Yard Birds

Here is Bob, the crane, just preparing to cross the cattle guard into our yard. Emily, his spouse has already crossed, elegantly stepping out like a careful queen. For the last week this pair has spent most of the day pecking in the sparse grass right outside the door to our house. I am quite sure this is the same couple I obsessed about last spring as they tragically tried to become parents. The male is slightly larger than the female and of course they look identical to every other sand hill crane. But I am convinced that these are indeed Bob and Emily. They have certain personalities I know. For the most part they are loving and amicable, even to doing a few dances in the front yard. And then there are the marital spats accompanied by such bugling it causes us to run out to see what the hullabaloo is all about. By mid afternoon they climb carefully to the top of the mulch pile, flap their huge wings and depart over the barbed wire fence and head for the pond.

No day passes when I don't rescue the frogs and lizards and spiders and stick insects and snakes that mistakenly appear inside. "You don't want to be in the shower," I say to the frog as I scoop it up and release it outdoors.

I have had a happy accomplice this week- my grandson Quincy. He sees that these useful critters are not to be feared or tormented. He's not one of those kids who wants above all to catch frogs or lizards to hold them. He just regards them as a part of the natural place. He and I look with wonder at spider webs and mole trails. We wonder if bats will ever come to live in the bat house we put up during the summer.

The vegetable garden is looking a bit frayed. We still have lettuce, broccoli, carrots and collards with peas and cabbages to come. But I have given up on weeding the pathways and have given them over to the zinnias and weeds. I need a new round bale of hay so I can cover the weeds.

The orchids by the pool are still beautiful and the roses appreciated all the rain we had this week. Seems that these knock out roses will tolerate anything. Even the deer don't touch them. The perennial beds are dying back but the plants around the water garden look fine. Our orange grove got such a hit with the frosts last winter, there is not much fruit this year. Our neighbors have been generous so we are juicing every day.

Who would have thunk it? That a person with a background of urban digs in Beirut, New York, Paris and Washington would find such a perfect niche in rural Dade City. I love visiting big cities and I need the urban fix every so often, but here is what I truly love. I especially love to share my life with the many friends and family who come and appreciate this paradise. Those yard birds say it all.