Saturday, November 08, 2008

lazy Saturday afternoon

It's a blustery, snow showery day here in Minnesota. It is also the opening day of deer season; both factors mean it's a good day to stay indoors in front of the wood stove. I have hunted deer here before, but I think if I hunt again it will be with a bow and arrow.

The wind and cold have brought in good numbers of chickadees, goldfinches, and nuthatches (both white and red breasted) to my new temporary feeder setup. The above is the best picture I could manage today; it certainly isn't the nice view that I had with the feeder at the cabin, at least not yet, but I'm glad to see birds. And I am glad to sit in front of a warm wood stove looking out at that view! I was going to finally bring the garbage can with half a fifty pound bag of black sunflower seed to the new house. But when I got to the far side of the cabin I saw that the can was knocked over, and the seed was gone. Deer? Bear? There was a tiny bit of nyjer thistle seed left in that feeder, so I brought it over and hung it in the tree. The Hermit is in town buying more bird seed.

I am still seeing robins in November! These must be the hard core, far north robins. I noticed some of them eating winterberries at the edge of the woods outside my back door.

We finally brought Blue Flame over to be the new house kitty last week. He has settled in nicely and seems to be enjoying his new surroundings. However, he seems to get possessed at times, especially when he walks out on the beams:
(this picture is dying for a clever caption, but I cannot think of one! Ideas?)

I decided if I want to be a musician, I better start acting like one, so my long to-do list is temporarily suspended as I enjoy picking a tune or two in front of the wood stove. Which reminds me...I gotta get back there!

6 comments:

Elise said...

"Ha ha ha, I love the new house, this is the perfect spot to keep an eye on you humans"
Funny how at the beginning of this post you talk about how the cold weather has brought the birds to the bird feeders. My 9th grade daughter is doing a science experiment feeding birds to see if the color of the feeder makes any difference to the birds. Her teacher, who obviously doesn't feed birds, said "but its winter and the birds will migrate and you won't get any at your feeders". Fortunately, I have fed birds for years and after going through more than one 50 lb bag per winter I can assure her that they will get plenty of birds! I was happy that they chose this experiment, I think its a very good idea.

Jayne said...

Robins still? Wow, that's interesting. The wood stove scene sounds lovely. I can just faintly hear the music... :c)

R.Powers said...

First day of general gun season here too, so I stayed out of the woods.

I'm seeing a big upturn in hawks and kingfishers on powerlines along the roads as the migrants arrive!

Anonymous said...

Caption: "Anything else you need dusted?"

Somehow I'm terrified and enthralled by the idea of you as a bow hunter.

RuthieJ said...

Bowhunting is the best--I think you would enjoy the quiet time in the woods, Deb.

I had a robin in my backyard yesterday too--he finally found his way to the crabapple tree that's still holding on to lots of fruit and was sharing the tree with Cedar Waxwings the last time I checked.

Deb said...

Elise- I can't believe a science teacher does not know that some birds stick around for the winter! Good project!

Jayne- No robins yet today (Tuesday); I think the cold front may have finally pushed them south.

FC- Out of the woods is a good place to be when the city hunters arrive.

Pablo- The cat does resemble a big fluffy Swiffer, doesn't he?

RuthieJ- Maybe next year on the bowhunting. I would have some good mentors where I work.

I forgot to mention, I also saw a flock of cedar waxwings sitting above the winterberries!