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Letting Nature Take Its Course

6/23/2015

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A few days ago while I was out in the garden I decided to inspect the bluebird house. I knew that the babies had fledged and I wondered what condition the house was in now. I noticed one small blue egg in the nest. Thinking that it was a left over that had not hatched, I decided to help my bluebird friends along and do some housecleaning.

I returned in a few minutes armed with a bucket of a very weak Clorox solution, rubber gloves, and a plastic bag for the nest. Just as I approached, a bluebird darted out. “Hmmm,” I thought. “Maybe today is not the best day for housecleaning. Maybe that nest is still in use.” So I turned my attention to another house in the yard. I peered in and it was just a mess – twigs arranged in no particular pattern, kind of trashy, clearly not a bluebird nest. I pulled it out and noticed five small brown eggs hidden in the cup. “Oh, no! Not again! I think I better leave this one alone, too.” 

Later I thought about what my impatience could have cost. There are now five bluebird eggs in the nest and the wren has returned to her brown eggs, so things seem to be OK. From now on I will let nature take its course – no housecleaning until fall!


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A New Route

6/16/2015

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I have always been a proponent of trying something new or approaching something in a new way for a fresh perspective. So, on Sunday I set out to take Cyrus on a trail walk and decided to go in the opposite direction of our normal route. With new things to see and appreciate - a splash in a creek bed, new wildflowers, mulberry trees - we actually walked a little farther than normal. The trail is a converted railroad track, and about halfway on our walk I discovered the foundation of the original railroad station along the line. Luckily there was a marker so I could identify it, but there were other old stone remains which made me wonder what once might have stood there. A house? A church? A general store? We also passed a lone unoccupied bench. I paused and imagined perhaps a conversation between two travelers, or bike-riders, or dog-walkers, stopping to rest. How different the conversation might have been from today versus long ago.
  
                                                                          By the time we were finished my head was full of ideas and thoughts and                                                                           new discoveries. Trying something new…you just don’t know where it                                                                                 might lead.

                                                                                                             A road well traveled

                                                                                                          Offering a place to pause

                                                                                                             And notice the world.


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New Backyard Residents

6/9/2015

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They swoop, dive, and glide through the open space in the backyard. With their iridescent blue-green feathers glistening in the sun, they are a sight to behold as they snatch insects in mid-air flight. They are a pair of tree swallows, and I have been observing them for a while now.

These new friends made a nest in one of the bluebird houses, but it took some time before they decided to settle in. I watched as they visited the house several times over as many days, just checking things out the way anyone might who was contemplating moving into a new house in a new neighborhood. After the nest of pine needles and feathers took shape, there was the courting phase. They played and touched and talked, creating a gentle rhythm of sound and movement.

I feel as though I’ve gotten to know this pair, and they have come to tolerate me. The mother will watch as I tend the garden near the nest, and we talk (well, sort of). If I get a little too close there is a stern warning from dad – a reminder that we must respect each other’s space. There will be babies soon. Welcome additions to the neighborhood.

 


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