Leaf Out in Scotch Valley

Driving down from Saint Francis today the shades of yellows and greens against the mountains. Some trees have already flowered, like the maples, but now those are leafing out. The red flowers of the red buds and the white flowers of service berry offer bursts of bright color contrasting against the dark trees.

Scotch Valley and the Canoe Creek area offer the random placements of these trees in the untamed areas and the neatly planted rows of them in the domesticated landscaping of the homes and lawns of the tame. Give me the surprise of a splash of color. You can keep the neat and tidy landscaping.

Even the birds are coloring up. Goldfinches have their yellow and black feathers back. A male bluebird is frequenting property offering flashes of blue and orange as he flies from perch to perch. Purple finches are frequenting the yard in search of sunflower seed. Their is nothing quite like their raspberry red coloring. Even the female offers a brown and white pattern that is quite pleasing.

Spring Marches Forward

As April has moved along, warming temperatures accompanying some rain has brought numerous wildflowers and some wildlife to Red House. Spring peepers have been joined by the trill of toads while the wood frogs have fallen silent. April 20th in the evening after a good soaking rain, I found two mallard ducks in my yard. I watched them for a few minutes and then caught some distant movement out of my eye. A large snapping turtle was traversing the wettest part of the property, moving towards a drainage ditch that connects to Canoe Creek. I wished my daughter had been here to see it.

Other noteworthy events include the discovery of the heron rookery I had heard about. I saw 11 nests, but I am told there are 18. Also, I drove (slowly) through Scotch Valley April 17th I think, counting the deer that were emerging as the light of day disappeared. 54 deer were seen. I can't recall the last time I saw that many deer in one day, let alone 15 minutes.

Greening grass and emerging spring wildflowers have also been a pleasure to watch. While skunk cabbage was definitely an early arrival months ago, I have found trout lily, at least two species of violet, and Christmas fern up and active in the last two weeks. Beautiful to say the least.

Energy Bad and Good News

I came home this evening to an error message on my propane boiler, leading me to spend an hour and a half to figure out why my boiler wasn't working. I called the guy that installed it. Then after some additional attempts to get it to light, we found the problem. No propane. I had been watching the gauge for a month, trying to gauge the costs of this new furnace and the fuel it will consume, and the gauge hadn't moved. I have no experience with propane, and the boiler is an Energy Star appliance so I thought it might be what to expect. I should have realized the propane gauge was stuck. So the propane truck is on the way.

The good news is the woodburner was ready to serve and the living room thermostat is now reading 78 degrees and a fan is blowing heat into the bedroom. A red glowing fire with the occasional cracks and pops of the burning wood is very comforting.

Spring Peepers & Wood Frogs

The onslaught of warm weather and rains has pushed us into spring. I have added a great blue heron to my yard list, as well as a belted kingfisher, and Canada geese. I have heard a kinglet, but I don't remember if it is a ruby- or golden-crowned kinglet. The most exciting sound in the evening is the frog calls. Wood frogs call their duck like "chucks" while the peepers scream out their peep calls from the yard not more than 30 feet from the house. The attached video is nothing but sound, so don't hope for a picture. It's dark at night and I don't want to silence the chorus with light!

Coltsfoot Has Bloomed

At last, the flowers of spring are pushing through the ground and opening their flowers against the chill and the wind. Driving back from church today, I spotted the bright yellow of a group of six coltsfoot flowers alongside the road near the Sternagles home. Walking from the house along the driveway to get the mail, one lone flower could be seen just above the dried leaves from last year. What a cheery sight to see after a relatively snowless, brown winter. The rains of late have been gentle enough to move into the thawing ground, hopefully replenishing the groundwater from last year's dryness. Perhaps this is the way of the future: winter rains replenishing the groundwater instead of snow. Regardless, the recent rains, lengthening days, and moderating temperatures seem to have moved us a step forward with coltsfoot emerging from the ground.

Other notes include:

• two deer were a few feet from the porch last night, eating sunflower seeds put out for the birds.
• walking the road today yielded a great blue heron, a very cold meadowlark on the wire, and a pair of Canada geese and a pair of mallards on the pond near the house.
  

First Spring Peeper and More

I stepped outside around 11PM and heard several feeble peeps from a spring peeper. I've been hearing them in Osterburg on and off from March 15th on. Of course, Friday night March 21st produced four inches of snow and created several cancelled Easter Egg Hunts on Saturday. It also produced a tremendous fallout of ducks on Canoe Creek which I missed. I was called about it and was told the entire lake was covered with perhaps 10,000 ducks. I was in Clearfield so I drove to Curwensville Dam where I found the ice has not yet gone out. Not a single duck was seen.

As spring moves forward, spring beauties are up but not flowering yet. I popped several daffodils in the ground for my daughter to watch emerge. I also dropped a red trillium, white trillium, jack-in-the-pulpit, and maidenhair fern bulbs in the ground hoping to start a shade garden. First, I'd like to see some temperatures above 60 degrees and hear the chorus of peepers and some wood frogs croaking soon. Come on spring!

A Chilly Day at Canoe Lake

Today was spent in church and assembling a shelf for the daughter. A brief stop at Canoe Lake yielded 87 ring-necked ducks, probably 5 canvasbacks, and 2 mallards. The highlight was a muskrat swimming by at less than two feet distance. The rhythmic wiggling of the tail propelled it silently forward while I watched.

I also planted several daffodil bulbs along my sidewalk and created an experimental shade garden with a jack-in-the-pulpit, a maidenhair fern, a white trillium, and a red trillium purchased at Lowe's. I'll be very interested to see how they do.

Tested the pH of the soil also. An even 7, which is very sweet and will provide some good growth, I hope.