Leaf burning and Avian Salmonellosis

It's leaf burning time again. I'm not avoiding everyone, we are UNBELIEVABLY busy at work. Very strange, but hopefully this is a sign of the economy trying to rise back up again. International cargo is on the move! But, I am soooooooo exhausted after working 12-16 hour days without breaks or lunches. We do eat, we just order in. I cannot maintain this pace much longer, I'm getting tired.

Bill and I did manage to get to the cabin last weekend and I am heading up myself tomorrow morning. We were able to burn some leaves last weekend, but we have tons more to do. And, we had a hot water line break in the ceiling, so we didn't have water until late Saturday afternoon after Bill fixed it. Yep, that's me in the photo below. Got my hair cut and no one, including me, likes it. Oh well, it will grow.



American Tree Sparrow on the move northbound for breeding season! Unfortunately, I just heard today that there is a Salmonellosis outbreak in our area and people have been advised to remove their feeders for a couple of weeks. We seem to get this about every April. Since, I'm familiar with what it looks like, I'll remove my feeders if I see a sick bird and I'll take them down when I leave to come home. Salmonellosis is very easy to spot. The birds puff up and are easily approachable and they don't fly away when the others fly away. Unfortunately, the finches are hit very hard by salmonellosis.

The purple finches are back in town for breeding season! This is one of a gazillion males that were at the feeders last weekend. I like to call them Raspberry finches and House Finches as Red finches.