Tag: Spring

“This Arbor Day Message is Ari Rae Approved” My spring arbor order arrived April 12th. With chilled early spring temps, April’s shower spigot flooding most everything, and full-on mud season going full force, my initial plan was to let things dry out a bit before planting. 30 white pine...

My Granddaughter Ari Rae’s 1st Pre-Spring Waterfowl Report Tuesday, February 5th, 2024: I awoke from my afternoon nap as my granddaughter Ari Rae came in from her Paw Patrol walk with her Mama, Aunt Abba, & our family’s Sheltie herd out around our main duck pond. “Tell Grampa what...

Sometimes Against All Odds Nature’s New Life Prevails ********** I’ve spent the past thirty plus years working to bring. our family’s old farm lot back to life. One major component of that effort through the years has been slowly adding a network of ponds. Robin & I added our...

A Wood Duck Celebration in Haiku   Haiku is a traditional Japanese short verse form written to celebrate some aspect of nature or life. While it has numerous nuances and variations, in my rudimentary understanding, a Haiku basically consists of three lines of verse written in a non-rhyming pattern,...

An SLHS ’81 Classmate Collaboration By Jackie Ely & Dick Monroe (With a cameo assist by Karen Barrow Pittman) Winter’s Long March Behind Me Birch Trees Framing My Thoughts Sitting Alone in a Park Contemplating Ice-Covered Mountain Lake Waters Quietly Waiting for Spring (And waiting…and waiting) Soaking In April’s...

The Day I nearly lost Khalisi. My true canine rescue story. A close call, a hard learned lesson, and a warning.      It happened several years ago, right about this time of year. It was late February or early March. The ground had just refrozen right behind an early...

Author’s Note: What a beautiful day today! Everything sparkles after last night’s fresh snow. The sky is so blue. The sun shine’s such bright warmth.  I took my canine companions out for a snowshoe “paw patrol” stroll. The poem below formed in my head while the dogs explored and...

Author’s Note: ( “Spring’s Promise” appeared in The Adirondack Alamanack’s March 20, 2021 online edition.) ********** Winter’s Winds Wild Ice Trickles Flow Melting Deep Drifted Sunlight Bright On White Snow ********** Rabbit Tracks Everywhere Blue Jays Flock Feeder’s Calling Chick-A-Dees “Dee” Powdered Snow, Freshly Fallen ********** Beneath Winter’s Warm...

Author’s Note: I’m not sure what I wanted to be most when I was young: Archaeologist, Major League Baseball Player, Daniel Boone, or Poet. I’ve tried my hand at all four along the way, with varied results. Many of those endeavors are chronicled here in my blog. God willing,...