Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

We had a new visitor in our yard last night–an adult cottontail, which we viewed from our living room window. Sometimes we see rabbits from our kitchen window but we have not seen one from there in months. There are raspberry thickets in back, I believe, they hide under. The new visitor was there a few minutes and disappeared into the bush. I have lived here for over ten years and this is the first time I remember seeing a cottontail from my living room window. Once my wife actually saw a turkey in our front yard. I have never seen a turkey in our yard. A few days ago she saw a three foot black snake on our lawn from the bathroom window. You never know exactly what you are going to see from our living window or in our yard.

Tags: black snake, cottontail rabbit, my wife, nature, our yard, rabbits, raspberry plants, visitor in our yard, wild turkey, wildlife
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Spring is on its way:  officially in four weeks.  It does not feel that way today.  It is cold and windy and all I want to do is stay inside and go out only when I have to.  None of my four dogs seem too eager to go out.  Now I am counting the weeks and then days until spring.  I do this every year, do my countdown to spring.  Winter I just endure.

Tags: cold and windy day, countdown to Spring, counting the days, dogs, enduring winter, four dogs, nature, pets, spring, stay inside, winter
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I am not my diagnosis.  I could state it but it does not matter.  I am a man who loves all kinds of music, writes poetry, letters and other things.  I love nature particularly the birds I attract with all my feeders.  I am married to a woman I love who is not quite the same but loves a lot of the same things particularly music from the same era.  She is not perfect but close.  We both love to read and I have more books in my house that I ever had before.  She loves mysteries.  I don’t.  But our tastes in books and music is very eclectic.  Music and books are all over the house.  She usually lets me be.  I am not as good as her in that regard and sometimes have to learn to be quiet.  We have our own space in our house.  I love the mountains, the lakes and ocean.  So does she.  We live on the edge of country.  I am all these things and more.  I am not my diagnosis I have to state again.  That is just an artificial artifact.  The doctors need that and my insurance.  That is the only purpose of my diagnosis.  It is not me.

Tags: bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, books, doctors, eclectic music tastes, edge of country, I am not my diagnosis, insurance, lakes, love music, love to read, marriage, mental health, mountains, music, nature, ocean, poems, write letters, write poetry, writing
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It was the smallest cottontail I have ever seen.  I was in my car on my road a few miles away.  And spotted the tiny rabbit on the right side.  He could not have been very old. It was the tiniest one I have ever seen.  Maybe it was five inches long.  The cottontail immediately vanished into the undergrowth.

Tags: baby rabbit, cottontail, nature, rabbit, wildlife
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Every time I pass that marsh on my right from my car I peer down the two different bodies of water.  Sometimes I see nothing.  Other times I have seen great egrets and snowy egrets at its borders.  This time I saw three deer lined up in a row all the way back at the edge of the water.  I had never seen deer there before.  I always wondered about the owner of that piece of property.  He has bird boxes in strategic spots there.  I am sure he loves the property and its inhabitants.  I am only briefly visiting it.  I wonder if there is any fish in it.  It is not mine but I love passing and looking at it.  I always wonder about it.

Tags: bird boxes, bird-watching, birds, deer, edge of the water, fish, great egrets, marsh, nature, snowy egrets, three deer, wildlife
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Every time I pass a stream or a river I gaze downstream (or upstream).  To me the body of water represents mystery.  If I am on foot I want to see if I spot any fish or other creature in the water.  By car, I am on the outlook for any kind of duck or egret or other bird.  I am always curious what I will see.  There is a marsh nearby and I am always looking for a snowy egret or the much larger great egret there.  I could not believe it when I flushed a blue heron who was drinking the water of the small creek less than an hundred yards from my house.  I face nature with a sense of wonder.  There is always the sense of mystery.  I know the Almighty has instilled that in me and every child has it and far too many lose it.  To view this universe without a sense of awe is a great loss.  With it, you will discover wonders and beauty all around you.  All you have to do is open your eyes with a sense of expectation.

Tags: bird-watching, birds, blue heron, body of water, discover wonders and beauty around you, duck, egret, fish, God, great egret, marsh, mystery, nature, open your eyes, river, sense of awe, sense of expectation, sense of wonder, small creek, snowy egret, stream, The Almighty, this universe, water birds, wildlife
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Flowers are here today and gone tomorrow.  I was watching the tulips come up for a few weeks.  The row of tulips were planted last year.  Yesterday some of them opened and one was already past the peak.  Maybe, that is why we love flowers so much.  Their beauty only lasts a short time.  Other daffodils are opening now.  They did not get as much sun as the others.  I want to go out and examine and view them more carefully.  They are all different.  Isn’t that something?  God made each plant like a snowflake–no two exactly alike.  And if I pass too quickly I miss their uniqueness.  I have to slow down.  Maybe, that is what natures forces us to do–slow down and notice what is before us for it will disappear in a blink of an eye.

Tags: beauty, daffodils, flowers, flowers are all different, garden, God, like a snowflake, nature, notice what is before us, pass too quickly, slow down, spring, tulips, unique
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I have my eyes open for the two cottontails we saw in the backyard last week.  We tossed out vegetable cuttings in the bushes for them.  They were two plump rabbits grazing in back.  We do see them occasionally around but I had not seen any in awhile.  I wonder where they come from and whether they nest under that large white pine in back.  Ever since I saw them I keep peering out my kitchen window for them.  It is going on a week since I last saw them.  I just wonder where they go in the winter, whether they hibernate, or what?  It has been months since I last saw them.

Tags: backyard, bushes, cottontails, hibernate, kitchen window, nature, rabbits, spring, vegetable cuttings, white pine tree, winter
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We have been home (from the Jersey Shore) less than 24 hours and what I most appreciate is the quiet here.  All I hear here is the ?crickets or is it the ?cicadas.  And the occasional “whoosh” of a car passing nearby.

The bed and breakfast we stayed at for three nights was on a busy road.  It was very difficult to make a left hand turn.  It was only a block away from the ocean.  New Jersey just had too many people.

For some reason I become very unsettled in crowded areas.  It is not my fault.  I just do.  I will appreciate my house better.  It is not on a main fare.  I watch the birds come to and fro my feeders all day.  Especially the hummingbirds who never fail to delight me.

There is a reason mental hospitals always were situated in the country.  They used to be called rest homes.  Many years ago the array of medications to treat mental illness did not exist.

People who had nervous breakdowns were sent to hospitals in the countryside to recuperate and recover.  There is nothing like the calm found in nature to do so.

I will appreciate my home better.  It is just a relief to be here.  My trip to the Jersey shore reminded me how fortunate I am to be on the edge of country.

Tags: Atlantic ocean, bed and breakfast, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, calm found in nature, cicadas, country, crickets, crowds, edge of country, home, hummingbirds, Jersey Shore, medications, mental hospitals, mental illness, nature, nervous breakdown, New Jersey, quiet, recuperate, rest homes
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Every time I glance out the front window I await the entrance of the first hummingbird.  I just put out nectar the other day for it.  In the past, the first one of the season came by the end of April so I know it could come any day now.

Yesterday (or the day before) I saw three cottontails munching on the grass viewed from the back window.  I never saw three at one time so I was thrilled.  Now every time I look out into the backyard I am looking for those three bunnies.

Nature has a way of surprising you:  when you least expect it, there it is another surprise.  It may be a northern mockingbird (you have never seen before in the yard) or some totally other different sight like the large orange salamander that we spotted twice.  Somewhere in back near the creek lives a large box turtle.  You never know and all you can do is live and view life with an expectant attitude.

Tags: April, bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, box turtle, bunnies, cottontails, creek, expectant attitude, front window, grass, hummingbird, life, nature, nectar, northern mockingbird, orange salamander, rabbits, seasons, spring, surprise
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Even in NYC others want a connection with nature.  I was visiting my friend there and I noted facing one window were all kinds of houseplants.  Yes, you are surrounded by concrete pavements and buildings but others still desire that connection.  Sure there are parks in the City.  And they are well attended.  I remember going to one nearby my friend.  And huddled in one bush was a robin.  I never had seen one in February before.  It is so easy to feel divorced from the world God has created living in such a big city.  It is just a little bit harder there but the popularity of houseplants indicate but (???) every person wants that connection.  A world really never too far away.  There is the wind, the sun, rain and even snow and even the ubiquitous pigeon that remind you there (???) nature is not too far away.  It just seems that way sometimes.

Tags: big city, birds, connection with nature, February, God, houseplants, nature, NYC, parks, pigeon, rain, robin, snow, sun, wind
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She came out of nowhere.  I asked my young nurse (during my brief hospital stay) where she was from:  she said, “Bricktown, New Jersey.”  I immediately asked her if that was near Lakewood.  And then asked her a flurry of questions.

She knew about Winwood Beach.  It was a vacation spot on the Manasquan River we often rented a bungalow for the weekend.  It could have been forty years the last time I was there.  I assumed the owner sold it a long time ago and the land was built on.  I was thrilled to find out it now was a park.

I used to love getting up in the morning to flush the cottontails.  There were the barn swallows who inhabited a garage there who would dive bomb every time I would go there near there.  I also picked wild blue berries in South Jersey every year.

Winwood Beach was the place where I used to throw rocks at the blackbirds perched at the barbed wire and once I hit one breaking his wing.  That was the last time I ever threw a rock at a bird.  The Beach was also not too far from The Atlantic Ocean.

She was familiar with Ocean County Park.  My Dad loved that park.  We lived two hours away but we often went there for the day.  My father upon entering that park would make sure the car windows were down so the smell of the virgin pines tree needles could drift in.

I also asked her about the park on the lake on route nine in Lakewood where we often went.  One memory I had of that place was my sister on a bamboo pole catching the largest yellow perch I had ever seen at the mouth of a stream there.

More of my childhood memories buried came back when I talked to this young nurse.  The conversation, unfortunately, was too brief.  I wanted to continue it but I did not have another opportunity. I owed my father a big debt for introducing me to nature by all our trips to South Jersey.

Tags: Atlantic ocean, barn swallows, birds, blackbirds, Bricktown NJ, cottontails, fish, fishing, Lakewood, Manasquan River, memories, my Dad, nature, nurse, Ocean County Park, South Jersey, vacation spot, virgin pine tree needles, wild blue berries, Winwood Beach, yellow perch
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