WHAT'S "NORMAL"?

It's the last week of April but temperatures are still below normal. Snow in the morning, or blazing earlier and earlier sunrise? Hyacinths seem to burst all at once, worried that they won't be able to complete their show slowly. Other purples lie low. Daffodils just make the deadline, symbolizing April as Fight Cancer Month...

Birds continue to get  attention. Our solitary limping female turkey has become a pet. (Any naming suggestions --- Solo? Gimpy? Fox Bait?) Grackles gang up like shiny thugs. One of the sparrows looks like it has a bike helmet on, with stripes. The annual bird rescue service has started, this time with a flicker that should have flicked before it hit the glass. And the last pic is a mystery bird ---- phoebe? Eastern Kingbird? Any ornithologists out there?

The yardwork is one area that's normal --- there's always something. That chip pile at the barn is getting smaller. The Gardener is looking closely for signs of asparagus. And in the spring a young man's fancy turns to --- his first car washes. Yay!!

In town the protocol is curbside delivery or line up at safe distancing. At least the food sources are available (and toilet paper is reappearing!). After a self-trim, the Kitchen Queen gets her idle hands busy with chickens --- before and after. Throw in a tray of pumpkin tarts and the house is smelling like the best diner in town (which it always has been --- normal!!).

 It's the 6th week of official cautions and safeguards against COVID 19. Won't be normal for a long time, if ever. That makes some sights really welcome: a Coast Guard patrol and the season's first lake freighter. You can tell The Saginaw is full by how low it's riding in the bay. And here's a sight for travel dreamers --- the first jet contrail in a long long time. Going anywhere soon??

ONE WORLD??

Covid 19 continues to rage around the world. Lockdowns and isolations are going into their second month. People's patience and ability to endure is creaking or cracking under ignorance and goading from high places. But up here our little world is doing all right. So which world will prevail??

Unusual and unstable and unseasonal weather greeted every dawn. On wintery days the sunrise was obscure or ominous. Lots of snow flurries, ice pellets, and freezing temps.

But on springlike days the sunrises were glorious Imax spectaculars. The race to follow crocus into bloom was a tie between hyacinth and daffodil, both ahead of their time. Down by the road the lengthy sunshine finally burst the pussy willows.

The unpredictable weather has affected the winged migration. Birds such as robins, towhees, and flickers depend on bugs and grubs in thawed ground. Others like finches, grackles, jays, etc., gorge on sunflower and niger in the feeders. And we have a solitary, female, limping, unafraid turkey too.

The chips are down. As in, at the bottom of the hill. Bins have to be filled from the pile, then loaded into the Escape --- 13 bins per shuttle.

Then the chips are up, as in at the top of the hill. Bins are offloaded and a fresh layer spread around the house, fence line, and poison ivy hotspots. First sighting of a garter snake --- sorry to disturb you!

So life goes on pretty much normal up here. It's when we go to town and encounter distancing and delivery-at-the-curb that the virus reality hit us. Last night's One World event provided inspiration, caring humanity, and much-needed support for WHO. What world do you see out your window?

C'MON BUNNY, WE NEED FUNNY!

It's an Easter and Passover today like no other in this lifetime. Covid 19 continues to devastate the world, creating lockdowns, isolation, and the need for physical distancing. That means empty churches, schools, cinemas, sidewalks, and airports. Cabin fever rages up here while the real fever rages all around. 

The skies seem to be in sync with the unpredictable pandemic. Sunrises have been beautiful or spooky. Venus and the stars have been brilliant at night. The pink supermoon was awesome all by itself in the black velvet. Down on earth, the croci are still bringing colour to the psychological darkness.

Yardwork takes the mind off the despair. There's grasses to clear and the waterfall to rebuild. L from next door insists on gathering pine cones, so the lady of the house obliges. Down at the barn we get the prize in the box ---- chips ahoy!

Nature goes on, too. Remnants of squirrel nests on the shed (and a massive mouse nest in the motor of the Escape). A spotted salamander wakes from hibernation. A snowy day can't keep the jays away. And a chipmunk has burrowed a hidey-hole below the feeder. We call him "El Chipo" --- get it??

So the planet and us really need some smiles these bleak days. Here comes the Easter Bunny hopping down to the rescue! Very considerate --- he's masked to protect the treats. The silly guy has to stop and smell the flowers, and make sure his animal friends are OK.

The Bunny's visit has worked! We're choclatey and smiling --- and protected. Stay home, stay safe out there...