A call from an old friend

Standing on the stoop a couple of minutes ago (while waiting for the oven to
heat up and the water on the stove to boil) I heard that old familiar
song........the first robin of the (impending) spring!

Wolfgang
yippee!

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 17:07:38 -0600, "Wolfgang" wrote:

Standing on the stoop a couple of minutes ago (while waiting for the oven to
heat up and the water on the stove to boil) I heard that old familiar
song........the first robin of the (impending) spring!

Wolfgang
yippee!

Almost two weeks ago, in between blizzards, a flock of robins was digging
through our fall leaf piles looking for snacks. It was pretty weird as we've
had a relatively brutal winter and I wouldn't have expected robins to make a
showing for another month at least.

otoh, last week I watched a male turkey puffed up to about five times normal
size escorting a female across a field nearby. And we've been hearing buck
deer calling through the woods for mates (mates who've been making late night
meals out of our yews and such - it has indeed been a hard winter here.

so I guess something's in the air...

/daytripper (thank goodness, i've had it with winter.)

"daytripper" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 17:07:38 -0600, "Wolfgang" wrote:

Standing on the stoop a couple of minutes ago (while waiting for the oven
to
heat up and the water on the stove to boil) I heard that old familiar
song........the first robin of the (impending) spring!

Wolfgang
yippee!

Almost two weeks ago, in between blizzards, a flock of robins was digging
through our fall leaf piles looking for snacks. It was pretty weird as
we've
had a relatively brutal winter and I wouldn't have expected robins to make
a
showing for another month at least.

otoh, last week I watched a male turkey puffed up to about five times
normal
size escorting a female across a field nearby. And we've been hearing buck
deer calling through the woods for mates (mates who've been making late
night
meals out of our yews and such - it has indeed been a hard winter here.

so I guess something's in the air...

/daytripper (thank goodness, i've had it with winter.)

Nothing to go on but my own suspect perceptions, but.......

This is the mildest in a series of nine very mild winters in a row here.
Oddly, the robins never left last winter or the one before. This year they
did.

The raccoons, who live in the storm drains, have been visible off and on
throughout the winter (in the late evenings and the wee hours of the
morning) until a fairly heavy snowfall a couple of weeks ago. I haven't
seen them since. Doubtless, this means something.

Wolfgang
who has absolutely no idea of what it means.........but pays close attention
nevertheless.

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...
Standing on the stoop a couple of minutes ago (while waiting for the oven
to
heat up and the water on the stove to boil) I heard that old familiar
song........the first robin of the (impending) spring!

Wolfgang
yippee!


SWMBO and I were out doing the Sunday errands today. We drove by a number of
lakes, ponds, and creeks. I found myself wishing I had Superman's infrared
vision and could force the lakes, ponds, and creeks to melt.

Dan
Who really does tell the water to melt every time I drive by. "Melt, damn
you!"

Well, I dunno were you're at, but in my neck of the woods it's gettin ready
to dump buckets of snow....again! Sayin 5-10"...more snow.

Yipp-frickin-ie!


Anthony


"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...
Standing on the stoop a couple of minutes ago (while waiting for the oven
to
heat up and the water on the stove to boil) I heard that old familiar
song........the first robin of the (impending) spring!

Wolfgang
yippee!

Wolfgang wrote:

Standing on the stoop a couple of minutes ago (while waiting for the oven to
heat up and the water on the stove to boil) I heard that old familiar
song........the first robin of the (impending) spring!

Wolfgang
yippee!



....indeed...and, yesterday at daybreak i set out for pitch kettle creek
to take the measure of the shad run. while my efforts over half a day
established that at least 6 shad were returning to their spawning area,
a fella who most certainly had made a pact with the devil (i mean, why
wasn't the ******* in church on a sunday morning?) caught more than 40
in my presence. while i always thought shad weren't very discriminating
in what they reflexively struck (since they aren't eating), apparently
they do have some things that trigger the response more than others. he
was using a different spoon size and rig than everyone else in the area.
water is still hovering around 50 degrees, but the run has definitely
started in the neuse/pitch kettle area. haven't heard much about the
roanoke yet.

jeff

"Jeff Miller" wrote in message
news:vaEUd.24023$7z6.6851@lakeread04...
...indeed...and, yesterday at daybreak i set out for pitch kettle creek to
take the measure of the shad run. while my efforts over half a day
established that at least 6 shad were returning to their spawning area, a
fella who most certainly had made a pact with the devil (i mean, why
wasn't the ******* in church on a sunday morning?) caught more than 40 in
my presence. while i always thought shad weren't very discriminating in
what they reflexively struck (since they aren't eating), apparently they
do have some things that trigger the response more than others. he was
using a different spoon size and rig than everyone else in the area. water
is still hovering around 50 degrees, but the run has definitely started in
the neuse/pitch kettle area. haven't heard much about the roanoke yet.

jeff

Well, I don't know about Spring having sprung in other parts of the world,
as it ain't even up to bat in the mountains this morn! I should have know
when I went out to warm-up my truck and slid on to my arse, in thick wet
snow, that I should just call in sick to work. However, after changin'
clothes, I headed out. I made it up to the second set of 4 lanes, where
everything came to a halt. I cranked up the CB and the truckers were saying
that 321 Hwy would be shutdown for at least 2 hours, and the snow hadn't
slacked up a bit. I figured that 321 would likely remain closed most of the
day, as the trees hadn't begun to fall across the hwy. yet, and the NCHP
were clearing just one of many wrecks to come.

I forced 'ol Bessie to turn around, though she wanted to plow on ahead. Now
I'm at home with nothing to do :~^(

Mark

"Anthony" wrote in message
news:yQCUd.43433$EL5.26994@trnddc05...
Well, I dunno were you're at, but in my neck of the woods it's gettin
ready
to dump buckets of snow....again! Sayin 5-10"...more snow.

Yipp-frickin-ie!


Anthony

Where are you Anthony?

Mark

Wolfgang wrote:

Standing on the stoop a couple of minutes ago (while waiting for the oven to
heat up and the water on the stove to boil) I heard that old familiar
song........the first robin of the (impending) spring!

I had a unique experience on Friday involving birds. As I pulled
into my driveway, I saw a huge flock of birds come swooping down into a
berry tree in our front yard. (I'm ashamed to admit I don't know what
type of tree it is; it's not a yaupon or pyracantha, but it has huge
numbers of red berries every winter.)

I'm not talking about a couple of dozen birds; I'm talking about
hundreds. They came in waves, first landing in the big cedar (juniper)
in our front yard and then swooping over to the berry tree.

They had bright yellow tails, a black/dark brown "mask" and reddish
coloration on their wingtips. (I later did some research and found out
they must have been cedar waxwings.) They didn't make any audible
chirping sounds, but the noise of their wings alone was amazing.

I watched them for the better part of an hour. They would converge
on the tree, gorge themselves on berries, go off to one of two
neighboring trees, sit there for a few minutes and then come back to the
berry tree in waves. As many as there were, they didn't seem to be
fighting over space, but were simply sharing their meal.

They didn't even seem to notice my presence, but did get spooked by
cars driving by. (That's when they'd fly off to a more distant tree.)
I grabbed my camera and tried to get some shots of them, but it was
tough. The light was low and there was such a mass of birds that it was
impossible to isolate some for a good, in-focus shot. I did get a
couple of decent pics, but I forgot to e-mail them to myself from the
computer at home. :-(

When they finally left, that berry tree was almost totally bare.


Chuck Vance (who also saw (well, *heard* first) a pair of hawks
playing overhead yesterday, plus some cardinals, scrub-jays and the
usual finches)

"Mark H. Bowen" wrote in message
.. .

"Anthony" wrote in message
news:yQCUd.43433$EL5.26994@trnddc05...
Well, I dunno were you're at, but in my neck of the woods it's gettin
ready
to dump buckets of snow....again! Sayin 5-10"...more snow.

yep- we got it - dumped on us all night and it's still goin strong. a. s.
u. cancelled classes- the cars in the parking lot look like snowy humped
creatures, the bows of the pines are sagging with the heavy snow...
it is a beautiful sight, though. i do enjoy looking out my window at snow
covered mountains.

Yipp-frickin-ie!


what's the frown for, op? i thought you loved the snow SEG

snake- who plans on spending the day in pajamas and using this gift of extra
time to prepare for mid-term exams.




Anthony

Where are you Anthony?

Mark