Breaking the ice...

Monday~ the house is back to my territory again; just me and the two little ones. It's a day to catch up with snuggles, (now that I'm their favorite again with Daddy back to work) feed the toddler cheeseballs, and spoil myself with a Southern delicacy leftover from the weekend...Brunswick Stew. The birds have been very active this morning, trying to recover some of their energy spent keeping warm last night. 5 O'clock Charley has been making his appearances every day, so we know even he's made it thru these below zero temperatures. The mystery hawk - enormous with white undercarriage - is still flying up and down the riverway a couple times a day. Unfortunately, I typically only get a glimpse as he's flying out of range. It's got to be just a plain old simple Redtail.... I'd just like to get him nailed down for sure.

With these below zero temperatures again, C. had to go back out on the river and break open some spots again for the wildlife to have access to water. I guess historically, there would have been enough deer and other larger fauna (wolf packs hunting deer) and even bison running around these valleys to keep some of the ice open in spots enough for the occasional watering hole for wildlife. Now a days, the aerators on ponds work - but really seem to change the feel of the landscape. We don't really wish to interfere with nature to that extent - just help it along. Fill in the gap in the ecosystem not being provided for and perform some of the 'gaps' functioning.... ???Make sense???

Ok, did you realize that the whole landscape and appearance of our prairies have changed because we don't have bison running/herding any longer? Even in the small percentage of restored prairie areas, we should have bison 'wallows' that catch and collect rainwater - and form a prairie pothole or pond. You end up with a wetter spot on the prairie, wetter veg grows - different varieties of plants emerge, greater diversity - stronger community/ecosystem...that attracts greater insects and on up the food chain.... So, by removing ONE ingredient from the recipe (if you will) you change the whole face and health of the landscape..... So goes it with the river - the bison would have kept a watering hole open that the birds and other wildlife would have used as well. So, to make a long story even longer. C. goes out and opens the river in a couple of spots every other day or so just to give the birds and other small animals a place to come in and drink. Check out the pict's...
The birds are loving it! We've also had fox, red and grey squirrels and even a mink using his water holes. The deer, fox, (cat, of course...) and coyote have also found them and make them part of their nightly rounds. The overwintering Robins have been spotted every morning on their feeding run thru the river valley, stopping and feeding in the hackberries, bathing and drinking. I'd love to know why they are bathing in this freezing weather. If anyone out there knows more about birds than I do - I know birds bathe to keep their feathers groomed, to keep mites down, and to cool off... but it's below freezing! Why...and how.... are they bathing and not freezing their little legs off? One of these days, I'm expecting to find all these little bird legs lined up and frozen, stuck in place around the ledge of my feeders from where it's gotten too cold for them and they just snapped off. Lego birds. Or, maybe it would be Lego-less birds....

The barn boys

My, oh my.... well, now that I've totally ostracized all of my Republican readers.... (Last post was dedicated to Kevin and Marvin. Yeah, I have to claim you too.) :)

hold... Eagle in tree outside. Where's camera?....

Wow. That was great. Two fully mature Bald Eagles sitting in tree on opposite bank for the last 10 minutes or so.... I hope I got a picture of them that I can use. While I was trying to get the right setting on the camera, I realized they had scared up one of the really large hawks out of another tree right next to them ~ it took off flying above the water downstream. All I could do was watch it fly off and observe the white undercarriage again and try to determine if it was another eagle or not ~ it was that large! ...but, not with that undercarriage... so...???? No pic's of it. Too busy looking. I'm also going to experiment and try to embed an image in the blog and see if it works. Here goes! Can you spot both the eagles in this photo?


Well, that wasn't really supposed to be the topic of this evenings post, but it flows the way a nature hike would. My posts tend to stumble along whatever shows up in my train of thoughts just as we would whatever happened across the trail the night before. Just watch where you step.

It's turned cold again. Supposed to be below zero again tonight. The barn boys are enjoying an overnighter in the luxurious spare bathroom. They are sooooo happy! We will be too as long as they don't spray while they are inside. They've always aspired to be inside cats. If you don't like cats, here's a picture of our barn boys, miserable while belly deep in the snow begging to come inside. They get all pitiful with snow packed between their toes and stuck on their belly and neck. Now don't get us wrong, they actually have it pretty good outside in the 'barn'.... see below: As you can see, they have their own skylights, each has their own heatlamp, a heated water dish, and food bowl.... These aren't the deprived feral cats they used to be. Since we seem to be such a magnet for drop-off's....(We found the more comfortable we make them, the fewer wildlife/bird mortalities we would find around the house.) So far, we've only found one Downy eaten by Sammy - the tiger stripe - since we've moved in. He's the most feral cat we have ~ it took about 5 months of feeding him for him to let me touch him when we started seeing him come around a couple years ago..... But, he was killing everything in sight while we were living on the Refuge! We thought he was a neighbors... or a drop-off; then he just never went home - wherever 'home' was.... If he was a neighbors' feral barn cat, they'd probably notice if C. dispatched him or carted him off to the SPCA....Gosh knows, we couldn't upset the neighbors there. So, we got him tamed enough to throw in the carrier and taken for shots and neutering. (As all the others -at our expense.) I thought Doc Vollmar was going to tell me to find another vet..... evidently, Sammy aka 'Heat Lamp' aka 'Mr. Pisspot' came out of anesthia too soon for Vollmar to get him back in the carrier to get him home. It took him about 30 minutes and a good pair of welding gloves (and a very disheveled assistant) to get him back in the carrier. Vollmar came back in, looking a bit worse for wear and stated that our cat had learned how to fly...that's why it'd taken him so long.

I just don't understand how people can abandon animals or mistreat them. At least take them up to the SPCA or a place where they can be adopted out. I don't know exactly how many, but I remember having at least five different feral cats come up at various times sporadically while we were at the Refuge house. Sammy, Bear and Wanaghi are the only barn cats civilized enough to miss us if we left them behind....so, we could only dream of it.... one day, far in the future. No, I guess I'd miss them, probably. Yes, I would. I'd hate to think of a coyote getting one of them, but I'd love to picture them spoiled rotten on some Granma's couch, eating out of tin cat food can's every day... Any takers?

So, those are my barn boys. I really didn't mean to make a post about my cats ~ ick! I think I'll cut it off here, and start a new post with what I wanted to write about tonight.... the River. That way, if you don't like cats, you'll never have to read this one again! (Now, everyone repeat after me..... "She's not a crazy cat lady..... She's not a crazy cat lady.....")

For Future Generations....

The temperatures have finally broken and warmed up ~ it's crazy to realize we are 45* warmer than a few days ago, yet still hovering just below freezing. Still below freezing, but the river is already breaking up enough that the birds and other wildlife are able to get in and find open water. It just doesn't take much current to get it open along the sides - good to remember when taking a walk out on the river!

Inauguration day today has turned out to be bright, sunny and beautiful today ~ It seems like there's a little bit of hope in all arena's today! :) What an historic day!!!! I never would have believed it would dawn after the last dark eight years of tyranny, social & environmental oppression. A thinking man in office! A man who cares about America's (& global) resources!...and not just for the profit they can bring for the few, the rich, the elite. To hear both our new President as well as his officials use the terminology of the National Park Service ~ borrowed from the Native American Tribal Councils ~ when considering the portent of a decision, not just for today, for now, for us....but it's advent or impact on future generations. Thank God someone is still considering the future - and not just social security as it's impact will be on the immediate generation.

Do you think with hope that there will come humanity and compassion again? Do you think that there will come a time when trust can be placed in humanity to make the 'right' decisions - right being based on the overall good of the community, now and in the future? I wonder if there are enough people with heart left to show compassion towards those around them... You sure don't see random acts of kindness very often anymore.... or even extensions of friendship. Ah well ~ there's always 5 O'clock Charley to talk to. :) OOOps!!! I forgot for a moment that I am a practicing hermit! Even this blog is probably cheating in the hermit world....

Hhhmmm, speaking of cheating, I did leave the cabin today. Big news around here! We had to go get the commuter car this evening from the shop. I think it's been two or three weeks since I've left the cabin, other than going to the Mother-in-laws' house for T's birthday party this past Saturday. So, I got out into town today ~ 'amongst the English' as C says... :) It was so surreal having a conversation with another human being other than C.... My days as a Park Ranger in New Orleans, speaking before (literally) boat loads of 600 people at Chalmette Battlefield now seem so far away.

This morning, we were treated to a wonderful viewing of a pair of Redtail Hawks sitting next to each other on a branch across the river. They were huge, and beautiful (and obviously paired) ~ white chests glowing in the morning sunshine. You could practically hear the guy Hawk asking the gal if she liked the view from that branch or if they should keep looking. They sat across the river from the cabin for about 15 minutes, then flew off together, flying about 20 feet above the water heading upstream towards Northfield. No other new birds to report. We did have more Chicadees than I've seen before, and a couple of female cardinals today....but, nothing new, other than the pair of Redtails together.

Only other news I have is that I think I might have found a new outlet for my gardening addiction.... I have a problem here at the new cabin with sun/shade. I can definitely shade garden here, but don't want to import too many non-natives into the space. I will also Definitely MISS my heirloom veggies!!! (Not enough sunny spots) We've chatted about trying to talk to a neighbor guy about purchasing some of the adjoining field, but in the meantime.... I think I'm going to 'branch into' growing some mushrooms - specifically medicinal mushrooms such as Lions Mane, and Turkey Tail. I found out that Oyster mushrooms are even being used for soil remediation!! Several species are found to be extremely high in antiviral and antibacterial properties. (Wish I'd of had some of their tea's and powders last week, when we were in the middle of the 10 day stomach flu! I'd of experimented!)

So I leave you now with a last note of hope - today was a day to mark down in history. Big things are on our horizon as a society. Good things are about to happen. We as a people have finally done something right. Responsibility and ownership of decisions has finally landed in the Oval Office.

A two eagle day ~

Two eagles today. One this morning - full mature. One this afternoon, immature flying low over the river just high enough to see the spots on the 'undercarriage'... Still some of the coldest temperatures we've seen in five years today. The weather isn't supposed to break until another day or so. They must be getting pretty hungry by now, as the river has been totally iced over for awhile now around here. These must have been on their way somewhere else searching for open water for a fishing spot. They may have better luck further upstream at the dam where the turbulence keeps the water so churned up it has a harder time freezing all the way across.

Found out some interesting news on the hawk that had visited the feeder earlier this month. Thankfully, I had snapped a couple shots of it as it landed off in the bushes to the side after a failed aerial maneuver. I had presumed that it was a Cooper's Hawk as they are who generally 'tend' the feeders.... but, when I got the picture on the computer and got a good look at it..... lo and behold! It was a juvie Red Tail!!! No wonder he didn't have any luck at the feeder. Aw, Bless! He's so hungry! He's even trying to go after the yummy little tweetie birds.... But, pictures proof - stripey tummy and all - he's no Coopers!

The kids are getting a bit of cabin fever now. We are going on a couple months now that the really small ones haven't been able to get outside to play. Their jumpee helps, the trike and walker help.... but, I'll sure be happy when we can get out in Spring.

Got word back today from the auto shop ~ the hard freeze the other morning will cost us at least $500 in parts to get the commuter car ready to drive again. That would have made almost a third of the payment towards one of the sheds from Menards we were looking at for the vehicles that would have kept it from happening. We just haven't been able to get there yet.....

-22*, and there's another whole country north of us.

We woke to -22* temperatures, not counting wind chill factor this morning. Neither vehicle would start, both with batteries frozen stiff... and they aren't diesel. The only thing we could have done is woken periodically and started the car/SUV to ensure they would run this morning when it was time for C. to get going. Needless to say, at 5:30am, his normal leaving time, was not a good time to be outside tinkering with a vehicle. After several frustrating hours, C. finally had to switch out another battery he just happened to have inside the house from the move and was able to get going.....only to break down just outside of town and face a face freezing walk back into town for a tow. (The news reported severe frostbite could set in within 13 minutes on exposed skin this morning.)

The birds were running late on their breakfast run to the feeders. I had wondered if the cold weather would put them off entirely, but they were only a couple hours off schedule; then came in en mass. Only one Grey Squirrel nibbling at the chunk-o-suet for super fatty energy...no Fox squirrel today yet. Even "5 O'Clock Charley" showed up this morning, right on time. Don't know 5 O'Clock Charley? Well, I'm sure you know or remember the one from the TV show M*A*S*H*..... We have a Red-Bellied woodpecker that always shows up to eat on schedule since he's found the feeding station. (Nothing unusual, in fact many of the birds we have are 'regulars'.) This one particular Red-belly, though, took a serious header into the upstairs glass sliding door trying to evade a hawk that also comes by the feeding station.....not for the seed or suet. We saw it's nasty collision spot on the glass, the bird crash site in the snow on the porch, and the litter of bright red woodpecker feathers and figured it was a goner for all the detritus it had left. Surprise, surprise the next day when we saw a Red-Belly show up that had the entire portion of it's head feathers knocked off....but, still flying around! Hurray for him!!! We couldn't believe it! Those incredible little woodpeckers with their insulated craniums; hearty little shock absorbers of nature that they are ~ this one really lucked out! So, from now on, we can tell when 5 O'Clock Charley comes sputtering in to feed.... missing it's feathers like a shaved Abbott or monks head.

So, as the day wears on, we'll see how the wildlife fares. It's not expected to reach but -5* for a high.... It's going to be a tough one for the wild ones.

We've been in the cabin now for almost two months.... we watched the snow start as we waited for banks to figure out closing papers and inspections to occur as time dragged on. We knew we wouldn't move until it was below freezing and impossible to leave anything in a U-haul overnight, so we just sat back and asked the ethers that things go thru if we were indeed meant to be here.

Home. Sweet, Sweet Home.

Over the river and thru the dale, down the white gravel road and back to the riverside again. Pass thru the farm fields, the DNR Game Area, 'round the bend, and over the county ditch.... we pulled into the drive and saw the mature spruce scattered around the yard next to the river and the cabin and couldn't believe we had the right address. We backed up (easy to do when there aren't any other cars in sight on the road) and checked the street number again. The only indication it was for sale was one little 8 x 11 sign stuck in the ground on a wooden stake that bore more resemblance to a yard sale sign than a realty monelith. But, there it was. We were in the right place, and OH MY GOSH!

A 60's era cedar sided A-frame cabin wrapped with porches on all sides peeked out from under the spruces, nestled next to the river. In that very instant, that very nano-second, I knew that I was home. I knew that this little cabin that looked for all the world that it was in Colorado or the Black Hills was where I was supposed to be. My heart burst it was so full.... Hackberry and red-osier dogwood alongside the river, mussel shells (Pearly Giant Floaters) as long as my extended hand littered the riverbank. Turkey feathers and deer tracks marked the yard where the wildlife had enjoyed the empty house - oh, and racoon poop on the porch! It was perfect!!!

The first explorations of the riverside were really an unforgettable experience. The first time following the deer trail thru the remnant native grasses at the edge of the yard~ the elation of finding wild grape vines to hang onto and make the 10 foot drop down the embankment to the river....landing on the bank, an array of stones and mussel shells in various stages of decay and other river detritus. I've never seen such a scattering of monster-sized mussel shells in my life, in any of my National Park stations or on the National Wildlife Refuge. It was incredible.

The river is about 50 -60 ft wide here by the cabin, and in late fall of 2008, was only knee - thigh deep all the way across. The rocks on the bottom clearly visible and beautiful. The remnant edge of bottom land forest leaning and reaching out to each other from each side, providing perfect perching spots for the fishing birds. We walked from back corner of the yard, riverside, to the other back corner, and found another egress up to the yard level. There was even an island or jetty, perfect for the little kids to use as staging grounds for their river exploits or late evening summer campfires at the river.

We got back up to the yard and called the realtor to tell her that we had found our home. We hadn't even been inside yet.....

The search.............

The squeeze had continued for longer than we could stand. Our 'military/gov't housing' situation was so unstable, it reflected the current economy. We knew that we had to provide a home for our family; one of the Manager's had said that we would only get a 30 day notice at one point. So, as hard as it was to say good bye to the wonders of living life within a National Wildlife Refuge, we needed to take care of the kids and pets or end up in an apartment somewhere. (Don't be fooled, digging the husband out of the residence was about as easy as pulling thistle with bare hands.)

I jumped on the internet and started searching MLS listings within a 45 minute radius of Chris' reporting station. We did drive-by's. (Not the shooting kind - the looking kind. The "yes, this passes enough criteria to set up an appointment" or "holy cow, NO WAY!" drive-by's.) We looked. We looked some more. We even made an offer on a farm. A full offer with full closing, but the bank wanted all cash and refused our offer. So, with the Fanny Mae/Freddy Mac and banking crisis in full swing, we took a couple weeks off to mourn the loss of the farm property and hit it again. Nothing looked good. Nothing even looked habitable; like you could stand to live there for a year or two and then sell or transfer. We were getting really sad.

One last chance, one last day. Three properties left we hadn't seen in our price range now within an expanded hour driving commute. One to go tour, two to drive-by. The tour went well. It was another farm in the middle of a farmgrove and was private. We could have survived there. A LOT of work to do on the house, though. But, we could have survived and raised kids, chickens, goats and others. :) A lot of work, though. We decided to continue the drive-by's just to knock them off the list while we waited for the realtor to call back with some information on the farm grove. This was one of the best decisions we made in 2008.