It was a beautiful morning here, with mist rising from the ponds and a very heavy load of dew, so the grasses and flowers were all shiny. As soon as I went downstairs and sat at my desk, I realized that there are even more birds in the field in front of the house than usual.
Some of the birds I scared off when I walked outside. Mostly starlings, but there’s a meadowlark at left.
The meadowlarks have been all over the fields for weeks now, but I realized that there are also a lot of European starlings, along with some of the red-winged blackbirds that I’ve mostly been hearing and not seeing. The savannah sparrows are also participating (a few white-crowned sparrows are at the edge of the woods, but they don’t like to come out in the middle of the field). Joining the crowds are our breeding pairs of mockingbirds and cardinals. This creates quite a cacophony.
Where I see all the birds. You can see some flying back by the trees. I scared them.
I wondered why there were more birds today than in the past couple of weeks. I put on my Master Naturalist thinking cap and thought there must be some kind of thing for them to eat now that wasn’t there last week.
The male cardinal is in the center. The mockingbirds flew off as I took the picture.
Sure enough, I recalled mentioning to Lee last night that the chickweed was all yellowish and looked like it had gone to seed. Could that be it? The name implies birds like it.
Chickweed in bloom.
So, I went off to search the internet and look at that. I found an article that told me chickweed is not native, but is good to eat for us humans, too. It’s chock full of vitamins and minerals. Most important:
Chickweed is also grown as feed for chickens and pigs, hence its common names clucken wort, chicken weed, and birdseed. Wild birds also love to eat chickweed seeds.
Well, there ya go. I used my brain and got my answer. It looks like I’ll have plenty of bird-watching fun for the next few days, right out my little window. Chickweed is my new friend, and officially a wildflower and NOT a weed (even though I already figured it was).
This is not fascinating, but does show some chickweed seed heads.
Anything exciting going on where you are?
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Since neither my sister nor I felt great after our vaccinations, we didn’t do dinner tonight. That, combined with the fact that it’s the first night of Daylight Savings Time led me to decide to spend some quiet time in the woods.
Hermits’ Rest woods just before the trees leaf out.
It wasn’t a quiet time, because there were so many birds, mostly white-crowned sparrows, mourning doves, mockingbirds and cardinals.
The female cardinal was chirping away when I took this.
I just wandered slowly (I left the dogs in the house) so I could see the birds, hear the creek flowing away, and enjoy the new leaves budding.
The creek makes a wide spot where lots of fish live.
It always smells good in the damp woods (even with the cow poop scattered around). It’s especially musty and lovely by the seep, the springy area in the woods that never dried up at all last year. I crouched beside it a long time, listening to birds and watching them fly around.
It’s like my own baby swamp!
While I was there, I heard a loud bird sound, then something big flew by. I was enchanted, and I confirmed my hunch when I heard a hammering sound. It then flew by again, with a flash of black, white and red. It was the biggest pileated woodpecker I ever saw.
Photo taken yesterday in Virginia by Bob Hass.
While I’ve seen them here before, never so close and so large. No, no photo. I was using my eyes!
Eventually I stopped being a hermit and joined Lee for a walk around the pond behind the house with the dogs. That’s always so relaxing. I was captivated by the perfection of dandelion seed heads and a little circle of verbena. A nice evening.
This morning, my son’s partner, Rollie, posted on Facebook that they’d had a disturbing experience at the local grocery store near where they live. While shopping at the H-E-B (yes, that’s the name of it; it’s the founder’s initials, which is much better than if they’d chosen Butts, his last name*), there was a customer not wearing a mask getting really close to Rollie and Declan. They asked this college-age customer to mask up, but they would not. When Declan called the store later, they said they could not enforce the mask-wearing signs all over the store, because the workers keep receiving threats of violence.
I think people should be kind, says Carlton.
My gosh, people. Is it really worth threatening to harm others when a private company requests that people take safety precautions? Do people pull out their weapons when stores try to enforce “no shoes, no shirt, no service”? It’s all common-sense health stuff when around food.
I sorta knew this was coming when the Texas governor lifted all restrictions and let restaurants and bars go back to full capacity. I also was not surprised to learn that many establishments voluntarily have not changed what they are doing, mainly out of concern for the people who work there. That bit makes me proud of fellow humans.
Many people have opinions on whether the grocery chain should take a stance on mask wearing, ranging from, “H-E-B is a liberal tool” to “H-E-B should be escorting barefaced customers out of the store” (all these are usually expressed more colorfully, of course).
Cock-a-doodle-doo! Safety is for you! Bruce knows.
I went off to find out more information, and located a helpful Houston Chronicle article by Abigail Rosenthal. In it, I found the official H-E-B policy:
“While statewide policy has changed, our store protocol has not,” the company said in a statement. “Mask use at our stores will remain. Our signs requiring mask use will remain posted at entrances and we will continue to make announcements in store.”
We will continue to expect shoppers to wear masks while in our stores. Additionally, we will still require all our Partners and vendors to wear masks while at work.”
March 5 statement
That’s all good, but I was disturbed to read that there have been over 2,000 in-store incidents in Houston. I wonder how many there have been in the rest of the state? People do continue to disappoint me. The President of the grocery store chain said they simply can’t force people to be kind and caring.
McClelland said then that customers not wearing a mask would be asked to put one on. If they don’t have one, a Partner would offer them a mask. But McClelland said associates would not escalate the situation if the customer continued to refuse.
“What’s important to me is, I’ve got to ensure for the physical safety of both my employees and customers in the store,”… “That’s what we have been doing, and frankly it’s the same thing we’ll continue to do.”
H-E-B clarifies mask policy, says customers will be ‘expected’ to wear masks in stores, Houston Chronicle, March 8
This really makes me worried about people like Rollie, who work in restaurants and have to deal with the general public. I can easily see how it would be really difficult for restaurant and other food-service workers to remain civil while they are so concerned about their health.
In unrelated news, the Ancona hen has finally started laying eggs again. Of course, I found that white on in the garage. Sigh. But it appears that at least 4 of them are back to laying after the winter upsettedness.
I will continue to mask up when I am interacting closely with people I don’t know and who haven’t been vaccinated. If it turns out that it was an abundance of caution to do it, well, it hasn’t hurt anything and has maybe kept some spring pollen out of my airways, to boot!
And if you are among the group who doesn’t want to wear a mask, I am sure there are other grocery stores you can go to. That’s freedom, right? Each privately owned company can make their own decisions, and if you disagree, they won’t get your money! That will show them! (And that is why I don’t patronize certain establishments that force their religion on their employees or discriminate blatantly against my LGBTQ+ friends and family.)
So there.
*By the way, I have nothing against the name Butts. It was my grandmother’s given surname, and there’s a whole branch of Butts relatives out there in Appalachia.
As weak as I was feeling today, I had to get outside some. After all, it’s getting to be spring! So, I dragged myself around the property while the dogs played.
Time to play!
They love it when it’s warm and windy, especially when they have water to splash in. Alfred and Carlton, the two white dogs, both enjoyed the front pond.
Let’s splash
Heck, even big ole Harvey got some wading in, and he’s the one who usually gives up after five minutes of frolic and goes to sit by the front door. He was as frisky as the rest of the gang!
See, I can have fun.
Vlassic could not resist bothering the cows, but he was easily distracted by going to the other side of the driveway, where I had to check to be sure our new spring was still flowing.
Tiny black spot is Vlassic
For some reason, this little hole in the ground with water gushing out of it makes me really happy. It’s such a positive change, and it’s providing water for the birds and wildlife.
Still spewing water!
Now that water has been flowing for a few months, water plants are growing in the spring, and I’m excited to see what shows up between now and when everything dries up (as I’m sure it will, given our climate).
Happy water plants
I ended my trudge around our field by watching Penney, who’s our current water dog, as she checked out all the water sources. She loves the stream, and I loved seeing willow leaves sprouting.
Fun for Penney
The walk made me tired, so I napped the rest of the afternoon. The side effects are weird, such as burning ears. I guess it’s flu-like symptoms. My immune system is kicking in! And damp Penney kept me cool until cows showed up and got the dogs into bark mode.
Alert! Cows!
Since my sister got the one-shot vaccination yesterday, we will be fully protected at the same time. I can’t wait to go to the Bistro for dinner again!
I had so much confidence that I’d have few side effects from my second COVID vaccine. But, while it’s not as bad as last time, just a couple hour after I woke up I got the bone tiredness that’s common. So, Sara will ride my horse today and I will read knit, and nap.
But, at least I have a nice new bed set and valances for the dogs…I mean for me to sleep under.
I ordered these Western linens (on sale, too!) to see if they’d make me like my brown walls better. They do look good with the headboard Lee made, and the valance looks pretty good, though we plan to stretch it out a bit. We also have valances for the windows, but need something to hang them on.
The dogs always enjoy morning walks, even when it’s cloudy and breezy.
It’s a windy, gray day, anyway, so I’ll be okay inside. The clouds were really pretty, in a gloomy way, this morning, a nice start to the last day of Standard time.
Is it important for your clothing and dog to match your knitting? I think it’s classy.
I’ll get back to my knitting and resting at the Hermits’ Rest. I hope someone listens to the podcasts! Enjoy my lisping. You will also get to enjoy music from my son, Declan Murtagh, on the podcast. It’s just what I wanted!
Hey! Thanks to all of you who sympathized with my being so hopeless and sad right now. You all rightly pointed out that many things have led to our collective urge to just sit and stare ahead. There’s even astrological reasoning! This afternoon, Sara postulated that because we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel, all the stuff we’ve been holding in has started to leak out. Yeah.
Carlton is tired of being confined to his backyard. We understand.
Today I was getting a bit concerned about myself. I kept having trouble concentrating, and somehow managed to leave Austin late. Partly I was distracted by welcome signs of life coming back.
Ferns are popping up!
I enjoyed lots of redbud trees and pear trees. I’m so glad they made it. And the first thing I spotted when I got to the ranch was an Indian paintbrush!
I looked and looked for these last weekend!
I’d heard bluebonnets are blooming at last, but didn’t spot them until I got to the hill leading down to Walker’s Creek, where they are beautiful every year.
I sure hope to get prettier bluebonnet pictures soon!
I was still pretty squirrelly when I got to the ranch. I was nervous about getting my second COVID vaccine, so I forgot my vaccination card and panicked because I couldn’t find my paperwork. Uh, it was in the car. Then I drove off, leaving a can of drink on the trunk. That’s gonna make a mess when I open it, I’m sure.
I took off like a startled heron.
But! I got to the vaccine place! Turns out I was supposed to be there yesterday. But, they let me in. The shot didn’t hurt, and so far I have little pain. Maybe I got all my reactions over with last month.
Fully vaccinated, I’m now exhausted.
The other part of the day that made me feel supported and hopeful was that I went to the drugstore in Cameron to pick up my precious drugs, and got to see Mandi at her new job as a pharmacy assistant. Yes! After we had to let her go, she made good use of the time and got her certificate back. See, some people DO use their unemployment to get training and get a job. I’m so proud of her and will hug her in two weeks.
Signs of spring. Can you see the birds?
Once I got home, I took a nap and felt fine feeding horses. We had to give them the nastiest wormer of the series we are giving this spring. Both Apache and Lakota made some sad faces and rubbed their faces on the ground. Tomorrow if I’m not having reactions we will reward them with grooming and riding. They are shedding big time. I need it, so I hope I feel less scattered and more centered.
One last photo. Crow poison is beautiful, despite its name.
Little things like signs of spring and the promise of future hugs help. But knowing I’m not alone and have wonderful, supportive friends everywhere to feel a sense of community with is the best. Sincere thanks to all. We’re in this together. That’s helping me know I can crawl out of this hole!
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First, I’ll get this out of the way. I’ve decided to do a podcast to go along with this blog, since a lot of people would rather listen than read (like my husband). Some posts will work better than others. I’m still working out the kinks (like adding a consistent intro and ending blurb, but I do have three of them up at this site.
I have not gone overboard on this design.
Currently, it appears to be on Spotify, but maybe you can find it elsewhere. I did one post with an “automatically translate” feature, but I haven’t listened to it yet. Let me know if you listen. I can re-record if it’s totally awful.
I plan to slow down my speech (I do actually know how to record things, since I did it for my job for a long time), but I was having a lot of equipment issues at the ranch, due to my fancy headphones and/or something preventing me from playing back sounds.
Podcasts and Me
It’s sorta funny that I have resisted doing a podcast for so long, given my long history with them. Back when I was working for the nonprofit organization, one of my dearest coworkers, Elisabeth Lewin, was a podcasting pioneer, and she got us all set up doing podcasts from our international conference. I was (and still am) in awe of her equipment. I learned a lot from her.
I took what I learned and was able to help my musician housemate, Jeff Tveraas, get a website and all the accoutrements needed to set up a podcast of his own, which was called the Austin Connection. I really enjoyed those and was sad when he had to stop producing them, and wish the old episodes were still available.
I’ve watched as every single radio show I listen to has developed its own podcasts, as every vaguely famous news person has done, etc. And I’ve seen some of the blogs I read move to podcast-only format. I even pay money to a couple of people to support their blogs or YouTube channels that I actually don’t listen to. It’s obvious where the trend is going.
Nonetheless, I am apparently NOT an audio learner, so I never enjoyed listening to them, myself. I’ll listen to some of the ones Lee shares, but for some reason, I have no patience with wading through the sponsorship information, the plugs for how to obtain them, and the listening itself. I blame the fact that I read so quickly on my impatience with spoken media. I can zip through a blog, unless I pause to enjoy photos, while a podcast takes, well, as long as a podcast takes (same with learning off YouTube; I can’t stand all the blather).
Still, as I mentioned, I recorded e-learning videos for many years, which were like podcasts with accompanying slideshows. I’m not afraid of microphones, audio editing equipment or anything like that. I could easily make podcasts, but didn’t want to bother with all the uploading and editing.
So Now
When WordPress started hounding me to turn my blog posts into podcasts, I ignored it for a while. Then I started thinking about my husband, who will not go onto Facebook unless he has to say something for work and who hasn’t been able to figure out how to get my blog posts mailed to him. He does listen to podcasts, pretty much all the time, including when he is sleeping. What better way to reach him than to speak to him in his sleep! Creepy fun, right?
Plus, it’s something else to do! I love me a good project! The Anchor software that WordPress promotes makes it easy to do a podcast, as long as you have a microphone. There’s not a lot of editing software that I can use, so I’ll just leave my mess-ups in there. And I will see if I can get a son to record me some soft guitar music (NOT lengthy) to put on the opening.
The folks at Anchor claim you can make money from people subscribing to your blog. Yeah, right, the people at WordPress say I can make money from people looking at ads on my blog, and so far I have amassed nearly $60 (in over a year)!
But, what the heck, if you are a fan of my blog, or want to support the podcasting thereof, you are very welcome to subscribe. After all, I’ll need income after I retire.
You are ALSO very welcome to continue to read my blog for fun, entertainment, or to help you get to sleep. I’m happy to have an outlet for venting and sharing nature stuff, but, if someone wants to listen to me talk, they can do that, too. Just look for The Hermits’ Rest on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. I love subscribers, and will not turn down supporters!
Today was one of those do nothing but clean up and get stuff done days. For some reason, floor cleaning hurts my back, so I am zonked. But you need to dust and clean occasionally, right?
I got some good knitting in. My entrelac looks like something now. I enjoy knitting forward and backward, so I never have to turn the work.
A little lumpy, but nice colors.
The other one I started took a while to figure out, but will look good as it gets bigger. It’s a lot of slip stitches.
Hmm. Barf or nice?
I did see a few pretty plants and other living things today, plus I checked on the new fish, who all seem to be in the barrel. Enjoy these!
Tiny snail
More bees!
Milkweed seeds
Tiny goldfish
Verbena
Grackle in College Station
Very young grasshopper
Sparrow.
My sister made me and Lee a salmon dinner followed by a nice cake. Good ending to the birthday weekend.
I have been thinking about a few things and will get more interesting next week. Until then, here’s a checkered skipper butterfly.
There’s not much going on today. But yesterday, our former business partner and old friend, Carol, was sorta nearby, so she dropped by with birthday wine and a barbecue plate from that good place in Rockdale. What a great surprise!
Good friends. Even if Lee looks scary.
We sat out on the porch, relax Ed, and caught up with each other, so we were careful, of course. It was a perfect birthday evening.
Sitting and sipping.
We got goofy, with Lee modeling his new table runner and us laughing.
Lee can be funny.
Then today, I relaxed and didn’t pressure myself to write. Lee and I decided to go wild and go somewhere. Woo! We just drove to College Station and did errands there! Pandemic pandemonium!
It was nice to see different scenery. We got some wine, some groceries, horse food, and oh boy! We got cute goldfish for the horse trough. I hope some of them make it. Photos tomorrow! Can you stand the excitement?
We also saw what’s left of the train wreck from last week, which really showed how hot it got. What a mess.
And that was the highlight of the trip. It ain’t all that exciting here these days.
The situation in this area with regard to the effects of the bad weather incident is pretty dire. I don’t think I realized how bad it was until I read the documentation encouraging people to participate in a project to track the state of pollinators and pollen sources here. Dr. Chip Taylor of Monarch Watch, wrote:
The 11-day cold spell (10-20 February) in Texas was a disaster. Freezing temperatures covered the state and extended well into Northern Mexico. While many of the immediate effects of the freeze are clear, season long and multiple year effects may linger. The damage to the flora was extraordinary, and it is likely that nearly all above ground insects died over a wide area. Plants already in flower may have been so damaged as to not flower this year.
Nearly all above-ground insects died! Now, every time I see an insect, I’m thrilled, and must record it. Yesterday I spotted a young grasshopper and a jumping spider, and if I could have hugged them, I would have.
Look at those cute antennae
It IS a jumping spider!
A few of my friends have been mentioning that the bees are everywhere right now, and they don’t have much to choose from for nectar sources. As I showed you yesterday, I mostly have henbit and dandelions for them, along with a very few white clover blossoms (I think I saw six blossoms between my house and the horses, which is a half mile in distance).
Henbit deadnettle
Dandelion
Dandelion seeds are so pretty
Pitiful clover
Food for our bees
I’ve been seeing photos of home-made bee feeders, which seem to mostly be pans with some gravel in them, filled with honey water. My friend, Pamela, had a lot of success with using a cookie tray and a simple plate!
Pamela’s bees like her feeder.
I wasn’t sure if I needed to do that, since dozens and dozens of bees have been sampling the chicken feed, which makes me worry about how much sugar must be in there!
Click on the images to see them larger and count the bees.
But, I figured it couldn’t hurt. I already had a nice shallow dish over by the chickens, but I don’t have any gravel, so I found a few rocks that look like reasonable perches. I poured some honey water in there (same stuff I make for hummingbirds) and waited.
Yeah, well, we don’t like this.
I guess I haven’t waited long enough, because I have only seen a couple of bees check out the water, and there are still very many on the chicken feed. I think I’ll go out and put in some sticks and flowers and the things Pamela had. It’s an ongoing experiment.
Zero bees at water station. Many bees in and on the food.
As an aside, I have to laugh about my chicken yard. It now feeds not only chickens but many wild birds. I’m always startling doves and meadowlarks in there, plus many sparrows. That’s fine with me. They’re all my avian buddies!
No, I’m your avian buddy!
No, we’re your avian buddies.
I have a lot of love to go around.
I do hope all the feeding of the bees helps. We need them, the native bees and the honeybees.
Update!
When I went out to check the mail, I took a detour by the chickens to see how the bee feeder was doing. I was happy to see that they found it, and could tell I made the liquid too deep. So, I added some flowers and sticks they can hold onto. Immediately the bees started using them, and more arrived. My heart is full.
