Good morning and Happy Friday everyone! Wow, this is our last Friday of 2022 and only one more day left in the year! This is also the last coffee post for the year. I am thinking of making a few changes for the New Year, but have not quite figured that out yet. Which means I better hurry. It is a bit cooler this morning again, 5F (-15C). A bit of a change from yesterday when it was 28F (-2C).

But tomorrow will be milder again, and Sunday also. A nice way to begin the New Year. The chickadees, nuthatches and blue jays have been here this morning. I have not seen any other birds yet. But with the windows frosted up again, it is hard to see anything. We had some freezing rain/drizzle yesterday, so everything is covered with ice including the deck and the step up to the bird feeder. The feeders themselves were covered with ice by late afternoon so I brought them inside to thaw them overnight.

Amazing the birds were still able to get seeds. That squirrel which was coming so regularly for a few days has stopped again for some reason. He is still around, running through the trees in the empty lot out back. But he does not come over here. He is a very strange squirrel indeed. Normally when a squirrel finds a good source of food, it will keep coming. But not this one. He must be getting good food somewhere else.

Does this mean that someone else is perhaps giving out better quality peanuts than I am? What a terrible thought! Hmm, maybe that is why my blue jays do not come around as much now. Maybe I need to put out a “sale” sign on my peanuts. Something like “Eat 2 peanuts, get 2 more absolutely free!” It might work. Oh well, just a thought. It is kind of odd this winter though. Yesterday I was outside for nearly half an hour and there was not one bird out there that whole time.

Not even one. That is odd. But every year is different. Last year I had record high numbers of birds, this year it is just the opposite. But it could yet change too. I am saving a lot on bird seed and peanuts though, so I guess that could be considered a plus. I am still trying to get a picture of that female Downy Woodpecker. But by the time I get out there she is usually gone. Or some noise will scare her away just as I am going out the door.

Or one of the Hairy Woodpeckers comes and scares her away. Sigh. But one of these days I will get her picture. I am still sorting out pictures. There is a lot to go through and it takes a lot of time. I thought it would be faster, but I was wrong. Like a project I was working on. I had already done half of it so I figured it would be only about half an hour left to finish it.

I was wrong. It ended up taking me all afternoon. There were some unexpected problems show up, so it took longer. Sigh. But now that it is done I can do something else. Once completed I will have more space in here and less stuff. I am also trying to downsize this winter. That is also taking longer than I thought. Sigh. Thank you all for visiting today. I hope you have a wonderful Friday, and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2022 Steve McLeod.