Bluebirds -- photo taken by Loretta Grunewald

Swallows and Blue Birds

Unfailingly every winter there is a family of bluebirds that check out the birdhouse nailed to the fence directly infront of our kitchen window. They come and inspect, clean and attempt to establish residency, however the Bluebird is not a particularly fiesty fellow and four out of five times they are displaced by either house wrens of tree swallows. This year it's a pair of tree swallows that have returned from migration to claimed that particular house.

We enjoy nearly all varities of avian creatures, but the bluebird ranks near the top for the color, cheerful disposition and they're ability to suck up insects. They'll sit alertly upon the top fence board, catch sight of some bug moving amongst the grass, and swoop down to snatch the snack. If they have a brood of babies they slip into their house, drop of the morsel and are right back to the fence board again.

The swallows slurp their dinner on the fly. They dart and swerve, agile flyers through the air swallowing (is that how they got they're name?) as they go. Both breeds are fairly tollerant of us humans and seem to be quite comfortable in the close proximity of birdhouse to human habitation.

Now the swallows have taken over that particular house, the bluebirds have moved down the fence line -- don't worry, we've bird boxes up all along our quarter mile lane. Last time the swallows won out however, they produced only one clutch of young then were done for the summer. The bluebirds will turn out three or four nestings. So, I wouldn't be surprised to see the bluebirds take over the front house again, for they've done so in the past.

I've read and been told that Romania has a world class birding site in the Danube Delta. Nancy and I are not "birders", we'll be content to put up a birdbox where ever it is we are stationed in country and see what manner of bird shows up. If we should have opportunity to visit the Delta though, we'll take our guide to Eastern European Birds along with us.

Wisteria and Bird Box

Anna and Pepper
A morning in May -

Rita awaiting the saddle
A morning in May -

Horses

It's now less than a month before Nancy and I assemble with 66 other Peace Corps Volunteers in Philadelphia. We're all headed to Romania. It's an exciting time, this waiting for our grand adventure to begin, but, as always, these days of April move too fast, are gone too soon. I enjoy looking to the Blue Ridge and watching the slow moving wave of green climb the hills. Down here in the valley most all of the trees are in leaf, but further up the ridges, they are still bear. Each varity of tree has a different shade of green. Later in the season the color will be much more homogonized, but now there are fifty varieties of color.

Spring is also the season of new born foals. It's been two years now since my last horse had a foal, Rita. I've reduce my horse stock to four. Momma, still lively at the age of 28, the matraich of the clan, and her youngest daughter, Sparky, now herself 11. Two horses are in training, Lucky Nell, age 4 and still winless and black Rita, the two year old, just now learning the technique of running fast.

Ed Kranepool & Friends
A morning in May -

Ed Kranepool Returns

Peep, Peep, Peep. Way back when our boys were little, Nancy discovered that the Newport News Nature Center had a program to lease our ducklings. You went over and picked up your baby ducks, grew them for twelve weeks or so, brought them back to be released by the Nature Center. It was a great way to have the cuteness of Easter babies without the decision of what to do with the full grown version. The first batch of ducks that the family selected were fuzzy ittle mallards. Each of us named one. My duck I called Ed Kranepool for the New York Mets first baseman who had made a spectacular comeback after being the only original Met to survive into the good years.

It's funny how loud those ducks were. And it became a part of family lore. Everyone else forgot their duckling's name, but old Ed lived on in. It's amazing how fast the buggers grow. How loud they get and how much poop they amass. We participated in the duck lease for two years, until moving from Norfolk to Elkton. No one in Elkton had figured out duck or chick renting. In the country you grew chicks and ducklings to have chickens and ducks, not to release them again.

Last week, April 1st, I stopped into the local farm store to pick up some needed supplies for the farm and I heard the familiar sound - Peep, Peep, Peep.

Do you know that there is now a state law that says you can't buy two ducks, you have to get at least six. I wanted to violate state law and bring home two babies, just for the peep, but they made me take six.

"I want a couple of the Mallards". "Would you want the Pekin Ducks? They won't fly away," the clerkess asked. "I want them to fly away," I said. "When they get big, I'll let them swim out on the pond and they can fly away."

That was a week ago. Six ducklings, one died - drowned in the water dish, but the others are growing, happy and Peeping continually. Winkine, Blinkine and Nod, Ed Kranepool and as yet an unnamed little black duck.