From the Daily Item: Bird could have started fire

NORTHUMBERLAND -- The idea that a bird might have started Monday afternoon's fire at Strong Industries by picking up a smoldering cigarette butt and dropping it inside an abandoned area of the plant isn't as far fetched as people might think, a high-ranking state official said.

More: http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/local_story_119003051.html

Another Sunny Day

Another sunny day today. I went for a short walk this morning. The cherry and plum blossoms are out in full now, so are the magnolia blossoms. Even in this inner city, there is some greenery, you just have to search for it. By the new drug court there are a couple of maple trees that are just coming out with their leaves--the leaves are so new and green, almost fern-like. Behind the courts fencing, sits these small privot like plants that sweetly scent the air when they bloom in the early spring. One of the few times, I enjoy smelling the air around here. 

It is a shame there is little in the way of boulevards in this section of the city. Everything is cemented over. Once I was walking, and in a crack in the sidewalk, I noticed some grass, and stuck in the grass was a tiny sign that said, "Keep off the Grass." I know it was silly, but I think about it a lot.

Happily, I am riding out to the farm later today to finish digging the garden. I am only about a third of the way done. The weather has been so cold, that I don't think that anything I planted will be up yet. I try not to think about what life will be like without the farm. 

Spring at last

I kept waiting for spring to come. Watching the fields for new signs of life. Of course, spring truly arrived in the air first. It arrived in the Balm of Gilead and the white currant blossoms.

The snowdrops and the crocuses came up, even though it was still snowing, they surfaced none-the-less. Slowly, the ground dried out enough for us to start digging the garden.



I planted peas and kale and onions. The cold hardiest of the vegetables. The garlic overwintered nicely. Even a few sweet peas volunteered. With all the new life it was with great sadness I learned that they will be selling the farm. It may be as soon as next spring. So as I look at my garden, I keep thinking this may be the last one I will ever plant here.

It shades everything this knowledge. This may be the last spring, and so I go from enjoying the new life, to mourning its eventual absence.

CBC feed: Pastures Unsung

Every June hundreds of Canadians and Americans volunteer to participate in the Breeding Bird Survey, helping to track trends in bird populations. Four decades of these counts show that the birds that are declining the most rapidly in North America are the prairie birds at the heart of the continent — the birds that need grassland. Forty years of data is enough to prove that grassland bird decline is for real — not merely cyclical or temporary. Yet it doesn’t give much in the way of historic background. How many Sprague’s Pipits were there 60 years ago? What did the prairie sound like before it was settled, or even shortly after settlement?

For more from this story: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/pastures-unsung/index.html