Today...October 20, 2011

Cold, drizzly, windy, dark...that would describe today. I was up before the birds, because I heard the trash collector and knew that our garbage can would be rolling down the road if I didn't get it in. Joe's old winter Bulls jacket was on the hook, so I put it on and rushed out the door. Sure enough, our can was beginning to roll. The paper was in the mailbox, so I got that and retrieved the can and came back, shivering, to the house. I decided to fill the feeders early, so those pesky little creatures wouldn't be hanging on my screen looking to me for a meal. Having the feeder right next to the computer room window, is wonderful for watching birds and their habits up close...but looking at them with an empty feeder is more than I can bear. I've noticed that the sparrows are here first in the morning. Then the rest of the birds come slowly...Cardinals, Jays, Nuthatches, Chickadees and so on. The last birds to feed are the Titmice and the Cardinal. Yesterday the female Cardinal was here after dusk. I saw my first Junco yesterday. Does this mean that winter is coming early? Joe also saw a hawk. He teased that the hawk probably got my little chipmunk friend. He hurried to the window with the camera, but the hawk was gone. I rushed in and the hawk was in our Ash tree. He wasn't eating anything...just patrolling our yard for food. The birds were suddenly gone and didn't return for about 20 min.

Our trees in the yard are almost bare. The wood's trees are hanging on to their leaves, however. It won't be long before a windy day comes.... and these trees are ready to drop their leaves....and it will look like falling snow back there. The leaves will come down constantly...all day long. The woods will be covered in their own "down comforter" I must get out and scatter some wildflower seeds today, before that happens. Those tiny seeds will be under the "comforter" embedding themselves into the soil and just sleeping until spring wakes them up. It's always a surprise what comes up. I feel that there are many weed seeds in these mixtures, but the flowers that do come from the mix are worth a few weeds. I get my mixture from American Meadows. They come in a muslin pouch...too cute to open, I sometimes think. I just go back and drop them where I want them. I take a rake along and just rake the soil a bit to loosen it. In the spring I have to be careful when cleaning up. One year I pulled up some plants that I thought were weeds. Later some of the ones that I missed...bloomed. Oh, how I wished that I had just been patient and left them alone. My daughter had a nursery come out and plant some of her wild areas at her home in Wisconsin. They told her to just leave it for a couple of years...she has so much more patience that her Mom. She has left it alone and we think that this next spring she will have many, many, wildflowers. We have identified some, but there will be some surprises too.

I ordered an art book about botanicals. I love the paintings with just a simple flower and a watercolor background. I've been thinking about making up some backgrounds and putting something from this book in the painting. Something to work on this winter. Those storm windows are waiting for Joe to take the loose putty out. Then I can redo the putty and start painting the windows. This is going to be quite a project...I have three to do. Kelly, my friend across the street, had them and gave me three. I told her that I would do one for her and she could expect it by Christmas. Let's see...Christmas is not far off...I'd better get busy.

Well, that's about it for today. We are going to Joe's grandson's wedding on Sat. I did the wedding sampler for them that is pictured above. We gave them their big gift already, but this is an extra that I wanted to do. The picture doesn't show up too well and I left the flash on for more light. I don't think they read my blog...and certainly won't in the next two days.

Have a great day...chasing trash cans or whatever.

Balisha :)