Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Cold Days And Critters Too.
Good morning out there wherever you are reading this Monday post! And it certainly is Monday. Things tend to happen Mondays which don’t seem to happen on other days. Have you noticed that too or am I the only one? Feel free to answer that question, I really would like to know. Sigh.
We had a couple very nice days. Saturday the temp reached a warm 43F. You must remember, we are in the far north. So that is a nice temp for December. However, that warmth was short lived. Today we are back to cold. Hard to believer the difference. But it’s normal now. Sigh. There wasn’t many birds around the last couple days. Back today though. And very busy. Back and forth to the feeders. All day long. So nice to watch.
It really brightens these cold days of winter. And there is lots of winter left. Sigh. This morning there was a nuthatch on the suet and a raven on the feeder right above it. What a size difference. That little nuthatch isn’t as big as that ravens beak.
Was shopping this morning. Kind of busy at the store. Was following behind a lady who was going rather slow. But I couldn’t get past her at that point. Then she suddenly stopped. I was watching. But I guess I was a bit close. She went OOOOOO! I apologized. And left quickly. Sigh. Picked up some bird seed. Now, why do they put bags of bird seed on the shelf when they have holes in them. The bag that is. It had less seeds in the bag when I left. Much less. As I put the bag in the cart the seeds departed. Onto the floor. I tried pushing them out of the way so no one would slip on them. Found an employee (which is hard to do at this store, they all seem to vanish when they see me coming, very odd), and said, “there is a big mess on that aisle”. She went to check. I vanished. I continued shopping. Heard a voice, “can’t you walk faster?” I said, “no”. There was lots of room to go past me. But she didn’t. Odd. I kept going. I can only walk so fast. Slow. Sigh.
At home I needed to make some more suet cakes for the birds. They go through that stuff fast. Especially when it’s cold. Did I mention it was cold today? It was. And is. Sigh. Anyway, I got everything out and began melting the ingredients. Brought out some lard. It was soft already. Cut a chunk and picked it up. It slipped out of my hand. And landed with a splat. I looked down at my foot. What a mess. Sigh. Oddly, Muffin didn’t come to see what happened. I think she realized there wasn’t anything good to eat. After cleaning up I continued. No other mishaps. Sigh.
The gray jays were around this afternoon. All 3 of them. And it was sunny.
I tossed some bread out for them (they like bread better than anything) so they would stay around longer. Then I got my jacket on and grabbed my camera and, and…they were gone. Sigh. One of these days. Usually gray jays are an amazingly friendly bird. Not these ones. Odd. I would have tried taking a pic through the window. But I have tried with other birds. Doesn’t work. These are old windows. Pics don’t come out clear. Oh well. There is still some time. I have to get a good pic before they start nesting. That only gives about 6 weeks. Not much time for me. Sigh.
Muffin is starting to wake up. Kind of early. She usually sleeps until 7. It’s only 6. She is usually very regular with her sleeping times. Must be nice. I used to be. But things have changed. Now I’m not. Sigh. Speaking of squirrels. The cold certainly doesn’t seem to bother LB. He was out playing around in the snow this afternoon. Really enjoying himself. Now if he hadn’t chased all the other squirrels away, he could have someone to join in the fun with him. Mama (deer) was here today too. The cold didn’t seem to be bothering her either. The cold bothers me. Cold weather and I just do not mix. Sigh.
Enjoy your week and God bless! Christmas is coming!
Steve and Muffin and critters.
Christmas Tree Perils.
Good morning! Christmas is getting closer and the weather is getting nicer all the time. The snow on my deck was melting today. The sun was shining. LB, the squirrel, was having fun playing in the snow. Not that we have much. Perhaps about 5 or 6 inches. Not much considering what we would normally have this time of year. Tomorrow it is supposed to continue with sun and a temp of 40F. Very nice indeed. Good weather for taking some nice pics of the birds. Except, with the nice weather there isn’t many birds around. Sigh.
Nearly Christmas. Dad and I went out every year in search of the perfect Christmas tree. One would think that with all the trees we have it would be an easy thing to do. Not so. One year was very cold. Actually, that’s normal. But anyway, Dad and I were off once again to get our tree. There wasn’t really a lot of snow that year, maybe a foot. So it should be quite easy. We stopped at one spot and of course we needed to cross a ditch again. You go first, says Dad. Naturally. Off I went across the ditch. The snow was only ankle deep. Not deep at all, I called back. Dad started off. I continued walking off into the trees. I stopped. Thought I heard something. But it was windy so it was hard to tell. I listened carefully. Sounded like Dad calling. Hey, maybe he found a good tree already. I turned around. Hard to believe what I saw. Dad was just sitting in the middle of the ditch yelling. I went back. As I got closer I noticed that he wasn’t sitting. He was up to his stomach in snow. Apparently the snow was just hard packed from the wind and the recent snow we had was what I walked through. Since Dad was quite a bit heavier than me he fell through that hard packed layer of snow. What a sight! I burst out laughing. Ha, ha, said Dad, you’ll have to dig me out. Can’t you just pull yourself out?, I asked. When I try my hands just push through the snow, he said. I started laughing again. What am I supposed to dig with? There’s a shovel in the car, said Dad. But Dad had the keys. In his pocket. Which was buried in the snow. I dug down enough so I could get the keys. Laughing the whole time. Don’t know why Dad didn’t see the humor in the situation. I came back with the shovel. Be careful, said Dad. Naturally. Things were going well but after tossing a shovel full of snow I swung the shovel back and accidentally hit Dad slightly on the back of the head. AAAAAAAAA!!!!!! I said be careful, stated Dad. Sorry about that. Finally I was able to pull Dad out. Lost your boot, I said. Dad looked. He actually hadn’t noticed. He bent over the hole to look. So did I. Now, Dad claimed I bumped him rather hard. Actually, I barely touched him. He dropped his glasses in the hole. I’ll get them, I said, and jumped into the hole. AAAAAAAA!!!!!, said Dad, be careful. I was. Found his glasses and boot which was full of snow. Now Dad’s foot was getting wet. Should have brought extra socks, I said. I know what I shouldn’t have brought, he answered. Not sure what he meant by that. We actually found a tree rather quickly. Amazing. A hairy woodpecker was working away at a tree nearby. A squirrel was sitting at the base of a large pine tree eating pine cones. Neither of them were paying attention to us. It was cold. Food was the main thing to be concerned about. No other wildlife was around that morning except for a raven that flew overhead. Dad took a long way back to the car, he didn’t want to cross that ditch again. I took the short way. After all that we needed a COFFEE! So we went to our favorite COFFEE shop. Nothing like a cup of hot COFFEE on a cold winter day. Or any day for that matter.
But I do like herb teas as well. And I am enjoying a cup of mint tea at the moment. Perfect after supper. I hope you all can enjoy your weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
Steve`s Country 