Things Are Looking Up

There is nothing like a freshly pumped septic tank to make the world look better. Of course, this is 2020 so worse was to come. Friend and in-law Sarah landed in the hospital with a brain aneurysm. Scary. Thankfully, surgery was successful and she is home recuperating. Now the good times can roll again... 

And they are...

On Tuesday, December 22nd, after years of trying and failing to get a photo of a Wrentit, I finally succeeded! Wrentits have been gradually moving northward, along with many other bird species, as our climate warms. Our farm was the first in Yamhill county to have one seen. That was in 1999. They soon were seen in many places in the county, but only off and on at our farm. And never holding still or staying long enough for a photo. Until yesterday. 

I was cutting blackberries by the creek near the barn when I heard a Wrentit's rattling scold. I watched and saw it flitting around a tangle of bushes, complaining bitterly at my intrusion. I left to retrieve my camera from the house. Then I went back to clearing brush to irritate the bird into appearing again.  (They seldom come into view, preferring to rattle a warning or sing their monotonous trill from cover.) It worked! I sat in my EZ Go, as a blind, and took photo after photo of a fast moving, always behind branches, blur. But one of those caught enough of the little varmint to be recognizable.

The next day, December 23rd, we drove our North Santiam raptor route, one of the two we drive each month from November through March. We were amazed at the traffic. Clearly, not many are staying home for the holidays, in spite of health authorities' pleas. Except the raptors. We did not see many. But in my usual hike around the ponds at Lyons City Park, non-raptor birds were plentiful. A Red-breasted Sapsucker went busily about his work, paying no heed to me and my camera. 

A pair of Hooded Mergansers were also cooperative.

The big event this week has been the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. They were closest on the Solstice, December 21st, when, of course, it was cloudy and rainy here. But the skies cleared the next night and I took a photo, a distant photo, of the pair as seen from our farm. Honest, they are in this photo. Zoom it up.

Here, I'll zoom it for you...

And closer...

 

 

I asked Johnny if we walked toward them if we would arrive at a place where the world would be saved. He reminded me that you can only walk in that direction, not expect to arrive. Which reminded me of the words of Thich Nhat Hanh that I have posted by my desk: "The problem is whether we are determined to go in the direction of compassion. . or not...  If I lose my direction I have to look for the north star. I will go to the north. That does not mean I expect to arrive at the north star. I just want to go in that direction."

May we all go in that direction in the year to come. Happy Solstice! Happy Christmas Eve!