subtle changes

early July

early September

I took these two photos of the same scene purely by chance. (Or did I? Maybe there is no such thing as chance). I thought it would be a study in changes, but I am more struck by the similarities.

Labor Day weekend is a time of transition, with the kids starting back to school on Tuesday. I have found I probably take the transition harder than they do.

of trout, and the aquatic mammals that eat them

I was in the midst of another adventurous day at work. Lately, due to a coworker's taking family leave, I have been out more than in, sampling one stream after another with electricity. And you know what, I'm enjoying it, more than I have enjoyed any other work I've done (at work that is) since I can remember. In the last couple of weeks I have seen some nice waters, gotten to know a lot more of the local plants, and even seen a few brook trout.

I heard my cell phone signal a new voice mail. 99 percent of the time my cell phone messages are anything but urgent, but even though I was not in a strong signal area I decided to check it.

"Mom! There's a family of otters in the pond!"

My battery was going low, or I would have called back just to make sure I heard right. Today indeed a family of four otters had taken over the pond and were frolicking wildly! I wish I could have been there to see them. New wildlife sighting at Sand Creek!

Of course, this probably explains why last Friday, when we finally got around to sampling the stretch of Sand Creek that flows through my land, there were no trout. Otters eat fish, and they can take down the population of a brook trout stream easily.

But it does not explain why today, in a shallow, alder choked stretch of stream about five miles south of here, we sampled thirteen small brook trout in about a 500 foot length of stream. By small I mean, you would not even think of taking them home for dinner, but they were there! We were totally not expecting to see them. I'm sure otters lurk there now and then, and yet brook trout survive against incredible odds.

Nature is wonderfully balanced that way.

last week of the summer

It's only the fourth inning of the Twins game, and it's getting dark. A waxing moon is rising, but still the kids are outside squeezing in another few pitches of homemade baseball.

I found a beautiful place today. Have you ever happened upon a place where you are immediately mesmerized, where you feel the need to come back and spend some time? I will, and I will bring a camera. Picture a stream cascading over ledges of sandstone in a small valley. I was there for work, but I will be back on my own time.

extreme gardening and running

It's the last night of August, and there are frost advisories out for the area. Considering this garden's history of being stricken by frost even when no advisories are present, I thought it would be prudent to cover up the tender stuff. I put so much work into growing tomatoes, I would like to see more than one ripe one yet this year. And my one watermelon is now softball size, can't give up now!

I had a strange but delightful run this morning. Usually in five miles or more, I will only see one or two vehicles at the most. And usually at least one of those is someone I know. But this morning when I turned east on the dead end road I know so well, I was passed by pickup truck after pickup truck, all late model and shiny, all towing trailers with dirt bikes or 4 wheelers. Great. Where on this little dead end road could they possibly be headed? I thought about turning around and taking a different route, but hey, this is MY road, my run, and I'm not going to let a bunch of city kids with their toys chase me off of it.

It turned out they were all headed to one property about two miles down the road. I don't know the details, but there were dozens of vehicles parked there, dirt bikes revving up, the smell of exhaust and cigarettes. I ran past the property, to the end of the road, when I realized something: I felt strong. Maybe it was my disgust at seeing all these gasoline powered playthings in my territory, or maybe it was the silent prayer I said at the beginning of my run, asking for strength. Whatever it was, I felt like I could go on and on. I ended up running down a little side dead end road a half mile and back, and going strong the rest of the way home for a total of seven miles.

I can't recall ever running seven miles, not even in my more youthful days. And I felt like I could have gone for at least ten.

nighthawks are flying

And taking with them the last days of summer. They swoop down low over the asters and goldenrods, hanging in the stillness of the evening air.

blackbirds flying

We saw these red winged blackbirds flocked together and feasting on wild rice at a local lake on Friday.

Sand Creek becomes a raging river

Well, as much as a low gradient stream can rage. This is Sand Creek after a 2 day total of 6.25 inches of rain. Without a "before" picture it's hard to tell, but normally that island in the middle is not flooded.

This is the part of the stream I sampled by electrofishing about a week ago. Back then, the water in the foreground was about eight inches deep. Now it's almost to the tops of the three culverts under the road, which are about three feet high.

Here is the downstream end of the same road crossing. Last year when they replaced the culverts I thought three 3' round culverts was maybe overkill. The closest one in the photo had no water flowing through it on Saturday. A little overkill comes in handy in torrential rains.

Of course the pond is full and running out the overflow culvert. And of course, the kids left a canoe, kayak, and duck boat in the water; all are floating very low and since the kids are on vacation in Nebraska, I will be doing some bailing tomorrow.

rain

I never got around to emptying the nine tenths of an inch of rain we got over the weekend from the gauge. So when it started raining yesterday morning I made a mental note to subtract that from whatever was in there when it stopped raining.

It poured all day and did not stop until around 7 in the evening. At work I had to put on waders to move my car, which was in a puddle several inches deep.

When I finally got out to the rain gauge, I poured off the first inch of rain. We have one of those gauges with an overflow catcher thing, so I filled the gauge from there. Then I filled it again, and again, and again. The total from today: over five inches. I don't think I've seen a rainfall like that since we've been living here!

I blame Starflower. The evening before she had washed a load of her clothes and hung them out to dry. :)

We're still playing catch-up from a drought period, so this rainfall will help recharge the groundwater and get Sand Creek flowing a little faster. There's no danger of flooding here, unless we get a huge rain that completely fills up about fifty acres of wetland upstream.

Today I'll be on the road, driving southwest to Sioux Falls SD (yes, I'll actually make it to another state besides Wisconsin) to bring the kids to stay at my stepdaughter and her fiance's in Nebraska for a few days. How do I spend a kid-free weekend at Sand Creek? Rumor has it there may be some home improvement projects in the works...I'll keep you posted.

into the alders

For my job today I got to spend some time exploring a stretch of Sand Creek upstream from my place. I run by the downstream end of that part of the creek nearly every day now, but I've never gone more than a short distance upstream. The 80 acre parcel the creek flows through there is owned by the state, and managed by my office for brook trout habitat.

Brook trout are particular about habitat, even more so than rainbow or brown trout, which are not native here. They need cold clean water with a variety of habitat including deep pools and gravel substrate for spawning. They do well in the larger streams on the North Shore of Lake Superior, but I have also seen them in very small streams.

This stretch of Sand Creek was mostly narrow (10 feet wide) and shallow, with sand for substrate. Much of the stream was shaded by alders that hung so low we had to lift them up to pass through or crawl underneath. Alders have a way of doing that. The shade keeps the water from warming in the sun, but the branches limit all but the most determined angler.

The water was cool. Cold, even. In a deep pool I held my hands underwater and had it not been such a hot day, it would have been uncomfortable after a short time. I have been in a few small streams around the area lately, but none with water nearly as cold as this. The source of much of the water became apparent as I moved upstream; here and there along the banks were flowing springs. I lost count of how many there were. Very unusual for streams in this part of the state! My theory is that this part of Sand Creek lies close to an ancient bedrock fault, and the bedrock is close enough to the surface to keep a layer of cold groundwater just under the soil's surface. The water table has been pretty low around here lately with the drought; I think in a more normal year those springs would have been flowing even more.

We were successful in sampling brook trout: three small adults and one young-of-year. We also sampled one mottled sculpin, which is a good indicator species for trout streams. I'll bet there were some more trout and sculpin in the deep pools we could not sample well. All were released unharmed.

Tomorrow I may be on Sand Creek again, a bit closer to home. I'll try to have the kids bring the camera out if we sample there!

gathering

I really seem to have fallen behind in blogging lately. Summer is happening, kids are as busy as ever and so am I, work is crazy, and in between I'm trying to keep the house in some semblance of order. But last Sunday, the wild raspberries were calling me, and I spent all morning crawling through brambles picking the tiny, juicy, sweet as summer berries.

I didn't have to go too far from home. Since our riding mower died a couple of years ago, large areas of our land have gone unmowed, and raspberries are one of the first plants to take over. They produce fruit in their second year, so while in other years we have had a few berries here and there, this year we;ve had enough to make it worthwhile to spend some time picking.

I ended up with about half an ice cream pail's worth, which was enough for four half pint jars of jam, which I made last Monday. I also made twelve half pints of strawberry jam from some berries the kids and The Hermit had picked. It was my first canning effort in the new house!

There are more raspberries out there, and I'm hoping to get my hands on some fresh local blueberries, but do I have to say "so much to do, so little time"?

cuteness on the banjo case

Status of The Garden, Early August

Sugar snap peas in August? Well, it's been a strange year. These are the products of what is left of the pea vines after Ms. Doe got after them. I replanted yesterday, thinking optimistically as ever, that I may get a fall crop in. I will take steps to decrease Ms. Doe's interest in garden greenery.

What is that? A micro melon? This is my first year's attempt at growing melons, and I am encouraged that I even see flowers and mini Blacktail Mountain watermelons.

Doesn't this tomato bed look great? Of course by this time of year it should have fruit in various stages of ripening. But this is the unsung Coldest Spot in Minnesota after all...

And the dill. Best crop ever, and I didn't even plant it! I keep hoping my miserable frost bitten pickling cukes will catch up to it. By the way, I love the repetitiveness in the dill head and dill flowerettes. Garden fireworks.

smile for the day

but those human feet are getting so big!

garlic harvest

It's that time of year again, already. Once again I had a pretty respectable harvest of garlic, planted last October. Actually I only harvested half of it; the garlic in the bed where the dill came up fantastically has yet to be pulled up. But this basket alone was pretty heavy. No vampires here.

I also tilled that garlic bed, along with a bed of beans that were chomped heavily by my resident garden doe. And the parsnips, which did not sprout. Might as well plant some kohlrabi or Chinese cabbage or other fall crop now, although I just might be able to sneak a bean crop in yet.

In the rest of the too short weekend, I ran 5.2 miles, something I haven't done since my early twenties, and watched the always wonderful East Central marching band in a parade.

clouds today

I was on a tiny bog lake miles from anywhere. First there were no clouds. Then the clouds looked beautiful, as in the photo. Then they looked ominous. One flash of lightning was enough to send us off the lake for half an hour, waiting out a small storm. Then the sun came out again.

There were little storms like that all afternoon, the kind where you can see sunshine and blue sky while standing in the midst of a downpour of rain and hail. Things have settled down for the evening, at least I think.

diving lessons

Remember the loon family I posted about approximately three weeks ago?

I was on the same lake today, finishing up a vegetation survey, and I saw them again! The babies have grown from tiny fuzzballs to big, demanding fuzzballs. Both parents were busy diving and bringing up small fish to feed them, and my coworker and I watched in awe as the little ones dipped their heads under the water to watch the adults, then finally disappeared under the surface themselves. Diving lessons. Amazing. And all this happened within fifty feet or so of our boat. This was the best picture I got with the low-zoom work camera; I was lucky to get all four of them on the surface at the same time.

It was kind of a windy, nasty day to be out otherwise, and I was glad to be finished around noon. Tomorrow's high is only supposed to be in the upper fifties. O Summer, where art thou?

just add water

Last evening we had a total of around 1.8 inches of rain. It was raining so heavy at times I thought we would not be able to watch the All Star Game; our satellite TV was knocked out for a few minutes during the pregame. But all worked out well.

Tonight the frogs are back at it. They had been silent for a few nights, but I guess they were just waiting for a little more moisture. Tree frogs are chirping, and it even sounds like Western chorus frogs, usually an early spring species, are going for a second round.

Today while I was driving somewhere for work I saw a pair of sandhill cranes, and their half grown chick, crossing the road. I so rarely get to see a young sandhill! Cute!

Welcome to the Coldest Spot in Minnesota, again

This is not sun scald, or some strange fungal thing. This is frost damage, here on a winter squash. In the middle of July. The plant will survive, but excuse me? Are we entering a mini Ice Age here? Can I not expect to grow frost sensitive vegetables and not have to worry about covering them up every night in the summer?

On the other hand, the sugar snap peas, which I planted pretty late, are thriving. As are the kale and Swiss chard. The tomatoes and other frost wimpy plants survived too.

summertime

It's that fireweed time of year, the time I first realize that summer is slipping by, the days are only going to get shorter. Best to savor every moment.





I think this photo is absolutely priceless. Calvin, on the right, is giving me the "okay Mom, I see you but I'm not supposed to look like I do" look. His two flag bearing friends in the middle had some 12 year old goofy look thing going on. And Floridacracker, this photo does not show it very well, but the flag at the right is indeed the banner of Florida. I guess because the band has played at Disney World, they earned it. :)

white pine eagle

If I had only had my own camera with 10x zoom...

At first I thought there was a nest in that bunch of branches behind the eagle. But after viewing it from two different angles, I saw no nest. The eagle was staying in the tree as we moved in pretty close, though, so I'm guessing the nest may not be too far away.

Sometimes my job is worth it.

random thoughts of grace

I don't exactly remember the night I took this photo; maybe a week or so ago. What a pleasure to find on the camera card!

I just saw and heard an indigo bunting! I am hoping the song is etched in my mind, but I think I will need to hear it a few more times to associate it with the bird. They must be nesting around here!

Tomorrow is Calvin's first ever marching band parade, and what a biggie: the Lions Club International Convention in Minneapolis. From what I've seen and heard, the band is up for it. I would think they would have to be really good to get in in the first place. So I'll be thinking of and cheering for East Central in the morning.

The evening is still and beautiful, deer flies notwithstanding. We've had high temps in the upper 70's, lows in the upper 40's. A bearable summer, all in all.

I heard Bob Dylan sing "Boots of Spanish Leather" on the radio as I was driving home, and now I have the uncontrollable urge to play and sing it. The question is, which instrument?

my garden helper

Mr. Attitude, in a gracious display of helpfulness, took over the hose today as I was watering the garden. Here he is, watering my still small but hopefully huge and fruitful by the end of the month tomato plants.

There has been a hoofed visitor to the garden lately, and I think we will need to take action. She has been nibbling on beans, potatoes, peas, and tomatoes (surprisingly!) As our first action, Mr. Attitude and I were yelling "WE LIKE VENISON!" :) I don't think it will help tho.

And I could not leave without posting about Mr. Attitude's post-gardening outfit. Very Miami Vice, and definitely cool!

Notice however, the bare studs and undone appearance of the house interior. It will get done someday.

great blue

loon family

This may have been the cutest thing I saw today. Well, after those little hooded mergansers I saw at the fish rearing ponds. And the kittens...sigh...

I got to spend a day at work cruising around the shoreline of a lake by myself in a boat. How cool is that? I certainly did not mind.

There was another adult loon, but loons are so difficult to photograph. They dive just as you get the camera ready. I was happy to get this shot.

Uh Mom...there's a snapping turtle in the canoe

One of the many details of the aftermath of Calvin's Party was that a canoe and a kayak had been left, upside down, in the pond. No big deal, they would not sink and could be retrieved on a hot day. Like today.

Calvin and Mr. Attitude were doing just that, when Mr. Attitude interrupted my tomato planting. "Mom", he announced. "There's a big snapping turtle in the canoe! Come see it!"

Of course I grabbed the camera, thinking "bloggable moment!" But I also knew that the real question was "Mom, can you get that snapping turtle OUT of the canoe?"

Hmmm...yes...a medium size, but no less vicious snapper. The kids know that I regularly wrangle with snapping turtles as part of my job. Only this one was easy, it was not in the wrong part of a one-way net. All I had to do was grab it by the tail.

Of course, it protested. I held it long enough to take this photo, then I released it into the pond. On second thought, was that a good idea? We swim there...But I don't think it will be a problem...I hope...

I stayed to help bring in the kayak, and surprise! There was a large painted turtle in there! They must have liked the cave-like cover of overturned canoes.

Life is so darn sweet

We are all hung over here from lack of sleep last night. With Calvin's big celebration, having five friends over and going through a 24 pack of Mountain Dew and six Pepsi Throwbacks, two Papa Murphy's pizzas including one Chicago stuffed, and one cheesecake, and hearing Calvin in the kitchen at 3 AM ("Where's the Kool Aid? We ran out of Mountain Dew!), and hearing everyone outside at 5 AM, even those of us who slept were a bit groggy this morning.

But, it was a huge success. I mean, what twelve year old boy would not want to stay up all night and run around at midnight with walkie talkies playing hide and seek in the woods? Sure, they had video games available, and they might have played them between 1 and 5 AM. But they also spent lots of time at the pond, running around in the woods from one tree fort to the next, and digging out a little ditch pond by the old railroad grade. That is to say, just being kids.

I am so happy we live here. It was a strange, convoluted road that led us to eventually end up here, but now the path makes sense. I would not want to be anywhere else, even though sometimes I wonder if this house will ever get done. Tonight it is raining and thundering, and this metal roof sounds nice over our heads. My tomatoes and peppers and eggplant have yet to be planted, but I may have lost them had I planted them two weeks ago. To everything there is a time and a purpose.

12

Cabin cleaned...check.
Wii moved over to cabin temporarily...check.
Big stereo system that's been sitting in the storage shed for years hooked up and running...check.
Mountain Dew and Pepsi Throwback in cooler...check.

Almost time to PARTY!

Calvin is twelve years old today. I know it's trite to say where does the time go, but wow...last year he was excited to sleep in the (then unoccupied) new house with a couple of friends. Now he's taking over the cabin for the night with an old friend and a couple new ones!

I am thankful to have him as my son, thankful that he has such a joyful curiosity about natural things and outright passion for baseball. I am thankful that we as a family can celebrate his big day and that he has good friends he can share it with.

volunteers

While I was weeding one of my garlic beds yesterday, I noticed some "weeds" I was not familiar with. They had finely divided leaves, and were fairly abundant among the garlic plants. Curious, I rubbed one and smelled it, as scent can often give a clue in plant identification. This plant had a pungent aroma of...dill!

I do recall having a dill plant or two in that bed last year, and not having any use for it since my pickling cucumbers did not fare well. I will keep all of these plants among the garlic; they won't hurt the garlic, which is growing very well, and when I harvest garlic, in a month or so, I can let the dill take over and not have to worry about having enough when it's time to make pickles.

Some of my best gardening is done when I'm not really trying. But I am putting in a good effort this weekend, and I hope to have a lot of beds planted this evening.

garden visitor

This picture was taken by the kids the other day. The nerve, to be so close to my garden beds in broad daylight! I think she may have even snacked on some lettuce or kale. Some kind of protection is definitely in order.

I spent the day hauling composted horse manure from a pile out towards the pond to the garden beds about 100 yards away, then working it in with the Mantis. I didn't get all of the beds ready for planting, but I'm getting close. It started raining about 3:30, which was a good quitting time. While I was hauling one load, I picked up a red bellied snake for the kids to see. It is temporarily residing in the former turtle-quarium. Temporarily is the operative word here. :)

the smell of rain and wood smoke

It's been a cool June so far, and tonight we are getting some much needed rain. I love the sound of rain on our metal roof; even though it is muted by insulation it is definitely heard. Because it is a cool and rainy night, we have a fire going in the wood stove. Yes, it's June. But the fire feels good.

This morning I ran, and ran some more. 4.6 miles altogether, although I admit I may have been walking some on the last half. That is the most distance I have run since I was at least in my twenties, and it felt great. I am so amazed at how far I've come; last summer the first time I ran I struggled to make it a quarter mile and back. Today my goal was to make it to a place I wrote about two years ago. I did, and I walked around a bit although it was hard to see the stream amidst all the undergrowth. Some day I'll walk in there and check out the 20 foot high rock wall on the south side of the stream.

I was hot and sweaty all during my run, but as soon as I got home I got the chills, so the rest of the day was mostly indoors; the garden can wait another day. I hope to run again tomorrow morning, but I will easily bow to weather-related excuses. Actually, I'm hoping it will rain all night. We need it.

More peacock sightings, and kid fun

This morning I heard the unmistakable sound of the peacock. It sounded like it was out by the road, across the creek. I looked as I was leaving for work, but I could not see it. But this afternoon, I saw it standing on the side of the road, not too far from where I first saw it a few weeks ago. Later in the evening, as we were heading for a rare evening out, we saw it again, this time about half a mile up our road. I had found out from a neighbor that some people in the area were looking for a lost peacock, so we decided to stop by their place and let them know we had seen it. I don't know these people too well, and driving into their place was like going into a mini zoo. Horses, domestic ducks with their own pond, rabbits, turkeys, guineas, and several other peafowl. I let the woman know about her wayward peacock, and she said she would "go get it". I wish I could have tagged along to see if and how she accomplished the task. I hope she did, and that the bird is safe and sound at home.

After the first peacock sighting, as I was approaching home I became aware of two kids running towards my car from the direction of the creek. It was Starflower and Mr. Attitude, soaked from head to toe and grinning ear to ear. They had spent the afternoon swimming and exploring the creek. Calvin was with them earlier, and they even brought the canoe over and had fun going through the culverts under the road. In previous summers the creek has gone largely unused, mostly because we already have the pond for swimming, but also because there is a fairly deep hole in the creek, and this is the first summer the kids are old enough that I feel comfortable with them swimming there on their own. It sounds like they had too much fun exploring the shallow riffles to even care about the deep area. It makes me feel so good about living here, that they have the chance to do some real KID EXPLORING. No nature deficit disorder here!

Welcome to June

What you see above are my basil plants. What's left of them anyway. We had frost the night before last. It's a good thing most of my garden beds remain unplanted!

The kids are celebrating their first full day off school today. Sometimes I wish I was a teacher.

The Contrariness of the Mad Gardener

The Garden, Before

The Garden, After

I received my Mantis tiller (seen in the front bed, left side of photo) via UPS Thursday evening. Friday from 10 AM-2 PM or so I was a tilling maniac. By my count from the photos, I tilled seventeen of my 21 4 x 8 raised beds. My verdict on the Mantis: Best piece of power equipment I have ever owned. It's light enough to lift in and out of the beds, powerful enough to work through most grass roots, and easy to handle. I don't know how I gardened without it.

The one thing the Mantis won't do is dig out boulders and carry them off to some new rock garden. I encountered a surprising number of rocks in the garden beds, ranging from golf ball size to too big for me to dig up.

But wait, there's more! In the photos above, you can see 21 raised garden beds. I have an additional 5 raised beds for potatoes that are not shown. I did an inventory of my tomato plants today, and decided I needed a minimum of 9 dedicated beds for tomatoes. The most I have ever planted was six beds, at eight plants per bed. That would put a squeeze on everything else I could plant, so...I'm adding four more raised beds. Insane. And I'll probably still plant some tomatoes in containers.

So what are all these tomatoes I'm planting? I had to take inventory this morning, since I hadn't kept track of just how many varieties I started and transplanted to pots. I have perhaps a record 21 tomato varieties, all open pollinated heirlooms, and 74+ plants. That's not counting the ones I did not transplant from their little starting cells. Here's the list; most are chosen for being under 80 days:

Stupice
Break o'Day
Sioux
Fireworks
Grandma Mary's Paste
Igegnoli Gigante
Polish Linguisa (paste)
Taxi (yellow, of course)
Rose
Mountain Princess (Baker Creek lists this at 48 days!!!)
Yellow Pear
Cuor di Bue
Principe Borghese (supposed to be great for drying)
Soldacki
Ropreco Paste
Ivory Egg
Black Cherry
Pantano Romanesco
Siletz
Glacier
Cosmonaut Volkov

On top of that, I have nine kinds of peppers and three eggplant varieties. Insanity, I tell ya!

By the way, none of these tomatoes were planted out today. It's supposed to freeze tonight. More insanity!

Won't you be my neighbor?

Today as I was taking the kids to school (actually 2 out of 3; Starflower has been waking up early and taking the bus) I saw something that made my heart sink: a "for sale" sign at the property just to the south of us. A family from a suburb of St. Paul owns the land, but we had not seen them around for a while. They were pretty good neighbors, up for an occasional weekend, some deer hunting, all in all pretty quiet.

Of course I am a bit curious as to the circumstances, but also worried about who might eventually buy the land. We have been blessed with good neighbors here, although the ones across the road are quirky but in a benign way. I would hate to see a weekend warrior come in, equipped with a bunch of ATV's intent on "mud bogging" the substantial wetland on the property. Or some careless deer hunters who just might be careless enough to put my family in danger. I'm not incriminating all deer hunters here; I'm just saying that is a possibility.

So I'm reaching out to anyone who reads this blog: Do you want 40 acres of peace and quiet, with magnificent white pines, just a short drive up I-35 from the Cities? Birding is great with the mix of white pines, aspens and shrub swamp. There is a trailer with electricity already on the place, and driveway with gate, so it's ready for you to come up and stay a weekend. If you look at the header photo, it is the land to the left. And the best part is, you would have great neighbors!!! :)

Seriously, I would like to see this property fall into the right hands. So if you're interested, my e-mail is on the sidebar.

that wonderful time of year

Some time I'll put it all in words...

Heeere's Granny!

Yep. I'm a step grandma now. But isn't he CUTE? I had a hard time believing this was my stepson's own child, the child of the boy whom I watched grow up since he was six or so. Wow.

Calvin, Mr. Attitude, and Starflower are thrilled as can be to be uncles and aunt. And they were happy to be reunited with the proud father, Tom, for a good game of catch and baseball. The newborn, of course, slept most of the time. I hear he's a night baby though. Ah the memories.

Mental health day off

Friday off to make it a four day weekend. Yeah! Lots of mental health recuperating and gardening to be done. Not to mention visiting STEP grandkids. :)

I'm a step grandma!

Jordan Patrick Sewell was born this afternoon to Tom and Abbi, my stepson and daughter in law. Six pounds 14 ounces, and apparently healthy! And the crew here is delighted to be uncles and aunt. I'm hoping to see some Facebook pictures before the night is over!

Wow. The G-word. I'm too young for this! Although I'm looking forward to holding a baby without assuming all the mom duties. :)

Okay, I actually read the link and my exact words on June 8, 2008 were: "They better wait to have kids until I'm good and ready!" :) Life is funny.

I'm getting a Mantis!

My enthusiasm for gardening has been waning lately. Mostly it has to do with the fact that it is physically difficult, and painful, to prepare all of my raised beds by the usual shoveling and hand hoeing methods. One day in the garden equals three days on heavy ibuprofen therapy. And a lot of my weeds are rhizome-running varieties, which are especially tenacious.

I started dreaming about mini-tillers some time last fall. But all of our money was going for getting the new house in livable condition, and I deferred my dream. I hand prepared a couple of beds this spring, and looked on with dread as the usual grasses crept in the others.

Finally this spring I decided I wasn't going to torture myself any further. I was going to get a mini tiller, and it was to be my Mother's Day present. But I'm so bad at shopping, or more precisely, at finally opening up my wallet and buying something. So this morning The Hermit started comparing mini tillers online, and before I knew it he said "I ordered a Mantis!" After comparing consumer reports online, he decided it was worth the money, and they have a 4 payment program, which helps a lot. Free 2-day shipping, it should be here by my planned day off on Friday!

Watch out, woman with power garden tools! :)

You'll never guess what my new yard bird is...(updated with photo)

...and I'm going to make you wait until the end of this post to reveal it. And you Facebook friends may have an unfair advantage. Sorry, I couldn't resist a quick status post. ;)

It's been a crazy week here. Started off with a flat tire on the way to work Monday morning, which of course ended up with me having to buy a new tire, which came today. I drove The Hermit's vehicle until now. Four Calvin baseball games (one of which is tomorrow), Calvin staying up until after midnight when the Twins game went 13 innings (they won, thanks to a walk off grand slam by another great Joe), lots of stuff going on at work, and to top it off, tonight's triple header of ball game, piano recital, and band concert. I got home after my bedtime.

At least I have been out on lakes at work, which is good. I like driving a boat around, looking at stuff, even if I have to somehow systematically record the presence of curlyleaf pondweed. Yesterday at lunch time I parked the boat on the shore of an island which I believe was Minnesota's first designated Scientific and Natural Area, because it hosts a great blue heron rookery. I practically grew up on that lake, so I know personally that the herons have been there at least close to 40 years, probably longer. Now it also hosts a bald eagle nest, and I saw one eagle bring a fish or something to the nest. There were warblers flitting about, mostly yellow rumped, but I heard a warbling vireo.

Today I learned an important lesson: Don't park your boat downwind of a flock of white pelicans. They must ferment those fish in their beaks for a LONG time!

Okay, on to the yard bird. The other day, I think it was a Tuesday if I remember right, I was driving home with the kids after one of Calvin's ball games, and a mile and a half away from our house I spotted something that made me do a double take. It turned out to be a preview of THE YARD BIRD. Fast forward to this morning. The Hermit tells me he heard a really loud, exotic sounding bird call from our woods that may have been the bird I had seen before. I walked out, heard nothing, and told him it may have been a yellow bellied sapsucker; after all they do get kind of sassy this time of year. Later today, when I got back from the lake and was checking my email at work, I had a note from The Hermit saying he had visual confirmation, and it was most definitely NOT a sapsucker.

It was a peacock. A real live, honest to God blue peacock. Right here in our woods. I only believed him because my preview bird happened to be a peacock, albeit a mile and a half away from here.

No photos yet; I happened to have the camera stashed in one of those obvious places that neither of us could remember. Camera found tonight, hope to get some early morning photographic evidence. I didn't arrive home until twilight, which is pretty late these days, but I was fortunate to get audio confirmation several times over. Those suckers are LOUD!

This is surreal. I would not be more surprised if I happened to see a manatee surfacing in our pool on Sand Creek. Or a flock of flamingoes foraging in the shallows of the pond.

Friday morning update:

woodpeckers know no boundaries

common loons

Marsh marigold

It is Spring in a big way, that week or two when everything bursts forth in green, the drab grays and tans of bare trees and dead grasses fade under new growth. It is the time while, as the everyday business of human life rushes forward, I just want to pause somewhere in a sunny meadow near a laughing brook and BE a part of this world that does not concern itself with human economies. I also see clearly, in stark contrast, the ideal life I want versus the present reality, lost in the details. But the renewal of spring gives me hope and courage to pursue that good life as I plant my garden and play the ancient music.

another osprey nest

A long time ago, in that dark season we call winter, which I don't want to think about now, while doing the Christmas Bird Count, I noticed a large nest atop a power line pole. I figured it was either an eagle or an osprey nest, and made a mental note to check it in the spring.

Today I was in the area, driving home from a short day's work pulling nets. I can hardly call it work when I'm getting paid to ride around in a boat on a nice day like today. Oh yeah, I had to help wrestle a muskie or two, but I saw lots of ducks, and some loons.

I decided to drive by the nest, if I could remember which road it was on. I happened to find the right road, and lo and behold Mrs. Osprey was peeking over the top at me!

This nest is a few miles from the Web cam nest, and probably a mile or more from the nearest big body of water. Apparently the osprey pair thought it was a good spot though. It's nice they picked the power pole closest to the road!