A Spot of Color

There has been quite a bit of singing in the backyard lately. I swear I have heard the call of a robin but it's way, way too early for them. I have the usual chickadees. Their call is so fun; chicka-dee-dee-dee.

The usual call in the winter is from this bird.

There have always been at least one nesting pair in my yard. I used to think I recognized them, but I can't say that I do anymore. I know one pair uses the birdbath when it's liquid because I see the female at it.

This guy is really red and provides a smile in the dull of a gray February day.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Fly Away!

I saw this guy in the driveway this morning as I headed to work.

Doesn't look like much but that's a robin, a quite fat robin, at that.

It's the middle of November. I don't remember robins hanging around that long, although I'm sure it's just because I don't remember. He was attempting to drink out of an ice-covered puddle in the drive. The bird bath had a sheen of ice on it. The flowers I left out have been frost killed. I need to put the last deck chair away. And there is a robin still flitting about my yard.

The cardinals have become more active lately. There are two pair that call my yard home. With the change of seasons and the change of birds in the yard, they have become the noisy ones. I anticipate hearing the chickadees soon, too. And then I think, I really need to get a bird feeder up, when I know the seasons by the bird songs in the backyard.

Beverage:  Rooibos tea

Deb

Albino?

It's hard to tell the species with a cell phone photo.

This bird has been in the back yard for the last two weeks. I first saw it the first weekend in October. My cell phone was dead then or I'd have tried to get a photo because it was just outside the back door. This past weekend, it was taking a bath in one of the puddles in the driveway. When I got my phone and went to photograph it, it had flown to the tree beyond the Jeep. This is the best I could get.

It has the size and shape of a robin but it's black and white. It's not big enough to be a pigeon. It's possible it could be an albino cardinal, as it's close to cardinal size. I don't know much about albinism other than it's the absence of pigment, but I thought the animal would be solid white and this bird is not. It has patches of black on it. It's not anything I've ever seen before so I'm quite curious. I have only seen it on weekends, but then, I'm not home during the day during the week so it could be all over my yard during the day.

It's times like this that I wish I had a better camera. Oh well the cell phone takes acceptable photos.

Beverage: Rooibos tea

Deb

Watching

One thing I noticed on Saturday as I sat on the deck. The birds were not out singing in the yard until around 10. I thought this unusual but perhaps I've not paid as much attention to the sounds in the yard as I should. There used to be a robin, perhaps I've talked about him before, who would sing at the crack of dawn outside my bedroom window. Robins are loud, particularly at 5:15 a.m. when you're trying to sleep. I have not heard that robin this year but then, the windows have been closed to keep the air conditioned air inside. He might still be singing but I'll not hear him.

I like to just listen to the outdoors which is why I noticed the absence of bird calls. The cicadas are out in full force and I think, like a lot of things, that's early this year. That was the predominant noise from 8:30 to 11, when I went inside. The birds didn't make an appearance until around 10. It started with a couple of cardinals calling across the yard. I'm not sure where the other male was but I could hear him. I like hearing the call of the one in my trees and then the response of the other one trying to make inroads into territory by calling. I'm not sure how they decide which one of them has won a "sing off". This went on for an hour. Then the chickadees showed up.

There were 3 of them. At first, I thought they were "yelling" at one of the cats. It was how I knew where my other cats who were allowed to go outside at will, were within the yard. You just had to listen for the chickadees. I realized, however, there was not a cat outside. So what were they "chick-a-dee-dee-deeing" at. Looking up at the birds hopping around in the tree off the deck, I realized one of them was female. AHA! It was comical to watch the males hopping around, trying to impress her with song and agility. Eventually, they spotted me watching them and they all took off for the trees at the back of the yard.

I've noticed a distinct lack of grackles this year. I'm not complaining. They are very messy birds and intimidating to smaller ones. The lack of them means the chickadees and finches and sparrows have a more pleasant environment. In spite of the messy robins, the bird bath is cleaner because there are no grackles. There are a couple of cardinals and several chickadees who use the bath. They are too fast for me to photograph, however.

Perhaps the absence of song is a relation to the heat. It must be hard to forage for food and sing when it's hot and humid. I hope my keeping the bird bath clean keeps native birds in the yard.

And about the photo at the top. There's a cardinal in the bushes. A spot of red in a sea of green.

Beverage:  Darjeeling tea

Deb

Morning Song

The past few days, as I've been heading out the door for work, I've been serenaded by the following.

It reminds me spring is coming.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Oh Darn!

I was supposed to go to Iowa today to attend niece Amber's graduation from high school, Dubuque Senior High, to be exact. But, on Friday, when my mom called to explain the events of Sunday, the first thing out of her mouth when I answered the phone was, "Gad you sound awful." This is a running theme now for two weeks and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. My other niece, Christina, is pregnant with her second child and although the doctor says I'm not contagious, who really knows. I seemed to be better, except for my voice, on Saturday. But when I went to bed, I spent a good hour coughing. I simply could not lie back and get to sleep without a huge coughing fit. April has pointed out that laryngitis and the coughing I've been doing are very bad for my voice. The coughing fit sealed my decision.

I called mom this morning and, although she's sad because my sister and brothers would be at the house with Amber for dinner tonight and it would be nice to have everyone in one place at one time, I'm making the best decision. It's a good 4.5 hour drive to Iowa, too. The day is simply gorgeous, beyond pleasant, and I would have loved the drive. Take the windows off the Jeep and just enjoy. I would have shown up tired and who knows what being run down could lead to, in addition to possibly giving everyone else what I still may have.

Carole called last night and she's better than me, but still not 100%. Her doctor told her it was a combo of cold and allergies, but she just wonders since her, Chad and I have the same symptoms.

OH DARN--Can't go to Iowa.

OH DARN--Carole's still sick, too, with whatever this is.

Well, it's a simply marvelous day so let's see what we can get done. I decided to tackle a long dormant project, darning socks. So, I amassed my socks, my thread, my scissors, my tea (Blackberry Sage) and my lunch, which consisted of cut strawberries and sat down on the deck to work.

There are 15 pair in that stack. "But Deb, wouldn't it be just as quick to buy new?" Well, yes it would and Carole gave me three lovely pair for Mother's Day. I wouldn't have to spend any time fixing heels or toe holes. But there's still so much life left in these socks that to chuck them, even to give them away to whatever Veteran's group calls next for donations, just doesn't seem right to me. Besides, I'm being green. :D

Now, dear reader, you need to know that I really don't know how to actually "darn". It was a skill my mother was always going to teach me because she darned socks all the time in the 1960's. I remember her sitting on the sofa watching Ed Sullivan with socks to darn.

Essentially, I sew shut the holes in the heels and toes. These are my Chicago socks. I have socks from San Francisco and Seattle, too. My way of fixing them has held me in good stead all these years. So, I sat on my deck drinking tea, eating strawberries and sewing socks.

OH DARN--pseudo-darning at its best!

Rascal came up on the deck at one point just to say, "Hi" and to sit by me for awhile. She was accompanied by...

It's kind of blurry, but you try asking a mad cardinal to stand still. I think he was just yelling at Rascal because Rascal got too close to some nest somewhere. I don't know where it is and I'm certain Rascal wasn't going after any cardinals. Rabbits yes. Cardinals no. Still, it was very humorous to be sitting on the deck scratching ears and hearing the angry chirp of a male cardinal in the trees.

OH DARN--mad cardinal yelling at the cat.

So, now I sit updating my blog and it would appear I sunburned my legs. They are slightly pink. I'll have to lotion them up in a bit. First real outside of the spring/summer/fall season, too. Oh well.

OH DARN--minor sunburn.

Tomorrow, I will go to the doctor and find out why I still don't have a voice and what can be done about this wracking cough. I was taking the day off anyway to come back from Iowa at a more leisurely pace. This will work out for the best.

Beverage: Blackberry Sage tea

Deb