Birds!

I put up two hanging feeders last weekend, and after a few days the birds found them. Now I have a constant stream of visitors!

I haven't had much time to watch, so in perhaps 15 minutes total time I have seen at the feeders:
Oregon Junco (many!)
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow (first time I've seen this western relative of the White-crown)
Song Sparrow
House Finch
Black-capped Chickadee
Downy Woodpecker
Red-shafted (Northern) Flicker
Starlings (too many - they like my suet - but they are very pretty up close)
Brewer's Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird (both blackbirds mixed in with the starlings)
Western Scrub-jay (our version of the Blue Jay - no crest and darker blue)

Not bad for the first week!

Ali and I worked on building seed-starting flats and a little greenhouse today, and I planted posts for a woodpile on the west side of our garage. It's easy to dig deep holes in our soft, saturated clay soil, but below about 1.5 feet the holes start to fill with water and it becomes a race against inflow. This also makes tamping rather difficult, since liquid muck doesn't pack. I was surprised to find such a high water table - there must be an impermeable layer below that holds water near the top. I also managed to do some schoolwork, but not as much as I hoped so I will plan on spending more time on that tomorrow.

Our chicks are doing well, though not all are growing at the same rate. We had one "sneezing" chick from the beginning. When it started to appear ill we separated it from the others, and it died a day later. We are hoping that its affliction will not spread to the others, but so far they all seem healthy.

Spring! And Chicks!

People here claim that it is still winter, and in all reality not much has changed in the weather. It doesn't drop to 24 degrees like it did on occasion in January - lows above freezing are more the norm now. And our warm days have gotten just a bit warmer - 58.1 last Friday. But with the longer days, nature is fast awakening, and we are now seeing the equivalent of about April 5th in Minnesota. Crocuses are just starting to bloom, and some sweet-scented evergreen shrubs are blooming across town and perfuming the air. Seeing as the spring season lasts through the end of May, I can only assume that this climate enjoys an extended spring - which I thoroughly look forward to.

We are at 0.61" of rain today, making this the rainiest day since New Years and possibly breaking what has been a "drought" winter here. I say "drought" because even with below average rain the high humidity, clouds, fog, and cool temperatures keep the ground wet and the plants green in the absence of significant precip. But plants here depend on soaking rains in the winter to get them through the almost rainless summer, so farmers are breathing a small sigh of relief today and will be happy to see the rains continue through the week as is currently predicted.

Our chicks arrived yesterday - eight mixed-sex Cuckoo Marans, two Buff Orpington hens, two Black Star hens, and one "free gift" - which has feathered feet and appears to be a Silver-laced Cochin. We ordered ten but they ship a few extra in case some die in shipping. They are now happily peeping under a heat lamp in a large box in our entry room.

Last weekend we set an illegal fire to burn the two large piles of blackberry brambles, tree prunings, old grape vines, and junk lumber in our backyard. Our house effectively hid the fire from the road, but we still held our breath when a fire truck drove by (apparently called to a similar illegal fire a few blocks west). Technically we aren't supposed to burn until March 1 (don't know why but it might be air quality issues with all the woodstoves in the winter). But with the long dry spell about to end and the brushpiles sitting on our future garden plots, we decided to go for it. I bought a used chainsaw two weeks ago, and after ordering and installing some parts finally made use of it in pruning and cutting out some small unwanted trees. It subsequently developed a fuel line blockage and is now in the shop getting that looked at.

Along with some chick feed, I bought some bird seed and a hanger pole and hung the two feeders that were left to us by the previous tenants. So with luck I will soon attract in some of our local chickadees, juncos, and flickers.

Photos posted

It's been continued unseasonably dry, with two beautiful days this past weekend. I just posted more photos at http://www.luterra.com/essays/20090216.html

All for hot water (and a rooster)

Last weekend we were doing laundry when something smelled like burning plastic. We assumed it was the belt on our old, got-it-for-free washing machine, so we didn't take much notice. But the smell persisted, and soon we had no hot water. We killed the power to the water heater and called the landlord, who came the next morning to discover that a water leak had caused a short and a small insulation fire inside. He removed the offending melted plastic, rewired the circuit, and left. After that we had hot water for the first minute after which it was merely warm. And it still leaked. So today the landlord returned and, in an uncharacteristic move, installed a new hot water heater. When I got home Ebba had just returned from picking up our new rooster and complained that we had no hot water, as in no water coming out. As it turns out, the landlord neglected to fill the tank before turning the power on. I filled the tank, but the heater drew no power and heated no water. So after considering calling the landlord again, I shut off the power, drained the tank, and pulled both heating elements. The bottom one was shiny and new, but the top one was corroded and cracked, a victim of being heated in an empty tank. After a trip to Home Depot and a $10, hopefully reimbursable purchase of an element, we now have hot water again.

Ebba had quite an adventure with our new rooster, who was not particularly excited about being uprooted and quickly set off across the neighbors' land. With some help from the neighbors, she finally got him corralled and into the coop, where he is now getting along quite well with our hens. He is an Ameraucana, so now we can hatch our own purebred blue-egg-layers if we ever want to.

United by weather

A very strong low-pressure system centered on Chamberlain, SD (barometer 28.96" there) is spiraling and sucking in air from 3/4 of the lower 48. Minnesota, ahead of the system, is seeing rain, thunder, and 45 degrees, while Oregon, far on the backside, is seeing a cold day, beginning with ice and snow showers and ending clear, with a chilly northwest breeze. It is not too often in the winter that Minnesota is warmer than Oregon, but this is one of those rare days.

I am feeling much better, almost as if my fever never happened. My test this morning went well, and now I have tonight to study for my Biosystems Modeling test tomorrow. One problem with taking four classes is that tests come around too often...

Fever and rooster killing

Yesterday I felt like I was getting sick, and when I went to be last night my temperature started rising, reaching 100.6 by morning and 101 later in the day. I spent much of the first part of the day in bed, feeling extremely tired but otherwise not too miserable. I'm not sure what I have - flu maybe? - but as of tonight my fever has mostly gone down and I feel much better.

Ali followed through on his promise to kill our rooster today. We were all much in favor given his constant crowing and attacks on anyone who ventured too near. After several escapes, we managed to catch him, behead him, pluck him, and gut him. Or rather Ali did these things while I spent most of the time in the house since my fever gave me chills whenever I ventured out. We have him soaking in brine in our fridge at the moment, and we plan on inviting friends over and eating him tomorrow.

I have tests coming up on Monday and Tuesday, so tomorrow will be mostly a day of studying. If I feel well, I may also squeeze in a trip up into the National Forest land.

Bright and clear

If this were Minnesota, today might rate a "7" on Ed's enjoyment index, if there were such a number. Out here it is probably a "5", inasmuch as days like today can and do happen. I am surprised by how much the weather feels like Minnesota - some of the same smells and the sounds of giant flocks of Canada geese overhead - but it feels like late March or early April. We started at a frosty, foggy 27 degrees this morning, but the fog burned off before noon revealing a cloudless sky, a light south breeze, and a high temperature of 53 degrees. I came home early from school - postponing my work until this evening - to work in the garden. Already I sense a quickening in the birds, the flocks overhead, and the plants - making it clear that we are now on the upswing toward spring and warmer days.

Dry weather in January

We got only 2.77 inches of rain in January, about 40% of average. Half of that fell on the New Years Day storm, so overall the month has been very dry. Folks tell me that January averages two clear days and five partly cloudy days, with the remaining 24 days overcast. This month we had 13 partly to mostly sunny days, including some perfectly clear such as yesterday. An additional five days were foggy with clouds in the valley and sunshine in the mountains. Some parts of the coast range saw 70 degrees (!), but here in the valley the inversions kept us cooler, and the clear nights often dropped into the 20s. The month's high was 56.6 degrees, the low was 22.7 (though it got close to that on about five nights), and the average was 38.9, 0.5 degrees below the long-term average for January.

My blog postings have fallen off recently - sorry to all who have been checking. I have been busier this term with four classes and some work in the lab. I think I will try to avoid spending much time in the lab for the rest of this term, since fitting it in seems to require late nights and long hours.

On my first weekend here I drove down to Eugene for a sing-along circle with Lily and some interesting folks and stayed for a contra dance and a night at Lost Valley. I also brewed a batch of beer that should be ready in early March. The next weekend - MLK day - Ali and I drove to the coast for an amazing clear 60-degree day on the beach, with the requisite stop at Rogue brewery in Newport. The past two weekends I have been working around the yard, first attacking our overgrowing blackberries last weekend, then expanding the chicken run this weekend. I bought a utility trailer in Sweet Home last weekend, and today I used it to haul a load of oak firewood that should keep us warm for the rest of the winter.