Warming Up
At last! No more wood stove fires! Down come the heavy drapes. Out come the summer clothes. Sunscreen, big floppy sun hats. Gardening like crazy.
Rosalee spent her first night out. This is not a habit I wish to encourage. But if she doesn’t come when I call, and I can’t find her, at midnight or so I lock the door and go to sleep and pray nothing catches her. Coyotes, cougars and lynxes roam around at night. Cats disappear never to be found. Or are found partly eaten.
My walk to the lake today started off badly. I startled a blue heron. It rose up squawking, and flapped away. I hardly ever see them here any more. Then I upset a new duck family. I was far away from them, but they quaked loudly and swam off quickly. On my way through the willows, edging around the high water, I scared another pair of ducks off.
When I got to the site of the old wharf, I saw the lovely lady merganser with nine little chicks swimming with her. She saw me and turned around and swam slowly past the boathouses and out to open water. I was keeping my distance but she didn’t want company.
The water is running fast now with spring runoff. I watched fearfully as she got to the centre of the narrow arm of the lake. She was far away and it was hard to see. I kept taking photos. When I got home and blew them up, I was relieved to see that she made it across. Either the babies all hung on to her, or they were already strong enough swimmers to keep up.
