animals — Page 22

All Creatures Great and Small

June 7, 2013 at 9:10 am by Claudia

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Just a glimpse of all the activity going on around here. For each photo that succeeds in capturing a flitting bumble bee, for example, there are about 30 where he’s a blur. Our woodpecker friend, a red bellied woodpecker to be exact, has been ensconced on the property for a while. We hear the rat-a-tat-tat of his pecking in the catalpa tree. I’ve identified his calls; he’s very talky. Yesterday I walked out the door and there he was on the shed, moving from here to there, assessing whether the shed was peck-worthy. In the end, he decided it wasn’t. But I was able to slowly sneak up on him and grab some photos. I don’t have a telephoto lens, but this kind of situation is exactly the reason I want one some day.

Don posted a photo of him on Facebook and asked for name suggestions. I think Guthrie (as in Woody Guthrie) won out. So Guthrie it is. He’s a beauty.

The shed needs painting. I don’t see it happening for a long while. I don’t like to paint walls.

Hey, it has a weathered look. I sort of like that.

It’s raining heavily and has been since last night. Knowing that rain was on the way, I ran out to the peonies yesterday afternoon with my pruning shears. I wanted to grab the fully opened flowers because I knew that the heavy rain would decimate them. Into the Ball jar they went.

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Hello, beauties.

A fellow musician friend of Don’s is coming over today – he’s driving in from Connecticut. They’re going to practice together for a gig they have on June 21st. This guy is amazing; he plays the mandolin, dobro, steel guitar, you name it. Don met him recently and they seem to really get each other’s musical sensibilities. It’s a match made in heaven.

I can’t wait to hear them play. Perfect for a rainy afternoon.

(I was going to go to the Country Living Fair but I decided not to, for several reasons. It’s rainy and messy out there. I’m not real excited about the whole thing; I wrote on FB that I was feeling rather ‘meh’ about the whole thing. We’re on a strict budget here; I can’t really justify the cost of the ticket and the gasoline to get there, and I can’t really buy anything. So why go? If it’s a success, it will be back again. Right? But my friend Heidi has a booth there and I’m so, so happy for her!)

Happy Friday.

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Cluck, Cluck

May 30, 2013 at 8:23 am by Claudia

I spent most of the day yesterday being a slug. It was still a little rainy, the skies were gray, I couldn’t get motivated. By mid-afternoon, Don felt we needed to get out of the house, so the three of us got in the car and went for a ride. We stopped at a charming family-owned nursery that’s about 10 miles down the road from us. I’m trying to find something other than impatiens to plant in the barrels by the funky patio. Couldn’t make up my mind. Any ideas?

As we toodled around the nursery we met up with these guys:

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Dueling iPhones

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The minute they heard our voices, more and more chickens appeared.

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That’s a peacock in the background. There was another gorgeous male peacock in the pen but it was too dark in there to get a good photo. I’m well aware that every blogger out there seems to be raising chickens, so if you’re suffering from an overabundance of all things chicken, forgive me. And don’t ask. No. I’m not going to be raising chickens. I would get too attached and there are too many predators around here. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to one of them. And, in typical me fashion, if everyone is doing it, I tend not to.

We returned home and then, as if someone zapped us with a burst of energy, we mowed, weeded, planted seeds and, seeing that we are due for 90 degree temperatures for the next few days, put in three window air conditioners.

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By the way, the day I came home from Hartford, Don and I checked to see if the quilt top will fit in the place I had in mind for it – the stairway wall. Hurrah! It fits perfectly.

Don loves this design so much that he wanted to hang it right away. I explained that it isn’t a quilt yet, that I have to add batting and a quilt back.

Then I have to quilt it.

His disappointed reply: “How long will that take?”

Happy Thursday.

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Feeling Nirvana-y

May 28, 2013 at 8:45 am by Claudia

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Nirvana = A state of perfect happiness. That comes awfully darn close to how I feel when I work in the garden. Even the drudgery of weeding brings a smile to my face. Remember when I took those first spring photos of plants peeking up from the soil and I said that I felt like I was reemerging after hibernating for the winter? That was before I left for Hartford and was away from the garden for five weeks. Well, today I feel like I’m exactly where I should be, with the sun on my face and the memory of a long, hard winter slowing fading away.

I’m communing with all sorts of plant life. Getting reacquainted with each plant. Oh, that one. I remember that one. Hello!

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Masses of green, masses of textures.

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Hostas that become more glorious with each new season.

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Blooms about to burst forth.

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Birds everywhere, their songs filling the air, providing a welcome counterpoint to the sound of traffic.

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This little guy, who plants himself between our car and the dog corral every evening. I think he likes to watch the world go by. Scout runs out, ready to bark at him, but upon hearing my “No, leave him alone” stops and goes about her business. She’s almost getting used to him. He certainly wasn’t too alarmed by my attempts to photograph him.

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This girl, who sometimes watches all my digging and yanking and planting from the porch. She’d rather be right beside me, where the action is, but is content to watch from afar. But only for a while. Then she gets antsy and starts barking at me. Scamp.

Today, I will plant some seeds. Tomorrow, some things need to be purchased, hopefully, for very little money: a couple of bags of mulch, some potting soil, a flat of impatiens. I really want to buy some hanging plants…but we might have to wait on that.

Money’s tight. I woke up today with worries about all of that. Thank goodness for gardening, which takes me to another place. Where I get a tiny glimpse of nirvana.

Don took this photo of me yesterday. I was pruning some bushes. The weather was perfect and I spent several hours outdoors. See if you can guess what shocked me.

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The sun made my gray and brown hair look white. Yikes. But danged if my hair isn’t looking grayer. I checked it out later in the bathroom. There’s still brown underneath it all, but it sure as heck is silvery gray. Or perhaps we’ll call this platinum blonde?

Who is that woman?

Happy Tuesday.

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All Creatures Great and Small

Cluck, Cluck

Feeling Nirvana-y

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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