Sporkworld

Junco in biggest snowfall so far this Winter — 3 inches

It brought birds close enough for me to try — again — to take a really good photograph of a Junco.

This one is better, but not yet good enough.

The Last Collaboration is formally launched by Furtherfield.org.

You can see Edward Picot’s exciting review at

http://www.furtherfield.org/features/articles/last-collaboration

Thank you so much to everyone who helped to make this happen and who held my hand as I worked through the publishing disaster that occurred prior to Furtherfield’s rescue.

Special thanks to Michael Szpakowski who made the connection between this book and Furtherfield and to Ruth Catlow and Marc Garrett, Directors of Furtherfield, who took on the project and solicited Edward Picot’s introduction.

Thanks to Edward Picot for giving The Last Collaboration such a careful read.

Surly Man

Why is Surly Man (SM) standing on a bare spot in the driveway where clearly some other object occupied that space overnight and protected it from any snow?

And why is SM holding up two New York State legally-issued license plates that appear to have been attached to a vehicle?

And — do we know if this is a happy photograph or an unhappy photograph from looking at SM’s face?

Is it possible that SM is experiencing some other emotion?  Not happy, not unhappy, but not exactly content?

This driveway is empty.  There is a bare spot on the driveway where a vehicle was parked, but now there is no vehicle parked there.

This is why the bare spot is bare.

There are tire tracks from the middle of the driveway to the road.

But unfortunately, there are no tire tracks from the bare spot to the road.

It is possible that the vehicle parked over the bare spot in the driveway is a ghost vehicle.

It is possible it never existed.

It is possible the vehicle was driven into the garage which is out of sight on the right side of the image.

(It is not possible that the vehicle was driven into the garage.)

But that would not explain the tire tracks near the road.

Did someone get lost right at that specific place in our city and choose to turn around in our driveway?

No.

There must be another explanation. 

Any other explanation involves considering unlikely explanations — which — it must be said — is often the case in the life of the family whose driveway this is.

Unnamed Automobile (to avoid any unhappiness from the corporation that manufactured this vehicle) parked in the driveway after most of last night’s snowfall has melted.

No mystery here.

Vole next to the house

So what’s the difference between a vole and a mouse?  The vole has a hairy tail, shorter than a mouse, and its ears are set differently — cuter.

I don’t know about such scientific explanations.  There were two voles today burrowing tunnels in the snow (and not in the sod, I hope).  Even without spilled birdseed, voles are commonplace here.

The only hesitation in the identification of these small rodent creatures is the fact that we trapped two mice (well, I think they are mice) in the basement yesterday after Surly Man had one of the mice offer to help him with the laundry.

Fresh Fox Tracks

Yes, I know.  We live well within city limits.  But the fox doesn’t care.  Got two great looks today, but as I ran for the camera, the fox sauntered around the corner of the neighbor’s house.  Momentarily out of sight, out of range.

Stay tuned.

Always travel with a camera, but not the big one.  Not on a day like this when I thought I had awakened at 6 AM — and it was actually 8:30.  What I call with my usual hyperbole a “slit your throat day.” 

Ah, but errands still must be run, and so we encounter a pair of damp Mallards and a Herring Gull.  The latter a little unusual in my experience along the canal in these parts, but the pink legs are a giveaway, even blurred by rain and — did I say? — the smaller camera.

A little high water has come through as well from the look of the debris.

Pair of Mallard Ducks along the Erie Canal.

Cardinal female.

The more snow, the more birds.

This, the first real snow of the season — 4 inches.