Journal for April 6, 2018

This is the time of year when winter isn’t quite finished, but spring hasn’t come yet either.   Some days it’s warm and the snow melts, and some days it’s cold and more snow comes down.  Today is one of the cold blustery days, with sunshine, but snow still on the ground.

 

We walked out to Big View Prairie last week to clean out bluebird houses – the first time we’d been that way since last fall.

Western Prairie

 

Looking back from Western Prairie over Volvo Meadow – one of the plantings I did over the winter – with Buffalo Ridge beyond.

 

The view from Big View Prairie – with not much snow left except on the north-facing hills.

 

We’ve seen several early butterflies.  This was the first one of the year – an Eastern Comma on March 17.

 

On warm days we see caterpillars crawling on the road.  This is one of the common ones, but I’ve realized that I’m not sure what species it is – I think a Ruby Tiger Moth, but I need to rear one to be sure.

 

We got started making piles of the brush and trees Todd cut over the winter.  The trails are still too soft to drive the tractor up, but there’s plenty of piling to do.

 

Here we are – heading home for lunch after a hard morning’s work.

 

Todd did a lot of cutting on Pine Point Hillside

 

Erik and Beth and Andy – ‘Kule Region Forestry – did more clearing, and burned piles and piles of brush.

 

They burned one section of grass to make it easier to find stumps that needed trimming.

 

The day after they burned, it snowed.

 

Now we’re back to winter, and a snow covered landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

The snow covered burn area

 

Here are two photos from one of the wildlife cameras – a Wild Turkey on Indian Grass Point before and after the latest snowstorm.

March 30

 

April 3