The hand with the bird in the photograph belongs to my very soon to be 17-year-old granddaughter. It occurred to her to see if she could entice her tiny friends to eat out of her hand—so she could see them up close. The voices in the heads of most of us would make arguments along the lines of, “that’s silly, that won’t happen, you don’t have time for that.” But with great love comes great patience and each is always rewarded. She has a diagnosis of ASD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, which affects the type and quality of voices in her head, but they definitely do not have the ability to stop her from pursuing a passion.
The weather people, bless them, can be so very wrong. The prediction was for a dry 14 degrees, the reality turned out to be the high twenties and snow. Here are the birds eating from a baking pan and excavating the “feeder” left on the deck, buried in snow. I hope they too do well with activity when it’s very cold. They certainly seem to be having a good time.
Continuing on the topic: We now have in addition to Flicker and partner of Flicker (newly arrived), a team of Varied Thrushes. Someone told me it was a Variegated Thrush, which actually seems a more accurate name, but nonetheless is not what we humans call them.
I searched until I gave up attempting to learn “why” the “varied” and would greatly appreciate finding out if anyone has that intel.
We recently got a notice that part of the cost of our tree order from the county would be refunded because the Red Alders did not survive the cold. When we placed that order back in September, March 4 seemed an eternity away. Now it is upon us and we are woefully unprepared for the event. The native plants nursery expert came today to help lay out the structure of the planting. Oh, the excitement, and relief, of encountering such utter lack of “clue” in the company of someone who has whole bunches of essential information. We’ll be finding new nesting spots for about 120 little tree and shrub people. Our guide has prepared me that regardless of our best efforts an unknown number of them may not survive. And, there was encouragement offered that this isn’t a one-time endeavor. We will do our very best to have all our new friends thrive, but know we are not in control and we can keep attending to the planting process. We can try again in the fall, next spring… Good lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we can keep at it. Plus, we came up with a location for the greenhouse and sent out a plea for some assistance to get the 120 little beauties in the ground on Monday.
And as Spring shows signs of making her way to us, rendering the roads more predictably navigable, I’ve added a new role to my resume: Manager of the Keep It Simple Books Shipping Department. Years ago, when we first began writing books and putting them out into the world, I had the pleasure of assisting in sending them off to their new people. Very fun to have a feel for “who,” among these unknown folks was receiving which book. Fun to include a little note expressing a hope that they will enjoy this, our best effort to add something good to their life. Even more fun to, on occasion, receive a message back. Not exactly what I imagine would be the thrill of finding a “message in a bottle,” but much the same feeling, I’m betting.
This is another step in the process of Practice Headquarters moving from our beloved home in the Sierras to the Olympic rain shadow. New bank—yes, Aspiration—new address, new PO Box, new shipping department, new green house, new tree and shrub habitat. All appears to be moving apace.
In gasshō,
ch