Spring flowers, or maybe not

Spring slowly arrived in our country this year.  The days were cold and stormy, not encouraging to the human spirit nor to the earth waiting to burst into its annual blooming.  Finally the daffodils and narcissus poked up some green fingers.  Ah, spring is going to be here after all, I smile.  Where are my tulips?  Maybe  with the weather they are slower, wait and see.

Time passes and in a smaller bed of columbines there are tulips.   This means that all the red, yellow, orange, fringed are not coming.  They have been part of the voles diet for the winter. Miserable rodents!!  I should look at this from the scientific view and learn that bulbs from tulips must have a more delicious taste as compared to the daffodils and narcissus bulbs.  The grape hyacinth has only one straggler left, perhaps another bit on the vole menu.  I have found one tulip---a volunteer, unplanted---that valiantly pokes its green arms up each year, just a few feet northwest of the now bare-of-tulips area.  How did the crafty vole miss that one?

Voles are just another of the enemies of yards.  I see their paths here and there through out my greening grass, left as they have munched on the roots of the lawn grass.  In the dirt of the flower beds, no paths of course, but the evidence of their presence is very strong.  Now, some decisions, to put tulips there again for another year, or not?  In the meantime get planting something else that will brighten my soul and get my fingers in the dirt.  This is a very small adversity with which to deal.

Beautiful Natural Thieves

We have a thief that can cause us much grief.  No, I am not trying to be poetic.  This is a fact and a challenge not easily solved.  He visits in the daylight hours, on sunny days.  He is careful, checking for human presence if possible before he steals.

The thief is an eagle, monarch of the skies, a beautiful large aviator.  Male or female I know not, but I do know that his(perhaps her?) nest is not too far away.  His visits are too frequent to our neighborhood.  His visits take a toll, as is the case with all thieves. 

After flying high above our farm, he is always on the hunt. Lovely to behold if one did not know his intent.  His target its our fish pond and the lovely trout that inhabit those waters.  He can dive down, plummeting out of the sky, and sink his talons into the back of a fish as it nears the surface of the water.  Those hooks dig deep and the wiggling of the captured victim is in vain.  He  may fly away to eat at a more leisurely spot that where “man” may interrupt his dinner.  But he also may eat on the bank of the pond, if he is feeling undetected.  This is a picky eagle, he eats only the eyes and part of the fish’s head, discarding the flesh when he is sated.

One thing that this master of the skies does not like is bottle rockets that are launched to scare him away.  It is a temporary distraction and we know he will be back.  Three other fish ponds in the area are faced with the same problem.  The eagle is not our only thief with similar traits.  He is just the most recent one we have observed. Blue herons and sandhill cranes have a great hunger for trout. 

What can be done?   Here is a gorgeous bird that we all admire, our National Bird.  He has the protection of the government as being endangered.  He is above reproach.  He is a robber, taking expensive items much as any human thief would do, with no care for his victims.  This eagle has two victims, the fish and the man who owns the fish, who purchases the  expensive fish and feeds it.   In this case, both are helpless to prevent his assaults.

It is not so different from those ranchers and farmers whose animals are at the mercy of the wolf packs that have been invited back into the country where they once roamed free.  More protection, more victims. This seems an unsolvable problem when trying to uphold the laws of the nation.

Cold weather musings

I like living where there are four seasons.  There are times that nature seems to overlook spring and jumps from winter to summer.  On a rare year we may  have only a glimpse of fall before winter arrives after our summer.  The promise of change is good for my soul and knowing some of the wonderful things that come with each time of year is encouraging in so many ways. 

Snow brings such pristine beauty into my life and I enjoy it for that reason and others.  I like the brisk, crisp air, unless I have some respiratory disorder that causes pain when I breathe in the frigid air.    Icicles are constantly changing and when there is light on these formations it is like a splotlight on nature's crystal sculptures.  The light can be artificial or from the sun, the loveliness still exists.

I don't mind shoveling snow, in small amounts.  I am grateful that at our house we have a tractor to clear much of the walk and the driveway, the roads around our farm buildings.  Usually this extends to neighbor's homes as well.  The danger of slipping on the ice or having a solid chunk of ice from the roof drop onto an unsuspecting soul, maybe me,  that is getting harder to bear as my years go by.

Cold weather brings opportunities for fun that would be impossible without it.  I grew up skating on frozen ponds and rivers, sleigh riding, digging snow tunnels, enjoying a good snowball fight.  Didn't do much in the way of skiing, the places offering such were too far distant and expensive in my young life.  However all of my children enjoy that activity as does my spouse.  I like the fun side of winter, even when I have graduated to more of a spectator rather than participant.

This particular season, 2012-13, has brought a good winter, but it is getting a little long in the tooth.  I am ready for a change of pace. February can be a dreary month when one is bombarded with foggy days and continual gloom.  March, just the name signifies marching to warmer, green things, dirt.  As far as the work load, there will be an increase with outdoor chores.  Some of those precious reading times by a warm fire will dwindle.  Yep, think I am ready for March, even the mud that goes with it.  It has been a long, icy season and I am thinking seed catalogs, crocuses. about now.  How about you?

Winter Joys

        Last week on a cold winter night my husband and I returned home from watching a high school ballgame.  As we departed the car we noticed the prints of deer hooves right at the point of where our garage door drops down.  Some of our local deer, who have been eating our hay crop in the barn prior to our getting it sold and down the road, are now sampling the evergreen shrubs that grow on either side of our doorway. Cheeky things!  Is nothing safe?  But how nice that they are still around, minus the hay.  They have been cleaning up any scraps left in the barn from the clearing out of the hay bales.  The critters may come just as close to the house during warmer months but we don't see the tracks unless we have snow.

Another joy of winter months is the blooming of my Christmas cactus.  I inherited this lovely thing from my mother-in-law and I would guess that parts of it might be 50 years old.  She kept it on her dryer in her sun room, now it basks in front of my living room window.  When it arrived I moved it around a bit in our house trying to discover where it was most comfortable.  It took some doing but this window is a match, although the plant sticks out a mite and mars a perfect view of the TV from a certain chair.  The plant takes preference in my book.

Early this fall the plant got an involuntary pruning.  My one year old grandson knocked it off its perch and sent it crashing to the floor (carpeted, of course.)  One side broke off rather badly, down to the base.  Other sections flew.  The child was safe and that was the most important since it is a plant about the size of 3 basketballs in a large heavy clay pot.  The pot survived too. Blessings all around. I shook the plant back into place, more or less, added some new soil and wondered if it would want to bloom this winter season.  Then again it might decided all these years of beauty were too much effort and it was time to dry and wither.

It has gotten watered along with the rest of the houseplants, about once a week, maybe every 10 days or so because I suddenly recall that is a chore that needs tending.  December arrived, no buds forming.   I couldn't blame the plant after such a jolt.  However by mid month buds started forming. 

This year my beautiful friend has decided to be a New Year cactus, rather than Christmas. The blooms are the old fashioned variety that are hard to find these days in the nursery stores.  The deep rose blossoms are layered and hang gracefully.  They keep coming, so far only on the side facing the window.  Some years this plant has cheered up my winter days well into April.  Once it decides to take a rest I give it an intended pruning and share cuttings with neighbors and friends who are interested.  It has been a lovely heirloom from a lovely lady.  She was a great friend, and now her plant carries that relationship forward in memory.

Day after the Days Before, 2013

Nearly all the holiday decorations are put away.  I started to write All, and then thought about how I keep finding one here, one there, that I have missed.  Today was one of those “getting back to whatever is normal” days.   My furniture is back in place.  Husband gone on a trip, vacuum out, washing machine sloshing away, I was glad to have a warm wood fire to keep the house comfortable in our below zero temperatures.

            We have these below zero temperatures outside, snow of a fairly good depth, and yet I needed to dust.  Seems unfair, somehow.  Summer and dirt roads, yes, but now?  However it has always happened so I am no longer questioning it, just dull acceptance.  One of those  many eternal chores.

            Our squirrel of the last entry now has a name.  She is Miss Suzy, named after a favorite heroine in a childhood book of my children. My daughter reminded me about Miss Suzy and it is a perfect fit for this bustle of grey fur.  Miss Suzy put on a wonderful performance on New Year’s Day as we gathered around the table to eat dinner.  She was up and down, back and forth, even jumping from one pine tree to another.  All humans were highly entertained, no matter what their age, the youngest wanting to go play too.  Suzy goes way up high into the pines, these are 35 year old pine trees, and comes down just as fast as she goes up.  Somewhere along the way she has deposited the burden she was carrying when she started up the tree trunk.  I do want her to be safe from the predators of our neighborhood and hope that she finds a place for resting after all the exertions she puts forth.

            Now it is time to go read my current book.  Isn’t reading wonderful?!!  It has transported me to many places, situations, taught me much since I was a child.  This is one habit I want never to break!  Happy New Year to All!

Squirrel Lessons for Me

            We have a resident squirrel at our house.  She provides much entertainment for me and my cat, Benny.  I am sure the entertainment for each not quite the same.  While I am admiring this bunch of active fur Benny is hunched down as low as he can get in front of the patio doors, slowing creeping, inch by inch, closer to the glass door.  Pure cat!  Squirrel saved by a pane of glass!

            I have given her the female gender because she is so busy, so storing up for the winter, even though the winter is here.  She makes me think of the ladies in my village when canning season is upon them.

  This grey little “lady” is swift of foot and keeps at it, back and forth from our woodshed to the nearest big pine tree. The earth is covered with a few inches of snow. It is a fair distance, out in the open, passing along a sidewalk, then an apple tree and sandbox, on behind the swing set and zip, up the pine tree. Sometimes she pauses on top of the sandbox lid, taking a breather, but always on the alert.  She makes this run while packing an item as big as her own head in her jaws.  I am guessing it is a dried apple that she has previously pocketed away in the woodshed in warmer days, when I was through harvesting my own apples. 

            It is not even a minute before she is back down on the ground, checking out a fallen pine cone or two and then a dash back to the shed for yet another burden. 

            She has to be brave, we have an outdoor cat with two kittens.  Maybe she knows they are a lazy variety as they often turn their backs on her activities.  We also have families of magpies that call that same pine “home.”  There seems to be no threat from that department.

            So industrious, so intent on what she is doing.  She could provide several lessons for most humans about how to conduct their lives, how to be successful.  It always makes me think that I need to be better at prioritizing what is important in the eternal scheme of things.  I admire her so much, I just had to write about her.  Hope you have enjoyed it.

Delight or Drudgery?

It is time for Christmas Cards, and it is a time I like.  This does take lots of time, there is the list of recipients, the writing of notes or perhaps a letter revealing the events of the last 12 months in your lives,  the addressing, the stamping, sealing and mailing.  It is not an overnight task at my house, the process has to be dovetailed in with the chores of daily living.  I always wish I had started to do it earlier, like some of my well organized friends.  However I have learned that whether early in the season or late, the sending and receiving is what is important, even if the card arrives after Christmas. 

When the mailman, or woman in my case, delivers a greeting from a friend or relative it warms my heart.  First I do some thinking about the individual who chose to send us a card, grateful that we are sufficiently a part their lives to receive a card.  Then I am warmed again as I open and peruse the contents.  Finally I want to find a spot to display the card as part of my Christmas decorations.  In this way I am reminded of the friend and our association for several weeks, depending on when it arrived.

I have yet to get this year's cards in the mail.  I do have the list out, the boxes of cards chosen and today finished up my annual letter.  I have wondered if those getting my missives will be bored by the "same old, same old," descriptions of the life of me and my husband.  I have decided that doesn't matter.  What matters is how I feel about them.  One has just recently buried her husband and I need to keep that in mind while I am in the midst of this annual production.  Normally she is one who just sends a card, no note, etc.  but I think this year I need to reach a little more than usual.  I wonder if there are some who have been seriously ill, or had circumstances in their lives that I might have assisted, had I known.  Still, this is the one time of year that we pause and wish goodness for others in this special way.

This year I want to feel like each card to my friends is like a birthday card for our Savior, after all it is His  birth that brings all of these good feelings into my heart.  I know He wants us all to come to the celebration of His coming to earth.