March 1st, Need Bird ID

This is the best shot I could get of these birds that arrived this morning. It wasn't quite daylight and had to take the picture from inside the house. If someone knows what they are, please let me know. Funny, I've been getting birds here in the garden lately that I haven't seen here before. There is red under the tail near the rump and yellow on tip of tail.

Update on the Starlings....I had been getting three Starlings at the feeders for about a week and a half, yesterday, around lunch time I looked outside and my jaw dropped, tons of Starlings all over the place. It will be interesting to see if they all come back again.

Feb. 26th. Spring like day.

Another spring like day though still tons of snow around but it's days like this that gives you renewed hope that winter will soon be over. I keep hauling my packages of seeds out gazing wistfully at them and my head swirls with thoughts of all I want to do once the ground shows up.

Some pictures I took this morning. Unfortunately, I'm not getting much further afield than the garden these days. I just don't feel like going somewhere, trudging through all the snow about to see what I can find. A friend, Nic, told me to try making my pictures larger, like 900, so that is what I have done with these and I'm pleased. Thanks Nic, you have been so helpful. There is the squirrel, just can't resist him. A Blue Jay, funny I was wondering why they had been so scared of me most of the winter and think I now know why....most of the year when in the garden I have a scarf on my head (pirate like, lol) but I have been wearing a big old winter hat and I don't think they recognized me. Normally I can get quite close to them. So today I was back to normal and put a scarf on once again. The jays didn't fly away so I guess they are saying, "There she is, she's back." The picture of all the little birds on the feeder are, I believe, Pine Siskins.

More Snow.....Sigh....

Pictures of Roger shoveling today and chair on front porch. It's still coming down but not as bad as the city. I got a phone call from my parents this morning, who live in the city, the snow is up to their roof, they can't see out of any of the windows, they opened the front door and there is just a wall of snow. There is no way they can get out if there is an emergency. Dad said he was awake all night worrying about it all. Hopefully, the snow clearing people in the complex will get to them before too long.

Yay, the Starlings returned again yesterday, must be the same three coming. This morning there must have been a hundred Juncos at and around the feeders. Not much else as yet, it's quite blustery.

The plumber I was expecting yesterday arrived this morning and put the new taps on the bathroom sink. He's great, he does plumbing, electrical stuff and carpentry. He's fast, reliable and cheap. Can't beat that.

Red Sky

"Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning." Yep, another winter storm expected overnight with high winds. Just when I thought spring was on the way. This past few days temperatures hovering around 0 C, spirits lifted, feeling of spring in the air. All gone now!

After seeing a few Starlings at the feeders two days in a row, I spent the better part of yesterday putting extra suet blocks out, mixing up oatmeal, peanut butter, bread, seed etc. to hang more onion bags filled with the stuff, putting dry cat food and leftovers on the platform feeder, more of everything in fact. All to no avail, didn't see a starling, the crows had a time of it though and I was running back and forth all day replenishing the food on the platform feeder. At one point I thought to myself, I must be mad. Ah well, maybe today.

The seeds I ordered finally arrived. That makes me very excited. Great expectations. So much to do when the snow all disappears. In the meantime, cabin fever has hit, both of us having moments of great agitation. Always happens around this time of year. Got to go out now and help himself put a tarpaulin over the load of wood that we had delivered yesterday and is in the driveway. Won't get it up and stacked today.

Feb 21st. Starlings

Whoo Hoo! I've had Starlings two days in a row. Took these through a dusty kitchen window, so not that great. I am so excited.

Feb. 20th, new visitors

I looked out the window on Saturday and saw what I thought were Evening Grosbeaks on the platform feeder. Then thought to myself, no they are far too small, a bit smaller than the little Juncos. Got the binoculars and had a good look. No, not Grosbeaks. I had to take photos from the doorway as I didn't want to startle them. Then, I got out my bird books and the only bird I could find that looked like them were American Goldcrests. Then looking a the map of their range, they weren't suppose to be here.

Only one thing for it and that was to google them to see if indeed that's what they were. I didn't have much luck with that but did come across a birder/blogger in Ireland. So said to myself, ah hell, why not, and wrote him an email with pictures attached. He was kind enough to email me back saying, yes, indeed they were American Goldcrest. It's so exciting to see a new kind of bird.

Got up this morning and saw that about a foot of new snow had fallen overnight. I had to make my way to the hens and dig out around the door of their attached greenhouse so I could get it opened, then get on the ladder to push the heavy snow off the roof of said house. Then make my way the the feeders to get the snow off those as the Juncos had already arrived and were looking for food. That done, I came in full of snow and soaking wet. Now, there is a blizzard warning on for today and none of the schools are opening. Damnable winter!

Now, I go in the bathroom to get washed, look in the mirror, OH NO! spots all over my face. My first reaction.....chicken pox....hang on now, I've had that. Then, remembered that last night before going to bed I had used a new facial cleanser and night cream. I must have had an allergic reaction to one of it. Ah well, such is life!

Can't help but love him.

Who could resist this sweet face.

For Pete.

Told you I'd do it! Still had about a foot more to dig down but snow was hard. Threw Roger in and took the picture. lol! If I had dug all the way to the ground, it would have been up over his knees.

Woodie at feeder

Not much action in the garden yesterday although it was a lovely sunny day. I did get lots of pictures of this charming little fellow.

Happy Valentines Day

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL MY FRIENDS!

Tues. A Winnie the Pooh, blustery day.

Yesterday was a bright and sunny day though very cold with a wind. I took a few pictures of some Evening Grosbeaks that had arrived but all were worthless except these two. A bit blurry, but I'm going to blame it on my frozen hands. lol. So today we get up and decide to go to Gander, an hours drive away. I needed to get a birthday present for a friend and also wanted to check out CD Burners. Mainly so I could take off some of my pictures to send my parents so they could view them on their TV. Not having a clue about these things and knowing my brother does this, I phoned my dad and asked him if the disks my brother sends him are CDs or DVDs, as I needed to know what kind of burner I should get. He got all in a state saying they were DVDs as you could only put music on CDs. I had absolutely no luck in trying to explain to him that you could also put pictures on CDs. As he was getting very agitated, and I was worried about his blood pressure, I said ok, thanks for the help, goodbye. Hmmm! The best thing to do was to call my brother in the states. He says to get a CD burner and said there may be one already in your computer, have a look. Well, I said there's a drawer that comes out! Being the jokester he is, he says what have you got one of those computers that you have to wind up to get started. lol, we eventually got it all sorted out, hence the trip today.

It was a beautiful morning and the sun was just coming up as we reached the highway. I only wish I had taken the camera as the sky had such lovely colours in it. We go in one of the big department stores and when we were going through the check out, Rogers says, oh, oh, there's a blizzard going on outside. And there was! Had to go to a few more shops then we started out for home. The highway was getting a bit slippery and snow was blowing all over the road. Problem is you always have to keep checking the side of the road to keep an eye out for moose. They can jump up from the ditch and end up right in front of the car. Consequently, goodbye car and more than likely moose and yourself. They are such huge creatures. It was a bit stressful to say the least. We finally arrived back home safe and sound.

Haven't taken the CD burner out of the bag yet. Don't know what to do with it really....sigh....guess I will have to find someone who can put it in the machine.

Sunday, Feb. 11th.

Once again trying to get pictures of Crows or Ravens through the kitchen window. Failed miserably. Never the less, as they are my favorite birds, I'm posting these two pictures.

Friday, Feb. 9th. 2007

First thing yesterday morning I got the hammer and nails out. All because of CATS. Now, anyone who has had a cat or cats knows full well that they are not always the little darlings we like to think they are. The carpeting on the steps going from the living room to the kitchen and the guest room had been turned into long shredded strings by claws. I had picked up some new carpeting, so figured this was the day to do it. Hauled off the old stuff and proceeded to lay down the new lot. The group of four were looking on with curiosity as they are apt to do. I said "The first one who puts a claw into this is out the door." No reaction! After much pounding of nails and a few curse words the job was finished. I no sooner turned around, when Roger shouted, "Hey, the cat is scratching at the carpeting, they like this one better as it's stiffer." I yelled at the cat to stop and I might as well have been talking to the wall. Yep, they love this one, they can get a better grip on it. ...Sigh..! Maybe it will last a bit longer than the last lot.

This morning I'm waiting for the plumber. The bathtub taps are leaking. We thought we could fix it ourselves so got what we needed at the hardware store. So Roger, bless him, who is quite useless when it comes to this stuff, took everything apart and put on the new apparatus. Taps are still leaking so only one thing for it.....call in the plumber. I'm just hoping it's not something more serious that will entail hauling the wall down. Below....pics of new carpeting with Freya pretending she's not interested, lol.

Tues. Feb. 6th. 2007

Bloody cold this morning, -l8C. Not only that but woke up at 4:30 am and the power was out. That meant that the light in the chicken house that gives the heat was out as well. I nearly got sick to my stomach with the worry about them. Sometimes I wonder why I got them but then figure it's better than the fate that was in store for the creatures. As soon as light cracked the sky I bundled up and went out to check on them. They were fine, thank goodness, tough little buggers. Hopefully one day soon the days will warm up some. They finally got the power back on at 8:30am. The whole peninsula had lost their electricity. I often think of people with electric heat at these times, must get very cold in their houses. Lovely sunny day and I have been checking outside for birds with camera at the ready. I'll never get any housework done at this rate! The picture is of a little male Downy Woodpecker, taken yesterday.

February, Blue Jays

Got a couple of Blue Jays this morning. Not many around lately. I had to lighten the second picture as it was too dark so not as sharp as it probably should be. And, I might add, thanks to Nic, I remembered to look to see what I could remove and I cropped it. Lol, still learning.

Pictures on a cold morning.

I'm beginning to think that I am going quite mad! Is this what happens when you get a camera and there are birds about. It's a lovely sunny day but very windy and to use a Newfie expression, "The wind is cold enough to take the skin off ya." I've been looking outside when I go past a window and if I see birds in the garden I throw on my heavy clothes, grab the camera and stand in the freezing cold to get a picture. At one point my hands got so cold I could hardly move my fingers. I've been outside so many times now, I'm getting exhausted, lol. Didn't end up with many pictures, I think it's even too cold for the birds.

Dark Eyed Juncos

A picture I took yesterday. Not the best for sure. Lots of these little Juncos around when it's cold weather.

Wytchwood Gardens Slideshow

It's really late and I got curious. I made up this slideshow for Mom---she'll kill me for being in here---This is a test. They are pictures of Mom's flowers over the years . click below
wytchwood Flowers

Note: You must have Flash to view this. To install Flash click here

Monday, January 29th. 2007

My father who lives in the city phones me, with excitement in his voice says:

"We've got Hedgehogs in here."

"WHAT!!!!!!!" I say.

Says he, "HEDGEHOGS....we've got Hedgehogs in here now."

I say, "What on earth are you talking about?"

He says, "There's a pet store that has four and they are selling for $70.00 each."

Now, knowing how much I love the little creatures, I think he figured I would be rushing in to get one, and to be honest, I had a brief moment of thinking the same myself. lol. Of course, me being me, I will be thinking about them for days hoping they get good homes.

On to the health.......I have improved. Still can't do any heavy work but hopefully soon I will be back to normal. We will go to Gander on Wednesday, weather permitting of course, and I will get an x-ray. I expect I will be worried about the results of that until I hear from the doctor.

Another load of snow coming overnight tonight. Went out to fill the feeders this morning and was up to my knees in snow. I notice when bad weather is on the way, piles of Juncos come to the feeders to fill up especially just before dusk. Well, that's about it, not a darn thing happening here. At least nothing very exciting.

January 26th., 2007

In my previous post I said that I hadn't been feeling well for a few days. In fact, I really hadn't gotten back to normal since I had pneumonia several weeks ago. I got to thinking.....although I figured I had a cold coming on, it hadn't progressed, still, I was getting chills, bit of a sore throat, I figured from coughing so much and headaches. Then being exhausted and going to bed at 6:00 pm didn't make sense to me. So, as the weekend was almost upon us and there would be no doctor available I managed to get an appointment yesterday morning. Well, he tells me that I still have pneumonia! I had a suspicion that was the problem. He tells me he is giving me a prescription for heavy duty antibiotics and I have to go get an x-ray next week. I go to the druggist for my pills and she says, "So, the last pills didn't work, well, he has the big guns out now." Took the pills around noon and lay down, I can only think that they knocked me out as I didn't wake up until almost 4:00pm. I managed to stay awake until about 6:15pm then went out like a light again. Thankfully, I am feeling a little better this morning.

Just checked the forecast, now they are saying that it's suppose to get mild the next few days. Whoo hoo can't wait.