Signs of spring

We got about 6" of new snow overnight, the wet, sticky kind that clings to branches. I woke up and thought "how beautiful!" about the same time my husband said "Damn!" It was a beautiful, although somewhat treacherous, drive to work.

Now to the signs of spring. Pussy willow buds are getting big! They should be completely budded out in a couple weeks.

It was about 45 degrees and sunny on Saturday, wonderful weather to be outdoors with the kids. We went skating on the pond, but the surface was starting to get mushy. I don't know if we'll get any more skating days after this snow.

I went back twice, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, to try to see the northern hawk owl with no luck. I did see eight great grays on my way to work this morning; one was in a tree near our house.

Northern hawk owl

I saw it this morning! Had to drop a car off at the garage in Bruno, so when we were done I persuaded my husband to drive a few miles up to Kerrick where one has been seen regularly. East of town there's a fantastic bog and some nice rolling farmland and mixed conifer/hardwood forest. We located the northern hawl owl in an open field; actually I must give credit to my husband for identifying it first by the way it flew. I didn't get a good close look but I got perhaps the once in a lifetime opportunity to see both a northern hawk owl and great gray owl at the same time! I'll probably go back there this afternoon when we pick up the car, now that I know where to look.

Eight great grays

Eight of them seen on the way home last night; two on the Hinckley road, four on the Askov road, and two right in front of my place!

Eleven!!! Eleven!!!

Eleven great gray owls on the way home, which totally blows my theory that they've gone further south. Four were on 61 north of Hinckley in the vicinity of the big curve towards Sandstone. The rest were along 30 east of Sandstone (the "churchy way" as Joey calls it, because we go by our small country church enroute) and north on 22. "Our owl" was there perched in a white pine near Sand Creek on the front part of our property, as usual. I also saw one ruffed grouse; grouse are low in number this winter due to the natural fluctuations in their population which seem to go in a seven year cycle. This grouse was so out in the open as to be obvious to me as I was driving along at about 55 mph, in a crabapple or other low shrubby tree eating buds or something.

55 mph is relative; these days I am driving a 1990 Honda Accord from Canada, with nearly 400,000 km on the odometer. I still have trouble converting mph to kmph, although they nicely include mph on the inside of the odometer in small numbers. I think I can drive about 85 kmph and be reasonably within the law here!

I need to brag about Joey (age 3) here; he actually spotted one owl that I would otherwise have missed. He knows how much his mommy get excited seeing owls, and he just wants to help.

Great gray owls are awesome!!!

"Our" owl had breakfast

This morning as I was driving out the driveway, "our" great gray owl was there again. I caught sight of it just as it was landing on a post. Just then I saw it transfer something from its talons to its beak! That got me thinking, the horse pasture probably attracts field mice because of all the spilled grain and seeds from the hay. So it's probably a good place for an owl to hunt for food, and that's why this one stays around here.

I saw two more great gray owls as I was driving to work. Joey (age 3) was in the back seat, and after we saw the second owl he said to me "We need to see a hawk owl!" I guess he's heard me say that a few too many times.

another 5 owl day!

Just when I thought they were going away, along with them my luck...I saw 3 great gray owls along county road 32 east of Askov, where I've been lucky to see one lately. And then when I got home, I decided to drive north to the corner of our road, to see if I could see "our" owl, one that's been hanging around the vicinity of our property. Well not only did I see "our" owl, I saw another one, within a half mile! "Our" owl was on a willow at the outlet to the pond, then when it saw me it flew a couple times to various fence posts along the horse pasture, before flying to a small white pine across the pond. I think these owls are getting more savvy to cars, judging by the reactions to them. So this has me wondering, how much does pure chance have to do with bird sightings? It may be worth my time to record my daily sightings, as the "city birders" do not get this rare opportunity.

But I still have not seen my Northern Hawk Owl. argggghhh... but I will.

I did see a bald eagle today on the way to work, just about a mile west of my road along the main road. I'm so used to seeing grat gray owls now, at first I thought it was one. I always pause in awe every time I see an eagle, and think how fortunate I am to live in an area where I can see such wonders daily! I will never see an eagle, or a great gray owl, or for that matter even the smallest chickadee, and not thank the Great Spirit for the gift of such a sighting.

These gifts are what sustains me lately, as I am dealing with frustrating financial issues. I just want to live my simple life, not be bothered with such things, and all of a sudden I'm afraid to even open the mailbox! This too shall pass...repeat ad nauseum and on the way drink a few beers to numb the reality...This too shall pass...

What I've been reading

Maybe this should read: "What has been sitting on my nightstand or in my backpack while I try desperately to sneak in a page or two here and there". Reading, and having young kids, a job, and a marriage that needs attention, are not very compatible.

A Reasonable Life, Ferenc Mate. To tell the truth, I almost decided to put it down halfway through the preface. Too depressing, and too close to my own bleak observations of society today. But I persevered, and am getting more certain that I am on the way to living "a simpler, secure, more humane existence". Now if only society would take note.

Tales of Burning Love, Louise Erdrich. This is the only Erdrich novel that I had not read yet, and I'm about halfway through. So far I'm not disappointed, although intrigued and perplexed at times. What I really need is a complete guide to the characters in her novels; they are all interconnected and when a new character is introduced there is usually a connection to someone from another novel, although who or what I just can't remember.

Gardening for All Seasons, The New Alchemy Institute. Although somewhat dated, this is one of the few books I have seen that explores the possibilities of extended season gardening (Yes, I've read Eliot Coleman) and small scale aquaculture.

Where would I be without my local library?

Sunday afternoon blues

My owl luck seems to have been waning as of late. I think many of the owls I have been seeing in the last two weeks have moved on south. Granted, I'm still seeing 2-3 owls per day, which is more than I could hope for most years, but I've kinda grown accustomed to seeing the magnificent critters every mile or so along our road.

I did an official owl survey yesterday, through the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. Drove a 35 mile route and counted owl sightings. I picked a route based on where I've seen owls before. We made it a family project, with my husband driving and the kids in the back seat. Vincent, age 7, was going to be the official GPS recorder until we found out the batteries were low. Damn! And no, we did not kick back a Gluek Honey Bock or two along the way...although I maintain that drinking while driving is entirely different than driving drunk, which I do not endorse in any way, shape or form. ; ) So how many owls did we see for our trouble? ONE! Along the same route where I saw twelve one day driving home! And still no Northern Hawk Owl. This winter is my big chance, but I guess it's all up to chance. If one happens to be hunting along the road where I am driving, it will be an entry on my life list; if not, so be it. That's the way it happened with the painted bunting two summers ago. THREE MILES from my house, I have a copy of a digital video to prove it, and did I mention that the painted bunting is the reason I'm so crazy about birds in the first place, but did I get to see it up close and personal? No.

But I have been privileged to watch a great gray owl today from mostly inside my own home! The first time I saw it, we were just sitting down to breakfast when I saw a cloud of redpolls and chickadees scatter from the bird feeder, followed by a huge wingspan swooping just over the feeder and off into the big white pines. Later I saw the same pair of wings silently flapping over to the clearing where we are building the new house and gardens. It perched for nearly an hour in an elm tree near the edge of the swamp, then changed perches once or twice before flying off into the tamaracks. I saw it later, perched on a tiny white pine near the side of the road. I did not see it take any prey, although I should walk over to the elm some time and look for pellets. The snow has a hard crust on top after a few days of temperatures above freezing, so I would imagine that would make hunting harder for them.

During the owl survey, well more likely after we had given up hope of breaking the record for most owls seen during a single survey period, we visited the home of Chris Brockman. He has built an Earth ship home that is completely off grid, not too far from my house. It is heated by a wood stove, which he hadn't operated for the last 3 days, and passive solar design with thermal mass from concrete and stone. The thing that I liked most was the smell of stone, of concrete, of earth, upon entering. It was not like a cement block basement at all, it was really cozy. And he had tomato plants in containers, in February, in Minnesota! So now I'm designing my combination greenhouse/garden shed/root cellar along the same lines.

An active weekend

I probably got more exercise over the weekend than I have in the last four months total, and I'm paying for it a bit today with sore muscles, but it's great to get outside in the middle of winter for some fresh air! I took some time off of work Friday afternoon and went cross country skiing with my husband at a nearby state park. Between having the kids, moving around, and a general lack of snow in the last few years, we have found many reasons to not go skiing. My husband figured it had been well over five years for him, and at least two years for me. So I waxed the skis in "slow mode", putting a layer of kick wax further up the ski than normal, so I wouldn't find myself zooming out of control down the slightest incline.

While I was waxing the skis, my husband managed to lock the keys in the van. A moment of panic ensued, for we were parked in a remote area a few miles from the nearest help. I contemplated how much it would cost to fix the window I was about to break, then I remembered: the front passenger side window has a habit of slipping open on its own. The power opening mechanism is broken. So I started gently pounding on the window with my fists, and voila! It slipped down about a quarter inch, enough for me to hook my fingertips and pull it down halfway! Another reason I prefer used vehicles to new. Although if for some deranged reason someone might want to break into the van, perhaps to steal some Happy Meal toys to sell on ebay, it would be an easy job.

The skiing was fabulous. Both of us were a bit awkward at first, but the trails were freshly groomed and fast, and had I waxed the skis in "race mode" we would have been flying along. I spent one season, my junior year of high school, competing with the school Nordic ski team, and somehow even managed to earn a varsity letter. That experience gave me the technique I needed to make the difference between merely walking along on skis and gliding.

On Sunday morning my husband cleared some of the snow off of our pond with the snowblower, then I shoveled the rest. I have always enjoyed skating, and now we have our own 50 x 100 pond to use, that is if we can get the snow cleared off. It had snowed over a foot since I last shoveled, so it was a big job for the half hour the kids and I actually spent skating. And for their purposes I probably didn't have to have every square inch of ice cleared off, but I happen to be a perfectionist about my ice.

I heard a great gray owl hooting the other night. They have a low, loud call, very unlike a great horned or barred owl.

It seems the winter has turned around a corner; the chickadees are singing their two note song more, the crows are flying together in raucous flocks, and the days are noticeably longer. I know we are still in for a couple months of snow and cold, but somehow winter has loosened its icy grip.

On the mailbox!

The owl count on my drive home is ever increasing...twelve yesterday! I haven't had this much fun commuting since the fall migration, when I see sandhill cranes and tundra swans. It makes my day whenever I see a bald eagle as well, and I have been seeing them all winter around here, but this owl irruption is simply amazing. My husband called me at work to tell me there was a great gray owl hanging around the front of our property along the road. He took pictures until he ran out of film, but he missed the ultimate picture. As I approached our driveway, I saw the owl swoop across the road from the neighbor's fence, and it landed on our mailbox! I slowly turned into the driveway, so the owl was about ten feet away from my side window. I stopped and looked, and the owl just gazed at me. There's something about the look on a great gray owl's face; there's the common myth of the "wise owl", and I can see where that came from. There is a sense of wisdom and serenity. And I cannot fail to see the irony in that a wild creature, one that flew hundreds of miles from its native range, one that makes its home in spruce bogs and conifer forests far from human civilization, now sits on my mailbox and just stares as I drive past.

Fourteen owls yesterday

I saw four great gray owls while I was on the way to work, and TEN on the way home! I'm starting to recognize areas where I usually will see one. They don't like dense aspen or hardwood forest, of which we have plenty around here; I am more likely to see them in spruce/tamarack bogs or open pastures with scattered small trees. They seem to have staked out individual territories; many times I will see an owl in nearly the same spot every day. One of them has been in the same tree, along a fairly busy highway at the entrance to my kids' school, for two days now.

These owls obviously have little to no experience with cars or roads. While I was driving along slowly last night, I saw one swooping low, back and forth, across the road. At sunset, even though these owls have an enormous wingspan, their dark color makes them difficult to see against an asphalt road. There was a vehicle behind me, driving too close, and I was looking for a place to pull over so it could pass and I could enjoy my owl watching in peace! The driver, not noticing the owl, passed me and nearly hit the owl, which landed on the road right in front of me! I was driving slow enough at that point that I could stop. Owl did not move. I carefully pulled over to the other lane to drive around it, and it took off, flew in front of me, and landed on the side of the road, about six feet from me, staring with its yellow eyes.

I know far too many people who would hear this and say, "What a stupid bird". As if animals were supposed to have an innate knowledge of human inventions that have been around for only about a hundred years.

Winter of the great gray owl

This winter I have had the privilege of seeing numerous great gray owls near my home. I had only seen one once before, a long time ago while grouse hunting. Now I see at least two or three of them each day on my drive to work. It does not require any particular act of birding bravado to see one either. They hunt by day, perching low in trees or on utility poles or fence posts near forest openings or bogs, often near roads. How easy can birding get when you don't even have to leave your car?

The owls are here due to low numbers of small rodents, their main prey, in Canada. Owls have been seen hundreds of miles south of their usual range, in search of prey. According to Laura Erickson , who produces a very informative radio segment called "For The Birds", the owls are not finding many mice here either and are resorting to larger prey such as snowshoe hares and squirrels. If they do not die of starvation.

A week ago, I thought I had found a victim of starvation. It was up in a small aspen, dead with its head lodged in a crotch. I even took off of work early and waded through deep snow to photograph this unfortunate bird. Its image, wings dangling awkwardly, blank face gazing out at an unlikely angle, haunted me, a visualization of the harsh realities of winter. Only after I got the photographs I wanted did I tell my coworkers about it; I work in natural resources and I didn't want the local wildlife biologist taking my subject away for examination before I got it on film. Today a coworker brought the owl in to the office, and I was horrified to see very clearly that this owl had died of a gunshot wound. Not only is shooting this species of owl illegal, it is so downright IGNORANT and DISRESPECTFUL. And it totally changes the artistic meaning of my as yet undeveloped photograph.

hello!

Welcome to my blog! I'm always telling myself I want to write, want to record everything that is going on in my neck of the woods, work on my writing style and composition, but somehow I keep putting it off; I don't feel like writing on the computer, I can't find a pen that feels right, I don't have a journal that looks right, etc etc. Enough excuses! WRITE!

I am interested in phenology, the recording of natural phenomena and when they occur: the first chorus of frogs in the spring, the dates wildflowers are in bloom, the first spring green of new oak leaves. It keeps me connected with the natural world around me. Living in the country, I am now more in tune with the natural rhythms than I am with professional sports seasons (is the World Series over yet?) or what's on sale at the mall. By the way, I have not set foot in an enclosed shopping mall in over TWO YEARS! Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Wal Mart. Some day I will post the effect Wal Mart has on me, which is very interesting, to say the least.

I am planning my biggest garden ever this year, hoping to produce a good percent of our own food, all organic. I am crazy about tomatoes. Last year was a bust for them, I mean, when you have frost in early August what can you do? So this will contain some of my garden notes as well.

Those who know me well, and there are precious few, would not exactly describe me as outspoken. I am an introvert and I am at peace with that. Just don't call me shy. Anyone who can play a flute solo in front of a large group of people is not shy. I can even speak in front of a group of people and not turn forty shades of red. I'm an INFP if that means anything to you. I like to call myself an "earth hermit".

And, I must warn you, I like beer. Home brewed or microbrewed with lots of hops. Anderson Valley Hop Ottin' IPA is the nectar of the gods to me. I'll settle for a good old Leinenkugel's as well, but please no Budweiser!

Cheers!

Aries?

I just noticed that my profile says I'm an Aries. Which is strange and disconcerting to me, given that all my life I've been raised as a Pisces. My career even involves fish! So what do I do now? I don't even know how an Aries is supposed to behave. Is there some reprogramming therapy I can undergo in order to accept my new astrological identity? A twelve-step program for recovering Pisceans perhaps?

favorite quotes

Belief? What do I believe in? I believe in sun. In rock. In the dogma of the sun and the doctrine of the rock. I believe in blood, fire, woman, rivers, eagles, storm, drums, flutes, banjos, and broom tailed horses.
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

Life without music would be an intolerable insult. -Edward Abbey

So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approoval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not yet destroyed...

...As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.

Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

-Wendell Berry, from Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

"There's nothing in the world like a woman with an axe in her hands."-Eleutheros

"Deb, you are a blogging goddess, and anything you have to post is golden to me!" -Pablo

"I like to hike and ride bicycles,and I drink good beer & cheap wine..." -Jim

From the Ancient Chinese, 2500 B.C. "When the sun rises, I go to work, When the sun goes down, I take my rest, I dig the well from which I drink, I farm the soil that yields my food, I share creation, Kings can do no more."

Everybody's looking for answers. Hard times will bust a chump! -Everett Ulysses McGill, O Brother Where Art Thou?

Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us. - Calvin and Hobbes

All the religion we have is the ethics of one or another holy person.Random Quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, courtesy of The Transcendentalists

"You got time to breathe, you got time for music!" - Briscoe Darling, The Andy Griffith Show

(more to come; this post is a work in progress)