Wooly worm

This little guy was hanging around under our side door earlier this week, when the weather was unseasonably not miserably frigid.

Tonight, after a day of fog, rain, frozen stuff, snow, and now declining temperatures, he is gone. I trust his instinct has led him to a safe place where he can ride out the next few days.

As for me, I will be making a double batch of beef stew tomorrow. Mmm.

Fly like an eagle

As usual, we went to the Iowa Star Party over Labor Day Weekend. It was too hot, and then it was too cloudy, and then it was too rainy and windy, but after that, it was perfect. While we were at Whiterock, SOAR released several injured and rehabilitated raptors - two kestrels, two hawks, and an eagle. They took each bird on a walkabout before releasing it. They all passed maybe four feet away from where I stood. Even with just my cell phone camera, I was able to take really sharp pictures.

Brother Eagle was very well behaved, but I could see in his eyes that he was ready to get out of there.



The obvious musical bibelot at this point would be "Fly Like An Eagle", but this song is prettier and more eagle-ish, in my considered opinion. Once again, there is no video to it, so just make your own video with your imagination.

Way Out West

We spent the past week in western Oklahoma. FAR western Oklahoma- Cimarron County, the western-most county in the Panhandle to be exact, and in the western half of the county, at that.

My parents were both Oklahoma natives, so as a child, I spent a fair amount of time traveling to Oklahoma to visit relatives, and those experiences are a story for another day. Suffice it to say,  I thought I knew Oklahoma, and I wasn't particularly impressed.

In recent years, as T and I have had occasion to travel across the state for one reason or another, I have been interested to note how well the Oklahoma tourism people are promoting the state's many natural and cultural features. A trip across I-44 a few years ago had me thinking, "I'd like to visit THIS place some time."

No one ever told me about Cimarron County, though. It's high, high plains on the eastern half, and the gateway to New Mexico on the western half, with rocky hills and mesas. We are camped at Black Mesa State Park, which is smack on the dividing line. We came in on the southeastern entrance, which was mostly flat and straight. When we leave through the northwestern gate, we see one mesa after another. It's really beautiful.

And remote.The locals have cell phone service, but it does not support roaming from any other services. We have to drive about fifteen miles before we start picking up a signal from the county seat. It feels a little strange to be this far removed from phone service, to say nothing of wi-fi, but we've adjusted.

We came here for the Okie-Tex Star Party, which is held a few miles from the New Mexico state line. Most days, we have taken a little side trip to see some of the surrounding country. T was born in the southwest, and he says the landscape reminds him of his early years in New Mexico.

Today , we walked the little nature trail in the park, and kept hiking up to the high, rocky bluff. Up there, T saw this spider on the path. It went on about its business while we took our photos.



And now, a public service announcement on behalf of the good people of Cimarron County, who have been lovely hosts to us. Apparently, the governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin, has never visited Cimarron County. The local newspaper runs her picture on the front page, asking, "Have you seen lthis woman?"

Governor Fallin, you really need to visit Cimarron County. It's beautiful and peaceful, and the residents have a fantastic spirit. Every year, the good people of the county welcome astronomers from all over the country to enjoy Oklahoma's beautiful dark skies and warm hospitality. If you cannot figure out how to shake some hands, and make a speech about the grandeur of the earth below and heavens above in your state's most remote gateway, then you do not deserve to be a politician.

It would also be nice if you could get one of your tourism people to come take a look at the sign at Black Mesa, the highest point in the state. The front of the sign was very informative, but the plastic covering the back side was so yellowed that the information was completely unreadable. Maybe YOU don't care about the condition of your state parks, but some of us do.

Junco

Junco
Originally uploaded by chaimann

Some time in the last week, our finch socks were knocked to the ground. I blame the deer, especially since every new snowfall is accompanied by hoof prints across the back yards, showing the itinerary of their grand tour.

The finches are skittish about eating that close to the ground, but the juncos love it. A few minutes after I took this picture, there were half a dozen of them pecking away at the nyjer seed.

More snow is in the forecast. I need to get a new sock for the finches - and figure out how to keep the deer away from it.

Gone

T checked as soon as he got home from work. Apparently our friends from the city figured out how to remove the deer.

I hate finding dead wildlife on the property, especially if they are regular visitors. Even if I've only watched them from the window, I feel like we are friends. I'm a sap that way.

Ah, homeownership!

Remember when I posted that a deer was spending hours hanging around our shed, and I wondered if it was sick or injured? And it finally wandered off?

Well, it came back, and it ain't wandering off this time.

I opened the blinds when I got home from work, and there was the deer lying in the classic dead-deer position, at the usual spot in front of the shed. T went out and checked, and it is indeed dead.

Then we hemmed and hawed about what to do. I mean, you can't just bag up a dead deer like you can a groundhog. Fortunately, a little web searching turned up a city number we could call, and they have a contractor that will come pick up dead animals.

The contractor called to ask questions about the corpse in question. Where is it? Will one person be able to move it? T replied, just a tad brusquely, to the second question, "I don't know. I've never had to move a deer."

They are supposed to come pick up the deer tomorrow. I hope so. Seeing it outside my window harshes my vibe.

In other "news", if you want to call it that, Friday marked five years that I have had this blog. As you can see, it has languished recently. It seems like there is always some new shiny spot on the intrawebs battling for attention. It's easy to dump a bunch of photos on Flickr, or make a quick comment on Facebook, but it misses some of the narrative storytelling that is possible in a blog.

We hear about kids having shorter attention spans because of the fast pace at which information can move, but I see myself in that, as well. I've been thinking about how I can slow down a bit, and give more attention to quality than to quantity. Maybe this is a place to start.

Our latest shed animal

p2060123.jpg
Originally uploaded by chaimann

Long-time readers of this blog will recognize our garden shed, background for many photos, and temporary shelter to numerous animals over the years.

This was a new one.

We took a few pictures and then went off to a meeting.

Four hours later, the deer is still out there. Now we are wondering if it is injured or ailing. There is a hole nearby, courtesy of Chuckie, and it could have stepped in it and injured a leg. It doesn't seem agitated or frightened, though.

Any animal people have any suggestions?

Update:By midnight, the deer had wandered off. Animal lover angst averted. Whew.

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.

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.

Palm Sunday in Iowa

Robin
Originally uploaded by chaimann

Nothing says "Spring" like a snowstorm on Palm Sunday.

News from the backyard

I'm Shed Kitty! Who are you?
Are you Shed Kitty, too?
Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

--with apologies to Emily Dickinson

As we pulled into the driveway just now, we saw Shed Kitty zipping through the neighbor's yard, headed for high ground. Then we saw Shed Kitty, sitting in the neighbor's yard, staring at us.

This would explain why I think SK looks different at times, and maybe why Sand and I disagree on whether it is a boy or a girl. Runaway SK has a fluffy tail. Sit & Stare SK's coat is more sleek and velvety looking.

Maybe if both SKs are piddling around the groundhog burrows, Chuckie will decide that the neighborhood is going to hell, and will pack up and move out. I like watching Chuckie, but I would also like to put in a little garden this year, and that will be a lot easier without a woodchuck around, mowing down everything that gets in his way.

Chuckie's replacement

Shed kitty
Originally uploaded by chaimann

We haven't seen Chuckie for several months. We suspect he has gone to the great beyond of grounhogdom.

One reason we think he is gone for good is that this cat has started hanging around the burrow entrance. If we make too much noise or get too close, it ducks under the shed and waits for things to settle down. Smart kitty.

Pelicans

When we went on vacation last month, there were pelicans hanging out near our campground at Blackhawk Lake. At about :10, a cormorant pops up and mills around for a few seconds, and then dives back under water.

Cat alert for Minnie: There are bird noises.

Finch rumble

The finches who live in the lilacs got a little rowdy this morning.

Kitty in the sunshine

Katie came to live with us five years ago today. She celebrated by finding a sunny spot, and reveling in it. I would have taken a video, but her idea of reveling is "lying down and blinking occasionally." And she does it quite well.

As I've mentioned in previous Aprils, we went to the Animal Rescue League that day so April 26 would be something to me other than the day we lost this dear man:

I took this picture of my parents in 1982. I was newly single and visiting friends in New England during leaf peeping season. They were visiting my cousin in Boston. I joined up with them there, and we drove back home together.

Six years on, I'm beginning to think I will never outgrow my need to ask my dad what to do when the car makes a funny noise, or to show my mom something I made with my own two hands. They managed to join one listserv and get an AOL Instant Messenger account, but they missed out on blogging. They would have loved it. Even now, I think my blog is largely stuff they would have enjoyed reading and seeing from my life.

Like this, for example. The weather is warming up and things are greening up nicely, including the lawn. I mowed last week, and as I was checking on the progress of the flowers, I saw this travesty in the day lilies.

The part on the right is fine, but something had a nice lunch on the left side. I suspect it was a deer, since this is a far afield from Chuckie's usual range, but it's hard to say. It doesn't seem to have hurt the plant. It's still growing, just with flattened-off tops.

Back to our regularly scheduled frivolity

Im in ur yard, eatin ur gras.