Black Dirt

I live in an area with deep sand, according to the well drillers about 100 feet are sand before rock and clay. This weekend in west central Minnesota the snow is melted, unlike the foot and a half we have near Danbury. What you see is black dirt, or really mud, because it is still wet. Whereas in Oakland Township we welcome the rain because it firms up the sand, the contrary is true here, because when moisture is added to the black loam, Richardson, I believe it is, it turns to a bottomless quagmire. It also warms up faster and retains heat longer, which is why it is supreme cropland.
On an outing yesterday the terns were kiting across the fields in the 15-20 mile per hour breeze. A couple pairs of ducks whizzed by in the 20 minutes we were on the road.
This early morning there were Robins singing and alerting with their two distinct sounds, and the mourning doves were coo, coo, cooing. We could hear the train coming and it took 20 minutes to get to our location.
The low temperature for the night was 36 Farenheit so the puddles from the melted snow were mirror like.
I is a beautiful sunrise, purple to pink to gray.
Promises in the dirt, and in the sky.

A Horse of Any Color

Well today I was heading west down the highway to the river and the sun was coming up in my rear view mirror. It was so bright I had to put the night setting on the rear view mirror to keep from being blinded. As I exited the pine plantation on my right I noticed three deer out in the clover field that is half a mile deep towards the north and stretches for a mile along the road. Then I realized there were more deer, three here, four there, three more, three more, five more and three more until by the end of the field I estimate about 25 to 30 were out there. So then I went through another woods area and came out and there was a horse standing in the ditch. I stopped and shooed it back through the hole in the fence and then went up to the house and told the owner. He was grateful.
Then nothing happened the rest of the way to work, other than a few pairs of geese, and a trio of mallards.
But it was a bright brisk morning.
No snow like they predicted.

I will be in another part of the state for the weekend.

Have a great one, weekend that is.

Two by Two

I stepped out the back door today and heard some spring crows cawing in the distance. You can hear better in the early spring because there are no leaves on the trees except for the dead oak leaves that will fall off as soon as the new growth start. The snow that is left on the ground that is melting during the forty degree days, freezes during the twenty degree nights. So the snow is a perfect sounding board.
Hearing the crows caused me to pause, and then I could hear a brace of geese softly squawking to each other as they glided by, seeing and avoiding me.
As I went down the road I saw a pair of long necked turkey vultures gliding and occasionally flapping their wings in perfect unison.
A cup of coffee made the morning complete.
And then a drake and hen mallard flew by.
The waterfowl are back, and the buzzards are finding the remains of the winter damage.
Life begins again today.
I saw a deer as big as a cow this afternoon. It was sneaking across the highway 300 yards in front of my car, acting as though it thought I did not see it. The sun is setting later, so of course I did.

Could not see the antlers, but, it was a gray old thing.

Later

Eagles and Deer, Spring is Here

On the way home yesterday I was tired. The sun was low in the sky. I saw three deer cross the road ahead of me. Then I turned the corner and saw four more. Two miles down the road I saw six more out in the field. I had to slow down for one that was standing on the road. Then traveling east on 48 I saw a field full of them. So the total was about 40 by the time I got home. I also saw one eagle flying and one sitting in a tree and one on the side of the road.

Today there were more deer, I saw at least fifty. And one Eagle.

There is nothing nicer than the sun shining and snow melting in the spring. Driving with the window down and smelling the freshness of the land.

Unless it is walking in the spring and listening and hearing, as well as seeing.

MEANWHILE - BACK AT THE CABIN - A Year Later

This has been a good year and a very bad year.

The bad started in Feb 2007 when we found out, primarily by having two snowstorms in a two week period, that Arly is allergic to something in the oaks. We had her tested and the result was, . . . . Arly is allergic to oak mold. So what we have here is oak and no wind, damp moist sand that is permeated with mold from the collections of leaves. We live in oak forest, not oak savannah, so now we are trying to find how to solve the problem.
Normal prescription drugs had no effect so she went homeopathic. The homeopath said he could give temporary relief which he did, but the thing that helped the best was going and visiting a friend in North Dakota for a week. She got better and came back home. Then her dad got sick, and his machine shed burned down, then he really got bad, and in the middle of summer he died. So there was that added insult to her system. Then in early September we went on a wonderful camping trip to the North Dakota Badlands. We love the view, and she kept saying it was so wonderful to breathe.
That comes back later.
Then my boss retired and I tried for her job and didn't get it. Then in the week before Christmas 2007 Arly damaged her eye. I accidently josteled her elbow when I was getting out of bed and she was rubbing her eyes. It turned out that she had been massaging her eyes everymorning for the whole year, except when we were on vacation, and coinciding has had trouble breathing, because her eyelids were sticking to her cornea. Her cornea was ripped and two optometrists and two opthalmogists said the the ripping was caused by dry eye which was caused by her mold allergy.
So since January 2008 she has been living in Kerkhoven , while I have been in Danbury and Kerkhoven.

So we need to move.

It is sad that such a beautiful place can be toxic for her.

We are looking for our next place to live.

Hayden Lake is beautiful.
I saw three eagles today, and I saw three deer this evening.
This is a God thing, and we don't know what God's will is for the next step, but we are taking it by looking for a place to live in or near Sandstone, where I work.

All things change, except God.