Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Thursday’s Thoughts #5.
Good morning everyone! It’s a slightly wet morning here, though we only had very light rain, barely enough to wet the surface of the ground. But we have had the sun come out a few times as well which is nice, and there is still patches of blue sky around. But it’s going to be mainly a cloudy day with light showers. Quite a difference from the original forecast which said it would be sunny all day. Oh well. It’s been a quiet morning. Sir George was here early, and one crow, between them they still didn’t take all the food I gave them.
That made Grover the grackle happy as he finished it off, taking it mostly back home with him. There was one blue jay, Baxter, who came twice. Jasmine was here very early, took one peanut and left. However, there has been three chipmunks, Pocket, Skamper and Coffee. Mostly Pocket. He has been very busy hauling peanuts this morning, and with no squirrels around, that made it nice for the chipmunks. It was great having them back again.
Yesterday Jasper was on the step eating a peanut, facing off to the side, so he didn’t see Grover coming along. He turned just as Grover stuck his head above the step…poor Jasper, he must have jumped a foot straight up! That caused Grover to fly away and Jasper ran and hid under one of the boxes. After a bit he stuck his little head out and looked around, then came back out slowly and went back to the peanuts again. He really hasn’t changed. There’s a mourning warbler singing nicely this morning. No, that’s not a mistake in spelling.
I forgot to mention yesterday, but Tuesday evening I finally heard a thrush singing, a gray-cheeked thrush, sounded so nice. I guess they are just coming back late this year. Something scared the chipmunks, two of them are chipping out there. A raven came in and landed in a tree out back, that got the crows excited as they tried to get him out of there. It didn’t take long and he flew off. Four crows were after him. Crows and ravens are enemies. Actually I don’t think any birds like ravens, not even other ravens. It’s all quiet out there again, but my chipmunks are busy and the sun is shining. It’s kind of an odd morning, very quiet. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve and Muffin’s Wildflowers #18.
Hello everyone! Today’s wildflower is the “northern bedstraw”. These are very tiny flowers about 1/8 to 1/4 inch (3 to 6mm) across, but they form a large cluster of flowers at the top of a square stem. There are several different types of bedstraw, we have at least 2 in this area, but this one is the most common and produces the largest cluster of flowers. They bloom from June to August in open woods, woodland edges and fields in partial shade to sunny locations. It is a native wildflower and grows up to 3 feet (90cm) tall. It has long leaves in whorls of 4 along it’s stem and that is an easy way to identify this species. Bees and butterflies enjoy these wildflowers. They can be found across Canada and most of the US except from Nebraska to Louisiana, across to N. Carolina. In some parts of the northeast US it is considered a noxious weed. I hope you all have a beautiful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 