country nights

Going to the house from the barn one night last week I heard a strange bird call coming from the trees in front of the house. It was nearly dark, 5:30 pm with the orange light of the sun a small crescent on the western horizon. Getting closer I was just able to make out the small body of an owl in the trees over the bird feeder. No doubt he was hoping for a small bird to come for a late snack so he could feed at the feeder, or maybe he was waiting for mice to come out around the spilled feed on the ground. He was a short eared owl owl, one I seldom see around here. They are active at twilight and sometimes even feed during the day. His call is described as “ who cooks for you” , “who cooks for you,” “who cooks for you all?” which I guess is pretty accurate.

Being able to go outdoors in the country after dark is one of the joys of country living. I know of at least 4 owl species that live in our area. We have tiny screech owls living in tree hollows and a big great horned owl makes at least occasional appearances in our area. A barn owl lives in an abandoned silo nearby. We trapped a great horned owl once by accident, he flew inside a chicken pen covered with black netting, his weight allowed him to part a seam. Then he couldn’t get out so he be-headed nearly 50 meat birds in the pen.

Seen in the daylight he was magnificent, despite the carnage around him. He was released safely, although my husband had to be persuaded to do that. His claws were as big as my hands. I saw him again on a moonlit night when I went outside to see what the dogs were barking at and as I sat quietly for a few minutes after I quieted them, he swooped down off the electric pole and pounced on a rabbit in the pasture. His wing span was incredible, but he moved without a sound, you could miss it if your head was turned.

You can see more than owls at night in the country. The stars are incredibly beautiful and look so close far from the city lights. I have seen the northern lights dancing on several occasions. When we first moved here there was a big pole light in the yard. Used to street lights we left it on at night. Then one day it burned out- (actually in the midst of a raging snowstorm with my husband still out in it, straining his eyes to see the light from that big lamp as he fought his way down the road and thinking he’d gotten lost- but that’s another story). We didn’t replace it and we have never regretted it. When it’s dark on our farm, it’s dark.

And when my dogs are still I can hear lots of things in the darkness, like the distant howling of a coyote pack- which probably got my dogs going. I can hear owls and in the summer, nighthawks calling and of course in spring the frogs are singing with gusto.

One of the few reasons I like late fall and winter is that you don’t have to stay up so late to go out in the dark. By 9 pm the night critters are well into their routines. I bundle up and try to sneak out without the dogs noticing on moonlit nights. I have seen opossums and coons, deer and my own horses out grazing in the dark. Rabbits play and fight in the yard. Everything seems so different and peaceful. The mosquitoes are gone. Wood smoke lingers in the air. I can hear the crunch of tires coming down the road a mile away. Your senses seem so alive.

You can’t get that in the city. Even late at night the traffic noise and radios and sirens intrude. The stars are lost in smog. And someone is likely to come up behind you and bash you on the head. In the country I can go out in my nightgown if its mild enough and no one will see me. And I’m not afraid of what’s in the dark either. I love the country nights.

Indian Summer

It’s a beautiful Indian summer Sunday here today and I would much rather be working outside than inside today, but when you are a freelance writer you push yourself to meet those deadlines. I am using this blog to get warmed up today, to settle my mind, so bear with me. I promised myself some time outside later today.

I went out to feed the animals this morning and it was already so nice I wanted to linger. I decided to walk around and see if anything was still blooming. I actually found some blooms, tiny violas, the white wild asters, and a few blooms on the Masterwort. The petunias I had in various spots are still remarkably green, although none are blooming. Of course on my unheated porch those things I brought in are blooming. I have several colors of geraniums, some begonias and lantana blooming there.

My walk around the yard made me realize that I need to cut the 8’ stalks that were left from my lilies down, they look awful. But in examining them I found out that my small, very slow growing Holly plants actually had some berries this year, at least one did. That means I must have the correct male -female pair.

Everything is slowly getting covered with oak leaves, which is great. They make good mulch for the winter. I am going to do just enough raking to get some to put around my roses in the big bed in the center of my lawn.

We made a pen off the front porch and put the cocker puppies outside for the first time. Their mama went with them and encouraged them to dig in the lawn. If the weather stays nice we can show them to folks coming to buy them out there instead of trying to fit everyone in our small living room. The babies were a little unsure at first, crunchy leaves underfoot and big huge rumbling grain trucks going by on the road. But soon they were having a good time. I sure hope we can sell them soon; they are eating us out of house and home. But they are so soft and floppy cute at this stage, all developing their individual personalities.

I picked another big bucket of apples last night, using the rake to pull them out of the top of the tree. They were quite nice looking for organic apples. Lily and Charlie stood by to grab all the apples that fell to the ground and they got quite a few. These appear to be GoldRush apples, I asked our MSU apple expert to taste one and give me a guess. The trees were labeled incorrectly when we bought them. They stay on the tree through all kinds of wind. Our other trees drop their apples when they get ripe, these will hold on all winter. And they taste great, crisp and juicy, just the right amount of sweet. Now if I had time to process all those buckets of apples under my kitchen table we would be all set.

I wish this wonderful weather would stay around all winter- you know- that global warming thing they keep promising. I could live with 60’s all winter, that’s for sure. And for us to have a few days of sunshine, even weak November sunshine, is great. They say the November weather is a pre-view of the upcoming April weather. So far it looks good.

If I ruled the world- good bye sports announcers

It’s November and the weather isn’t really any different than October- it just fits the month better. But it hasn’t been too bad, we haven’t had snow or even many hard freezes, just rain and gloom and cool temperatures. Hey, I could take this all winter.

A World Series game was on last night. I’m going to do one of my If I Ruled the World moments here. If I ruled the world no sports game played in prime time would last longer than 2 hours. If it did- it continued off the air anyway. I bet those games would get done in a most timely fashion then. I want the news at its regular time and I want my entertainment, the few hours I get to relax and watch TV, to be on and not pre-empted or delayed. Sports are on for hours in the day Saturday and Sunday, why prime time too?

And if I ruled the world no announcer on those games would be allowed to talk about anything other than what was going on in the game, no chit chat. Sports announcers have the most annoying chit chat in the world. Take last night, these are not the exact words of course but you get the drift.

“Hey Mo is that a heating pad I see there under Bigboys coat?”
“Yah Bo I think it is a heating pad.”
“Ah yes it is a heating pad”
“Yes I think there is a heating pad under there.”
“He probably has that heating pad to keep his arm warm.”
“Yes its cold here so he probably needs a heating pad to keep his arm warm.”

Brief respite while they announce actual game events. Then back to :
“ You can see that heating pad just peeking out under Bigboys coat there.”
“Yes, he probably needs a heating pad here tonight Bo.”
“ Heating pad keeps his arm warm I guess.”
“ Maybe he needs the heating pad to keep him warm” laughs Mo
“ Well I wonder if anyone else has a heating pad”
“ I don’t know Bo, but Bigboy sure has that heating pad under there,
“ He’s smart, he has a heating pad, keeps him warm I guess”

Another small respite while they talk about the events happening in the game. Then:
Take a look at Bigboy there, he has a heating pad under his jacket.
“ It keeps his arm warm Mo”
“Yes Bo I bet all the players would like a heating pad tonight”
Yah, Mo, a heating pad would be nice” Both chuckle.
That Bigboy he’s smart- he has a heating pad under there”
Yah you can just see that heating pad peeking out under his jacket there, on the left.

And so on, and so on. Announcers should not be allowed to chit chat. Better yet get rid of announcers and let people watch the game. It’s TV folks, you can see what’s going on.

I personally would not watch any sport on TV but I humor my husband now and then. I read in the room with him and he watches some sport on TV. Quality time. We have an agreement that if there is something on in prime time that I want to watch we watch that, since I seldom have time to watch TV. He watches TV a great part of the day, especially in cold weather. But of course last night after Desperate Housewives, ( ok, I choose stuff that’s entertaining, not intellectual), was over he had to get back to that great game. The game with all the crowd noise- screaming drunks- and inane announcers and stupid music. It’s the first reality shows, professional sports. The games are scripted and pre-determined winners are chosen by the mafia bookies but the public actually thinks its reality. Maybe that’s why they leave those stupid announcers chit chatting - makes it seem real. Between TV advertising dollars, outrageous salaries, and the amount of money that gets bet on games, you can bet the outcome is known in advance by a few people.

Hey, if I ruled the world I’d make betting on a game legal. Then collect big taxes on the bookies and the winners. Balance the budget maybe. Maybe I’d make all the players wear clown suits too, if I ruled the world.