For The Birds

the wren

three inches big

terrorizes the bluebirds

kills the babies

bad things can come

in small sizes

Life with the birds is an ongoing soap opera this year - never know what will happen next. The bluebirds that nest under the eaves were evicted by wrens last year. Who would know that what sings so sweetly could be so vicious?! But undaunted they came back this year and rebuilt the nest. The eggs hatched and as I sat at my computer I could hear excited twittering as mom or dad brought in the food. The downside is that on warm days this end of the porch smells vaguely like a chicken coop. 

Mr Bluebird is very defensive of his territory. If the chipmunk who lives in the rock wall nearby oversteps the boundary line he gets a fly-by and a peck on his whiskery nose. That upsets the robins and they fly at the bluebird in defense of the chipmunk - good lord there is a definite caste system out there.

A few days ago the wrens moved in again - dozens of them and one went into the bluebird nest and threw the babies out and killed them even tearing off their wings in the process. The grass was littered with tiny bodies and I was very upset. I buried the little things in a flower bed nearby and thought that was the last of the bluebirds for this summer; however they came back and were rebuilding the nest. This morning there was a wonderful flirtation going on, on the fence as Mr Bluebird started his courtship rites again. Much fluttering and flying and Mrs Bluebird seemed to have a headache as she was quite uncooperative. In the middle of this r-rated activity the wrens appeared, there was some flying and fighting between them all but one wren did get into the bluebird nest.  I am not sure what happened but I went out with my yard broom and banged on the outside of the entrance. Don't know if it did any good but the wrens are now wary of the old witch who lives inside the house :)  

I have not seen the bluebirds since, so they may have given up and gone away to find a new nesting site. Meanwhile the wrens are trying to get inside my shed and one went into the gap in the stone wall where the chipmunk stores his seed. He may have met his match if Chippie finds him there! 

Footnote 6/13/12


Well undaunted, the bluebirds are nesting again; flying back and forth to the nest. The wrens did not win that battle. Hopefully Mrs Bluebird is laying another clutch.

Another story - I heard scratching in the mud room at the weekend and thought I had a mouse, could not find anything.  The third time I saw a bird near the window.  Suspicions grew and I went outside to check the dryer vent. Sure enough the wren had filled the opening with dead cedar twigs!  I took out about a pint or so of twigs, then put duct tape across the opening and considered myself lucky to have found it instead of having a dryer fire! 

 Later on in the afternoon I went through the mudroom and there was such a ruckus - a wren was clinging to the window strut and fluttering and twittering at me in wren profanities! So I told it that we were now even for their killing the bluebird babies. What a nasty old Brit I am!

Life in High Definition

daily haiku

roses bloom in may 

ahead of nature's schedule

take time to smell them

One of the things that I enjoy that amazes me all the time is my high definition TV. The picture is so sharp and the colors are glorious. This time of year nature goes into high def too!

With the drought this year we missed some of the blazing colors of flowers, but there's still plenty to enjoy if you look around the hill.

The flax seed I scattered years ago still sends a few baby-blue-eyes to greet me  - so delicate and lovely.  My Harrison's Yellow Rose, that was brought west by the pioneers in their wagons, goes crazy for a few days, and the wild pink rose after which our county is named, blossoms with an aroma that sends me to heaven.  

The bird life is colorful too; the golden-bib of the meadowlark, the green back of the tree swallows, the brilliance of bluebirds nesting under the eave by my desk, rooster pheasant in his wedding suit, and one of the sights I love the most - goldfinches taking a bath in new puddles after a storm comes through.

For sure I love my TV, but there's really no better program than mother nature!

Sleepin' With The Bees

daily haiku

flight path for the bees

directly over my head

I am buzzed for sure

I sat outside in the shade to read near the honeysuckle tree. It was wonderful; as the breeze dropped, the smell of warm honeysuckle scent drifted to me, intoxicating and full of spring. I was directly in the flight path for bumblebees nearly the size of a half dollar. Laden with nectar they flew over my head on their way to wherever their nest is (to the northwest). One landed on me and I was so startled my book went flying! 

I could not resist photos, got a few as you can see, but wished I had a real macro lens for sure. The hill is alive with creatures enjoying the fruits of the season. Behind me the Lilac in it's last stages of bloom was alive with small butterflies, and to my amazement, moths were in a psychotic frenzy hardly stopping to take nectar or whatever attracted them. 

With the buzzing of the bees, the warm (85') air, the aroma, and the twittering of finches, my eyes started to close and I had trouble reading my book. So I moved out into the sun, but it was no solution to the problem.  I almost fell out of the chair as I nodded off briefly! I finally came inside to write and hopefully stay awake.
Who knows about the book..........

Spring Blossoms Forth

daily haiku

snowflakes in april

petals from the chokecherry 

drift us into spring

I have not posted for a while as I was having difficulties with the new blogger format; I finally accessed through Mozilla Firefox and that seems to work. Blogger wants you to subscribe to Goggle Chrome and I hate the Internet telling me what to do. Too much like 1984 and Big brother!

Spring is here. Last week in the 90' weather, the chokecherries blossomed filling the garden with their heavenly scent. As always, I smelled it before I realized where it was emanating from! We are still having frost off and on and I am holding my breath; the lovely white lilac outside the bedroom window unfurled buds in the hot weather and I don't want them to be frosted. There is nothing like going to bed with the window open and the scent of lilacs filling the room.


We are at the stage of spring conflict - the house has an accumulation of dust and the grass is growing fast and furious outside - both need attention and it is hard to choose which to do first! Hopefully the weather will help me to decide - at least it doesn't make me download a special program!

Charging Up For Spring

daily poem

to hoe or not to hoe
that is the question
whether to root out the weeds
and risk damage to the plant
or let weeds steal precious water
aye - there's the rub

Well, spring is here in all it's usual drought-ridden state. The cries of "We need the moisture" fill the air at each gathering and in conversations from pick-up to pick-up in the middle of the road. If it's a typical year it will get so hot that we have an almighty thunderstorm and then turn showery for a while. After awakening to 40' mornings for a few weeks we now have 10' of frost most days which is a good thing as all the trees are in bud and leafing out. Hopefully the frost has preserved the spring blossoms and not killed them.

The warmer weather leaves me with indecision about whether to do spring chores or leave them until the usual time. So far I have not succumbed which is just another word for procrastination. This morning I decided to check the battery on the old Toyota Pick-up and it was a little low, so that is now being charged ready for spring chores.

My knee is being uncooperative with the spring weather, so I'll charge it up too by getting a cortisone shot next Friday. I was feeling sorry for myself and generally rebellious about missing my daily walk until I remembered - I could use the time to write! So I took some photos and am "showing up at the page" as they say. Now - about the lawn tractor - to call or not to call the Sears mechanic, aye there's the ($400.00) rub!

The Unseen World

Gregii tulips pushing through

Canadian Chokecherry in bud

they dream beneath - II

under the cool soil
bulbs dream of spring
pray that snow will be kind
frost will not kill

tulip
grape hyacinth
iris
all smile
daydream of the rain and sun
next march
as the blankets of winter
are stored
and the soft down of spring
hovers over their bed

The poem above was written last summer when my friend Art, and I, wrote a series of poems inspired by our gardens. For some reason the last few days I have been thinking about the unseen. The plants in the garden that are emerging like the tulips pushing through the crusty soil after the little rain we had last week. So many things underground; we aren't aware of their energy or even their existence until they suddenly appear - all little miracles.

Temperatures have soared the past week hitting 80's on several days; today is cooler at 66' with plenty of sun. Not exactly a typical March, except for the breezes, but I haven't heard a complaint except the ever-present "We need the moisture." As my friend Bruce said this morning, "a rancher could have two feet of water over his head and they'd drown saying -' we needed the moisture!' " The motto of an arid homeland.

Unseen things are all around. At night I'll be watching TV with Snowy on my lap when she'll suddenly be alert and staring at something over my head and behind me. She stares for at least 2 minutes then generally jumps off my lap and goes into the kitchen. I decided that it is very possible that spirits of those we have loved do come to visit us. Cats are reputed to be able to see paranormal activity and I tend to believe it as our older cat did this too, but not as much as Snowy.

The other unseen in my life has to do with a Teddy Bear. I have a Xmas bear that has a little button on it's hand that you press and it plays Xmas carols. When Peter was alive, if we had a thunderstorm in the night we would be awakened by "silent night" which we found very amusing as the night was anything but silent at that point! Since his death Ted bursts into song for no reason. No-one touches him, there are no apparent electric charges like lightning. Sam and I have decided that "Dad" is visiting when this happens. Who knows? When Sarah came to visit last year, I was interested to see if Ted would greet her. Indeed he did, on the night of her arrival! So plants and ghosts, the unseen world is there, and wouldn't we love to know more?!

Thawing Out

daily haiku

at fifty seven

cat stays outdoors all morning

and I search for green

Hanging Woman Creek is thundering down to the Tongue the past few days, swollen with snow-melt and some rain earlier in the week. Normally it is a dirty placid body of water so it is exciting to see it in so much motion.

Golden Eagles appear to be feeding and possibly nesting under the hill and make exciting sights to watch through the big porch window. Snowy is outside as much as possible constantly checking the flower beds for the first signs of new catnip plants so that she can nibble them, come indoors, spread eagle on the kitchen floor, and look cross eyed!

Most of the snow has disappeared leaving a few patches of ice here and there. Our post office in Birney may still disappear in May. The congress has not performed their agreed task of correcting the bill that makes the USPS pay employees' retirement many years in advance. While Washington squabbles the electorate suffers, in particular those of us in rural areas. Our postmaster retires at the end of the month and I cannot help but think that USPS will use this as an excuse not to renew the position and close down. While thawing takes place all over the west the biggest thaw has not, the thaw between the U.S. House and Senate. Maybe we should send them some of my early spring catnip!