Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Day Three Hundred Ninety-Two

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Our new tenant is back.

He is very, very busy. It’s been fun to watch him try to get large sticks through that opening. But he does it.

Here he is. He’s a Carolina Wren. As I sit here in my blogging chair in the den, I can see him flying back and forth and I’m utterly charmed by him. He has a lovely call.

I can’t tell you how happy Don and I are that he’s come back and he’s renting the trailer Air B&B. Well, not really renting, as it’s free of charge.

A little blurry, he moves quickly!

I have to finish this post, but I keep getting distracted by photo opportunities. More  photos tomorrow.

He’s such a wee little bird, but he’s determined. I watched him poke his beak at the opening repeatedly to push some nest material inside the hole.

Of course, I can’t go out there until he’s done for the morning.

Today is grocery pickup day. I’ll also be doing some work outside.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

Day Three Hundred Ninety-One

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Running a bit late this morning as we were sitting on the sofa in the living room and I noticed a bird flying back and forth. I thought he was going to the birdbath but then I realized that he was building a nest in this:

Do you remember Don placing this way up high in a niche in the maple? It’s meant to be used for a nest. It was there all last year with no activity, but this year? I think we have potential tenants. I say ‘potential’ because nothing is happening at the moment. Were they scared off by our excited voices inside the house? I took this with my big girl camera but before that I had only my phone and if you look closely at this blurry photo below, you can see the bird either coming in or out of the opening.

I hope they stay!

Still no activity. I can see the little trailer right outside the den window as I write this. I can’t tell exactly what kind of bird it was – there was no time to capture it digitally. Maybe a wren?

Anyway, we got very excited by the prospect of some neighbors. Fingers crossed!

As to numbering the posts, I’m still not sure. We’ll hit our two-week mark on April 14th. But, you’re right, the pandemic continues. On one hand, after 13 years of writing a post every day, I always find it rather a pain to come up with any post title, so the numbering has been a nice break from all of that. On the other hand, I don’t want it to continue for months. I’ll simply wait and see how I feel. Thanks so much for weighing in!

We ended up pruning the burning bush yesterday, which was time consuming and tiring, as it’s quite tall. I started raking out some of the big garden bed and taking loads of debris to the pile by the shed. Today, I’m going to go a little easier and simply pot the pansies. The weather has been glorious – highs of 70 degrees and abundant sunshine.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

 

Day Three Hundred Ninety

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We’re at 390 days. Do I stop titling the blog post by number of days at four hundred? Do I keep on going? I’ve been thinking about that lately and I can’t decide what to do. I don’t know if I want this to go on endlessly. My question this morning…

We went to our local nursery yesterday. There’s very little there as it’s too early in the season to have plants outdoors that might not survive a frost. So far, it looks like we might skate through the next few weeks safely, but you never know. Of course, I knew that there wouldn’t be a lot of stock – I was there specifically for the pansies, which they had in abundance. I also got some more potting soil, a couple of beautiful Italian pots that I knew I had to snag while I had the chance. Don stocked up on some vegetables. Oh, and I bought my seed packets.

Still, there’s so much to be done outside! So much cleaning up. We came back and raked gravel that had been deposited on the lawn by the snowblower back onto the driveway. I cleared the culvert, which was clogged by wet leaves. That was really exhausting, as the opening to the pipe that runs under our driveway was completely blocked and I had to straddle the culvert. The county is supposed to do this – the culverts are their property. But they rarely do. We also started to prune the big burning bush in the garden. It takes both of us because some of the branches are too high for me to reach.

Today, I’m going to rake out one area of the garden bed – where the grasses grow. Better to get the dead grasses out now before the new growth gets too long. And I’m going to plant the pansies in the pots. I didn’t get to that yesterday.

We get tired out and stop. I’m determined to not push myself like I have in years past. I can take my time and I’m going to. I think, counting the trip to the nursery/farmstand, we were doing something outside for just about two and a half hours. Not all that long.

We came inside, took showers, checked each other for ticks, and took it easy for the rest of the day.

I’m thinking it will be soon be time to put the cushions on the glider and move the Adirondack chairs out of the shed and onto the porch. I’ve already moved the chairs and bench back onto the Funky Patio and today I’ll move two more chairs and a little table out to the Secret Garden.

It feels good to be getting some exercise and to be outdoors again.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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