Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Thursday’s Thoughts #8.
Good morning everyone! The sun was shining so beautifully this morning, 2 hours ago, now it’s completely cloudy. Yet the forecast forgot to mention anything about clouds, it was just supposed to be sunny. I agree, it is sunny, just hidden by the clouds. Kind of strange that they didn’t notice all those clouds out there. Anyway, there is clouds, lots of them. Jasmine is here again right now, so is another female though I’m not sure who that is, plus Freddie is also back and very persistent as usual. But so far Jasmine is keeping him away. He just decided to take the leap to escape and into the raspberry bushes he went.
That should make him itch for a bit. But he’s back, he wants those peanuts and Jasmine is just as determined that he won’t get any. Those two really don’t get along well. She didn’t chase the other female however. Pocket, Coffee and Scooter were here earlier and managed to get the first batch of peanuts before Jasmine showed up. So that was good. Jasmine is getting braver. She will now sit on my knee to get peanuts. She has always been hesitant to take peanuts from me, even though she will sit beside me while eating them.
But yesterday she cautiously took them from my hand and I finally coaxed her onto my knee. And I had a good talk to her about not chasing the chipmunks. And all the time I was out there she never chased a chipmunk, even though they got quite close to Jasmine. I walked to the river yesterday afternoon, it was warm and sunny, though very windy. It is incredibly dry out there. The grass has turned brown, very unusual for this area, wildflowers are drying up and lying withered on the ground, even leaves are changing color and dropping to the ground. Looks more like fall than early summer.
The river is down another 7 inches (17cm). But it was so nice sitting on the bench enjoying the beautiful day. There was a guy in a boat, fishing. I think he was fishing, kind of hard to tell, looked like he was sleeping. But he was enjoying the beautiful day too. I brought peanuts for Scramble and he came as soon as I called him. He keeps getting more friendly all the time, but he still won’t take the peanuts from my hand. He’s getting close though. Perhaps next time. It’s quiet outside, guess Jasmine finished the peanuts, should be time for the chipmunks to come back. Have a great Thursday everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve And Muffin’s Wildflowers #32.
Hi everyone, we’re back again with another wildflower, this time the “Twinflower”, known as “Linnaea borealis”. This wildflower is found around the world in northern latitudes or higher elevations in mountains where it stays cool. This wildflower lives mostly in cool pine forest areas of the north and is found in forested areas across Canada and the northern US, going south in the Rocky mountains at higher elevations. It grows along runners on the ground that root at nodes and can form large colonies of these flowers. The leaves are evergreen, small and only at the base of the plant. The flowers always hang down like bells and are 1/3 to 1/2 inch (8 to 12 mm) long. Generally the plant is 3 to 4 inches (7 to 10cm) tall, but can reach 6 inches (15cm) tall. The flowers are very fragrant and one can often smell them before seeing them. It is a beautiful scent. They live in part shade to full shade under pine trees normally and they bloom from June to August, mainly late June to mid July for our area. Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 