Cranes

I'm fortunate to live in a great bird area. Bird sightings that would be jaw-dropping in some areas are fairly commonplace here--great blue herons flying overhead, flocks of a couple dozen wild turkeys strutting across the meadow behind our house. We even see the occasional eagle. Now that's a thrill.

Last summer we were adopted by a pair of sandhill cranes. They would arrive every morning and nose around the yard till early evening. Then, with a lot of flapping and honking, they'd leave, to return again the next morning. They showed up nearly every day from mid-July to mid-September. We set out pie pans full of cracked corn, and eventually lured them right up close to the house to partake. All the better to see them. And all the better to see US--they would actually sidle up and look in the windows if the corn dish was empty. There was a bit of a sense of entitlement by summer's end...

All winter we wondered if they'd be back this year. Well, this morning, they have returned in all their raucousness. They stayed just a little while before flapping away amid a lot of honking. I ran out with a big pan of corn, hoping it will be another Summer of the Cranes.

In sock news, there is flapping and honking on the Jaywalker front also. I discovered an error--a HOLE--about an inch back. Slacker than I am, I was figuring on how to disguise it when I realized that I was off track in at least two other ways. There was nothing to be done but take out the needles and rip. Two hours later, with my head pounding and with my mental state in tatters, I had the stitches back on the needles. I think I'm on track once again.

Things happen for a reason: there will be no lack of knitting to do on my trip this weekend.