I’ve been keeping a naturalist diary. I go out with the cats almost every day, and now I know their likely actions well enough that, along with the leashes attached to their harnesses, I can fairly easily catch them if they decide to do something foolish or get to somewhere I can’t.
My yard is not extraordinarily large, but it sits on top of a little hill and has at least three microclimate zones. I’ve got some flowerbeds, but a lot of native plants growing where they care to. I also distributed half a pound of wildflower seed and additional native grass seed last fall. The geology is interesting – Santa Fe formation is the composite of a changing lake that was here when the Jemez volcano stopped up the Rio Grande.
So there’s lots to see, and being out with the cats gives me time to look. I come in and sit down at my computer and write up what I’ve seen in the yard.
I knew that a bobcat has come to the yard – I saw it one delightful day – but I didn’t realize how frequently. The snow has been good for tracks, and today there were some in the soil. Keeping the diary helped me to realize how often it comes. I think it comes to the yard about twice or three times a week, mostly at night. Here are a couple of the better tracks. The one in the red soil is on a slope, and the soft soil gave way to the cat’s weight.
I don’t know about you, but I am really tired of hashing out the Nevada primary. Are you writing, painting, doing crafts, fixing up your house? No-politics open thread!
Omnes Omnibus
Go watch Jojo Rabbit. Not that I want to introduce spoilers, but the ending features one of the best matches of a song to a moment on film that I have ever seen. Just go watch it.
BGinCHI
@Omnes Omnibus: Still haven’t seen it and will do so ASAP.
Not to change the subject, but have you seen “The Good, the Bad, and the Weird”? Korea (2008). It’s on Hulu, if you have it. I cannot understand why it’s not more widely known (probably the stupid title). It’s like a Korean Western Indiana Jones.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Better than the ending of Breaking Bad?
Jeffro
We spent today just chilling out and knocking lots of things off the to-do list. The ‘file pile’ we’ve been stacking for the past six months is now actually…filed away. Woo woo, right? But at least it’s done.
Tomorrow is kayaking and cooking: doesn’t get any better than that!
Tenar Arha
I’m going to plug Birds of Prey again, since I’ve now seen it twice. Feeling like you want some pure joyous comic book action? Go see it. There’s some great jokes, marvelous scenery chewing, and a through line of women helping each other on top of all the punching. (And a fantastic soundtrack).
Omnes Omnibus
@BGinCHI: I have not. I’ll add it to my list.
@debbie: Never watched BB.
scav
Finished a week of weeding for a few hours every day. No bobcat sightings, but three of the smallest calves got a little goofy and bounced across the field chasing a crow.
bmoak
Still watching marbles racing. Here’s the very first race of Marbula One from just last week.
Kent
Cherries and ornamental plums are starting to flower here in Vancouver WA. I mowed the lawn for the first time today. Seems like spring keeps coming earlier and earlier, but I’m not really keeping records to prove it one way or the other.
Mary G
Amir Khalid
Practising scale patterns along the neck with Queen, my newer Telecaster. (I don’t care what the guitar snobs say about low-end Squiers. They play just fine, and most importantly they sound like Teles.)
Another Scott
Thanks Cheryl. We’ve got lots of foxes around here in NoVA, and a few coyotes, but no bobcats (that I’ve seen anyway).
I took our 3-year old mutt Ellie out for a long walk today (part of our weekend routine). She is 3/8 Aussie shepherd, 1/8 collie, 1/8 Rotweiller, and 3/8 remainders, according to her DNA test. She’s weird, but lots of fun. Afraid of the weirdest things – like shiny floors and the kitchen cabinets. And the “clicker” that I’ve been using when trying to train her. :-/
Anyway, we were walking along, with her dragging me down the sidewalk, when she suddenly turned around and barked at a guy who was running with a GSD and a Golden Retriever puppy. She’s usually very friendly, but didn’t liked being sneaked up on, not at all! They got along fine after the introductions.
Hang in there, everyone.
Cheers,
Scott.
TaMara (HFG)
My editor sent back the first round of edits and I have dug in this week around work. I actually enjoy rewrites, another perspective helps me hone in on what I want to say.
Other than that, the dogs got their first walk in two weeks because of the persistent ice. We were all ecstatic.
I hope everyone caught Penelope Pearl in her pretty scarf…
And here is Bixby pretending to be a tiny dog.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I have a book coming out in May and just signed a contract for one in March 2021, assuming the country is still standing.
seefleur
So, in my little corner of Maine, in the past two weeks I’ve seen a bobcat, a maniacal grey squirrel that is committing crimes against the bird feeders, wild turkeys, a gang of deer (8-10 of them and at least 4 of them have bad attitudes when it comes to them being in the road vs. cars in the road – fortunately I know where their trails intersect with the road, but a lot of other drivers don’t), and at least one skunk. First of all, it’s way too early for skunks based on the 20+ years we’ve lived here – but our warm bouts seem to keep them from sleeping the way they should at this time of year. And secondly, I’ve NEVER seen the turkeys out and about at this point in the winter. So I guess my comment is just one big WTF?!!? – this is NOT normal at all for Maine. Still, I’ve talked with neighbors who have also seen the bobcat and it’s tracks – very cool, but even more reason to keep a close eye on our pup.
Ohio Mom
Bmoak : That marble race is cute.
What did I do today? Went shopping for a present for the soon-to-be-arriving first grandchild of dear friends, and did some sewing.
I’m repairing a very old quilt I bought at an antique fair years and years ago, and used until the batting went and some of the patches started fraying. It’s looking pretty good. I feel a real sense of accomplishment.
Tomorrow we’re going on a Family field trip to the big home and garden show. This trip is a statement of fierce optimism since Ohio Dad is currently unemployed. Nothing is getting done to Ohio Home until regular paychecks reappear.
Sab
@Ohio Mom: Tomorrow husband and I are going shopping, because the granddaughter has decided that she really wants to do that. I don’t know where she got the idea, but it is firmly planted in her head now. It should be interesting.
chris
@seefleur: Do you have snow where you are in Maine? We’ve got almost nothing here in SW Nova Scotia. I’ve seen it before but it’s still kinda weird.
Ohio Mom
Sab, what will you be shopping for? Groceries? Clothes? Other? Is this your granddaughter on the spectrum, and if so, how will she handle a crowded, busy store? I think you are right that it will be interesting, and hopefully, fun.
Jeffro
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Congrats!
Ella in New Mexico
I may soon be getting hired to be a primary care provider in a clinic in the “worst part of Albuquerque” and I’m oh so excited. Refugees, non-English speakers, poor people, street people. Human people.
OMG I’m so excited. Say a prayer, y’all.
Ohio Mom
Chris @18: southwest Ohio isn’t Maine but we usually have several good snowfalls a winter.
This year, it only snowed a couple of inches a couple of times. And then promptly melted. It is definitely an unseasonably mild winter. It’s unsettling.
Cheryl Rofer
@Ella in New Mexico: That’s great! They need you!
Jean
When I must get away from political news and calm my mind, I go to the barn where my Arabian horse is boarded and call him from the gate. When he suddenly appears at the top of a hill in his pasture and comes running, everything else falls away, and I’m IN THE MOMENT. Never gets old.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
The tofurkey of gee-tars?
:)
Elizabelle
@Ella in New Mexico: You’d be so great. Prayer said, and keep us posted. They need you
(an echo in here!)
Bill Arnold
Via a discussion about werewolves on Moon missions, I learned that humans can see the polarization of light.
Haidinger’s brush
Haidinger’s Brush – How to see polarization with the naked eye !!!
I see it mostly as faint yellow lobes, about 5 degrees, and don’t see much of the blueish perpendicular lobes.
Used the LCD monitor approach mentioned in the Wikipedia article. Polarized sunglasses show that the monitor has a polarizer.
Always wondered what it was, thought it was just some weird mundane visual artifact. But no, humans have “P-Ray Vision”!
cope
Being retired, we did everything during the week…assembled a raised plant box for butterfly and hummingbird attracting plants and, most importantly, finished cleaning out the garage, a job long overdue. We were ruthless…”I wonder where Ruth is.”
Monday, it’s up to Mayo for Mrs. cope’s third annual checkup on her new liver. That means leaving the house around 3:30 AM and getting back sometime after 6 PM, a long day to be sure. Tomorrow we will bake donuts to take the several Mayo staff that have been so wonderful to us during this long, hard journey. That should pretty well finish off the weekend for us.
Arclite
I’m at state swimming championships with Arclitedaughter. She just took 4th place in the 100 freestyle.
Ella in New Mexico
@Cheryl Rofer:
@Elizabelle:
Thank you both so much!
And I’m being totally honest when I say, I need THEM.
Yutsano
I just made a pot of pea and pancetta risotto. It’s aNigella Lawson recipe although I make a few tweaks. It’s perfect when I don’t want to do a lot of work cooking dinner and it’s also easy on the dish department.
Ohio Mom
Cope @28: Happy Anniversary!
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
Hush yo’ mouth! The Fender Telecaster is an iconic electric guitar model, and Squier Teles like my two girls are not the tofurkey of anything; they are as worthy of the name as any fancy Fender Custom Shop Tele costing 50 times as much.
Elizabelle
@Arclite: Yea!
mrmoshpotato
@cope: Hope she passes with flying colors.
chris
@Ohio Mom: Unsettling is a good word for it. Global weirding is here.
Avalune
Leto and I took a bike ride to a town over to pick up a couple things and get some good Mexican food I brought back in my basket. Weather was finally not grotty.
Just finished the neck hem of the Whakairo Top I’m knitting.
We thought we might be traveling to Ohio this weekend but there is some drama over paperwork and still no date for my grandmother’s funeral and I’ve decided to just kind of deal with it from a distance.
It was nice to hear what other people are up to. Sounds like a pretty good weekend.
John Revolta
@Amir Khalid: I heard a friend of mine playing a guitar in the next room, unplugged, with the door closed, and I could tell it was a Tele.
Cowgirl in the Sandi
Here in the East Bay (CA), the stone fruit trees are staring to bloom. There’s a strawberry field near where I live and when I drive by, I can see red berries – not enough for the fruit stand to open yet, but soon!! And asparagus soon too!
FelonyGovt
Thanks for this thread, Cheryl. I’m working on my painting (something I’ve done on and off for fun all my life) and also trying to create art on my iPad using Procreate. Digital art is a new and strange thing for me.
John Revolta
@John Revolta: Man I wish I knew somebody in the ad biz ’cause that’s a million dollar slogan!
“You can tell it’s a Tele” I can haz Mad Ave gig naow?
Avalune
@FelonyGovt: I did some digital practice this weekend too! My frog turned out surprisingly good. Snail pretty good. Everything I did today was garbage though so I switched to knitting this evening lol.
Amir Khalid
Halp! I have been moderatered, and I don’t know why.
Sab
@Ohio Mom: Yes it’s the kid on the spectrum. We don’t know what she wants to be shopping for. Apparently it’s just “shopping.”
BretH
Late to the party, but love seeing the cat tracks! More, please, and would love it if you could include an object or ruler to see how big the tracks really are.
J R in WV
@BretH:
Had a neighbor out in AZ stop by to show me a photo he took ot tracks in the local desert — he used a king-sized pack of cigarettes for scale.