Urge for Going

What will happen if we simply stop having winter?

The other day we had a fierce desire to listen to Tom Rush sing Urge for Going. We once had it on a compilation disc of his, but I loaned it out and it has yet to return. I searched iTunes for his version and couldn't find, but found this amazing one done live by Dave Van Ronk recorded shortly before his death in 2002. Urge for Going written by Joni Mitchell is a beautiful piece of music that describes in folk-song eloquence the winters of Saskatchewan. A place where winter descended relentlessly out of the arctic north and had an impact on everyone's life in a frozen grip that could last for months.

I awoke today and found the frost perched on the town
It hovered in a frozen sky, then it gobbled summer down
When the sun turns traitor cold
and shivering trees are standing in a naked row
I get the urge for going but I never seem to go

I get the urge for going
When the meadow grass is turning brown
Summertime is falling down and winter is closing in

I had me a man in summertime
He had summer-colored skin
And not another girl in town
My darling's heart could win
But when the leaves fell trembling down
Bully winds did rub their faces in the snow
He got the urge for going And I had to let him go

He got the urge for going
When the meadow grass was turning brown
Summertime was falling down and winter was closing in

The warriors of winter they gave a cold triumphant shout
And all that stays is dying and all that lives is getting out
See the geese in chevron flight flapping and racing on before the snow
They've got the urge for going, they've got the wings to go

They get the urge for going
When the meadow grass is turning brown
Summertime is falling down and winter is closing in

I'll ply the fire with kindling and pull the blankets to my chin
and I'll lock the vagrant winter out and bolt my wandering in
I'd like to call back summertime and have her stay just another month or so
She's got the urge for going and I guess she'll have to go

And she gets the urge for going when meadow grass is turning brown
All her empires are falling down
winter's closing in

I've been reading some of Wayne's recent posts over at Niches on the temperatures for the past six months, and it's been quite alarming. What will happen if we stop having winter? How will anything know where and when to go, and grow? How will anything have an urge for going? A few degrees warmer is all it will take to disrupt everything. For those folks who ask what the big deal is with global warming, saying it's only a degree or two-- Ever see ice melt?

I really do wonder what's going to happen when we stop having winter.

UPDATE: A major storm has slammed into the Pacific Northwest. We lost power at 5:30 Saturday morning. I'm updating this on dial-up in the dark. The worst of the storm is supposed to hit between 7:00 am and 1:00 pm. Hurricane-force gusts are predicted. No telling when we'll get our power back. The propane heater is working, and we're cozy. I just bought the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, so as soon as the sun is up, the laptop gets turned off and I will get back into this most incredible tale.

First the Woodpecker, then the Coyote

I went out Wednesday morning to put some food in the bird feeder. All the birds, but one, took off as I approached. I didn't notice it at first because it was hiding on the backside of the post, but as I got close to the feeder, the head of a downy woodpecker peeked around the side of the post and looked at me. It did not seem afraid at all, but it hid back behind the post. Then, it stuck its head out again and peeped at me. I said hello back and ran to the house to get the camera. But by the time I returned it had already set itself on the hanging suet. It let me get so close I couldn't believe it. Here's what that little cutie looked like.
The downy was was back on Thursday, and played hide and seek with me again. This one has definitely won my heart. (Click on all pictures to enlarge)

Later in the day we drove into town to take a walk, after being immersed in bird stories, blogs, and blog links for hours. As we approached the field where we've seen coyotes, I said to dpr, "You know, I should really give our phone number to the work crew that's building the cafe across the street. That way if they see a coyote, they can just call us up and we can get down here in two minutes to take some pictures. Whoa, there's a coyote right now!"
She was busy hunting and was not deterred by our presence even when we parked on the side of the road to take her picture.

I and the Bird #16

For three days in 1969 Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York was transformed into the Woodstock Festival of peace, love and music. In homage to the spirit of that time, this blog known as The Dharma Bums is transformed for the day into a place of peace, love, and birds. We are please to present Birdstock, the online virtual concert and celebration of wild birds.

Here's an old ticket, it still gets you into the show:

Click on the ticket to hear Wavy Gravy at Woodstock.

We have a fantastic line up of performers from around the world for you, all here to sing their songs of birds. Some of us write poems, some photograph, some count, some hold them in their hands and heal them, some paint pictures of their inspiring beauty. But each of us in our own way sings a song of praise and delight, love and appreciation for these wild birds that live among us.

Our talented performers will take center stage in the order they signed up to perform. Here is the Birdstock virtual concert schedule:

Vic of The Clog Almanac sings a Florida ballad called Counting Crows about common-folk stereotypes of various corvid species.

The Ben Cruachan blog hails from Australia and sings a lovely tune called Come for a Walk about all the fine bird sightings in Stratford Highway Park.
Huitzil of Stone Bridge provides us with a vintage Austin sound in his beautiful song Clear Water and Birds about the birds of the local swimming hole at Barton Springs.

John of A DC Birding Blog belts out a hard-working number about bird counting along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
Deb's Sand Creek Almanac comes straight out of Bob Dylan's home state, where she serenades us with the sweet notes of the American Goldfinch in winter.

MB of Find Me a Bluebird takes the stage with a solo of poetic eloquence as she rhapsodizes about the moment she saw a Great Horned Owl.
TBeth of Firefly Forest brings the sights and sounds of Agua Caliente Park in Tucson alive when she sings the song of the Ring-Necked Ducks.

Pete of Pohanginapete offers us his touching and heart-rending What Murray Would Have Wanted song of lament, of loss and the search for the endangered Whio in Pohangina, New Zealand.
Charles from Charlie's Bird Blog croons a humorous tune of what birders don't like to hear when they're out there in the field.

Carel of Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding paints a stunning portrait in his song It's Murder, I tell ya, Murder about how the crows, ravens and magpies have adapted to life in Utah.
Anne, the incomparable songstress of Yllstonewolf captures the compelling sound of beauty when she sings the Great Horned Owl nest song I'm Tired in her much beloved Rocky Mountain High country.

Julian of Oeygarden Birds shares his melodic view of the splendid and varied Yard Birds outside his window in Norway.
Sigrid Jardin of Her Secret Garden sings her marvelous tale Backyard Visitor about a Great Blue Heron in her urban backyard on the Central Coast of California.

Rurality serenades us with a light-hearted tune of Hooded Mergansers, a Snipe, and digiscoping in her song Further Adventures in Bad Bird Photography in Alabama.
Pam of Tortoise Trail sings the sweet song of Nesting Hawks about Red-Tailed hawks that return to the same eucalyptus tree in Tucson for third year.

Cindy the artisan queen of Woodsong reaches the finest high notes with her usual flourish in her song Here a Bird, There a Bird about counting Snow Buntings in Michigan.
Pam of Thomasburg Walks sings a dreamy song in Last Night I Dreamed of Birds about owls and other birds not yet recognized, in her Ontario winter bird dream.

Dave of Bird TLC in Anchorage Alaska, sings the heartbreak song Ravens Get Special Care Also about those unfortunate birds who meet up with some humans, but find tender care from others.
Jude of Long-toothed hinterland dweller in Australia sings the No Night Owl song from the southern hemisphere about a bird so unusual it must be seen to be believed.

Tai Haku of Earth, Wind & Water brings us a sea tune of stunning Albatrosses that he penned while sailing off the coast of South Africa.
Bill of the Birds has a surprising and utterly fascinating tune called Bank Swallows Gone Wild about bird necrophilia.

From the Texas Hill Country B and B have a song of journeying up to the winter weather of Skagit Valley in Washington on a quest to see their first bald eagle.
Home Bird Notes arrives with a lovely, long song of divers and dabblers and geese-- oh my.

Troutgrrl in Science and Sarcasm performs a song that poses the question: Anyone Lose a Tail Feather?
Julie Zickefoose sings a moving ballad of the care and healing of an injured titmouse in her song Nobody Can Cuss Like a Titmouse.

Mike of 10000 Birds, bird maven and true master of these ceremonies, tempts us with his siren song about his journey to the Bahamas and the endlessly beautiful birds he encounters there.
Clare of the House and Other Arctic Musings chants his meditative musings about birding and birders' life lists in his contemplative Lists Lists Lists.

Amy of WildBird on the Fly takes a beautiful and bird-filled walk on Monday at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary and was moved to song by the great joy of all she beheld.
Grrlscientist of Living the Scientific Life performs the ever-popular tune How Many More Woodpeckers are in our Future, a song about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

Rob Fergus of The Birdchaser sings the song of the splendors to be found in watching the common birds in his song Have You Seen The Wawa?

Sharon of Birdchick wraps it up with a fantastic song of falcon flirtation in this beautiful finale I Got Bent.

We hope you have enjoyed this virtual concert, the voices from around the world all singing in celebration of the wild birds in our lives. If you love birds please consider blogging about them and sending a link to next I and the Bird host Amy at Wild Bird on the Fly.

You have been a great audience. Thank you for joining us.

Tagged to do a Meme

I don't really like memes. But I do like Patry Francis of Simply Wait and she tagged to write ten things about myself. I think I've written so much already that you all really know me. But I thought I share ten life stories that had an impact me on when I was growing up.

1. I was in kindergarden when my twin brother and I were separated for the first time and put in different classrooms (so we wouldn't compete with each other, per my parents' express request). But I cried and cried until the teachers opened a door between the classrooms so I could at least see him whenever I needed to.

2. When I was in 2nd grade I was the teacher's pet. I was singled out for praise and special responsibilities. In winter when she wore her heavy coat, she would come into the classroom and say, "R, would you like to hang my coat up in the teacher's cloak room?" Oh yes, I answered. She did this everyday, but after I while I started to feel sheepish about being so singled out, so when she asked me one morning to hang up her coat, I said, "No, I think you should give someone else a chance." So she did, and she never asked me again.

3. I once quit my Brownie troop because I saw the incredibly scary, dirty feet of the den mother. It made me afraid of what it meant to live in poverty.

4. I went to a Girl Scout overnight in a state park, where the several troops stayed together in a large cold cabin, sleeping in our sleeping bags on cots in a big room. After dinner, we were told to take our dinner plates and scrape them off into the garbage before we put them in the sink to be washed. For some reason, I thought it would be a better idea if I scraped my leftovers onto the plate of the girl scout leader's daughter, since she was heading over to the sink anyway. That did not go over quite so well, and I didn't return to Girl Scouts after that. I guess there simply was no badge for my kind of behavior.

5. My parents got tickets for the three youngest kids to go on the Bozo the Clown show in New York City. We were very excited, as my parents were able to watch the show from a small studio, while it was being broadcast. Bozo, as it turns out was a bit of a tyrant. Before the show he and the producers harassed us about not talking out, not shouting except when cued to, and never to wave at the cameras. They told us to yell only when Bozo's phone would ring, and he would run around pretending he didn't know where the phone was. We were told to shout out, "It's in your pocket. It's in your pocket." They reminded us again not to wave at the cameras. So, of course, as soon as we were live on air, I brought my hand up to my eyebrow and waved one little finger. I refused to shout when the phone rang.

6. When I was three, I took apart a small metal cash register, put a few screws into a cup, and drank them down. Yum. I told my parents and they took me to the doctor where I was fluoroscoped. The doctor saw the screws and told my parents that I would pass them, but that they should make sure by checking my poop. That fantastic job fell to my father who teased me every now and then for years later whenever I gave my parents a hard time that he had already gone through enough of my shit for me.

7. I broke my left wrist when I was six years old. I had been watching competitions for Olympic tryouts with my dad, and saw runners hurdling for the first time and thought I should definitely try that. I tried to hurdle a four-foot picket fence in the backyard. I didn't make it.

8. I got caught shoplifting when I was 15 years old. The store detective took me into a back room of the store and showed me a bank of TV screens and cameras, and told me how he had watched me hide some clothing under some other things. It was true. He told me he was going to call my parents, which was much scarier than when he told me he was going to write me up. I was very scared, but I was also defiant. I noticed that the detective had a tattoo that said "Born to Raise Hell." Richard Speck had recently killed eight student nursed in Chicago, and a big deal had been made about his tattoo, which also said, "Born to Raise Hell." I said to the detective, "That's an interesting tattoo." He said yes it was. I said, "You know Richard Speck has the same tattoo. What do you make of that?" He said that he really didn't know what to make of it. What did I think of it? I told him, I didn't know, but maybe people had the same tattoos for different reasons. He looked at me for a long time, and said that he wasn't going to call me parents afterall. He said, "You're a real fighter, and I like fighters. So, keep fighting, Tiger." And he showed me out of his office. I NEVER SHOPLIFTED AGAIN.

9. I once wore a mini-skirt to high school in 1969. It was so short that I was sent to the principal's office. He called my mother and asked her to bring me some attire that was more appropriate for school. So, she did. She brought me a lovely knit dress. After I put it on, I had to twirl around the principal's office so he could see how short and tight the dress was over my butt. He actually told me I should wear a girdle! I never wore a girdle in my life! Imagine saying that to a high school girl these days.

10. I dated a guy in high school who was half Puerto Rican and half African American. He was beautiful, played junior varsity basketball, played in a band, was very bright and talented, and was elected the senior class president. I still got called Nigger-Digger.

This is what I wrote instead of watching the president speak. I was happy to have the assignment.

Ostrich Syndrome

I have a confession to make. I'm not going to watch the State of the Union address tonight. I can't bring myself to do it. I always try to avoid looking at things that will drive me crazy. I'll read the transcript afterwards, but I can't look at the lying puppet's face when he is moving his lips. It is too disturbing. His smirk raises my blood pressure. His disingenuousness often causes me to scream expletives at the TV. It's utterly irrational, I know he can't hear me. Besides my yelling upsets the cat and the pirate.

I never watch violent movies. When I was in my early 20s, I ran out of a movie theater while Day of the Locust* was playing. The astonishing violence at the end literally drove me from my seat, up the aisle, and out the doors. I threw myself down on the concrete, and stared up at the stars. I knew then, as I know now, that there are some images that I simply don't want in my head. I don't know how to forget them.

So, maybe I am suffering from a case of ostrich syndrome, but one thing a person who is sensitive to the emotional violence of deception should never see is George W. Bush delivering his State of the Union address. It's just too horrific.

Do you plan on watching? How do you do it? Throw things at the TV?

*Here's some wild trivia: I was looking up info about Day of the Locust and found that the character Donald Sutherland played was named Homer Simpson.

Hosting the Bird Carnival

The Dharma Bums are hosting the next edition of I and the Bird.
Email your bird-related links to newdharmabums at yahoo.com. Deadline for submissions is Tuesday January 31st at 9:00 pm PST. For additional info please check out 10000 Birds.

Rainy Day

we live somewhere close to the center of the weather map below. this is a snapshot and of course the weather moves along. it has been a steady stream of this all day.

i had plans for the day. well, not really plans, but whatever it was it didn't include 3 hours with apple tech support. the support people are great. patient. knowledgeable enough. i called because my new powerbook was freezing now and then, requiring a shutdown and restart. not good for a new machine. we tried various things. no success. the next step would be to reinstall the software from the install cds which came with the machine. oh no! the cd is unreadable. another call to apple. they will ship me new cds. another 2 days. from monday. meanwhile i changed a setting in "energy saver" and the problem went away.

RD upgraded her ibook to the newest os x to have the same as me. part of the time on the phone with tech support was to resolve two problems on her ibook after the upgrade. the apple help program didn't work. problem resolved. the microphone no longer works. problem unresolved. recommendation: backup all data, erase disc, reformat, reinstall everything. we haven't done that yet.

so when our apple laptops work they are great. both have little hiccups now. it is very frustrating to buy a new machine and have it not work correctly. and find the backup disc, that came with the new machine, unreadable. did i mention that i got a new powerbook because the hinge broke on my 3 1/2 year old powerbook? it still worked, but i had to leave the lid open in it's fixed position and move it very carefully, and the screen flickered ominously at times.

later in the day we relaxed in the sauna listening to the rain. a nice antidote to tech support phone time. dinner. posting. and so to bed.

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