Tag Archives: Sandhill Cranes

Changes

Being open to change is always good, as I see it.  There is always opportunity around the next corner.  We do so judiciously, less so when a bad economy forces us lily pad to lily pad.

But we’ve stuck with our home and traveled overseas for work, and put everything in storage and lived in a furnished place for a couple of years.

Change means more than that.  We get to know neighbors and co-workers and really love our current location.  We even have multiple people to take care of the dog, on and off-site, when we leave town.

Our neighborhood changes every week, as it’s a vacation town, but we always stay in touch with the locals, whether it be neighbors, restaurants, clothing stores, we’re there.  We are locals.

With the red trees in the mountain forests at their peak, now the Aspens are beginning to shine gold in the light.  Leaf-peepers may frequent the Adirondacks but we have great leaves, too, in the Rockies.  I’ll try to get some shots for you this week.

Stay where you are, have a great week and look at the Fall leaves, as we never had a Spring or Summer, only a really long winter and another one coming as most of the birds have left last week.  The coolest thing is seeing the cranes coming off the Preserve between 8-9 in the morning, and flying over the streets, wing to wing.  They mate for a lifetime, a lesson we might learn someday.  Cheers, Dee

Flight School

This morning, after getting me up at 5:00 a.m. as they usually do, the family of four marshalled in the middle of the preserve and wing flapping ensued. Then they were spooked by some loud kids and left.

It is always a joy to see the Cranes come back each year and nest, tend to and protect their young colts, teach them to fly before they leave in October for warmer climes in New Mexico. We are very protective of them and the only shots I take are photos. Unfortunately some folks don’t care about the Preserve and have been throwing fireworks in there the past two days. Shame on you and your parents for letting you do this to wildlife. The cranes are OK but a Preserve is a Preserve and it’s there to protect nature, not to amuse kids with money and fireworks.

Once the kids are gone I look forward to seeing another flight school, it may be too far away to photograph but if I can yet it, you’ll see it. Cheers, Dee

Spring is Near???

There are red-winged blackbirds telling my dog not to walk beneath their tree (it’s on a public path) and geese coming in. Soon there will be snowmelt and the ducks and my favorite Greater Sandhill Cranes will re-appear.

This is the first and last I saw of these incredible cranes last year, from April through October. I love watching wildlife here, but love veggies as well and cannot wait until the farmers’ markets open once again. Since my organic mystery box is no longer an option, I’ll go to the markets and find whatever’s fresh and piques my interest.

I’m already thinking of planting herbs and flowers but my few containers are still covered in snow and the shovel has broken a couple of drip pans, which can easily be replaced.

Today I may make a stew. No, pot roast. And instead of regular egg noodles I’ll get pappardelle. Yesterday it really looked like holiday snow, big, fat flakes. That may continue today. A nice pot roast with noodles and tomato gravy, fireplace going, sounds like Sunday to me! Enjoy your weekend, Dee

Free Weekend

We’ve loved having guests the past couple of weeks but it’s nice to have our home back to normal. Except that Jim thought we needed a nightlight for the top of the stairs (I agreed) so he and his folks walked down the way to find one and came back with five, that are all installed. Three are bright white directionals for top and bottom of the staircase and to replace over stove light for overnight, other two are for bathrooms and they emit an eerie green light.

Our master bath has about a 5/5 window into the bedroom (up high) to emit light into the bathroom. If I wake up during the night there’s this strange glow coming from the bath! And now that our guests are gone, all the doors are open, everywhere and when I got up last night it looked like aliens had landed! This will need to be worked on or I’ll have to get used to it. Probably the latter.

This morning I made ratatouille with my summer bounty. It’s almost finished. I had to take it off the heat. It’ll mature overnight in the frig and I’ll add tomatoes and finish it tomorrow. Jim’s mother bought some baby beets (roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper) last weekend and I cooked them but really want them for an endive, beet and toasted walnut salad with sherry vinaigrette. No endive, even at Whole Foods. Two weeks left of Park Silly Market so we’ll have to go tomorrow and check out the farmers’ market.

We went car shopping for Jim today (no luck so far but one dealer is going to look for what he wants) and got me an inexpensive keyboard for practicing for the guitar and singing. I don’t know anything about it yet but that it’s fun to play. I miss having a piano at home and a 61-key keyboard is fine for me. It doesn’t need to be tuned! Never mind that I haven’t had a lesson in 38 years….

I think this blog, the cooking and now music will get my brain ready for aging. I should read more, and not just online news. More news on the home front as it happens. We’re going to enjoy a very brief fall (the trees are already changing and were the last week of August) and a long winter. Stew and soup season are nearly upon us and we’d like to grill as long as we can! Cheers, Dee

p.s. The critter (ermine/stoat) is back today after going away for at least two weeks. That’s not necessarily a good thing. Jim heard the Greater Sandhill Cranes yesterday morning so they’re still around but hidden in the tall grass. I should park my iPhone upstairs so if I hear them I can get a recording because there’s little online except a cacophany of cranes. I’m on the case.