The Birds

I wrote about the flowers heralding the onset of an early Spring. Now it's time to write about the birds.

I waited all winter for the terrible weather to save the birds by putting out the feeder. It really never came so the couple of times that we had a little snow, I put it up. And about the time the birds would get used to it being there, so would the squirrels and every time I'd look out the window there'd be one or two dangling from the feeder. So I'd take it down. You know a person should almost trap them and relocate them. Maybe I'll write a post about that later but right now it's all about the birds.

They're all back and I have pictures of a lot of them to prove it.

Of course these guys never left.

And these guys I could live without but I guess you have to take the bad with the good.

In fact a lot of these were around all winter I guess. It's just now that we're seeing so many of them. Surely it's the amazing weather.

But the ones that really fill my heart with joy? The beautiful bluebirds.

They don't visit the feeder so I have to enjoy them from a distance but that's okay. I just love bluebirds.

And I promised to include a picture of the hyacinths in my Flower Power post so here it is. Later I'll go out and take a better one but this is all I have in my file right now.

I really need to get more pink. These are right outside our door so every time you walk in the house, the air is perfumed with their scent.

And, finally, Harry and I had a little getaway last week. We had a good time visiting the money stealers - I mean casinos - in Tunica, Mississippi. The weather was lovely and we really had a good time. Here we are near Rend Lake in Southern Illinois.

That's all for now. Later on, I really will write about what it would be like if we ever did trap and relocate squirrels.

You Capture - Top Ten of 2011

Beth's You Capture this week is 'Top Ten of 2011'. This is one of my favorite You Capture projects so it's inexcusable that I didn't start on it until last night. I require much more time than that since so many of my 2011 pictures are filed in different folders; however, a quick perusal resulted in the following:

Our earliest blooming flower - the Lenten Rose.

Our most colorful winged visitor - the rose breasted grosbeak.

An unwelcome squirrel trying to push around our decorative bunny.

Sunset on Lake Michigan.

And in the harbor.

A cheeky little house finch.

Majestic blooms from our Sum and Substance hosta.

Our grandson-in-law showing his son some of the sights in our pond.

An alert meerkat living up to it's reputation for inquisitiveness and vigilance at the Rocky Mountain Zoo near Colorado Springs.

The deteriorating boardwalk on my favorite trail in Indiana Dunes State Park.

My two favorite princesses - both my namesakes - Tessa Mary and Mary Addison born two weeks apart!

To see many more varied and beautiful pictures from 2011, visit Beth's I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Bird Feeding and Watching

We had such a difficult winter that I became concerned for our struggling feathered friends and finally bought a bird feeder. Within a couple of days we had a pretty respectable variety of visitors.

See how cute they are? And not only are they fun to look at, they're fun to listen to also.

Life was better despite the cold and snow but then as it began to warm up a little, we had more, less welcome visitors.

One day as I was exercising, I glanced out the window and the bird feeder was hanging sideways. I asked Mr. Right why it looked like that and he said, "oh, because there's a squirrel hanging on it". Sure enough, a squirrel had it tilted sideways so the seed could pour out more easily as he assisted it with his paw - reaching in and dragging out more and more seeds. He had his tail wrapped around the front of the feeder which for some reason added to the offensive sights.

Soon more and more squirrels came. I understand that they have to eat too and I'm really not adverse to feeding them .... except they never get full. It's unbelievable. And they're so bold. I finally started trying to scare them off. But they weren't scared of me. When I came out the door, they just looked at me while munching the birdseed that was filling their cheeks. No I had to go almost right up to them before they'd scamper off just far enough for me to leave and then they'd calmly come back.

You would think I'd have pictures of some of them but the truth is that when I saw them I spent my energies trying to get rid of them and didn't even consider photographing them.

Finally, they were so bold and so annoying that I decided it was time to take action. Tomorrow I'll write about what we decided to do and how that has worked out for us.

You Capture - Cold

The subject of Beth's You Capture this week is Cold and evidently Mother Nature wanted to give us lots of cold photo opportunities. As usual, though, she's overdone it.

Here's our koi pond half hidden behind the net that protects it from leaves during the winter. I wish there were a way to protect it from cold.

And I'm hoping that lots of food will help keep the cold away from these tiny creatures.

I snapped this picture of Joan of Arc as she sadly walked through the snow in the backyard.

Mother Nature decorated a tree in 'cold'.

And we abandoned our plans for a wintry barbeque because it got just too wintry.

For more authentically cold pictures, visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry.