Sandhills

While cutting another curly willow outside Lapel today, I heard the distinctive sound of Sandhill cranes flying over. As always, they are heard before they can be seen. I heard a couple of flights go over before I saw one, flying north a couple of thousand feet up. It is best to pay close attention to what you are doing when you are twenty-five feet up in a tree and it was hard to find them with the bright sunlight in my eyes, but I saw about twenty, flying north. I saw on tv that someone had taken a very good picture of a buzzard and sent it to channel 13. Still no redwings. I bet I see one tomorrow. Going to the Cicero library tomorrow night to hear the Poison River Boys and to see Bruce Neckar's opening. I love Bruce's rendering of our local birds and I hope his show is successful. I saw a mink dead on the road near Gatewoods yesterday. I hate to see them hit by cars. It is amazing how many are out there. I remember when I was in high school and one of my classmates was a trapper and ran his traps every morning and he talked about catching mink, fox and muskrats. I was always fascinated that his world and what he saw and did was so different from mine. Also went to Hickory Designs and picked up a massive load of plywood he discarded that will supply me for years. Very nice.