4/1/04

Yesterday was a big day – I spent the morning cutting Honeysuckle on the hillside above the house.  There’s always more than I realize – I keep seeing just one more.  Mike finished putting together his small table.  Then, in the afternoon, we burned the rest of East Center Valley Prairie – the part we didn’t get done last fall.  It burned very well – it was drier, and the air was dry – so it burned perfectly.  Nothing scary happened, and the flames were huge, so that made Mike happy.  It took about 3 ½ hours, and I think we did about 3 acres.  The slowest part was the beginning – getting the black line, and avoiding the electrical box.  After we got the hang of it, it went very fast.  It’s interesting that every burn is so different – the speed of the flames, how easily it burns, and how much we have to control the edges.

We saw numerous flocks of swans flying westward – mostly in the morning, and we heard, but couldn’t see, one flock of Sandhill Cranes.  I listened to a Woodcock ‘peenting’ and doing his mating flight about half an hour after sunset, and I think I heard a screech owl.  Juncos are everywhere, trilling and eating.  Fox and Song Sparrows are in all the ditches.