Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Flower time
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Visitor
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sandhill Cranes
The Sandhills are back from their winter vacation. One can hear their cries often but seldom are they seen; Sandhill cranes' cries seem to come from everywhere at once and the eye cannot locate them. But their voices are welcome and seem to say that all is well.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
A Beginning...
The first hint of Spring in Wisconsin--the crocus, popping up near sun-warmed porch concrete through leaf litter and rabbit droppings. The tulips have also dared to poke spiky green beginnings into damp and foggy morning air. They know that even if rain turns back into snow for a time, they'll be fine; they can't let the crocus be the only ones brave enough to rise up in early March.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Color
The last day of February, and Winter still has a hold on the land. The landscape is white and brown and gray, except for the occasional shock of bright red in a flock of cardinals at the feeder. Memories of color--greens, oranges, pinks and yellows--are recalled to mind and make one impatient for Spring.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Woodpecker
Last November the red-bellied woodpecker came to visit the feeder, and was seen again just yesterday. The insects it loves will be back in the Spring, but for now black oil sunflower seed tastes good. The little birds must make way, but there is plenty for all.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Still Winter
They say a storm is coming tonight. Doubtless this is not news to the deer, the coyote, the ground squirrel. The sky is already overcast; the birds are quiet, contemplating another big snow.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Drumlin
Retzer Nature Center lies a few miles to the east; you can walk the trails and see glacial formations and wildlife. Notice a babbling creek, a hawk, some wildflowers. One huge drumlin dominates: from the top you can see miles to the east, west and south.
The grasses and flowers will come back later: this is the scenery in March.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Waiting...
The mint is waiting. Waiting for a day, perhaps two months from now, when she can once again taste spring rains and send up shoots to wave in spring breezes. She dreams of minty leaves on stalks reaching over 24 inches toward the sky, and little purple blossoms that will be visited by bees.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
January Thaw is over!
The cold is back; the thermometer at the kitchen window read in the teens in the morning. Chickadees came hunting for seeds at the feeder in the chilly sunlight, and squirrels came for a breakfast of frozen apples leftover from the Fall harvest.
Monday, January 25, 2010
First Post!
Kettle Moraine: a geologically unique area in Southeastern Wisconsin formed by glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age. As you drive through the area you can see both kettles, round depressions in the land, and moraines, hills that were formed in various shapes as the ice receded so long ago. Some are as high as 300 feet. Cones, kames, drumlins, and other formations can also be spotted by those who look. Kettle Moraine State Forest, broken into Southern and Northern units showcases many of these, as well as acres of beautiful forests, valleys and waterways. The southernmost point of the Ice Age Trail is here, marking the furthest reach of the glaciers' march across the land. No other area in North America has glacial formations as impressive as those in the Wisconsin Moraine. The state forest is also home to many kinds of wildlife, including deer, wild turkeys, coyotes, and birds of prey.
We see a fair amount of wildlife right in our own one-acre lot, being on one end of a subdivision only a few miles from the state forest. The area that is now a subdivision used to be farmed by Welsh settlers who dutifully plowed up glacial rocks and piled them up at the edges of their fields. You can still see where the fields were by looking at it from the air. Before that time, the land was prairie. But the prairie plants were never beaten; they still come up everywhere in lawns that don't get mowed or in flower beds and vegetable gardens and roadsides. Anywhere they get a little sun and rain they can and do thrive. And so do the animals and many kinds of birds.
This blog will be about the land and what grows and lives on it in this little corner of Wisconsin.
We see a fair amount of wildlife right in our own one-acre lot, being on one end of a subdivision only a few miles from the state forest. The area that is now a subdivision used to be farmed by Welsh settlers who dutifully plowed up glacial rocks and piled them up at the edges of their fields. You can still see where the fields were by looking at it from the air. Before that time, the land was prairie. But the prairie plants were never beaten; they still come up everywhere in lawns that don't get mowed or in flower beds and vegetable gardens and roadsides. Anywhere they get a little sun and rain they can and do thrive. And so do the animals and many kinds of birds.
This blog will be about the land and what grows and lives on it in this little corner of Wisconsin.
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