Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Fabulous Friday!
Hello on this fabulous Friday to all of my readers! So why is this Friday fabulous? Why not? It’s spring! And it actually feels like spring finally. It’s mild. We had some light rain earlier. The snow is melting nicely. It’s mild. Oh right, I said that already. And…Sylvester is back! For those who are new here, Sylvester is one of my 6 chipmunks. And although the first chipmunk was around a few days ago, he wasn’t one of mine. Okay. They are not really mine. But I have made friends with them all. And Sylvester remembered me right away. As you can see in the picture, taken this morning.
That means the other chipmunks won’t be far behind. I figure Checker will be next. These 2 chipmunks were the last to make friends last year so they didn’t hide as many peanuts as the others. So they likely have run out of food already. They are amazing critters. He has just come out and already he is packing food away for next winter. They don’t waste time. They are busy. They are hard workers. They don’t let things get in the way of what they want. They know what they want and they go after it with all their might and strength. We people could learn a few things from these little chipmunks. Most people don’t even notice them.
It’s so nice to get out of the apartment more now that the weather is nicer. It’s been a long winter. And there is still lots of snow to melt. But I feel so much better just being able to get out. Fresh air is good for a person. Helps clear the brain. Yes, I know. It would take more than fresh air to clear my brain. That’s true. But notice I said, it helps. I didn’t say it would be 100% effective.
Muffin is much happier too. She likes spring. Well, okay, she likes it now that the chipmunks are back and she can sit at the door and watch them. Then she runs around the apartment like she has gone absolutely crazy. Which is okay. Good exercise for her. And she has a new friend now too, named Leya. Okay, she has only seen pictures of Leya. But she was interested anyway. She actually purred when she saw the one picture. So that’s proof. Okay, you don’t believe it. Fine. But she did.
Sometimes interesting things happen to me. Not interesting as in fun, or enjoyable, but interesting anyway. One day I was out driving. At the time I had a nice little sports car. I was out on a lonely stretch of highway, which is common around here. This little car with four young guys comes speeding up behind me and pass. Then they start to slow down. A lot. Looking back at me. Okay. I took off past them and put some distance between us, then I slowed down again. Didn’t take long and they were back and passed. and slowed down again. This time they pointed to the side of the road. They wanted me to stop. Okay. I’m not that stupid. There is 4 of them. Only 1 of me. I decided to do what they wanted. Now, my car could out run theirs any day. So I just waited until we were going nice and slow. Then I left. Never did see them after that. No way they could catch me. I did get their license number and reported them. A lot of things happen along our highway, it’s the only one through here going east/west.
I think I prefer wild animals better. Speaking of…I really hope to get a picture of that bear that comes around here. I’m hoping he will come around during the day though. Make things easier. Hmm, Baxter, blue jay, wants food. He always calls to let me know he’s here. There. He’s happy with his peanut. Everybody around here likes peanuts. It’s the number one food item on the menu.
Country pleasures. There are so many. And they can be found even in towns and cities. We just have to look for them. The singing of the birds. Flowers blooming. The lush green of trees and shrubs. Amazing colors of birds. Sir George landing on the feeder with me close by. Birds landing on my hand, like they were doing yesterday. And a chipmunk sitting on my knee. Those are real country pleasures. There is beauty all around. We just need to look for it.
Okay, not much today. Next week I will be talking about one of my hikes. Maybe not all week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with many country pleasures and beauty. God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod
It’s Spring…Cleaning Time. Still.
Greetings everyone on this rather cool (actually cold) spring (it is?) day! It’s hard to believe that this is April 3. I mean, it looks like winter. It feels like winter. It’s only 23F (-5C) out there. And windy. So it feels colder. But…the sun is shining!
That’s a plus. Normally when the sun shines this time of year my deck really warms up nicely. Not today. Too windy.
However…
There is Muffin. That’s my cat. Well, okay, I’m her human. We did have some nice weather so Muffin was allowed to have the door open so she could sit by the screen and sniff the fresh air. Don’t blame her for that. It’s been a long winter so some fresh air is nice. However, we come to today. The sun is shining. She wants the door open. Too cold, I say. She just stares at me. I’m not opening the door. She stares at the door.
Forget it, it’s too cold. She stares at me with her eyes half closed. Not a chance, I say. She turns her gaze to my feet, then looks up at me. Just for a little while, I say. It’s necessary to be firm sometimes.
Cleaning time…
With Muffin can be quite the challenge. It was time to do a certain corner of the living room. Just a corner you ask? Yes. Around here doing just a corner can be quite time consuming. So I pull out the blanket chest. That’s after removing all the stuff that was sitting on the blanket chest that probably shouldn’t be there but where else do I put it? Wow. I hate to admit it, but there was amazing mounds of dust and cat hair back there. And it hasn’t been that long since I cleaned back there. Sigh.
Muffin was looking out the door so this was a perfect time for doing this. I just got the blanket chest moved and turned around and there is Muffin sniffing through the dust. And sneezing. Don’t sniff the dust, I tell her. She doesn’t listen. Then I pull out the stack of hidden stuff from the corner.
Now…
There is not much room to move around at this point. I squeezed in. Muffin did the same. There isn’t enough room for both of us, I said. She looked at me as if to say, well then, why don’t you leave? I have to clean this, said I. I have to explore this, said Muffin. No, you need to leave. She just stares at me. That stare says a lot. She sat down. In a huge bunch of dust. Great. She swishes her tail. AAAA!! You’re getting covered with dust, I said. She ignored me. She’s good at that. It’s hard to move around in that tiny area. Now I need to get her comb and clean her up before she eats all that dust.
Sigh. Fortunately she doesn’t mind being combed. Usually. Except that day. Naturally.
Finally…
I get to clean this spot. In I go. Down I go. Muffin watches from her bed. Suddenly she jumps down on my back. Muffin, I’m trying to clean. She licks my ear. No, no, I’m cleaning. She lays down. You’re not helping, I said. But I did get the cleaning done. Just took a little longer. Oh well. Nice to have help. I think. There I go again. Thinking.
Thinking…
Really, the only thinking I should be doing is thinking of a nice warm place to live. Speaking of thinking…Monday night at 3 am, I heard some noise on the deck. Oh no, those raccoons are back and after the suet feeders. I get up, turn on the deck light. Muffin is looking out the window, sort of, she looked scared. Raccoons don’t scare her. I looked, nothing. But one of the suet feeders was missing. Probably knocked it to the ground, I thought. I decided I should get the other feeder in before they get that one too. Then I noticed movement to the left. Amazing. A black bear. And not exactly small.
He came over and grabbed the second suet feeder and off he went with it. Great. Lost both of them. I am glad I didn’t actually get outside though. The bear might have run off. Or not. They are usually hungry first thing in the spring, so they are more unpredictable. He came back last night too, but there was no food for him this time. Sigh.
It would be nice…
To get a good pic of him though. Maybe this will be the year. It will require going outside though. I have done it before, but not in the spring. Still…oh well. Might be the last picture I take. This is Steve’s last picture, look at the size of the teeth on that bear! Today’s photos are some of our spring (and summer) sparrows.
Well, time to close. I was planning to keep this short today. Sigh. I was just informed of the spam box here on WordPress and I found several comments that had been sent there, so if I didn’t reply to your comment, that’s why. I apologize to everyone, I will be checking that spam box regularly now. Sigh. I hope you have a great week and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod
Steve`s Country 