Watch It Birds!

The girl is on the watch!

Luckily she's stuck inside. For now. She been out a few times, but this girls prey drive is so high I'm sure she won't be allowed to possibly hunt song birds at the feeders. That's just cruel. You should have seen her chase down the fire fly that got in last night. See that pillow? I originally stuck it in the window to keep her off the screen. I don't know when she made it into a settee for herself, but hey, she wasn't on the screen so I didn't get to excited.



I didn't even realize I had this on the phone until I was cleaning up some of my sued space on it the other day. I love how Emmitt just raises is head off the bed in the back as she hits the floor. This was in her first week with us and she had just discovered she could walk across the table between are two chairs. Then she missed...



And speaking of Emmitt and the cat...  She was just learning about these dogs and only wanted to mess with Emmitt as he's the oldest and calmest, and the smallest of the dogs in the house. This was one of the first times we saw them at it. Since then, she has learned to play with them all. I killed the audio and threw on a song for a sound track from the tune library as I was sick when I took this video and when I watched it today, I could only hear my sniffly sick breathing and that was it. It was a little ridiculous.

So, Sarah... Yes, yes I have talked about the chickens before. Starting here, and here, oh, and here too. Are you just skimming my posts? Trying to say something? To wordy? Just kidding. But yes, we have chickens. We used to have four, but some dogs can't be trusted it seems. Or couldn't then. He's decided he likes being in our good graces more than killing birds. I think he was just trying to get her to poop some more so he could eat it. Yes, think about that before adding chickens to the canine of the house. The Guy was out of town not that long ago and here The Girls were on his lounger letting me know they were missing him. I thought Spike here was just too cute not to snap a picture.

We were worried about them being a bit chilly when they first went outside this spring, but we found them keeping each other warm in the nesting boxes.

What is it guys?

This week unfortunately, the guy found we had a wasp nest forming in the upper part of the coop. Poor guy. Then I discovered while starting to pressure wash the exterior of the house in preparation to paint, that we have some wasps under the fake shutters. Little bastards.

Speaking of bugs, I found these neat golden grasshoppers munching on the sunflowers that have blossomed in the garden beneath the bird feeders. He moved from the good spot before I could get a good picture in the sun. But you get the idea. I know, I like critters. What can I say?

The park we often walk the dogs lost quite a few trees in the thunderstorm that spawned are little tornado. And yes, Michigan can get them. They're fairly rare here. Before last summer Grand Rapids hand't had one in 50+ years. This year, we've had 4 in the area. Lovely. Hopefully we're good for awhile now. Luckily, they've all been fairly weak, except the one that hit Portland. It was fairly small and weak, but it did deliver a good wallop to the town.

As I was wondering through the park I had a moment of, "Wha?" wen I saw this tree here. There wasn't a tree here before.

But there it was.

A tall and fully leafed oak.

Then it dawned on me, It's not a tree, but a part of a tree.

See way up there on the trunk? There's a little jagged piece almost halfway between the two bottom forks. There used to be a branch there. A lovely long branch that's leafy ends were woven in to the rest of the canopy. During the storm, it's base connection to the tree trunk broke and while the leafy ends were caught up and delayed in the fall, the big heavy base tilted downward then fell so hard and heavy straight down that it drove it into the ground. Far enough that I couldn't lift it out. I'm guessing that's why a week later it's leaves are still green. There is no broken end that's exposed to the air letting all the moisture out. Kind of neat, if a bit intimidating. Would have hated to be in the woods during that blow.

Well, summer is definitely here. So Hot. And even the katydids and Cicadas are singing. I will try to get a recording of them again this week. Last weeks was very poor sound quality so I trashed it. I'll try.

Have a good weekend guys. I will try to keep up smaller posts, seems to be working.

And Why Am I thinking About Another?

The beasts are just being pains in the butt this morning. Not listening, being pig headed, and ignoring anything you tell them to do. Then when you get upset, they are keeping their distance and acting like we beat them. Because that helps calm you down when you're already irritated and now they won't respond.

At least they didn't spill the tea I never brewed this morning. They have; however, spilled The Guy's coffee I brewed for him at least twice, being little F$#% Wits. Deep breath, everyone go chill out and think about the next step.

So I'm here finishing up that pattern I told you I may have for the next posting. You can get My Window Onto The Woods by clicking that green name link right there. It's a simple pattern using garter and stockinette stitches to create a "window frame" effect. It's a small lap blanket, or prayer shawl in it's entirety. I made it to replace a shawl that used to be in the living room for cool winter night when you just need something to sit across your legs or shoulders.

So, that's two major projects off the needles. Guess I should return to the Fox Paws pattern, right? Maybe. It's getting near time to ramp up for Tour De'Fleece 2015! Yay!

Until then, I think I should work on some stuff around here today. I should have bought some milk to make bread, but I didn't. Didn't even cross my mind at the store yesterday, but I thought of it this morning. I'm thinking homemade pizza sounds good for dinner though, and for that I need dough for crust, right?

This weeks pictures are a mash of ones I took over the last few weeks that have been sitting on my camera ignored.

Since I haven't taken many this week, which I need to start carrying a camera on the morning dog walk to remedy this.

Many of the birds you will notice have a blur to them, or halo effect on shiny things. That's the window screen playing with the light as it's not the focal point of the pictures.

We've had lot's of bird traffic this week. Caught this shy little Indigo Bunting the other day quick as flitted into the pine from the feeder. Haven't seen him back. Have yet to snag a picture of the Oriole I've seen a few times in the apple tree.

But, speaking of nectar feeders, the Hummingbirds are back in town. First saw one last Monday afternoon zooming around the deck, and soon saw them at the feeders after I put them up.

What can I say, they're favorites.

There's just something about them.

And the always present Robins. It appears that something raided the nest in the yard and we haven't had them return to it. No eggs... That's a shame but Im' not surprised. It's fairly easy to see in it's spot.

Too boot, while planting the window boxes Friday, I startled up a nice big fat Garter Snake. I think, based on the spacing of her size, that she may have been pregnant. Not that I've ever seen Garters in trees, but I know the local Brown's are adept at climbing trees and raiding bird nests for tasty eggs.

Since spring is in full swing, we've quit putting out suet. We just don't want the mess, nor the squirrels and dogs attracted to it. We've still seen and heard the woodpeckers around, but sightings at the feeders are down. The Nut Hatches as usual though, are happy to swoop in for some sunflower seeds.

And the doves. They seem to enjoy hanging around under the feeders for the dropped seeds. They as well as many of the finches are getting braver around us as they realize we are not going to bother them. We even had a little goldfinch sit on the feeder out front while were in and out of the garage several times mere feet from the feeder. He kept eating and keeping an eye on us but didn't budge until he was ready to.

These are from the farm field in the back of us. There's a farm off to the north west of us.

And if I had a pair of shears, a great source of fiber just to our west. Sometimes in the evening the sheep are quite vocal and it's kind of nice to sit out and listen to them.

This week The Guy ordered some more trees. This next spring and summer I hope we have more flowering plants to draw in birds and bees. And Grapes! Let's see if my hopes for grapes are any better in Michigan than they were in Wyoming. Although, the last couple years, I did have a few grapes to eat to myself.

They will be planed inside the fence since the deer are ever present. It appears that a young buck used the magnolia as a scratching post this last year for his itchy antler velvet and the top of the tree is now dead. We'll see how it does, but a new magnolia was in the order. Despite the abundance of grass and lack of tree damage by nibbling deer, it appears we still must take precautions with young trees. That dang nature just insists on running wild. Sometimes like my dogs... wee heathens.