flocking outside

we like birds. i've done some stuff in the yard to make it more bird-friendly, such as putting in plants attractive to birds (both humming and non-humming), installing bird baths and houses, not using chemical lawn and plant fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, and so on. we don't have a true hedgerow yet, but i'm working on it.

however, until recently, we didn't have any bird feeders. i've read that you're not supposed to feed the birds, as that makes them dependent on humans for food and therefore less able to survive if said food supply is interrupted. i've also read that the previous sentence is a load of BS (or BF, as the H-bomb would say), and that feeding the birds supplies a stable source of food during otherwise lean times (aka winter). in addition (according to the internet, which is always true), birds only get, at most, 25% of their food from feeders, even during winter, so putting out a feeder or two isn't going to ruin their lives.

so we put out a feeder in the side yard, and we waited to see what happened. the squirrels loved it. then i put vasoline on the post, and the squirrels hated it. and the birds turned up. (note:  i've since read that you shouldn't use vasoline or similar stuff to squirrel-proof your feeder, so i'll have to do something else from now on).

we have several pairs of cardinals, who are constant visitors to our feeder. the males get all the color, while the females have the more interesting red edges.

juncos are common diners, both on the feeder and on the ground below. the males are dark on the top and white underneath, while the females are more brown. (note:  i'm not sure the bird on the left below is a female junco, as max's awesome birds of indiana field guide shows the female junco to be lighter in color. that is the closest match, however, so i'm going with it.)

we also have a bunch of tufted titmouses (titmice?). these birds have a similar shape to the cardinals, although they are somewhat smaller. funny story:  i told max that if he stood next to the feeder and remained quiet and motionless for several minutes, the birds would not notice him and would come feed, completely ignoring him. so max tried it, and after a couple of minutes, a titmouse landed in the crabapple about five feet behind him and began singing (i've heard their song for years and never knew what bird was making it). unfortunately, max chose this moment to get bored with waiting and said, "this sucks, i'm done," and the titmouse flew away. oh well.

we have two (dead) wasp nests in the branches of a maple tree, and we have been seeing titmice pecking (eating?) them. not sure what that's about.

i think this is a female goldfinch, or perhaps a male in his winter plumage. we have lots of goldfinches around here, especially during the late summer/early fall. they love to eat the seeds in the garden (i let the flowers go to seed so i can harvest them, plus i like attracting the birds). zinnias appear to be their favorite.

this is a white-breasted nuthatch. they used our wren birdhouse last year, and i hope they plan to come back this year. i love how they always perch on vertical surfaces and walk down tree trunks and whatnot.

the robins came back early this year, in the second week of february (it was early march last year). i'm sure the mild, snow-light winter had nothing to do with it (and climate change is a myth). they love crabapples, and i was glad to have a visual example to show the boys why i always tell them in the fall to not use all the crabapples as projectile weapons (the robins will need them in the spring! leave them alone!). the robins apparently also like the red berries on the unidentified thorny bush outside the dining room window.

we have sparrows. billions and billions of sparrows. there are numerous species that all look about the same. the one below appears to be either a chirping or tree sparrow, posing with his friend (bully) mr. cardinal.

fyi:  a couple of years ago, i put up a bluebird house. i was excited when a flock of 10-12 bluebirds showed up in the fall and made a big production of checking out the house, then continuing on their migration. i hoped they would come back and stay in the spring. unfortunately, sparrows occupied the house last summer, as well as a pocket squirrel last fall (who was unceremoniously evicted when i climbed a ladder to clean it out, scaring the hell out of both of us). the other day i saw a flock of bluebirds in the yard. i ran out with the camera, but they were gone. however, i saw this (i think) house sparrow coming out of the bluebird house. sigh. guess i'll have to put up some more bluebird boxes.

also not pictured on the feeder or in the yard are the numerous chickadees (likely carolina chickadees, which look identical to the more-often but often erroneously identified yet rarer black-cap chickadees) and starlings (migrating back north already). not to mention the blue jays, various hawks, turkey vultures, owls (heard but not seen), finches, crows, hummingbirds, and ravens that we've seen in the yard from time to time. when i get pictures of them, expect to see them here!

suuuuuuure

Just making snowmen in our shirt sleeves, you know, just like any other winter. Good thing we had those croutons and pretzel sticks on hand.

our chocolate valentine

After a puppyhood filled with naughty behavior like eating the furniture, all the socks, and even the very walls of our house, Charlie has turned into the most patient and fun dog ever. He'll be six in a couple of months, and he has more than a little gray under his chin, but he's full of life ... and full of love for the boys, especially Henry. The only time he EVER shows any kind of warning behavior is when an adult seems to threaten one of his boys. He snapped at my sister one time when she tried to lift Henry out of the gate outside (he didn't hurt her; he just wanted her to put the boy down), and sometimes he will even growl at Mike or at me when we hug the boys (or they hug us) with any kind of enthusiasm. He's just doing his job. Meanwhile, look what he will let Henry get away with.

We've got plans for Charlie this year. Whenever possible, we hope to take him along on our state park adventures, and he's even going on vacation with us this summer. We are nervous but excited about that. Stay tuned!

max at ten

This year, Max asked for a slumber party instead of a weekend trip or a regular birthday. He invited three friends over, and they all spent the night eating pizza, playing video games, watching movies, and singing songs together (yes, it turns out that boys do that too!). At one point in the night, one of his friends got a little overwhelmed and nervous because the others wanted to play on the Wii U, but he didn't know how, so he hid up in Max's room by himself. Max was so kind to him! He kept going upstairs to check on his friend and play with him a little bit, then coming back down to play with the other two for a couple minutes, then going back up to check on the boy upstairs. Max didn't pressure his friend; he just offered his company, understanding, and encouragement, and eventually his friend came back downstairs, and before too long, he was playing the Wii U and doling out high-fives with the others.

And that's our Max. He might have a blind spot when it comes to his brothers, but when it comes to everyone else, Max is insightful, understanding, and so so sweet. He really cares about other people, and makes an impressive effort to understand different points of view. I'm no expert on child development, but to me he seems kind beyond his years.

In other news, my stubborn hope from last year has finally come true: Max LOVES to read! I'm going to offer a lot of the credit to Max's fourth-grade teacher, Mr. K. Regular readers will remember that last year Max wrote a persuasive essay about why he shouldn't have to do homework, and one of his main supporting points was that he already knew everything and the work was too easy for him. Well, this year Mr. K. took Max at his word. At the beginning of the year, they worked together to make a list of things Max wanted to learn that were outside of the regular fourth-grade curriculum. Some of the things on the list were pretty typical, like doing harder math problems and equations, but then Mr. K. proposed picking one area of study with many applications, so Max could do a sort of independent study thing as class time allowed. Given his love of calamari and Aunt Popi, it seemed like a no-brainer that Max would choose Greece as his main theme and branch out from there (studying plants and animals, food, architecture, etc.), and as it turns out, Mr. K. is also an avid fan of all things Greek and has even studied the language! It's been a perfect fit. Max has delved really deeply into Greek mythology, which led to me buying him a couple of books on the subject (which he devoured), which led to him reading the Percy Jackson series of books about a young demigod ... and just like that, we have another reader in the family. His current project is to take everything he has learned about Greek mythology and (along with two of his classmates) consolidate it into a presentation for his class. He has been showing us the slides as he finishes them, and we have been so entertained. Maybe when it is done I will be able to figure out how to post it here so you can all enjoy his wit and wisdom for yourselves.

This really has been a year of great joy for Max, and for us watching Max. Aside from reading, this has been a year of adventure for him: He took his first flight, which was also his first flight without us, when he went to California with Grandma Barb. He discovered that he really likes hiking, and took a 10-mile hike in Gatlinburg with Uncle Matt. He's been to Ocracoke and DC and San Diego and Gatlinburg and Naperville. He's spent time doing fun things with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and even his great-grandpa. And he seems to really appreciate all of those things, and to understand how precious it is to have so many opportunities and so many loved ones.

Tonight, we're having dinner at a steakhouse with Aunt Bethany, Aunt Loni, Uncle Craig, and Lilly and Jack. Friday night, Max is spending the night with my parents, and later in the weekend he'll spend time with Barb and Kevin. So if nothing else, someday Max will look back on his 10th birthday and know that he was surrounded with love.

Happy birthday, Max. You are loved.

state parks project, part 3: turkey run

After we got our fill of eagles, we headed to Turkey Run State Park, where we had brunch in the inn. It was delicious, and only a little terrifying when Henry and I were going down the buffet line and he managed to set a piece of waxed paper (separating layers of pancakes) on fire with the warming candles, then brush the flaming paper against his shirt. "Henry!" I yelped. "Are you on FIRE?" And of course, until the second I said something, he didn't realize that he was, in fact, playing with fire. I patted his shirt down quickly with one hand while grabbing the paper away with the other, and before long everything was back to normal. Whew!

After brunch, we set off on a very, very, very muddy hike. More than once I almost left my shoes behind when I lifted up my feet. We went down 70 helpfully labeled steps, through a muddy clearing, up a few unalabeled steps, and made our way across a suspension bridge. After that, we explored rock formations and ice formations and trails galore. This was probably the longest hike of the weekend, and we were all pretty tired by that point, but we didn't want to stop because there was something gorgeous around every rock, every bend in the trail. We didn't even get to a waterfall, but the things we did see more than made up for that.

Including this woodpecker, who was completely unimpressed with the gaggle of humans oohing and aahing at it from the ground below.

And here is where I tell you that we were so impressed with the setting and beauty of the Turkey Run Inn that I came home and immediately started looking for deals to stay at other state park inns. We already had one reservation, and I'm not gonna lie, we have more now. There are seven inns in the state park system. I'm not saying we *have* to stay at them all this year as part of our state parks quest ... but man oh man would I love to!

See also: SPP 1, SPP 2.

eagles!

Sunday morning we got up way too early and caravanned with some nice people from the DNR to a remote location for a sunrise eagle watch. There were probably about 15 vehicles in the caravan. We weren't expecting a lot, just hoping to see an eagle or two, and we didn't even fully understand the location or how they even knew there would be eagles there. In fact, we almost skipped it in favor of just trying to find an eagle on our own.

Well. Color us surprised! The viewing site was a country road that paralleled an old covered bridge (so pretty! so dilapidated!), and the eagles were nesting nearby on their southern journey. We learned that they come there every year. It's one of their routine stops. They go south until an area freezes over, then they go further south until that area freezes over, and then in the spring they reverse the process. Bald eagles, by the way, and mostly juveniles at that, easily identified by their white armpits.

We had to wait a while for the sun to come up, and there was some grumbling among the children about how BORING everything is, but then, just after sunrise, against a backdrop of dark, fast-moving clouds, the first bird left its nest and flew right over our heads. It was followed by another, and another, and eventually DOZENS more. The lady from the DNR (who, by the way, was extraordinarily nice and helpful and informative, and who even loaned Max a pair of binoculars) tried to count them, but gave up after she hit 37. They filled up the sky and were doing this thing called kettling, where they go out and then back. They were circling around each other and playing in the air.

It was truly an incredible thing to watch. I'm so glad we didn't skip this.

state parks project, part 2: shades

Saturday afternoon we decided to double our fun by heading to Shades State Park in Waveland (just outside of Crawfordsville, where we stayed for the night. By the time we got there, we only had about an hour and a half before the park closed, but I feel we made pretty good use of the time. We climbed down into Devil's Punch Bowl, a ravine with a small waterfall, and explored happily. The waterfall was frozen, so we got to check off a bucket list item: ice falls!

There were ice formations along the ravine too, somehow attached to the mossy rock wall. It was amazing and more than a little treacherous. At one point Liam and I were trying to cross an icy stream, and I lost my footing and fell pretty hard. Luckily, I was only bruised and wet, but not broken. Surprisingly, that didn't put an end to our adventure. We stayed until the sun started to go down (the park closes at dusk), then made our way back up to the van. Back at the hotel, a long soak in the hot tub worked wonders for my aching muscles.

Just like at Prophetstown, I felt like we could have spent a lot more time seeing all that the park had to offer. We're barely scratching the surface with these visits, but at the same time, we're leaving each time tired and amazed and fulfilled. Maybe we'll find a couple of duds along the way? One-and-done parks? Stay tuned.
 

See also: SPP 1.