Thankful

 Hi Everybody,

Happy Thanksgiving. What are you all thankful for? I'm thankful for the box of cupcakes with sprinkles that is sitting in the kitchen right now. You can see that a couple of the chocolate ones are missing. Mom said she had to test them to make sure they were good enough but we all know that Mom has a chocolate problem. Anyway, the cupcakes are for us because today is Syd and my 10th birthday. So I guess you can all be thankful for us.

 It's been an eventful 10 years. We arrived here to be greeted by very many big dogs. The first ones we met were Fudge and Sebastian and they were like friends and protectors to us. 

 Then we met all the others. Some liked us a lot, like Tess and Noah. Some didn't like us at all, like Morgan and most just kind of accepted us into the pack.

Now the others have all gone to live at the bridge and it's just the two of us here with Mom and Dad. Things are quieter but I bark a lot to keep the peeps on their toes.  So today while the rest of you are enjoying your turkey, we'll be savoring those little cupcakes and thinking about how thankful we are for all of you.

 I think I'll grab a nap before the party.

Your 10 year old pal,  Mackey

Holidays Anyone?

 I'm trying to capture a little holiday spirit.  The last few years have been tough ones for everyone so we need all the fun we can get. Right?

. First the elusive Holiday Zebra. 

Next we have a couple of jolly old gnomes. How can you not smile at these rotund little ones?

Finally  we have the Party Animal. In this case he's a reindeer that didn't get chosen as one of the super eight because he liked to party too much.

That's the start. I still have a few weeks so let's see what other traditional holiday creatures I can come up with.

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.