The redpolls abideth forever

Well, we're pretty sure they'll leave sometime, to head up north and do that breeding-range thing.  But they haven't gone yet.  Saw a crossbill at the sunflower feeder this morning.  Thought they had gone.

Sunny, chilly, 16 F for the newspaper walk.  Ideal maple-sap weather.  I'm afraid that our efforts along those lines consist of crunching up sapsicles, although the nature center folks do tap a couple of trees.  Strictly manual-labor level, hauling 5-gallon buckets full of sap out of the frozen woods on foot.  That's perilously close to work, folks, speaking as one who has done it.  I earned that syrup . . .

Your author confesses to being a Bad Person

It's hard, watching the TV footage of whole neighborhoods of foreclosed houses standing empty, to ignore the glaring fact that every damn one of them is worth* several times what ours would bring on the market.

"A man's reach should exceed his grasp" may be a noble sentiment, but there's a lot to be said for keeping your mundane ambitions within your means.

*Even in the current market

Pre-trial publicity much?

A further article on that "dirty-bomb wannabe" shot by his wife -- appears he was asleep in bed when she shot him.  And had kiddie porn on his computer.

www.bangordailynews.com/detail/101975.html

I think we've gotten pretty far into prejudicing the jury pool here . . .

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation

And, as a measure of that desperation (AKA "cabin fever"), I pumped up the tires on the mountain bike and rode a short tour through the melt-water, winter grit, and murdered asphalt of Maine March.  No roadkill to report.  Temperature in the mid-30s F, but I wore my ski gear and got back without frostbite . . .

20 minutes, 3-4 miles

Harbinger, MkIV

Wife reports sighting of a vulture.  I also think I saw one, soaring in the distance during my bike ride. 

Laugh as you may, they are signs of spring around here -- have enough sense to head south for the winter.  Maybe they don't want to compete with the ravens for winter-killed meals?  Or maybe they can't find decent hats for those bald heads . . .