Got Eagle Poop?

daily haiku

mid august pauses

cool mornings bring animals

some not so welcome

I couldn't find a photo to act as inspiration for this entry so here is a photo of my favorite room-mate. She is so beautiful. With Foxes in the area it means that her favorite hunting targets - cottontails - just are not around, so she has delighted her hours with chasing chipmunks. They are so fast I doubt she will ever catch one, but one ran up into my vine mesh, got stuck in it and died. I wondered where the smell was coming from! I looked all over in the flower beds - never thought to look upwards until the other day when I thought there was a bunch of leaves caught in the mesh and got a surprise.

I had another surprise this morning. I have been aware that with cool mornings snakes could start finding their way to hibernate in and under the rocks etc around the house. This morning I went to step out of the screen door and had an eerie feeling that a snake was on the doorstep and sure enough there was a small one on the doormat that I bought to keep them away. Obviously it doesn't work!

I shut the door quickly, grabbed the mop, and then flipped it out onto the rock patio with the handle. It was quite shocked and coiled. I looked at it carefully and could not decide if it was a young bull snake or a rattler. It had no rattles but it's head looked suspicious so I decided to kill it to be certain. Any snake who sits on my doorstep qualifies for hazard pay! So I killed my first snake with the long handled shovel. I still have no idea what it was and just in case it was poisonous it is now buried in the flowerbed where it can fertilize the rose bush. (if cats eat the head they will die).

That leaves me with a problem. I need a different doormat that will repel snakes. During my morning walk I invented a refrigerated doormat - I am sure my neighbor, Butch Fjell, can make one - they'll stay away from the cold for sure. But the one I had the most giggles thinking about was the Vibrating Doormat. Snakes don't like vibrations and I could have fun standing on it; 5 minutes before bed at night would be bound to ensure good sleep! Visitors would have fun with it too!

Then of course, a person should use the power of a predator to keep them away so I am appealing to my friends and bloggers to send me 5lbs of Eagle Poop so I can spread it around the back door to keep them away. I wonder if the post office will deliver?

Planes ,Trains and Automobiles - otherwise known as Birds, Bats and Pack Rats

haiku

swifts building their nest
above the satellite dish
they’re on my wavelength

There is much bird activity this year with all the rain and plenty of vegetation around the house. The bluebirds hatched their brood and were cleaning out the nest under the eaves for another, when they were rudely interrupted. A pair of aggressive little wrens moved into their nest and drove them away. I couldn't believe my eyes, but went to the Internet and sure enough wrens are known to be aggressive especially with cavity-nesting birds, such as bluebirds. They will even go in and smash their eggs. I nicknamed them "the avian terrorists"! I hope that my bluebirds will return next spring; meanwhile I am wondering how to trap and move wrens? An interesting new project!

Yesterday morning there was a rumpus outside. I could hear a Red-Shafted Flicker squawking and another Flicker making a different song beneath his. I came to the conclusion that they were probably mating and given plenty of Flicker-sightings the past couple of days I would say they have a nest nearby.

The latest addition to the populating masses is a pair of Swifts, (I have yet to correctly ID them) that have decided to nest in a hollow ridge-log above the satellite dish. I have been meaning to fill that hollow for some time, but have had more exciting chores to take care of and never seem to get around to it. Now I will have to wait until fall. In the meantime I am waging war on other critters such as bats and pack rats.

The bats in the open ended garage, leave their nasty soiling all over the hood of my car so I tried hanging suet feeders containing cotton soaked with peppermint oil, in the rafters. But they seemed to fall blissfully asleep with that, so the next trick will be to try Balsam Fir Oil - that at least should keep the pack rats away as they do not like the smell. I just renewed the packages of Fresh Cab beneath the hood of my car. In the past pack rats wreaked havoc upon wires and hoses under the hood and left me a few nice piles of fireweed twigs. I think I prefer nesting birds!

A Perfect Summer day

summer- senyru

meadow sage spires drink from azure sky
a stella d'oro lily from sun
cat and I together

Yesterday was one of those perfect summer days that you just want to drink in with every breath and every pore of your skin.

The night before a front came through with no storm, just wind that blew hot air out and brought cool air in. The morning temperature at 51' was enervating and helped dissipate the latent heat in the walls and roof of the house after several days close to 100°.

The mosquitoes may be dying out and I was able to sit oudoors and read at last. Surrounded by peace, wren song and blooming flowers, I realized I am now on a similar path to last year's blogs so I must be careful not to repeat myself. The lollipop lilies are in bloom (July 4th 2010) and the yarrows just starting (July 6th 2010) and it would be so easy to sing their praises all over again. I treasure anything that grows in my garden in such an hot arid clime.

The only thing that changes is me. I am glad for it but at the same time yearn to turn the clock back to other summers when I was able to share all of this with Peter. But as they say in England, "No-go mate". At least I can share it with friends in my blog - thank you to all those who read it. May this lovely summer peace be yours also.

Storm Healing

daily haiku

a year of anguish
healing takes place in my heart
with mending the roof

A year ago today Peter died in the early morning hours alone. I have berated myself so much that I was not with him; have reached some healing with it, but it is a regret I'll always carry. I am comforted that my last words to him were "I love you".

We cannot know when we will lose someone, it is totally beyond our control and I certainly have to accept that. Gradually I am emerging as a new person, on my own and no longer a part of a life partnership. New partners have emerged over the past year in the form of my lovely family members, special friends and so many wonderful people and friends from my writer's groups: WyoPoets http://www.wyopoets.com/ and Wyoming Writers Inc http://www.wyowriters.org/ and the Sheridan Senior Center Writer's Group. A few members of them have access to my blog here. I want you all to know how much your cards, letters, e-mails and phone calls have meant to me over this year; you have collectively buoyed my spirits through the dark days and I am so very grateful, I love all of you in a very special way.

On July 21st last year Birney witnessed the most appalling storm any of us have ever seen - close to a tornado, probably a micro burst. It did a lot of damage to the house and garage (see blog for July 21, 2010) I am thankful to my friends Nancy, Midge & Art who advised I should get an adjuster in to look at the damage. I would not have thought of this myself. Through their caring I received compensation from insurance and this last week the roof is being replaced at last; almost a year later.

The new roof is in many ways a metaphor for the person I have become. I was shattered when I lost Peter, but have healed this past year as I have solved the myriad of problems that have cropped up each month. In effect parts of me have been torn off and re-shingled with stronger materials. The new shingles have a 50 year warranty - I don't think I have the same! But my family and friendships help me feel like I do.

Phoebes

daily haiku

phoebe sounds alarm
little phoebe fell from nest
tender care for babe

Phoebes are not exactly my favorite bird. They squawk me awake at 4.30 am and poop down the window frame - in general they are noisy and messy. However, they love to live up here on the hill. They return each year to make a nest at the top end of a rain gutter - now who the heck would nest in a rain gutter?! Small brains, large poops!

When I comb the cat I throw her hair around the yard for the birds to use as nesting material, and Phoebe caught on to the idea since, if you look at the photo, you can see the white cat hair.

This morning she was flitting round the garden giving more than her share of soulful cries,and I noticed through the bathroom window a baby bird sitting on the bench where I keep some outdoor tools. I thought it fell out of the nest, went outdoors and picked it up whereupon it took flight and landed in the rain barrel! Poor wee timorous beastie! I rescued it and put it back on the bench figuring if it can fly that far it is leaving the nest and I need not try to devise a plan how to put it back in.

So I used it as my photo model for the day, and it was most obliging as I clicked away. The rest of rehab for it was to keep the cat indoors as long as possible to give it time to find it's wings. Sure enough it was gone by noon and Snowy went out to get her daily ration of fresh catnip.

I suppose I can count on that bird to come back and nest again next spring - wake me with raucous cries and go on pooping down my window frame. The cost of a soft heart.

The Nursery

daily haiku

plants spawn their seedlings
a little nurturing touch
then leave to nature

I had a place in the garden where not much was growing. It was a place where our underground fuel tank was once located. We had to have it removed because of Government rules and regs. It is fairly dry and weedy but it has found a niche, as a nursery of sorts, for growing new plants. Each fall I cut the dead heads from the few flowers that survive here despite the heat and drought, and throw them on the ground in the nursery. This year with plentiful rain I have a nice selection of Meadow Sage, Yarrows and Gaillardias to transplant into the flower beds

I identify with the nursery in many ways. A year ago I lost Peter; although I knew I would survive, I had no idea that I would have to face so many crises and need to learn so many skills to survive living in this beautiful place. When I was widowed at thirty years, I was able to adapt a lot faster. The house was relatively new having been moved here in 1955, so all the equipment functioned and the cost of furnace fuel was somewhere around 40c a gallon! Close to the end of my sixtieth decade I am not as fast or as fit neither is the house! I was thrown into the nursery of life and left to grow. I am grateful that I have been given so much nurture by friends and family, I would not have made it this far without them, but in the end you face the grief and regrowth alone.

As I triumph over each crisis, a flower bud grows in me, and now I feel like I am almost a new plant. The same stock that brought me to this place is there, but my roots and stem have had to change and adapt to survive the storms. With each new task I undertake comes a new awareness of myself and appreciation of each little accomplishment.

I do not know whether I will stay in our little town, but I plan to stay another winter, go dormant as it were, and see whether I can flower again next spring.

Nothing I could write can describe these clouds