Birds!

       While I was sitting on my steps enjoying a nice day, birds were serenading me. So, turning on my Merlin app, I recorded them. This is the variety singing to me: Chipping Sparrow, Eurasian Collard-Dove, American Redstart, Song Sparrow, Pheasant, Chimney Swift, Brown-headed Cowbird, Tree Swallow, American Goldfinch, Robin, Starling, House Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Grackle, and Baltimore Oriole.  The Grackles get very nervous when Kaia approaches the Lilac bush. Likely there nest with fledglings.

Takk for alt,

Al

Plans Change, again...

         Sometimes old stories stick in my mind. This one is decades old, and it's brought to mind by something current. A solitary Indian man lived in a teepee by a white settlement. Sam, a white man would visit the Indian every day to get the weather forecast, which was often accurate. One day Sam asked for the forecast and the Indian said no forecast today. Sam "Why no forecast today?"  Indian "My radio's broken."

       Seldom have I changed plans based on a weather forecast. Today's events are a reminder of why. Yesterday's forecast was for a day of rain today totaling 1". It was predicted that the rain would begin at 9:00 am and continue through the day. This morning that forecast was changed to rain beginning at noon. Now it's predicted at 5:00pm with a total of .35".  Perhaps we'll get a sprinkle if we're lucky.

      Looking at the forecast yesterday I planned a day inside today! Ya, then...I should have known better! So, I'll post random picture and call it good.

Takk for alt,

Al

For over ten years I volunteered in a Hmong Charter school. This is one of my students in her traditional dress.

Plans change...

       Working diligently, or perhaps more accurately, sporadically, to remove the cedars from the pasture fence, that was today's plan. Strung along this fence are seven nesting boxes. Most years they fill quickly with tree swallows, though not last year. Last year a wren filled most of them with twigs. No twigs this year but still several boxes are unoccupied. The last cedar cut from the fence was close to an unoccupied box. Today, returning to that site to remove another tree, I saw swallows by that box. Late arrivals? 

    Not wanting to disturb the nesters, the small area unfinished will wait until the birds have migrated and the cattle gone home. With the fence not available I repaired to a grassland to look for invasive cedars. There were a few to be found. That's good news because last year there were many in this area. With many acres of grass there's no lack of hunting ground for cedars.  

Takk for alt,

Al

There is much grass in which to search for cedars.

Better to try...

     Better to try and fail than to not try at all. With the news that there will be no goose fencing of my corn I made my own effort. Water borders the entire long side of the rectangle field. Last year the predatory geese used a single path to invade. Too lazy to attempt a long fence, I fenced off the path today. Tall stakes with bottles and cans on top to rattle and swing in the wind augment the fencing. If it will work remains to be seen. But, I tried...

Takk for alt,

Al

The grass is green in the field that was burned a month ago.

30 to 50

      What a day!   Even behind the tree rows the wind beat me up. After removing one large cedar that had sprouted immediately below the fence and had grown up intertwined with the wires, and a few small ones, I gave up. The soil trading farms from a 30mph wind gusting to 50, reminded me of mother's story. She said, "During the dust bowl years, during the worst dust storms, it would get so dark I'd have to light the lamps at noon."  The wind was blowing 30mph, today, with gusts to 50! The air was unsafe for sensitive groups.

      The wind is a danger to newly emerged crops, especially soybeans. The wind whipped soil and grit can damage the new plants. Corn has a growing point that doesn't emerge for a few days. If frost or wind damage the corn plant when the growing point is underground the plant will recover. Not so, with beans. If beans freeze, or are damaged by wind too severely, they die.

    Rain is in the forecast for the weekend.  Let's hope....

Takk for alt,

Al

Fondly remembering my 1954 Austin Healy 100. One on the internet is listed for $110,000. I didn't pay that much.

Evidence!

      Wandering that field a few days ago, the peninsula in Lake Joanne, looking for gophers and finding none, there were cedars. Today I went back to remove the cedars, twelve in all. It is a gorgeous day, windless after yesterday's hurricane, and finally warm enough to be out in shirtsleeves. 

    Finishing with the cedars I walked back to the truck on my neighbor's side of the property fence. What did I find? Pocket gophers heading for my land...actually within five feet. Gopher mounds are a clear indication of the direction they are moving and they were on a line to my property. This is clear evidence that they do invade from populations on the neighboring property. Never seen above ground they do their distance moving at night. Suddenly dirt mounds will appear long distances from established colonies, as  was true in this case.

Takk for alt,

Al

Today's random photo is the Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Retreat!

      Marine lingo is full of bravado: e.g. "We're surrounded, good, they can't get away from us now!" Or, "We never retreat, we just attack in the opposite direction." Today I retreated without shame.

    When there's a 25mph wind with gusts to 35 it was time to catch up on some chores. Busy for several days, things were hastily deposited in the garage. As a refuge from the wind it was perfect. Now it's all ship shape and tidy again until another spasm of activity disturbs it's order.

     A washer and dryer were included with the purchase of The Little House, nineteen years ago. Had they not been included I would have added them. With the organizing in the garage complete it was time to do laundry, another escape from the wind.

    Entering the butcher shop gave me opportunity to congratulate, Doug, the butcher. His wife, Heidi, gave birth to a baby boy last week. They now have four children, a girl and three boys. One of the boys is named Shadrack so perhaps this son should be Meshack...but not so. Not wanting to leave empty handed, I purchased three ribeye steaks for $78.43. Why three, you ask? Josh next door does them on his grill and his son, Drew, also gets one.

Takk for alt,

al

I love the sign above the door: GARAGE.  Built in 1907, long before .com, so why the dot?