Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Coffee At Steve’s Country #80.
Good morning everyone and Happy Sunday! Coffee is ready, nice and hot, time to relax for a few minutes if you can. There’s nothing like the scent of fresh coffee in the morning. Great way to start the day. But there is tea for the tea lover’s as well. It is a fantastic morning, the sun is shining on the trees again with that early morning golden glow. It is 45F (7C) this morning, our mildest morning since last fall, and it smells so nice and spring fresh out there as well. Crows were cawing early, so were the Canada geese which have been back for 3 days now. Turkeys were gobbling loud and clear, a sound that has become common since last summer, yet was totally non existent prior to that. I mean, no one even thought about wild turkeys before last year. But they are a nice addition to the wildlife of the area.
Baxter is out there calling this morning, sounds nice. Baxter and Betty are the only two blue jays that come here regularly now, though Benson and Beth show up sometimes too. The blue jays have scattered out to their summer territories now, they will start nesting soon. Nice watching Baxter and Betty, he still comes along and feeds her each day. And they sit right side by side so they are touching each other. Once Betty is on the nest Baxter will look after her well, feeding her each day and if she calls because trouble is near, he will be there to protect her flying in fast!
There’s Jasper and Sylvie now laying side by side on a large branch of that maple tree, soaking up the morning sunshine together. They are having a nice peaceful morning, no rush to do anything right away, just relaxing, watching the sun rising above the trees. Only one chickadee here this morning, never see more than 2 or 3 at a time now. Like the blue jays, they have moved on to their summer territories too, busy making their nests. They hollow out a hole in a tree for their nest, normally a dead tree since their beaks are not strong enough to dig into live trees. One important reason for leaving dead trees in a forest, birds need them, many different species nest in dead trees. My feeders are almost silent though, waiting for the return of our summer birds. They will soon be here. I hope you all have a nice relaxing Sunday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Coffee At Steve’s Country #79.
Good morning and Happy Saturday to all of you! I do hope you are having a great start to your day, or end to your day and everywhere in between! Actually, most of you, my readers, are from outside N. America, therefore you are reading this usually in the afternoon or evening, or perhaps tomorrow morning. I find that kind of interesting really. Anyway, coffee is ready, help yourself and relax with us for a few minutes. Muffin is in a very active mood this morning and is running around playing with her toys, so you just might end up with a toy in your coffee! Theodore was first here again, I like how he comes along so casually and walks up the stairs normally, not too many birds can do that.
We stopped and talked for a bit and oops, Jasper spotted Freddie the front yard squirrel who was playing in the neighbors trees along the side fence. Off went Jasper to chase Freddie. What Jasper didn’t realize is, he was entering another squirrels territory now, that puts him at a disadvantage, always does. Freddie wasn’t about to be pushed around by the back yard squirrel. The fight was on, and the chase, and Jasper was the one being chased! That one time they must have dropped about 15 feet, but it didn’t slow them down, they just switched from a fist fight to the chase. Poor Jasper. Not a good start to his day. He lost that one. He needs to learn to stay in his own territory. On Thursday it happened again. Coffee was at the peanuts and Jasper came up to go for some sunflower seeds.
As Jasper got to the feeder it happened. He spotted Coffee. His eyes went bulgy. He started his little squirrel dance. He chirped. Then he took off! But Coffee, the chipmunk, had a good head start and made it to the steps, but with Jasper close behind him. But chipmunks are able to turn quicker and that’s what Coffee did and he continued over to the flower pots. Jasper tried to turn, but slid, right over the edge, but he only dropped down to the first step. His little head peeked over the edge, looking around, he spotted Coffee who had come out of hiding, and he took off again! Coffee went over the edge of the deck. So did Jasper. Poor Jasper. He basically slid down one of the raspberry plants. When he hit the ground he stopped to scratch. Meanwhile Coffee had hidden in an old pipe under the deck. Jasper looked around, scratched some more, then came back onto the deck, and scratched some more.
“I told you to stay away from those things,” I said to him. He looked at me. Chip. “Oh, you didn’t have time to think.” Right then Coffee’s little head peeked over. Then he came up. Jasper spotted him and the chase was on! They ran around the deck a bit, then over the pile of peanuts, and even going so fast Coffee managed to pick up a peanut and keep on going down the steps and into some dried plants. Jasper was right behind him and came out the other side of the dried plants. But Coffee didn’t. Jasper looked around, stood up on his hind legs to get a better look. But no Coffee anywhere. So Jasper came back. “You never learn, you just can’t win with those chipmunks, you should make friends with them, maybe they can help you with the other squirrels,” I said to him. That’s when Coffee came out of the dried plants and scampered off. Jasper saw that, but he just sat there and chattered. Loud chip. “That’s right, they could drive the other squirrels crazy.” Oh well. I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 