Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Wednesday Wanderings…My Backyard.
Good evening everyone! Or good morning to some of my readers. Hmm, probably late night for others. Sigh. Actually I usually like to say ‘good morning’ all the time. No matter what time of day it is. Because somewhere it is morning. And I love mornings. I love to watch a morning sunrise. Especially if it’s a country sunrise. Anyone with some beautiful sunrise photos you would like to share? From anywhere. One of my readers actually wanted to see pics of my backyard from today. Amazing really. Now, I really don’t have a backyard. More like a side yard, about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Mostly I have my deck which is 6 by 20 feet. I rent a small apartment which is why the lack of a real yard. But here are some pics from today, including my some of my backyard friends.
Not much to see really. It’s all my little, and not so little friends that make it interesting. Including a coyote that walked by last night. I have heard them close by before but this is the first time one actually came around. Well, that I know of anyway. Too bad I couldn’t get a pic of that one, would have made a nice addition to my collection! But if I had gone out there it would have scared it, my screen door is kind of noisy right now, impossible to go out quietly. Sigh.
But Now…
We get to meet some of my backyard friends again. Or maybe I should say deck friends, but some don’t come onto the deck, so I guess that won’t work. Sigh.
And then we have some of the smaller friends like the woodpeckers. I just love this next pic, this little critter is looking right at me, about 3 feet away.
I could keep adding more pics but I will stop there for now. Of course there is the featured image at the top. Ten extra points if you can spot the pine siskins. It looked beautiful today with the snow on everything, just the right amount to really add texture to the landscape. Would have been even better if the sun was shining. But it was milder today so that was nice. I could be outside without freezing my hands so quickly. That is always a plus.
I Was So Happy…
I actually did something without hurting myself. Really, that is amazing. Even with simple projects I can find simple ways to simply hurt myself. Sigh. It’s true. Like this afternoon I was baking some meatballs. I opened the door to check on them. The oven door does not always like to stay open. I forgot that little point today. And it closed against the back of my hand. My hand turned red. And it was a bit painful. Good thing Muffin was sleeping. That way she didn’t see me jumping all over the kitchen shaking my hand like I was trying to toss it away. Which at the time wasn’t such a bad idea. Sigh.
Back To Happy…
I have this stack of Rubbermaid totes in a corner of the living room.
Why? No where else to put them. And I need them for when I move. I move a lot. Sigh. But that’s another story. I finally got tired of looking at them. So I made a little curtain thing to hide them. Plus Muffin gets a new bed on top which she will enjoy when summer arrives and the windows are open.
She likes that spot in the summer, she really does. It gets hot in here. But that’s another story. Just don’t look too close, I know I’m not that good at sewing. But at least I don’t have to look at those totes any more.
Sigh…
It’s time to go already. Please don’t forget to check out the new stuff, like the ‘chuckles’ page. And there is more on the ‘extras’ page too, as well as the ‘poetry’ page. My other new page is still in the work stage. Sigh. It’s taking much longer than I planned. Unexpected technical problems.
I was thinking of giving an inside tour as well, but I don’t want to give you nightmares! I hope you all enjoy the remainder of your week, I will be back Friday, God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod
Dreaming…
Well, hello once again from the land of cold and snow! And we are certainly living up to our reputation for that this year. But, spring is on the way! For someone anyway. Just not us. I mean, it is, but not anytime soon. Sigh. But, hey, I hit a new milestone! I have just gone past 75 followers and I’m on the way to 100 now!! Wheehee! Okay. I know. Some of you are probably thinking that’s not so many, but…for me it’s fabulous! I’m excited. Honestly. It seemed like such a long way off when I first started. So I’m excited! (insert happy dance). Muffin is looking at me with that ‘look’ again. Sometimes I really do think she knows what I’m writing. Oh well.
But I know what she’s thinking. Her posts get more likes than mine. But that’s okay. Sigh.
Warm Summer Days…
Just the thought makes me feel warmer. Sitting by the lake. Just small wavelets lapping against the rocks. The sky is the most brilliant sapphire blue. Not even the tiniest wisp of a cloud in sight. That blue is reflected in the lake like a giant sparkling jewel. The breeze is rustling the aspen leaves so gently like thousands of emerald colored butterflies taking wing all at once. The mossy hillside warmed by the golden rays of the summer sun. There is the gently laughing of a loon hidden somewhere on the lake. Yes, there it is, close to a tiny island, mostly granite with bits of grass and a 2 small shrubs. Probably where it has it’s nest. They seem to enjoy such locations. Suddenly a song sparrow breaks into his loud song almost right next to me giving me a bit of a start. Guess he didn’t see me sitting there. What’s that? Hey, it’s a baby on the back of that loon. Whether it’s on the mother or father is a little hard to tell since both take turns giving rides for the first while. Safe up there too. Those little babies sometimes end up as food for some large fish or snapping turtle. A white-throated sparrow is singing further along the shore to my right. A pair of tree swallows are swooping back and forth over the water picking up insects for their young. I study the trees around me but can’t see one they might be using for their nest. I hear some rustling behind me. It’s a squirrel looking for something to eat. Hmm, he found himself a mushroom and scampers away with it. There he sits on top of a small rock, munching happily, constantly looking around. After a bit I toss a peanut over close to him. He stops. And looks. Then runs over to the peanut, grabs it quickly, then back to his little rock to enjoy his new prize. It’s an absolutely beautiful day.
Then…
I stop and look out the window. It’s dark now. Still a lot of snow on the ground. But at least it’s not quite so cold now. It was actually 15F today. Felt quite nice actually.
I was able to stand outside for quite a while taking pics of the birds before my fingers finally got too cold and I had to come back inside. But even with all that snow and cold, it still is nice being out there enjoying the multitude of birds that come around here each day for food. How many you ask? Lots. Though I have had many more other years. But, there are over 40 chickadees, over 80 pine siskins,
2 dozen pine grosbeaks, about 10 red-breasted nuthatches and one white-breasted nuthatch (I’m still trying to get a good pic of him, though I have one that isn’t too bad I guess), at least 5 hairy woodpeckers, at least 4 downy woodpeckers, 6 starlings, 4 crows, unfortunately 2 massive ravens who scare everything else away and numerous rock doves (also called pigeons by some), and a dozen common redpolls, 1 hoary redpoll (who manages to escape my best attempts at getting his picture, sigh). I’ve probably missed a few. Sigh.
Still Hurting…
I haven’t been too active the last couple days, hurt myself a bit too much with all that snow shoveling. Thanks so much for those of you who were asking about me. Happens to me once in a while, unfortunately.
Photos From Today…
These pics are a sampling of the ones I got today. Except for the featured image! Muffin has a new post available and my humor page is up, I will be adding more on a regular basis so please keep checking my extra pages and hopefully a new one should be ready tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy the next few days and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod (except featured image, thanks again Candace)
Steve`s Country 