The Nature Issue

In March, our thoughts turn to Spring and we look for signs of it everywhere.  This month’s post is about the flora and fauna of Thornbush in March.
 

Such as Turtles

First, though, I need to document a great trip to Olympia for my niece’s baby shower.  We stopped at Nisqually Nature Reserve and saw baby great horned owls plus a lot of other wildlife.
 

And Mergansers

 

On the way home, I stopped in to wish Corbin a happy first birthday. 
 

Ethel helps Corbin unwrap--what could it be?



Spring time walk up Mt Young where Madronnas flourish.   





Madronnas on Mt Young

 

This crossbill is recovering from slamming into the window

Ahh, red flowering currant.  Can the hummingbirds be far behind?

Soopolallie - Shepherdia canadensis

Now that you've stayed until the end, I will tell you the bad news.  Fourteen chickens killed by a mink on St Patrick's Day. Mink massacres in the past have also occurred in March.  Is it because the stream is so high now that they come up from False Bay?  We still have eleven barred rock in the compost yard, but all the beautiful garden chickens are gone.  We won't be getting more chicks for awhile.

Eagle on the snag

Another vociferous sign of Spring, the eagle sitting on the snag just above her nest.  And it wouldn't be March without the Skunk Cabbage on the stream.  I think we can safely say that Spring has arrived. Next month--avalanche lillies!

Skunk Cabbage



Passages

signs of Spring

We didn’t go to the ocean, we are not going to Maui, we are not in Florida or Sayulita, or New Zealand.  We stayed home this February.  Hunkered down.  We are getting things done.  This is the time of year to go to the dentist, get the car tuned up, watch the Academy Award nominated movies on Netflix, get the income tax information together.  In between wind storms, we look for signs of Spring.  Roger cut a lot of firewood.  I went through old photos.  And framed some of them for the family photo gallery in my stairwell.

Roger's side
 

Layer on to that all the regular stuff like book club meetings, grooming the dog, birthday parties, and long walks when the weather allows.  Roger rearranged his nursery and potted up hundreds of plants to sell at the upcoming Farmers Markets.

Aunt Donna, cousins David and Karen visit F.H. for the first time

 Visitors arrived from North Dakota.  We are having better weather than there, right?  Aunt Donna and cousins David and Karen showed up one weekend.  Last time we saw them was at the Noonan, North Dakota Centennial celebration in 2007. (click here to see picture of Travelers Hotel in Noonan.) Donna’s husband Robert died right before Christmas so her son David took Donna out west to visit family.  That same weekend, we received word that Donna’s brother (Roger's uncle Don) in Renton suffered a stroke and subsequently died so it is a good thing that she came out here when she did.

prayer flags in the trees at Thornbush

 

I’ve been reading a lot, between watching movies.  Read a book called Joy for Beginners set in Seattle, about a woman who survived cancer and celebrated by rafting down the Grand Canyon.  She challenges each of her friends to take on a new skill or task that, wouldn’t you know, changes her life.  This was a novel.  But I have a friend who recently rafted down the Grand Canyon.  Now she finds herself in a cancer ward in Seattle.  Family and friends are rallying around as can be expected but it is just another reminder to cherish these Very Rich Hours.  Even in the gloom of February.