Morning Coffee At Steve’s Country #19.

Posted on December 19, 2020 by

201 Comments

Good morning on this very cold Saturday! The coffee is hot and ready to go, so please help yourself and relax with us for a few minutes. I guess it’s not really that cold this morning, -5F (-20C), but it feels colder in the wind. It was nice and red in the eastern sky this morning too, would have made a beautiful picture but this big hill here beside me prevents that. I don’t get to see the east very well from here. The pic I would have gotten wouldn’t look like much and all those hydro wires out there really mess up the pic anyway. From the top of that hill it must look quite nice though. Poor Jasper yesterday. After I told him about Jenny, then about an hour later another squirrel showed up. It was a male though so Jasper had his first big fight protecting his territory. Squirrels can really fight it out at times. But finally the other squirrel decided it was enough and ran off with Jasper chasing him until they were both out of sight.

A beautiful and private spot, rock walls on 3 sides and a drop off of 30 feet to the river on the 4th side. This is a very nice swinging bench, a great place to sit and relax.

Jasper was back a little while later, victorious! But he didn’t come over, I was ready to give him a nice very large peanut. He’ll get it next time though. Then shortly after that Baxter and Betty, the blue jays, were out here by themselves and suddenly a third blue jay came along and went after Betty, quite viciously. Then I realized it was a shrike! Baxter was after it in a flash, but shrikes are much more aggressive than blue jays even though the same size. Amazing that it would attack a blue jay though, he must have been getting hungry to do that. Poor Baxter was all alone in his fight though, I think the shrike knew that too. Other winters there have been 10 blue jays around, which gives 5 males to fight any enemies, they work together at times like that, which also protects the smaller birds. No other birds were in sight, the small birds had gone into hiding.

This is a beautiful looking spot, but across the river from where I usually sit. Looks like a wonderful spot for a picnic.

Finally 2 more blue jays came along, the must have heard the calls for help. In all 10 other blue jays came, obviously pairs, and the 5 males took turns going after the shrike and finally chasing it away from the area. Baxter and Betty were okay, and the other 3 regular blue jays stayed around too. I put out more peanuts for them. Generally the females won’t fight the shrike, unless there are no other jays around beside their mate, then they join in. Hopefully that shrike will stay away now. The blue jays work together to help each other, and with that they help the other birds in the area too. A good lesson there for people too. As is typical for Saturday, I have a couple more scenery pics from down at the river, though they don’t show the river, but rather a couple of spots that I really like. I hope you have a very enjoyable weekend and God bless!

Steve and Muffin (presently sleeping on my lap)

©2020 Steve McLeod

Category: Beauty, Birds, Coffee, Cold, Country, Country Pleasures, Encouragement, Friends, Happiness, Peaceful, Photos, Positive, Relax, Squirrels, Uncategorized, WinterTags: , , , , , , , , ,

201 Comments on “Morning Coffee At Steve’s Country #19.”

    • Oh my, hot chocolate for breakfast! Hmm, never thought of that, only have coffee, guess I should add hot chocolate and tea as well. But coffee is still best to start the day, just that wonderful aroma in the morning even! How’s things going?

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      • I add a candy cane to the hot chocolate which gives it flavor. Sometimes I add marshmallows too. Tea is a good option too, but steeped tea is by far the best tea. I agree that nothing beats the aroma of coffee first thing in the morning.

        Things are going okay. I’m really tired these days and have been sleeping a lot. Still haven’t started the new job yet and I’m finding it very difficult to not stress about stuff.

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      • Hmm, minty hot chocolate, sounds interesting. And marshmallows are always good with hot chocolate. I was going to get some but they didn’t have any left at the store.
        This has been a tough year for stress for a lot of people. Getting out in nature is a great stress reliever, harder to do in the city unless there is a park nearby. Even a walk along a tree lined street helps a lot, something lacking in too many city neighborhoods these days. Of course winter makes it harder to get out. So far my path to the river is okay.

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      • It’s the right balance of mint and chocolate. Tastes like a hot-beverage version of After Eight mints. I use the full sized-peppermint candy canes per 1 mug of hot chocolate (1 packet of cocoa). The candy canes I use are the cheap Great Value ones!

        I get what you mean by stress, but in a different way. I am trying to start a job and the paperwork has been a complete headache. Still haven’t started that job yet even though I have 2 job offers now. Whoever said that there are no jobs to be had was wrong. I honestly cannot complain though – never thought I would find work opportunities right out of school. With my last degree, I had no such luck.

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      • That’s great! Yes, there are jobs, but sometimes people don’t look too hard or they listen to others and so never try. Guess these places saw something they really liked about you, that’s fantastic!
        I have never tried mint hot chocolate before, and it’s impossible to find candy canes around here now, anything to do with Christmas sold out amazingly fast this year. I guess with the pandemic people want extra cheer this year.😁🎄

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      • It could have been my previous degree. I have an educational background but not much work experience. I also switched fields (from science to healthcare) which was a good choice I think.

        Speaking of selling out quickly, I went to Dollarama yesterday and most of their Christmas stuff was gone. I did the most cliché thing and accidentally bought toilet paper instead of paper towels, which was what I wanted. 🤦‍♀️

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      • Paper towels have been almost impossible to get here for the last 2 months now, don’t know why that is, very odd.
        Not being able to get the decorations I wanted this year I really haven’t done much decorating at all, meaning I hung up my Christmas cards, put up some lights, candles and a wreath. Terrible really. Oh well. I don’t think Muffin notices anyway!😂😹

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      • I would like a tree, but Muffin likes to climb and trees were made for climbing, so I don’t think it would work out too well. But if I had my parents decorations I would definitely have a tree.😀😺🎄

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      • My mom has some gorgeous decorations and used to decorate a full-sized tree. Over the last two years, she downgraded to a miniature real tree from a fake Costco tree. Most of the Costco lights died and it looked ridiculous – it stayed that way for many years until my parents finally decided to get rid of it. One day I plan to collect the box of ornaments which I use when I eventually have a full-sized tree.

        My childhood cat didn’t climb trees but she would play with the ornaments and try to eat the needles. She wasn’t much of a jumper.

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      • Yep, a full size tree would be nice, even something about 5 ft tall would be good for my apartment. My childhood cat would climb our tree all the time so my dad had to tie it to the wall, it was in a corner of the room. He also liked to play with the ornaments he could reach.😂😹🎄

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      • It is amazing how God equips them to defend and to be there for one another. What a blessing to have a front roll seat to see that. Reading it had me on pins and needles. I am so glad Betty and Baxter are okay. Also glad that Jasper was able to defend his territory and he is okay.. They are precious. Thank you for sharing this experience, Steve. Have a good evening! 🙂🌙

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      • Yes indeed, God has equipped them in so many different ways, with the blue jays, and others, it’s working together that does it. It is a real blessing having all these little animals around each day. Have a wonderful day Beverly!😀😺🌞

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      • Amen! Yes, truly a blessing! 🙂 Although it is almost over, have a wonderful day as well, Steve! 😁🌞

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  6. I am glad Baxter and Betty are okay…good thing Jasper won the battle ! Lovely pics ! How does sleeping in a chair help ? Am praying…☕️☕️🤭😮🙂😻🎄

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  7. Morning Coffee Steve….😋 Cheers… How was your morning coffee on this beautiful sunday snowy morning… Looks like a mini war got over, Jasper won his territory, Baxter and Betty then… Hope you had a wonderful Saturday… Wish you a pleasant Sunday 🤗 Hope all is well. Take care of your health, have your regular checkup done. 🤗🤗🤗

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  8. Thank you for the morning coffee, Steve and Muffin. Love the story about Jasper, Baxter, and Betty! With all of that entertainment, who needs TV! ☕️☕️🍩 🍪🧣 🧤

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