birds — Page 27

Day Sixty-Six

May 18, 2020 at 9:54 am by Claudia

These wildflowers are everywhere right now. We have scads of them on the property. They’re so delicate and pretty.

We’ve been doing a lot of work on the property; so much so, that by about mid-afternoon, we’re exhausted! There’s always something to do here and since Don is really taking notice of things, he’s finding more and more little and big projects to do. He just carved out a path from our back forty through a bit of our woods that emerges on our neighbor’s back field, which is open and beautiful. I tried to do it a few years ago when Don was away, but I left it too late in the spring so it was very overgrown. We have so many wild roses/brambles on the property and they grow like wildfire. If we let them go, it’s already too late. As I’ve said before, we’re on ‘the edge of wild.’ Anyway, the path is meandering and lovely and the view at the other end is gorgeous.

I did a lot of weeding in the big garden bed and the beds by the shed. I’m going to sow my seeds today, about three weeks later than usual. We have some more debris to load on tarps. There’s also mowing to do but that can wait until tomorrow.

This morning, we were out of the house by 6:30 to fill my car with gas. The starter in Don’s car is acting funny so we thought my car should have a full tank of gas in case we need to rely on it exclusively. We also got gas for the lawnmower. And then we went to our local supermarket to see if they had any disinfectant wipes. We were the first ones in the door, but no wipes – one of the clerks said she hasn’t seen them on the shelves in weeks. No disinfectant spray, either. Darn. But somehow, we managed to buy another load of groceries while we were there. We go out so little that we want to take advantage of empty aisles and a relatively empty grocery store when we can. We were back home by 7:30, disinfected everything, and had our second cup of coffee together.

This is the robin’s nest that is nestled in the branches of the climbing hydrangea. It’s been there for a few years. There was no activity there last year, but this year some robins took it over and added to it. I saw the parents flying back and forth with worms, so they had some babies and they must have fledged a couple of weeks ago. I hope they lay a second round of eggs later this season. I see one of the robins flying in and out of there every once in a while, I suppose he or she is making sure no squatters have taken over the nest.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Day Fifty-Two

May 4, 2020 at 9:38 am by Claudia

Today’s flowers from Don, presented to me as he came in the door from his morning walk. He is the sweetest man in the world. (Of course, I’m biased.)

A few weeks back, Don mentioned that he was concerned about a pair of Canada Geese he’d seen down by the river on his morning walk. After several days of seeing them together, suddenly there was only one. I thought that since the goose was in the same general area, he may have been guarding his mate while she was sitting on a nest. Today he, saw this:

Five little babies, protected by Mama and Papa. Isn’t this adorable? So now we know. He was protecting the nest. That should bring a smile to your face this morning.

We worked outside yesterday – a lot – Don was out there even longer than I was. We were pretty tired and achy at the end of the day, so today is a day of rest. The temperature hit 80 degrees yesterday and it was beautiful out there. Of course, 80 is too hot for this time of year and today’s temperature will only reach 60 degrees. But it’s sunny! And gorgeous. And the porch is coming together, though I have to buy more potting soil and a couple more plants. I’ll probably do that tomorrow. I’m going to wait to plant seeds until next week. Usually, around here, we can sow them the first week of May, but it’s been so cold, I’m holding off.

Don’s been clearing a part of the property that we’ve sort of ignored over the years. He likes a project and it gives him something to do. I must say, he’s doing a good job of cleaning it up. More and more tiny leaves are appearing on the trees, more and more green surrounds us.

Very grateful for green things and buds and pretty potted flowers always, but especially at this time of year. We’re still watching Cheers every night. Situation comedy doesn’t get much better than that show and we’re really enjoying it. Last night, as we started a new episode, we realized it was the one Don was in. It’s called The Last Angry Mailman – a name I’m well familiar with as it appears on residual checks – and Don has a scene with Cliff Clavin, played by John Ratzenberger, and his mother, played by the fabulous Frances Sternhagen. I’d seen it long ago, but it was fun watching it with Don. You know I saw Don on several series, Hill Street Blues, LA Law, Cheers and more, before I met him. I specifically remember him on LA Law because he had a recurring role as an attorney and one of the most memorable episodes was one he did with the late, great Ralph Bellamy. I remember watching it. Who knew I’d end up married to the guy many years later?

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Day Forty-Four

April 26, 2020 at 9:44 am by Claudia

My husband just came back from his morning walk and presented me with this:

That’s a nice way to start a cold and rainy day!

Yesterday, on the other hand, was simply beautiful. It was sunny and warm and we worked outside for a quite a while; Don mowing the front lawn, me cleaning the porch and filling my planters with pansies. There’s still a lot of work to be done on the porch, but doing even the little I did yesterday was so good for my soul. I actually felt the warmth of the sun on my face. Heaven.

All four of these planters have been filled with big, fat pansies, as well as the window box planter that I lives on the porch railing. The hanging plants have been put in place. I started to sweep sections of the porch and I hauled all of my pots out of the shed. And – finally – the snow shovels were retired until next winter. We sat on the Funky Patio and watched Mr. and Mrs. Nuthatch fly in and out of the bush. I can’t tell whether they have babies yet or if they’re still in planning mode. Periodically one would fly into the opening of the branch. One of them kept pecking at another section of the branch. Were they getting food for babies? Were they adding to the nest materials? We don’t know. I couldn’t hear any tiny chirps when I got close. But mostly, we tried to stay away and watch from a distance. They fly right by our heads, so they don’t seem to be shy or disturbed by our presence.

Don named them Ozzie and Harriet.

We haven’t seen Henry yet this year and like every year at this time, I worry that he might have passed away. We’ve seen the groundhog that lives next door, but not Henry. Hopefully, this will be temporary and I’ll see him sunning himself on the ramp to the shed. We’ve been calling to him, telling him we miss him.

We had some excitement the other day. I heard a loud sound and voices shouting and I went out on the porch to see what was happening. A large rental truck had somehow crashed and flipped on its side just down the road from us. When I reached the end of our driveway, I saw several people removing cargo from the truck. It didn’t seem as if anyone was hurt and about 8 rescue vehicles arrived shortly after that. The ambulance and fire rescue trucks were the first to leave, and not with sirens wailing, so nobody was hurt. My neighbors all made an appearance on their driveways. After a long winter coupled with social distancing, I got to see everyone, however briefly. There were vehicles out there well into the evening as they had to get the truck onto a trailer and that was a big job.

Today, we’re inside because of the rain. I just may start the Hardy Boys puzzle. I was going to wait for my other puzzles to arrive, but one of them won’t be shipped for another week and the one that has been shipped won’t be here until Thursday. I don’t think I can wait that long.

By the way, to clarify – I didn’t have a full-out panic attack the other day. I felt heightened anxiety, something I’ve begun to experience for the first time in my life this past year. My mom went through a period of having panic attacks. This thing I’m coping with on occasion is unsettling and uncomfortable and I don’t like it, but it’s not nearly what my mom went through. I suppose anxiety and panic attacks take differing forms and everyone’s experience varies.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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