4 - Friday, March 30, 2009 Prairie Post - Prairie Life, Prairie People
Spring has sprung at 40 and Plum
Folks, spring is a great time of the year our house, but the water still seems to find a mean Mother Nature, a shower in August would be nice,
when you can see the snow melting, the way to find its way into the basement in the especially if the water to our house is shut off again.
creeks and dugouts fillin’ up, the little calves spring. Ain’t it odd folks, that due to some line But what the heck, we all know that Mother Nature is a
jumping around and if you live in a warmer breaks we have been without water for the very temperamental ol’ gal so we just got to live with
climate than we do, you might even see some house several times in the past month, but whatever she throws at us and boy oh boy, that ol’ girl
tulips poking through the ground. now we could pump several gallons of water knows how to throw some curve balls.
But while the snow melts into that much
Judy
up from the basement now. But if you’re a little kid in rubber boots, then spring
wanted runoff to fill your dugouts, it also has Oh well, where the heck is the water when runoff is fun, even if you flood those boots a time or two
the tendency to run into the basement of
THEISE
you want it ’cause the rain sure don’t seem to and you don’t care if your feet are wet. Nope, as a little
your house which is not fun at all. I don’t come to Poverty Ranch in July when the crops kid you are just enjoying the season the same as those
know how many yards of cement the ol’
40 & Plum
are drying up and it don’t seem that Mother baby calves that we’ve got jumping around at Poverty
geezer has shoveled against the south side of Nature cools us off in the August heat either. I Ranch.
Beware of March, the month of many faces
March is the month of many hard work of nesting, and the forage. Obviously a well-mannered along fairly well, flying in together, and
faces. One day may be 40 harder work of filling up the brood experienced skunk. Occasionally a person leaving, on the wing, to perch on the fence
below with snow; the next of open beaks that results from it. can get a whiff of a more alarmed encounter or in the Russian Olive tree. In that tree, they
morning sunny and warm Several weeks ago, when it was some place. It’s nicer not to have it happen looked like the Partridge in a Pear Tree
enough to make the water still very cold at night, we saw face to face. times six; they’re pretty fair-sized birds, and
rush down the coulees (or the Janet signs of life from our porcupine Flocks of birds seem to be coming the tree looked funny with them all sitting
sides of the street). friend out in the coulee. She came through. Some are birds we see all winter around in it. Since the weather thawed this
One thing March guarantees ROSE out of the brush, and did a circuit like Chickadees and Juncos, but when they week though, the gentlemen are beginning
is that it’s unpredictable.
Critter Tales
of the yard looking for edible arrive as a group I wonder if they’re birds to spar, to see ‘who’s the better bird’. It’s
Being a weather forecaster twigs and seeds. Porkies aren’t who wintered just a little further to the that time of year, snow or not.
has to be a nightmare, kind of true hibernators; they simply put south, and are now heading for the Woodpeckers have been here all winter,
like calving through a bad spell in March. on a thick layer of fat in the fall, and then parklands and treed areas farther north for customers for the suet hanging from the
Nevertheless, by this time of year the sun is curl up in their dens during the worst of the nesting time. The flocks seem to stay for a branch. We heard the first drumming on the
warmer and the days are longer — and the weather, and try to keep their feet warm. day or two, tanking up at feeders, and then chimney top yesterday — they too have that
nasty spell can’t last as long as it might in They respond to milder days and nights, to they’re gone. courting urge. Most years there’ll be at least
January. get out and put something in their tummies. Ducks are back, and some folks have seen a couple of families nesting in the coulees.
Even before it began to get mild, the birds Porcupines produce their single offspring a robin. Although there were a small number The Bluejays come and go. I hope they’ll
were singing. Their little systems are cued early in the spring too, so the one we saw wintering in the Hat, I don’t know whether nest down over the hill too; they’re such
by the lengthening day rather than could be a nursing Mom. these robins managed to survive the latest bossy, friendly little characters. Through the
temperature. They must have wondered We also had a visit from a skunk (gender? cold spell — it must be very hard on critters winter I’m sure they fly over the
what was up as they foraged for seeds in the We didn’t check that out) that came out of that aren’t adapted to real winter. Berries neighbourhood, and drop in where the
snow, with all their feathers fluffed up to the coulee and up to the patio. About the like those on the Russian Olive, Cotoneaster buffet for birds looks the most promising.
keep warm. The pause between the ‘end of time Dave went out the back door for some bushes, and others probably help, as well as Winter’s been long enough for everybody,
winter’, and courting and nesting time just air, the skunk was just crossing the patio. feeders that may contain things they can including us two-legged creatures. It’s a relief
wasn’t there this year. Hopefully the The skunk saw him, nodded ‘good evening’, eat. to go out without boots and overcoat, and to
survivors of the winter will have a chance to and turned around to disappear back down Pheasant cocks in their ‘Sunday Best’ look forward to the plants poking out, the
gain a little weight before they leap into the the yard,away to a more private place to breeding plumage have shown up regularly barbecue giving off inviting smells, and the
under our feeder, scratching the dropped days when a walk or a golf game is pure
seeds up out of the snow cover. A few weeks pleasure. Everyone engaged in farming and
ago the six or seven males seemed to get ranching is happier too. That last snowfall
and cold snap was more than
enough; it was too much. But
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