Foxes

It's been very hectic here in Troy, Ohio. We got the keys to our new house on the 13th and it's been pedal to the metal ever since. I'm leaving on the 19th to go to Calif. to finalize my mother's move to Ohio. We'll come back together on the 31st.

But, before I go back to unpacking, here's a picture of the fox family that lives under the barn at the Hobart Urban Nature Preserve. Aren't they too cute for words?

Rain, rain, go away

Not having an internet connection makes blog posting a difficult thing. After next Friday, we’ll have our new house and our new internet connection (thank you, Cincinnati Bell). I’ll post more frequently after that.

It’s been very rainy all spring. Everyone assures me that it’s normally warmer and drier. Maybe the rest of spring will revert to the normal pattern. I can only hope! It was dry and warm on May 5. Bob and Jack, our brother-in-law, went golfing. Parts of the golf course were too soggy to play and were blocked off, but “the boys” had fun. Of course, it rained on May 6 (and 7). But today has been mostly dry!

This week we’re preparing to move again. We’ve lived out of boxes since we got here, so much of the packing is done. We don’t have to pack everything at the level of a cross-country move – we can throw a load in the car and drive over. The cats will have to endure another complete change in environment. I hope they like the new house. There will be a lot more room than they’re used to, with the main floor having more square feet than the mobile home in California did – plus a finished basement that adds another 1500 ft², for a total of around 3000 ft². My concern is they’ll find places to hide and I won’t be able to find them.

I’ve been birdwatching. There are lots of county parks and reserves, many of which preserve prairie lands and deciduous woodlands as they were before settlement and intensive agriculture. Normal suburban birds include cardinals, robins, starlings (ugh), common grackles, crows, the occasional blue jay (their numbers are down due to West Nile virus), mourning doves, and house sparrows. But, in the reserves, I’ve seen yellow warblers, purple finches, Baltimore orioles, lots of Canada geese (with fluffy yellow goslings following along), white-breasted nuthatches, American goldfinches, red-winged blackbirds, red-bellied and downy woodpeckers, tufted titmice, dark-eyed juncos, barn and tree swallows, Carolina chickadees, American coots, mallard ducks, killdeer, red-tailed hawks, and turkey vultures. Many of these are familiar to Californians, but a few are found only east of the Rockies.

I hope all the mothers out there have a happy Mother's Day!