Wednesday, January 09, 2008, 14:33
Owls in the Night
Since last summer, I have been hearing owls calling in the woods almost every night when I go outside with Pixie or when I let Charlie out and go down to the barn to check on the horses.
Sometimes the owls are close -- in the big pines across the road from the house.
Sometimes the owls are little farther away -- across the road in the woods to the south of the house.
And sometimes the owls are farther away yet -- in the woods to the north of the house.
But no matter where they are, I am hearing owls.
It is quite unusual to hear so many owls. Before this, I may have heard an owl once every couple of months when I was outside at night.
Randy says he has read that we can expect to see and hear more owls now because they are migrating south from Canada because of severe winter weather and the amount of snow cover. But that, of course, does not explain why I started hearing so many owls last summer.
I never see the owls, but as closely as I can determine from my bird book and the description of owl voices, I am hearing three different kinds: Great Horned Owls, Barred Owls and Screech Owls.
Screech
The other night when Randy and I went outside with Pixie, there was no doubt about it that a Screech owl was sitting in one of the big pines across the road. The moaning quality of the call made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. The bird book describes the call as a "mournful whinny or wail, tremulous, running down the scale." And that was it exactly. I have heard Screech owls before, but not from such close distance. From the farther away, the call sounds more like a whinny.
Great Horned
The Great Horned owls are unmistakable, too, and are probably the most common call I have been hearing: hoo, hoo-hoo, hoo, hoo. But those calls have always come from quite a distance. Thank goodness.
One time years ago when I was leaving the house in Whitewater early in the morning while it was still dark, I nearly jumped out of my skin when a Great Horned hoo-hooed from either in tree in my backyard or the neighbor's yard. I was not expecting it, and I think it took my heart rate a good 10 or 15 minutes to return to normal.
Randy had a similar experience. Once when he was bow hunting, a Great Horned landed on a branch right behind him. The owl was so silent, Randy was not aware of its presence, and when it said "hoo, hoo-hoo, hoo, hoo" my husband very nearly jumped out of the tree. He turned his head to look at it, and he and the owl were practically nose to beak. After an experience like that, I am thinking that it took Randy's heart rate a lot longer than 10 or 15 minutes to return to normal.
Barred
I have heard the Barred owls from a fair distance around here at night, too: "hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo . . .hoo-hoo, hoo-hooawwww!" Except for once last week.
One of the barn cats, the gray tom, Gabriel, who spent time in the basement last fall staying with his sister, little Princess Tabitha who was frightened to be by herself while she was recovering from her spay surgery, has decided he *likes* staying in the basement when it is very cold outside or at night. Tabitha's brother, Midnight, stayed with her sometimes, too, but he doesn't want a thing to do with the basement anymore and never even comes up close to the house, much less asks to come inside. The toms did not have such an extended recovery from their neuter surgery and only needed to stay inside for a few days.
Anyway, Gabriel is in the habit of coming to the house when he wants to come inside. He is leisurely about his coming in and going out, as are most cats. He will saunter in slowly and carefully, to the point that I've got to fend off the kittens Henry, Dora and Katerina, who are wondering just what *is* on the other side of that door.
But one night when I opened the door to let Charlie out, Gabriel shot into the house, absolutely frantic to get inside. As soon as I stepped out with the horse buckets I knew why.
"Hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo . . .hoo-hoo, hoo-hooawwww!" "Hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo . . .hoo-hoo, hoo-hooawwww!" "Hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo . . .hoo-hoo, hoo-hooawwww!" said the Barred owl who was sitting the pines right across the road.
Actually, I'm glad to know the cats are wary of owls. Usually the other barn cats will come out to meet me when they hear me coming to the barn at night, but that evening, they all stayed close to the barn and waited for me to arrive.
The bird book says, too, that the Barred owls sound like a dog barking when you hear them from a great distance, and I have heard that at night as well. I have stood and wondered why the dog barking from miles away sound doesn't sound quite like a dog, but of course, it isn't a dog. It's an owl.
Even though I don't know why the owls have arrived, their calls coming in the darkness add another dimension to the starry nights and the cloudy nights and the foggy nights here at Rural Route 2.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Tuesday, January 08, 2008, 07:08
Christmas in January
I spent all of last week cleaning the house and painting the bathroom. By Thursday evening, I figured I had everything under control for our family Christmas party here on Saturday. I planned to finish the cleaning on Friday, and then Saturday morning, Randy and I could finish a few last-minute details, and I could work on getting the food ready.
I went to bed Thursday night secure in the knowledge that I would have all day Friday to finish up and that all would be well.
When my cell phone rang at 6:20 a.m. Friday, I knew that my plans were out the window. I ended up substitute teaching all day on Friday in a special education classroom for the cognitively disabled. There were six students all together. Three of them rotated in and out during the day. The other three were there all day. Two of them were autistic. One did not communicate at all and in fact was prone to screaming fits of rage. The day before, I was told, she had to be locked in the time-out room several times to keep everyone safe. She had several screaming fits on Friday, but I ended up being out of the classroom with the other students at the time. Fortunately, there were two aides in the classroom who were extremely capable. Cognitive disability is very far away from English certification, but we all made it through the day.
Friday evening and Saturday morning, Randy and I worked feverishly to finish up the work I had been unable to do during the day on Friday.
After all of that, our Christmas party went quite well. My little great-nephew Eli had a ton of fun sitting in the rocking chair with my big tom cat, Duke. The rocking chair is Duke's favorite napping spot, and when Eli crawled up in the chair with him, Duke stayed where he was. I'm not sure the cat knew quite what to make of all the hugs, kisses and vigorous pats that he received, but he was good-natured about it. Eli will turn two in April. He has kitties at home and loves cats. One of the gifts we bought for him was a book titled "Cats, Cats, Cats." It is written in rhyme. Eli is at the point now that when he wants his Grandpa Ingman (my brother) to read to him, he gets Grandpa's reading glasses and a book and brings them to Grandpa. That's when Grandpa Ingman knows it is time to read to Eli.
I also got to spend some time with my other great-nephew Alex, who turned three months old on Sunday! Alex is now smiling sometimes when people talk to him. I managed to get a smile out of him a couple of times when I talked to him in a funny voice. His momma, my niece, Karn, says he has discovered his hands. He has also rolled over once on his own. He has not yet laughed out loud, but you can tell that sometimes he wants to and just hasn't quite figured out how to do it.
I don't have any pictures, but the newest member of our family, my great-niece, Evelyn Rose, was born on January 3! She is named for both of her great-grandmothers (both with the first name Evelyn) and was born on her paternal great-grandmother's birthday. They live in the southern part of the state, and my brother and sister-in-law have not yet had a chance to see their new granddaughter. When they do, I hope to get some pictures.
Now that Christmas and New Year's is past, it is time to get back into a routine and time to get back to work. The holidays are always so hectic that by the time January arrives, I am happy just to be able to sit back and draw a deep breath. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
