Today I really began the cleanup that will need to be done before the yard can come out of its winter doldrums. Cut back old stalks of coneflowers, yarrow, sedum, clematis, and more. Created lots of piles of stuff around the yard that we'll have to move to the garden for burning in the next couple of weeks. I wish it would be easier to let it degrade. I suppose it would be possible if we had a huge chipper/shredder of some sort. But we don't, and I hate to remove it from the property entirely. So we burn it on the garden and then dig in the ashes when we roto-till in a month or so.
Tonight when I went out to see the results of the work, I noticed a very large bird in the trees along the creek. As I looked closer, I realized it was a Great Horned Owl. As I watched, one crow after another arrived and they began to harass the Owl unmercifully. there were at least 8 or 9 of them and the noise they were making was unbelievable. Once in awhile one of them would dive down onto the Owl, seemingly trying to topple it from the branch it was sitting on. Once or twice the Owl took flight and landed on another branch nearby. The Crows were unrelenting. After about 10 minutes they finally drove the Owl away, to my regret. I would much rather have an Owl in the yard than 9 Crows, even if the Owl is more dangerous to Kate when she is out.
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