Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Morning Coffee At Steve’s Country #31.
Good morning everyone on this last day of 2020! I know that some of you are already saying hello to 2021, but we still have some time to go yet. Speaking of going, the coffee is ready, so please go help yourself and then relax with Muffin and I for a few minutes. It’s 12F (-11C) this morning and a few snowflakes falling gently to the ground. The trees are a bit frosty looking this morning due to some fog overnight. Jasper is running over here quickly to get some breakfast doing his snowplow act along one of the big branches, really making that snow fly too!
Chickadees were waiting as I went out with the food this morning. They had food already anyway since I now leave their feeders out all the time. But when I came out the door I heard Theodore’s ‘gerbil, gerbil’ and there he was scratching through the snow looking for food. Until he saw me come out, then he came running over and up he came waiting for me to put the sunflower seeds on the feeder for him. Once those seeds were out he hopped over and started eating. And talking a bit while I filled one of the chickadee feeders that was starting to get low.
All the birds were early getting here this morning, even the blue jays and evening grosbeaks. So were the redpolls and nuthatches. The woodpeckers I guess were about normal. There just seemed to be a big race for food today. Maybe they’re stocking up for the big New Year’s celebrations. There is a lot of evening grosbeaks out there right now, getting quite noisy as arguments erupt over seating arrangements, food orders, etc. It can be quite fun watching them. Pine grosbeaks are much different, very few arguments, very quiet.
But the noisy chatter of the evening grosbeaks is quite nice to hear, knowing that there is a lot of them out there enjoying their breakfast. I have chosen 3 pics of pileated woodpeckers to end the year, I hope you enjoy them. These are large woodpeckers, about the size of crows, though the look even bigger and they have quite a laughing sound that they make. I will be back later with a couple more posts to end the year, one telling of my new schedule for the new year. Muffin and I hope you all have an enjoyable day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
It’s Game Time!
Hi everyone and welcome to a look at some old board and card games from years gone by. I mentioned doing this before and finally decided this would be a good time of year to look at some of these old games from my collection. I thoroughly enjoy collecting these old games and discovering what people used to enjoy before our modern world of digital fun. To be honest, I like these old games far better. For one thing, they provide a more family/friend experience than the modern computer games. Sitting around a table with your family or group of friends and playing these old games really provided a great time of fun as well as genuine face time with our family and friends. I will likely need a second post to look at my game collection, and even then we won’t have time to look at them all. I would like to look at as many as possible though, have to wait and see.
Spelling and Anagrams: Here is a simple, basic type of game that is also educational. However, it is not as easy as it might look and several variations of the game can be played with these letters, from spelling words to making of sentences and being able to take your opponents words if you have a letter that can turn your opponents word into a totally new word. The rules for playing are easy to understand though quite long. The game is from 1930.
Keyword: Here is another word game that is similar to Scrabble, if you are more familiar with that game. But this one has a different point system for the letters and has the addition of cards that you can pick up to add points to your score. But it has the letter tiles and racks to hold them. This game is from 1953 and doesn’t look like it was used much.
Game of Lost Heir: This is the Canadian version of the game, it’s a card game for either 3 or 4 players where you have to gain all the cards of your color and hopefully the lost heir card to win, but if you get the wrong boy card then you lose everything you gained to that point and start over. So the game is not so easy as it might look at first. It was a very popular game in it’s day and started back in the 1800s. Apparently rules changed slightly over time as well. This game is from about 1900.
Bradley’s Table Croquet: Hard to find any info about this game or it’s age, but I would guess it’s from the 1940s. The game is like new, I doubt it was used much. You would need a table that is perfectly level of your ball would roll onto the floor. A table cloth would definitely be helpful too, plus a larger table that what I have. It could be played on the floor which would be better and could be quite fun on a cold winter day.
My Mother Sent Me To The Grocery Store: Here is a simple card type game that isn’t as simple as it looks. There are different stores and other places that you may to sent to, and it’s then necessary to get all the items from that place or store. Depending how many are playing will determine how many stores/places you will need to visit and articles to pick up. The first one to get their items wins. You can also lose turns which can make things more difficult as well. I would say this one could be quite fun for all ages. This game is very well used so it must have been very popular. It would be from the early 1900s. Well, guess I better leave it here for today, perhaps we will check on a few more another time. Have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 