Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Busy Birds And Other Things.
Good morning everyone! Amazingly we still don’t have much snow around here. Very unusual really. It is nice though. Especially since I can no longer shovel snow. But it has been a bit on the cold side lately. But that seems to be normal. It’s been colder than normal since mid September. So no surprise that it is continuing that way. That part isn’t so nice. Sigh. Cold weather and I just don’t mix well anymore. Didn’t bother me so much years ago. I have never liked cold weather, but it didn’t bother me. If that makes sense.
The cold weather doesn’t seem to make a difference to the birds however. They go about their lives normally like the cold doesn’t exist. Amazing really. There isn’t much to those little birds. Such as the chickadees, nuthatches and pine siskins. They are tiny. One would think their little legs would freeze completely. But these little birds keep bouncing around, flitting from branch to branch. But mostly they just spend the whole day flying from a bush or tree behind my apartment to the feeders and back to the bush again with their prize of a sunflower seed. Then they manage to hold that slippery little seed with their feet and peck it open, quickly eating the contents, then back to the feeder. Doesn’t take them long. And that’s their day. Back and forth. Periodically they change the routine and land on the suet feeder to grab some extra energy.
Then it’s back to the sunflower seeds. I have been trying to entice the pine grosbeaks to come to the feeder as well. And have had some success. But unfortunately the rock doves chase them away and finish off the sunflower seeds in seconds. Sigh. The pine grosbeaks won’t go to the hanging feeders. They need something flat and solid. Which is why the problem. And their natural food supply is fast disappearing.
So they probably won’t be around much longer. But at least I have been able to get some nice pics before they move on to another area in search of food. And that is nice. They are only here during the winter. I almost had a head on collision with a hairy woodpecker the other day. He came flying around the corner of the apartment while I was on the deck. Fortunately he managed to veer off to the side just in time. That would have hurt. Both of us.
Wanted to have some eggs for breakfast the other day. Hope none of my bird friends find out. Anyway, I got the eggs out. Took 2 out of the carton. I should know better. Take one at a time. No. Not me. I took 2. One slipped out of my hand. Naturally. I tried to catch it. Bad idea. Broke the one I was still holding. In my hand. Missed the other one. Naturally. Which hit the floor. With quite a splat. But amazingly it missed my foot. Barely. But it missed. That’s the important thing. I cleaned my hand first. Then turned to clean up the egg on the floor. Scrunch. Rats. So much for missing my foot. Sigh. Oddly, Muffin was a bit slow getting in to check out the action. Must have been sleeping soundly. But she did come. And proceeded to clean up what was left of the egg on the floor. She likes to help. She helped with the Christmas decorating too. I don’t have a tree. Probably a good thing. But I did decorate. Took a little longer than it should have. But Muffin really wanted to help. Every time I brought out a different decoration she had to check it for damage. By playing with it. Or just running off with it. One is still missing. Sigh. But she did seem to be enjoying it all. I was sitting on the floor pulling my hair. But it’s done. Only one item broke. An antique glass ornament. No. Not Muffin. I was to blame for that one. Sigh.
Days are so short now. Maybe I should say the daylight portion. The chickadees are the first to arrive in the morning. It is just barely showing some daylight when they arrive. It is dark now. Not quite so cold today. But the humidity was high. So it still felt cold. To me at least. Did get some nice pics today. Like the ones I’m sharing today. Except for the featured image at top, it’s not mine. Enjoy your week and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
Looking For A Christmas Tree.
Greetings on this very cold Friday which also ends the first week of December which also means that Christmas is not far away and of course that means looking for the perfect Christmas tree! These days that is not so hard to do. It’s possible to buy them everywhere one goes. I’m talking about real trees. Not fake trees. Some fake trees do look nice. But they’re not real. And my parents never liked the idea of buying a tree. Real or fake. So, every year we went out and picked up our own real tree. We always put up our tree December 1st. Amazingly it did manage to survive a whole month. But we did keep it well watered. A very important part of using real trees. Now I would prefer a fake tree. I’m sure Muffin would agree with me. Which is why I don’t have a tree. Muffin likes to climb. Trees are made for climbing. Therefore I’m not sure it would work out so well. However, if I had all those old decorations that my parents had, I’m sure I would be wanting to give it a try. I prefer the old traditional type decorations. Where things didn’t all match. Different decorations, different sizes, colors, put on the tree in no special way, except to make sure the whole tree was well covered, add tinsel and lights, it was always perfect. Sigh. Okay, my place is kind of small anyway. But I would do it if I had those decorations. Or similar ones. So Dad says, let’s go get the tree today.
It’s too cold, I replied. Never too cold, said Dad. I’ll get the COFFEE ready, said I. Forget the COFFEE, he said. What??!! Forget the COFFEE??!! We’ll stop at our favorite COFFEE shop instead after we get the tree, said Dad. I’m half out the door! We found a good spot to look for the tree. We had to cross the ditch however. I volunteered to go first, I knew Dad would want me too anyway. NO, he said, I’ll go first this time. I don’t think he trusted me. Be careful, I said, the snow might be deep. It isn’t deep, he called back, just look. I did. From a safe distance. Suddenly Dad seemed to trip, his arms went out to the side, and he fell straight forward with a thud, face first into the snow. I walked over to him. Need some help? He lifted his head out of the snow. No, he said, I like laying in the snow. I can’t get up, he said, my arms keep sinking in the deep snow. Roll over, I suggested. He did. I helped him up. He had tripped on a rock buried under the snow and fell into an area that obviously was deeper than the rest of the ditch. Must be a hole there, I said, good thing you went first. Thanks, said Dad. You go first now, he said. Naturally. Walking through the trees I had to move a branch from a large spruce. I let go. AAAAAAAA!!!!!!! I turned around. Poor Dad. You shouldn’t walk so close behind me, I said. BONEHEAD, was all he said. Okay, he’s enjoying himself. Rather odd. Dad’s face was a bit red from that branch hitting him. What are you looking for?, I asked. My glasses fell off, he said. You’re always losing your glasses, I said. Only when you’re around, he replied. Not sure what he meant by that. We must have walked half an hour. Finally we spotted the perfect tree. Give me the saw, said Dad. Saw? I didn’t bring the saw, I said. Dad just looked at me. You left the saw in the car? I didn’t bring the saw, I thought you were going to bring it. There’s no saw at all? We walked back to the car. We did mark that tree though, so we could find it again easily. Strangely Dad didn’t want to go for COFFEE either. Mainly because he forgot his wallet. So I said I would pay for COFFEE. That made him feel a bit better. After COFFEE I spotted something in the back of the car, sticking out from under a blanket. The saw! Dad just looked. We went back and got the tree. We didn’t bother telling Mom about that part.
The joys of winter. I prefer summer. Or spring. Even fall. Sigh. But winter is here for another few months. Sigh. I hope you all have a great weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin (who is dreaming of a Christmas tree). PS; the featured image at the top is not mine.
Steve`s Country 