Good morning everyone! Another absolutely beautiful Friday morning here at Steve’s Country! The sun is shining bright, the sky is also a very bright blue today. And it is a perfect temperature to sit on the deck with my coffee. I haven’t seen any squirrels this morning, which is odd. But the chipmunks are sure busy once again. They have obviously discovered that the squirrels don’t come around as often now. So the chipmunks are busy stocking up their winter supply of peanuts.

Yep, they have already begun that process. But winter is long, so they need to start early to make sure they have enough food. The flowers have begun to bloom nicely now, they really help to produce that relaxing atmosphere out here on the deck. The hummingbirds keep coming now and then to the feeder, but not as much now that so many flowers are available and it’s not cold like it was a week and a half ago. We’re getting into the low 80s (F)(high 20s C) each day now, might get higher today and tomorrow. Two of my gulls were here this morning, plus the crows.

Earlier there were a number of different warblers singing out here, plus a “solitary vireo”. The chickadees were here too, so I gave them some seeds. The nuthatches were also here but they wouldn’t come down. A chase has begun, Pocket is chasing Skamper, round and round the boxes, in and out, finally Skamper giving up and running off toward home. He did get a couple peanuts before Pocket arrived to chase him away. It’s so warm and nice to sit out here early like this and not need a jacket. Well, it’s not so early now, but my first time out was 5:30 and already the chipmunks were out here waiting for me to bring out some peanuts.

Chester and Coffee were here as well, so 4 out of 5 chipmunks were here. Skitter doesn’t usually show up so early, guess he likes to sleep late. Yesterday I went down to the river again, not as far as I had wanted to go though, my back gave out too soon. So I sat on the bench for a while and enjoyed the fabulous views before heading back. There wasn’t much bird activity, a few ducks but they all stayed on the other side of the river, too far for pictures. Lots of birds singing though, all along the trail, but they stayed hidden away in the trees. It was a beautiful walk however. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2021 Steve McLeod.