Signs of Spring

There are many signs of spring - the most common one we hear about is seeing robins again. However, some robins do stick around all year. I have seen some in our yard in December and January. But when I see a chipmunk up and running around, awake from the long winter hibernation, then I know spring is just around the corner. Any morning now I will wake up, much too early, to his constant chip chip chip chip chip chip.

Happy Birthday Captain Kirk

On March 22, 2228, James Tiberius Kirk will be born in Riverside, Iowa.

The City Council there needed a theme for the town festival and came up with the idea of claiming to be the future birthplace of Kirk. They got permission from Gene Roddenberry to do so and have been having fun ever since.

I would like to be there on his actual birth date, but I may not make it to Iowa then. Hopefully it will be a grand and bold celebration.

Pi Day Update

Woohoo!

I got this posted on 3/14 at 1:59 p.m.

That's 3.14159.

Happy Pi Day

Today is 3-14, or in other words, Pi Day. Larry Shaw is the founder of Pi Day, which was celebrated for the first time in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium.

Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The value of pi is approximately equal to 3.14 or 3.14159. I could keep adding more decimal places, but I would not be able to stop since the value of pi keeps going on and on.

According to newscientist.com blog, House Resolution 224, supporting the designation of a Pi Day, passed 391-10. Congressman Jason Chaffetz was not willing to support Pi Day because he felt it should go on forever.

Rice is Nice

I finally made some rice in my Rice Cooker. I bought it a while ago, but just never was in the mood for rice, so yesterday I read the instructions and had a go at it. It turned out great. The rice I like the best is a sushi rice. It is a short grain rice and has great flavor and nice texture. We decided to buy a rice cooker because my new counter-top electric range did not do as good of a job of cooking rice as the old gas stove did.

When I looked at all the different brands of rice cookers to choose from, I decided to buy the one that had an endorsement by Martin Yan. Some years back I would watch his cooking show once in a while. He sure knew how to make a lot of different dishes and if he couldn't get a job cooking, he probably could have made it as a stand-up comedian.

Happy National Square Root Day

Today is 3-3-09. (Hopefully I'll get this uploaded today yet.) You know, 3 times 3 equals 9, a square root! Last one was on 2-2-04 and next one will be on 4-4-16. In honor of the day, I made some square roots, i.e. carrot (root vegetable) squares. Well, no, they aren't perfectly square, but how many of you even made an attempt to celebrate? Hah, gotcha!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

I searched for some information on Google today and was reminded that March 2 is the birthday of Dr. Seuss. There is a fitting logo for Google today, so be sure to check out Google while the logo is still there. Also, take this chance to read to a child today. Whether it is your own child, a younger brother or sister, a niece or nephew, a grandchild or someone that you take care of while a parent is working, find a good book and start reading. If you need more information, just Google "Read Across America."

First Robin

I saw robins in the back yard on Sunday, the first I have seen since last fall. As soon as some people see a robin, they get all excited that there will be no more snow, that warm temperatures will return, and that they should start raking the lawn. Wrong, we still have snow on the ground and it never made it above 32 degrees today. If you expect that we will have eight more weeks of winter, then if we get a spring warm-up sooner, it will be a pleasant surprise.

Deer Alert: Of course, as I write this, there are at least five deer in the back yards. Reminder to Self: Check the local nurseries for Liquid Fence and stock up now.

Deer Tracks - Part Two

And here is looking the other way, towards the west, for yet more deer tracks. On the left is a large elm tree. I often see the deer sitting under that elm tree. One even favors the spot where I plant a tomato in the spring. I'm sure he is thinking that if he waits long enough, the tomatoes will come. And then he eats them!

In the background is the well-worn path that I have seen them follow at night. I talked to one neighbor today about all the deer. He has seen as many as sixteen or twenty in his yard. He suspects they are on their way to the yard of a neighbor who puts out corn cobs at night and has a salt lick for the deer. Great, just great.

Deer Tracks - Part One

Most of our snow had melted and then we got a brand new snowfall of five to six inches. It is now obvious how much deer traffic we can get in a night or two. The deer can't reach the peanut wreath or the bird feeders, but they can eat what little falls on the ground. What they crave the most, though, is all the bushes in our yard and the neighbors' yards. This summer there will be lots of scruffy-looking landscape in the neighborhood.

Keep on the Sunny Side

We were in St. Paul recently and I heard some birds while we were stopped at an intersection. I looked around and then I looked up. Whoa! That's a lot of pigeons. After we parked, I walked back and snapped this photo. The side of the roof that they are all perched on is the east side and as you can tell, it is about 9:45 in the morning. That would make this the warmest spot to hold their obviously important meeting.

Do you notice the owl way over on the left? I'm willing to bet a bag of bird seed that it is a fake owl. Most likely it's an attempt, an unsuccessful attempt, to discourage pigeons from roosting. It would be interesting to go back in the evening, close to sunset, to see if the pigeons roost on the west side to catch the last rays of the day.

Cold and Steamy

Just as you cannot see the wind, you cannot see the cold. You can however see evidence of the cold. When the lake temperature is warmer than the air temperature, we get fog over the lake.

Downtown buildings are visible in the background in this photo. The geese are resting and doing their best to stay warm. The fence in this photo is part of a plan to reduce the number of geese at the lake.

Many people don't have the unique joy of experiencing temperatures that are below zero. They can't imagine what it is like. It almost does take your breath away. Your fingers hurt and don't function very well. That makes it hard to take photos. You need gloves that are warm but yet allow you some dexterity. Or you need to take a few fast photos and get back in the car to warm up.

Blue Jays Like Peanuts

Recently, we bought this decorative and useful wreath for feeding peanuts to the birds and squirrels. Typically after we fill it with peanuts, it will be ignored for a few days, but then the blue jays find it and they empty it in a few hours. When we just put peanuts out on the ground for them, often they would pick up one, then drop it, and pick up another one, drop that one and finally choose one and fly away with it. We think they were gauging the weights of each one in order to get the heaviest peanut.

We have relatives in Texas that have a few pecan trees in their yard. They had an interesting learning experience with jays. Both people were collecting pecans. They each had a nice pile that they left on the ground while they ate lunch. After lunch, one of the piles was noticeably smaller. Well, accusations were made about stealing from her pile to add to his pile. Protests of innocence. Eventually they noticed who the thief was - yes, a blue jay.

Windy Days

It was windy here the last few days. That's putting it mildly. All night and all day there was a constant roar. Tree branches whipping around. Tree trunks swaying. The plastic watering can from one back yard is now four houses down the street in someone's front yard. The birds that are brave enough to travel seem to be flying sideways.

You can hear the wind. You can feel it. But you cannot see the wind. The flag by our local Perkins waving in the wind is perhaps one of the best ways to show how windy it was.

This poem about wind by Christina Rossetti is one of my favorites.

Who Has Seen The Wind

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

Cowabunga

Go for it!

Here is one of our friendly squirrels making the leap from apple tree to bird feeder. His paws are outstretched, ready to grab on as soon as he gets to the bird feeder.

This photo shows him in mid-air, about two feet past the apple tree and two feet until he gets to the feeder. He ate a few peanuts and some bird seed, then jumped down to the ground and headed for the bird bath for a drink of water.

He will be back another day. Of that I am sure.

Spring Fever

About this time of year, spring fever sets in. The cold and the snow are starting to get on everyone's nerves. Years ago I got spring fever. So I bought one little house plant. Then I bought a few more and a few more and a few more. When summer arrived, I planted a small vegetable garden. Now, years later, I have a large vegetable garden and flowers everywhere outside.

Do you have spring fever? Go out and buy yourself a house plant. Get your hands on some seed catalogs at the library or online and start ordering a few packets of alyssum or zinnia seeds. Start going to one of your local garden stores in early May and buy a tomato plant or some bean seeds or cucumber seeds. If you have just a little bit of sunny space, get bush tomato and bush beans and bush cucumbers. If you have lots of room, you can get varieties that will vine all over the place.

Yes, you might have spring fever. Luckily there is a cure. Become a gardener.

Oh, Deer

Every night they come. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

They come quietly and they come hungry.

Sometimes I see them, but often I only see evidence. Here you see our neighbor's arborvitae. We noticed - yikes! - lots of arborvitae needles on the snow under the tree. Obvious signs of deer munching. Next day, we had a burlap coat for the little tree. Of course, they will find something else to eat. At some point the burlap will have to come off in the spring and then we can hope that they will have forgotten how good this tree tastes.

Two nights ago, at about 2:30 a.m., there were eight of them in the back yards. One was eating bird seed off the ground right outside the house. Slowly I opened the second-story deck door. The deer would raise her head and stare at me for a few seconds and then put her head down and eat some more. I would open the door a few more inches and she would raise her head and stare at me, and then go back to eating again. After about five times of this little back and forth game, she would lower her head, but her eyes kept watching me.

If only we could teach them to eat the velvet leaf, but not the arborvitae. Eat the night shade, but not the tomatoes. Eat the creeping charlie, but not the impatiens. Eat the dandelions, but not the hosta.

Oh dear, oh deer.

Mystery Solved

How do the squirrels manage to eat the bird seed from our squirrel-proof bird feeder?

Last year we just had the feeders on top of a long pole. The squirrels, and even the raccoons, could easily climb up and eat to their hearts content. This year we bought the poles and brackets and baffle, everything we would need, at Wild Birds Unlimited. We bought the larger baffle, so that even the raccoons would be baffled. We have plenty of the decorative branch perches so that birds can perch while waiting for a spot to eat at. And we carefully placed the pole in an area that was far from the deck the clothesline pole, the crab apple trees and the barn roof.

And yet, they still manage to get to the food.

Finally we were able to see how they did it. One possibility was that they might climb up the string that is used to raise and lower the feeders. The only other possibility was that, as precarious as it seemed, they might jump from the crab apple tree, from the flimsiest of branches, up to the feeders.

Well, it is the flying squirrel routine that they use. They jump from a branch that is only an inch in diameter and bends down when they venture out all the way to get close enough to the feeders. Then a wild, free-for-all jump usually lands the lucky critter on the conveniently placed perches. After that , it is a nice smorgasbord for our hungry gray friend.

If they are smart enough and daring enough to get to the food, even with all our attempts to keep them away, then we figure they deserve the reward. We enjoy watching them as much as we do the chickadees, blue jays, nuthatches and woodpeckers.

Bon Appetit, Rocket J. Squirrel.