Bill often reports on pileated woodpecker sightings in the woods. For the past couple of years, from time to time, he has seen a pair of the strikingly beautiful birds in the woods.
Recently, he told me that I needed to get down there with my camera and maybe I'd see the birds but for sure I'd see their handiwork.
Well, yesterday while walking through the woods with Bridie, I wasn't even thinking about woodpeckers when I came upon the tree in the picture.
Indeed, they have been busy pecking away at one of Bill's trees. Happily, they've limited their pecking to one so far.
What a job they do!
While looking at the holes and the pieces of wood at the base of the tree and snapped a few pictures, I thought about how all those chunks of wood on the ground would make nice kindling for the stove.
The rest of our walk was uneventful but pleasant as we walked on mostly soft, cushiony ground with its thick carpet of pine needles. Occasionally, we sloshed through some standing water and walked over snow which has not yet melted.
Most flakes that fell yesterday morning have disappeared from the woods.
Yesterday's snowfall appeared to be temporary even from the beginning. This morning the hay field is still covered because of slightly freezing overnight temperatures.
While it snowed yesterday, I spent significant time in my greenhouse, loading up planting pots with soil, poking holes in the soil with a thin round stick and then carefully dropping one seed at a time in the holes.
As each container was completed, I carried it to the house to reside on a table by the sliding glass door.
There's still room on the table for more pots so I'll try to finish off the planting process today. It includes geraniums, pansies, lettuce, and three kinds of tomatoes.
Yes, friend Becky, the 'mater labels are in the pots. No guarantees I'll know the names, 'cept the Sun golds.
One time, when I walked into the green house, a familiar, loud and welcome sound broke the silence of the air.
By golly, Mr. or Mrs. Jay had returned and was announcing its arrival.
The big stellar jay landed in the plum tree. I told it to stay there while I ran to the house to get some peanuts.
When I came back out, it had moved to another bush and later disappeared into the branches of a big spruce tree.
I didn't see it or hear it again, and the peanuts are still there this morning. That's how the jay operates: in and out with loud noise, flitting from bush to tree and then off to somewhere else.
But the fact that it shows up every once in a while is nice.
Throughout my work, I also heard several rounds of honking in the sky from flying flocks of Canada geese.
Later in the day, I looked out the window and watched at least half a dozen robins skittering about and pecking at the ground in the first pasture.
They have returned, and that is a sure sign that maybe spring will be early this year.
I loved it last year when my friend Jean from Priest River said my planting pots looked like brownies.
So, let's just say this year's brownies are in their pre-infant stages.
Can't wait for the first seed to hatch and then sprout and find its way to the top of the dirt.
I'm guessing it will be a geranium.
Gardening season 2024 has officially begun.
And, politics 2024 has been in full motion for about two years. When is our nation going to get smart again and pass some laws limiting campaigning to a reasonable amount of time before each election.
One month seems like more than adequate to hear all the smut a candidate has engaged in throughout their lives.
Seems like the more smut the better the results for many these days.
Whatever happened to the good ol' days where leadership, talent and decency of candidates guided where voters put their X's.
I read the following letter in today's Daily Bee and will close with a link to the letter. It offers a palatable and thoughtful perspective and some essential food for thought.
Happy Tuesday.
1 comment:
As a measure of how things change, I mention that I've visited Portugal twice in the past five years. I've also visited its next-door neighbor, Spain, three times in the same period. Like the writer of the BEE article, I grew up in America during a time when the future was bright. Today, things are much different. In 1967, both Spain and Portugal were ruled by authoritarian, fascist regimes. Today, the future is brighter in both countries than it is in the USA. If I were a couple of decades younger, I'd relocate.
Mike Brown
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