I'll take a rare break from March Madness during a one-sided game to post a blog about the other things going on in northeastern PA. Actually, most of the games have been exciting and there have been surprising upsets, so we've stayed glued to the tube. My reading has to get accomplished in the early morning and other odd moments such as when we're waiting in a doctor's office.
We have some special guests in our yard this early spring. We saw a large blue heron standing beside our lower pond the other day. Since the ice hasn't gone out yet and he was there for at least 1 1/2 hours, we decided he was patiently awaiting fishing season. When I tried to sneak out to get the mail, I had a coughing spell that scared him and another heron we hadn't noticed away. I hope they just flew as far as our upper pond. As soon as ice out I'll be looking for them again.
Because of my cough I've resorted to sleeping much of the night in my recliner recently. I come downstairs around 3 a.m. or whenever the coughing drives me out of bed, and have discovered a half dozen deer are lying down in our side yard in those early hours. They've been coming into the back yard from the hay field sometimes as well, and one of them is a piebald deer. She is colored somewhat like an Appaloosa horse with large areas of white amid the usual brown. I had seen her last summer and feared she wouldn't survive hunting season so I was overjoyed to spot her again. I love looking out to see them relaxing near our shop driveway just before dawn - as long as they don't eat my lilac bush.
Now we have a pair of pheasants. The male has been strutting around doing his best to impress his mate, but so far she seems to be telling him to leave her alone. She knows he'll just run off and leave her with a nest full of chicks to feed, don't you suppose? Anyway he's persistent and I guess his chasing her will eventually be successful. Meanwhile, we're enjoying watching them. His colors are so beautiful.
Otherwise our yard is disgusting. It looks like we had hundreds of moles busily digging all winter. Can hardly wait to roll the yard. We also have an electronic device we put into one of the mole holes that emits a high sound they can't abide. It really works - drives them away in a few days.
Other than watching basketball and worrying about the world situation, I'm reading a John Shakespeare (Will's brother) mystery and loving it. Stay tuned for the review.
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This basketball game has already been crazy!
ReplyDeleteKathy, I'm simply amazed at the games. So many upsets! We're enjoying the close games and seeing so many players outdo themselves. Great plays.
ReplyDeleteAs an update, we now have red winged blackbirds at the lower pond. That's the surest sign of spring there is. Watching the mountains of plowed-up snow melt in the sunshine.