Good morning everyone and yes it is definitely COFFEE time now that fall is here and yes I know that officially fall has not yet arrived but in this part of the country fall arrives Sept. 1 and sometimes even before that but usually around the first of the month things really begin to change making it ideal COFFEE time and the fall colors begin to really be evident and most of our birds have already headed south making it ideal COFFEE time and the weather changes quite noticeably though sometimes it can get very warm even this time of the month like on Sunday the temp hit a high of 85F which is abnormally warm for this time of the year but then the temp dropped down to only 40F that night and the next day our high was only 50F making it perfect COFFEE time and that can only mean, ‘Welcome to Fall!’.  And fall is perfect COFFEE time.  Nice to have one of those long opening sentences again.  I like them.  It’s different.  And that’s me.  I’m very different.  People who know me will agree with that.  It is cool these days.  Very cool.  Too cool.  But ideal COFFEE time.  Some people actually like these cool days of fall.  I’m not in that group.  Still, it is better than what is coming up after fall.  That cold white season.  My least favorite season.  This year will be even more least.  Okay, I know that’s not proper English.  But face facts, my ‘musings’ are not about proper English.  Too boring that way.  I’m late again this week.  Technical difficulties again.  Namely me.  I was going to do this yesterday.  But something happened.  Sigh.  I ended up in bed for most of the day.  Except to get up to help my landlord show her hired hand how to dig a trench.  Properly.  I should not be digging.  But I did.  And that did not help my situation.  Sigh.  Speaking of digging.  There are a lot of blue jays around now.  At least 8, maybe 10.  And they are getting quite friendly.  Some of them at least.  They won’t quite take a peanut from my hand yet, but they are getting close.  I toss the peanuts to them and some will sit close waiting for their treat, I toss the peanut and they will jump up and catch it in the air.  Fun to watch them.  They are also a good alarm system for the other birds and little critters like the chipmunks and squirrels.  There is a large hawk around right now.  There is a lot of bird action here and that attracts hawks.  But the blue jays are usually the first to spot the hawk and let out a very loud alarm which warns the others to hide.  I’m sure that hawk hates the blue jays.  LB, my squirrel, has discovered the walnut tree in the front yard.  He has been gathering walnuts for over a week.

It’s actually quite amazing that he can even carry those walnuts.  They are bigger than his head.  But he grabs it with his teeth and off he goes.  That tree sure produced a lot of walnuts this year.  Rusty, my chipmunk, tried to pick one up, but it was just too much for that little critter, so he came for his peanuts instead.  It was cool, partly sunny fall days like this one that dad and I would pack a lunch and head out to find some insulators.  No bugs to worry about at least.  About the only plus that I can see for these cool days.  Summer is OVER!!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!  It’s okay.  I’m calm.  I’m fine.  Speaking of bears.  They are coming around a lot more now.  There was one on my deck 2 nights ago.  He is around the 300 to 400 lb range.  And he didn’t seem to be very calm.  He stood up and looked in the living room window.  Scared poor Muffin, did she ever fluff out her fur.  Then the bear slammed against the plastic crates I have stacked up under the window.  Then he pushed at the pole holding my bird feeder.  Then he stood up a couple of time and fell back down hard.  He even came over to the door and banged on it a couple of times.  Thought he was going to break the window on the door.  That was it for poor Muffin.  She was gone at that point.  Then the bear suddenly ran away.  And hasn’t been back.  Which is fine.  That critter is just a little too big.  He obviously wasn’t trying too hard though.  He could have easily pushed open my door.  Sigh.  City living can be dangerous.  Never had problems like that living in the country.  Sigh.  But, still, fall is definitely one of those country pleasures.  Get out and enjoy it, fall is very short.  Around here anyway.  In the great cold north.  Sigh.  Hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

Good morning and welcome to the Monday edition of my Country Musings!  Yes, I know it’s Tuesday.  But it’s still the Monday edition.  I’m just a little late.  As usual.  But hopefully one of these days I will get on track.  Don’t count on it though.  Sigh.  But it has been a beautiful fall Tuesday and almost felt like a summer day.  Almost.  It did manage to hit a temp of 81F.  Not bad for us in September.  Now there are thunderstorms in the area.  I can hear the thunder, not too close though.  Muffin has just decided it was too much thunder so she headed under the bed.  Poor Muffin.  She will likely be there most of the evening.  Speaking of evening.  This is a nice time of year to grab a hot cup of tea and sit on the deck enjoying the wonderful fall colors that are making themselves so visible now.  There is a lot of small birds poking around under the shrubs looking for those tiny seeds which they love.  Except for one white-throated sparrow.  He has discovered peanuts.  As I was tossing peanuts for the blue jays, like the one in the pic above, this little critter jumped in when the jay action quieted down for a bit and started pecking at a peanut.  Hmm, so I broke one open and tossed him a half.  He pounced on it right away, picked it up and off under the nearest shrub to devour his treasure.  This is what I call one of those country pleasures.  But the other is just enjoying that cup of tea on the deck and enjoying the crispness in the fall air, watching the birds, enjoying those beautiful colors, and sipping that tea.  A true country pleasure indeed.  But there are many more country pleasures.  Such as having those cute little chipmunks sitting on my lap and stuffing their cheeks with as many peanuts as they can carry.  Which is normally three.

But it depends on the size of the peanut.  Sometimes they climb all over me.  Sometimes they crawl into my pockets searching for their treasure.  Sometimes they cuddle up close, because they have learned they are safe with me.  That is what I call a true country pleasure.  Then, of course, there is my favorite time of day.  Morning.  Sitting on the deck with my cup of hot COFFEE!  And enjoying the sun rising and shining so brilliantly with those golden rays filtering their way through emerald green leaves which are amazingly still, not even the tiniest of a flutter.  The choir of birds are singing their praises to God.  And sometimes that early morning sunrise is a fabulous array of pink, red and orange stretching out across the wakening blue sky.  This is called ‘Sunset Country’, but could also be called ‘Sunrise Country’.  This is just another of those truly country pleasures.  Then going for a quiet walk along a lakeside trail in the early morning light, a light mist hanging over the lake, the eerie cry of the loon drifting in through that misty covering, not a ripple in the water until the unmistakable SWAP of the beavers tail, so close by it makes a person jump a bit.  But still, a true country pleasure.  A little further on there is a sudden Cronk of a blue heron as he takes off, a bit annoyed that his fishing has been disturbed.  Then a red squirrel begins his annoyed chattering as I pass too close to where he is sitting enjoying his breakfast.  Not much further along the trail another splash!  This time that of the kingfisher.  He comes out of the water with his prize of a minnow and off he goes to a nearby tree to enjoy his breakfast.  More of those beautiful country pleasures.  As I take another sip of COFFEE there is a tug on my pants.  It’s Skamper.  He is standing up as high as he can get, right on his toes, trying to get my attention.  He also wants breakfast, but he just can’t climb up my jeans, just can’t hold on.  But then he gives a big jump and he is on my lap filling his cheeks with the biggest peanuts he can spot.  He looks up at me just before he leaves as if to say ‘thank you’, then down he goes and skampers off to his home.  Would love to know where he lives, but unfortunately, he can move a lot faster than I, so following him would be fruitless.  But nonetheless, it was just another country pleasure.  Unfortunately, we are all too often so busy that we don’t see all these things, or take the time to enjoy such wonderful country pleasures.  And we don’t even need to be in the country.  I’m not.  But I still enjoy the country pleasures that come my way.  I know.  Not my typical musings.  But sometimes it’s nice to be musing about musings which are not musings about musing that are typically musing about musings which I’m usually musing about.  So, take some time this week and enjoy some simply nice country pleasures.  Of course, you might need to slow down a bit.  Enjoy your week and God bless!

Steve and Muffin. Who is still under the bed.  Sigh.