Cats watching birds

I created a monster when I first started letting my cats watch YouTube videos of films made just to entertain cats. Now whenever my laptop or iPad is in sight the cats surround me wanting to see the bird videos named, Birds for Cats. Thank goodness the cats are all napping right now.

Bird watching with my cat

The first step in bird watching is location, location, location. Next is to get properly placed and in position by making yourself as comfortable as possible. You never know how long you will have to remain in this position, so a quick bath is sometimes in order.


Make sure that you are properly camouflaged and wear clothing that blends into your surroundings so as not to be spotted easily by the birds. Notice how still Jybow has become...the birds think that she's not paying any attention to them and go on doing what they normally do...sit on the branches above us and send down little wet presents.

She's doing a wonderful job of pretending not to pay any attention to the birds isn't she?

Her approach is working. Here's our first bird and the red arrow is pointing to it. See how close the little birdy is? Jybow's job is to lure the birds close and my job is to take their pictures without causing the hammock to swing too much. We did have a brief moment of fright when the hammock tossed us both out, but we made a quick recovery and bounced right back on.



This is a female yellow finch. She's not too bright....I was able to sneak up behind her to about a foot from her.

Oh my....

she came around and is surprised by my presence and doesn't exactly know what to do. She's thinking, "Should I fly or just pretend I don't see that human standing so close...and why isn't she moving?"
We both stand there frozen and I'm utterly surprised that I could get so close to this little bird without it flying away the moment it saw me. I could have reached out and snatched it up in my hand when it's back was to me and for a moment I thought that this little bird must be sick because it went on eating for a few seconds, but then it flew off to a nearby branch. We looked eye to eye and made a connection. And I think this little bird knew that Jybow and I were of no threat to it at all.

I'm feeling sunny

This week has just been glorious, full of sunshine and flowers blooming. The pink azaelia is doing great this year and although it got bitten by a little frost, it still looks great.
Most of the flowers that are currently blooming are little wildflowers that I find mixed with the grass and are very tiny and low growing. These are often stepped on as we walk through the yard. They grow sparsely and in my younger days I would have dug them up and put them altogether in one place. Now I just wander about the yard admiring these little delicate flowers.
I really love all of these little flowers. Click to enlarge the picture and you can see these little white flowers with a tinged spot of pink on them better. Nature, just on its own is so perfect and beautiful. Back at the creek some wild blue phlox are blooming right now, but I didn't want to get my shoes wet to go over and get a picture of it...although its warm here, it's not that warm.
Here's Callie sitting on a rock in front of creeping phlox that we have planted around our flag pole. Although I didn't think the phlox was going to be as pretty as it was in years past, it has done fine. When it's not in bloom the cats like to lay on its edges and play hide n seek. The real hide n seek games begin when, in the same spot, some taller yellow flowers are in bloom.
Of course the red-headed woodpecker came for his usual visit and one of these days I'll get a crisp & clear picture of him. He's still very shy and hides on the opposite side of the tree if he sees me. But on this day I was being very still sitting across the yard and not very close to the tree.

I'm getting ready to head outside now and just wanted to touch base here. I heard there was an earthquake in our state last night but I didn't feel a thing...of course I was asleep and I once slept through a tornado, and my daughter arrived early to check on me and when I looked outside I couldn't believe the damage that had occurred all around me with trees toppled and broken off like match sticks. I was extremely lucky that night and have blessed everyday since then to have been spared my life. So, I'm not the person anyone should be asking if I felt the earthquake last night....And no one in my family has called to ask either, so I'm assuming that its quakes didn't reach over to this part of the state.

The snow is still falling

How nice to wake up to a world covered in snow...at least here it's covered in snow and everything looks so fresh & white. Of course it's not so good for those early sprouts that had already started peeking up through the ground because we did have a day that was in the 70's sometime this week, followed by mild temps where I went outside in just a t-shirt and jeans...of course I didn't stay out all day dressed like that. I would have had to at least put on a light jacket or some long sleeves.

Last night it sleeted like I've never seen it sleet before. It lasted for hours hitting our windows and a couple of times the oddest thing happened....We heard thunder and saw lightning flashing across the night sky. Our cat Jybow of course ran for cover....and I do mean literally she ran and got under the covers of our bed. She's afraid of loud noises and Jimmy had to go in there and turn off our electric blanket so the cat wouldn't get over-heated while she was hiding.
Ah...beautiful snow! And this time I do hope we get what is forecasted for our area. We've missed all the storms this year and I think it's our turn to get some snow. My brother over on the other side of the state gets all the snow all the time. They get deep snows over there when they get snow and it's just not fair.

You can see (picture above) that one little bird was ready for the snow. Cucoo has had his warm sweatshirt and muffler on for a couple of days in anticipation of this snow. Every time the weatherman even mentioned the possibility of snow, Cucoo would run and get all dressed up in his winter attire. All that purple hair keeps his head warm, so there's no need for a hat.
Jimmy went out first thing this morning, and chopped a hole in the ice so that the critters outside would have water to drink.
He then went and got some ears of corn to take back to the creek for the squirrels. See the corn in his hand? He's trying to get into this little shed to get some black walnuts to put in a tray for the squirrels too, but he had a hard time getting that lock open...it was frozen and he had to light a newspaper on fire to thaw it out.
While Jimmy was feeding the squirrels the birds waited for their food perched in the trees & bushes. They emptied their feeders last night and what was left was frozen solid by this morning. He had to clean & scrape out the frozen seeds before he could give them fresh food.
See those long things hanging by the feeders to the right? Those are called socks and they're filled with thistle seed for the small yellow finches. You can see them better in the pictures below. It rained all day yesterday and by this morning they were frozen solid so we had to bring them inside to thaw them out.

Jimmy swept off the porches and all the walk-ways but they're covered with snow again. It's snowing the biggest, prettiest flakes you could ever imagine.
These last two pictures were taken this week. I was trying to see how close I could get to the birds before they would fly away. I'm now satisfied that I will be able to get some close-up pictures soon by just sitting on a picnic table close by the feeders. The birds are getting used to us and not all of them see us as harmful. My problem is when I sit close by, so do the cats. The cats demand that all my attention be focused on them and as they move around they scare the birds off.
I got so excited about the snow that I forgot to drink my coffee this morning. Jimmy just handed me my cold up of coffee and asked me why I didn't drink it and was there something wrong with it this morning? I told him that his coffee was fine and that I just forgot all about it when I saw the snow. He's now fixing us some sausage & eggs for breakfast while I write this post. He's so sweet. :)

I'm still in my PJ's and when I saw the snow, I slipped on my coat, grabbed my camera, put on some slip on shoes and went outside. I'm sure nobody noticed because nowadays you can't tell if those are pajamas or pants people are wearing. hehehe. Once while Jimmy & I were shopping I called attention to a young lady that was wearing pants that were identical to my pajamas. We could see no difference whatsoever. They were even made of the same material and just looked like leisurely pants.

I hope that you are enjoying your exciting new day as I am.

Gift bags & boxes

Here it is, 17 days after Christmas and we still have a cardboard box and a gift bag, still on the floor left over from Christmas. I wanted to buy the cats each a special Christmas toy, but Jimmy said no, that they already have enough store bought toys that they don't play with as it is. And as much as I hate to admit it...he's right.

Just as soon as the house emptied out after all the Christmas hoopla the cats began jumping in and out of this box and gift bag and having a great time. I'm still waiting for them to get tired of them and go on to something else, but as I walked by them a few moments ago I snapped this picture...so today is still not the day to throw out these items that we have been tripping over on a daily basis.

The cats have managed to tear out the side of the gift bag and make themselves a side opening...probably for a quick escape when one cat blocks the main entrance don't you guess? All three of the cats take their turns hiding and jumping out at each other and it's really quite a show and keeps us amused. I think only cat lovers can probably appreciate and understand how Jimmy & I can be amused over watching the cats play.

I just went into the kitchen to peer out the window to check the outdoor thermometer. It's 50ºF and wet outside. While looking out I saw a large flock of doves foraging for seeds on the ground below the bird feeders. Our bird feeders have been another joy during these wintry gray days. Every type of bird that comes to the feeders now are coming in large flocks and it's a sight to see a flock of bright red Cardinals, especially on that one day that it snowed. They really stood out against the white snow. A couple of times I think I have spotted quail under the feeders. I do know that they live beyond the creek and in the fields behind our house, so it's very likely that they would come up to get the cracked corn and other seeds that fall from the feeders.

We had a 20º drop in temperature in the last couple of days and some very strong wind gusts. On Wednesday some large trees were blown over on our road, but other than the trees falling we didn't see where any of them caused any damage. Last night we had very strong winds & heavy rain that made our driveway look like a raging river and the lightning and thunder caused one of our cats who doesn't mind the rain at all (Jybow) to seek comfort on Jimmy's lap. Usually Jybow heads for a bed and slides up under the bedspread and stays there until she feels it's safe enough to come out again. But last night she wanted Jimmy to hold her as the thunder was extra loud & booming. Jimmy said she was trembling...poor kitty.

Yesterday they delivered more wood to the barn site during the "tornado watch" so Suzanne & I covered it up with more plastic and anchored the plastic down with 6"x 6"scrap pieces of the posts. The new barn structure is still standing today after all that wind last night and that's good. The old barn hasn't fallen yet either and that's another piece of good news because the horses would be injured if that barn fell...it's really in bad shape and hence the reason for the needed new barn.

Megan & Sharon stopped by on their way to church on Wednesday afternoon and we played Phase 10 until it was time for them to leave. We managed to talk Jimmy into playing with us and while playing Sharon came up with an idea for a 'Special Hat' with a large "L" for those to wear when they can't move forward for three hands in a row of play. Can you guess what the "L" would stand for? (Loser). Of course she was just kidding, sort of, but she might introduce her new hat design when her sister plays next with us and keep it hid until her sister fails to move forward for three hands in a row. Then she'll plop that hat right on her sister's head.

I'm still waiting for Brian and his family to come over and play some games with us. It's really lots of fun and sometimes we order pizza. I promise I won't cook! hehehe.

This week in pictures

I'm having a little trouble with the pictures...they keep disappearing, right in front of my eyes. Do you ever wonder where they go? Do they suddenly appear on someone else's blog? I wonder about these things sometimes, but I don't spend too much time on it. Someday someone will find a GIANT cache of pictures and wonder where they came from. Perhaps an alien spaceship is intercepting all of our lost pictures. Maybe that's why they're lost...because when we upload the pictures to blogger, the spaceship's computer quickly downloads them into their picture files, out of curiosity...just to see what us humans are doing down here to amuse ourselves.
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Well...as you can tell by now I don't have very much to say today, so I'll just show you some pictures that I took this week. They're not in any particular order because of my reloading efforts. They might not even be there for you to see by the time I finish writing these words, but I'll just amuse myself and keep on writing and you just pretend that those little tiny x'ed boxes are pictures.
This first picture is of my grandson Zac who dropped in to see us for a quick shower....Yes, I said, "shower." He recently moved into a new apartment and was having water pressure problems so he called his landlord. A super let himself in to repair the shower and broke the shower knob, while Zac was still asleep. When Zac woke up he didn't know that the shower was broken and turned on the water. All seemed fine until Zac went downstairs and noticed water dripping from the ceiling and as clearly as I can understand it, Zac made a mad dash to move and protect his film making equipment, in his office, then he rushed upstairs to see what the problem was. Apparently the water pipes were cracked in the wall and water was spewing everywhere. They turned off the water to the apartment and that meant no shower for Zac and little sister Megan.
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Lucky for me, that meant that I got to see Zac early in the morning and he stayed and visited until noon.


This picture was taken on Sharon's birthday. I'm standing right here in the middle of the picture, just a little out of sight, hehehe. My bike is the red one, just to my left. There are five bikes there, but not all in the picture. That's Zac with Allison sitting on his bike, Sharon , Scott and Jimmy off to the right.
This is one of the other missing bikes. This is Zac's dad, who I was VERY happy to see. Unfortunately because of a recent accident he wasn't able to ride very far...maybe a couple of miles and then he went back to the house. Riding is still much too painful for Garry, but he just has to try it once in a while. Jimmy is the same way and Jimmy's excuse is that it makes him feel better to take a ride when he's sick...even if it's just a short ride.
This is Zac leaving our driveway on his way to work. He had a lunch appointment with some friends in Lexington, Kentucky.

Here's where you can find Jimmy, in the hammock with Jybow, when he's waiting for me to take my shower and get ready to go somewhere. Sometimes they even fall asleep watching birds together. I have two bird feeders in that tree, so the birds have gotten used to Jimmy laying there and they're probably even accustomed to hearing him snore. Now if I could only get Jimmy to stay awake, he could take some great closeup pictures of birds for my blog.
Which one is the real cat? It's really hard to tell unless one of them moves and most of the time it's the cat's "Welcome" sign that moves first.

Today Brandon stopped by to pet Daisy and of course to see his grandma & grandpa Jimmy. We've been trying to think of jobs for Brandon to do around here for us and today we had him paint the car, hehehe. His mom loves ladybugs, so she'll be soooo surprised when she sees her car! Jimmy & I thought that he should practice on her car first and if he did a good job then we would let him help us with mowing the lawn or weeding the flower beds.
For doing such a good job on the car and also for making Daisy happy, I let Brandon get on my computer for a few minutes to watch videos and to get some kind of game codes. This is a picture of Brandon taken last March, but he looks the same in any picture when he's on the computer. Well, I shouldn't say that...he's much taller now. That reminds me...I need to stand him up against the door frame again and mark his height. He's growing like a weed! Is there anything else that grows faster than a weed? I'm thinking that there's a tree that grows faster than a weed, but I can't think of it's name off hand, and I even blogged about it once. Oh well.
Here's one of my favorite bird feeders hanging from our Sycamore tree. If you enlarge the picture you can see two different birds sitting side by side having a friendly chat....or chirp. One is a Kentucky Cardinal and the little bird is a bird that walks down tree trunks head first. Some of you bird watchers may know the birds name. If so, I'd like to know what it is and I'm too lazy to look it up.

See!!!

I told you I was lazy.

Taking It Easy

I jumped out of bed this morning and got ready to go somewhere. I couldn't quite decide which way to ride today and while I was making up my mind, Jimmy said we needed to go to the W-M Supercenter...we were out of food for the cats among other things of necessity. So off we went.

By the time we got home it was after 1:00 p.m. and I was hungry...I hadn't eaten any breakfast so I fixed myself a bowl of cherrios without any sugar. I always eat them that way. And by the time the cat feeders were filled I was no longer in the mood to go anywhere, so we just stayed home and relaxed in the yard. We rode all day yesterday anyway, so staying at home today seemed like a restful thing to do. My muscles could use the rest anyway.

While resting in the yard I took some pictures...I always take pictures and everyone who knows me knows that I carry my camera in my pocket so I won't miss anything...That is, anything that's not moving too fast! The Poppy below opened up this morning and the orange petals don't look quite real. They look like crepe paper to me, don't they? I'd love to have more of these but they don't last long. They bloom and then the plant dies...that sucks.
I took a break and went inside to catch a soap opera which I haven't seen in some time, just to see if anything has happend and of course, not much had changed. I think you can miss them for months and not much changes. Anyway....when I came back outside there was Jimmy, no doubt telling the cats one of his stories. The cats look mesmerized, don't they? It must have been a really interesting story because they all look so relaxed and are smiling, hehehe. I took this picture through the glass of the back door before I stepped outside.

Of course when Jimmy saw me with the camera, he just had to poke at Jybow and as you can see in the picture below, she had something to say about that and didn't like it much. She jumped off the hammock and left. I really think Jimmy didn't want to seem like he was sitting there enjoying the company of the cats so much. But he can't fool anybody...we all know he loves them...Especially Jybow!!

A Cardinal came to eat while I was within camera range. The pictures aren't as crisp & clear as I would like them to be, but with the help of the computer I was able to bring the bird in a little closer.

Here's another picture of the Cardinal.

I even managed to get this picture of a woodpecker. He was very cooperative and let me take several pictures of him. Of course, here again the computer came to my aid in cropping the pictures to bring the woodpecker in for closer viewing. He's getting to be a regular here at the feeders and he doesn't like to stand straight up and eat. One of the feeders is large enough for him to stand right in the feeder and eat in an upright position, but he just won't use that feeder even though it has the same kind of feed in it. The Cardinal above is eating from that feeder and will eat from any of them, no matter what kind of feed are in the feeders...He's not picky.

The woodpecker also likes to sit on top of this feeder. He used to peck around on the Ash tree, but since I hung the feeders up, he doesn't bother the tree anymore. He does go back to the creek and we can hear his loud rapid pecking on the trees back there. My daughter Suzanne is having a problem with a woodpecker. It seems to want to constantly peck on her roof and when it's not pecking there, it's pecking on a piece of metal on the telephone pole.

The woodpecker is hungry again. Jimmy calls them "Peckerwoods." I think that's really funny, but I've heard several other people around here call them Peckerwoods too. That must be some sort of country slang...kinda like the lightning bug and firefly.

I have several pictures that I took on our ride yesterday (Mother's Day) which I'll post some other time. I hope everyone had an enjoyable Mother's Day and that you got to spend it with your children.