A Break from the Bleak

 

“Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonders where the birdies is… (Anon)

Well not sure if Spring is here or not seeing as we got about a foot of snow this past weekend, but I am hopeful.  There are other signs though.  I don’t wonder where the birdies are, for example.  They are all around me in large, loud clusters, and then there is the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Goose have arrived at my neighbor’s pond to rest before they take off for parts unknown. Actually, this is the earliest they have arrived in the past 5 years.  Early Spring?  Dare we hope? They spent a good part of last week there standing on the ice and then paddling around and repeatedly thrusting their heads into freezing water once the ice melted.  ???  They are lovely to watch for sure and they don’t seem to bother the koi that are just now coming closer to the surface as well.  I think there are about a dozen koi in that pond, and I have seen four so far. Soon a snapping turtle or two will find their way to my mulch to dig nests and lay their eggs.   I think it was the year before last we actually saw the baby snappers crawling out of the soil to make their way to water. (There are two spring ponds on my property - one of which flows into my neighbors’ pond – the one that Mr. and Mrs. Goose like so much. I think of it as their rent-free time share.  Anyway – good habitats all for snapping turtles.)

Now all of this is just fine, but this time of year also means the long battle of wills between me and one particularly ornery robin who tries – every single year – to build a nest on either the front of back porch.  No harm you say?  Well, no harm if you don’t mind bird poop all over your porch furniture.  Now I solved the front porch situation with a motion detector light.  Every time the bird flies in with a beak full of twigs, the light blasts on and --- ta da – off it goes.  The back porch is a whole different ball game. This bird, and yes, I think it is the same one every year, loves the ceiling fan on that porch.  I tell it every year: Mrs. Bird…  “You have almost several acres of land with loads of trees and shrubs to chose from, you do not have to build your nest on that fan”.  Last year I had to leave the fan on for three days for this bird to give up and move on.  The bird is almost as stubborn as I am.  It sits just off the porch on my patio table watching and waiting, poops on every patio chair and waits for an opportunity to move onto my porch to do real damage to the cushions and rugs there.  Not going to happen.  I can almost feel it plotting its campaign now as I write this.  I guarantee you – it will not win.

Now all of this may seem very insignificant in light of current events, but it is my life at the moment, and I am trying to give you a break from the bleak. That’s all.