Earth Day 2008

Earth Day here on the island started with a visit from a ringnecked pheasant, strutting his stuff in the morning sun, screeching now and then as he strolled around checking out the territory. I wonder if it's the same one that often came by last year. He used to march around the periphery of the yard, with a screech at regular intervals. Brought to mind the image of a soldier on drill parade. He's a beauty, the rusty breast, glossy green and white neck ring, very handsome.

The bird feeder is busy every day now with chickadees, nuthatches, a red squirrel, song sparrows and a purple finch. Juncos and robins flock around feeding from the ground, and in the evening the spring peepers are starting to sing. In the past few days, I've seen a heron flying over at dusk and three eagles circling against the noontime sunlight.

In the garden, weedy grass sprigs are working their way past the mulch in my raised beds already. The chives are growing green and the thyme plants have survived another winter. A few small tulips are poking up through, so far not eaten by deer. I tried digging in a bit of hair from a recent trim in hopes it will discourage them. Read somewhere that human or dog hair would deter deer. Hope so, as last year the buds were devoured as soon as they appeared. Yesterday I saw two deer feeding at the baseball field just up the road, out in mid-afternoon and not at all bothered by passing cars.

I'm trying to get a few tomato plants started from seed. The first sprig emerged today, six days after I put the seeds in small pots and set them in the warmest spot in the house. Two are Mennonite Heirloom, one is Ivory Egg (a cherry tomato) and one is a Burbank.

A few days this past week have hinted at summer, with a warm southwest breeze and temperatures as high as 18 or 2o celsius, lovely days that make you want to spend every minute outside listening to the birdsong and squirrel chatter. At times like this I am grateful to be living away from the noise and smell of the city. Happy Earth Day one and all!!

Spring is Here, Sort of

Okay, in theory it's supposed to be spring, but for every day of sunshine we seem to be getting two or three of rain or even (still...wet snow!) Ugh. A blue sky makes so much difference when it's time to get up in the morning. In a gesture of optimism, I bought seed packets of zinnias, Sugar Snap peas, and mesclun lettuce mix when I found them on sale at half price the other day. I want to work in the garden, but the soil is still soggy and cold, no use to rush it. Well, gardening is all about learning to be patient.

The birds have begun to arrive in flocks, with lots of robins in the yard on wet days like this one. Yesterday a noisy bunch of grackles spent the day squabbling and jumping up and down on the feeder, emptying out the black oil sunflower seeds in a few hours. Song sparrows have arrived - the nuthatch kept chasing one away from a branch it apparently had claimed as its own, close to the feeder. Both a downy and a pileated woodpecker were hammering away at the old poplar tree in the morning. With the rustlings of sparrows in dry leaves, squirrels chittering and grackles calling their rusty nail squeaks, the yard was alive with the sounds of spring. In the afternoon, a young bald eagle circled the yard for a while, and I spotted two adults flying much higher, keeping watch on junior is my guess.

A few days ago I walked by the kitchen window, glanced out, and saw two yearling deer frozen in position, staring back in at me from about ten feet away. When I kept still, they decided to ignore me and coolly returned to grazing the old yellow grass (too long because it didn't get a late fall mowing). After a while, they sauntered away up the path to the woods. They were quite lovely.

Just finished reading a memoir by Doris Grumbach, an author living in Maine. Dealt in an interesting way with the changes in life that come along as we grow older, not all sunshine and roses. Now hoping to find some of the other non-fiction works she has written. Discovered from her book that one of my favourites, The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter, is somewhat notorious for being the work of a former Klansman and speechwriter for racist governor George Wallace. Very strange, as the book portrays a native American viewpoint with humour and empathy. A good read (and film too) just the same.

Here's hoping that April showers really will bring May flowers. I for one am more than ready for them, and for warm days and sunshine.