Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Daily Pics #313.
Good morning and Happy Friday everyone! Very heavy clouds this morning so once again I need to have lights on inside or it’s actually very dark in here. Oh well, it is winter, days are short and often very dull looking due to clouds. On the plus side, cloudy days mean milder temps in the winter, so that part is nice. But they also generally mean snow. Such as today. We did get a bit of snow overnight, about 2.5 inches (6.5cm). And it is still snowing lightly. Too dark for nice pictures though unfortunately. Still not many birds around and that is unusual. Normally snow will really bring the birds to the feeders. There was one male pine grosbeak and one male evening grosbeak. And 2 dozen rock doves keeping all the others away. With me trying to chase the rock doves away. I’m losing the battle it seems. Which means losing my birds for the winter, which will make for a rather dull winter around Steve’s Country.
I just put some more peanuts out. Jasper was about 200 feet away playing in a tree, but he heard those peanuts drop on the step. He stopped. And looked. Then he came running through the trees amazingly fast and got here before the blue jays had taken them all. I’m not going to get this finished, I have to keep getting up to chase those rock doves. Sigh. I guess it’s good exercise getting up like that, so that’s a plus. But the grosbeaks are trying to get down to the feeder right now, but they can’t. I wonder if those rock doves will actually give up after a while? Have to wait and see I guess. Where was I? Oh right, Jasper. He seemed to be having a lot of fun in the trees this morning, running along the branches acting like a snow plow and clearing all the snow off, really making it fly. And making himself white. But he was too far away for a picture on a day like this. But he did look cute covered with snow. Perhaps another day.
Well, for our male and female bird pics today we have my favorite little black-capped chickadee. Can you tell which is which? I hope you have a wonderful Friday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Glass, Glass, Everywhere.
Hello everyone! As you all know I collect these odd shaped pieces of glass called insulators. I don’t really have a large collection like a lot of collectors, but it still does take up a lot of space. I mean a lot. At least if I want them displayed. And generally speaking, that is the point of having a collection. I mean, what’s the point in having a collection of something if it stays packed away year after year.
But perhaps it’s just me. I like having my collection on display. Before I moved to this apartment I lived in a much larger place. So I was able to have all 700 of my insulators on display. Yep, I had 700 different insulators. Different shapes, different colors, different names on the insulators. At one time I had nearly 4,000 insulators. But I cut back a bit. I figured that 700 was a more manageable number. Until I moved here. Then I discovered that 700 was a few too many.
So I got rid of about 150 of them, leaving me with 550, kind of a nice number. But, still too many to display them all. So they have sat packed away in boxes the last 4 years. I just don’t like having things packed away. Besides, it means having a lot of boxes sitting around and I don’t exactly have space for boxes either. So, I get rid of a few more. Down to 517. Still too many. I figure I can safely display about 300 of them. That means getting rid of 217 more. That’s a lot.
So, I have to unpack everything so I know what I have, then I can sort them out. A “keep” pile and a “toss” pile. You know I have written a lot about adventures with my dad and I out collecting these things. We had a lot of fun doing that. So it makes it a bit hard to get rid of these chunks of glass. But, it has to be done. Now I have these insulators in groups all over the place, counters, cabinets, shelves, chairs, and on the floor.
That last one is dangerous. I have already kicked insulators across the floor…and ended up with sore toes. Sigh. Today I had an apple for lunch. I picked it up, but for some reason it slipped out of my hand. Instead of catching it, I hit it and it went flying! Took out 6 of 8 insulators sitting on a shelf. Problem is, I wanted to keep those. Oh well.
I’m doing good though, the toss pile is getting bigger all the time. I’m confident I will make my goal yet. Then I can have the best of the best on display all the time. And get rid of all these boxes too. Which will give me more space. That’s good. The pictures show a few of my insulators, definitely not all of them. My toes will be happier too when all this is done. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 