Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Country Time In The Winter.
Greetings everyone on this Friday evening! It didn’t really feel much like winter today. The temp was in the 30s(F), it was melting, cloudy, light mist, almost more like fall. Except it was still white outside. We don’t have much snow, probably not more than an inch right now. But it has been cold, much colder than normal. Until today. But the cold is returning tomorrow. Naturally. It is winter after all. And this is Canada. Hard to believe we don’t have much snow. That is a bit odd. But nice. I think the birds and squirrel enjoyed this short reprieve from the terrible cold. LB, the squirrel, was really enjoying himself this morning. He was running up and down the big ash trees out here, just seemingly for the fun of it. He would run all the way to the top, as high as possible, which would be over 60 feet or so. Then he would come down so fast, then right back up again. Was fun to watch him. It’s good to pay attention to these little things. One of those country pleasures. I think people would have a lot less stress if they would take the time to enjoy some country pleasures. They can be found even in city locations. Just have to look around. I think God gave us these country pleasures for that reason. To help relieve stress. Speaking of country pleasures. I used to have a nice quiet place that I would go to as much as possible. Had a little cabin there.
Actually, it was more of a storage shed. Wasn’t supposed to be that way. Just happened. Sigh. One time I was there, it was late in the evening. The sun had set but still daylight. I was watering the flowers around the ‘shed’. I felt like I was being watched. Like the time with the wolves. I looked around but saw nothing. I had cleared out the underbrush beneath the pine trees so it was easy to see for a good distance. Kept watering the flowers. Kept getting the ‘feeling’. I walked around the ‘shed’. Nothing. Odd. I stopped and listened. It was very quiet. Not even the slightest breeze. Hmm, kept watering the flowers. That ‘feeling’ persisted. I kept looking around but saw nothing. Heard nothing. Finally I was finished with the flowers. Looked around again. Still nothing. I went inside and sat down by the window. I had just sat down when this big cinnamon bear came walking past the window. It was at least 600 lbs. A female. She had a cub. She was big. And she was obviously right by the ‘shed’ while I was out there. There just wasn’t time for her to be far away. And she had been watching me the whole time. Not a thrilling thought. For me at least. I prefer being a safe distance from those critters. Especially when they have cubs. Oh, a cinnamon bear is actually just a black bear that isn’t. Black that is. They are brown. And sometimes called brown bears.
But they are black bears. There are a lot of those cinnamon bears in this part of the province. Very nice color too. Like this one. It’s an old photo as you can see. But they are a true country pleasure. From a safe distance. I’m glad the bears are in hibernation now, haven’t seen one now for some time. So my bird feeders are safe now. Which is nice. A lot more deer around now. Mama likes to come up to me and say hello. But I haven’t been able to coax the bucks to come close yet. Odd. The deer in this part of town are just not as friendly as other areas. Oh well. Speaking of baking. Hmm, guess that will have to wait until next time. I hope you enjoy your weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
Prying Eyes And Other Things.
Good morning on this very cold Monday evening! It’s dark. And cold. In the summer we would have another 4 hours of daylight. Now it’s been dark for an hour and a half. Such a difference. The birds were sure busy today. Those little chickadees are up before it is really daylight anxiously waiting for me to get the food out there. They are busy landing on those hanging feeders before I even get them hanging in place!
Why don’t I leave them outside? Raccoons. They love sunflower seeds too. And they don’t mind destroying the bird feeders to get them. I don’t really like that. Then I have to go out and buy another bird feeder. Better to bring them in at night. Now that it’s so cold however, I should be able to leave them out at night. Raccoons don’t come around much during the cold part of winter. But it is nice having all these critters coming around. It’s country living in the city. Sort of city. Town anyway. Sigh. I mentioned Friday about getting that feeling of being watched. I’ve had that feeling many times. Sometimes I find out why. Other times I don’t. Like sitting quietly watching a movie. And I get this feeling of being watched. Now, I’m inside. But my drapes are open. I look at the window. There is a face looking back at me! Something like that can really get the heart pounding suddenly. But in the same instant I realize it is one of my deer friends looking at me. So I went to the door to say hello. Another time I was reading. Got that same feeling of being watched. I looked out the window. Nothing. Hmm, just me I guess. Closed the drapes anyway. Just in case. The next morning as I was looking out the window I noticed what looked like a hand print on the window. Couldn’t be. I went outside. There was human footprints in the snow around the window. Not my footprints either. Different pattern on the footprint. Hmm, guess it wasn’t just me. I decided to keep the drapes closed after that, once it got dark. But here it is, another winter, and I’m keeping the drapes open again after dark. I know. I’m odd. There’s that feeling again. Muffin is at the window this time. Her hair is fluffed out as much as it can be. Hmm, must be something there. I look. A face is looking back. Again my heart starts that pounding. Amazing how fast that starts up. But it was a raccoon. My heart settled down right away. Poor Muffin. Not sure what she figured that thing was. Another big cat with a huge tail? Who knows. The other night, after midnight, drapes open again, Muffin was obviously looking at something. So I looked. Couldn’t see a thing out there. But she was intently looking at something. Next morning there was dog tracks outside. Probably that fox that comes around here. He seems to be quite tame, which likely means someone is feeding him. A very beautiful fox. Speaking of hurting myself. I opened the freezer door (on my fridge) to get some frozen veggies for supper. Dropped the veggies on the floor. Picked them up. Wham! Hit my head on the freezer door that I did not close. Made me groan and bend over a bit, at the same time grabbing the handle on the fridge door which opened and, whack! Right on my cheek. Dropped my veggies on the floor. Bent over to pick them up. Whack! Hit my head on the shelf unit which is definitely in a bad spot but there is nowhere else to put it in this small place. Groaned again. Turned around. Hit the fridge again. Dropped my veggies on the floor again. Looked around. Then bent over and picked up the veggies again. Didn’t hit anything. Amazing. Opened package of veggies. Dropped veggies on the floor. Veggies scattered everywhere. Picked up veggies. Put back in package. Put veggies back in freezer. Made toast. Sigh. I’ve been thinking. I have a headache. Sometimes I really think the two are related. Sigh. I better stop. Muffin added something new, check out Coffee With Muffin! Hope you all have a great week and God bless! Almost forgot, HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all my American readers!
Steve and Muffin.
Steve`s Country 