Non-sequiterous post

I made up that word. Yes, I did.

It snowed last week:

"I like da snew, Mamma."



I tried not to cuss as the snow fell, giving the kids yet another day off school.
I failed.



It was pretty, as it fell (by southern Ohio standards) in massive amounts.
A light, fluffy snow that was easy to plow and keep ahead of.
Didn't keep the numbnuts out there from panicking and running off roads all over the area.






Empty, for now.....

January 15th is the"safe date" for nesting Great Horned Owls around here...some of the pairs start right on schedule. The Lake Isabella pair seems to favor the end of January into the beginning of February.
Click here and here for other posts about this nest.
Just a few more days until I can start checking the can obsessively.



Our neighbor walks right past one of the RSHA (the big orange lollipop) resting near our prairie:


New River Update:
People started coming out of the woodwork after my last post...and there are a few spots still available at the Farmhouse. If you want to come along and have the time of your life, email me at capricorn1273@cinci.rr.com ASAP. There aren't many slots left for the festival...and we need to register NOW.

All it takes

After a crappy morning, I needed to un-blue myself. I just needed a bird. A "good" bird.
Now, they are all "good" (except for house sparrows and starlings, but I digress), but I just needed a brilliant flash of something I don't see every day.

Lake Isabella is my haven. I have "MY" corner, near the river. This little space tucked away from the fishermen and joggers attracts all the warblers this time of year, with the juicy caterpillars hanging from the sycamores and the relative quiet.
And red-tailed hawks, and gnat catchers, and waxwings, and the resident Great Horned Owl family.

Hearing a "zweet-zweet-zweet" overhead had me reaching for the iPod. Not a black and white warbler, but a similar cadence. (Those of you who were at New River can hear a B&W from miles away now, I think.) The "Squeaky Tricycle Wheel" sound. But this song was too loud, too slow.
A zip of blinding yellow helped me find the song on the good ol' BirdJam.
(Hi, Jay!!!)

Prothonotary warbler. A surreal yellow, with black button eyes that seem too big for its face.
I dialed up the song and played it. I got an immediate response, and was rewarded by the bird landing FIVE FEET above my HEAD. Luckily I had my camera in the other hand, and I got this photo:


And it didn't just flit away into the trees as I expected. It sat there and observed me. It was a moment just for the bird and myself.

I let it watch me until it had its fill and popped away. I turned off the iPod (see here for ethical use of BirdJam software) and let the bird have the field.

That's all it takes.

How Susan Got Her Groove Back

When Real Life gets in my way, the best escape for me is Outside.

An hour at Lake Isabella did wonders for my mood.


I feel like the only person in the world when I am there.


The sycamores stretched upwards into a perfectly clear sky. I felt the cobwebs in my mind blow away.



A million sparkles in the Little Miami dazzled me and brought tears to my eyes.
(Verklempt)



I couldn't decide if I wanted to be out in the open or dappled in random beams.




Two scolding robins alerted me to one sweet baby, knobby head quivering on a wobbly neck, like a perfect yellow blossom nodding on its stem.

I tried to capture my glowing mood with a self-portrait, something I never do.

Not even close.

When in doubt, go to the woods. And remember:

One sweet little fuzzy head

The official count of chicks in the Lake Isabella Great Horned Owl nest stands at ONE. (The chick is that whitish-gray fuzz on the left of the can.)

(Photo by Roman J. (Jack) Verdin)

I watched with Jack for quite a while, and he promised that the adult feeds the chick every hour or so. I didn't get to see any action today, but I'm sure he's telling the truth. He's the Unofficial OwlSitter.



(And he reads the blog. Hi, Jack!)

Owlet!

Our local Mamma Owl is busy with at least one owlet....


To make sense of this photo....The big mound is Mamma Owl, with her tail sticking up. (The grassy stuff is grass, blown in there during our Big Windy Day, back in September.
I ran into Jack Verdin again, (a local wildlife photographer), and he has been watching closely...he described the ritual of the owl standing up, turning and waddling around the chick. And then the owl demonstrated. Jack and others used an infrared camera to look through the bottom of the nest can and they saw at least two warm circles. Hard to tell how many babies are in there until they are big enough to peer over the top. And that nest can must be FULL of stuff, for the Mamma to be sitting up so high in the nest. Ewwww.....rabbit skulls and mallard feet and pellets!

At least one sweet little future-predator is up there, food-begging and growing.
Ahh. Life is good.