Oh well, I try not to mess with the phone when I'm driving. Which is why I miss things that would make great videos. Like the hawk having trouble finding an up draft and fighting the high winds over the train yard in Madison the other day. The line of Sea Gulls fighting the wind along 162. It was the biggest flock of Gulls I've seen here, all strung out over about 2 miles over 162. It did bring Hitchcock to mind.
Today is the first day of spring. Yesterday was gray and cold and windy, appropriate for the last day of winter. Today it is sunny and warmer. But I'm not rushing out to plant anything. The Tulips and Daffodils still haven't come all the way up.
Today is also the first day of a week break in my work schedule. Which is why this post is being started.
I say started cuz there's a lot of things to update and pictures to be sorted and all sorts of stuff, I know now, that I'll be working on this post for a bit.
So fair warning we might not see the end of this till Saturday or Sunday...
That was last year.
I said that it was gonna be awhile before I finished the post.
And today is Saturday....
And I probably won't finish the post today. We'll have to wait and see if I'm gonna be adding to it next year...
That was last year, and things were almost the same this year. I'm happy that little snippet is still hanging around. The bit with the Black Birds is kinda cool to remember. The Blog is cool for that. I like being able to look back at 2013 and know what was going on in my life on any given day. I like the way the Kodak program organizes pictures into dated folders. I occasionally click old folders just to remind myself what I was doing. My memory is not all that it could be. It's nice to have reminders. Don't have too many from before 2011. That's when I bought the first digital camera with bonus money from work. Before that camera ownership was kinda sporadic.
But that's a whole nother track and we're not going there right now.
The Red Winged Black Birds came through on 2/2/2015....
It was a massive flock of birds.
Covered the whole front pasture and some of the fields.
The trees looked like they had leaves. Frequently our trees have bird leaves.
The Black Birds are supposedly a sign of spring. But winter was far from over at that time.
And now it's Tuesday a week later...
I've been trying to get this done, but the internet and other things have conspired against me. It's still 2015, so not as bad as it could get.
The last day of February...
It started Saturday afternoon and snowed all night.
We had Chorizo Corn Chowder and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream cake, and watched 'The Phantom Menace' and 'The Clone Wars'. It was a good night.
We got 6-7 inches of snow that lasted the whole week and slowly turned into a treacherous ice field.
I think it was the 4th of March that I saw the first Robin this year. He was standing in the middle of road when I was driving home. It was Thursday when I woke up to the birds.
We have birds out here all winter, but they don't do a lot of singing. Things are kinda quiet. You know spring has arrived when you wake up to bird song and chatter. It was still cold, but you could feel the change in the air. The wild birds were back and our birds were ranging far and wide.
What looked like this early on the first....
Looked like this a week later...
It was chilly, wet, and drippy for a couple of days.
And then it was 70 degrees. We had a run of bright sunny days that came with thick fog the first day and mist on the following mornings. The sun, slowly burning the ice and snow out of the ground. I enjoyed sitting here in front of my window on the world and watching the large flocks flitting and foraging through the fog.
I love the mornings out here and can't help lingering to enjoy them. There's always something to watch. Even cold, wet mornings have something interesting in them....
Today is Wednesday the 18th and I'm wondering when to call this a draw and move onto the next thing. But I haven't finished the original thought.
And it's been hanging out there for a year....
These things are dependent on a lot of factors. We've had issues with the internet that hinder progress, and then there's this little thing called work, and things need to be watered and fed....
And Well....
We have some spring additions to the fold of Happydale, and one confirmed addition from last fall.
We have a barn lurker. As I said, Drifter showed up last fall. We think he's one of the spring kittens from up the road, and evidently he brought a friend. We had all caught glimpses of some mysterious something moving in the night around here, and were fairly sure that we had a barn lurker. Well, the barn lurker has been confirmed by several sightings. He's a big stocky guy. Built like Drifter and kinda a strange Siamese/Calico cross. He's got patches of the Siamese browns and tans. He's a shy guy, doesn't get too close. We named him Harlequin, Harlie for short. Not the he cares much.
I almost got a good picture of him...
As you can see, he's not going to be up for a meet and greet anytime soon.
(Unfortunately Harlie left us rather abruptly this week 2-22-2015. Kathy found him on the side of 162. Don't know how or why he went that far from the barn. He was more than welcome to stay. He'll be laid to rest out behind the barn.)
This spring also brought our first ever Grey Squirrel....
If you've been reading the Blog, you know that we've had a few Red Squirrels about the place. Haven't seen any of them in a while. Last week this one showed up and seems to have taken up residence. Don't know how this is going to play out. From what I've read about Red Squirrels they don't share territory. But, they haven't been around lately. Kathy and I are excited to see a Grey running around. I hope that there will be little ones running around in the future. We both think this one is male. If he sticks around we'll have to see about giving him a name.
The Cardinals have always paid sporadic visits to the homestead. This year we've got 2 young ones hanging around. I know I've seen the male before, not sure about the female. They seem to be settling in. For some strange, unknown reason they've spent the last several days hanging around the vehicles.
Have no clue why. But morning, afternoon, evening, if you walk out there, chances are good the Cardinals are flitting around the car and/or truck. It's odd, but they fit right in around here, and I hope they take up residence.
I started seeds...
And that's a post for the other Blog...
Though I do have a Squash plant that seems to be going for an Audry 2 designation, that is worth mentioning...
It's the biggest of the bunch. Note where the roots are, looks like it's trying to climb out of the tray.
Keri and Kathy went to Rural King without proper supervision, so...
We have chicks.
I wanna call the big, white one Fluffy.
So, even though today is cloudy and cold enough for hat and gloves, spring has come to Happydale.
And that's the news for now. Next time:
I finished something!! Yeah!
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