Life on the Outer Coast

Sunday & Monday
The weather was decidedly rainy and windy and I ventured forth only to walk around the lake on Sunday. Most of the passerines were hunkered down out of the wind, but did see winter wrens, chickadees, song & fox sparrows and varied thrushes. I was impressed with the wind resilance of the stems of the stargazer lilies in the garden, most of the flowers have acquired a decided lean to the north, but the lilies have remained mostly upright. Deirdre planted the lily bulbs about 5 years ago and they have done well. The whole plant is about 5ft tall and each flower is between 4 and 6 inches in diameter. The fragrance is quite nice and if you like pink, the color is satisfying.

Much friendlier weather on Monday, the walk to the dock was serenaded by a song sparrow and a winter wren. Also chased many varied thrush through the alders.
With the Edgecumbe class cleared and stained the roots we had collected in the muskeg. I need to collect more gentian roots, the samples were on the light side, so I froze all for pcr detection of mycorrhizae.

Proceeded from the high school to Swan Lake to visit with the greater white-fronted geese. They were reasonably tolerant of my presence. I forgot or maybe never noticed before how intensely orange their feet are. The pattern of their feathers on their backs would make a good subject for drawing class homework (homework for statistics was alot less painful). Didn't have any tools so I'll need to find a photo.
Two of the younger mallards were doing a head bobbing ritual? Not exactly sure what that was about, but it went on for several minutes.
Carried on to Scott and Patty's house to dig alders for planting in the park. Dug enough to completely fill the trunk of the car, not that they actually fit in the trunk. I drove very slowly with the trunk open, alder tops out, to the park. Didn't lose any. Not sure how well they will survive, as I've never transplanted alder. I suspect that they are rather tough.
Between digging and planting I had an appointment to redeem a gift certificate for a massage that I received for Christmas. Very nice. Nothing like subdued lighting, gentle music and someone massaging your body with warm oil. Sounds overly erotic? Not if it is therapeutic massage and the goal is to work the kinks out of your muscles... I had a few to work out, ouch. The overall effect was rather relaxing and I could barely focus when I left the room. Unfortunately, I felt like I needed to plant the alders before they dried out and probably put a few kinks back in.
I'd like to find some Sambucus and Ribes for the park, planting a monoculture of Alnus in the former picnic site doesn't sound that great.