Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
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
Thoughts Of Spring! It’s Coming.
A big hello once again to everyone on this first day of April! Well, it’s not quite so cold this morning, the birds are busy, some eating, some singing. Spring is on the way.
Soon. I hope anyway. One more cold day coming, then it should warm up and stay that way. But for now I must content myself with just thinking about spring. It’s nice to think about beautiful things and spring is one of those things. Spring is definitely my favorite time of the year!
It’s beautiful…
With all the new life appearing. The brilliant green of the new leaves shimmering in the sunlight. The chorus of birds singing early in the morning.
The brightness of the new flowers beginning to bloom. The water sparkling on the lake. Of course, there is already a lot of water on the lake now. Doesn’t take long for that ice to melt away due to the current in this part of the lake. Ice never gets very thick out there, no matter how cold it gets. And the river stays open all year, never freezes on this portion, the current is too strong for it to freeze. That’s good for all the ducks that stay the winter. And the eagles who also need that open water.
But I thought…
That perhaps it was time to start showing some pics without snow for a change. It’s been a very long winter. It’s time for a change. So pictures without snow is what will be from now on. Unless there is something exciting that happens.
Speaking of exciting…well, for me anyway. I actually got a nice photo of Sir George and Lady Pearl together on my bird feeder. It is quite something to see two such large birds on that feeder. They may not have the wonderful bright colors of other birds, but I think they look very majestic. Can’t remember if I mentioned it, but Sir George’s wingspan is 5 feet! (that’s 150cm for those who may not be too familiar with feet). That’s a nice size bird. Lady Pearl is a bit smaller, as you can see in the photo.
Muffin…
Decided to get up early this morning. She was hungry. It was 3:25 am. Go to sleep, I said. No, she said, in her own way. Go to sleep. No, then she jumped on me. I’m not getting up, go to sleep. NO, and she jumped on me harder this time. So I said…okay, breakfast it is. Now I’m awake. Do I go back to bed? What’s the point. So I thought maybe I could write this real early this morning. Didn’t quite work out that way. I was awake. My brain wasn’t. Mind you, some people say my brain is never awake. What do I say to that? Might be true. Seems like it sometimes.
Well…
My idea of questions certainly didn’t work out. But it was just an idea. Some work. Some don’t. I have more ideas I’m working on. Maybe some changes to my site. Found out I have to change my squirrel picture at the top of my home page. Seems it doesn’t work on phones. Apparently 70% of people read blogs on their phone. Hmm, so I need to change some things so it will look okay on a phone. Sigh. That’s hard to do since I don’t have a phone. But that just makes it more challenging!
I think. As long as it doesn’t give me a headache. And thinking usually does that to me. Sigh.
I hope…
Everyone enjoys these photos today. After all, they’re the best part of my post. I think. There I go again. Need to stop that thinking. Hard to do though. Oh well. That’s me. I think. AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! I better stop. Sigh.
Well, I hope everyone is feeling great and that you all have a wonderful day! And get well soon Ilona! Hope to see you all again on Wednesday, God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod
Steve`s Country 