Exhaling a little more....and funny thoughts.

A hopeful picture, to put a buffer between yesterday and now!



So, a terrifying day yesterday, about which no details other than to say I'm fervently glad it is over and HP survived. Big scare, involving numerous doctors, consultations, rapid fire team work applying all sorts of equipment, monitors, much intensity, and finally the cardio declared that HP was on the way back.

Then today, so much better. Starting to exercise -- vital for regenerating the nerves of the spine in order to have a chance of walking -- with care since he's newly recovering from a heart attack after surgery -- but he looked so much better, so much more like someone about to get better over time. And once again getting ready for rehab. And he can move his foot!!!!!!!! loud cheering, the surgery appears to have begun to work. It will be up to two years before we see how well it works, but any improvement is so exciting right now.

So more exhaling! and notes from field and fen:

Daffodil noses are poking up through the cold ground, very welcome sight. We had a very cold winter, so I think we'll get better blooms this year. Last winter was mild and the daffodils never set well. I like to think of this when I'm wrapping up my face against the winter winds in January.

Then, a reminder of the month: a red tail hawk perched in a tree by the road, looking around. Late February they are hungry and you see incredible flight and hunting. we have redtails, merlins, other smaller hawks, all flying at speed.

One time a few years ago, I was driving at about 50 mph down a road parallel with the furrows of a ploughed field, when a redtail swooped down beside me, flying literally a foot off the ground, between the furrows, left me in the dust, picked up a mouse, and flew straight up into the sky with her catch.

She must have flown about 90 mph, literally. I never forgot that excitement. They are such athletes, those birds. And they are completely unbothered by development, traffic they don't care, still keep their territory, mate successfully. They are territorial,which means I'm probably seeing the same two pairs year after year and their offspring. Well, one thing bothers them: when they're mobbed by starlings, they run!

I've been buzzed by a redtail at a birdfeeder, a while back. She parted my hair with her beak,never hurt me, just warning me that this was HER birdfeeder, where she caught small birds for lunch, sigh. Late February again, this is the hunger time for hunting birds, when their prey has been hidden underground for a long time.

We have a lot of turkey vultures, too, which are scavengers, picking up roadkill, and generally acting like the cleaning detail of the roads. And there are wild turkeys, too. Recently, I was in traffic held up for ages by a group of wild turkeys that had decided to cross the road, probably they'd been reading their joke book. There was road work which had disturbed them, and the police officer on traffic duty solemnly made everyone wait for them! I liked this.