Saturday, April 30, 2011

The Cycle

"The meadowlarks are back, and the finches
are turning from green to gold. Those same
two geese have come to the pond again this year,
honking in over the trees and splashing down.
They never nest, but stay a week or two
then leave. The peonies are up, the red sprouts
burning in circles like birthday candles,

for this is the month of my birth, as you know,
the best month to be born in, thanks to you,
everything ready to burst with living."


Excerpt from poem "Mother" by Ted Kooser


April 17:

April 18:

April 23:

April 24:

April 27:

Thursday, April 28, 2011

We interrupt this posting

To tell you that YAHOO is not fit to dredge the bottom of my outhouse.

The sandhill cranes have managed to return to the neighborhood, right on time. Of course they have been at it for NINE MILLION YEARS.

We humans kid ourselves that this little house of cards we call civilization runs like clockwork--that is, until the day we cannot access our Yahoo mail account. Instead we get:
Ouch!
The error, LaunchEmptyResponse, occurred when trying to connect to Yahoo! Mail.

To retry Yahoo! Mail... To proceed to Yahoo! Mail Classic...

This error might be temporary.

Temporary Schmemporary.

Yahoo: Migrate, adapt, or better yet, just go extinct.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

It's ON!!!

2 minutes ago---

While out in the still sunlit yard just after 9 PM gathering kindling for tonight's fire I heard what I thought was an out-of-tune trumpet blasting away just beyond the trees lining O'Brien Street. I stood and watched a big white winged creature make a sharp left turn out over the musher's field. A trumpter swan!!!! The birds are returning!!! The ponds have yet to thaw, but we're on our way!!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Springtime in Alaska!

Lord knows we wait long enough for it.

The amazing cast of "Alaskiwi Adventures"

Thermometer says 40 but feels like 60 today:



Derrr---what should I do? It's warm but I still can't plant anything!


Birdies are showing up more and more--I've seen common redpoll, boreal chickadee and white-winged crossbill hopping on the snow and gobbling spruce seeds like mad.