Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Whoa, Nellie

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Except for snow, we had a bit of everything around here yesterday. The day started out with rain. Thunderstorms were predicted, but the sun came out for several hours and the weather forecast changed to no storms. Then in the late afternoon, the sky darkened and I checked the weather app. Oh. Severe thunderstorm watch. And we got a doozy. Thunder, lightning, torrential rain, and hail. Then the sun came out. And then, at about 10 pm, another thunderstorm.

Whoa, Nellie.

From the day:

I recycled. I weed whacked. I pulled weeds. I ended up mowing the entire front lawn on a very humid day. We don’t live in an area where there are orderly plots of land with orderly grass that grows in an even, orderly way. Nope. We have different kinds of grass, weeds within the grass, buttercups in the grass, etc. So when it starts to get out of hand, it looks uneven and messy. So after all the rain, I was itching to mow the lawn. And I did.

After I took a break and showered, I went outside to take some pictures. I love a freshly mown lawn!

The dead nettle is blooming

As I was taking these pictures, the sky started darkening and that’s when I realized we were under a severe thunderstorm watch – which became a warning.

Back in the house.

After the rain, birds were everywhere, looking for worms.

This female northern flicker was in the corral.

My lonesome dove had clearly been caught in the rain.

And spotted way, way off in the woods:

A baltimore oriole.

This morning, as I was waiting for my coffee, I saw a hummingbird and a bunny rabbit within inches of each other. Alas, no camera.

I’ve seen two young mourning doves resting on the porch railing on two different occasions. Newly fledged, I imagine. And after the storm yesterday, I saw four mourning doves together, looking for food. So I’m surmising that the two young doves are the progeny of the pair of doves that live on the property.

Now, if only my lonesome dove could find a mate. The pair chases him/her away. Breaks my heart.

Happy Thursday.

Potpourri on Thursday

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•  Shot through the kitchen window on a rainy day – here is the bird I wrote about last week. Definitely a thrasher. A pair of them are usually together on the property. The other half had just hopped into the bushes when I took this picture. He has such a lovely tawny brown color and the spots/stripes are striking.

Will the sun ever make an appearance? It’s been so rainy and gray! Thankfully, it isn’t raining today and the sun may emerge (fingers crossed) later this morning.

•  I watched three episodes of Escape to the Country, a BBC series that is airing on Netflix. I only know about it because one of you recommended it. Sigh of happiness! The English countryside is so exquisitely beautiful. For those of you who don’t know of it, it’s rather like House Hunters  here, but done in much more sophisticated and, let’s face it, classy manner. The people that are longing to escape to the country have a list of requirements, the show scouts three houses, and at the end, unlike the American counterpart, we learn which house is their favorite, but we don’t know what they end up choosing. In other words, the house chosen isn’t pre-picked and approved and then presented as a “choice” along with two other homes, but is a genuine possibility. That’s all.

How refreshing! Also missing are the usual American consumer demands of a granite countertop, stainless steel, big walk-in closets, a master suite, a man cave, a she shed, etc. May I say that I intensely dislike the phrases “man cave” and “she shed?” Obviously a marketing ploy. When I hear people using those words all the time, I know that the ploy worked. I’m sure they are also encouraged to use those words by the producers. I’m never big on male vs. female categorizing.

Let me further add that I have never lived in a home with an “en suite.” Never. I get up and walk out into the hall and enter the bathroom. And I’m just fine with that. Cripes, our rental cottage that we lived in when we first moved here had one bathroom. It was downstairs at the back of the cottage. The bedroom was upstairs. Going to the bathroom involved a trek down the stairs, through the living room, dining room and kitchen until I reached the bathroom. Then the same thing all over again as I went back to bed.

Growing up, six of us shared one  bathroom. I wouldn’t know what to do with an en suite.

Anyway, I like this series! Thank you to the reader who suggested it.

•  The crabapple on the other side of the property has begun to bloom. It’s so beautiful. After I made my way over there to get a good shot, I came back in the house and noticed a wood tick on my jeans. I escorted him out of the house and told him to go back to the woods.

The ants are still winning, but I’m fighting the good fight. I will prevail. Thank you for all your suggestions!

•  Don’s in the middle of tech rehearsals, so we have even less time available to talk! He’s doing well. Techs require lots of patience as cues are started and stopped and started again, as lighting and sound and set design and costumes and music cues are tweaked and adjusted.

Since this is a musical based in “Margaritaville” you might well imagine that Don’s costume is very laid back and comfortable. You’d be right. He said it’s the most comfortable costume he’s ever worn.

Happy Thursday.

Working Outside

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Soon. They’re getting bigger and plumper.

I ended up hacking away at the brambles yesterday. There is no way I can take them all on, or even 1/16 of them. And, though they’re a pain, when they bloom they’re gorgeous – because they’re actually wild roses. But they have a tenacious quality that requires trimming them before they take over everything.

I started over by the now dead shag hickory where the crabapple I discovered two years ago is about to bloom. Thinking in practical blogger terms, I knew I couldn’t get close to it to take a picture unless I pruned a lot of the brambles. So I did.

Then I moseyed over to the other crabapple that I discovered a couple of days ago and decided to hack through that to clear a path to the tree. There was already the beginning of one, it just needed my pruners, as those pesky branches were trying to reach across the opening and block my access.

Two hours later, I was exhausted and there’s still a pile of cut branches that I need to move.

Another day. As today is rainy, so I have the perfect excuse to ignore them.

I tried to take a picture but it’s hard to see the tree among all the other trees.

It’s clear there was a rock boundary along the area where the path begins. You can’t see it here, but it’s there. So I’m going to try to keep pruning this area so it doesn’t get more out of control than it already is. I remember when we first moved in our neighbor told us that the previous owner tried to keep the brambles under control to no avail.

I hear you, former owner.

I took my second shower of the day after this adventure and treated myself to homemade “cloud biscuits” for dinner.

Any day now, the leaves on the maples will be providing beautiful shade. I can’t wait until there are green canopies everywhere.

Barnaby – side view. Equally adorable.

Several people have suggested making the bunny egg cozies and selling them on Etsy. Here’s why I’m not doing that: first, it’s a pattern that was created by another blogger, which she sells on Ravelry. Though I purchased it, of course, I don’t feel right about selling a creation that I am able to knit only because of her wonderful idea. The scarves that I sold were from a pattern that was all over the internet, sort of in the general domain, with no one credited specifically with the design. So I felt that was okay.

And, the last time I made a slew of scarves to sell on Etsy, I had a holiday deadline and I made so many of them that my right wrist suffered. It’s much better now, but I have to be careful how long I hand quilt or knit or crochet. Too much of any one of them is not good.

So…no selling on Etsy. But thank you for the compliment of wanting one! I really appreciate that.

If you ever get any bounce back emails saying your comment wasn’t accepted (I don’t know if you get them, but I do, both when I leave a comment on another blog or when I receive emails about your comments on this blog) ignore them. The comment always goes through. It has to do with AOL, in my case, not always ‘accepting’ those notifications. I called my host about it yesterday and they said if that happens, they just ping the comment again and it goes through. In fact, in every case where I receive an email saying something wasn’t ‘accepted,’ I get another email at the same time saying it was. I’ve noticed this phenomenon for some time when I leave comments on Blogger blogs. Same thing. It says my comment wasn’t accepted, even though I can see it right there on the blog post!

Hope that made sense.

Happy Friday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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