Don't Let it Snow.

First SNOW FLURRIES! Accompanied by frigid temperatures.

It's On

Today, small lakes have frozen over, with a thin layer of ice...

Call of the Wild

I'm standing in the prairie, rushing to collect flags, when the primordial trumpet of sandhill cranes causes me to stop all motion. I look around, get sun-blinded, regain my bearings, look again, see nothing. How can a noise that is so loud, and that sounds like it's surrounding me, be coming from things that I can't even find? Finally, with the help of a few 7th graders, I see them. Six "vee" formations, or seven maybe, each with a hundred or more birds in it. They are so high up that they look like dust almost, or ashes floating in the wind. But once I see them, I can't stop seeing them... a thousand birds, each as tall as me but so high up I can hardly see them, so numerous I can hear them distinctly, all journeying together, most likely to Florida... it's an amazing sight, one that brings you close to the ancients. I can imagine, a thousand years ago or more, people walking through the prairie, and stopping at the arresting call of the cranes. Taking a minute to ponder, to celebrate, before resuming life's daily tasks. In this season of thankfulness, I am grateful for cranes.

Another Day...

Yesterday's high: 66 deg.

Current temp: 26 deg, on our way to a high of 36, which will feel colder if we keep having winds at around 20 mph.

Are you kidding me?

This (admittedly not very artistic) photo shows a frozen puddle. There is no ice on edge of the lake, but this is largely because the biting strong winds are making the water turbulent, and therefore unable to freeze over.

This morning, I got out my winter coat and winter boots (not the warmest pair I own, but winter nonetheless). I thought I might feel silly and overdressed. Not so. Rather, I am sort of annoyed with myself that I went with the fall gloves and hat, and didn't get out the long underwear. It may have been overkill, but it would have been comfortable overkill!

Flip Flop

Currently, it is thunder storming (dark as night) and almost 60 degrees even this early in the morning. Crazy November weather!

OMG

Holy cow! It is seriously, bone-chillingly COLD out there!

Still Here

Today we saw:

• a toad
• a great blue heron
• a frog (student-reported, I didn't see the frog).

Shouldn't these people be employing their winter survival strategies one of these days?

Cattails

Cattails look a bit ratty at the moment, like wet sweaters... Their seeds are everywhere...

It looks brown out. In the hedgerows, tree branches are empty except for the occasional adornment of Osage oranges. The prairie has shades of yellow, tan, brown... but no green. Insects no longer hop out of the way as you walk through the dried grasses. The chickadees have gathered for the winter, and juncos dart from here to there. I haven't seen a heron in a week or so, or a redwing blackbird in longer...

So WHY is it supposed to be in the mid-60's today and all week? Seems like it's much higher than average...

A Strange Complaint

It looks brown out. In the hedgerows, tree branches are empty except for the occasional adornment of Osage oranges. The prairie has shades of yellow, tan, brown... but no green. Insects no longer hop out of the way as you walk through the dried grasses. The chickadees have gathered for the winter, and juncos dart from here to there. I haven't seen a heron in a week or so, or a redwing blackbird in longer...

So WHY is it supposed to be in the mid-60's today and all week? Seems like it's much higher than average... I do like it, but it's starting to seem odd.

Not a Lot to Say, but...

I saw a bluebird.