The Start Of Winter

Forget what the calendar says, today was the start of winter. How do I know? Because this morning as I was standing by the window drinking my first cup of coffee a flock of about thirty birds flew into the back yard. The Robins have arrived.

When I lived in New York State we always observed the beginning of spring as the day we saw the first Robin. Well, when I moved to Missouri I learned where the Robins winter. They come to Missouri and today was the day. They were hopping around the yard looking under fallen leaves for worms or bugs and they were flying in groups from the yard to the roof and back again. I don't know why they do that but they spend a lot of time doing it. 

Today a pair of noisy Blue Jays also came to the feeder and discovered the kibble that we had put out for the Woodpeckers.  The Jays, Woodpeckers, Cardinals and Titmice all eat kibble. There were so many today that I had to refill the feeder three times.

 

I also had to refill the platter with seeds for the Chickadees, Doves, Finches, Sparrows and Cardinals.

It was a very busy bird day and my inside birds, Summer and Winter were fascinated watching all the activity.

Possum Party

 We're still putting kibble and other treats out each night for the wild critters that come by.  I turn on the porch light so they know that we're open for business. Then I wait near the kitchen window. I don't usually have to wait long. The opossums tend to come first, sometimes singularly and sometimes together. Occasionally a raccoon, usually Gabby, will join them. After they eat their fill, they leave and the raccoons come to clean up whatever is left over.

Remember this little baby opossum? This photo was taken on September 26, about six weeks ago.

They don't stay little for long. Last night I mixed some mashed sweet potato with the kibble and my critters thought it was pretty tasty. About ten minutes after setting out their meal I had my first customer.

Then about two minutes later she had company.

I was getting ready to walk away when the third member of the group showed up. 

They are big round opossums now, not little skinny babies. I really enjoy watching them, especially when they chase the raccoons. Gaby is the only raccoon that isn't afraid of them. I'm hoping they stick around thru the winter but opossums are nomadic so they could move on at any time.

Then and Now

 Today we were featured on the Zoolatry blog. 

 

We consider June and her Mom to be  dear friends and an important part of our Blogville family. Drop by and meet some of their other friends. 

Last weekend a couple of pics of Syd and Mac together were requested. I looked thru my enormous photo library and there weren't any good recent ones so I called the girls to go outside and pose for some new pics. Instead I got a surprise.

Sydney and Mackey are litter mates and when they came to live with us they were six weeks old. They were inseparable. 

 Then this weekend when I opened the door they ran out in different directions. Syd ran to check the trees for low hanging squirrels and Mackey raced to the fence where she's sure a lizard is living. I called them to me but Mac refused to come. Even a cookie couldn't drag her away from that invisible lizard. After several minutes of trying to get them together I enlisted Rob's help. He put them on leashes and this is what I got. 

Sad!!!

The girls used to be so close, but now they tend to ignore each other. I finally got a couple of decent pictures but I realized how much they have changed over the years.

Fall Is In The Air

 It's been a hot dry summer here. We had many days over 100 degrees and we've had no rain in a couple months. The grass is brown and crunchy and the trees are droopy. My rock garden looks terrible. The plants were very stressed so Rob started watering them daily for the last couple weeks. He let the hose drip a little and the bees and butterflies loved the water droplets. This morning we got a little, and I do mean little, thunderstorm. It got very dark and very windy and the thunder rolled. There was some rain but not much. Still, the trees seem grateful. I noticed this afternoon that the Maple in my neighbor's yard has turned a glorious orange. 

My big Maple is still green and hanging onto most of the leaves but there is a tiny touch of color in parts. The leaves on most of the trees have been falling like crazy for the past week without any color change at all.

So what have we been up to? Well, since it was so hot and dry we started putting out a big bowl of water for the wildlife. The raccoons come by and soak in the cool water, then they sometimes nap on the porch. 

 We have three baby opossums that showed up about a month ago. They come every evening, sometimes together, sometimes separately. At first the raccoons were afraid of the tiny creatures and would run away, but now they're used to each other and often share the platter of kibble that we put out each evening.  Here is one of the babies eating and having a drink.

 All three have grown significantly in the past month and from the amount of kibble they pack away they'll all be nice and fat for winter. The raccoons are also putting on winter fat. One of them, Gabby, is huge, much larger than Mackey.

Today as I was reading on the porch I had a visitor. He was poking around in the hedge, then went into the yard looking for bugs and worms. Last year we saw a pair of large armadillos in the yard but this one is pretty small. This year's baby, perhaps.

Here, inside, where the air is cooler and water more plentiful, the Christmas cactus are flowering. I thought the big one was going to die earlier in the year. It got all droopy and the leaves were soft. I cut away some dead parts and babied the rest of the plant thru the summer. It paid off. The plant looks healthy again and look at all the flowers this week.

One of the new little plants is also in bloom. The other is waiting, presumably for Christmas.

 

 I have a new plant feeding mixture that my houseplants seem to love. Rob eats a lot of bananas. Now he puts the skins in a jar and adds warm water. After they sit for about 48 hours I mix them with plain tap water and feed the plants with the banana flavored water. They have responded well and I don't need to water as frequently.

 I lost my knitting mojo earlier in the summer and now I'm trying to get it back. I thought Bernie looked lonely sitting on his bench with only a squirrel for company, so I made a Ruth Bader Ginsburg for him to chat with. I'm not thrilled with her but she helped me get back into knitting, so there's that.

Mackey has a story for you but it'll wait till tomorrow. We'll see you soon.

Nature Friday

 Today Mackey and I are joining in on the Friday nature walk. We aren't going far, just around the yard. We're been experiencing a severe drought so we have a shortage of flowers and the trees have taken a big hit, too. But we had some rain last week and again on Monday so a few flowers are showing off. Mackey says she's ready to get started.

The plum tree in the front yard is really struggling but it managed to put out some pretty plums for the wildlife to enjoy

In the side yard we have two Crepe Myrtle. The white one usually does nicely.

This is the most flowers the pink one has ever produced.

There isn't much in the back yard this summer, but the Rose of Sharon is in bloom.

 

Rob's climbing rose has produced some lovely blooms this year.                                                         

Now Mackey and I are going back into the air conditioning. Have a great Friday, everyone.                  

A Little Late, But Who Cares

 Last week was National Mutt Day and we celebrated as we're sure all of you did, too. I looked it up and discovered that National Purebred Dog Day was May 1st. Oh oh, we missed it but we think our purebred family members deserve attention, so here's our rather late post.

My Grandmother loved English Cocker Spaniels. Since my Mom and I lived with my grandparents, my dogs were selected by my Grandmother. The first that I clearly remember was Pete. She, yes Pete was a girl, was a sweet little blonde English Cocker. Technically she was my uncle's dog, but I was three years old so everything was mine.

Next came Blondie, another blonde English Cocker. She was my best pal. Since we lived way out in the country, a mile from the nearest neighbor, she was my only playmate. We spent hours exploring and hours cuddling and were never apart.

After Blondie was Boots, a black English Cocker. She had lived with an Army officer who was being sent overseas, so six year old Boots was the first dog that was exclusively mine. She was super sweet.

Next was Cookie, a 15 inch Beagle. She was about three when she came to live with me. I discovered that Beagles are different than Spaniels. Beagles love to chew and never seem to outgrow the habit. It was a learning experience.

After Cookie I had a succession of Mutts till by accident I discovered Portuguese Water Dogs. Bentley was my first. I can't begin to describe how special he was. When he died I knew that I needed another Portie in my life.

 

That's why Samba came to live with us. Samba was indescribable and my heart hurts even writing this. I'll love and miss that girl forever.

Fudge was a born clown. His mission in life was to make people laugh and he was good at it. 

Samba plus Fudge equals a perfect litter of nine black and white Porties, each with a unique personality.

Tess was shy.

Sky was stubborn and very smart.

Lola was quiet.

Bailey was adventurous.

Noah was the little engine that could.

Norma Jean was born happy and stayed happy for her whole life.

Grace lived at the lake and was born to swim.

Gibb had his own boat on a lake in Oklahoma.

Ocho only lived 26 hours. We wonder what he would have been like had he survived.

I've lived with purebred dogs and I've lived with mutts. All I can say is that I love dogs.