Lately we alternate between skiffs of snow, 

spatterings of rain. hints of blue sky and a bits of cloud.

But it must be spring because we had to move the 

Forester so they can sweep the gravel from the street.

Yesterday we went for a walk in search of birds,

we found some.

"I remember you. You're the one

who lifted your ancient bones

of fossil rock, pulled yourself free

of the strata like a plaster figure

rising from its own mold, became

flesh and feather, took wing,

arrested the sky."

from Stone Bird

by Pattiann Rogers

"On either side, those dear old ladies,

the loosening barns, their little windows   

dulled by cataracts of hay and cobwebs   

hide broken tractors under their skirts.

So this is Nebraska. A Sunday   

afternoon; July. Driving along

with your hand out squeezing the air,   

a meadowlark waiting on every post.

 

Behind a shelterbelt of cedars,

top-deep in hollyhocks, pollen and bees,   

a pickup kicks its fenders off

and settles back to read the clouds.

 

You feel like that; you feel like letting   

your tires go flat, like letting the mice   

build a nest in your muffler, like being   

no more than a truck in the weeds,"

from This is Nebraska

    Ted Kooser

So after visiting with family in Saskatoon we are back 

on the road to the cabin and farm. It was still a brown 

landscape however in the week we are there the trees 

will leaf out for our green spring.

Helen took the following shots of White Pelicans as they

circled above the cabin. We have lots of positive memories of 

beautiful White Pelicans floating down the river when we

worked on an archaeological site in Nipawin Saskatchewan

so it was great to see these birds here.

"A wonderful bird is the pelican,

His bill will hold more than his belican,

He can take in his beak

Enough food for a week

But I'm damned if I see how the helican!"

I have seen this attributed to Lanier Merritt Dixon 

or Ogden Nash. I do know it was a favorite of my

father-in-law John who farmed this land for many years.

 

 

My pictures from the cabin were not great, but I wanted to

include this Bonaparte's Gull because they are fairly common

and I had always wondered were they nest I assumed it was

by the rivers. I finally looked it up and learned they nested in

spruce which we do have but they are not nearly as common

as poplars. So a goal to add to my list, see a nesting Bonaparte's.

 

 

Brown Headed Cowbirds were sadly common.

 

 

A Yellow Rumped Warbler, the only warbler I saw

but we did spend most of our time working on the

cabin or in the hardware store or driving back and

forth to hardware stores.

 

 

 

The Bufflehead by far the most common duck on our property on this trip.

Another Cowbird I think.

 

 

The Phoebes are nesting underneath the cabin, since it is raised

4 ft from the ground they have lots of room. 

 

You can see a few green leaves,

 

 

but it was still mostly a twiggy time of year when we arrived.

 

 

"She looks for wiggly fishes,

At least so it appears,

To stuff inside the suitcase

That's swinging from her ears.

And though she's very graceful

When flying round and round,

How does she get that faceful

Of luggage off the ground?"

    The Beak of the Pelican

   J. Patrick Lewis