crane terrain

After several chilly days with intermittent snow and cold...

...we had a break.  Sun!  Blue skies!  Temperatures in the 50s!  Todd and I decided to head to Goose Pond in Linton, Indiana for some bird watching.  Goose Pond is an 8,000+ acre wetland conservation area that's still in progress.  The road to restoration has been a little contentious, but it really is an amazing place!

The first thing we heard when we pulled off the road was the distinctive cry of snow geese.  They flew in massive formations far over our heads in the biggest grouping of birds that I've ever seen.  Those little flecks?  All birds.  The formations spread out for miles!

My zoom lens caught a few of the closer ones.

We saw lots of ducks...

...and coots, another water fowl.  We even found a coot foot by the water's edge!

Evidence of beavers was everywhere.

We even saw a snake...in February!

We had decided not to bring Borga so as not to frighten the birds, but we ended up with some canine company anyway - a friendly dog kept pace with us for a while.

There were no established hiking trails.  Muddy, boggy paths led alongside the water, and we both had wet feet in no time.

It didn't matter, though.  We felt like intrepid explorers, with our muddy clothes and sketchy map, careening past cornfields and down unmarked country roads, looking for water inlets and more birds.  My favorite were the sandhill cranes.

We couldn't get too close, because they were feeding on private property, but we were able to watch them do a hopping, dipping courtship dance.

They were beautiful in flight!

We watched them for a long time and listened to their rusty screen door-like calls.

Finally, down one gravel road with a torn-out bridge at the end, I saw my first eagle.  It landed in a field for some nest material...

 ...grabbed some...

...and headed back to the nest.  

It was so exciting!  We also saw a massive flock of red-wing blackbirds in the same area.

After a long day of pushing through brush, squelching through mud, and navigating rural routes, we were pretty exhausted...but I'm so glad that we went!  There are a lot of wonderful wildlife opportunities available to us in our current location, and I want to take advantage of them all.  

Have a great week!

[winter s-]Oh, Yeah!

While cats stayed warm and cozy this past week...

...I got to work on a major project - winter sowing.  First, I drilled holes in the tops and bottoms of 57 one-pound plastic tubs of spinach.  Yes...57.

I mixed together potting soil, peat moss, and perlite in my wheelbarrow.  The latter two improve soil drainage, which keeps seeds from rotting.

I dampened the soil mixture and then started planting.  It took an afternoon to fill 26 of the plastic tubs with seeds, also adding a plastic marker for identification.  Then I set them on the ground next to the barn.  Todd later added some concrete blocks to keep them from blowing away.

These are tiny mini greenhouses.  They will get wet, and they'll freeze.  They'll warm up on sunny days.  Eventually, the temperature will rise enough to cause germination.  Once I start seeing green, I'll take off the lids and let them get some air.  As soon as the ground is warm enough to work, I'll start planting...probably in late March or early April.  I could get up to 300 flower seedlings from this group!  I ran out of soil before I could fill the rest of the containers, but most of the remaining flowers are so easy - cosmos, zinnias, marigolds, and sunflowers - that I don't need to bother with this method. I can plant the seeds right in the ground and they'll come up.

I got these done just in time...

...because a crazy snowstorm whipped up this week.

I took a quick video.  The flakes were falling thick and fast!

Just like the week before, though, the snow was completely melted in a few hours.  So strange.

Inspired by some of the quilts at my local quilt guild meeting...

...I spent quite a bit of time working on small sewing project this week, despite the fact that my shoulder and neck have been unusually sore.  I lightly quilted a baby quilt, using the Alice and Wonderland fabric I mentioned a week or so ago.

It's a simple half square triangle quilt.  I'm attaching a mustard-colored binding for a nice contrast, which I'll hopefully get done next week.  Bosewichte was a huge help, as usual.

I'll post a picture once it's done.  I also cut up fabric and made half square triangles for another quilt...

...that I'll probably do in an old-fashioned pinwheel style.

Annoyingly, I ran into a wall with my yellow log cabin quilt, but at least I learned a valuable lesson.  I ran out of the white fabric I'd been using to construct my blocks and needed to order more.  However, I wasn't quite sure which white I'd started with.  I always use Kona Cotton...so I ordered a yard of Kona Cotton White.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but White is a much brighter and cleaner color than what I need.

Must be Snow, I reasoned.  So I ordered several yards of it...and discovered that I was even further off.  Snow is more of an off white, like french vanilla ice cream. 

It's all right...I'm going to pair all of those yards of Kona Cotton Snow with this bundle lot I ordered recently.  Most beautiful pastel colors ever!  This quick iPhone photo doesn't do it justice.

This is the quilt that I'm going to make.  Isn't it gorgeous?

In other sewing news, I made a couple of tiny squares for practice.  Note to self:  tiny squares are awfully fiddly...

...but really are a great way to use up little fabric bits that are too endearing to throw away!  Saving every little 1" scrap...I think that's how every impressive hoarder begins, right?

Have a great week!

[geo] cache stash

For years, Todd has maintained that a typical Indiana winter is grey and overcast, without the benefit of evergreen forests (like those in the Pacific Northwest).  I've protested that Indiana winters are bright and cold, with brilliant blue skies over snow-covered meadows.

This year, at least, Todd is right.  We've had weeks of grey skies and dead grass, and although I still prefer this to the dreadful heat of summer, it's been a bit dreary.  Yesterday was sunny and warm, so we decided to go geocaching - with a little help from Borga and some more experienced geocaching friends.

Our deciduous forests are still bare, of course - it's only February...

...but we have a few evergreens around.

Someone made a fairy door in the forest!!

I've never been geocaching before.  Geocaches are camouflaged containers (hidden in stumps, rock piles, etc.) that have their location coordinates uploaded to a central website.  Using your cell phone, you can isolate the location to within 100 feet.  That's still a pretty large search area, and I certainly earned my extra toast last night, clambering over logs and scouring through leaves for treasure.   Geocaches contain trail logs, which you update, and sometimes little trinkets too.

You take a trinket and leave a trinket.  Then, update the website, letting people know that you found a cache and that it's still safely hidden and available for future discovery.  Todd displayed an uncanny ability, discovering 3 caches.  Note:  I found zero.

The weather was so warm and pleasant that it was hard to believe that just a few days before, we had snow. 

It was so strange.  It started snowing around 5 a.m. and snowed steadily until around 11.  By noon, due to a slight rise in temperature, the snow was completely melted.  But I enjoyed photographing it while it lasted!

I hope we get more snow soon!

I'm finally ready to start winter sowing my flower seeds.  Today I will be drilling holes in 55 one- pound plastic spinach tubs, filling them with soil, and planting the seeds.  I hope to plant nearly 450 seeds by the end of next week!  Hopefully the freeze-thaw cycle will make the seedlings so hardy that they can be popped in the ground by mid-March.  I can't wait to see what the front field looks like when the greenhouse gets installed and the rows of flowers start coming up!  I am even planting several annuals, like sunflowers.  Someone gave me several different varieties, including the Titan sunflower, which has flower heads that are TWO FEET wide!

I guess we'll have plenty of seeds for the birds next winter.  :)

Have a great week!