Spring: Are We There Yet?

Rain, rain, go away;

Come again some other day;

Mrs. Bill would like to play!

After a few sunny days last week, we are back to cold drizzly rain.  We started our new vegetable garden last week and I really, really, want to go out and play in the dirt!    Of course, as a gardener, I realize that

It isn't raining rain, you know,

It's raining violets......

However, that never was any conslolation to me.  As a child, I always longed for the promise of the freedom and fun of being outdoors in the sunshine after being pent-up in the house all winter.  I still do.

It's not that we didn't play outdoors in the winter. We did, but compared to spring and summer, it was quite limiting. Even though we had heavy snowsuits and boots, the weather in our area was often too harsh for any living thing to venture out.

I recently ran accross some paintings that brought back a few memories of that outdoor fun.  Just change the clothes from early 1900's to 1940's - we still did the same things.



Painting by John Walter

I was ten years old before I ever saw a television.  To be truthful, there wasn't  much programming of interest to children on it then.  It's only use was when we were stuck inside.

Painting by Frances Hook (d. 1983)

 Even if companions were in short supply, I still preferred to be out with the flowers, birds, and squirrels. And I still do.

Painting by Frances Hook

From Bats to Buzzards

One of the great joys of life is to be tuned into the natural world that is all around us. Bird watching has been a favorite pastime of mine for 60 plus years. I've always had a garden and am well acquainted with all the gentle visitors that have shown up to eat at my flowers and feeders.

The first few days we were here, I didn't see ANY birds. I could HEAR some jays and finches in the woods at the side of our house, but never saw one. Then one evening as I sat on the deck watching the sun go down and waiting for the first star, I was introduced to my first visitors - BATS. It wasn't even dark yet, but there they were bombing all over the place.

The next visitors were crows - lots of them. Of course years ago we had crows stop by every now and then on garbage day, but the West Nile Virus had wiped them out in our area. So, it was fun to see them again and to watch their raucus antics.

While I was watching the crows, I began to notice smaller birds walking around with them. Kildeer! Actually, they are not so small, but were dwarfed by the crows. They really grow them BIG out here. Well, the kildeer are delightful. Eventually they came closer and even play in the puddles on the walking trail. The way they walk/run reminds me of the Road Runner.

At first, I didn't realize that there was a creek in the woods. J-man II took me exploring in there and I was amazed to find a 10 foot deep ravine with a creek at the bottom in a very dense wood. This has promise! It seems to be teeming with all sorts of wildlife. J-man says he's run into large snapping turtles. But, I'm not the only one who's noticed that there's life in there. A great-horned owl hunts there in the middle of the night and has a lot of fun sitting in a tree next to my bedroom window hooting for hours.

But the prized sighting goes to Mr. Bill. He had noticed a dead red squirrel on the road one day when he was going to the nursing home to visit his brother Tony. When he returned, he found a determined Turkey Vulture feasting on the carcass. He barely moved when Bill slowed down to go around him. That squirrel was HIS and nobody was going to contest it!

Yesterday I rigged up my bird feeder and put out my 'bait' - sunflower seeds. I'm hoping to lure some of my old gentle friends out of the woods and onto my deck. I can HEAR them, but I would like to SEE them, too.