May is moving right along. I want this time to go slow, like the days when the snow is piling up and the woodstove is eating fuel as fast as I can carry it into the house.
Despite our well below average temperatures, that last snow on Saturday really was poor man's fertilizer-at least the grass that grows as weeds along the path thought so. The bearded iris leapt to attention, a few of the all yellow daffodils bloomed and then got whacked and brought in before the snow could flatten them.
That was a crazy day, snow being driven sideways, first one way, then the other, then a finale of big fat flakes, and cold enough Sunday in the shady spots a little of the snow lingered for a day or two.
That's what is so odd about living so far North. The snow just thinks it owns the land. It falls and it stays. Even in the crevices after a freak May snowstorm.
I was thrilled to have a male rose breasted grosbeak at the black oil sunflower seed this morning. I had just said that I hadn't seen grosbeaks in a long time, and boom, there he was. Willow was thrilled -she said she had never seen one. I got out my Audubon field guide and my last note was 1995, and that was at a different home back then.
There was also a note for the year before, '94, and they were both May 5th. So a week later this year. Of course, I might have neglected to jot down a sighting. For a number of years I kept track of when the Eastern Phoebes returned, but haven't kept up with it. I know it is usually in April, which seems bold for an insect eater this far North.
At least the grosbeaks would have found seed a month ago, so why they land here the first week or so of May- a month after the insect eater seems odd.
Willow and I also spotted a mother mallard and a half dozen new born ducklings in the stream yesterday. We were on the way to check on a neighbor(not the barn cat one) at the request of her daughter who had been unable to reach her. Luckily she was just out of phone minutes. I had some pretty horrible thoughts on the way over with the pandemic going on.
Update on the kitten scenario-I found the orange one that Willow had revived dead and rejected. Then the Queen had another orange one, stillborn and deformed. Final count, one tabby kitten.
Considering how inbred that cat colony is, and how many back to back to back litters this female has probably had, I am surprised her solo kitten is thriving. The Queen is a good mother, though.
A second grey squirrel nestling spent a day trying to get into the front door and crying. The older one must have shown it the ropes since I saw it eating seeds on the bottom step where I left a small pile today. They have both quickly become wary and flee if surprised, a far cry from the fearless small one that climbed my pantleg ---a week ago? Time is really flying.
Maybe it's the energy of all the nest building songbirds. Time is flying right along with them.
Despite our well below average temperatures, that last snow on Saturday really was poor man's fertilizer-at least the grass that grows as weeds along the path thought so. The bearded iris leapt to attention, a few of the all yellow daffodils bloomed and then got whacked and brought in before the snow could flatten them.
That was a crazy day, snow being driven sideways, first one way, then the other, then a finale of big fat flakes, and cold enough Sunday in the shady spots a little of the snow lingered for a day or two.
That's what is so odd about living so far North. The snow just thinks it owns the land. It falls and it stays. Even in the crevices after a freak May snowstorm.
I was thrilled to have a male rose breasted grosbeak at the black oil sunflower seed this morning. I had just said that I hadn't seen grosbeaks in a long time, and boom, there he was. Willow was thrilled -she said she had never seen one. I got out my Audubon field guide and my last note was 1995, and that was at a different home back then.
There was also a note for the year before, '94, and they were both May 5th. So a week later this year. Of course, I might have neglected to jot down a sighting. For a number of years I kept track of when the Eastern Phoebes returned, but haven't kept up with it. I know it is usually in April, which seems bold for an insect eater this far North.
At least the grosbeaks would have found seed a month ago, so why they land here the first week or so of May- a month after the insect eater seems odd.
Willow and I also spotted a mother mallard and a half dozen new born ducklings in the stream yesterday. We were on the way to check on a neighbor(not the barn cat one) at the request of her daughter who had been unable to reach her. Luckily she was just out of phone minutes. I had some pretty horrible thoughts on the way over with the pandemic going on.
Update on the kitten scenario-I found the orange one that Willow had revived dead and rejected. Then the Queen had another orange one, stillborn and deformed. Final count, one tabby kitten.
Considering how inbred that cat colony is, and how many back to back to back litters this female has probably had, I am surprised her solo kitten is thriving. The Queen is a good mother, though.
A second grey squirrel nestling spent a day trying to get into the front door and crying. The older one must have shown it the ropes since I saw it eating seeds on the bottom step where I left a small pile today. They have both quickly become wary and flee if surprised, a far cry from the fearless small one that climbed my pantleg ---a week ago? Time is really flying.
Maybe it's the energy of all the nest building songbirds. Time is flying right along with them.
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