An Evening with Betty

I haven't been able to spend hardly any time with my good friend Betty for at least a year and a half. She was one of the first people I met when we moved here 42 years ago. She's had a sad year (near end of linked post if you want to know), but is starting to want to do things again.

She didn't want me to take her picture, but agreed that her hands were ok. And that was what we were using- our hands. She is knitting a blanket.



I'm working on Loretta's green shawl. It's the next project up on my list, and I had barely made a beginning, but got a good bit done tonight. It's going to work up quite fast, which is great!



It was a cold and damp day- felt more like December than April. Maggie and I walked out back, but didn't see anything more interesting than the handcrafts. Besides, it was really nice to visit with Betty... it's been a long time.

Look Who Woke Up!

Do you remember this little friend? It's one of the most frequently sighted furballs in my yard, and I've blogged about it before. But, I've rarely been so thrilled to see one. It's a 13-lined ground squirrel, Ictidomys Tridecemlineatus. That amazing species name just means 13 lines! The genus is actually a new breakdown of the old Spermophilus genus. All of the genetic testing is revolutionizing taxonomy!


They are terrible for a lawn, but they are so cute, that I can't stay angry. Our "lawn" isn't a big deal. I'm always happy to see them, but this late spring, it seems like a real promise of increasing warmth.


Don't you just wonder what it's thinking about? Actually, in this case, I can tell you with a great deal of accuracy based on what happened next.


It grabbed a slug! Nothing like a tasty lunch! And I suspect that many of you who find some of my wildlife dinners gruesome will not mourn the passing of a slug nearly so much.

I'm still smiling at the antics of this little one. They do hibernate, so the awakening is a true sign of spring. I won't tell him that the weather forecast is rain and snow all week.

See New Digs for Peabody's Great, Great...

Desperate for Color

Thanks to the virus and the thunder, I didn't get to tell you about the hike Ellen and I took on Friday. We had an excellent adventure (is there any other kind?), but as you can see in this photo of a large beaver pond... everything except the pine tree is still brown. Brown!



I tell, you, I am really getting tired of brown and gray. I am grasping at any straw of something bright. In the cemetery, the tiniest of sprigs are poking through. On the left is the Fragile Fern. After three years of trying to ID this, I think I'm secure in calling it that. On the right, the very first blooming wildflower, a tiny common violet. I'll take it!



The rain started last night. We've needed it SO badly. It rained all day. I called my computer geek, and decided to pay to have the virus removed. It was a bad one. My virus software could find it, but said that it couldn't access it. My real life geek said that she had to actually delete the registry files and copy them over from one of her computers, after cleaning the virus. The color of today was also brown, but this is a rich brown. It's the color of Chocolate Zucchini Bread. Yes, you've seen this recipe before. We really love this. We use it for a dessert, not a bread.



And for the frosting... at dusk, it began to snow. Will spring EVER get here?

See I Cleaned and Baked, Just For You See That Mystery Fern Again

Virus and Thunder

The computer has a virus that I'm having a very bad time getting rid of. The radar map has a HUGE blob of yellow and red storms practically on top of us. I need to get off line to protect the router, and work on the virus some more. Hopefully I'll be able to bring you a real post before I go to bed, but if not... all is well, except the computer.

Used to Be the Marsh Hawk

I could show you another eclectic collection of things, but I think I'll show you just one slightly out-of-focus picture. I'm so pleased to have caught it at all, that I have to share.

Do you know what it is? Yes, it's a hawk, but which one? Before I tell (of course, you may know), let me tell you some history.

This hawk used to have a different name. I grew up calling it the Marsh Hawk. Somewhere along the line someone decided it should have a more sophisticated name. Taxonomists change names regularly, but they do it for organizational reasons. Common names should just "happen," not be dictated.

Anyway, I saw this hawk a couple of days ago too. I was excited, because it's one of my favorite hawks. Why? Who knows? I saw a lot of them as a child, including one that had flown into a fence and died. Sometimes the sad end of a creature is a great learning opportunity. Actually, I was very callous about death as a child. Animals died in the road all the time. Dad hunted and most of our table meat was dressed in the back yard. It was a farm community. Death was always near at hand. I think the dead Marsh Hawk was the first large bird that I got to examine closely, and I was fascinated.

On Monday, I saw this bird flying low across the field next door. It's smaller than the red-tailed hawk, and behaves differently, so I knew it wasn't my usual hawk friend. It raised its wings and settled into a bush. Out of sight. No chance for a picture. I tried to follow it, but Maggie ranged ahead of me, and scared it off before I could even aim the camera.

I think it had been hunting. It eats small mammals and birds.

This morning, right overhead, three small birds were chasing the hawk. That's pretty common behavior. I got the camera turned on and pointed as fast as I could, but only managed to catch most of the hawk, and not even in focus. Maybe I'll get another chance.

We are now supposed to call this a Northern Harrier. It's Circus hudsonius . The long tail with three stripes, and rounded wings show well in this picture. Some other features, not so well. I think this is a female. I hope it's nesting in my kingdom!

See Red-Tailed Hawk, It Is!