Mild Fall

We had one dusting of snow last week. It was enough to make me scramble to get the yard decorations into the storage shed and grab some salt to keep the porch clear. Since then it has been mild with midday temps reaching into the 60s. I am hoping that we have another Winter like 2000. No snow.

It is a faint hope. Yesterday I saw Dorian (the grey squirrel) on the porch. He is FAT and his coat is thick. It will be a raging Winter once it gets here. Not sure how I feel about that. As I age the seasons full of holiday bustle mean less and less. In part, this is due to the inability to really enjoy it as a participant with the work load and the retail atmosphere beginning so early. But also I think it has a lot to do with everything still being in storage. I am afraid to look and see how my things have fared with the horrible way that everything was stacked.

My antiques dealer is up and running again so he will be able to help me thin out my possessions. Have no idea how much money I will get for it all. But will have to take it slow and do this piece meal. The hardest part will be sorting art supplies and dealing with that damage as well as the holiday supplies.

In other news, Sting's new album drops next Friday. And my book project is getting a lot bigger than I was planning. But thankfully, I see a light at the end of the tunnel and it is not a speeding train. I guess I have to have a train on every track and just let them run at their own speed. I knew I wasn't going to be publishing by this time this year. But I am anxious to get to the presses soon. Fortunately this is not a project whose success is determined by seasonal readiness! I can actually take time to enjoy the season the way that I can... in quiet reflection.

Winter Visitors and Catching Up

Some SWR4 Baden-Württemberg and photo editing today. I wanted to do some baking but there is a reason that I took today off. I've some some lingering Winter crud going on and I need to be bundled in the warm and sleep a bit. Unfortunately, keeping the bird feeders full means there is a lot of singing outside of my window. And one angsty cat at the foot of my bed. If my room had a door I would lock her out. But for now, she is chattering at the singing flutter bugs outside and I am writing.

To be honest, I probably need the time alone today to write as much as to rest. In the chaos that has been my work environment I have slowly started to slip into the drudgery that I always feared would come with a regular job. I eat sleep and work. Little else has happened. And it does take a toll on my personality and temperament. I have a shorter fuse when I can not do the things that I like to do.

So today, with the doctor's blessing I am home. With fate's blessing I am alone. With birds and cats but that isn't the same as being surrounded by people who need something form me. I miss writing. I miss my camera. I miss cooking my German foods. Eventually it will all settle down and I will be able to get back to some kind of regular writing schedule.

So today I will just catch up with the things that I love: listen to some German radio, catch up on the news from Matthias' new album, Phoenix, and wait impatiently for the album to come to me, make my own coffee drinks and watch the yard. The peace and quiet is good for me. I need to do this more often.

I am also contemplating a name for this guy.

Though he has a bit of rust in him, this is a grey squirrel. In the tradition that I started last year, I want the name to be punny. I was thinking Charles Grey Squirrel. Charles Grey was Mycroft in the Granada production of Sherlock Holmes. Joel Grey Squirrel would be to name him after an American actor who appeared in Patrick Stewart's Christmas carol. For obvious reasons he won't be named Christian. I might go with Dorian. It is classic and since I will never be able to tell one grey from another in a pack, much less during my lifetime then the one that shows up will always be the new young model and keep with the legend of the story. I haven't decided yet.

I came home in the middle of a snow storm the other day to find him frantically bouncing the snot out of the box feeder I got from ALDI. He'd already shaken the seed mix out of it and apparently thought that a temper tantrum would produce more. When I pulled up he scampered into the tree and found a limb to perch on. Then he screached at me, waving his tail and pumping his fists after stamping his feet. I've been cussed at by a lot of animals and people who seem to think that I live to serve without need for food or peeing my self. But this is the first that a squirrel actually had the nerve to yell at me.

How does one not anthropomorphize in those situations?

This Weather is For the Birds

Now that the stray kittens are taken care of the birds want attention too. The first real day I felt certain that Spring had sprung I hung out the feeders as I mentioned in that other post. Filled it a second time before the snow started flying and it hasn't stopped. The Upper Peninsula got hit way worse than us. Our last Winter Storm Advisory was cancelled while the UP should have had theirs extended.

The snow that we did get was enough to panic all the early returning Spring birds. I tell you, this weather has everyone screwed up. Even the Killdeer are back early. And freezing their tail feathers off. It has to suck being a ground nesting bird in Michigan. The only really nice thing about the snow is that since I am the first feeders full in the trailer park this is where they all came to roost. And I am working on getting some good picks of our fine feathered friends. More importantly though, I am getting the best variety in attendance.

I am using the Royal Wing brand sold in a variety of places across the country. Currently Tractor Supply has their bags at 2.00 off and will do so until the end of April. As advertised on the packages, I am getting all the birds that the seed mixes promise. The early birds on the roster are:

Paridae
      chickadee ~parus atricapillus, poecile atricapillus
updated 5/12/16
      tufted titmouse ~parus bicolor

Bombycillidae
      cedar waxwing ~bombycilla cedrorum

Charadriidae
      killdeer ~charadrius vociferus

Sittidae
      white-breasted nuthatch ~sitta carolenensis

Columbidae
      mourning dove ~zenaida macroura

Turdidae
      American Robin ~ turdus migratorius

Corvidae
      blue jays ~cyanocitta cristata

and from the largest collection in the family
Fringillidae
      slated colored junco ~ junco hymealis
      chipping sparrow ~spizella passerina
      pine siskin ~carduelis pinus
      american goldfinch  ~carduelis tristis 
      northern cardinal ~cardinalis cardinalis
updated 5/12/10
      rose-breasted grosbeak ~pheucticus ludovicianua
      white-crowned sparrow ~zonotrichia albicollis

A few of our feathered friends have trouble distinguishing themselves from other of their kind. There is a sparrow that looks like a siskin but fatter. And that sparrow looks like another thrush or a wren. So that one I am having trouble identifying. For the others that seem to be one thing but left me more than a reasonable doubt I went by the birdsong that I heard while the Winter Wind was blasting everyone in the face. The website http://www.enature.com/birding/audio.asp is a great resource to help identify the copycats. They may look alike but they don't sound alike.


4/8/2016
Icteridae
      red winged blackbird ~agelaius phoeniceus
updated 5/12/16
      common grackle ~quiscalus major

4/9/2016
Picidae
      downy woodpecker ~picoides pubescens
updated 5/12/16
      hairy woodpecker ~picoides villocus
      red-headed woodpecker ~melanerpes erythrocephalus