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Easter...the sixty fourth
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Easter...the sixty fourth In winter the cold settles in the low spots. The swamp and marsh get very cold and chlorophyll vanishes from the leaves on the trees. This is where you find the most brilliant color earliest in autumn, and where the chill descends and crusts the pools with ice. The leaves drop here first, and as the blaze of color creeps onto the uplands, autumn is over in the swamp almost as it begins up on the hills and slopes above. Spring comes to the swamp earliest too. A warm and sunny day will find tadpoles morphing into frogs and garter snakes out on the hunt after their long winter fast. The waterfowl come too. There are green shoots sprouting and we see geese and swans ducking their long necks under the water to pick the tender new shoots. Sandhill cranes are browsing too- they’ve been here for a couple of weeks now. The mosses everywhere are flowering, slender green spindles poking up from a field of moss on roots and logs, with their little cobra like heads dancing toward the sun. Skunk cabbage is growing everywhere in and near the swamp. It has a round ball of flowers concealed in its red leaves. This stuff always make me think of “Little Shop of Horrors”. It generates heat when it grows and will melt the snow in a circle around it in March. We didn’t have much late snow this year- last year winter was tenacious and held on with a vengeance. We watched sandhill cranes browsing on the edge of the marsh on the twenty third of March in a fresh snowfall. March this year has been very springlike. Sunday was sixty seven degrees and sunny. We’ve been sly and sneaking into Al Sabo Preserve from the west on weekends, from the east parking lot at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. The main entrance on Texas Drive gets crowded on weekends these days, and when the weather is warm it can be hard to find a parking place. There are a couple of other back ways to get in, but I’m not telling anyone local about them. We can walk south from the college and cross the marsh on a plank walk that takes us to the island in the swamp. Gracie loves this route because there’s so much water and muck. The more swimming that’s involved the better she likes it. I found a pair of cranes using this trail Sunday. There’s a promontory that juts out into the creek channel just east of a retention pond and I could hear cranes nearby so I took a chance and walked out there. I got lucky and found the pair browsing just across the channel, maybe seventy feet away. I got a good hundred shots of them. Even at that distance they can be hard to see in the reeds, but I was patient. I could hear them talking and soon I could see a red head poking along in the cattails. The other wasn’t far behind. When they aren’t threatened they move very methodically and ponderously, so I had a lot of time to watch them. Every<b> hike </font></b>is worthwhile, but that was a special treat, to just stand and watch these big wild birds leisurely picking salad from the bog. This was my sixty fourth Easter.           Become a member now and get a free tote bag. |
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Thank you Cinnamon! She made it into the next post. If I put her in every post she gets to thinking it's all about her...and we know how girls are. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Happy 64th. Definitely been a mild winter and I ain't complaining  Nice pictures.Vive La Difference
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Happy 64th. Definitely been a mild winter and I ain't complaining Nice pictures.Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Happy 64th!  Such great photos of nature rejuvenating. What a treat! Visit my blog It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World of NaughtyInSO, leave a comment, become a watcher. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LIVE AND LET LIVE Be happy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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A Blessed 64th Easter to you!!! How wonderful....your writing in details, your pictures........dreamlike!!!    WITHOUT PASSION LIFE IS NOTHING
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Happy 64th! Such great photos of nature rejuvenating. What a treat! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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A Blessed 64th Easter to you!!! How wonderful....your writing in details, your pictures........dreamlike!!! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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that Canada Goose looks like the queen of her castle!!! I hear more and more coming back here ... wish they would stay away as they tend to take over grassy areas in most neighbourhoods and make one giant poopfest!!! Great pics as always Kzoo ... those wee mosses reaching for the sun are my fav! 
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I think a big happy birthday is in order!   [image]
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Actually it was a pretty warm day, but they're got nests to tend to and they take turns at it. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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We don't get a fall, summer just turns to winter, but we do get a little spring before we roast. My grass never died this year. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Some days the birds are really making a racket. There re a lot of ducks and geese. The coolest sound I think are the cranes. It's kind of an otherwordly cuckoo call, and it carries a long way. The pair I was watching were talking a lot, but in a muted way. Kind of a private conversation that I was eavesdropping on. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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OOOOOO, Vixen. I'd really miss this if I couldn't visit every day. I love watching the changes- every day is different. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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So cool that you get to see the cranes! ... All I can hope for is to get a trip to Lincoln (those are extremely rare) so I could stop at the river on the way back. .... I have to settle for seeing them fly over the city on their way to you. 
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that Canada Goose looks like the queen of her castle!!! I hear more and more coming back here ... wish they would stay away as they tend to take over grassy areas in most neighbourhoods and make one giant poopfest!!! Great pics as always Kzoo ... those wee mosses reaching for the sun are my fav! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I think a big happy birthday is in order! [image] Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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So cool that you get to see the cranes! ... All I can hope for is to get a trip to Lincoln (those are extremely rare) so I could stop at the river on the way back. .... I have to settle for seeing them fly over the city on their way to you. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Thanks, Spunky, but it wasn't my birthday, just my sixty fourth Easter. I'd been reading Jim Harrison, and I think he wondered aloud about how many more sunsets and sunrises he'd see, and it occurred to me that this was my sixty fourth spring and my sixty fourth Easter. I'd love to have sixty four more. I very much hope you have 64 more birthdays in the woods. They look very much alive on your last hike.
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I would make a good detective! I very much hope you have 64 more birthdays in the woods. They look very much alive on your last hike. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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This was my sixty eighth Easter...SIGH!! I love Spring...all the buds and blossoms appearing...the promise of new beginnings....not so fond of the moss. There's a lot around my way and the damn stuff even grows round my car windows.  ~~Anais Nin~~
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This was my sixty eighth Easter...SIGH!! I love Spring...all the buds and blossoms appearing...the promise of new beginnings....not so fond of the moss. There's a lot around my way and the damn stuff even grows round my car windows. Moss is tenacious, and we have a fairly wet climate here, so there's quite a lot of it. I love seeing it sprout the way it has this year. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Oh, thank you honey! I'm having a lot of fun with the pictures. I've always walked with my dogs, and the camera was kind of an afterthought. I think we live in a unique and wonderful place, and this was a good way to share it. I love the change of seasons- the forest and the prairie are different every day, so there's always a new way to see it. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I'm encouraged to avoid singing. My public is fickle. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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