Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Spring Solitude. #1
Good morning on our first Saturday of April! Yes, a little change to my title now that spring is here, at least more or less. Maybe a little less actually, but at least we can see it now. The snow has been melting, though not much the last few days. The days are getting longer, which is sure nice. And the summer birds are beginning to return, which is a sure sign of spring. Yesterday a herring gull flew overhead, bright white against that deep blue sky, now that is spring.
Yesterday we had the female purple finch and this morning there was a male with her as well. Both on the feeder feasting on sunflower seeds. Now that is spring. There is some ground beginning to show next to the house and on the hill across the street. Now that is spring. Yesterday the south wind blew and pushed the temperature back into the warmer range of 43F (6C). Now that is spring. Jasper has come back with Jasmine his mate and they are running around together and getting “friendly”. Now that is spring.
The crows are back and have settled their territory for the summer breeding season. Now that is spring. Baxter is courting Betty again this year, bringing her the best and biggest peanuts he can find out here. She gladly accepted again this year too. Now that is spring. And once again I have not been able to get a picture of the two of them. Now that is spring. Yesterday when I went out to feed the birds I spotted something out of the corner of my eye.
It was Pocket, one of my 3 top chipmunks, he was back again! Now that is spring! He is 3 years old this year so I wasn’t sure if he would be back or not. So I sat down with a cup of peanuts to see if he would remember and climb onto my lap. He was nervous, so I held out a peanut to him which he cautiously took. Then a second peanut, quite a large one, then he ran off. Would he be back? Only a few minutes and he was back and jumped up on my lap right away, taking peanuts from the cup. He did that again.
Then his third time on my lap he sat on the cup with his back to me. When an animal is willing to turn their back on you it means they trust you completely that you will not hurt them. And they like to sit with their back facing something safe so no danger can sneak up on them. That is not only spring, that is solitude. What a blessing to enjoy solitude right on my deck, with one of my little friends. That is spring. That is solitude. Thank you for joining me today, I hope you all have a most wonderful weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
Something , good about northren countries is that moisture during colder weather gets very little making things more bearable .
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Well, it can help a bit, but when the temperature is down at -40 or colder, it really doesn’t help. Here, because we have so much open water all winter there is a lot of moisture in the air, even at those cold temps, so it makes it feel even colder.
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What great pics of your friends ! Is there way I could send these pics to Leah ?
Have a good day Steve and Muffin ! ☕️☕️☕️☕️🙂😻🐿🐿
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I sent you an email in answer to your question. Thank you so much! Hope you have a good night, rest well!😊😻🌞😴😴
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Enjoy your little friends, Steve, they certainly enjoy you! Have a wonderful weekend and the glimpses of Spring!
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Thanks so much! I don’t know if they enjoy me so much as they do the peanuts!😁🐿️🐿️ But we do have fun together anyway. Have a great weekend as well!😊😺
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Your little friends are simply adorable…and am sure they make you so happy…😊😊💓💓
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Thank you so much! Yes, they do make me happy, they are fun to have around! Have a great week!😊😺🐿️🐿️🌞☕☕
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What great photos of such cute little critters! That’s amazing Pocket sits on your lap! 😺
🥜🥜🥞☕️☕️
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Yes, Pocket is one of the 3 friendliest chipmunks. He will dig in my pockets looking for peanuts, that is how he got his name. He also likes to sit on my shoulder at times, though Skamper does that the most.😊😺🐿️🐿️
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