked Starflower up.

She's feeling a bit better now, but there is definitely something wrong there. I'm wondering if it's Lyme disease, since she has had about four episodes like this in the past school year. And I'm feeling a bit achy myself.

I did get the hummingbird feeder cleaned, nectar made (with organic sugar!), and feeder put into place, and at dinnertime I was rewarded with the sight of my first male ruby throated hummingbird of the year.

Pictures? My camera is not getting along with my computer tonight. Hopefully I'll get that fixed soon.

shorebirds and warblers

I was getting envious. Some folks on the Minnesota Ornithologist's Union listserv were going out and seeing fourteen species of warblers in their backyard and reporting shorebirds I've never even heard of from sewage ponds somewhere. It was time for action.

So this morning as I was pulling out of the driveway I noticed some activity across the road. Our neighbors have a wetland in their cow pasture which is really nothing more than a mudhole. In that mudhole, however, I saw two shorebirds. I was running late as usual, but I stopped, pulled out the binoculars, and identified two Lesser Yellowlegs, pretty much by their yellow legs and process of elimination from the bird guide. Tonight as I was waiting for the kids to be dropped off from their ride from church, I was ready. I had the binoculars, and I counted eight Lesser Yellowlegs actively foraging in that tiny mudhole of a pond. I guess this is a lifer for me, since I don't think I have positively ID'd Lesser Yellowlegs before, although I'm sure they have been here every year.

It was finally warm and sunny at noon, and I was in the office, not out pulling nets on a lake, so I decided to go for a walk around our fish rearing ponds. This is usually a pretty good bird walk; part of it is on a berm between one pond and the Grindstone River, and I have seen a Scarlet Tanager there. Sometimes there are even shorebirds. Today I saw what I think was a Northern waterthrush, although I don't remember enough for positive ID. Anyway, when I rounded the corner and came into a grove of pines and mature aspens, I was suddenly in warbler heaven. I saw lots of little birds flitting in the top branches of the trees, and they all looked different from each other. I'm pretty sure I saw a pair of Northern Parula warblers, and I definitely saw a Golden winged warbler. Both lifers for me.

These experiences remind me that it's all out there; you just gotta pay attention!

proud mama moments

#1- Calvin informed us, quite nonchalantly, that he got the best score on the standardized math test for the entire elementary school!

#2- Starflower is, at this moment, engrossed in reading Edward Abbey's A Voice Crying In The Wilderness, which is a collection of short quotes from his longer works. She picked it up herself from our abbreviated library we keep here in the cabin. Dang, I didn't get a proper introduction to Abbey until I was 19! And, I have not seen her look so involved in her reading for a long time. I hope we can have some great discussions about this!

Starflower and I saw a bobolink today as we were driving home from work and volleyball. First of year for me, and still very unexpected every time I see one around here. When I was driving Mr. Attitude to school this morning we saw a bittern "freezing" by the side of the road. So much life around here.

My Mother's Day

I spent my special day at Menard's, looking at paint colors and countertop options and electric ranges. For those of you outside the Upper Midwest, Menard's is the first big box retail lumber building supply store here, like Lowe's or Home Depot. But much better, in my opinion.

I am happy to be finally looking at finishing house details! I am leaning towards an electric ceramic cook top and oven, because the price of propane is going up faster than the price of electricity, and we are getting more of our electricity from wind and other sustainable sources these days. If the power goes out, I can always fall back on cooking on top of the wood stove.

My presents were: marigold seedlings, from Starflower and Mr. Attitude; a sun-proof, breathable LL Bean shirt, and a tank top emblazoned with the logo of my favorite local band, The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank. They even sent a couple demo CD's and a DVD as a bonus. And the package was postmarked Bruno, MN. Can't get any more local than that.

After Menard's, we went to Grandma's Sports Garden on the waterfront in Duluth for pizza and video games (and Leinenkugels for Mom), then a quick drive out on Park Point to look for birds. I saw a few flocks of bluebills, but I was too sleepy to really get out of the car and look for anything.

By the way, if you've been looking for a great recipe for black bean soup, please visit my other blog, The Deliberate Homemaker, link to the right. I don't post there as often as I'd like, so this is an event.

The house is occupied...

If you've been following this blog for a while, you may recall that Eastern phoebes have been nesting in the new house each spring. This year is no exception, even with all the roofing activity. There are still openings under the eaves for them to fly in and out, and this year they decided to nest right under the peak of the roof.

Don't worry, even if the eaves get closed in, which should happen within a week or so, I will take the screen off an upper window and leave it open for the birds. But once those little nestlings fledge, it will hopefully be the end of bird occupation and the beginning of human occupation in the house. I have tried to explain to the phoebes that we did not build this fabulous structure just so they could have a wonderfully protected nesting area. So far they are not listening.

New blue

This is the finished product. The roof I have been waiting for. I better not change my mind about the color, I'm stuck with it for life! But if you know me, I like any color, as long as it's blue.

The electrician will be here next week to run the main line in from the electric box out front, about 250 feet. From there we'll have it wired room by room, paying as we go. No more heavy duty extension cord, no more going outside on a rainy or snowy night trying to find where something flooded and shorted out the power!

I was granted a much-needed reprieve from net lifting duty today at work. My boss told me there were a couple of permits for exotic aquatic plant control that needed to be inspected ASAP, so of course I jumped on that project right away! I saw my first spring oriole in the process, and a robin sitting on a nest. And my weekend is free; no need to work! Maybe those potatoes will finally get planted.

I forgot to add...when I was inspecting one lakeshore property, when I returned from the dock the family dog, a black lab, ran up to me and dropped a tennis ball at my feet. Play ball with me! I obliged and threw the ball a few times, the dog eagerly retrieving it and returning it to me each time. I was a complete stranger, yet this dog trusted me. Dogs are funny and sweet that way.

sights and sounds

in bloom: marsh marigold, spring beauty, bloodroot, maple

leaves appearing: aspen

bird arrivals: house wren, sedge wren, ovenbird (and probably a few warblers)

frog chorus: spring peepers, Western chorus frogs, wood frogs, toads (well, not here, but 30 miles south of here)

I wish I had more time to write poetically about all these happenings, but lately I feel like George Jetson caught on that treadmill during the closing credits. Life is too busy.

biggest tadpole ever

Calvin made me go all the way out to the pond this afternoon to see this. A monster size tadpole! It had hind frog legs already, but no front legs yet. I think it's a green frog, but he was wondering if we had bullfrogs around here. Not that I know of.

I don't know what made me more happy, the tadpole, or the thought that my son still enjoys going out and catching tadpoles.

today's at-home birding

I am once again playing with the idea of opening my cabin as a birds 'n bloggers bed 'n breakfast once we're moved into the new house. Because what city dwelling birder wouldn't relish waking up to the sounds of sandhill cranes, snipe, woodcock, ruffed grouse, spring peepers, ravens, purple finches, etc. AND, to walk out before breakfast, hearing a woodpecker tapping in the woods, and having it turn out to be a female black backed woodpecker! I should have had my camera, I was within twenty feet of her.

I was feeling a bit under the weather this morning with a cold bug, which was no doubt exacerbated by my going out on a lake Friday and Saturday in less than tolerable weather conditions to sample The Muskellunge. My butt hurts from being bounced over waves and hitting the steel platform bow of the boat, my arms hurt from bracing myself so my butt would not hit the bow of the boat so hard. I am now seriously considering a career change, possibly to a bed and breakfast keeper or market farmer, because I honestly cannot see myself doing this same job ten years from now. Not to mention, I just cannot tolerate working with men who make jokes about incidentally killing a horned grebe in a net, or nearly killing a common loon in a net. All to "assess the population" of a species that is only in that particular lake through stocking, and probably should not be there to begin with. Next time I pull a 50 inch muskie out of a net, I just may drop it on its head. Intentionally. And then step on its head. But no, answering violence with violence never solves anything.

Of course, these are my personal opinions and do not reflect the official opinion of the agency I work for. :)

So after a long overdue recycling run with The Hermit, long overdue because we were waiting for our driveway to dry out a little, we took a noontime nap, and then I tried to straighten out the bedroom a little. It was a huge effort to do anything. It was warm (if you call 55 warm, I'll take it) and sunny, and CALM (the wind has picked up as I type this, of course), so I decided to take Sally out for a little frolic in the pond.

When we arrived on the path over the outlet culvert, a large brown bird suddenly flew up from the vegetation in front of the culvert. My first bittern of the year! It settled just across the pond, and tried hard to camouflage itself. I knew better.

Ha ha, you can't see me! I'll just keep my bill in the air, and I'll look like a cattail...

Finally, when it thought the coast was clear and we weren't much of a threat, it flew.

As usual, Sally enjoyed her pond frolic.

roofing progress

Finally I am seeing blue! The "back" half of the roof is mostly covered with steel roofing, and the "front" half will be done Monday. This is a big step, one we've been waiting for for a long time.

Under that pretty blue steel are two layers of foam board insulation, which should add up to an R value of 30 or so, important here in Minnesotarctica. Over the foam insulation are horizontal rows of 2 x 4's screwed through the insulation and roof boards to the rafters with 8 or 10 inch screws. The roofing is screwed to the 2 x 4's .

I stayed home to help out whenever possible, which meant I moved piles of boards and foam insulation here and there and helped carry the long sheets of steel roofing and lift them up to the crew. No, my feet never once touched a ladder. The combination of height and steep pitched roof
is not for me.

It was nice in the morning, partly cloudy and breezy, but as the day wore on it grew more breezy and cloudy. By late afternoon I was chilly and tired and ready for a hot shower. But we are a big step closer to moving in!

My fifteen minutes of birding fame are over

I have not seen the Western tanager since Tuesday evening. Tuesday night was clear and calm, so I'm suspecting the bird may have resumed his journey to wherever it was he was headed. I hope he makes it there.

That's what bird watching is like. There is always the possibility that something rare and unique might show up, but then again the "ordinary" birds could provide a lifetime of learning by observation. Birds bring great joy and excitement to life, and if you pay enough attention there is a reward at every encounter.

Then there is the joy of sharing birding experiences. After carefully considering the ramifications, I decided to post my sighting to the Minnesota Ornithologist's Union listserv, with a link to this blog for pictures. I had a record 178 visits to Sand Creek Almanac the day I posted to MOU, and a few emails from birders around the state. There were a few requests from people who wanted to come and see the tanager, and I had to debate whether I wanted strangers coming and seeing the mess that is my yard...anyway, that question was decided by the bird's absence on Wednesday. It would have been fun to meet some more bird folks though.

I'm off to go help with the roofing job- from the ground of course, I'm not getting up there! Photos tonight.

Western tanager update 4/29

It was back bright and early this morning, in the 15 degree frosty weather, and even came out to eat a few sunflower seeds on the ground! I was able to observe the size (much closer to a White throated sparrow than a goldfinch) and markings up close. He is beautiful!

MAJOR bird excitement here!

I just may have sighted a very unusual species for Minnesota! We were eating dinner, and I noticed a yellow bird sitting in a spruce tree about 50 feet away. Goldfinch, I thought, and continued eating. I looked up again about 5 minutes later, and the bird was still there. I noticed then that its face looked a bit red. Blushing goldfinch? Finally my curiosity got the better of me and I got up to get the binoculars. As soon as I got a close look, I knew this was no ordinary goldfinch, if it was even a goldfinch. No black on the forehead, instead the whole face was a scarlet red. The bird just did not look goldfinch-like either. For some reason, perhaps my early years of perusing and memorizing bird books, I thought, "tanager?" I flipped to the tanagers in Sibley's, and there it was--Western tanager!

I ran for The Hermit's 12x zoom camera, but when I got back the bird was gone. I paced around for a few minutes, then it came back! I hurriedly snapped a few photos, knowing they would be blurry because it was already after 7:00 and we didn't have any direct sunlight in the woods. But, anything would be better than nothing.


So, bird experts: Do these blurry photos say "Western tanager"? I'm thinking goldfinches don't have the black extending over the back, this bird is not as canary yellow as a goldfinch, and the male goldfinches around here are maybe 80-90% molted. There's also that yellow wingbar somewhat visible in the first photo, although I got a better look at it, that would distinguish this from a goldfinch.

This is so cool! According to the Minnesota Ornithologist's Union, there have only been two other confirmed sightings of Western tanagers in this county. Sightings are rare all across Minnesota, although there are more sightings in spring than in any other season. This also reminds me how incredibly serendipitous birding really is. Of course, it helps if you're paying attention.

spring will come again

I got lucky this morning. I was walking out with my camera to get a picture of the flooded creek, and I heard the raucous call of sandhill cranes. They sounded like they were coming my way, so I whipped the camera out of my pocket, turned it on, and zoomed the lens to 4x. I had no time to think as the birds came in to view, I just hit the shutter button and hoped for the best. This is a crop from a bigger photo. The branch got in the way, but I actually like it.

Today I also saw/heard my first-of-year cowbird (big deal, huh? Really, they have a unique call.) and yellow rumped warblers! The spring peepers, chorus frogs and wood frogs have resumed singing, and the woodcock and snipe are displaying at twilight. Even though today's high temperature only hovered around 40, the sun was out and took away all of the snow in sunny areas.

I've been having new house thoughts lately. By this time next week, the roof may be done! I am now choosing exterior stain colors and tile for the floor where the wood stove will be. We had settled on a dark gray-blue ceramic tile a couple of years ago, but Menard's no longer carries it. Instead, The Hermit found something even better: slate tiles. They are roughly the same color we had chosen before, with some beautiful natural variation among them; no two are the same. And cut stone is a bit more environmentally friendly than ceramic tile, which takes a lot of processing. I have done tile before, for the floor underneath our wood stove in this house, so I'm in charge of this project. No hurry with it, but then again I want that in place before we move in. Which may be around the time school is out. Which isn't that far off!

happy spring, v2

I don't even want to talk about it.

My seed potatoes and onion sets, which arrived this week, will have to wait to be planted.

Sigh.

haircuts, Danish invasion, blogger rendezvous, and Emmylou Harris

Now how, you are wondering, will she fit these seemingly incongruous topics into one post? I don't know either, but I'll try!
Do you recognize these boys? If you do, let me know. And, if you see two boys with big brown eyes, but you wouldn't see the eyes because they are covered with hair, let me know. I'm missing them, and meanwhile these two intruders have invaded my house. I can't believe they consented to such extreme ear exposure. But, they are excited because now they look like (Minnesota Twin) Joe Mauer. Or have the same haircut anyway. and Madcap, if you happen to see this, that's your pillow on Starflower's bed. She has claimed it!

Askov, the second nearest town, has a very Danish heritage. The street signs still even have an excess of letters, with names like Jernbanegade. Apparently a songwriter/storyteller from Denmark heard about the town and was so fascinated with the idea of Danish immigrants settling in Minnesota that he wanted to write about it. But first he wanted to visit the town, so tonight we were treated to a free concert by Esben Langkniv. I was amazed as I pulled into the parking lot of the community center; it was full. Starflower and I (girls' night out) got to see and hear a wonderful evening of music and storytelling. Sometimes I think storytelling is a lost art, what with TV and the Internet and all that, and how could someone pull off a show with stories in English interspersed with songs in Danish? Esben Langkniv did it perfectly, engaging the audience with his true life humor.

The audience was predominantly elder Askovites, maybe even some who had grown up in a Danish speaking household. But as I entered the community center, I scanned the audience, looking for a particular woman and her family. In the back row I saw some children who looked vaguely familiar, and as the mother and I made eye contact she said "I know you!" It was Heidi, my blogging neighbor, and this was our first real life meeting. It was a pleasure! Although, meeting a blogger is kind of an awkward thing. I mean, you practically know each other already, what is there to converse about? :) For us introverts that poses a problem. But we had fun and enjoyed the show, and it was nice to meet Heidi and her beautiful family. Hope to meet up again soon!

So how, you may be asking yourself, does Emmylou fit in with all of this? She doesn't. But I had to drive Starflower home from piano lessons today, and I happened to be listening to a Steve Earle CD in the car. He did a duet with Emmylou Harris on one number, and towards the end of the song Starflower turned to me and asked, in all honesty and innocence, "Mom, is that you singing?" I, suddenly grinning from ear to ear, said no. "But she sure sounds like you!"

Am I dreaming? Do I really have a singing voice so angelic, like Emmylou's, that a recording of her could fool my own daughter? I could only hope as much. But I'll take this for all it's worth. Starflower, you have given me the biggest ego boost in a long time! :)

Happy Spring!

May I present to you...my ice free pond! The combination of heavy rain last night and steadily above-freezing temperatures finally took their toll on the thin ice. I seem to remember Starflower taking her first swim when there was still ice on the pond a year or so ago. Maybe this weekend...

The pond is full, with a good flow through the outlet culvert. A big change from last summer, although other local ponds and lakes are still a bit low.

I had a good close bird encounter today. I was with a couple coworkers, checking trap nets we set on a local lake for northern pike. We had a good day for northerns, with a total of 80 caught, but our catch of the day was....a live horned grebe. And it was mad! We got it out of the net, but it was pecking at us with its amazingly sharp bill. We let it go over the shallow water, and it scooted far away from our nets. A definite first of year for me, and maybe a lifer...I'll have to check. But definitely a lifetime experience.

And I think I identified one of the unidentified bird sounds I heard last night. I had heard something that was definitely thrush like, and after listening to the call of the Wood Thrush I can almost positively say that's what it was! A new yard bird for here.

finally...more progress on the house!

Our carpenter called yesterday and said he would be coming by to start work on the roof...today. We had known he would be by sometime in a week or so. The snow is finally gone from around the house, except for a small pile on the north side, so they can set up scaffolding.

Here's a nice looking detail that wasn't in the original plans. See the roof overhang, and the brackets? I think it's lovely! It just accents the roofline perfectly. And the brackets look like perfect phoebe nesting habitat as well. :)

I am enjoying the sounds of spring peepers and wood frogs, as well as our first spring thunderstorm tonight. Also, earlier as I was admiring the house I heard two bird sounds I haven't identified yet. My car thermometer read 80 degrees as I left the office this afternoon! Of course, I park next to a south facing wall that probably amplifies the heat, but it still read 74 at home.

What I really love

I don't want to go to work tomorrow. I probably will, but the thought of entering the daily grind for another week just makes me cringe. Even though I will most likely be going out in the field for the first time since last fall.

My work doesn't matter. Counting fish, stocking fish, measuring fish....it's a great job, but I only do it for the compensation and ultimately it takes me away from what I love.

So what do I love?

I love my kitchen. Even though it's only an 8 x 12 shed, I have what I need out there and I love creating meals and food for my family. If I had my way, I would give up my full time job and just cook.

I love my garden. The feel of the soil between my fingers today was just...euphoric. When I am out there, I am happy. I listen to the birds, smell the soil, and think of the harvests to come. I think maybe this world does have a future. I think of the future, an 80 year old woman coming out to tend the soil, maybe her daughter or son or grandchild with her, helping out and absorbing the knowledge the grandmother has about the garden and what can grow there. After all, she has tended this garden for over forty years now. :)

I went outside after all

Even though it was cloudy and gray outside in the morning, the temperature was a lot milder than yesterday and I could almost hear my garden calling to me. So I headed out there and by the time I was done I had weeded and prepared three beds and planted one. I would have done even more, but the soil in most of the beds was a bit too moist from yesterday's rain, and still pretty cold.
I planted some kale and spinach I had started indoors, as well as seeds of lettuce, Swiss chard, and an Asian stir fry mix. I seem to have lost my arugula seeds, otherwise that would have been planted as well. The rake and livestock panel are placed there deliberately to keep cats and other critters out of my newly planted bed. Once things sprout, I will have to devise a plan to keep cottontails and snowshoe hares out.

After my Sunday morning church in the garden, I walked around a little since I could finally do that without dodging snow piles. We still have a little bit of snow on the north sides of buildings, but most of the land is finally snow free. I came across this casualty of last weekend's winds, the top of a fairly big white pine (approximately 24" diameter trunk). The tree is still alive, and I would not be surprised if one of the top limbs started growing up instead of out and became the new crown of the tree.
When I saw the size of the limbs, I started thinking to myself...these would make some nice looking stairway and balcony railings! Then I looked at the fallen section of trunk and thought...I love half log stairs. Maybe for the new house we could...
While I was musing on natural on site building materials, someone opened the door and Sally came bursting out of the house. I thought she might like a visit to the pond, so we went out that way. Does she look happy or what in this photo? It's been way too long since she went for a swim. The pond still has a bit of ice that won't go away today, but maybe tomorrow.

new yard wildlife

This morning I looked out under the bird feeder and saw a rabbit sitting there. At least I thought it was a rabbit at first, but I noticed its fur was much lighter and more grayish than the usual Eastern cottontail rabbits. It was also a bit larger. Snowshoe hare!

I had seen snowshoe hare tracks in the snow years ago, and may have even seen one once in its full white winter coat, but this is the first one I have seen since we have been living here.

It was too dark for a photo. It's looking to be another gray, cloudy day here at Sand Creek, but the high temperature may reach 60.

The weather sucks...

A high of 38 in April, and gusty winds? I am holing up inside, and I refuse to come out until Nature offers me a sunny, calm 60 degree day.

I did have one happy for the day. I got a cluster of statements from our health insurance provider, and among them were two claims that had been reprocessed and OUR DEDUCTIBLE REMOVED. They tried to overcharge us on our deductible last year. I have been fighting with the insurance company for a couple of months on this, so I am happy this has been resolved and we will either get a credit or a check from our clinic.

I saw and heard my first of year song sparrow today. I didn't get out beyond the end of the driveway to see anything else. It was a "jammie pants" kind of day. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm, so I may be found out in the garden.

First frogs!

Tonight I went out to the step to listen for woodcock. Fortunately I heard two distinct males peenting and twittering as they spiraled skyward. The winter storm apparently didn't affect them too badly. But then, another sound nearly drowned out the woodcock....frogs. Wood frogs. It is spring.

Also, turkey vultures and Eastern phoebes have made their appearance recently. And Wilson's snipe.

time prevails

Life happens. On many different time scales. Sometimes, like this tree engulfing a "No Trespassing" sign, it happens so slowly we cannot perceive it with our immediate senses. Yet it happens.

revelations

Have you noticed that I have not been posting as much lately?

Probably, if my Site Meter is any indicator. I've been posting less, but you've been visiting less.

But it's not a blow to my ego, really. I've been focused on other things. Like our planetary crisis. I am sick of reading doomsday stuff about it, so lately I've been reading Bill McKibben's Deep Economy and Paul Hawken's Blessed Unrest. They both kind of give the idea that yeah, we're in a crisis, but people are doing something about it! All I know is, I have to live the earth friendly life that works for me here, teach my children how to love the land, and that is the best I can do in my corner of the world.

That, and play music. Feel the music as it comes from many generations ago, the spirit of laughing and singing. I try to do fifteen minutes of practice a day on the banjo, my most challenging instrument. Sunday I even found a musical lick I called my own on guitar, and played a few chunes on flute.

Everyone engaged in playing music on their own, creating, is part of the rebellion.

There is so much more I have been thinking and feeling compelled to DO lately. It's all good, I believe it, and blogging about it may just be part of my mission here on Earth.

No, I'm not going freaky or something. I just think I may have found my sense of purpose.

The wind in the pines

My apologies to those of you on dialup. A still photo just doesn't capture the power of the wind today.

We are in the middle of a whopper of an April blizzard here. The wind is howling and the snow keeps falling. I can't tell how much we've had, because it's blowing around so much, but I shoveled a good 8 inches off the steps this morning. Of course, I stayed home. It just wasn't worth it to drive nearly 30 miles to work in these conditions, and school was canceled for the day. I found that out about 2 AM when I woke up and decided to check the school web site. I quietly told The Hermit, but as I was getting into bed I heard a delighted giggle from Calvin, who apparently had heard me.

I spent my morning in the cook shed, as I usually do during snow days. I washed dishes while the bread machine worked on a whole wheat dough for the meatball calzones we had for lunch. There is corned beef in the slow cooker; I will add cabbage later for our dinner. Right now I am trying to decide which musical instrument to pick up first in my precious free time.

winter storm warning

6-10 inches of snow possible tonight. Blizzard warnings in the county to the north and gale warnings on Lake Superior.

When will it end?

The Hermit emailed me yesterday to tell me we were down to 25% in the large propane tank so he ordered 275 gallons, the minimum order. I emailed him back saying "I hope that lasts until spring comes!"

My ears tell me it's spring. I step out in the dim morning light to the sound of woodcocks and sandhill cranes and robins and Canada geese. The birding listservs are full of reports of new migrants arriving daily. But, once again, Spring is on hold.

Actually, the thought of blizzards and gale warnings on Lake Superior is strangely appealing to me. I wouldn't mind being holed up in a cozy cabin on the shore, with a warm wood stove and no reason to go outdoors, listening to the wind howl and the waves crash.

Spring looks like...

My garden, at long last revealed. I am entertaining ideas of starting to move some of that good horse pasture dirt tomorrow and start some greens in one bed. If it's dry enough.

The pond, with ice melting away from the edges.

What happened here? Hint: My shoes were very wet.

Pussy willows in all their fuzziness.

Today's new sightings include a meadowlark, probably Eastern just because I haven't heard Westerns sing around here. I heard a woodcock peenting at the break of dawn; I forgot to go outside at twilight to hear it again, but I know it was there. Have I mentioned red winged blackbirds yet? They are here. And I decided to go out to my car for something this morning when I was at work, and just as I got outside I heard the distinctive call of a flock of tundra swans! They were flying low, so I could see them well without binoculars, and they flew right over the office. Tundra swans are kind of hit or miss; you have to be at the right place at the right time. Calvin saw eight wood ducks on the creek this afternoon, and I happened to be close enough that I heard them enough to confirm they were wood ducks.

The temperature reached 60 today! I drove home with my windows open, hoping to hear some Western chorus frogs, but apparently they need another warm day or so to activate.

This and that

Today's new bird sightings and/or hearings:

This morning I opened the door and was greeted to the call of sandhill cranes in a nearby swamp. Later I sighted a pair of them in a field on my route to work.

On my way to work I saw a flock of 8-10 hooded mergansers on Sand Creek a few miles from my house. On my way home I saw three of them on the big pool in the creek by my home. Male hooded mergansers are just amazing looking birds.

Also seen and/or heard: killdeers, red winged blackbirds, harriers, and one bluebird. The temperature soared into the mid fifties today. Spring is here.

In blogging related business, please go here and here for Thingfish23's amazing photos of the bird that got me started on a life of birding at age 6. And, just past the male painted bunting, I found this apology. Apparently, when he was doing some blog renovation he lost my link in his sidebar, and it was gone for a while. I had noticed I wasn't there, but thought oh well, it's his sidebar. But it really made my day to see that he actually posted an apology about inadvertently leaving me out! That is one classy blogger. I probably would have just put the link back in and hoped no one noticed...Can you tell I have this thing about being acknowledged? Anyway, thank you Thingfish23. If God Forbid I ever make it to south Florida, I hope we can meet up. (I was in Fort Myers Beach in 1985 for spring break, that's probably the closest I'll get.)

Another thing you may knot know about me

Pun intended. I am KNOT dyslexic.

Which means, although I can tie my shoes and do a decent square knot (learned it in Girl Scouts) and even a couple half hitches (most of the time), I just cannot learn knots from diagrams in books, or if I do, I have a very short memory for them. Really. Even if I do a knot successfully five times in a row, I can walk away from work for fifteen minutes, and the next time I try to do the same knot it's a disaster.

Lately part of my job involves mending fish trap nets. I have been working on faith that, when one of my coworkers lifts that very net this fall, they won't exclaim "Deb must have done this one! Look at those stupid overdone knots!" And "why was this not patched instead of just stitched together haphazardly!"

I know none of my coworkers would say this. And the muskrats will continue to chew holes in the nets no matter how elaborately they are patched. But I just wish I could learn how to do more than a figure eight and a square knot. And remember how to do them, for more than a few minutes.

I am choosing to do the smaller mesh nets, which we use for walleye fingerling harvest, because instead of tying an elaborate web of knots in those, we simply stitch in a patch of mesh. That I can do. Don't ask me to weave a net.

Even though March went out like a lion...

Even though it's snowing and blowing and 23 degrees outside...

We are watching the Twins season opener against the LA Angels. They are winning by one. I am really getting into this game. This is the first year we have been able to watch Twins games here (with satellite, of course.)

Yesterday I saw the first kingfisher of the season. And the first dark eyed junco.

Today I saw a fox sparrow to go along with the dark eyed junco.

Geese are calling everywhere.

And I have a few tomato seedlings that have just sprouted.

Life is good. It's the bottom of the 7th. Gotta return to the game.

Update...**THE TWINS WON!!** Carlos Gomez is pretty awesome. And Starflower and I agree, relief pitcher Joe Nathan is pretty hot. ;) It's a girl thing.

And my son, Mr. Attitude is asking about his Hall of Fame/relative namesake, Joe Sewell, who played for the Yankees and the Indians. My great uncle was also a minor league player for the Red Sox. It's in his blood.

I love Lake Superior!

Today I took the day off work so we could have a good family spring break time together. We had thought of going to the Science Museum in St. Paul, but decided for much less the cost we could do a day trip up the North Shore of Lake Superior. I think we made the right decision.

Our home is a two hour drive from Split Rock Lighthouse, one of the most scenic lighthouses in the world. Built in 1909, it served boats on Superior before it was retired in 1969. Since then it has been maintained by the Minnesota Historical Society and the Department of Natural Resources as a historic landmark. Right now, however, it is undergoing some much needed maintenance, thus the scaffolding and surrounding fabric. If you want to see the lighthouse as it looks without the stuff, Google it. It's been photographed many times.

The lighthouse is situated on a 130 foot basalt cliff hanging above the water. The barbed wire is justified, believe me. You just want that with kids running around. Oh, and look at that water. Have you ever seen that shade of blue? Only on Lake Superior.

Later, after purchasing our "second vehicle" State Park permit, which for $18 will allow us to explore any state park until October, we made our way down the shore to Gooseberry Falls State Park. The falls are lovely, but the trails were still icy to them so we spent our time on the beach. Above is where the Gooseberry River flows into Lake Superior.

Okay, this picture was taken at Split Rock. But I took many pictures of the kids on various rock formations, and I found myself lost in looking for rocks on the beach.

I love Lake Superior. I had not been this far up the shore in years. I did not want to leave. We saw 40 deer on the way home, and about 5 eagles throughout the day.

Robin!!!

I have to say Robin in the singular, because I saw only one, but it was definitely a robin so it counts as an official Sign of Spring.

Also, on my way home I saw a male Northern Harrier, two kestrels, and one rough legged hawk. I saw two House Finches at the feeder at work, haven't seen them for a while, so it's a spring sighting.

Last year at this time we had one day that got up to 68 degrees, leaving my daughter in her swim suit.

return of the grackles

The grackles have returned, or at least, they got as far north as the town where I work. I went for a walk at noon and heard the familiar rusty hinge call from atop a tree, and it wasn't a starling imitating a grackle.

Why is it that I just cannot describe a grackle and make it sound as poetic as, say, a bluebird?

The tomato list

This morning I had the luxury of not rousing kids out of bed before I had to leave for work. I just wish I had spring break! My job is slow enough as it is... just waiting for the ice to melt off the lakes.

I took the time to go through my tomato seed stash and whittle the list down to 12 varieties to plant for the year. I had maybe sixteen or seventeen varieties, and I bought one new one which of course I will plant this year. So after much deliberation, the list is as follows:

Polish Linguisa 73 day paste (the one I bought new this year)
Grandma Mary's 68 day paste
Opalka 83 day paste (anything over 80 days is risky here)
Rose 80 day slicer (had really good luck with these the first year I had a garden here)
Black Cherry 76 day cherry (good luck with these two or three years ago)
Yellow pear 82 day pear (very prolific, and good)
Beaverlodge plum 55 day plum (I'll try anything under 60 days!)
Matina 75 day slicer
Siletz 70-75 day slicer (anything under 80 might work for me)
Brandywine over 80 day slicer...but it's always worked, and it's worth it
Sub Arctic Plenty- 50 day small slicer (we'll see)
Stupice 50 something day slicer that has always worked for me.

So 12 varieties means maybe 6 beds devoted to tomatoes. Which means I need more beds, although I may be cultivating part of the old horse pasture this year.

The spring that takes forever to arrive

I thought I would have been posting a lot more these last few days. Even after the excitement (?!) of my birthday, there should have been a few things to post about. Spring bird sightings, and all that.

Unfortunately, the weather is not getting better day by day. While I appreciate the above-freezing afternoons that sometimes appear, really there is nothing to show for it. No robins, phoebes, bluebirds, sandhill cranes, and whatever else marks the beginning of spring. I am settling into a "wait and see" mode myself, not feeling like actively going out and looking for things. The wind is howling tonight, with the temperature around 25, so it still feels cold.

I have a few signs of spring in my cook shed, namely seedlings. Red and white kale, spinach, and lately, a few adventurous eggplant and pepper seedlings have sprouted. I need to plant tomatoes soon.

My birthday present

I am now officially in the 21st century. I have an Ipod.

Now what do I do???? :)

UPDATE: I have now downloaded 1.2 gigabytes of music that I had on my work computer. I finally got iTunes installed at home, now I have to make some time to play with it.

Who was the first artist I listened to on my iPod? Me! Totally by chance, I had my recording of Greg Brown's "Early" already on iTunes, and it automatically downloaded to the Pod when I connected it. Sweet!

"We should have named you Spring"

That's what my dad says to me quite often on this day. After all, it is Spring now...and my birthday happens to fall on the vernal equinox more often than not.

However, I can't remember Easter ever being this close to my birthday. I suppose it's one of those once in a lifetime things.

Anyway, I am 41 and life has never been better!

My special bird sighting of the day: sharp tailed grouse. They like brushy habitat, of which we have plenty here, but they are rarely seen. They should be starting to dance on leks about now.

Wild geese

Their first raucous, joyful call on a frosty March morning is music at its best.

They are back. As it should be.

They announced their presence by flying low right over our house, honking loudly "We have returned!"

My heart soared.

Signs of spring

I forgot to mention: I saw my first kestrel of the year yesterday!

Other sightings: A pair of crows harassing a red tailed hawk, who seemed to be taking it pretty calmly.

A bald eagle soaring over Sand Creek.

Four inches of snow this morning. Oh well, three out of four ain't bad.

A parent teacher conference I'll remember...(warning, funny kid story ahead)

Leave it to my youngest to convince the kindergarten teacher that maybe it's time to retire.

We went over all the progress in reading and math, and Mr. Attitude is passing kindergarten with flying colors. I'm so proud of him, proud of all my children really.

So then the conversation drifts to other things. Mr. Attitude starts telling his teacher about our pet rabbits. We have Brownie, and Cocoa, and Cedar. And...We thought Cedar was a girl, but she likes to hump the other bunnies...

I could see Calvin off to the side giving the NO! NO! signal, but Mr. Attitude went on about bunny parts and all that, and bunnies humping...all the while my face turning forty shades of red.

His teacher just laughed and said, "Now there's a story you can tell at his graduation!"

Expedition to the Magic Island

If you click on the photo to enlarge, you can see Calvin (near the center of the photo), and Starflower (to the right, about halfway up).

With the snow cover down a bit, and somewhat of a crust over the remaining snow, Sunday was a good day to go exploring. We have a wetland on approximately the eastern 1/3 of our 40 acres that varies from a cattail marsh to an alder/willow shrub swamp with sedges in between. This is great habitat for sedge wrens, frogs, bitterns, and other critters that haven't emerged or returned yet for the spring.

As the name "wetland" implies, most of the time, except in extremely dry years, the ground is too wet to walk on, although it is possible with hip boots or waders. In the winter it is advisable to wear snowshoes to get through the deep snow. (There's a hint for next Christmas; we don't have any usable snowshoes around here!) But, no matter what time of year it is, the swamp makes for difficult walking due to the thick woody brush.

In the middle of all this is a slightly higher spot, indicated in the picture by a young thicket of jack pine and perhaps a white pine to the left. Neither of these are what you'd normally find growing in wetlands. We call it the "island", and it's naturally a good place for a ten year old boy (and eight year old girl) to explore. Calvin wants to build his own cabin out there some day.

I didn't get out there with the kids today, but then again they didn't need my supervision. I was out by the creek watching Mr. Attitude throwing stones. Again. :)

life by the extension cord

This is what happens when The Hermit is out for a few days on important business (visiting parents along the way).

I woke up some time in the middle of the night; I do not know the exact time because the power was out and I could not see a clock. Furthermore, once I got out of bed and started searching around, I could not find a light. Any light. I managed to find a jacket and stumbled out into the night. Fortunately the temperature was mild, hovering just below freezing. Therein lies the problem.

Our main electric box is a couple hundred feet from the cabin (I use the term cabin to refer to the five year "temporary" dwelling we live in while building the new house). We are connected to it by...three heavy duty extension cords plugged together. From the electrical epicenter, which is located in the generator box, power is distributed to the house, the cook shed, the garage (the freezer is there), and the back yard. Remember the last one; it would have saved me a lot of trouble this morning.

In my first dark stumblings, tromping through about two inches of new snow which is gone as of this writing, I checked the connection at the generator box, determined the problem was at least out at the main box, hiked out there, noticed the neighbors' security light was on, which meant the problem was within our own system. I hit the "reset" button on the main connection...and it tripped again within seconds.

I was too tired at that point to try and figure things out, and I had a headache. Without a light, what could I do? I went back to bed, but hardly slept. It was a little chilly without our electric controlled heater, but that's what down comforters are for.

An hour or so later I woke to the sound of some animal running (hopping) across the living room floor. Cats are quieter, dogs are bigger and louder. What the...rabbit?

I had the presence of mind to find my cell phone and turn it on. It was 5 AM. By the display light I saw one wayward rabbit who had managed to bust out of the side door and escape from the cage. I put the rabbit in, and also found a DeWalt rechargeable light, which I desperately needed at that point.

I went back outside. With snow melting, any junction of plugs could accumulate water and short the system out. I walked along the couple hundred feet of cords from the main box, pulling cords up out of the snow and making sure junctions were dry. When I hit the button on the main box, it still tripped.

I thought maybe there was a problem with the cord to the garage, where the freezer is, or another auxiliary cord. I unplugged a couple cords and hiked back out to the main box. I hit the switch, and it tripped again.

It was then I remembered... There is an old, rather frayed extension cord running to the back yard for when I use the wringer washer. It is plugged into the cabin's main power supply. Usually we unplug it when it is not in use, because if it gets wet it MAKES THE POWER GO OUT. I had thought it had been unplugged, since obviously I haven't used the wringer washer in months. But as a last resort, I checked it. It was still plugged in.

Unplugging it meant crawling, no, slithering, over new, wet snow and dirt about three feet under the cabin in my tank top and pajama pants. But, it was getting darned cold inside and it was also almost time to make coffee. So I slithered and unplugged the cord, then hiked back out to the electric box and pushed the magic button.

I saw the Winter Cheer lights come on. They stayed on, and the button didn't trip. Success.

By then it was 5:30, too late to go back to bed. But at least I was not going to work, for the unfortunate reason that Starflower was feeling under the weather. I had stayed home with Calvin the day before. Poor kids, I think March is the worst for illness. But I took advantage of my free time, after all they are both at the age where they're not too demanding. I practiced banjo and flute.

For you flute players out there, I decided maybe the problem wasn't with my flute, but with my out of shape embouchure. Amazing what two days' practice in a row can do for that. I've learned a bunch of reels, including "The Laurel Tree" and "The Noisy Curlew".

A walk in the thaw

That strange shadow is...The Mom. Mr. Attitude was perfectly happy throwing stones into the creek. I've found that's a universal boy thing. Us girls tend to pick up pretty stones and put them in our pockets. I found one Lake Superior agate.

On the way back along the driveway, we saw lots of these black globs in puddles. Dirt? No. Actually, they are little bugs, not insects but in the same phylum Arthropoda, called springtails, or snow fleas, or family Collembola. I was amazed, no matter what they are called.

Whenever the temperature gets above 20 or so, these little black jumpy things come out and pepper the white snow with their presence. I just wonder...do they survive the next winter evening low temperatures? I don't know...

Some of them get caught in water flows. I think hundreds of thousands of them just happened to be caught in this flow, which runs off our driveway and ultimately ends up in the pond. So maybe they are food for insects, invertebrates, maybe even turtles and small fish.

Life never ceases to amaze me.

Now this is more like it!

The Hermit called me at work to tell me our ill-tempered, pessimistic thermometer was finally reading 40 degrees!

I spent my afternoon break standing with my back against a south facing wall, soaking up the sun, and listening to the dripping of melt water from the eaves and the rush of breeze through a small grove of jack pines.

Let the mud season begin!

The goose is in, and other news

I finally got that darned goose back in the pen. Today's sun was strong enough that it softened the snow around the gate so I could dig it out enough to open the gate about one foot. Then I threw some feed inside the pen, and chased the offending goose towards the gate with the shovel. Success! But did the goose thank me? It acted like it was happy to be in, but it still hissed at me. Oh well.

Why do we keep geese, anyway?

I finally saw a few snow buntings today. I had to take Calvin to a friend's house, and on the way home I took a detour to a road where snow buntings are often seen. We had traveled that road yesterday with no buntings. Today I had better luck, with a small flock of about six snow buntings sighted. They will be heading for the Arctic tundra soon.

While I drove around, I was listening to one of my favorite radio shows, Celtic Connections on KUMD out of Duluth. I just love Celtic music, and I enjoy playing it, but I'm afraid it's time to take the flute in for another tune up.

red on white

He was back first thing in the morning.

It was only 18 below zero.

Treasures of a cold March day

The high temperature maybe got to 12 degrees F. Oh well, it still felt much warmer in the strong sunlight. And it's gotta end soon, right?

I didn't see my barred owl, although I made an effort. I did see a flock of Bohemian waxwings over the town of Hinckley, where I work. I hope they found the two crab apple trees that are still loaded with fruit.

There are two red tailed hawks now at the site where I've been seeing one. A pair maybe?

And, when I came home and went inside my warm house, what did I see perched in the dead spruce above the feeder? The most gorgeous red male cardinal. For those of you in more southern climes, even the Twin Cities of MN, cardinals are a rare treat around here. He just perched there in the spruce branch until sunset. I'm hoping he thought he found a good food source with good cover, and we'll see more of him. I had not seen a cardinal since December.

Today's weather: TFCFM*

-27

*Too Freakin Cold For March

The barred owl and I

....are now on almost a first name basis. I can almost be guaranteed now that, on a sunny afternoon, if I just look close, I WILL see it! Yes, I did see it today, a bit further from the road than normal in a skinny birch tree. I haven't been this excited about driving home from work since the great gray owl event of 2005.

On another note, I am so ready for the snow and ice to melt!! Today I was walking out to a dog kennel we use as covered storage except for the middle kennel, where The Brittany and The Chesapeake hang out together during the day. I was getting a bunch of hay for the rabbits. Just as I approached the hay, my legs gave way beneath me as I slid to the right on some ice. As I was going down the upper front of my left ear happened to meet up with the protruding latch to the kennel door. I now have a one inch gash which slightly slices my ear from my head. Just slightly, though. Lots of pain, but I think no need for stitches. But it's really hard to find a Band-aid that will fit, and not be stuck to hair.

It could have been worse. The latch could have hit just a bit lower and caught my earring, thus ripping my earlobe in two. But we won't dwell on the what if's.

Barred owl update

I saw it again today! It was about a half mile north of where I had seen it before, but in a tree next to the road as usual. Amazing!

An ordinary Saturday, turned extraordinary

It was a pretty laid back day here at Sand Creek. I lounged in bed until the ridiculously late hour of 7:30, when a cat and dog tag team (Blue Flame and Sally) finally ousted me. I sipped coffee and watched the usual chickadees, nuthatches (white and red breasted), redpolls, blue jays, goldfinches, and pine grosbeaks at the feeder while I finalized my garden seed, potato, and onion orders and made them online. I have marked my calendar to plant tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds in three weeks! By then I just might be seeing pairs of Canada geese flying around, maybe even a robin or bluebird.

Then I had a great banjo practice session, although for some reason I found it difficult to actually sit down and start practicing. I don't know if it's that nagging thought in the back of my mind that something, somewhere, needs to be done, or the apprehension about the mental effort it takes to learn something, and be disciplined enough to keep repeating things until they become second nature to me. I think I succeeded in overcoming whatever mental hurdles there were.

It would have been easy to stay there in that room, bathed in sunlight, and making music. But there were a few things that needed to be done, and it was nice enough outside that I really didn't mind doing them. The Hermit came home from a three day business trip, and we put together a new rabbit cage we can use indoors or out. Much nicer than the dog kennel the rabbits were staying in.

Then two friends of Calvin and Starflower's came over, so The Hermit and I got away for a short drive. I had just mentioned to him that, along the road we were driving, I had seen a barred owl three or four times within the last month. Then, we almost drove right by THIS:

This barred owl was enjoying the afternoon sun so much it didn't seem to mind us backing up to gawk at it. What a beautiful sight! No, of course I did not have my camera with me at the time. But after we got home, The Hermit took Mr. Attitude to see if they could see it. And take photos. I would have gone along, but I was already shoveling the pond. Again.

The Hermit said he could not get a picture of the owl straight on; it kept turning its head in that amazing way owls do.

Mr. Attitude's excitement as he was telling me about the owl was precious. "It had a big round head, and he could turn it all the way around!" I am SO happy it was still there and they got such a good view, and pictures. I don't think Mr. Attitude had seen an owl before.

I'm not keeping a year list this year, but I will make note that I have never seen barred owls as frequently as I have this last month.

Great photos, Hermit.