Ah, Spring! Where have you been?
This morning I was surfing peacefully on my computer in the early morning hours, when my dogs STARED me into going for a walk on the lane. I had a dog at each window, peering in, pinning me between them - "Please, please, please!" Oh, well, okay - put on my shoes, get the walking stick, and head down the hill.
The goats follow us along the levee road, balancing precariously (as only goats can) on the tiny gravel path that they have along the fence.
The only sound is the singing of the birds and the distant whistle of a train. Ahhhhhhhh! Why did I put this off so long??
My bones creak, my feet hurt, my back aches, my knees moan...but I am once again walking in the early morning.
No rain, no ice, no snow, no earthquakes, no floods....Just sunshine and birds and happy dogs...This is the life! Missouri is once again a wonderful place to live.
Last night I came home from a meeting about 8:30, and, as I got out of the car in the driveway, I heard it -- my first whippoorwill of the season, calling far off in the darkness of the woods.
My husband loved the sound of the whippoorwills and bob whites. It was one of the things he missed the most during those seven years we were in Alaska. Well, that and Leon's barbecues... There were times when I thought we were gonna have to jump a plane at 10 p.m. and head down to the Dexter Queen...
This winter has been too hard. I wonder if I can take another like it. Perhaps, after I've had several months of warm (okay, HOT) summer sun, I'll forget how truly horrible the winter was...
Right now, I just want to put on shorts, get on my John Deere mower, and circle endlessly around my pond, mowing grass...
I want to get in the car with a friend and go to all those fun summer places where the water is blue and green, and lunch is spread out on the picnic table...
Feel the soft summer breeze on my face.......
From the unbelievably green hills of Tillman, Missouri, this is your very, very grateful North Stoddard Countian writer, signing off in the twilight of an April evening.....
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It's possible that the environmental variety of the hills offers more cover for birds. As I recall, there aren't many trees in your location. Birds in general are attracted to woodpiles (of which I have many), fence rows, old trees, and leaf litter. Your area may just be too NEAT for birds!!
I'm not sure where hummingbirds go when it storms or at night when they sleep.
My two indoor cats are quite excited by the feathered activity on the deck outside the bow window: the hummingbirds are busy gassing up for the day, and a little indigo bunting just hit the glass pane (darn!). The squirrels have commandeered the bird feeder by the oak tree, and a hawk has taken up residence in the near woods. No gunshots yet from turkey hunters on my neighbor's land; I may have chased all the turkeys from the region with my lawnmower excursion up the hill yesterday...
Ah, it's a good life!!!! Viva la Spring!!!
I've also had a --- is it a blue Grosbeak?? I can't remember now, it's been so long.
The only Oriole I ever saw in my yard was DEAD! I don't know for sure which dog might have done it. Now that I have my son's outdoor cat, I fear that I'll never again have little baby wrens all over the front porch. I even caught the cat stalking an Indigo Bunting! Horrors! That's a BIG NO-NO!
On a drive to school one year, I saw a Scarlet Tananger on a tree branch at the edge of a wooded hill. I can't drive that route anymore; it was destroyed by the break in the levee.
I love to spot a new bird and look it up in my book! I think it would be so much fun to go on birdwatching tours!
There also appears to be some sort of creature with eyes right in the middle of the root mass.
I knew the roots looked pretty cool, when I saw them, but I had no idea they were THAT strange! I'll have to check the other ones I took...
When the sun hit the feeder, the birds fairly GLOWED! Boy, did I need that to cheer me up this evening!