Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Daily Pics #267.
Good morning everyone and Happy Monday to you all! I hope this finds everyone in good health and that your day is going well too. It is cloudy here again with rain coming soon, but it is a bit warmer than it has been so that is great! We are supposed to see a high of 57F (14C) today which is not too bad. The action outside is rather quiet today, but then, I was out shopping so I missed the main action time this morning. There is a couple of chipmunks coming still and Jasper has shown up as well, but not while the chipmunks were here. But, there is the blue jays, and they don’t get along with Jasper either. Big Blue, the top blue jay doesn’t like backing down to anyone, not even Jasper. So, Big Blue was there looking over the peanuts, takes him awhile as he wants the biggest one he can find in the batch that I put out. Jasper came along and chased him away. Big Blue came back and snapped at Jasper.
That must have startled Jasper a bit, he backed up. But then he jumped at Big Blue who just flew up and over Jasper to land behind him. Jasper turned and Big Blue snapped at him again. There was two other blue jays sitting on a box out there watching the fun. Jasper kind of lost it a bit and went crazy running around and chasing everything in sight. Even Big Blue flew into the tree, the other blue jays scattered, the little juncos scattered. Except one little junco wasn’t watching, I guess, and he came out the door right beside Jasper. Poor Jasper. He jumped straight up and went running down the steps. The junco also flew away quickly. The blue jays came down quickly, Jasper’s little head poked up over the steps and he came running back after those blue jays like a wild tiger! Then he grabbed a peanut and left and never returned. I think Jasper needs to find some professional help.
Well, some more of our fall colors to enjoy in the top pic for today. And in the top pic is a flower cluster from the “ivory silk lilac tree” which produces these beautiful clusters of tiny flowers about mid summer. My neighbor has a couple of these trees in his yard. They are related to our typical lilacs and grow into nice trees. I hope you all have a marvelous Monday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Daily Pics #266.
Good morning on this bright and sunny Sunday! It is a nice crisp morning with a temp of 36F (2C). It was so silent and still when I went out to hang the bird feeders this morning. But before I got back inside some little white-throated sparrows and juncos were starting to chirp. Then I took some seeds out to spread around for those little birds and more birds began chirping and the blue jays showed up as well. But oddly, only 2 blue jays showed up this morning. There is 10 of them. Even an hour later there was only 3. Very odd indeed. Coffee was here nice and early this morning. Perhaps the lack of blue jays helped him out a bit, he’s the only chipmunk that is afraid of the blue jays. A couple of those blue jays can be quite protective of “their” pile of peanuts, so they try chasing the chipmunks, who usually just ignore them. Sometimes the blue jays will even snap at the chipmunk tails. That’s a mistake though. That’s when the chipmunks jump at the blue jays. And that’s when the blue jays decide to retreat.
It’s interesting to watch that, especially since those blue jays are much larger than the chipmunks, but the chipmunks can make them run, I mean fly. Jasper hasn’t been here yet this morning. I wonder if he has chipmunk nightmares? Yesterday he was about to go in one of the boxes and 3 juncos came out so he tried to chase them. Guess he wasn’t sure which one to chase so he was going in circles again until he went head first into the side of the box. That made him stop. I put out some peanuts right then and Coffee was there and started filling up. Jasper didn’t see Coffee on the step and he jumped up to get a peanut. Both Jasper and Coffee took off in different directions. Jasper hid behind a bench while Coffee headed home. Jasper stuck his head out and saw it was all clear and he came back up on the step very slowly, grabbed a peanut and off he went in a hurry. He really is a nervous type squirrel. Maybe he will become more relaxed during the winter.
The featured image above is the “maiden pink”, a very beautiful little flower and very easy to grow. “Pink” does not refer to it’s color, it is a variety of flower and comes in different colors such as white, pink, red and purple. The pic above is the “birdfoot trefoil”, a fairly common and very bright wildflower that is not native to our area but has become common here over the years. Sorry if I might repeat some of my flower pics, but when my laptop quit working on me I did lose some things including which flowers I had used and not used. Sigh. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 