Guest Post by Barbara Paff
Some thirty years ago, Barbara Paff began keeping a nature journal, detailing the pleasures of rural living in Rice Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. During those years, Barb was a librarian at the Hayes Presidential Library/Archive, while her husband, the Rev. Richard Moe, was pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, then located at 3077 County Road 170 in Rice Township. They lived in the parsonage on the south side of the church. In 2004 they moved to Barb’s home town of East Lansing, Michigan, where she continues to enjoy gardening, albeit in a much smaller urban space…but still with plenty of wildlife.
Jan 1, 1994 - Ah, yes, Black Swamp winter…grey, dismal, damp…it snowed, sleeted, and rained today. Saw hundreds of geese, and heard even more. When I woke up, the sun was not quite up…lovely red cloud, pink glow, clear sky above…but by the time it rose, massive clouds submerged it for the rest of the day!
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| Rice Twp. Sandusky County, 1994 |
Jan 5 - Cold and SUNNY today, first time in a week of otherwise leaden skies. More snow yesterday, with a heavy snowstorm predicted for tonight and tomorrow. Still seeing lots of geese, and still have cardinals at the feeder, but haven’t seen woodpeckers since 12/25. Should hang a suet feeder. (Add that to my list of shoulds!)
Jan 6 - Gorgeous snowfall today and tonight, with almost no wind, so it settles on all the branches and makes a magical fairyland. This is the kind of night when Mom would have said “Let’s go for a walk!” Funny how I remember this kind of snow from childhood…it is memorable. I miss the quietness (it was before snowmobiles, and without plows).
Jan 10 - COLD these past days, zero and below at night. Quite a bit of snow, real winter. Last night was lovely: some ground fog…you could see it billowing in the lights…clear cold sky above it, with millions of stars, so clear that the star colors were obvious…orange Aldebaran (I just found it for the first time), others blue or white. Heavy crystals formed on the trees and everything else. This morning at sunrise everything sparkled. The sky was pink, and even the air glittered pink with frost crystals. Tonight it is above 20 degrees, cold wet wind, and snowing vigorously. I’m tired of having to wear multiple layers to keep warm, but still really enjoying the snow, especially when it’s so beautiful. I’ve not even minded driving in it.
Jan 12 - Forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago that the “toilet ants” were back, tunneling under the floor and coming up to build anthills at the base of our toilet. They disappeared when the weather turned bitter cold, but I expect them back in a warm spell. Today and yesterday 30’s, gloomy, damp. Last night heavy fog.
Jan 13 - Another cold gray day…snowing tonight, supposed to be super-cold tomorrow.
Jan 16 - Third day of bitter cold, minus 15 the last two nights. Snowing. Pretty, but I’m too tired to go out and enjoy it! Didn’t I just say last week that I prefer cold and sunny to warmer with gray skies?
Jan 17 - More snow and subzero. I filled the snowblower and was just about to start it when Keith pulled in with the tractor snowblower. It takes him all of five minutes to clear our driveway and the church’s parking lot. Perfect timing! The tractor really moves the snow, especially when it’s light like this. You don’t want to be close by or downwind, because it’s instant whiteout!
Jan 18 - At 10 pm it’s already 23 below, and probably still dropping. Windchill must be about 70 below. Even walking to the mailbox needs a face mask. I scattered 2 big cans of birdseed this morning, but they didn’t eat it all…I suppose they can’t stay exposed to the wind long enough to eat. Or maybe a lot of them didn’t make it through last night…and what about tonight? This weather will surely thin the wildlife population. I’ve not seen weather like this since the first year we lived here [1983-84], and even then, it lasted only a couple of days. To us it didn’t seem too bad, because we had just come from Iowa. This is life-threatening stuff.
Jan 19 - Minus 26 this morning, 16 in the garage. Birds looked rumpled and slow, poor things. At least some of them came to the feeders today, but the tube feeder is still full, so the cold and wind must prevent them from using it. Maybe they can’t hang on to the perches. Gabe’s paws get packed with ice…it must be really painful, because it stops him cold (so to speak) and he just lies down in the snow. Haven’t seen bunnies raiding the birdseed this last two evenings, either. I hope they can find cover. I have seen them with their ears frozen off, just little stumps left. I really don’t know where the birds go…don’t see how they can survive roosted as usual in the pine trees. Stars were spectacular last night…
Jan 25 - Blizzard tonight…tiny, biting little pellets, almost like sleet. Lots of drifting. Supposed to get real cold again, windchill already bad. Worried about ice on lines and power going out…
Jan 26 - Bitter windchill again, freezing rain predicted, so it will have to warm up for that…better we should have cold and snow. And maybe we will…it snowed all day today.
Jan 27 - 40 degrees today, rain…no freezing rain here. Glad I didn’t bother shoveling the big drift by the back door…it’ll soon be gone unless it turns cold again. And perhaps it will.
NO SIR…they don’t make winters like they used to. NOT !!!!
Jan 29 - A branch broke off the violas in the big pot outside the back door…those plants are still green, and with two mostly-intact blooms on that branch, after minus-26 temperatures!
Gabe got very interested in one of the frozen “drifts” still remaining after 2 days of rain. He began to dig, and a little vole ran out, none too fast. I distracted Gabe and he missed seeing it. Later he found a woodchuck huddling in a corner on the front of the church. It didn’t try to run, just hunkered down and looked cold and miserable. I think it may have been flooded out of its burrow, poor thing…the creek is overflowing way up into the fields. This guy should be hibernating. Don’t know whether it can survive like this. Besides, it'll be discovered tomorrow when people come to church, and someone will surely shoot it. Maybe better tonight (out of its misery), but I can’t do it.
Snowed all morning…not much of it stuck, but at least it dusted over the brown and gray crud, and was lovely while it was falling.
Feb 6 - Almost 40 today, stiff wind, but it didn’t feel terribly cold. The finches were just a-chattering away as if spring had arrived. No cardinals, sunflower seed hadn’t been touched. Saw a heron flying.
Feb 7 - COLD again, 15 with NE wind, freezing rain predicted. Another woodpecker near the feeders, a downy. I’m sure the other one was a redbellied…never saw its belly, but the red pattern on its head matched the photo in the book. I made a little “suet cake” of seeds in peanut, oleo, and lamb grease…hung in a net bag inside a plastic berry box. Smeared a little on the tree bark…probably will attract raccoons, though! Winter blahs have got me… Feel so beleaguered and depressed. Claustrophobic, almost.
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| Red Bellied Woodpecker |
Feb 9 - This winter is beginning to feel like an endurance contest. At least the days are longer, if not warmer, and we got sleet yesterday instead of freezing rain. Lovely light snowfall tonight…if it were Christmas Eve, we’d love it! But we’re sick of worrying, shoveling, and being old! The redbellied woodpecker was back again…haven’t seen anyone touch the suet cake yet, though. Cardinals, finally…2 males and 4 females at the feeder. Wonder where they live?
Feb 12 - The downy woodpecker has been hanging on the bottom of the suet-seed cake, and the starlings eat off the top, though not at the same time! When I went out yesterday to bring more seed, there were mourning doves lined up on the ridge of the house roof…a kestrel was swooping about, chattering and bitching (like a blue jay!) but the doves seemed not to care.
Freezing rain tonight…there was some sun during the day, though.
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| Downy Woodpecker |
Feb 14 - Yesterday, outdoors at 7 AM, I heard a familiar yet strange-sounding bird call…after a few seconds I realized it was a robin, complaining…probably about the 15-degree cold and the glaze of ice on everything! Later on, I saw a horned lark at the feeder, first one I’ve seen there this year. I think I’ve seen some in the fields, but not sure. Might have been seeing killdeer (do they winter over?)
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| Horned Lark |
Feb 16 - Sunny and 35 seems almost spring. Snow melting, muddy, gritty, salty, icing over again at night. But the sun is wonderful.
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| Kestrel |
Feb 19 - Almost 60 degrees today…dried towels on the clothesline…most of the ice is gone. Starflower leaves are peeking out. Should be seeing redwings pretty soon. Found mouse parts on the bedroom floor today…when did THAT happen? I do faintly recall Twerp bounding off the bed early this morning…that’s probably when she nailed it. Ah yes, country life! Christmas cactus is still blooming, but nearly finished.
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| Christmas Cactus |
Feb 22 - Have seen several flocks of geese, but not the more unusual birds that were at the feeder earlier…though with the cold, wind, snow, and sleet we’re supposed to get tonight, they may come back!
Mar 3 - Still cold this past week, but some brilliant sunny days, and snow… Today there were hundreds of geese around…the redwings are back and we have a sudden influx of grackles and starlings. I see that more trees have been cut along the creek NE of us…that may be why we’ve had the woodpeckers and so many cardinals…their homes are gone. It does grieve me that most people seem to know and care so little about the creatures with whom we share the earth.
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| Canadian Goose |
Mar 13 - Four days’ vacation in Arizona, visiting Rich’s parents…missed 5” of snow here. Home two days ago, heard and saw a meadowlark in the yard…spring’s coming! Quite a few robins. Delphinium nubbins up.
New birds in Ariz….Gambel’s quail, boat-tailed grackles, cactus wrens, and a hummingbird I can’t find in the bird book. It was so nice to just sit in the sun with a cup of coffee, listening to the birds, and have nothing else to do!
Mar 14 - Still winter: juncos at the feeder, and cold, damp wind. But grape hyacinths are up, and daffodil leaves are 6” tall…cowbirds are here…
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| Dark-eyed Junco |
Mar 16 - Have heard song sparrows the past few days. It’s 20 degrees with bitter north wind tonight, but there are buds on the daffodils…
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| Grape Hyacinth |
Mar 22 - The “Age of Rubens” exhibit at Toledo Art Museum was a real lift…I would never have guessed how powerful those paintings are when seen “live”...and 400 years old, at that!
Sunday was warm enough (50) to be outside and cripple up my shoulders with yard work…but I can’t stay indoors and I don’t seem to be able to ignore the cleanup waiting to be done (although I can certainly ignore a LOT of it!)
Today it was 60 and beautiful…I pulled half the straw off the strawberries and enough off the roses to uncover the daffodils planted in front of them. Wish I didn’t have to spend tomorrow at work!
Mar 23 - The first truly warm and gorgeous day…glorious 70’s and sunlight.
Mar 26 - After 2 warm days, 2 cold ones again, but delphinium shoots are up. Somebody’s eating tulip leaves… More neighbors are taking down trees…
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| Delphinium |
Mar 28 - Put up the wren and bluebird houses yesterday. Hope it’s early enough!
Mar 31 - Spring is happening…still cool, though. Plants from Gurney’s came yesterday, too early to plant. If it doesn’t rain too much on Saturday maybe I can get them at least into pots, until I can figure out where I want them, and dig holes for them.
Apr 7 - Snow on Easter (April 3) and again yesterday, about 5.” Really cold and icy this morning, but sunlight melted things quite a bit. I didn’t realize it was in the teens till I tried to open the back door and the frozen snow on it cracked like ice. Yesterday was warmer…roads slushy and covered with robins hunting for worms. Gulls too, but dozens and dozens of robins. I’d put Gurney’s dormant plants in pots, not thinking it would get so cold…hope they live (well, they’re South Dakotans, should be tough!)
Apr 9 - The sun is so high now, it looked stunning on the snow Thursday after our 5” blizzard, and pretty much melted it that day and the next. When it disappeared, the grass seemed quite suddenly green again. Not quite LUSH, but certainly healthy!
Apr 11 - Started some seeds in little pots: stock, sweet peas, morning glories. Want to start tomatoes, too, but need more pots.
Feeding Jim’s cat while he’s in Minnesota…she’s pretty pregnant and very friendly…she’s roosting up in the loft.
Cold wet wind all day, heavy rain predicted for tonight. Snow? Decided not to empty gas out of the snowblower yet!
Yesterday we saw a kestrel land in the big sycamore…it blew all the starlings away! (How can we bribe it to stay?) Gabe found fur and a rabbit leg behind the church…coyote? hawk? Owl? Blue scilla blooming…if I don’t check the flowerbeds every day, I’ll miss something! All of the peony roots planted last fall are alive, with tiny red leaf-buds showing. Two of the remaining Simplicity roses kicked the bucket, broken off below ground…rotted or eaten, I suppose. Can’t tell whether the other two are alive.
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| Scilla |
Apr 12 - Lots of rain…finally remembered at 5 PM to set the rain gauge out! Cleared off then, warm and sunny, beautiful new moon and adjacent star/planet tonight. Saw a toad, can hear frogs singing tonight…beautiful sunset clouds and Black Swamp haze.
Apr 14 - New moon was so lovely last night, with the whole circle faintly visible by earthshine. Creek level receding.
Apr 15 - Storms threatening, but so far all we’ve had are high winds and thunder, and 70 degrees. Scilla in Jim’s pasture are beautiful.
Apr 18 - Went to Crane Creek…bursting with life: lots of geese, coots, tree swallows, ducks, herons, egrets, redwings, robins…and leaves budding everywhere. It was cool, and the lake was calm…far out in the haze was a broad pinkish band…then it lit up at one end, and we watched the light travel slowly across to the opposite end as the sun found a hole in the clouds. Sky, water, light…always affecting and beautiful. We also watched a muskrat chasing a goose in the marsh. Evidently the goose was too close to something the muskrat considered its own! I think every OTHER goose in the park was honking and squabbling, but this one was gliding peacefully among the lilypads until the muskrat started swimming around it and at it, and finally drove it away. It is so peaceful sitting out in the middle of the marsh. For the first 10-15 minutes I look everywhere, trying to see as much as I can…then I find myself just listening. That’s the more peaceful pleasure.
I just re-read entries from last April. By that calendar, lunaria should bloom before May. They don’t look big enough yet, but might surprise us! Christmas cactus is still blooming, and has unopened buds.
Apr 23 - At least one meadowlark around, with piercing sweet song. Saw a flicker in the yard yesterday. Today discovered the robins are nesting again in the New Dawn climbing rose on the east side of the house. Lovely sunny day, but windy, drying the soil for planting. Tulips had green buds yesterday, which today are red and opening. Found one dogtooth violet.
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| Meadowlark |
Apr 28 - Winter again! Windy, rain all day, 38 degrees tonight. Bunny under bird feeder for a long time, eating seed. Dad says they like millet, but they don’t have “grinding” teeth to chew it. You’d think there would be plenty of greens available to them now. Lunaria short, but beginning to bloom on schedule.
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| Lunaria |
