Mistake Yellow Sign Flapping for Goldfinch

March 17, 2010.  Wednesday.

Situation:  Moi and I both work tonight.   Indeed, we have setting up to do in the afternoon.  When we get back, about 4:30, I take Mway for her walk.  No jacket again today.  Earlier today I had seen the Boy out tossing stick with Mway in the back yard – I assume this, plus an early walk with Moi, will have tired Mway out for the day, so I don’t expect much fetching on this walk.

State of the Path:  Hear starlings, see them in the trees of the walled garden, as soon as I step outside.  The chickens are rummaging in the compost heap by the vegetable garden, and Mway does not see them.  When I get to the walled garden, the starlings suddenly stop their chattering.  I see them flying out of a tree and gathering together again in the trees farther out in the orchard, where they begin chattering again.  Hear, in the distance, mourning doves.  The garlic grass is getting high enough that the tips are curling.  See what I believe is a goldfinch in the back hedgerow;  when I think I see another goldfinch, it turns out to be a yellow “No Trespassing” sign posted for Hutchinson’s field flapping in the breeze.

State of the Creek:  When I get to the creek, again hear spring peepers; this time they do not stop their squeaking as I walk along the creek.  I believe I hear a woodpecker, probably coming from the woods above Hutchinson’s field.  In the largest pond (really more of a puddle) in bug land, and in the pond between the ridges, I see new grass and new green algae growing, or some kind of green muck.  Again the feed channel to the skating pond looks too treacherous to hop across.  Again, above the break in the ridge around bug land, I feel water seeping into my boots.

The Fetch:  Two fetches – just about what I expected.