Good morning to all of you on this cloudy Tuesday! It is fairly mild again this morning, with a temperature of 20F (-7C). That is amazing really considering this is January which is normally a cold month for us, and usually, our coldest month. Yesterday was even milder with clouds, freezing drizzle and ice fog all day. There was freezing drizzle Sunday night as well so it ended up being very icy and slippery everywhere yesterday.

It is still that way today. I put sand on the deck and bench that I stand on to reach the feeders, for safety reasons. It did not quite work though. As I stood on the bench last evening to get the feeders to bring inside for the night, a piece of the ice I was standing on broke free and slid away, sending me sliding the opposite direction. That was my second time yesterday.

The first was on my friends sidewalk in the morning. Yesterday was an odd day. I think all of these falls and banging my head are doing something to me. Not sure what, but it does something to me. After getting home yesterday morning, after my first bang, I got so tired around noon that I just could not stay awake. So I decided to lie down for a while. My back needed the break anyway, it was paining terribly. I fell asleep immediately and awoke in the evening.

What happened to my day? I woke up, looked at the clock and realized I had slept later than usual by about an hour. That is what I thought. It was dark, so my first thought was that it was morning. I did not even remember lying down. I went to the bathroom, came back and noticed my bed was nicely made. I looked. I did not remember doing that. Then I noticed that I was dressed. I did not remember showering or getting dressed.

Muffin was there getting my attention for breakfast, so I thought. I decided to look at my phone. It was evening, not morning. Wow, was that ever strange! Trying to get my mind back on track now was quite something. No wonder I was dressed, it was still Monday! That would also explain why my alarm did not wake me up, it works in the morning, not evening. I could not believe how long I slept. Guess I was more tired than I thought.

I have not been sleeping well for the last week since being attacked by that dog. I did have a good laugh after realizing what happened. Muffin, on the other hand, was not too happy. I was late with her supper. I almost decided not to share this, but it was just too funny not to share it. The things that happen to me sometimes. Oh well. There were lots of birds here a few minutes ago, the evening grosbeaks were here too, a lot of them.

Then the blue jays alarm call sounded and every bird disappeared. Only the blue jays have returned, and a few chickadees that were here at the time. That shrike was obviously here again. I wish I could get a picture of it. But whenever I go outside, it flies to the top of a tree in the neighbors yard, which is just too far away for a photo. He keeps eating my birds, so it would be nice if he cooperated and let me take his picture.

The chickadee numbers are getting less all the time. Soon that shrike will not have anyone left to eat. Sigh. I am still trying to get a picture of that female downy woodpecker too. The male is easy. But the female flies away when she sees my camera. If I go out without the camera, she stays and eats. I can even get quite close to her. Sigh. Hopefully one of these days. Thank you for visiting today. Have a great day everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2023 Steve McLeod.