Feeding woodpeckers, watching dragonflies #phenology

The neighborhood is starting to dry out. We took advantage of the damp soil and pulled a handful of buckthorn and scrub cedars this morning. In the process, we noticed a dragonfly and a butterfly, each of unknown species, flitting and swooping over the little bluestem covered fields under pleasantly blue October skies. This afternoon, while dog-walking, another late-season dragonfly appeared.

late season dragonfly on country road

Photo by J. Harrington

We haven't seen many birds at the feeders over the past few days. They're starting to reappear as a cool breeze evaporates the accumulated damp. The almost dry wet spot in the back yard again has an observable water level. Downy (hairy?) woodpeckers (we're at a bad angle to judge sizes) have been grabbing sunflower seeds and flashing away. A red-bellied woodpecker (again, so we think, due to poor lighting) arrived, grabbed a seed and left. It's too early still to put up suet feeders. We want to be sure the local bears have settled down for their long Winter's nap before we hang suet. Meanwhile, regular crews of black-capped chickadees and red- and white-breasted nuthatches occasionally mob the scene and depart like paparazzi chasing a rap star or other contemporary royalty.

It felt, and was, good again to be doing some actual physical work after several days when we stayed dry and thought about work rather than doing any outside. The poet from Paterson, William Carlos Williams, claimed "No ideas but in things." Our response would be to raise the question "The idea, or the thing?" Do you remember the commercial "Is it live, or is it memor...?" Our need grows: to shift balance more to the real world and away from backlit screens; to pull woody weeds to prepare for a planned garden; to go so far as to once again participate in our township's roads and bridges committee, not just fuss about how inept local government can be. (It's not clear where this leaves us on the "part of the problem versus part of the solution scale." Stay tuned.)

colorful pumpkin attract late season bees

Photo by J. Harrington

All of the above reflects current thoughts about trying nature's way of avoiding monocultures, mixing species and habitats to see what works best, being profligate in exploring optimization and exploring alternative habitats (think dandelion seeds). The culture that coevolved with capitalism and neoliberalism is almost perfectly suited to support the past few centuries of growth and development. History and ecology try to teach us that the better the fit between an organism and its environment, the more at risk that organism is when the environment changes, as, eventually, it always has.

Where will we get our hot mix asphalt when we're no longer a fossil fuel driven economy? How do we plan now for such a transition? To pave or not to pave, that is the question, but is it the right question? Perhaps we need to better heed Samuel Beckett's observation "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

                     The Problem

By Jane Hirshfield

You are trying to solve a problem.

You’re almost certainly halfway done,

maybe more.

You take some salt, some alum,

and put it into the problem.

Its color goes from yellow to royal blue.

You tie a knot of royal blue into the problem,

as into a Peruvian quipu of colored string.

You enter the problem’s bodegas,

its flea markets, souks.

Amid the alleys of sponges and sweets,

of jewelry, spices, and hair combs,

you ponder which stall, which pumpkin or perfume, is yours.

You go inside the problem’s piano.

You choose three keys.

One surely must open the door of the problem,

if only you knew only this:

is the quandary edible or medical,

a problem of reason or grief?

It is looking back at you now

with the quizzical eyes of a young, bright dog.

Her whole body pitched for the fetch,

the dog wants to please.

If only she could ascertain which direction,

what object, which scent of riddle,

and if the problem is round or elliptical in its orbit,

and if it is measured in foot-pounds, memory, or meat.

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