Rutland, ND

Today, during the brief snow flurries - which foretell what is to come tonight — we had a visitor on our windowsill.  As it occasionally happens, a bird flew into our window and needed to sit on the ledge for a while.  It was a strange looking visitor for this former City girl.  Luckily it perched long enough for me to find my camera (on the other end of the house of course).  I took a few photos and then spent some time investigating to determine what strange creature had appeared in our yard.  It looked like a bird of prey so we started there to seek out photos.  We eliminated the owl family and moved on to researching hawks and to our surprise what we have here is a falcon — The American Kestrel falcon to be exact.  Many may know this creature as a sparrow hawk and it supposedly is a very common falcon.  This was my first opportunity to view one up and personal.  He (yes, it’s a male) took an interest in us as well before he flew off to perch on top of a pine tree.  If you want to check for more on this creature, click this link to the Chipper Woods Bird Observatory.

Rutland made it into the Forum news today thanks to Izetta Colvin.  There is a new feature on Izetta and her connection to the Navy.  If you missed it, clink this link to “A seat from sailors.”

Well, I’m glad to report that the Wild Rice River has stopped running over our township road.  The change in the water flow is due to the fact that a portion of County Road 10 here South of Rutland collapsed on Wednesday.  Yesterday a portion of the westside lane fell into the Wild Rice near the culvert.  This morning the rest of that portion over the culvert collapsed.  We are lucky in that we can get to town easy but I pity those who live south of that culvert because now they have a bigger challenge of getting into Rutland to enjoy the amenities it offers!

It has been a while since I’ve blogged.  I didn’t mention the snowstorms or freezing weather of another long winter.  Those have come and gone.  The big issue throughout the State — mainly Fargo and surrounding communities to the north and south — is the force of nature in the form of water.  Rutland and its area is not immune.  There are “holding ponds” in Rutland proper.   We’ve got a wonderful view of the water on the westside preventing us from getting on the blacktop (Hwy 10) leading to Rutland.  The water from the Wild Rice River is slowly receding but it is a force not to be reckoned with.  Hopefully we won’t have to sandbag this time like we did two years ago (and in 1997!).