Project Feeder Watch

Black capped chickadee - 6, White breasted nuthatch - 2, Junco - 3, Downy Woodpecker - 1, Blue Jay - 1, Robin - 1, Crow - 1

I thought I'd have more birds using my birdbath. It looks so welcoming with the warm water creating steam above the dish. So far I've seen only one chickadee getting a drink. I've had more squirrels than birds on the deck this weekend. The squirrels will not leave my suet alone. I (we) get up every time and try to scare them away. Anyone outside in our neighborhood would hear a random "Scram! Go Away! Roar! Bark!" We were up and down. The worst is when we would have a bird on the deck with a squirrel. The nuthatch would fly away and they were the ones we were trying to attract. I think the squirrels would watch us through the window, wait until we sat down and then come back. We grew frustrated with the squirrels coming back so often. We thought it would be more rewarding to throw something at them. But what? A boot? We wanted to throw something that we wouldn't have to retrieve. A tray of ice cubes was set by the door. The squirrels keep an eye on us through the window. They would lurk on the other side of the wood on the deck while we stood there with ice growing cold in our hands. I am seriously thinking of having the CO container on my paintball gun recharged. I want to sit in the kitchen with the deck door open and nail one of those squirrels with a paintball. The extra money spent on heating the kitchen with the door open would be worth the satisfaction. A supersoaker would work too but I don't have one.

Decision Assistance

Crazy Little Thing Called

A large part of my job is going to meetings. People have asked me how I can stand it. I really don't mind. I like people. Motivations fascinate me. Families are very interesting. Some people I talk to at meetings are seen at six month intervals. I've had this job 22 years. I've been seeing some people every six months for 22 years. We make small talk about their cars, their pets, their grandchildren, their jobs, even their hair cuts. Not every meeting is pleasant. Some are definitely not pleasant and I dread their arrival. Others are a joy to attend. This week I went to a meeting and as I left the room I thought, "I can't believe they pay me to go to these." I love my job. I don't love every single minute of every single day but I can honestly say that I love my work. I'm good at it and I enjoy doing it. I'm staying here until I retire. I'm one of the lucky few who can actually say they love their job.

Calling All Birds

I set up the bird bath tonight after work. Even though it's bitter cold, the sun is still up so I can do an outside chore in the evening. I bought an extension cord when I bought the birdbath. I figured I would need about 20 feet to reach the outlet. So I looked for a 25 foot cord. Lucky for me I found a 40 foot cord for about the same price. The 40 foot cord is barely long enough. Note to self: next time you estimate a distance, double your guess. In any case, the bird bath is all set up now. The birds will probably appreciate a source of water in this bitter, dry cold weather. Maybe my bird count will go up this weekend.

Eating Animals

OK, this is the last food book I will read for a while. "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer is a highly popular book. I have been on the waiting list at the library for months and months and it finally came in for me. I liked it in part because it references other books I have read such as "The Omnivore's Dilemma," "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, and Temple Grandin's books. I read Temple's book because of her autism. Jonathan Safran Foer and Michael Pollock, of the Omnivore's Dilemma talk about her without mentioning her autism. She is the expert on slaughterhouses and one of the few brave enough to talk about what she sees going on at these places. If you are a person who enjoys buying your meat at the local grocery store and want to continue doing that, it's best you not read this book. This author is unusual. He uses words in different ways. Look at the book cover for example. The letters of eating are in feathers. Animals is in fur. Jonathan is in vines. Safran is in leaves. Foer looks to be covered with roots. He is cryptically telling you that he has decided to be a vegetarian. I've read his other two books called "Everything is Illuminated" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." Both are great novels and it's fairly evident that the author is coming from an unusual perspective. It's no different with this book. Several times I turned the page to see an unusual typeface or drawing and thought, "What the heck?" If I looked at it long enough, I could see the connection. I learned a lot in the book. Can't say I really enjoyed parts of it. He had a section about dogs, for example. He asks the question why we don't eat dogs. Dogs are tasty and nutritious and plentiful. If we don't eat dogs because they're so smart, why do we eat pigs who are actually smarter than dogs? If we don't eat dogs because of our culture, why did the Lewis and Clark expedition eat dogs, even when fresh salmon was available? I DON'T KNOW why we don't eat dogs and it's not something I want to spend a lot of time thinking about. I am already a vegetarian. I'm not a vegetarian because of animal rights or any deep philosophical morality. I have a personal preference not to chew muscle. I do think Foer has a point though when he says our culture has gotten too far removed from our food sources. We ought to pay more attention where our calories come from and how they got to our table.

Project Feeder Watch Update

American Crow-1, Downy Woodpecker-2, Black capped chickadee-5, White Breasted Nuthatch-1, Junco-3

I spent my holiday gift money on a four season (heated) bird bath with ez-tilt to clean deck mounting hardware. I'll post a picture once I get it installed.

Late In The Season

My amaryllis plant bloomed. Here are some photos. One is without the flash and the sun is shining through the petals. The other one is with the flash showing off the stamen. The plant had two blossoms. The back side of the second blossom is shown to the left.

My Favorite Soup Lately

Yellow Split Pea Soup

Ingredients: 2 TB butter, 1 cup chopped carrots, 1 cup chopped onion, 3 cloves garlic-minced, 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth, 2-14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes with garlic, oregano and basil, 16 ounces yellow split peas-rinsed and drained, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 tsp. dry thyme leaves, generous sprinkle of cayenne pepper, 2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. black pepper

Melt butter over medium heat in a large soup pot. Saute carrots and onions until almost soft. Add garlic and sautee another minute or two. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 45 minutes. Makes 8 servings. This soup (high in protein and fiber) is sure to keep you warm and toasty on a cold winter night.

Sleep Talking

If you need a good laugh, click on the title of the post. You will be taken to the sleeptalkinman. blogspot.com. The spouse of a guy who talks in his sleep has documented his sleep talking onto a blog. This guy is incredibly funny and insightful when he's asleep. One of my favorites quotes is "Hey, don't . . . don't say anything. Why don't you put it in an e-mail then I can ignore it at my pleasure." Wouldn't you love to say that to some people? Here's another one - "Shhhhhh shhhhhhhh. I'm telling you: your voice, my ears. A bad combination." Some of his talking is not as funny but when you read a whole bunch of it at one time, you can't help but laugh. He does have a potty mouth but still, he's so funny.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

I am an omnivore and so are you. Our dilemma is what we are going to eat. Only one creature that I know of doesn't have that dilemma and that is the koala bear. The koala eats eucalyptus leaves for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack. Because of this, author Michael Pollan writes, the koala brain is very small. The koala doesn't have to think about what to eat so it doesn't need a very large brain. "The Omnivore's Dilemma - A Natural History of Four Meals" was a terribly interesting book for me to read. The author writes about the ingredients in four meals. One meal is from McDonalds; cheeseburger, fries, coke and chicken nuggets. Another is a home cooked meal of chicken, vegetables, bread and pie. Another is an organic meal of chicken, chocolate souffle, salad and potatoes. The last meal is a hunted/gathered meal of California boar, morel mushrooms, fettuccine, bread made with gathered, natural yeast, wine and Bing cherries. Pollan is a great author and I learned a lot of new information. I know a lot more about corn that I ever thought I could know. Corn is subsidized by our government and it costs more to grow that it is worth. We have piles and piles of excess corn. To get rid of the corn, we try to turn it into gasoline or feed it to animals that are not designed to eat corn. Cows are not designed to eat corn. Cows are made to consume grass. When cows eat corn, their rumens cannot handle it and they become ill. That is why meat eaters are getting extra antibiotics in their diet - from the cows that are treated for eating an unnatural diet. Now the food industry is trying to get salmon to eat corn. Corn is in many products - oil, sugar, guar gum, MSG, starch. Just about every processed food has at least one form of corn in it. I found the book fascinating. I went to the grocery store tonight and this book has already influenced my buying habits - I bought the select brand of milk without the growth hormones. I also bought organic raspberries and organic grapes (they were actually cheaper than the regular raspberries and grapes). If I could, I would pay extra for non-genetically modified soy products.

If You Got The Right Teacher

Last night I went to a lecture about how plants and animals survive winter. We had a meeting of our chapter of the Master Naturalist and a naturalist named Dave came to talk to us. He was an awesome teacher. He had a power point presentation that worked really slick. We talked about how humans survive first - huddle, eat more, dress warmer, stay inside, become less active, eat warmer foods, etc. Animals do much of the same. Beavers and snakes and bees huddle together. Squirrels and beavers and birds eat more. We held a summer and a winter raccoon pelt to feel the difference in the fur - the winter pelt was much thicker. Raccoons and ants and squirrels and chipmunks and birds and bear stay inside more but they don't really hibernate. They all will come out on the warmer days to defecate and poke around. Woodchucks do hibernate. You can (but I would advise you not to) pick up a woodchuck in the middle of winter and handle it and it won't wake up. If you disturb a bear in a den in the winter, it will come after you. As part of the presentation, Dave showed a short 2 minute film about a tree frog. Tree frogs create antifreeze in their system. They survive in the woods where their bodies freeze almost solid. The film showed a frozen tree frog put in a warm room on top of some sphagnum moss in fast speed. After 2 hours the frog looks less dead and seems to take a more frog like shape. After 3 hours in the warm room, one eye blinks and respiration starts. After 7 hours an arm moves. After 10 hours, the frog becomes aware of the camera, thinks "What the hell is that?" and dives under the moss. The film was amazing. In nature, it would take the frog even longer to wake up because it is sitting on the frozen ground, not in a warm room. Naturalist Dave had us to an experiment. We were each given a small gladware container of water at 44 degrees Celsius. We were instructed to put our water outside and use any or all of the ways listed to stay warm. I put my container of water with three other containers (huddle) inside a winter cap (dress warm), inside a down jacket, under a blanket, inside a Toyota (stay inside). When we went back to get it after an hour, our water was at 38 degrees which is warmer than any of the other containers. We talked about animals and insects that live at the subnival level - just under the snow but on top of the ground. Mice and voles are common at that level. They can get around without being seen by predators in the sky. The temperature at that level is usually a constant 20 degrees. When the weather outside is 20 below, 20 above can seem very warm and is much easier to survive. Grouse have been known to spend an evening under the snow too. Several people in the group have built snow caves and they reported that they were too hot to sleep in a sleeping bag inside the snow cave. What a fun evening! I learned a lot.

Chickens in the Snow

On Sunday the weather was nice enough that the chickens wanted to stay out and enjoy themselves. They were free most of the day. They've been cooped up so long because of the cold weather that I think they've lost muscle mass. They have the opportunity to go outside in their run whenever they want but they don't want to do that very much. When I clean their coop on weekends I set them on the roof of the coop so they can stretch their wings and get some fresh air. When it's cold, they're in a hurry to get back inside the fresh, warm coop. This Sunday was different. They enjoyed being out for once. At 4:30 I went out to put them to bed. Meredith and Pamela were sitting on top of the coop. I lifted them and put them inside. Kelly was sitting on the snow about 10 feet from the coop. I threw snow at her until she flew up and went inside. Where was Phyllis? I looked around and spotted Phyllis way past the east edge of the house, sitting in the snow. I have a path to my compost heap and she was about 15 paces off the path. I walked over on my path because the snow is hard enough to support my weight. I threw snow at her and she just looked at me; not moving. For God's sake, was I going to have to tromp through the deep snow to get her? I took one step. My sorel boot disappeared and the snow was nearly to my knees. Great. As I took the second step I imagined Phyllis waiting for me to get really close before moving out of my reach. I was going to be really mad if that happened. I tromped through the deep snow until I got within reach of Phyllis. She didn't move a muscle as I scooped her up, tucked her under my arm, and tromped back to the path. I put Phyllis back in the warm coop with the others and shut the door on them for the night. Chicken farmer duties were done for the day.

Trauma First Thing In The Morning

I'm normally not a dramatic person. I live an even-keel life. I rarely cry or scream or yell but this morning I did all three of those things. I'm not feeling good this week. I got a cold and have been pushing myself to go to work because I'd much rather take another Nyquil and go back to bed. I was getting ready for work this morning and I heard a noise in the kitchen. Was it the canary taking a bath again? No, it sounded too loud for that. Don't tell me I got another mouse in the glue trap. I peeked around the corner. EWWWWWW! It WAS another mouse in the glue trap. I was just in the kitchen 10 minutes ago. Was the mouse in the trap and I didn't notice? Somehow the mice this year got through the steel wool that kept them out other years. And they won't eat the D-Con I set out for them. They licked the peanut butter off the spring activated mouse trap and left it unsprung. A glue trap is my only solution because I don't want to get a cat. I normally don't mind mice but I don't want them living in the house. They're fine outside or even in the shed but not in the house. This mouse had it's lower half on the glue trap. The head and front legs were still trying to escape. I can barely stand to look at the poor thing stuck to the glue trap. I throw a paper towel shroud over it because that is the only way I can move the mouse out to the garage. I use the longest pair of tongs I have to pick up the trap. I don't have a good hold on it and I drop it, mouse side down. That was the first scream. The poor mouse is frozen by my scream and holds still while I pick it up again and carry it down the stairs. As my left hand opens the garage door my right hands opens a little and the mouse and trap fall to the floor again, trap side down. Second scream of anguish comes out. I pick it up again and the mouse flails it's little body making the trap and shroud bounce up and down in the tongs. Now I am crying and screaming as I take it out to the trash and close the lid on it. I feel so inhumane. If this was my parental unit, I would bash it's head in, scrape the body off the trap, and reuse the trap to save money. I just can't do that. Is dying of exposure the worst way to go? Could I force myself to put it in a plastic bag and hold one end to the tailpipe of a running car? Carbon monoxide poisoning isn't such an unpleasant death; at least it's quicker than exposure. I might have done that if I wasn't running late for work. I felt bad about this all day. What kind of vegetarian can't put a measly mouse out of it's misery?

This Will Make You Laugh

Do you appreciate playfulness? Then call the Nestles Crunch hotline at 1-800-295-0051. If you get a busy signal, try again. Wait quietly while they ask if you want to continue in English or Spanish. This will be worth the wait. Keep listening. Press four and listen to the options. I tried option 7. Do it! Be playful! It's important to laugh out loud every day.

Project Feeder Watch Update

Cardinals-2, Black Capped Chickadee-5, Junco-2, White breasted Nuthatch-2, Downy Woodpecker-2, Cedar Waxwing-8

Two Books You Could Read In A Single Afternoon

Erica Bauermiester wrote "The School Of Essential Ingredients." This short story is about a cooking school. We learn more about each of the students as the class progresses. I liked how the author emphasized the sensual aspect of eating. I wish I paid more attention to the smells and textures as I ate instead of just inhaling and getting on to the next project. This book will help you slow down and appreciate your food. You may never think of garlic in the same manner again.

James Patterson wrote this book with a children's author, Gabrielle Charbonnet. Typically James does mystery and crime novels. This book is a fantasy/romance. Reading it was like eating a mini-marshmallow when you wanted a meal. We read it in our book club and we tried to discuss it. The thing is, when you dissect a marshmallow, all you find is more marshmallow. You can read it in a single afternoon. It's better than watching the news but don't expect too much.

Cookie Time Again

For ten years I was a cookie Mom. Do I miss gathering all the orders? Hauling hundreds of cases of cookies into my house? Spending hours separating the cookies into separate orders? Sitting at cookie booths for 8 hours at a time on weekends in March and April? Counting thousands of dollars in cash and checks? Filling out all the Girl Scout forms? Gathering and distributing all the cookie patches and credits and incentives? NO! I don't miss any of all that. I had fun while I did it but I've moved on to new and better things. Don't miss your chance? Get your cookies soon. They have a new kind of cookie this year named "Thank You Berry Much." If you are unsure how to get cookies, click on the title post above. I have a Girl Scout connection and can get some for you. I know thin mints are the biggest seller but I prefer peanut butter patties.

Be Careful What You Ask For

Sadly, I've been to two funerals this week. I was greeted with enthusiastic hugs at the first funeral from a niece and a nephew. They ran toward me with arms out wide, yelling my name. I felt so popular! I felt great! At the second funeral I saw the same nephew but I didn't get the same enthusiastic greeting. I asked, "Aren't you going to greet me like you did last time?" He smiled and opened his arms for a hug. He hugged me but he didn't let go right away. I didn't think anything of it until he said, "I was just checking to see if I could touch my hands together." Then he wanted to hug the others, checking us for size. Good grief! That is the last time I'm asking that kid for a hug.

Party in the Rec Room

A friend of mine takes me out for my birthday every year. I get to choose what to do. This year I chose the party at the rec room. Lorna Landvik does stand up comedy at the Bryant Lake Bowl. Lorna is a Minnesota author and I've read almost all her books. I've seen her perform at the BLB before. The food there is awesome. The vegetarian chili is great. You can buy grass fed beef and other healthy entrees. This is definitely an urban restaurant with all kinds of interesting people. Our waitress had a tattoo of Pippi Longstocking on her arm - you don't see that everyday. Lorna did a fabulous job. I've seen this act before. She performs on weekends during the month of January. Then I hope she gets back to writing books because I'm anxious for the next one.

Awesome Photos of Birds

If you want to see some awesome photos of birds, go the the Audobon Magazine website. Click on the post title for the link. Prepare to be amazed.

How Come I've Never Seen This?

Here is a link to a strange snow phenomenum that I've never seen before. Click on the post title to get to the BBC story about snow rolls. Wind blew the snow into these rolls and pushed them into larger and larger rolls until they got too heavy to push or reached a fence post or other obstacle. How come that never happens here? I've never heard of such a thing. We sure got plenty of snow and plenty of wind and plenty of empty fields.

Please XYZ Now For The Cycle of Goodness

If you are wearing pants, do me a favor. Bend over and examine your zipper. Make sure the light is good. Put on your reading glasses if you need them. Do you find the letters YKK on your zipper? I did. YKK stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikaisha, a zipper company founded in 1934 by Tadao Yoshida. His company now makes 90 percent of the zippers in the world. The same company makes the machines that make zippers. Yoshida believed in the "Cycle of Goodness" or "No one prospers unless he or she renders benefits to others." He strived to make a high quality zipper; the best zipper that would hold up the life of the product. Such an awesome story, don't you think?

Project Feeder Watch Update

White Breasted Nuthatch-2, Black Capped Chickadee-4, Dark-Eyed Junco=3, Downy Woodpecker-1, American Robin - 3, Goldfinch - 4

I heard the chickadee singing it's other song. Instead of the usual chick-a-dee-dee-dee it was singing fee-bee. We do have another bird appropriate named the Phoebe that makes almost exactly the same fee-bee song but they're not around in January.

No, Not Really

Meredith Shoveling

You want me to do what?

But I'm a guest here. At least I thought I was.

I'm not gonna dignify that with a response.

Keeping Faith

Yesterday I finished this book by Jodi Picoult, one of my favorite authors. She's a good writer. I am not a fan of fantasy and this book has some fantasy in it. A year old daughter, named Faith, is seeing God as a woman, healing people, and showing signs of stigmata. This causes a crisis because of the media attention and her father suddenly wanting custody. Faith's father doesn't think it's healthy that the girl can't go in her yard or to school because of the throngs of television news crews and people seeking to be healed. The mother of Faith, Mariah, grows up during the crisis and becomes the kind of mother Faith always needed. Jodi writes a good story. Many chapters are held in the courtroom because of the custody hearing. During the story Mariah and Faith meet an professional athiest named Ian. He makes his living disproving miracles on television. I don't know very many people who publicly announce their athiesm and it makes me wonder, if we ever elected an athiest president, what would they use to take the oath of office? If they can't use a bible or a Koran or other religious book, would they use an alphabet board?

First Sign of Spring

My first sign of spring arrived in the mailbox today - the Farmer Seed and Nursery Catalog from Faribault, Minnesota. I must restrain myself. Is this the year for elephant ear caladiums? How about pampas grass? I've tried to grow pampas grass four times and it never takes in my yard. I must restrain myself. Buy things only in zone 4 or higher and buy things only for shade. But these pictures get to me. Pictures of vegetables held my children - I want to buy those the most. They have a photo of a little girl with blond hair holding walla walla onions - she's so cute and the onions look so tasty. I could spend a lot of money if I don't restrain myself.

It's Complicated

My new "chick flick" movie buddy and I went with another friend to see "It's Complicated." This movie had a great cast with Steve Martin, Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and a star from the old television series "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman", Mary Kay Place. Great movie - the best thing to take your mind off the weather for a few hours. Go see it!

Given Your Occupation And All

I had to go in for one of those routine medical tests you need after the age of 50. It's really no big deal. You probably don't want to hear the details. The hardest part for me is fasting for a day. Drinking the prep is a minor inconvenience. The test itself isn't anything to complain about because they give you some really good medicine that can cause temporary amnesia. This is my second time taking the test so I knew what to expect. They let you watch the whole thing on a television screen and I find it fascinating to look inside my own body. I had the same doctor. I don't want to put his name out there. But his last name is a compound word. The first word is a game fish that has either a large mouth or a small mouth; in his case, probably a large mouth. The second part of the compound word is an adult male person. As I got on the table the nurse asked how I pronounce my name. The doctor interrupted me giving the answer by asking, "Is it sucky? Because it would be really sucky if it was sucky." In my mind I am formulating a question for him like, "Wouldn't it be a$$y if your name was a$$man, given your occupation and all?" Lucky for me, the next thought was to keep my mouth shut to a guy who has a long instrument in his hand headed straight for a tender spot. Ten seconds later I got my shot of versed and I forgot all about his comments until this morning. My test went well. All is good and I don't have to come back for 10 years.

You Know It's Cold When

When the fluorescent security lights outside your house come on and are so dim the light shines only a couple feet away. When the air is so dry the snow beneath your feet squeaks. When you can feel each and every nose hair when you walk to the mailbox to get the newspaper. When the wooden rafters in your house bang so loudly it wakes you out of a sound sleep. When a coffee cup of hot water thrown into the air makes a sound like "Pfffffft" and disappears into thin air. When soap bubbles shatter and fall to the ground. When your shoulders ache because you are hunching them up around your neck to preserve warmth. When you go to hang your towel from your swim bag up to dry and it is frozen stiff and can't bend over the rack. When you fill up your gas tank before it gets below the half way mark. When the world outside is so quiet and muffled that the sound of a cardinal singing is astoundingly clear. When you stagger your use of hot water to keep the septic lines from freezing. When your office is so cold you wear a snuggie, a lap blanket, and use a portable heater to stay comfortable.

Project Feederwatch Update

White breasted Nuthatch - 4, Black capped Chickadee - 5, Dark eyed Junco -3, Downy Woodpecker - 1, Pileated Woodpecker - 2, Northern Cardinal - 1

I had more nuthatches than usual this weekend. They were busy hacking away at the suet. A pileated woodpecker came on the deck while I was at the kitchen table. It landed on top of the post I have on the deck and looked in at me through the deck door. Wow, that was a little intimidating. Pileated woodpeckers look so prehistoric and large when you see them up close.

Five Eggs

The chickens are being very generous this holiday season. I collected five eggs on New Years Day. Five eggs! Four chickens! I've been giving them little treats more frequently. I feel bad for them staying cooped up all the time so I throw a handful of kale or a very brown banana in there for them to munch on.

I Thinked He Liked It

To make your own portable hummingbird feeder you will need a bicycle helmet, two of the smallest hummingbird feeders you can find, two 10 inch long 3/10 threaded rods, 8-3/10 washers, 8 - 3/10 nuts, and a drill with a 3/10 bit. Find a place on the helmet where the nuts won't rub on your head to hurt you. I placed mine under some removeable padding on the front. I wish I had placed them more along the side of the helmet so the weight would have been more equally distributed instead of pulling down on my forehead. It's a little heavy on the head without the sugar water. You won't need to put a lot of nectar in the bottles since you won't be wearing the feeder for very long. I think it is a neat way to get up close to birds. Hummingbirds, like chickadees, are not shy of people. Just think of how impressed your visitors will be if you allow them to wear the feeder.