Monday, November 17, 2008, 18:37
Sandhill Cranes
Now I know that winter really is not very far away. Monday morning, while I was picking up horse manure around Isabelle's pasture and Kajun's pasture and hauling it out to the hayfield, I heard the creaking-croaking-trumpeting calls of Sandhill Cranes.
I looked up in the sky and saw a flock of them flying overhead. It was very cold out on Monday. About 20 degrees with a stiff wind out of the west/northwest. Mostly cloudy but with a few peeks of sun coming through. The ground was white with a thin layer of snow first thing Monday morning.
As I continued picking up horse manure, I heard another flock of Sandhills. And another. And another. All together while I was out there, a dozen flocks must have flown over. Apparently our little corner of the world lies right beneath their travel route for their southern migration.
Sandhill Cranes sound so prehistoric, like something that might have been heard when dinosaurs still roamed the earth.
It's interesting to watch the Sandhill flocks. They fly in a very loose V formation. Geese, on the other hand, fly in a tight V. But the Sandhills fly in a loose V with a number of them circling around the outside of the V. I have seen geese "switching" their V so that a different leader takes over, but the switch occurs relatively quickly. The Sandhills do not appear to be switching leaders when there are a number of them flying around the edge because they all stay in the same place and continue flying.
When the Sandhills are headed south, I know winter is not far behind. The geese will start flying at the end of September and early October. The Sandhills are later.
We see Sandhills during the summer around here in open fields. They are large gray birds with a red cap. And when I have seen them, they are usually just standing out in the field, not doing much of anything.
A while back, a neighbor told me about a Sandhill coming to fish at his little ornamental goldfish pond in his backyard. The crane would land and would walk right up and catch some fish while the neighbor and friends sat nearby. He was not afraid of them in the least.
The neighbor said he called the DNR and complained that the Sandhill was raiding his backyard goldfish pond (the man brings the fish inside over winter). He was told by DNR officials that he would just have to let the Sandhill catch as many goldfish as it wanted because they are protected birds. If they don't have more fear than that of humans, it is probably understandable how they came to be on the protected list in the first place.
I don't like to see the Sandhills leaving because it means that winter truly is at hand. But in four months or so, the Sandhills will return. They are among the first of the migrating birds to return in the spring. I know they have to leave in order to be able to come back. So, here's wishing them Godspeed on their journey.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 19:17
Good Jobs Done
I got some "good jobs done" around the yard Tuesday morning. I pulled out the sunflowers from the tomato bed, shook the dirt out of the roots and carried them up to the "junk pile" behind the house. I also cut off the garden mum, which has been frozen quite a few times, carried the debris away and covered it with straw. The garden mum gets a lovely shade of crimson/burgundy flowers on it and grows to be about waist high on me.
I also covered with straw the lovely daylilies a lady sent me two years ago for answering some questions via e-mail about orphaned kittens. The kittens survived and thrived. She was able to find homes for them. She was thrilled. The lady raises daylilies, and they were gorgeous this year. I would like them to survive for another winter, so I covered them with straw. This past summer they bloomed and bloomed and bloomed some more.
I cut off my feeble old rosebush, too, and covered it with straw. I am amazed the rosebush is still alive. I planted it more than 10 years ago. At first, it was right by the basement wall. It really liked being by the basement wall where it was warmer in the winter. The thing would get all kinds of roses on it a couple of times a summer -- roses a lovely shade of dark pink.
Over the years, however, as the cedar tree grew bigger and more dense, it became too shady for the rosebush right there by the basement door. So I dug it up two years ago and planted it in the tomato bed. It never got very tall this summer, maybe only a foot -- compared to when it used to get over waist-high on me -- but still, it bloomed several times. I don't know if it will survive another winter. But it stands a better chance of surviving if I cover it. I suppose I can't be too upset with it. The rosebush has been around for a decade. Far longer than any of the other rosebushes I have bought and planted around here. Except for the rugosa roses. They are thriving all on their own, growing quite well in the sandy soil by the lilacs, thank you.
I also found some frozen ripe tomatoes in the tomato bed. I brought them up to the house, washed them off and put them in a quart bag and put them in the freezer. Frozen whole tomatoes work well for chili or taco meat or spaghetti sauce to add a little more "tomato flavor." When I'm ready to use the tomatoes, I put them in the microwave for a few seconds, enough to thaw the skin so I can peel it off. Then I cut them up in chunks and put them into whatever I am making.
I used the wheelbarrow to haul more manure off Kajun's pile and out into the hayfield, too. And as I was pushing the wheelbarrow, it started to snow. The ground is somewhat frozen now, so the snow has a better chance of accumulating. Still, I don't think we will get a tremendous amount of snow just yet. The weather pattern has been too dry this fall. I know that could change at any time. But I don't really think it will. It seems that it must take quite a lot to break a drought pattern. And who knows, maybe it is a permanent condition, brought on by global warming.
LeAnn R. Ralph