Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
It’s Spring! Well, sort of.
Good morning everyone on this first day of spring! And it certainly was a beautiful day even here in the north. It was 41F for us and sunny, which really isn’t so bad. I know some of you are thinking, hey, that’s cold. After what we have had this winter, it’s nice. I could be out on my deck with no jacket watching my little bird friends.
There wasn’t many birds around today though. With the return of spring the birds are spreading out a bit. So, until the summer birds begin returning there won’t be much action out here. Sigh.
I missed them.
The hoary redpolls have gone and I never got a photo of them. Sigh. I did try. Even had the one female hop right over to my camera and peak in the lens. Trying to see me I guess. Just a little too close for a pic though. Oh well. However, I am looking forward to all the birds soon to return and I will be snapping pics right and left and upside down too. It’s a busy season coming up for bird activity. I hope. Will be trying for some I missed last year. Like that rose breasted grosbeak. I managed to get the female last year but that male just did not want to cooperate. At least not when I had my camera.
I know…
Forget the birds, get back to that spring cleaning. I do not like spring cleaning. Especially with those huge spiders. I think I mentioned them before. Of course, it’s only the females that get big, the males are small. There is lots of them around. Until I see them. Catch them and let them go outside, I have been told. Forget it. That just means even more.
Right, cleaning…
I mentioned about my small bedroom last time. Have you ever been in a position where you can’t see under something but you have to reach under there anyway? I don’t like that. I reach under this cabinet. My fingers feel something that they shouldn’t feel. Fur. I know none of Muffin’s furry toys are under there. Suddenly I freeze. Now what? I’m laying on the floor. I can’t move fast in that position. Or any other position for that matter. Though when it comes to certain things like those spiders, then I can move fast. Except when I am laying flat on the floor. I get up slowly. Insert groaning here. I get my flashlight, which I should have had in the first place, but forgot. Back down. Shine flashlight. No spiders. Whew. But…there is a dead mouse. What was left of it. Sigh. That would account for the smell a while back. I thought it was a dead mouse, just couldn’t find it. Sigh.
Afterwards…
We shall skip any more details on said mouse. So, next, under the bed. I had to remove all the stuff I had under there first. Carefully. Spiders like hiding in stuff. Nothing. Good. Now I have to lie flat on the floor again. Have flashlight this time. I shine flashlight. Hmm, nothing. Except huge piles of dust. Amazing. I start cleaning all that dust. Suddenly…Muffin shows up. And lays down. Not beside me. Right in front of my face. I can’t see, I tell Muffin. She looks at me. It really didn’t look like she cared. I try to push her aside. She looks at my hand. I smile and say, nice kitty, I can wait. I really don’t want her going under the bed and getting covered with dust. But I can’t really do much in my present position. Actually, it’s getting rather hard to move.
Finally…
Muffin decides it doesn’t look interesting and moves. Good. Right onto my back. Not good. My arms and legs are starting to go numb being on the floor so long. And with Muffin lying down on my back I really can’t get up. And I can’t move my arms around to push myself up. Just isn’t any room. I really shouldn’t be down on the floor like this in the first place. So why am I doing this? Because I’m not very smart. I like questions that are easy to answer.
Anyway…
I guess Muffin got bored. And I was stiff as a board. I asked Muffin to help me get up.
I know, that’s kind of strange. But I was desperate. And she helped in her usual way. She licked my nose and walked away. Thanks. I was really getting sore by this point. But I managed to get up. Somehow. Not really sure how it worked out. Then I lay down again. On my bed this time. I decided to finish the cleaning another time. Sigh. Amazing how something simple can be so complicated.
Spring…
It’s an absolutely beautiful time of year! And the snow is melting quite fast, down about a foot already. Another foot and a half to go. Or more. But the main thing, it’s melting!
Thank you for joining Muffin and I on another of our little adventures. I think hiking would be safer next time. Oh, Muffin has written a new post, just go to my home page and check out Muffins Mewsings. Also, I have begun my new page of mini devotionals called Life’s Recipe. You will find that on the menu bar. Until next we meet, enjoy your week and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod.
Monday’s Mess.
A big hello to all my readers, actually from both Muffin and I. She always likes when I include her, after all, she is a big part of this blog. And, of course, she has her own little ‘blog’ which you can find on my home page. Sometimes she gets more likes than I do. Odd. I hope she didn’t see that. It’s amazing what she understands sometimes.
And I know I have said this before, but, she is going to write a new post very soon, likely tomorrow.
Something odd…
About this guy, you say? Probably true. But there are whole books written from an animals perspective. That’s what I do. I mean, Muffin does. Sigh. I do that a lot. Sigh, that is. But what do you expect? Considering all the strange things that happen to me. If you don’t think so just check out I Have Been Inside. Though even stranger things have happened I think. But I try not to think about them. Sigh.
This evening…
I am sitting here drinking a nice hot cup of raspberry leaf tea. Nice. It’s a good tea for winter. And it’s still winter. Although it is supposed to get warmer this week and actually do some melting! I sure hope so. There is still a lot of snow out there. However, those 2 nice days last week did cause the snow to settle down a lot.
Only about 2 feet on the ground now. Okay, a little deeper in places. Poor deer on Saturday. She got off the path out back and ended up to her stomach in snow as she wandered about looking for food. She finally got back on the path. It can be a dangerous thing to get off the path we should be on.
Speaking of…
Spring cleaning. I am now. I really do not like spring cleaning. It means moving furniture around, putting my hands in places I cannot see which I definitely do not like due to the extra large spiders around here. Today wasn’t quite so dangerous however. But it did involve moving furniture. Most of my furniture is stuff I have made over the years. And it’s solid wood. And quite heavy. Fortunately after my apartment flooded I decided to put casters on everything. Those little wheels make things much easier to move around. Although my doctor says I shouldn’t be doing it anyway. So how am I supposed to clean then? First came moving my desk so I could clean behind and under it and my TV cabinet. It moved quite easily. Once it started moving. Getting it started however, was a different matter entirely. Sigh.
Muffin wanted to help.
She always likes helping when I’m doing something she considers exciting. Like moving furniture so she can get behind things. I am down on the floor and Muffin starts playing leap frog. You know, jumping over each other. She did a much better job than I did. I tried jumping over her. Not smart. She moved. I tried not to land on her. I landed alright. But not the way I should have. I tripped. And slipped. Whack! Against the desk. Then I landed against the door. Which is beside the desk. Then I landed on the small bench on the other side of the door. And my face came into contact with the door frame. Sigh. You would have to see how small this apartment is to really get the picture here.
But all in all…
Things went quite well. After all the moaning and groaning was over. And the lump on my head is barely noticeable. And my leg was sore anyway. What’s a little more pain? So, anyway, I decided to clean under my bed and dresser next. I should have been smart enough to stop after the desk. But I have never claimed to be smart. As I mentioned, this place is small. The bedroom is the smallest I have ever had. It’s 7 ft wide and 10.5 ft long. With a twin bed, dresser, bookcase, and two cabinets in there. Not to mention a washer/dryer combo. And Muffin’s water dish. That’s important to mention? Yes.
Rats…
No, I don’t mean rats. I mean rats. As in, this is already getting long and there is no way I can finish this story today and so I will have to wait until Wednesday to finish what I was hoping I could finish today but can’t because there just isn’t enough time.
That kind of rats. That’s one of my favorite sayings. Hmm, maybe I should do a post on my favorite sayings one day. By the way, I will be starting a new page this week. Look for it on my menu bar, it will be called ‘Life’s Recipe’. It will be a series of mini devotionals which I will share, five at a time, each week. I hope you will enjoy it. The name was suggested by one of my longtime faithful readers. Thanks Yonnie! Don’t forget to check out everything else too if you are interested in more here on Steve’s Country. And…I promise that Muffin will have something new tomorrow on her page, Muffin’s Mewsings. You can find that on my home page.
Well, until next time, I hope you will have a great couple of days and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. (ps, the featured image above is a tiny male downy woodpecker sitting on my broom handle)
© 2019 Steve McLeod
Steve`s Country 