BIRDS, ETC.

I am at my computer desk in front of the south window next to the door. I am watching an awful lot of birdies out in the lawn and front drive.
I am watching the robins do an aerobatic fly-up off the ground with each other and when they got tired of that, a super-sonic fly-by that equals the Air Force's Thunderbird's speed. I guess it is just the season. Winter coldness giving way to springier temperatures. They feel it in the air and are rejoicing in it.
I also have a 'flock' of dark-eyed juncos on our lawn area. They are funny little birds. It is hard to describe the dance they do while hunting for seeds and such to eat off in the grass. It is sort of a little hop up with a back and forth scratch motion with the one foot which makes their little bodies move back and forth and up.
As much as I like watching them, I do wish they would go away. for if you still have dark-eyed juncos in the yard, it is still the weather for snow. Evidently they like cool temps and the cooler the better.
Fly away little birds.
I haven't seen the Northern Cardinals yet.
The poor female just about knocked herself out last year. They nest about 6' off the ground and are very territorial. I finally had to cover the mirrors on my little chick pick-up Ford Ranger last year because she would perch on the door by the side windows and launch herself at the mirror to try and get that other female northern cardinal out of her territory. I had female bird snot all over both rear view side mirrors like you wouldn't believe! She also started to attack the west windows of the house and even traveled to the north bedroom window while perching on top of the air conditioner.
That action drove our male cat, Silver, absolutely bonkers.
Now this is a 13.5# cat.
You DO NOT want a 13.5# cat hurling himself at an air conditioner off the bed in a humongous leap. Wonder what the impact of a cat that large over three feet of space and with 'velocity' would be. Thirty miles an hour? Close?
Every spring we get my favourite bird, the Red Winged Blackbird, in our trees. They stay just briefly in the scheme of things. We are the highest point around, being on top of the highest hill in the area. So after the male scouts have been here for a week or two, the females and the rest of the flock arrive.
Our trees, being the highest point around, gets the whole flock that nest in our area, to stop and reconnoiter for an hour or two. Then the whole flock disperses to their nesting areas in the surrounding areas.
This year it was April 1st. I happened to walk out to the truck to leave and they were doing their thing in the trees. Chattering, chittering, warbling, whoopin' and a hollerin'.
There are two days in the year when I am smiling like an idiot with a grin and tears flowing down my face as fast as they can go. The first is the day they arrive and the second is the day they all congregate in the trees before their arduous task of flying to their southern homes for the winter.
Most years I get to see both times, and both times I cry, laugh, grin for hours. Some years I miss them. Either I am in the house and don't hear them or I am gone already in my chick pick-up.
I love their song. It is like 'Kong-a-rrhheee' with a lower tone on the kong and a higher tone on the rrheee. I frequently stop at the four corners, south of us by a half mile, and just open the windows and listen. I have had people stop and ask if I need help and am all right, much to my embarrassment. How do you answer? "No, I am all right, but thanks for asking, I just stopped to listen to my favourite birds sing their songs."
I mean I am already pegged for a loony, and that observed action would just about bring the men in white jackets to me. I have since learned to check the roads all four ways to make sure that there are no cars approaching.
Our son Peter and his lovely wife Beth, have no such problem. All they have to do is open their windows and patio door. They are fortunate to have them in the cat tails around the catch basin pond the builders planned in the community.
Daughter Margaret and husband Jack also have them in their trees, but I don't know where the cat tails and water source are in their area, but they have them. I am not so sure Tracy and Tad have them in their area.
It is a joy for me to visit the two homes in the summer so I can get my fill of bird song.
Wild life is abounding in the yard this morning. Along with the birds, I have noticed a squirrel, and a feral cat. So far no fox nor the woodchuck that makes its home in the woods. I have seen an opossum south of our buildings on the road-side, so I imagine there are one or two roosting around somewhere. So far no raccoons. I am grateful for not having those around. They make me nervous. I had enough with a pride (?) (just looked it up and the term is 'gaze' of raccoons) of them living in the granary for years. They got mad at me for locking down the cat food bin in a metal garbage can and took it out on my clean laundry getting an overnight sun-bleach out on the clothes line. I had muddy paw prints all over the sheets and towels, just to let me know that they were not happy at not getting their dinner in the middle of the night.
Well, time to check email and addresses. I finished a counted cross stitched gift last night, bathed it, hung it to dry and pressed it this morning, and need to photograph it before I send it on to Donna, (Hi Donna M!) so finding where I stashed the camera is also in order.
Enjoy your day where ever you are. Warmer weather is almost here in the northern climes of the United States. It will get better.

Spring

Spring is here.
All the weather people say it is here.
The calendar says it is here.
Lately we have had some pretty stiff March winds out there in Mother Nature's attempt to dry up the ground for the sprouting of the green everywhere.
It is pretty awesome to listen to the wind in the trees and watch the 'invisible dance' the wind and trees do together.
Sometimes they are stiff and 'courtly'.
Other times the two are bending together with the dance of wild abandonment.
Sometimes they are gently swaying together as in an old couple moving slowly with the rhythm of complete satisfaction and trust with the other.
Today I don't have the wild, gyrating gusts of new love.
Just the steady, gentle swaying of an old love....completely at ease with each other.

Rain

We have had a ton of rain here in the middle of Minnesota. And that is not even close to what the Red River Valley is getting.
I am saying a prayer that everyone will be all right out there.
That is all I can do from here.
Huggs to everyone
cj

Back, sort of

Well, since late Thursday and early Friday, I have been battling the flu bug or food poisoning. Most likely the latter. No vomiting but a lot of dry heaves.
Did I mention that I am not the best person to be sick?
I hate being sick.
When coherent (not sleeping), there are rumblings of snappishness, rudeness, growliness, and down and out feral behaviour.
No church on Sunday and I intensely dislike missing Mass (no guilt here, I just dislike missing Mass). Did work the auction kitchen (just pop, candy bars and pop, people.....no prepared food) on Saturday with the aid of two Tylenol, but was still under the radar on Sunday. Good thing I didn't go, because as soon as hubby left for the auction house on Sunday a.m. pickups, dry heaves hit again. Somehow, even when you are sick, you feel cheated when there is no product to accompany the action. The body is not able to rid itself of what is making you feel 'ucky'. Don't you feel just grand now?
Finally feeling a bit better today.
Well enough to start some laundry. 'Smeller' told me that the not so nice smellies accumulating in the hamper area had to get done. So loaded the small apartment sized Maytag washing machine in my kitchen, next to the fridge, and started it up.
Ok, Maybe not so up to par yet. Caught myself, sitting on my kitchen stool, looking at the load going round and around in the window and literally started to count the revolutions it made around before stopping and reversing itself. Yah! Doesn't take much to entertain myself, I guess.
So I thought I might be up to something to eat.
I'm Tellin' Ya'! Stephanie is my name! When in crisis, EAT! Of course, it wasn't chocolate or pineapple upside down cake (with sour cream, skip the whipped cream please), but it was close.
I have been able to keep down the Anoka, MN, Rice Box Thai restaurant dinner I got on Friday. Had to eat it today because today is day three. We all know that food prepared and not eaten by day three gets thrown out because of bacteria multiplying in it. It just isn't safe to eat any longer. Didn't eat a lot of the remaining dinner, but was able to throw it away without compunction. I did find out something, though. I don't like peanuts in my food. I am not fond of the crunch. Go Figure?! I love the peanut sauce in the Thai Spring rolls, and they have fantastic spring rolls at the Rice Box (just the right amount of cilantro) and the sauce has smaller peanut chunks, so that is OK.
But I am on the mend. Thank goodness. I don't much like myself when I get sick. I am thankful that my husband overlooks my crankiness and crappiness when I get sick. He is an absolute angel, even when he had a ton of nastiness going on with his business yesterday. He was still tender and solicitous for me. I appreciate that. My wish for you today is that you all have a hubby nor partner that is concerned for you when you are ill. If you don't have either, I wish you friends that will care for you, pets are included in this.
My 13.5# male cat, Silver, kept trying to get close to Mom to cuddle. Minnie (quite a bit smaller), kept trying to do the same. Minnie kept getting put back on her director's chair, and the big guy got pushed down by the feet to watch out for intruders coming in the bedroom door. Well, that's his job!
Now that I have written the book for the week, I wish you a good Monday. Now I am off to read my Monday installment of Nordic Needle's weekly newsletter for an uplifting chat with a favourite part of my stitching family.
Take care all.

I have become 'Stephanie Plum'.
No two ways about it.
My name is now 'Stephanie Plum'.
Or at least it should be.
She and I are having issues today.
Stephanie's issues currently are in the book To The Nines by Janet Evanovich, just in case you were unaware of who Stephanie Plum is.
Mine are with the A. T. & T. people.
Stephanie has this wonderful 'feelings' for TastyKakes when things go wrong, a kind of reconciliation substitution when dealing with idiot people.
Mine, today, is with the DQ Pecan Waffle Bowl, dipped, thank you.
For me, it's gonna be 5 hours on the treadmill, I know, and the waffle bowl isn't that good! Shouldn't have given in to it. The blood sugar is going to be off the wall.
Back to the issues. I am trying to find out how much our phone bill is for the house. Our land line. I don't have the bill for the house phone, just the current bills for the wireless accounts. I call that number. I was informed that they don't have those records in front of them.
O. K., give me the number for the land line. Got it. Called it and the number they said that I was calling from was a 203 area code? Same numbers, just turned around. And the actual seven digit number wasn't even close.
So I hung up and tried again.
Over a half hour later, I get Leon on the phone.
My luck, he is East Indian.
My sincerest apologies to every one that is of that descent.
My 66 year old ears simply cannot decipher your accent.
I have tried. I have asked that you speak slowly, even that doesn't help. I can understand English spoken with a Chinese accent, Irish accent, New England accent, Southern U.S.A. accent, Somali accent..........I just cannot bend my ear around the East Indian accent.
I have tried, and tried, and tried.
Then he asked me for the last four digits of the social security number for the account.
I am so very ashamed to say that I blew my temper, sky high.
I had to get into town before a certain time and I just wanted the current amount to send a check in, and the address of where to send it.
I don't have my husband's social security number, and even if I did, I wouldn't be giving it out. Even if it is just the last four numbers. It was never meant to be used as an ID and every one seems to need those last four digits. I guarantee that someone, somewhere, will have had a 'code program' that will run all the possible combinations at high speed until the name and the last four numbers agree. Bingo! My account will have been breached.
This is why we set up a password, or pass code, numbers if you will. Didn't want that, had to be the four numbers of his soc. sec. number. I hung up,
Went to town, paid those bills, and will look up the bill online, At least I won't have to encounter an accent I have tried for years to understand or give out the soc. sec. numbers.
I have tried, honestly.
Move over Steph, I am claiming your couch.

Thank You Vonna

Hello Vonna and welcome. Thank you for leaving a comment. I do so appreciate it.
I cherish Erma and am so glad that you do also.
I am also a devout Roman Catholic and wonder if you can see my email addy. I checked and it is supposed to be visible, but don't know. Let me know.
Cait

WATER DAY - DAY 2

Some times people yearn to live in the country.
Sometimes people that live in the country yearn to live in a city.
I may belong to the second today.
Today is the 'second day' of trying to get a running, babbling brook to stop coming out of our chicken coop hydrant, the back, most eastern building of our farm yard collection in buildings.
After getting a new well-head installed this summer, the problem stopped, or so we thought. (At least that alleviated the three foot, black-ant nest in the well head. Gross to say the least)
Today I will get to get my yard dug up for the second time with a back-hoe. I also have the well guy that installed the new well-head, back and try to fix our 'babbling brook'. Johnson Lake on top of our hill is not what I want.
Yesterday we had two friends and hubby digging around in a 40' well, thinking that by installing a valve and turn-off inside the well, would stop the water. Hubby went out this morning and saw steam and as he got closer, still heard the babbling brook. So whatever they did yesterday, didn't work.
'Tis the luck of the country livin', I'm tellin' ya!
Our friend with the backhoe just came in to turn on the water briefly to see where the line is, evidently and said that there wasn't much left of our chicken coop. Hmmm, O.K.
Guess when you have below zero weather and are behind a backhoe, everything goes.
Oh well, enough. Can't go to the bathroom, do dishes, laundry for at least another two hours, however, I can finish making the bed and comb/brush my hair as well as post and check email as well as knit.
I have been trying to finish our last granddaughter's scarf and hat set since December 14, 2008. That's another story there.
"Signing off of WKRP in Cincinnati......." oh wait, just our Fever Mug made it on the show, not me. Good Golly Miss Molly, not coherent today. Must be the nails that have been put off being fixed for a month now. Called for an appointment today, and cancelled all within 5 minutes. Arrrrgh!