Carolina Birds

The Carolina Wren's daily serenade - Every morning and evening
 

It was an interesting winter in that we only had a few really cold spells and very little snow or ice. It did plunge below freezing a few times, but never for a long duration. We like to feed our wildlife in the hard times so we added some bird feeders to support the one we already had. In the bitterly cold weather and snow days we opened the Cherylina Critter Café on the deck. The larger birds always scatter seed to the ground where many of the ground feeders enjoy what has been spilled. The squirrels like to climb on the feeders and of course they sneak up on the deck as often as possible. At times there are birds on every station on the feeders and at the same time there may be a dozen more scrounging for seeds on the ground.
 The most frequent visitors are chickadees, Carolina wrens, cardinals, house finches, goldfinches, tufted titmouses, nuthatches, brown headed nuthatches, dark-eyed juncos, doves, red bellied woodpeckers and occasionally a brown thrasher. The different species mingle socially and share the bounty that is provided. When the squirrels scurry up the feeder pole and try to figure ways to bring the feeders down, they scare away the birds. I earnestly attempt to run them off so the birds can eat. but when they are eating off the ground, I leave them alone.

Beautiful male cardinal

During one of the two small snows that we had



Beautiful female cardinal - the water in the birdbath is frozen and she could not get a drink 

 



Fat little Carolina wren- one of these little guys(girls) lands on the deck rail and sings his/her head off every day.

 

  

A couple of families of house finches eat during the snow

Goldfinch on a cold winter's day

The precocious chickadee

Brownheaded nuthatch in flight

Brownheaded nuthatch feeds on a cold day

Dark-eyed Junco at the Carolina Café on a snow day



Brown Thrasher at the Café on the deck

 

"I'm the lookout"



Carolina wren on suet cage



Tufted titmouse aims for a feeding station



 

Cardinal in full flight, a magnificent sight.

House finch

 Beautiful coloration

"I think I'll be a cardinal today"



 



Still Learning

You'd think that when you reach 72 years of age you wouldn't learn much anymore. I still read books and keep up with the news, but new everyday wisdom is usually lacking because I have less interface with other folks. Not that Cheryl doesn't try to improve my common sense, but I am sometimes resistant to her direction. And then something like an invasion of the "little people" happens and you go into information overload.
Angela and John's boy's have been in our care for the past couple of days and I have learned more than I have in years. Not about their parents but how four year olds and one year olds manage adults. Bennett at four and Weston at just over a year old have taught me some amazing things.

- An infectious smile with twinkling blue eyes will eventually wear down any resistance to undesirable behavior.

- Repeatedly asking "why" is a good defense when you don't have one.

- Wearing that smile and running up to grab your legs in a big hug will make one forget "why" you were coming to correct them in the first place.

- Crawling up in your lap and snuggling into your arms will buy you at least twenty more minutes before you have to go to bed.

- Pretending that you don't hear (aka ignoring) a grandparent usually leads to undesirable results.

- Wieners and chicken strips are actually pretty tasty.

- Cheese Puffs, Nutrigrain bars and goldfish will hold the fort down till Nana gets home.

- It is possible to watch kids TV programming all day long .

- It is difficult, but not impossible to take a selfie with both your grandkids in your lap.

- Movies can be enjoyable the second or third time you watch them in the same day.

- It is possible to find all the plastic sports team figures that have been scattered among 3 different rooms in your home. (In this case a soccer, baseball, football and hockey team set)

- You can tear the pages out of your reading book , but the electronic buttons still function and make all the desired sounds that pacify a one year old.

- Tablets (I Pads) are a gift from God.

- Little children make a lot of noise on your ears, but they bring an enormous peace to your soul.

- Paw Patrol is an awesome show that features a little boy named Ryder and his pups named Marshall, Chase, Rubble, Everest, Zuma, Sky, Rocky and of course Robo-dog and Mandy the monkey. The reason I know this is because I have watched 26 episodes in the past four days.

- Four year olds sleep longer than one year olds.

- You can put diapers on backwards, but you will regret it.

- Minions and one year olds love bananas.

- Four year olds and granddads love minions

- Without a doubt, little children are God's most precious gift of all.

 

 

 

 

 

Like Scrooge

The past year has been one of the most melancholy years of my life. Forever gone are two of my precious family that have always been an important part of my life. Memories of years past spring up within the wellspring of my heart, like Scrooge, my thoughts fly from one experience to another and I remember the good times I shared with my brother and my sweet cousin. No ghost of Christmas past need guide me, there are few regrets and no need for repentance of wrongful deeds. Their presence was always a good influence in my life and they showed me kindness and love that I did not necessarily deserve. Brothers like Mike have a way of forgiving and burying any differences along the trail. Cousins like Betty Joyce left nothing to be buried,  her heart was beyond gold, she was the essence of sweetness and purity.
I certainly have regrets for things I did not do during their lives, but God knows my heart and His Word has guided me to do all that I could do. Until now the daily grind has forced me to put aside my sorrow and grief, but as this season of love and forgiveness approaches, I now must mourn those whom I loved so dearly. Christmas's past warm my heart as I remember the joy of childhood family gatherings.
And like Dicken's Scrooge, I awake to the realization that Christmas is reborn in each new generation. As Tiny Tim reminded Scrooge of all that is good about the season, my precious grandchildren have awakened the joys that have always made it so special. The wonder of Christmas in the eyes of a child is the most precious gift for any parent or grandparent to receive. Thank you Jesus for the eternal gift you have bestowed on us all so that we may see the wonder in our children's eyes. Though many of our loved ones will no longer share those joys with us, may we cherish the shared memory of times past.  Thank you Charles Dickens for reminding us that we can choose joy over sorrow.

"God Bless us everyone"




The Leaf Collector Cometh

For those of us who live in heavily forested areas, there is a yearly ritual that we look forward to each Fall. Homeowners transfer their leaves from the yard to the curb for the city to come by per a planned schedule and vacuum them up. This year I had almost a month to create the curbside piles for the city. It's always good to watch when they get to your street. Takes me hours to accumulate them, takes them minutes to get rid of them. I still have an equal number of leaves to push to the curb for the second round. It is so much fun.

Darren helped me rake and blow the leaves in mid-November

We piled them onto a tarp and hauled them to the curb

 

Dumped them on the curb across the front of my yard

The leaf men cometh in early December

 

3 man crew- 1 raking, 1 vacuuming, 1 driving

Gone! Now I need to get the rest of the leaves up to the curb for round 2

Much to be thankful for

We had a wonderful visit from our daughter and grandsons from Florida on Thanksgiving Day. We were sad to see them leave after a short visit but we enjoyed every minute they were here. We look forward to seeing the rest of our clan as soon as possible. Thankful for each visit, thankful for every smile, every laugh, every hug, every moment we share with those we love so dear. We had a great visit.



Weston and his lion



Bennett gets some Star Wars PJ's



Nana and Bennett



Bennett with his PJ's and Minion hat



Note Peggy's stunning necklace.



Poppy helped him a little bit but he put all the pieces together.



Weston & Poppy at the Cracker Barrell



Waiting for the girls on the porch in a rocking chair



Schroeder plays another masterpiece



At Granny's

Weston with Uncle Larry and Uncle John



With Uncle Mike



Holding Granny's hand

Checking out Granny's tree



Four generations at Granny's



On the inside wanting to be outside.

Past time for a nap

Nana loves on her Bennett





Poppy gets some help raking leaves




Unfortunately, he sometimes raked them off the pile

Don't tell Dad, but it's OK if he roots for the Frogs and Bama isn't it? (He calls them the Bull Frogs)

Hard to get everybody looking at the camera



When everybody was looking away

Mommy and first born



Why we went to the Bog Garden

It was mid morning and they were still sleeping

They were just waking up

Along the trail

One more duck

Holding precious cargo

A sweet boy



Nana & Wes

Three hands-full