To the Birds

RT Rhoda and the Pack heading North on the hill.

The birds are starting to arrive. This morning, on our walk down to Savory, on a dusting of snow, the Girls and I saw several strings of Snow Geese honking their way over the tops of the fir. Another wonderful sound filling the woods was bird song . My visiting naturalist, RT, proclaims them Varied Thrush. It's reassuring to hear their voices. Not the sweetest bird song we'll hear this season but one of the first to fulfill the promise that the snow will, eventually, all melt away. Yesterday we saw a Harrier Hawk undulating six feet over the eastern pastures, ground search radar on, scanning for an early dinner of mouse steaks. A Bald eagle spent a few minutes parked in the large fir not paying the slightest attention to Xena, who was loudly proclaiming who really is mistress of this joint, and the sky over it. Cleo spent ten minutes below the driveway parked at the base of a fir inviting a squirrel to come down and play. The invitation was declined with thanks. At least that's what I imagined the chatter to be.

We are learning how big Cleo's vocabulary is. For example, don't say the word "walk" unless we really mean it. The result is 100 lbs of muscular dog excitedly jumping up and down and pacing towards the door. We are working on sitting before going through a door and only with permission from a two legged member of the pack. She's picking it up eagerly. We are working on the cat obsession, and that will probably take a bit longer, but improvement is happening as she will lie down where the Cat ledge is, which does put the Kits at ease. Just don't run. The game is on then. She seems to be really enjoying being a member of the Xena, Tommy, Molly pack. As long as everyone knows she is the boss. They work it out. Life is good on the home front.