Stay tuned

Here I am again without posting anything recently. As unfortunate as it may be, the fact is I have done nothing readers would find interesting. Part of the reason is that although the weather conditions have been unseasonably warm and dry, they have not been so unseasonable as to think spring and do spring things. I have lived in Nebraska long enough to know winter conditions will return.

That said, I have a couple of things I may soon do that I hope are interesting  and worthy of comment.

In no time at all

Our multiple week string of moderate, unseasonal weather conditions has come to an end, and with the strong westerly winds that took those conditions away came a reminder that spring is that much closer now and the time has come to begin checking items off my retirement to do list.

In all of the years we have lived in Nebraska we have never participated in watching the spring migration of Sandhills Cranes in central Nebraska. That is to change this year. We have made reservations for March 15 at one of The Nature Conservancy’s crane watching blinds near the Platte River.

The cranes annually draw thousands of visitors from their arrival in late February through the first part of April. Usually, but subject to the weather, peak numbers occur the second and third week of March. It is no exaggeration to say the cranes’ arrival is perhaps the biggest and most anticipated nature related event of the year in Nebraska.

As excited as I am about the cranes' coming arrival, I don’t have to wait for them to have birds to watch.

My previously mentioned efforts to draw more and more birds to our front yard continue to be successful. Although goldfinches remain the dominant species at the feeder - and it is not uncommon to find a dozen or more of them in our two very small, leaf-barren trees at any one time - I can now report the recurring, just like clockwork, visits of several bird species beside goldfinches. Those other species are black-capped chickadees and finches at the feeder and cardinals, dark-eyed juncos and robins on the ground.

What friends they make.

Back on the streets

One consequence of devoting a lot of November and December to moving was stopping walking as a part of my daily activity. With all of the furniture ordered and cooperative weather conditions outside, I have resumed walking. I am the better for it.  My spirits are higher and I have less guilt about not taking care of myself. The best test of my resolve though will come when seasonal weather conditions return, as they surely will. But I am not particularly concerned as I have walked during past winters and know how to cope with winter harshness.