Random News

“One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, clearing the murk of a March thaw, is the spring.” - Aldo Leopold, A Sand Country Almanac

I stepped out of the cabin just after dawn this morning to be greeted by the sounds of hundreds of Canada geese, high overhead, coursing north. And with apologies to Aldo, this March thaw is more like a rapid boil, with the March murk more like muddy than anything. Today the local temperature is to be in the mid-60’s! The overnight “low” matched the daytime high of just 3-4 days ago.

Last night I played with Dog and threw a snowball at him, mostly because it’s probably the last time I’ll be able to do that. (He loves snowballs). I expect today’s temperature will eliminate the last of my snow.

The results of the February yard bird listing competition for Pennsylvania are in, and I’m tied for #7 in my category! This is so hilarious, and I’m so surprised. I had a measly 7 species to add to the list for February. I have little hope of improving my ranking. The person in the number 1 slot in my category has 19 more species than I do. Counting all categories, including the unlimited acreage category, I’m listed at #23.

The ideal “yard” for this competition would include woods (which I have) and an active pond where lots of waterfowl stop (which I don’t have). The ponds at Roundtop get a few birds that I can sometimes count because they fly over the cabin or I can hear/see the waterfowl from the cabin, but they aren’t active waterfowl stops. Pinchot Lake, which is several hundred acres or so, is just 2 miles away, so the waterfowl much prefer to stop there than on the little ponds at Roundtop.

My real Baby Dog is now back! No more stitches, no more conehead! Just one wild little border chow (I've decided she's part border collie and part chow, hence she's a border chow). She also has wonky ears, which I hadn't noticed before. One stands up more than the other.