Winter feedings

The past few days a female (no red stripe on cheek) pileated woodpecker has arrived about midday at the suet feeder on the deck. With the colder, but sunny, weather we'll have for the next few days we expect the suet to attract lots of diners, from little red-breasted nuthatches up through the crow-sized pileateds. We just love that bright red "helmet."

female pileated woodpecker

Photo by J. Harrington

Something we'd lost track of is how much more quickly the water in the heated bird bath evaporates as the temperatures drop. This morning it was totally dry. We'll have to pay closer attention now that Winter is here. It seems we're returning to a pattern many folks who live in the North Country recognize. Blue skies and shining sun mean cold temperatures, although not too cold to snow. That's most a fantasy. Warmer temperatures and cloudy skies often bring snow of greater or lesser amounts.

This morning we found a new online toy. Shortly after we moved to Minnesota, many, many years ago, we calculated the total square miles of each of the six New England states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut) and compared that to the area of Minnesota. It turned out that about all of New England can be fit into Minnesota and have about 20% of Minnesota left over. This morning we got to look at that graphically. Here's what it looks like as shown at The True Size. Playing with toys like this causes the track of Grace Slick singing White Rabbit to play in our head. Then again, seeing the size comparison diminishes the need for some imagination. Sigh!

what's the right size for a state: Rhode Island or Minnesota?

We've often found that Winter is one of the better seasons in which to "feed our head," preferably while curled up in a warm corner with a cup of hot coffee at hand and a dog curled at our feet. That's the life!

My Life Was the Size of My Life

Jane Hirshfield, 1953

My life was the size of my life.
Its rooms were room-sized,
its soul was the size of a soul.
In its background, mitochondria hummed,
above it sun, clouds, snow,
the transit of stars and planets.
It rode elevators, bullet trains,
various airplanes, a donkey.
It wore socks, shirts, its own ears and nose.
It ate, it slept, it opened
and closed its hands, its windows.
Others, I know, had lives larger.
Others, I know, had lives shorter.
The depth of lives, too, is different.
There were times my life and I made jokes together.
There were times we made bread.
Once, I grew moody and distant.
I told my life I would like some time,
I would like to try seeing others.
In a week, my empty suitcase and I returned.
I was hungry, then, and my life,
my life, too, was hungry, we could not keep
our hands off       our clothes on
our tongues from

********************************************
Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.