Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Monday’s Mess.
A big hello to all my readers, actually from both Muffin and I. She always likes when I include her, after all, she is a big part of this blog. And, of course, she has her own little ‘blog’ which you can find on my home page. Sometimes she gets more likes than I do. Odd. I hope she didn’t see that. It’s amazing what she understands sometimes.
And I know I have said this before, but, she is going to write a new post very soon, likely tomorrow.
Something odd…
About this guy, you say? Probably true. But there are whole books written from an animals perspective. That’s what I do. I mean, Muffin does. Sigh. I do that a lot. Sigh, that is. But what do you expect? Considering all the strange things that happen to me. If you don’t think so just check out I Have Been Inside. Though even stranger things have happened I think. But I try not to think about them. Sigh.
This evening…
I am sitting here drinking a nice hot cup of raspberry leaf tea. Nice. It’s a good tea for winter. And it’s still winter. Although it is supposed to get warmer this week and actually do some melting! I sure hope so. There is still a lot of snow out there. However, those 2 nice days last week did cause the snow to settle down a lot.
Only about 2 feet on the ground now. Okay, a little deeper in places. Poor deer on Saturday. She got off the path out back and ended up to her stomach in snow as she wandered about looking for food. She finally got back on the path. It can be a dangerous thing to get off the path we should be on.
Speaking of…
Spring cleaning. I am now. I really do not like spring cleaning. It means moving furniture around, putting my hands in places I cannot see which I definitely do not like due to the extra large spiders around here. Today wasn’t quite so dangerous however. But it did involve moving furniture. Most of my furniture is stuff I have made over the years. And it’s solid wood. And quite heavy. Fortunately after my apartment flooded I decided to put casters on everything. Those little wheels make things much easier to move around. Although my doctor says I shouldn’t be doing it anyway. So how am I supposed to clean then? First came moving my desk so I could clean behind and under it and my TV cabinet. It moved quite easily. Once it started moving. Getting it started however, was a different matter entirely. Sigh.
Muffin wanted to help.
She always likes helping when I’m doing something she considers exciting. Like moving furniture so she can get behind things. I am down on the floor and Muffin starts playing leap frog. You know, jumping over each other. She did a much better job than I did. I tried jumping over her. Not smart. She moved. I tried not to land on her. I landed alright. But not the way I should have. I tripped. And slipped. Whack! Against the desk. Then I landed against the door. Which is beside the desk. Then I landed on the small bench on the other side of the door. And my face came into contact with the door frame. Sigh. You would have to see how small this apartment is to really get the picture here.
But all in all…
Things went quite well. After all the moaning and groaning was over. And the lump on my head is barely noticeable. And my leg was sore anyway. What’s a little more pain? So, anyway, I decided to clean under my bed and dresser next. I should have been smart enough to stop after the desk. But I have never claimed to be smart. As I mentioned, this place is small. The bedroom is the smallest I have ever had. It’s 7 ft wide and 10.5 ft long. With a twin bed, dresser, bookcase, and two cabinets in there. Not to mention a washer/dryer combo. And Muffin’s water dish. That’s important to mention? Yes.
Rats…
No, I don’t mean rats. I mean rats. As in, this is already getting long and there is no way I can finish this story today and so I will have to wait until Wednesday to finish what I was hoping I could finish today but can’t because there just isn’t enough time.
That kind of rats. That’s one of my favorite sayings. Hmm, maybe I should do a post on my favorite sayings one day. By the way, I will be starting a new page this week. Look for it on my menu bar, it will be called ‘Life’s Recipe’. It will be a series of mini devotionals which I will share, five at a time, each week. I hope you will enjoy it. The name was suggested by one of my longtime faithful readers. Thanks Yonnie! Don’t forget to check out everything else too if you are interested in more here on Steve’s Country. And…I promise that Muffin will have something new tomorrow on her page, Muffin’s Mewsings. You can find that on my home page.
Well, until next time, I hope you will have a great couple of days and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. (ps, the featured image above is a tiny male downy woodpecker sitting on my broom handle)
© 2019 Steve McLeod
End Of Another Week. Thankfully.
A big hello to all of you on this, well, cool, Friday! And I mean cool, as in cold, cool. Sigh. Well, we didn’t get too much snow anyway. That was nice. But now there is nothing but ice everywhere because it turned cold again after our nice days of melting weather. And I had another flying lesson. But this time it was due to ice, not my deck. And even though I spent the rest of the day with extra back pain, I could still think of what it must look like. Arms and legs flapping away in the air. The look of terror on my face.
My eyes popping out as I connect with the ground. I mean, it must look terribly funny. And as I think about that, it just gets me laughing out loud. And when I get laughing, it’s hard to stop! Of course, that does tend to make the pain worse. But then I think about it more. And I laugh more. But hey, laughing is a lot more fun than crying!
My readers…
Are a great bunch! I was talking with one of my readers this morning and she was telling me how much she enjoyed my animal photos. What a great way to start the day! And I will admit, up to that point, my day was not going so well. And it wasn’t even 8 am yet. Happens sometimes. But that made my day anyway! Thank you so much!
And thank you to all of you that have followed my blog, with some new people joining in this week again! I know my blog is a bit different than most, I kind of jump around a lot with what I talk about. Sometimes in the same post. And my grammar is terrible. My sentences are weird. And short. Sometimes. And can be very long sometimes. I managed to do a thousand words in just 3 sentences once. Don’t worry. I probably won’t do that again. Just wanted to see if I could.
One photo…
I’m showing today is something I have had a hard time getting. It’s an immature male pine grosbeak that is just starting to get his red color and so still has the juvenile look. Not an easy pic to get. At least for me. I’m sure someone with more experience could get a pic easier. But this is me we’re talking about.
Plus…
Some photos from last spring. I just needed to think more of spring. Especially since it doesn’t look much like spring out there. It has been a long winter. Very long. I’m looking forward to my chipmunks coming back. I hope they will be coming back. Some of them should for sure. But Skamper is getting old. For a chipmunk. He’s my friendliest chipmunk and enjoys digging in my pockets for his peanuts. Chester will do that too sometimes.
Simple country pleasures…
That’s what chipmunks are for me. So are the many birds that come around. The chickadees that sit on my hand. The pine siskins that like to sit on my head. One did that again today. Just sitting on my deck on a warm sunny spring afternoon. The sight of that fresh green leafy buds coming out on the trees, sparkling in the sunlight like little emeralds. Rusty, another chipmunk, sitting on my leg picking up his peanuts from the cup I keep them in. And, of course, there is Sir George when he comes back in the spring. His brilliant white plumage absolutely glows in the sun. Listening to the first robin of the spring singing joyfully from the ash trees.
Also the first junco returning in the spring, signalling that the warm weather is here to stay. Usually. Watching as the bald eagles come soaring in on their day in March. Should be soon. We do have them around all winter, but only a few. Usually on one day they come back by the dozens. A sunny day with a good south wind. A beautiful sight. Just a few of my favorite spring country pleasures.
Hot pots…
I learned something today. After boiling my veggies and transferring them to my plate, I put the pot back on the stove. Well, that was the idea. I picked it up by the handle, good so far, then grabbed the pot with my other hand. Why? Who knows? It’s me we’re talking about. I don’t really need a reason to do something stupid. Comes naturally. Anyway, it was rather hot. Naturally. So I dropped it. Naturally. And it splattered hot water all over the place. Including on me. So I started jumping around. Naturally. If you have read Muffin’s Mewsings you might recall she refers to this jumping as my happy dance. Well, there is really nothing happy about it. Honest. Now, there is a lot of floor space for the pot to land on. Okay, there is some floor space for it to land on. Does it? No. Lands on my toe. Sigh. Sore hand, sore toe. At least I didn’t hit my head. That’s something. I think. Sometimes. But not too often. Gives me a headache.
Guess I better stop. Weekend is coming, half over for some of you, but whatever you have left I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod
