Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Daily Pics #294.
Good morning everyone! Wow, did it get windy yesterday. But at least it isn’t bad this morning. It’s even a bit sunny today. It is a bit chilly though, 18F (-8C), but warmer weather is on the way. We got a bit of snow overnight as well, not very much though. It’s hard to tell how much we got really since it was so windy. And going out last night to get my bird feeders inside, wow, standing on that box and reaching way out there to get the feeders with that strong wind blowing at my back, I thought it was going to blow me right off the deck. I definitely need to make those changes out there this week. I really do. I’m sure that wind kept the birds away from the feeder yesterday, there was hardly any activity at all except for the blue jays and a few smaller birds. Even Theodore didn’t bother coming around, he probably stayed sheltered in the pines across the street along the path to the river. That’s probably where a lot of the little birds were hiding too. Can’t blame them, birds and other animals just don’t like wind.
Even Jasper stayed hidden somewhere until later afternoon when he finally braved that wind and came looking for some food. I spotted him on the feeder eating sunflower seeds so I went to the door with peanuts. As soon as he heard me at the door he came running over to me. I gave him the biggest peanut and he bounced away happy as could be. He ended up making a couple more trips and then he disappeared once more. Nothing keeps those blue jays away though. It was nice to get that extra hour of sleep last night. Usually I miss out because I stay up later since I have that extra hour and so I end up losing that extra hour, but not this year, I actually got that hour this time. Hmm, once in 10 years isn’t bad. Theodore just showed up for his breakfast, quite fluffed out from the cold. If he thinks this is cold then he’s in trouble. But even the blue jays were really fluffed out today, I didn’t think they would be. There’s still a few juncos out there, haven’t seen any sparrows though. Plus a few chickadees. But really, that’s not much activity for breakfast. Oh well.
For our flowers today we have some flowering shrubs to enjoy. The featured image is a cluster of flowers from the elderberry bush. There’s a few of these down the path to the river. The we have some chokecherry flowers, also from along the path. And last we have my favorite, lilac flowers. The first two are wild flowering shrubs, but the lilacs are garden variety. Have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Daily Pics #293.
Good morning everyone on this windy Saturday! It’s also cloudy, very heavy cloud, so it certainly doesn’t seem as late as it is. Birds were late showing up this morning and there isn’t much action out there again. Our little birds are disappearing more and more. There are still some juncos and one fox sparrow. The pine siskins are gone, but some redpolls have shown up now to take their place. I really hope they stick around for the winter. Normally they would stay, though last year we didn’t have any at all which happens now and then with these birds. But they are cute and very friendly little birds which help to attract other birds to the feeder that are a little more shy, like the pine grosbeaks. The blue jays are the most active this morning, but that’s kind of normal anyway. I haven’t seen Theodore or Jasper this morning. Those two seem to be rather unpredictable these days. They will come around, but not necessarily at the same times each day.
It is so dark in here this morning, I need to have lights on inside. There is a little snow in the forecast for later today, nothing much though. I think Jasper enlisted the help of Theodore yesterday. I just put out some peanuts for the blue jays and Jasper, plus some sunflower seeds on the deck for Theodore. For some reason Theodore decided to eat the sunflower seeds that were closest to the peanuts, first. That kept the blue jays away from the peanuts. Therefore Jasper was happy as could be hauling away the peanuts. Seems the blue jays are afraid to come down when Theodore is close by. However, Jasper is not afraid of Theodore, though he never tries chasing him either. So Jasper got all the peanuts for himself that time and once the peanuts were gone then Theodore moved on further down the deck. It’s like it was deliberately planned that way! The blue jays were left wondering what had happened. I could just imagine Jasper sitting there sticking his tongue out at the blue jays. Jasper finally won!
For our pics today we have 2 wildflowers. The top featured image is the harebell, which I have showed before, but in this pic it looks like there is a light right inside the flower the way it glows so nicely. So I figured it would be okay to show the harebell again just because of that. Actually, I have many pics of the harebells so be prepared, I just might show them again. Then in the pic above a nice early morning pic of the evening lychnis. Personally I think these bright white one inch wide (2.5cm) flowers are quite pretty. Not many people agree with me however, most just consider them weeds. Guess I look at things differently. I prefer to see the beauty in things. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 