Where Birds, Squirrels and Humans Meet

For over a decade we have supported the winter feeding of birds. Right now we have a hexagon shaped feeder that holds over a gallon of sun flower seed. blue birds, red headed work peckers, cardinals, finches and a few other bird species love to visit. Our back yard is like an air field. Birds first line up in the back woods and wait for a clear approach. They approach the feeder, avoiding mid air collisions, and land on the ledge for a seed extravaganza.

And along with any free food outlet come the squirrels. Through the years we have experimented with different squirrel defense fortifications, or maginot lines, designed to keep the squirrels out of the bird feeder. I have come to learn that squirrels are very creative. They use persistent experimentation to find ways to reach the feeder. Some historical data- Over the past four years the squirrels have learned to jump eight inches higher. Second, a twelve inch disc that provides a protective squirrel collar no longer works. The squirrels now jump from the railing to the pole, shimmy up to the collar and do a wrap around maneuver to get up to the feeder.

So today I added a sixteen inch collar that goes on top of the twelve inch barrier.  Three hours since placement the squirrels efforts to reach the feeder have been subverted; my victory for the day.

p.s. the squirrels do not go hungry. At the deck level they feed on the seeds dropped by the birds at the feeder.

Speak Now, Oh Warrior

Speak Now Oh Warrior- a poem for solstice
Days shortened in light
Temperatures drop and I shutter as the
    northern breeze touches my neck
I stand here watching the stars move overhead
    like my father, like his father and his and his before me

Men I have not known but who lived in the
    same environ of trees, air, earth, fire and water
Men I do not understand; Men now laid to rest,
    who lived as the hunters and warriors before me with families, work
    and spoken and quiet questions

Warriors who survived catching food, fought
    great battles; who mated, hunted and
    gathered in a time before telecommunications,
    machines, running water, heat,
    before Nordstroms or Stop & Shop
Warriors who never understood 23 ½ degree
    tilt or why darkness came or why seasons repeat

Perhaps they lived in fear and desired to serve
    the great master of the seasons;
    their perspective limited to telling the great
    stories of their ancestors painted across the sky

Or maybe they had it figured out just right.
    There is darkness and there is light.
    A cycle of light and darkness that occurs in perfect balance

My breath quickens as I look up and see Orion’s belt,
    sword hanging as he walks
    the skies with his dogs. I live in awe
    knowing this heritage continues today

Speak now oh warrior. The cycle has begun again.
    The light is reborn! Farmers now know the planting day.
    This is the season of greater darkness
    and now we stand, speak and celebrate

Sing now in song, oh warrior!
    the sun comes back again and again

All material copyrighted by the author

Morning Clarity

So well represented today by the frost on the back deck.
(click on picture to enlarge)

Sunrise Planet Newark

I know that texting while driving or using your cell phone without a headset are dangerous operations. Dangerous for yourself and others on the road. In addition to my iphone camera I usually travel with a point an shoot camera in the car. With that I caught the sunrise while heading south on the NJ turnpike. It shows the eastern radiance highlighting the cargo cranes of the wharf.  I heard once that in Oakland, CA the tall shipping cranes were an inspiration to George Lucas when he designed the robots in the sand battle for the second Star Wars film. The sun, the cranes provided an awesome view of planet-full living.

Integrating Variability with Predictability

Sailing during this late summer has included times of easy expectation and also times of hair raising excitement. Small boat sailing is a process of examining the natural conditions and then constructing a plan to work with them in order to move the boat through the water. This post is about working with variability and predictability.

Predictable Currents at Buoy 25

The wind, weather forecast, tidal current, sun and moon angles, sail selection and sail trim all provide data that gets integrated before embarking and then again when out on the water. On calmer days you can take your time. On windier days with gusts 30% higher than the norm you get a change in apparent wind direction that require a prompt sail and steering adjustment.

Predicability
The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provides 2-3 day forecasts that have proved to be pretty accurate. I keep the sites bookmarked on my iphone. Most of the time I only read the first...what are the winds going to be today?
NOAA NY area winds (scroll down to New York Harbor)
National Weather Service NY temps and winds upriver
Live calculating Tide, Sunrise, Sunset and Moon Calculations Haverstraw (non-gov site)
Regional Radar- (turn on animation to see directional change)

Variability
Last weekend was a great northwest wind day.  Northwest winds come when a Canadian high pressure system comes to town. They are characterized by periods of steady wind and then variable gusts. On the North-South oriented Hudson River a northwest wind means it is easy to sail South. Sailing back to the North requires tacking and sailing a longer than a straight line distance (86 sec video).

Last weekend on Haverstraw Bay the winds were 10-15 knots with gusts to 25 knots. (A knot is 1.1 mile an hour).
This sailor near Fisher's Island on Long Island Sound experienced the variability and the force of the northwest wind that contributed to the boat grounding. This and other accidents that day are described in "The Day"- Thanks Joe)

Sailing blends the predictable and the variable that makes every voyage different. When the variable gets outside the range of predictable conditions a chain of events can happen so quickly that the training of what to do next, a process of real time integrated thinking, may not keep up. Accidents can happen. Some years I have shied away from heavy and variable winds conditions. This year I find it invigorating.

We wear life jackets, practice MOB (man overboard) drills and it's been great. More posts on sailing to follow.

After the Storm

As a teen I took up sailing with an attitude when my father moved from the speed and noise of power boats to the slow and quiet of the sailboat. As an adult I have gone through periods of sailing my boat, sailing on friend's boats, and no sailing-no boat. For the past five years I've had a 22 foot trailer sailer. It is a perfect low maintenance vessel used on the water in summer and resting in the driveway in winter. My intention this year has been to share sailing with friends and family. And it is going oh so perfectly!

Last night was a late start because of the a thunder storm traveling from west to east. We were on the edge of the storm and delayed our embarking to wait for the rain. The rain stopped and right before going out we saw this rainbow- touching land to the south and the north. Out on the water the thin wispy clouds continued to pour over the western slopes. We traveled to Ossining, toured the prison by sea and returned with a dark, star lit night as the wind died and the current built against us

An awesome place to be. Today it is blowing 15-20 knots from the west-northwest. Sailing begins at 4:30.

“I believe in God. Only I spell it N-A-T-U-R-E."

This quote by Frank Lloyd Wright is the summary of an article written by Michelle Richards in her post 'A Reluctant Camper' in Unitarian Universalist Parenting.

Our family has camped- mostly in warm weather and sometimes sleeping on top of rocks. I too have experienced the wonder and quiet of the night. Have you?

Boys in the Back

This past week the boys, that is the buck deer, have reestablished themselves in our back yard. In the middle of summer the woods are thick with leaves, vines, downed trees still alive and ground cover. The squirrels shake the trees on their majestic jumps from branch to branch while the cardinals and humming birds are active both in song and in flight.

As summer has passed, the buck have increased their rack size since the earlier spring post. I look for them every day but it seems like it's the evening when they want to settle down and rest in the bed of leaves. Recently, I have been on an investigation about the turtle population of New Jersey and I never considered the lives of a buck deer until they started to come around regularly. In Pennsylvania stories circulate about the wisdom and elusiveness of bucks during hunting season so I am always awed to see them. Last weekend I walked closer to take photos while they rested. They continued with their own business as I walked toward them, keenly watching and allowing me to get within 100 feet. But when I sat on the grass that was too much and off they went into the thick woods where we could hear them but not see them.

This week they've visited the leaf zone at least twice. Three males, all antlered walked down the grass and into the woods. On nature type TV Darwin's natural selection model usually portrays males as territorial and controlling in order to show their 'mate with me' attributes to females. Our back yard boys are about the same size with one slightly larger than the other two. Witnessing them come into our yard was one amazing thing- but as you'll see in this 37 second video two bucks approached each other and started to lick each others neck. The big antlers somehow staying out of the way they continued for at least 3 minutes. What an amazing thing to witness. So that's what really happens in the back woods.

Swirling

I realize that rivers are in at least two of my key nature places. The Ramapo River is a core low land feature of Ramapo Reservation in Mahwah. The park is magnificent because you can choose the watery low land hike, the ascending on road hike, the ascending through the woods hike with stream or without, or just a walk around the lake.

Being in the woods is often accompanied with the quiet that I enjoy. From the quiet I can hear my heart, my breath and I picture my heart beating, pumping and distributing fresh blood and O2. Being next to the river I listen to the rushing of water that overcomes any sound of cars driving on nearby roads. Only 30 yards wide in this area, the river sometimes seems like a stream. There are numerous places to sit, either on the shore, or slightly above the river. These are my places of nature watching, of meditation.



I like circles and spirals; especially where they exist in motion. The place where the river intersects the shoreline are natural spiral locations. The place where rocks, immovable objects, force the fluid water to go around them are perfect places for spirals. Emerson says about circles, "...the highest emblem in the cipher of the world".