Hanging around

Ginger cat
Originally uploaded by chaimann

Video may have killed the radio star, but Facebook killed blogging - or at, least, diverted some attention from it. Within seconds of activating my Facebook account a few months ago, I received a Wall message from a friend who said, in essence, "Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated."

I'll give Facebook credit - It has attracted people who would never have a blog, including some technophobes I know. Updates are quick, and it's pretty easy to check up on a whole bunch of people with not too much effort. Seeing an update from my best friend from junior high or my college roommate makes me happy, since I know neither of them is likely to read this blog, and we are all pathetic letter writers.

Also, my work schedule has been crazy, and my attention span has shrunk to nothing. (Keep your fingers crossed that this situation will improve in the near future. The work, at least. We'll see if that helps the attention span.) Who has time for a thoughtful, entertaining blog post?

But, my desk still faces the back window, and I still watch the finches working the feeder, watch the leaves change and fall, watch the shifting colors of the sky.

The picture is of our current four-legged hanger-on. Unlike the late Shed Kitty, Ginger Kitty is extremely friendly. He tries to rub against me if I approach him, and tries to come into the house if he thinks there might be food in here.

Like him, I'm still hanging around.

A sweet night

Last night, we had a visit from my college roommate and her husband. They live in New England, and I used to get out there every few years to visit, but haven't been out in a long time. How long? I think the last time, her youngest was not in school yet, or possibly in kindergarten. That one is now a college graduate and planning her wedding this fall. They had never met T, and we've been traveling together for 14 or 15 years now.

We picked them up after we got off work and went to Raccoon River Brewing Company for dinner. Then we drove around the old haunts, and ended up at a coffee shop with a patio, where we sat and visited until they ran us out.

My friend once said, "Even when we haven't seen each other for awhile, when we get together, it always seems like it was just yesterday." I wondered, though, if that would still be the case, after so many years.

It is.

If you fill it....

Peaceable kingdom
Originally uploaded by chaimann

They will come.

Animal guru Sand advised me to be patient. Eventually a bird would find the feeder. Then he would go back and tell his buddies, and pretty soon it would be THE lunch spot in town.

Well.

Just this morning, I have seen several pairs of goldfinches (I had never seen a goldfinch until I put up the feeder), the usual house finches, and a bunch of chipping sparrows. A larger gray bird also stopped by - catbird, maybe? I didn't get a close look.

The social interaction is entertaining. A goldfinch will eat with its mate, but doesn't want any other pairs horning in on them. They don't mind the house finches, though. The house finches are larger and flap their wings occasionally, as if to say, "Pipe down, kids, I'm trying to eat here."

It works!

Goldfinch
Originally uploaded by chaimann

Recently, I bought a finch sock. I filled it with nyger and hung it in the back yard, and waited for the neighborhood house finches to flock to it in gratitude.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Today, I just happened to glance up from the computer to see a bright goldfinch perched on it. According to noted bird expert Sand, one finch will find the food, then go back to the tribe and brag about this great new restaurant he found, and then they all will come check it out.

I can't wait.

The spring collection

We've had a couple of weeks of delightful spring weather - a little warm during the day, a little cool in the evening, rain every now and then. With the windows open, we go to sleep to the sound of crickets, and wake up to bird songs at dawn.

Last night, I saw fireflies. Just a few, a tease of fireflies, if you will.

With the demise of SK, other critters are more active in the backyard. A rabbit wandered in today. The cardinals and robins are there, of course, and occasionally I hear catbirds, although I haven't seen them. I assume the finches are still around, too, although I hung a finch sock for them today and haven't seen anyone come near it. Three starlings showed up the other day, talking loud and strutting around like they've had that last drink you can have before you get incoherently stupid. Fortunately, they also had a drunk's attention span, and after posturing for a couple of minutes, they wandered off. They look like badasses, though, so I'm going to keep an eye out for them.

T and I have been hacking away at the stuff growing in the backyard that we don't want growing there. Ideally, at some point, we will replace it with stuff we DO want to grow there, but one step at a time.

Meanwhile, indoors, I have been taking leisurely tour through "The Discovery Of Poetry" by Frances Mayes (of "Under the Tuscan Sun" fame). While it is described as "A Field Guide to Reading and Writing Poems", it is much more about reading and understanding poetry, with just a smattering of how to put that knowledge into action. It is also a simply wonderful collection of poems. Every time I take a half hour to read from it, I feel like I am a little better than I was before.

I don't know if this book had anything to do with it, but I went on a poetry writing frenzy today. I picked up a literary journal at the bookstore this afternoon, and the poems in it were awful. Really, really, awful. "Is that all it takes to get published in a literary journal?" I asked my friends. "I can do that in no time."

I picked a few random words out of the magazines on the table and started writing. (T gets special muse credit for daring me to use the word churlish. With pleasure, my dear - what a nice, juicy word!) Within an hour, I had written four poems, two of which were actually not too bad. It turns out that even when I try to write self-indulgent crap, my brain still tries to find a theme and put layers of meaning into it. That's me, always trying to make sense of it all.

Good times, bad times

The holiday weekend was quite enjoyable. Saturday was a yarn crawl with my knit buds. Sunday was a barbecue. Monday we did some long overdue yard work. We now have a big pile of limbs and whatnot waiting for disposal. Today is a little cool, and a little rainy, and it is going to be good sleeping weather.

When I got the lawn mower out to whack the grass in the backyard (it was a few days overdue for cutting), something caught my eye in the dark corner of the yard. A cat - a dead, black cat. I called Terry over, and he confirmed it. "That's the Shed Kitty."

The cat has been hanging around our property for a couple of years now, and was mildly tolerant of us, at least when we took food out on bitter cold days this winter. I was hoping that I could spend more time outside as the weather got warmer, and could entice the cat to take a trip to the vet for a check up and shots. I figured I owed the cat that much, since the feline presence has apparently driven away the groundhog(s).

Thanks for that, Shed Kitty. May the hereafter give you bountiful hunting and a warm bed.

Midwestern Spring

Cardinal
Originally uploaded by chaimann

Nineteen days ago, I was watching it snow, and trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to take a picture of a cardinal in the back yard without opening the window.

Today it is 86 degrees. Every window in the house is open, and I put on a sleeveless shirt to mow the back yard.

And, after I work for a few hours tomorrow, I will be on vacation. Not a furlough, but an honest-to-goodness vacation.

I love spring.