For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Good morning to all of you! It’s time for some coffee and a few minutes to relax here at Steve’s Country! Muffin is at the door ready to greet everyone, just bouncing around with excitement. It’s cloudy again with a nice temp of 21F (-6C) and the birds are already busy this morning. It was dark when I went out to put food on the feeders this morning. When I came back in I just stood at the window and watched for a while. It wasn’t long and there was a little daylight beginning to show out there, and something caught my eye. On the one small feeder was a chickadee getting his breakfast! I think these birds are pretending to be owls. That is amazingly early for the chickadees to be out.
Not too long after, Mama showed up with her young one. Actually it isn’t really her young one. The fawn’s mother must have been killed and Mama adopted her. They have bonded well together, and Mama won’t let the other deer give “her” little one a hard time, she will chase them away. And that’s not too hard for her since she’s the biggest female around here right now. She even chases the younger bucks. Speaking of chasing. Jasper was here sitting on a branch and the other squirrel came along from across the next street. Jasper waited, sitting still as could be, watching. The other squirrel came close and Jasper pounced! The two fought and the other squirrel ran. The chase was on, through the trees, running along the branches. Jasper was closing in when the other squirrel made a surprise turn and dropping to a lower branch.
That let him get ahead of Jasper but the chase was still going. Finally Jasper was on a branch just a little higher than the other squirrel and jumped! What a fight. But…Jasper lost and the other squirrel started chasing him. Jasper stopped and turned toward the other squirrel. The other squirrel stopped. They chattered at each other for about 10 minutes then the other squirrel left. This is not looking good for poor Jasper, but at least he’s not giving up yet. This happened a couple winters ago too, with two different squirrels. My squirrel lost and was chased away, but after 2 weeks he came back and those two really fought for 2 days, but my squirrel won back his territory and the other squirrel left. The pics today show some goldeneye ducks down at the river when I was there on Monday. There was quite a few of these ducks that day, mostly common goldeneye but also 3 female Barrow’s goldeneye. I hope you have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
ยฉ2021 Steve McLeod.
Good Morning! The coffee is really good this morning! Iโm so glad to hear the dawn has an adoptive mother! So sweet! And those ducks are gorgeous! I love to hear of all the chatters that go on with the birds and squirrels. Hilarious! โ๏ธ ๐ฆ ๐ฟ ๐ ๐จ
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*Fawn
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Yep.๐
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Thanks for coming by this morning Renee! Coffee is so good on these cooler days. That fawn likely wouldn’t have survived without Mama adopting her. There really can be a lot of chatter with the birds and squirrels, the deer are the silent types. Glad you had a good time, hope you have a great afternoon! ๐๐ธโโ
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Squabbling squirrels ๐ฟ
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Yes indeed, they can really get serious in that fighting sometimes!
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Yay! Jasper!๐๐
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He’s still top squirrel, but that other one is a determined critter.๐ค๐ณ
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That can be good… right?
๐ค๐
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That depends.
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I am sure with all the support Jasper has he’ll overcome.. after all he has you cheering for him and supporting him. The other squirrel will go back where he came from. He’s not gonna want to go up against those odds.๐
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Did you just call me odd? You’re right, I am!! Wheehee! Muffin is cheering for Jasper too! And the president of Jasper’s fan club!๐ฃ๐ฃ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐๐น
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In a good way
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Is your internet working better today?
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Nope.
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Nuts! Sorry to hear that… don’t pay the bill until they fix it.
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And lose my internet for good? I’m gone.
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GN
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Good morning.
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Good Morning yourself ๐ running a little late I see
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This is quite early, it’s only 6:40
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You should wind your clock a little more it’s evening.๐๐๐
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Hmm, have to wait a bit and see if it gets light. But if it’s evening, how come you weren’t here this morning?๐คจ
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I had a day…. ๐ It was one of those that just starts not so good and just stayed that way. My brother is ill and had taken a turn for worse and was back in the hospital… work was nothing but things going bad. So I am sorry I didn’t get to reading posts today. ๐ Good news is… it is over since technically it is no night time things have only one way to go and that’s better
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I didn’t know your brother wasn’t well, does he live near you?๐ค No big deal about reading, just wondering where you were, I figured you had a lot of work to do today. Some days can be like that for sure.๐ณ
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He is in Minnesota. Work, well it’s work. Things were broken and so it was a lot of diagnosis to find the issue and manual work until it’s fixed. I need to rise above that stuff though and keep to my routines. Which is readi g and replying…. it keeps centered.๐๐๐
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Terrible when things break down like that, all that extra work to do, more stress. Good time to go for a walk. Really, it is.๐๐ถโโ๏ธ๐ถโโ๏ธ๐
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I did at lunch. I walked down to Moonies, it’s a fast food like restaurant.. they have a pretty good menu, salads, burgers and the like. That helped..
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Hey, that’s a good way to do it! Walk and eat. This is the closest place to get any fast food around here, but the cook is a bit grouchy at times, especially when he drops the food on his feet. The food isn’t especially good either and he has this cat that walks around biting customer’s feet. Other than that it’s a nice place.
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I can understand the grouchy cook if his feet are being bitten.๐๐๐ gotta be hard for repeat customers dropping food on his feet. Not to mention the grease stains on the socks!๐ณ๐ฒ
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Tell me about it, plus the fact he picks it up and puts it back on the plate. Best not to watch.๐๐น
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I agree!!
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No wonder it’s never hard to get a table…and there is only one!๐๐
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Hey… at least the floor is clean. Never any food hits it since it lands on the feet of the Chef..๐คญ๐คญ๐คญ
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Any food that hits the floor is cleaned up quickly by the automatic floor cleaner.๐๐พ
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It gets hungry too๐๐๐
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Shhhhh.๐คซ
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No wonder your feet are being bitten๐คญ๐คญ
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Right now she’s sleeping.
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Uh oh.. that means she could be awake โฐ early๐ฒ๐ณ
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And late too.๐ฌ๐น๐น
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Yep!! Better leave a snack for her when she does..๐
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I always do! Well, time to leave before I fall asleep right here!๐ด Have a good night Dusty!๐๐
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You too Steve. Thanks for spending time to chat! It was the highlight of my day as always! Sleep Well๐๐
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My pleasure!
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๐
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Good Morning ๐ You get that stroll down to the river in yet?๐
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What do you think I am? A cat so I can see in the dark? Hmm, that’s not a bad idea.๐ฌ๐ค
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Thank you, It took me all night to come up with that!! ๐๐
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Good idea too!๐๐ท
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Alright! I’ll go see what pics you’ve got today. BRB๐
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Did you find anything?
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I must have๐ค
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Good for you!
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Thank you.๐
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You’re welcome.๐
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Thank You!
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It is the eldest of my siblings that is sick. He has terminal liver cancer with about a year or so for a prognosis. I only have 2 brothers and he is the oldest.
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Sorry to hear that Dusty, not an easy thing to deal with. I’ll keep the matter in prayer.
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Thank you. Yeah it’s been a bit of a shock. He’s always been very healthy and active. So to have him so ill is hard.
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That’s the way it was with my oldest brother, he was the healthiest in the family, then he got cancer.
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It’s life you know.. it just catches a person off gaurd and you need to process it and when it hits you it can mess up your day. So what did you do today? Did you go out for awalk?
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Yep, I went down to the river again, sat on the bench for awhile. A little more ice showing up in the small bays as the temp drops. Not very much water coming through the dam so I imagine this section of the river will freeze over if the temps go too low.๐ณ๐ง It was definitely cooler today, but that made the snow hard so it was easier walking.๐๐ถโโ๏ธ๐ถโโ๏ธ
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I’m glad you were able to get and stretch them legs ๐ฆต ๐คช
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Yep, and now they’re sore and wobbly!๐๐
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Will good fresh air in the lungs! Should sleep good tonight!
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That is so true! I should sleep good tonight!๐ด๐ด
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Yeah, I hope you do!
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Do? Do what? What did I do?๐ค๐ณ
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Nothing yet.. but sleep well… i hope๐
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It was busy on the path today, amazing really.
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It looks like its been mild up that way lately. I hope it stays that way…
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Yep, fantastic winter so far really, but the colder weather is coming apparently. But we should get a few more days yet anyway.๐
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At least Jasper has some fun ๐ฟ He likes chasing everyone ๐น
Beautiful ducks ๐ฆ
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Yes, and so far it’s working out. He was here for his afternoon snack today, so that was good, he didn’t look hurt after that fight.
Thanks so much Ribana! Have a fantastic day!๐๐บ๐ป
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you know I’ll be rooting for Jasper!
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That makes him feel better! But I think he’s slowly being pushed out unfortunately.
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if there is a transition of power, hopefully it will be a peaceful one… ๐
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Somehow I doubt it. If the chipmunks were around right now I think they would join Jasper and run that newcomer out of here!๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฟ
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that would be quite the sight to see!
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Yes, I wish I could draw and I would do a cartoon.
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Nice collection of coffee cups โบ๏ธ Very Good Morning to the beautiful Saturday๐ค๐Jasper is rocking โจ๐คHave a wonderful day ๐ฅฐ
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Good morning Simon! Thanks! I hope your day is off to a good start!๐๐บโโ
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Sunday โบ๏ธ a good start to a busy life ahead๐ Have some functions to participate a wedding ceremony at night and a special lunch with a cousin ๐ it’s a busy dayโบ๏ธ
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Good for you! Nice to have those kinds of busy days, the fun kind!๐๐บ
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๐ I’ve decided to not to repine this year, but here I’m doing it ๐ I’ve been diligent all days since last month, which I’m not okay ๐ง but that’s how my life is, and I’m relishing it ๐ do I have a cull ? NO๐ so why waste typing โบ๏ธ๐
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Good for you again Simon! Stay with it and have fun!๐๐
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