Robins

Robins have been on the place in force the last few weeks. They spend a lot of time foraging across the prairie. I’m not sure what they find to eat. Insects, I suppose, since that is what they usually eat. They never visit the bird feeder, which is just as well because the doves, cardinals and juncos go through the birdseed pretty fast as it is. Mockingbirds, though year-around residents, don’t visit the bird feeder either. I guess they rely on invertebrates like the robins. Seems like there would be slim pickins this time of year but maybe there are enough insect larvae close to the surface to provide sustenance. The robins can be heard singing most of the time. They may be the original twitter-verse. While cleaning the lily pool I was bent over just holding the vacuum device to suck up the muck when I felt something on my back. I looked around and a robin flew off. I guess I just looked like part of the scenery to it. We were both surprised.

Besides our array of feral cats, other creatures have been prominent lately. We first saw the mallard pair Sunday, March 8. They’ve taken up residence in the pond as is their wont this time of year. They’ve been doing that for at least the last five years but I think it’s likely been longer than that, maybe as much a eight or nine years. Though I can’t remember for sure, there must have been a time when they were shy and would fly off when one of us showed ourselves so that five or more years just includes the time when they stood their ground, or water, when someone approached. That font of wisdom, the Internet, has this to say about mallard longevity: “Some species of duck live into their 20s. The oldest mallard duck lived to be 27 years old, though the average lifespan in the wild for mallards is about 26 years.” That life span in the wild surprises me. Maybe they will outlast me. Regardless, I hope they continue to appear about this time for years to come.

One night recently I was in the kitchen for a dink of water in the wee hours and saw a pair of foxes pass the kitchen window. They went around the house to the bird feeder and ate birdseed the birds had knocked out of the bird feeder. And one evening this week I saw a cottontail just east of the enclosure but I haven’t seen it since.

We’ve had rain this month. There was .48 inches in the gauge March 9 and again March 14. Them weeds is loving it. Since then we’ve gotten more. Seems like it rains every other day. That has forced the children, of whom we have a bumper crop, to stay indoors. Jill has been working from (our) home the last two weeks. The first week she took advantage of the flexibility her company offers to do that and brought the girls here to spend their spring break. The break was extended because of the contagion and her employer is having all those who can work from home. Abigail has dropped out of college. Well, not really. She came home for spring break, then that was extended for a week and now classes will be online at least until the fall term. We live in interesting times.

The pond pump at the Bluff stopped working and a couple of weeks ago I donned waders and long-sleeved rubber gloves to fish it out in hopes of correcting the problem. I checked that the socket it was plugged into was working and it was so I took the pump home to fiddle with it. When I put it in the well pond and plugged it in, I found that it was working fine. I deduced that there must be a blockage somewhere along the line so I hooked it back up in the Bluff pond and plugged it in. It worked as it is supposed to which led me to believe there had been some blockage around the pump itself rather than in the line. We have it in a shallow round plastic tub to keep the debris out of it so I fished around in that and found the carcass of a large bullfrog. I’m guessing the poor fellow was enjoying a warm day and got too close to the pump’s inlet port. The suction from the pump would have been easily sufficient to pin him against the inlet. The frog was too big to get sucked in and was likely what caused the water to stop circulating. I don’t know whether the suction damaged it enough to kill it or it eventually drowned. Its abdomen was torn open so it could easily have been the suction. Too bad, but now the pump is working properly.

As the late, unlamented month of March fades away, we could sigh with relief, only the problems of March 2020 are still with us. Many are poorer but wiser. Well, poorer for sure. The weather here on the windswept High Plains improved of late, though it wouldn’t taken much to improve over February and early March. We got a light freeze mid-month but Joyce is hopeful the fruit trees will still provide a bountiful harvest. We have changed our routines some to try to avoid the virus so prominent in the news, but we didn’t get out much anyway. Joyce and her friends aren’t able to walk at the mall and miss the exercise and camaraderie. I find plenty to do on SA and out at the Bluff.

I hear about the politicians pulling out all the stops to keep the economy from tanking. Can’t imagine their efforts will be effective, based on history. There is a stimulus bill, which may have passed by now, that includes simply giving people money. I heard comments to the effect that the government is just giving back some money taken from tax payers but I don’t think that’s true. The federal deficit is already in the stratosphere so tax payers were already a long way from covering all the spending. Where does the money come from? The future, I guess. With no spending restraints, seems like our economy lurches from one crisis to next. Congress is free to buy votes and federal agencies can be as burdensome as they please. Meanwhile the excavation continues.