Breakfast & shopping in Shellbrook - Clouded Sulphurs and Cabbage Whites at the farm.

Today we will plant volunteer spruce from the farm here at the cabin as beaver (supposedly) will not eat them. To be clear the spruce did not volunteer to be replanted, but rather escaped the confines of the shelter belt in a mad dash for freedom. I blame the caragana, they are the bad seeeds.

"It has to be loved the way a laundress loves her linens,
the way she moves her hands caressing the fine muslins
knowing their warp and woof,
like a lover coaxing, or a mother praising.
It has to be loved as if it were embroidered
with flowers and birds and two joined hearts upon it.
It has to be stretched and stroked.
It has to be celebrated.
O this great beloved world and all the creatures in it.
It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet."

from Planet Earth
by P.K. Page

Barn Swallow at the farm

"But it seemed to me that even if everything had been changed, I would have recognized it by the look of the sky."

from Jayber Crow: A Novel 
by Wendell Berry

Last night's storm, two out of there dogs were very, very, unhappy.

"My people, now it is time

for us all to shake hands with the rain.

It's a neighbour, lives here all winter.

Talkative, yes. It will tap late 

at night on your door and stay there

gossiping. It goes away without goodbye

leaving its gray touch on old wood.

—- barefoot, it has walked 

with us with its silver passport all over the world."

from Wovoka's Witness

by William Stafford

Last night's storm was brief, but came with one of the most visible storm fronts I have ever seen. We has some thunder and lightning. The clouds built up from the direction of the grid road with this layering of different coloured bands towering up into the sky. That was followed by the front itself moving out across the slough. Then there was a period of heavy rain when the slough almost disappeared. After that things cleared, it all probably took less than a hour all told.

After the rain.

"What are days for?
Days are where we live.
They come, they wake us
Time and time over.
They are to be happy in:
Where can we live but days?"

from Days by Philip Larkin

Red-Necked Grebe on nest, early summer.

"And how many hours have I spent in watching the reflections on the water? When the air is still, then so is the surface of the river. Then it holds a perfectly silent image of the world that seems not to exist in this world. Where, I have asked myself, is this reflection? It is not on the top of the water, for if there is a little current the river can slide frictionlessly and freely beneath the reflection and the reflection does not move. Nor can you think of it as resting on the bottom of the air. The reflection itself seems a plane of no substance, neither water nor air. It rests, I think, upon quietness. Things may rise from the water or fall from the air, and, without touching the reflection, break it. It disappears. Without going anywhere, it disappears."

from Jayber Crow: A Novel
by Wendell Berry

Sounds

"What a long journey that will be! You'll need some nourishment." she cried handing Milo a small brown package, neatly wrapped and tied with a string. "Now remember; they're not for eating, but for listening, because you'll often be hungry for sounds as well as food. Here are street noises at night, train whistles a long way off, dry leaves burning, busy department stores, crunching toast, creaking bedsprings, and, of course, all kinds of laughter. There's a little of each, and in far-off lonely places I think you'll be glad to have them." (164)

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Let's meet the neighbours; The Snowshoe Hares

  Several years ago, maybe four my records in this instance are not great. We saw a Snowshoe Hare that would appear in the evening from under the deck and wander around to the great annoyance of the dogs. This year when we arrived there were three, all roughly the same size. The males are actually smaller than the females. There appeared to be a bit of anomosity, with one being chased. It seems they are a bit territorial. Also I did look under the cabin, moved anything under there out and while they appear from underneath they are probably living in the brush in back of the cabin and coming out into the short grass in front. They do cut down vegetation to create  runs to use as escape routes and I wonder if the cleared area under the cabin functions as a large run. Since the cabin is raise four feet and open on three sides, The other side backs the dog run, this area then does provide a clear field of view.

Then one momentous day, I should mark these events on the calender. There were a couple of young ones. They were pretty cute.

The a month or so later I wandered out and there were three little ones, even smaller then the previous batch. And possibly cuter. It seem mom can produce three litters, (3-4 in a litter) 4 litters for my readers in southern B.C. They are born with their eyes open and with fur. They can eat grass with 10 days and are full grown in five months. One good point is unlike the Franklin's they will not form colonies, the young should move some distance away. Based on size I have seen as many as 8 over the course of the summer, But not at the same time so I suspect the out migration is continuous through out the summer. I have noticed that while the single hare never touched the few lilies I have planted or any of the annuals in the large wash tubs, this is no longer the case and I have raised some tubs and put in a bit of fence. They also seem to be out and about more, and while not a brazen as the Franklin's they are pretty brave around us. The also are the victims of many ticks, yuck. While the Snowhare is the smallest of the 26 species of hares worldwide, when one gets up on the lower deck to waltz around, those showshoes are quite the little precussion instruments. 

I did notice one of the adults also has this white line on top of it's head.

The things you see without tv.

"But as solace for this life of quietly existing, 

In the traces left behind by love, until the light holds,

And the world and the mind are one. One exists alone."

from Arguement in Isolation

by John Koethe

Books: 
Mammals of Alberta, Pattie & Fisher
The Natural History of Canadian Mammals, Donna Naughton

Purple Finch

"But then I saw his luminous plumed Wings

prepared for flight,

and then I heard him singing glory

in a green tree,

and the I caught the vest he'd laid aside

all blest with fire."

from Marvell's Garden

by Phyllis Webb

Clouds

"Live with me on Earth among red berries and the bluebirds

And leafy young twigs whispering

Within such little spaces, between such floors of green, such

     figures in the clouds"

from Live with Me Under the Invisible Daylight Moon

by Milton Acorn

Let's meet the neighbours. Franklin's Ground Squirrels

  When I started this blog my intention was to display my photographs, provide quotes, especially from poetry and note some of my observations, mainly of nature or the weather. The latter seems to have generally fallen by the wayside and I have been content to pair a photograph with a quote I think is appropriate and call it a day. But it was occurred to me that, especially now at the cabin that the opportunity for observations of nature will never be better. So let’s meet the neighbours. The Franklin’s Ground Squirrels first appeared in the meadow in front of the cabin in 2017. One nice thing about maintaining this blog is that if I record things promptly I can jog my memory as far as dates go. Originally there were one or two (looks like two). In the summer of 2018 we noticed the first young ones playing by the car. The other evening I was standing on  the porch and noticed five by one bird feeder and five by the other, so we now have at least 10 but I suspect that estimate in low. Our reference books mention that their behaviour is complex and changeable. They are often considered the least social of ground squirrels but will form colonies where there is abundant food. (here) As they live in brushy areas they can be hard to see but habituate to humans easily. (here). They can climb trees.   

Our observations follow. They habituated easily with no help from us except that we did not actively chase or discourage them. Their holes are maybe 10 feet from the cabin steps, they ignore the frantic dogs barking from the run or even going by on leashes. Their alarm call is more likely to be used for air-borne predators (in one case a raven) than anything we seem to do, But they will call if you walk directly up to them while they are peering from their hole (a guest). We have never seen them climb. (Correction July 20th, 9:45 one of the medium sized Franklin's tried to climb a 2.5 foot Saskatoon, it got about half way up when the plant bent under the weight.) The young are, initally like kids anywhere. 

The books mention that the female has one litter a year and that normally the young females do not breed their first year. They do eat a fair bit of protein, one book calls them weasel-like. They will eat small animals mice, young birds, other ground squirrels up to rabbits and ducks. They often eat duck eggs and hunting groups have tried to eradicate them in many areas because of this. We have deliberately left the meadow in front of the cabin alone except for a few paths we use where the grass is cut because of ticks. At present the Franklin’s share this area with Least Chipmunks. Red Squirrels and an ever increasing number of  Snowshoe Hares. The Hares and Franklin’s seem to ignore each other. I have even seen the Chipmunks within five feet of the Franklin’s but they also dash through the dog run when the dogs are in it so I guess they are counting on speed. 

We do get occasional bird strikes against cabin, I try to move them to a safe area to see if they recover. Two woodpeckers did but a Pine Siskin did not. I was holding it on the porch when I noticed a Franklin’s. I tossed it about a foot to one side, expecting it to at least pull back at the unexpected action. Instead it jumped on the bird in a flash, carried it a foot or so away turned its back and began eating. A dead mouse (they try to move into our car air filter) was tossed to another, it moved away a few inches then sniffed it. It did not take the mouse, but one five feet away was eyeing it when a third appeared sniffed it and carried it off. (Pls note I will not continue actively feeding them, that experiment is over) Two things are apparent they are not afraid of me tossing things towards them and they react to small animals as food quite readily. The birds spill a lot of sunflower seeds from the feeders, so they are quite well feed but they also are eating an enormous amount of plant material from the meadow. We do seem to have young ducks on the slough so perhaps ours are well feed enough that they don’t move that far for food. I am sure any ground nesting birds will have to move further from the cabin, but we suspect the Red Squirrels have been the main predators of birds around the cabin so far. 

We have never had this many hares so the Franklin’s presence has as yet
not discouraged them. The Red Squirrels still come to the feeder and spend a lot of time there so the presence of the Franklin’s does not seem to discourage them either. One evening I stepped out on the porch. A Red Sqirrel was sitting on the step watching a young hare and four Franklins all feeding between the porch and the car.

"Much is missed if we have eyes only for the bright colors. Nature should be viewed without distinction... She makes no choice herself; everything that happens has equal significance. Nothing can be dispensed with. This is a common mistake that many people make: They think that half of nature can be destroyed - the uncomfortable half - while still retaining the acceptable and the pleasing side."

Eliot Porter

Books: 
Mammals of Alberta, Pattie & Fisher
The Natural History of Canadian Mammals, Donna Naughton