Ernest, holding court

I hadn't seen Ethel or Ernest for the last several trips across the bridge. By now, if she is nesting this spring, Ethel is already likely sitting on eggs in the nest in the Arboretum, and Ernest is likely dropping conifer boughs on her head in regular fashion! So it was especially nice to see Ernest yesterday afternoon right there on one of the favored light posts on the 520 Bridge when I returned from an errand into Seattle about 2:45 pm. We had a laundry room fire at our home on Friday of last week. All of us are fine, thank goodness, including (and especially) our daughter and 2 1/2 year old granddaughter who were here at the time. The house is still standing, albeit with some smoke damage throughout, and the laundry room is almost a total loss. But everything is relative. Our biggest worry was our 5 year old Persian cat, Wilson. He disappeared in the chaos and finally emerged from a hiding place he had discovered during the mayhem of all the smoke and flames, under the Viking Range to a cubby hole behind our dishwasher. He did suffer from smoke inhalation, but after a trip to the emergency veterinary clinic, a shot of steroids, bronchodilator meds, some fluids to treat his dehydration (and a whopping big vet bill) he is back to his sweet self, or nearly so. I felt that seeing Ernest yesterday was a good omen......things will be OK. And if nothing else, this experience has helped put silly things (like the political turmoil flaring now that we are in our extended presidential election season in the US) in perspective. Some things matter more than other things. Blessings come in disguise.

Spring is coming.....?

We get a whiff of spring here. The mercury climbs to 60 F, the sun makes a valiant appearance. But no.....spring is no match for winter's chill. While the vast chunk of the continental US has experienced an unusually mild winter here in the Pacific Northwest La Nina has brought us colder than normal weather. Last week teased us again with hopes of spring. But we awoke this morning to a pure white world. It has been snowing off and on all morning. But now the sun is again trying to make it through the clouds. So this afternoon we will head off over the bridge....hope to see the eagles. Didn't see them last week, but maybe they will like this cold weather?

Other neighborhood eagles......

Just returned from coffee at the Carillon Point Starbucks, and as we drove home on Lake Washington Blvd a pair of eagles circled overhead. I think these might be the eagles we observe from time to time at Heritage Park in Kirkland, but they are almost certainly not Ethel and Ernest. It would be interesting to learn just how many bald eagles reside nearby. We see them hovering over our house in the summer sometimes, usually being chased by some frantic crows, desperate to keep the eggs or the babies in their nests from becoming an eagle snack. It is kind of sad to see the poor crows valiantly flapping their wings, attacking in tag teams as one pair wears out from the effort and another pair takes up the fight, while the eagles simply soar. They seem not to have to move their wings at all, and it becomes apparent that it is a waiting game for them. They will outlast the poor crows and when the fight ends in crow exhaustion the eagles will almost certainly get their treat and move on. That's nature. And the crows do the same thing to smaller birds.....how many times we've seen a pair of crows raid the house finch's nest of eggs, or pluck a baby junco out of a nest the parents have tried to hide on the ground in our greenery. Survival of the fittest, and of the most powerful.

Oh what a beautiful morning...

The sky is full of cotton-ball clouds, the lake slightly roiled on the north side of the 520 Bridge (the way it always is during fair weather) and the sun is shining through on this promisingly warm early March morning. We awoke to 50 degrees today, surpassing the high mark we've struggled to meet on any but a handful of the days since November. I drove across the bridge at 9 am and there was Ethel on the light post she favors just west of the western high rise. Then upon my return both Ethel and Edgar were perched on the light post directly across the bridge deck from where she had been earlier. Just before I pulled evenly with the pair Ernest took off to chase some crows away from the exclusive dominion of the eagles, and Ethel stayed put. So it would appear that she is not yet sitting on a nest in The Arboretum. This warmish weather we are enjoying, however, might just be the encouragement the eagles need toward thoughts of love.