a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Author: theMan

Duck Serenity

It never occurred to me that I would find serenity watching ducks. Meditation exercises ask you to sit calmly, close your eyes, and clear your mind of thoughts. Watching ducks swimming, especially if they are caring for ducklings, is just as effective for clearing your mind of thoughts. Dare I call it Duck Serenity?

This morning’s thick fog is almost gone. All summer we have enjoyed the bluest of skies. The past few days, smoke from the fires in California has seeped into the skies. It’s not the acrid smoke we’ve had in summers past. The smoke is high aloft. Not something we can smell. The skies are still blue, only a muted blue.

Pema Chödrön in her Start Where You Are writes:

We already have everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement. All these trips that we lay on ourselves – the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds – never touch our basic wealth. They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.

Watching ducks care for ducklings has a way of snapping you out of your delusions. Of awakening you. Of opening your heart. Of clearing your mind of all those cobwebs. Of letting you start afresh.

Therapists charge anywhere from $60 to $400 and up for a session. That buys a lot of duck feed. Spending time with swimming ducks may leave you more content and peaceful and less penniless than blabbing away for an hour with a therapist. Duck serenity comes at a much lower cost.

Along Friday Creek Road, a flower stand popped up this summer. I bicycle past it whenever I go get coffee beans. The garden next to the flower stand is a paradise of flowers. An hour long bicycle ride also works wonders and clears your mind too.

September 6, 2020
August is Coming to an End

The four ducklings are growing fast. Ducklings often make a whistling sound. They’ll whistle when they are afraid or excited. They come whistling for breakfast.

The sweet annie is up and getting ready to bloom. This plant has such a lovely scent, every part of it. It’s a sweet, soft mix of clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices. The leaves are delicate and dance in the slightest of breezes.

The chart above is from Artemisia annua Wikipedia entry. It lists the phenolics discovered in this fragrant herb. One of them, Rhamnetin, is an O-methylated flavonol that can be isolated from cloves. It’s like this one plant is a drug store all of its own.

August 28, 2020
It’s Easier with Another

Three days ago the sky was a cobalt blue with wispy clouds. Today’s sky is definitely fall like. Thick, grey clouds accompanied with gusty winds. Summer is coming to an end.

The two hens who decided to join forces and raise a brood together are fun to watch. Every hen raises her chicks slightly differently. But this is the first time I’ve had two hens pair up from the get go. When they were sitting on the clutch they were on top of each other.

Each day they go out together with their chicks, who happily float from one mother to the other. The two hens are never far apart. At night they squeeze into the same nest with all the little ones tucked underneath them.

They could be the start of a movement among hens. Why do it alone? It’s easier raising a brood with another.

August 21, 2020
Hottest Day of the Year

The forecast yesterday was for a hot day. 87ºF (30.6ºC). This morning the forecast changed to a high of 84ºF (28.9ºC). Our first day this summer above 80ºF. It felt warm from the first step this morning. The sun was already burning the top leaves of the cottonwoods. We topped out at 82ºF (27.8ºC). Tomorrow and beyond, we are back to cooler weather. A heat wave that lasts one day, that’s fine with me.

Blackberries ripening are a sure sign that it is August.

It’s a great day to relax and enjoy the colors of this time of year.

And what to make of these two? Here they are tonight, each coddling more than ten chicks underneath their feathers. They sat on the same clutch of eggs. Often on top of each other. I ordered baby chicks because they only had a few eggs and I needed to get more pullets. The baby chicks arrived Wednesday morning. I set them under both of them. I’m not sure how they determine which chick is going with which mother when they all wake up each morning, but they’ve got it figured out.

I’m afraid what the bill will be for all the therapists the chicks will require when they grow up. “I never could figure out who my mother was,” I can hear the chickens tell their therapist.

August 16, 2020
Morning Surprise

Will she or won’t she hatch those ducklings? That was what I was wondering about Kaku. She’d been sitting on a second clutch of eggs for a long time. This morning I had my answer. She was swimming in the tank with three ducklings. Only, these weren’t day old ducklings. They were at least a week old. She’d managed to keep the secret for some time. Later I saw there were four ducklings, one circling the tank below, looking for her.

It’s always a joy digging up a potato plant. From one little 80 gram potato planted not that many months ago, 1.38 kilos of potatoes, 3 pounds of potatoes. That’s a 17 fold increase in just three months.

Late summer and the cat mint is in full bloom. The mornings have been cool enough to have the heat on a bit to take the chill off. I’m never ready for fall this time of year. I want August to go on much longer. But seeing the fall colors always changes my mind.

August 12, 2020