Birds of a Feather.........

Today is bitter cold and a new dusting of snow. The squirrels came in a herd it seems. Spent a lot of time waving stuff out the windows and chasing them away so the birds could feed.
Mr and Mrs C came in and a couple of Blue Jays but mostly the Chickadees. The squirrels kept most away. I am going to have to do something about that. Get something to scare them. I wonder what they do not like in the way of noise. Hmmmmmmm.
Well I did manage a few pictures. So here are a few for today. The dried up Hydrangea still looks beautiful








A few seeds left for birds.




Here she is, a bit worried about the squirrels and plotting their demise.



Plotting from a different angle...........


The Blue Jay got in after I scrammed the squirrels






So here is Mr C who came looking for Mrs



The same birds come every day. Some days I am lucky to see someone different. The squirrels have passed the news and I think every one of them within a block or two come to check out the feeders. When I scram them they run in all directions along the wires and over tree tops. They are soon back though.

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Linking with Our world Tuesday....and to the hosts Happy new year.

Sugar Plums...........

My garden is not cooperating so to heck with it.......we will talk about Sugar Plums seeing as I already did my other two blogs today.
Have you ever really wondered what they are. Sugar Plums? Well.......I am about to tell you. In a way they do belong here because it is, in a round about way to do with fruit. Dried fruit to be exact.



In our day and age we know more about the sugar plum fairy......



We read about them every Christmas......"The children were tucked all safe in their beds while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads"



Meanwhile what are sugar plums then?





So now you know. Dried fruits and other goodies, that back in the very ancient past were readily available as they are now.....I think I might make these next year.




sharing this with How sweet the sound and Pink Saturday.


Also sharing with Alderberry Hill at Make the scene Monday...........thank you for the party Sarah.


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Nothing going on in the garden.......nothing.
Mr Cardinal was in today. It was so cold outside. I just didn't get out there, nothing to see or do. I yelled out the window a couple of times at the squirrels. Why the hell arent they hibernating?



Sorry this is boring. I am boring myself. They are cute though. No one special stopped by.




The poodles lay on the heating pad and slept. Yawn!!!!!



Maybe I will move on to other news.............another post
Linking with Our World Tuesday.

Stormy Bird friends..............

We cleared off the feeders and had a lot of activity today, The Cardinals must have stuffed themselves yesterday, either that or I just missed them. The Tufted Titmouse came back. One of my favourites he is soooooo cute.



The woodpecker decided to spend some time actually working on the tree, probably just waiting for a turn. His head is blurry because it was jackhammering on the tree




The usual visitors, the Chickadees come in families. They are so small I worry about them. Their feathers are fluffed but I bet they really have to huddle to keep warm. I wish they could come inside for the winter. I would take care of all of them.



The House finches flocked in today.





They are male and female and some are yellow.


Some are shy and some are bold



Here is the bad kid



There were 7 here yesterday. They love the walnuts

linking with Our world Tuesday

Mr Cardinal......

Mr Cardinal came today and it was snowing. He sure shows up nice against the snow. We are supposed to get a real winter storm tonight through tomorrow. We shall see what happens. Meanwhile I put out a lot of food, but the squirrels are still out eating their hearts out instead of sleeping. Darn things. Well, they are cute but...........I want bird pictures and I missed the Tufted Titmouse this morning.


The other pretty visitor today



The Red Bellied Woodpecker. No idea why its called that? I do not see a red belly only a red head. He is becoming a regular visitor. There were two small woodpeckers this morning but I didn't get pictures because the dogs were outside at the time.

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I have missed joining up with Mosaic Monday so I am glad to be back.

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A Few Birds.................

Not much is happening outside. The snow has about gone. Its been raining the last couple of days. I have been filling the bird feeders constantly but the darn squirrels have been raiding them. I put out a load of old walnuts and they have loved them. These are a few birds I saw today. The Cardinals are so bright that they are hard to miss.



He was sitting in the tree for quite awhile. The next time I looked he was at the feeder since the squirrel had left.


His Mrs was in the bush and on the ground. She didn't seem to want to come to the feeder.



The Mourning Doves are always around somewhere and hard to spot when on the ground. They blend in really well.



If I had gone outside I could have got some pictures of the pansies that are still blooming and there are still a few mums out there. Nothing great to take pictures of though.

Harvest Mice

Harvest Mice

Christmas Cactus and things...............

I had a Christmas cactus for many years. It got so old and straggly it was woody. I eventually got rid of the poor old thing. I do have a small one now and will probably buy another. The ones I have had before have bloomed at Christmas and also at Easter.
This one is a hot pink.


I will try to do a drawing of one of these, I love the flowers they are so exotic.


Such a pretty thing.


The African violets bloom non stop all year. The secret is to find a spot they will enjoy. These ones have found their nitch.


They seem to take turns blooming. This one is the pale pink and there is a burgundy and two tone and a violet one in the basket. Someone bought me them when Buttons died. So I have tried hard to keep them going.


I brought these little succulents inside in the hope of getting them through the winter. So far they seem to be doing well enough


I did bring in a bunch of Geraniums.They are straggly but I will work with them this time. I somehow lost touch with them the last time I brought some inside for the winter.



It would be nice if they thrived that way I would have some nice starts next Spring

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Thank you..................

Fairydust.....

Brrrrrrr............

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. We have it now and I am not sure that it's going to leave for awhile. I suppose I should just enjoy a White Christmas? It's just such a pain to drive in.
I went outside to see if I could get any good pictures but really........nothing.
The birds feeders had hats on.


The front garden didn't yield anything spectacular either.



So I came inside and was working on some turkey stew. The left over turkey from Thanksgiving usually ends in a stew and it is always so good. I needed the room in the freezer so.........two cartons of Chicken broth. Salt and some onion/garlic salt, some left over soup from yesterday (Bean and bacon) and a large can of chunky mixed vegetables.I also put in two cans of butter beans, I love butter beans. I added some frozen beans that had just a few left in the packet and some frozen peas. I also threw in a can of corn..............I let that cook all day.



By the time it was ready I just had to add a little more salt and it was good to go. Left over crusty bread and yummy creamy butter. It made a great meal for a cold day and enough left for tomorrow