Juncos Have Arrived

Our winter birds, the juncos have arrived!

They may have been around for a while already, but today was the first sign of them I noticed. No, I didn't actually see them, but I did hear them in the bushes along the side of the house.

I wonder why they consider our area a desirable place to spend the winter, after all, I wouldn't consider our winters as mild. Most winters it does get below zero here, and we average about 29" of snow per year, but I guess to a junco that sort of weather is just fine.

We keep them fed throughout the winter, and in return we get to enjoy their cheerful presence in the backyard until they leave our area in the spring and head back up north.

Cicada Noise

The Empty Bench

I enjoy being outdoors around sunset time, sitting on the bench on the deck, though I only do that when the weather is pleasant.

This evening the weather was perfect, so I headed outdoors to spend some time enjoying the transition from daytime to night time. As usual, I looked forward to the nighthawks to come out, one of my many favorite birds.

Cicadas we very loud this evening, and I did try to ignore the noise as I waited the arrival of the nighthawks. It didn't take more than ten minutes before I decided it was just too loud outside, and came back indoors.

A half hour or so later, my ears are still ringing from the cicadas concert. My bench will have to be empty till tomorrow, I have no desire to go back outdoors and listen to the cicadas.

Goodbye Alarm Clock

Goodbye Alarm Clock

 

 

 

 

After about half a year it was obvious my new old fashioned windup alarm clock was not equal in quality to the ones made back in the old days. I accepted the fact that it was off a few minutes every day, nothing terrible about that.

However, it decided it would just stop at random times, and needed a shake to get it going again. I was patient, and gave it a couple weeks to see if it would cure itself. I have given up on it, and now have a replacement alarm clock. I still haven't decided to throw the old alarm clock away or just keep it as a decoration.

The replacement alarm clock is on the right. It is battery operated with a thermometer and automatic night light, though in the picture I pushed the button on the clock to give it the extra boost of light it offers.

I suppose I could have gotten a more expensive and fancier replacement, but this should accomplish what I want an alarm clock to accomplish..

Walking Stick Picture

Walking Stick Picture

19 days after the harvest, and the walking sticks are a tiny bit lighter weight and don't contain as much moisture as the first did. They've been spending their time on the deck, next to the wall in a spot that is shaded almost all day. I brought them into the yard and leaned them against the old apple tree just for this picture.

The weather has not been dry every day, so these sticks have had to put up with rain and humidity on many days. I suppose they would dry quicker in a sheltered location, but I'm retired and in no big hurry.

The peeled walking stick's cracks are getting more obvious, and new cracks are appearing. The bad crack is at the top end, which I planned on removing part of to make it a comfortable length for myself. I'll just have to give it time before I decide whether it is something to work on or something to trash.

I have no idea what variety of wood these are, but they feel and look like they are strong enough to end up as sturdy walking sticks.

New Kitten

Every now and then I may create a post about our cat Daisy. She has been with us since September of 2014, and this is the very first picture of her taken after she joined the family. In this picture she is in her room.

She was "discovered" walking down a sidewalk, and ended up temporarily at the local humane society.

We went looking for a full grown cat at the humane society, and preselected about a half a dozen ones from their websites that sounded nice. However, other folks had already adopted every one of the grown cats we wanted to see.

There were many other adult cats to pick from, however, we decided to wander through the kitten section just for fun. Our plans changed as we admired the kittens, and we selected three we wanted to visit with and perhaps adopt.

We would have to wait a while for our turn to visit the kittens we were interested in, and the worker told us to have a seat on one of the benches for our 15 minute or so wait.

As we sat and waited, we noticed a little white kitten sitting and staring at us intently. After a few minutes of being stared at, we decided to go have a closer look at her. She continued to stare at us as we admired her, and she seemed like such a serious little kitten, much different than the other kittens.

It didn't take us long to decide she was the kitten for us, and when the worker called our name we asked if we could visit with the little white one instead of the ones we had already selected. The worker was agreeable, and soon we were visiting with the little white one.

This kitten wasn't overly demonstrative, but didn't mind being held and seemed unusually well mannered for a kitten. The worker informed us that this kitten was up to date on all her shots, was healthy, and had been neutered. It was nice to have that information.

Soon we were on our way home with our new kitten in a cardboard box.We were all set up at home with a cat sized bed, litter box, and cat food. We were expecting her arrival at home to go smoothly.

However, this kitten had other plans after being confined to a small enclosure for several weeks. She had a lot of energy to burn off, and went more than a little bit berserk once she was home and allowed out of the box.

We began to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into as she tore through the house nonstop, leaping over furniture and refusing to come close to us.

After what seemed the longest time she finally slowed down, had her meal, and was ready for a nap.

She definitely wasn't the mellow little kitten we had expected!

However, as time passed she calmed down, adapted to the rules of the household, and has become mellow.