Wednesday Words. #3 Country Pleasures.

Good morning to everyone! I hope you are having a great day so far! It is cloudy and colder this morning with a temperature of 7F (-14C). There is a little wind, though nothing serious. Once again there are not many birds here this morning. Even the chickadees and nuthatches were late arriving again today. Usually they show up while it is just barely getting some daylight.

But today, as with most days lately, it was about an hour after daylight before they arrived. That is really something I have never seen in all my years of feeding birds. This has been a long winter for some reason, and yet it began later than usual. Plus it has not been that cold, except for that 2 week period before Christmas. We have had a lot of snow, though not much this month.

Perhaps it is all the cloudy days that has made this winter seem worse than other winters. And it is not just me, I have heard others say the same thing, it has just been a tough winter. And the only real difference is the number of cloudy days. Normally January is a sunny, and cold, month. We have had 2 sunny days this month. But then there is summer. But this is not about that, even though it might seem like it. I do like to think about country pleasures.

There are many of them to think about too. Like chipmunks, those cute little rodents that crawl all over me during the summer, looking for their peanuts. Standing on their hind legs to look at me. They have to be one of the cutest animals around. Then there are squirrels, a little noisier than chipmunks, and much more bossy, but still cute little critters which can also be quite friendly. And, of course, squirrels are here year round, while chipmunks stay in their little homes all winter.

Both are country pleasures. Then there are my bird friends, some only here in the summer, while others stay year round. I like birds. They are really quite fascinating animals. And they are tough as well, especially those that spend the winter here. Such an amazing variety of sizes, shapes and colors. Even here in the north we have some very colorful birds and not just in the summer, but in winter as well.

Birds are a real country pleasure, any time of the year. Another real country pleasure is walking the trail to the river and enjoying the beauty down there. And it is very beautiful, all along that trail. And a nice quiet place to spend some time.

That is my place of real solitude. A place of real beauty, with wildflowers, mushrooms, tall pine trees, rocks, thick moss and thick mats of pine needles. Thank you for reading my thoughts for today, I will continue tomorrow. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2023 Steve McLeod.