Wasn't It A Party........

Easter weekend I decided to go into St. John's, mainly because my parents kept asking when was I coming in for a visit. As my birthday also fell on that weekend I thought it would be a good time to make the trip. I decided to spend a couple of days with my parents and a couple with my daughter. Laurie had planned a party for me on the Saturday night and I was looking forward to that. I went in on Thursday, spent Thursday night with the folks then went to Laurie's on Friday. Friday morning we were just coming down stairs from the studio when the door bell rang and rang and rang. Laurie commented that it must be Grandpa as he always kept pushing on the bell. She went out through the porch to answer the door when I heard laughing, crying, loud voices. Well, this was my Granddaughter, who had flown down from Ontario as a surprise for my birthday. And what a surprise it was, not a soul knew about it. There was lots of hugging, laughing, and crying I can tell you.

The party was great. Best party I've ever had. The kind I like as well where people were all over the house from the studio, the kitchen, dining room, living room, in groups chatting. And people were moving around joining conversations here and there. Lots of food and wine (too much wine) lol. Later in the evening a friend did Rune readings for whoever wanted it. It was great. Sunday we went to dinner at my parents and I spent the night with them coming home Monday morning.

Since then I've been very busy working outside. I re-did the small greenhouse with plastic and had to re-build the bottom door to this structure as the wood had rotted. I've been digging in the gardens and clearing them out. So much to do there. The mornings have been quite nice but nippy with a north east wind. The perennials are just starting to come up from the ground. No leaves on the trees yet.

I had a visitor this past week. A huge Raven, and I mean Huge. He landed on a Spruce branch and bent it quite a way down. It's only the second time I've ever seen one. The crows happened to be out at the feeders at the same time and not liking the new visitor, started attacking him and driving him off. Too bad as I would have really liked a picture.

We still occasionally get a little snow. As proof, this met my eyes one morning recently. My new fire pit that I had only just put together the day before, was white. Mind you the snow didn't stay for long. Just a brush of it really.


More birds are starting to come around now. I wasn't getting many there for a while so figure they must have been up to other things.

Male and female Downy Woodpecker. The male was quite interested in the little lady.


The Fox Sparrows are back. A sure sign of spring for me.


A couple of other spring visitors.


Well, time to get ready and put new screen in the screen door.

Weekend bits and bobs.

Yesterday afternoon I lay back on the couch for a read and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep only to be awakened by himself with an excited voice telling me to hurry and get my camera as there was a grouse outside. Still half asleep I grabbed the camera, threw on my shoes that were by the door and stumbled outside. It was a big one and fortunately most times you can get quite close.


You can see how well they blend into their surroundings.


When I first went out I didn't notice anything odd about my feet, I daresay because of the excitement, but on the way back to the house I was having difficulty walking. So, on looking down I had a great laugh. I had put on one of my shoes and one of his.


We had a bonfire yesterday morning on the back of the property. We had gathered a good bit of old wood and branches, etc. and as we are still allowed to have a fire (until May 15th), it was a good day. Hardly any wind at all and although it was nippy early in the morning, at least the sun was shinning.



I got a lovely gift from a friend in Ontario on Friday. Anyone who's had a cat or cats knows how true this is.


And lastly, the sun was hitting this Rabbits Foot Fern yesterday so thought it was worth a picture.

A Fine, Fine Day.

Can I just say, or maybe I should shout...IT WAS A GLORIOUS DAY! I was outside quite early this morning having a look around at the bare ground and thinking, now it begins (with a big grin on my face.) So, before I knew it I had shovel in one hand and rake in the other headed for the large perennial herb garden. I raked, I cut back plants, I dug until my body was yelling "Stop". Tonight I'm sitting here well pleased with what I've done today.

Not a lot of birds around but I did get a few pictures.

A wind blown Chick a Dee. Note the wind blown head feathers.


Woodpecker and woodpecker with Boreals.




Can you see me?


I'm hiding.


OOPs, got to keep my balance.

Treats, yay.


And, again this winter the rabbits ate all the tops off my Burning Bush.

Spring, spring...where is Spring?

I'm wondering if spring is ever going to get here. Some days I think okay, it's spring and then like one day last week, we get 25 cm of snow. Today, again, we've had more snow just after some of the ground was showing up once again. I suppose I can't really complain as we've had some lovely mild days in between.

I had planned on going into the city today for a few days as my parents keep asking me when I'm coming in and I also wanted to spend some time with my daughter. After a full day yesterday of "will I or won't I", I finally decided to wait until nearer the end of the month.

There's been little or nothing happening here with me hence the no blogging. I did have a lovely surprise one morning this past week when this little beauty came to visit.

Freddie.



They continued on up the road to visit relatives and as it happened the people had just arrived home with bags of groceries. The bags were laid on an outside table and when no one was looking, Freddie having spied the bags, went over and there were vegetables and other groceries flying every where. lol

I had a unfixed male cat hanging around for a couple of days this past week as well. I don't often get one of these as my cats are all fixed. He was spraying all around which didn't exactly endear me to him however, he had such lovely markings that I took a couple of pictures.


The Brown Creeper has been here every day and the Boreal Chick a Dees are still here with an increase in population to at least three or four now. These little birds have been here most days as well.


And, this big bird was on the deck the other day, lol.


Well, that's all I have for now. Hope you all have a great day.

Snowy Saturday.

Wednesday, being a lovely day, I decided to cut some branches for our Ostara tree. It was a few days early but it makes me feel like spring is here. I was quite happy with the results and so was himself. Later in the evening we heard a crash.......Oh No! The tree was down, wooden, tin and plastic eggs of all sizes rolling all over the floor. Mini wooden bunnies scattered here and there and five cats banging the eggs back and forth across the living room with their eyes sparkling. How did it come down? The culprit was Malachi! Guess he figured he'd make it a fun evening for the rest of them.

Tree before the crash.


I now have it put up and decorated once again but have changed the spot it's in. Hopefully it won't come crashing down again.

Thursday I made an Irish Soda Bread and it was very much enjoyed by both of us with butter and jam.


This is a funny time of year for me. I'm waiting to get out in the garden and it seems to be taking so long to do so. But then I have to stop and say to myself.....it is only March after all. Never the less, I can't wait to get a shovel in the ground.

Today is a bit of a miserable day. It's been snowing lightly most of the day. The only ones with any sense it seems are the cats. The five of them decided to go to bed, lol.


I noticed this morning that the pussy willows were coming out...a sure sign that Spring isn't far away. So, tomorrow morning we will do some drumming to wake Mother Nature and a small ritual in honor of the Spring Equinox.

Spring??

Well, there are signs of spring. Not only have the woodpeckers been drumming but there is life in some of the plants. ie: this Honeysuckle.


A good bit of ground is showing up now as the snow has been shrinking. We are going to get more snow later today and tonight but it shouldn't last long....I hope!

Laurie had her best friend since Grade 8 visiting from New Brunswick last week and they came out here for a few days. It was lovely to have them both here. It brought back so many memories. Other than that there's not a whole lot going on these days.

Along with the regulars at the feeders, the Brown Creeper is here every day and there's been a lone Redpoll. I don't know where he's come from.

Junco.


The little mischief.


And as you can see, it is now snowing.


If the weather is good tomorrow we are going to the beach to gather some bags of sea weed for the garden. I figure I might as well get a head start on this.

Redpolls??

I had a large flock of these birds this morning. I think they're Redpolls. Lovely little birds.

Stormy weather.

It's a stormy, blustery, snowy day. It's suppose to rain about noon, then turn to snow again. Himself decided to finally take the new camera out of the box this morning. As it came with it's own battery and charger I mentioned that the battery may need charging. I asked to look at the basics manual and it did say that the battery would need charging first. I told this to himself as he was inspecting the camera. I could see he was getting agitated already just holding the camera in his hands. He says between gritted teeth and in as loud a voice as he could muster, "I don't need the battery charged." I say "But..but..you can't operate the camera with out the battery in it." Said he, "I'm not going to operate the camera until I learn all about it." lol, lol, lol, lol, to tell the truth, I had to walk away before I burst out laughing. Sigh! best to leave the dear man alone me thinks.

As I mentioned, it was pretty stormy earlier this morning. Once it was light I noticed a few little Juncos trying to get down through the snow on the platform feeder to find food. Nothing for it but to bundle up and go out with brush and containers of seed. I could hardly stand up at times as the wind was almost blowing me over and with that, snow beating in my face. Anyway I managed to fill feeders and it wasn't long before birds started arriving. Yesterday morning there were six woodpeckers on one tree just outside the bathroom windows. The crows arrived and they were chasing each other doing acrobatics around, over and between the trees. What a sight. They are so competent. Then they had breakfast and left.

The only picture I have today is this one taken this morning of a woodie and the boreal chick a dee.