Good morning on this rather cloudy and cooler late afternoon and it’s just beginning to rain a little but the forecast is for quite a bit of rain finally and we sure do need it as everything is so terribly dry and that is not a good thing when surrounded by forests and there has been forest fires already and not too far away from here which is not such a good thing either so this rain will be much welcomed by everyone.  And you thought this was going to be one of my long opening sentences.  Not this time.  Spring is probably my favorite time of the year, next to summer.  Right now everything is getting so nice and green.  Leaves are popping out everywhere.  Grass is growing.  Flowers are starting to bloom.  The trees and ground are alive with birds returning from their southern wintering grounds.  Some birds are nesting.  Some have young ones.  I have been trying to get photos of some of these birds, and other critters, while they are still here.  Many of these birds head further north for the summer so this is the best time for photos.  Autumn can be good also but the colors are not quite so dramatic as in the spring.  In order to get better pics I cheat a bit.  By using food to lure them in closer.  Works good.

As you can see by the photo of the Harris’ sparrow above.  There are a lot of those sparrows around right now.  Plus many other varieties of sparrows.  The photo at the top of today’s blog is one of my chipmunk pals.  I call him GPS.  He always knows when those peanuts come out, and he is there in less than 20 seconds.  Every time.  One day he came along and just sat on my knee for a while.  So we talked a bit.  He even came up on my shoulder and touched his little nose against my cheek.  He seemed to know I was having a low day.  Happens now and then.  Animals can sense these things.  He and Scamper, my other chipmunk pal, always bring a cheery smile.  What do you mean animals don’t smile?  HA!  Can’t convince me of that!  Sigh.  Birds are really singing at the moment.  Guess that little bit of rain stopped.  Started on my fall cleaning this week.  Yes, I know it’s spring.  What do you think I have been talking about?  Anyway.  My fall cleaning kind of had to be put off for a bit.  So decided to do it during the winter.  That didn’t work out too well.  So now I am doing it in the spring.  Which means my spring cleaning will have to wait for summer.  Or something.  Everything is a mess in here.  Sigh.  I don’t do things fast anymore.  I probably shouldn’t do things at all.  But what fun is that?  I don’t think I had enough COFFEE today.  Muffin seems to be bored today.  Sleeping most of the day.  Of course she does stay up most of the night now.  Lots of things going on outside at night this time of year.  Too bad she can’t tell me what.  She did alert me to a flying squirrel the other night.  That was nice.  It was on my bird feeder.  Which is also a squirrel feeder.  Speaking of feeders.  Wanted to have some eggs and toast the other day.  No problem.  Got the eggs out.  Took one out of the carton.  It immediately jumped out of my hand and onto the floor.  HA!  Right between my feet!  It actually missed my feet for a change.  Not bad.  Except.  In the excitement I didn’t watch as I turned to get some paper towels.  Splunch.  That was hard to believe.  Really.  But I love changing socks.  No.  I am not going to give up wearing socks.  I like socks.  Socks are comfortable.  Socks are warm.  I like socks.  Sigh.  Went to clean the frying pan afterwards.  Forgot there was still a bit of margarine in there.  Dumped it out.  Yep.  Time to change socks again.  Hard to imagine how it could miss the floor.  Sigh.  I still like socks.  Oops.  I was supposed to continue the insulatoring story.  Sigh.  Oh well.  There’s next week.  Or not.  Sometimes I forget.  I think.  Though it’s sometimes hard to tell if I forget because I forgot and if I forgot then how can I really tell if I did forget?  I mean, if I really did forget, how would I know?  Because I would have forgotten that I forgot if I did forget that I had forgotten.  I think. Sigh.  Think I better stop.  Enjoy the remainder of your week and God bless!

Steve and Muffin and critters.

Good morning to everyone on this rather cool and cloudy day in May with the sun just starting to peek out a little now and then adding some heat though not much but every little bit helps on these cool days of spring but yesterday was just fantastic with the sun shining brightly and the temp more summer like at a very nice at about 82F which for some people seems actually too hot but for me it is just a nice pleasant day especially after the very long and cold winter we had so really I don’t see how anyone could not enjoy a day like yesterday but here we are back to a more normal day for us at only 54F and for me that is just too cool but that’s the way it goes.  Feels good to get back to one of those longer greetings again.  So what does Sir George have to do with insulators?  Nothing really.  I just needed a title and that was the first thing that came to mind.  My mind works a little different than most people.  But you know that already if you have been reading my blog for any length of time.  I have been trying to get more photos of Sir George and friends, Lady Pearl and Henry.  There are 3 of those huge gulls coming to my feeder now, though only 2 can fit on it at a time.  And even that is crowded.  Have been trying to get pics of other birds as well.  And that has been even more challenging than the gulls.  Those little birds just don’t like to sit still.  Oh well.  Dad managed to retrieve his glasses from the mud okay, but the frame was broken a bit.  Just cracked really.  Not too bad, I said, wiping the mud off.  Dad was still rubbing his head where the stick hit him.  Just a small crack right in the middle, I continued.  What?!  Where, I don’t feel anything, yelled dad rubbing his head.  Not your head, your glasses, said I.  You broke them, he said.  No, no me, you did when you dropped them in the mud, I said.  You’re the one that hit me on the head, said dad.  Actually, the branch did, said I, but it didn’t hit your glasses.  Haha, said dad, BONEHEAD!  At least he is still enjoying himself.  I’ll go wash them in the creek over there, I said.  NO, I’ll do that, said dad.  Odd.  Almost like he didn’t trust me with them.  While dad was doing that I went to investigate some shimmering glass in the mud.  Sure enough, there was several insulators sticking up out of the mud and all in very nice condition.  Hmm, all Canadian Pacific types, I said, nothing too exciting, various blues and greens.  Hey, there’s a purple one, I said and went over to the spot.  Rats, just a piece, and such a nice dark purple too.  Oh well.  Dad was still at the creek trying to clean himself a bit.  I kept looking around.  There are a lot of poles in this dry swamp, should find a lot more insulators.  And we did, but all common types that we had already, except for one in a beautiful blue.  Okay, some of the colors were nice, I admit that, but still a waste of time when we could be out digging for old bottles.  Sigh.  Finally at the last pole there were several crossarms solidly planted in the mud and still full of insulators.  And 3 purple ones in excellent condition, one each in light, medium and dark.  Not bad.  There was another little creek at that spot so we decided to wash some of our prizes.  Dad was close to the creek and said, toss them over and I’ll wash them while you continue looking.  Naturally.  He gets the fun part.  Sigh.  Toss them higher, he said, easier to catch.  That’s what he said.  So I did.  AAAAAA!!!!!  I could hear the breaking glass.  That one insulator, just a regular aqua, destroyed 2 of the purple insulators, only the lightest one remained.  I went over to see.  Dad was just looking at all those pieces of glass.  Amazing, he said.  Oh well, less to carry back, I said.  Bonehead!, said dad.  Sir George is back, looking for another meal.  Those herring gulls can sure eat!  Sorry, you will have to wait until next week for the rest of the story.  Wheehee!  HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all of you mothers out there.  And even if you are not.  And happy birthday to 2 of my faithful readers, whose birthday happens to be on Friday.  Even if you are not.  Sigh.  I hope you all enjoy your week, cool or hot, and God bless!

Steve and Muffin (my sleeping kitty).