Almost…

We like this picture as it isn’t what it looks like at first glance. Yes it’s a tree with a roof in the background, but if you missed it on the first pass there’s more. To the left of the tree is a stiped cat climbing it. For some reason the feral cats around here love climbing trees and can manage to get back down also.

We think it’s amusing to watch as they climb with such agility and speed while the return trip looks slow and awkward. We’ve watched around a half dozen cats climb and they’re all the same. Race up the tree, slowly turn around, then come back down. One even looked like he kissed the ground when he made it back down.

And soon we’ll be into April. This year has been going by faster than my highway driving. We’re almost there. Not sure if we’ll do an April’s Fool gag this year or not. Guess we’ll all find out when the time comes. Enjoy our Thursday when you wake up. Now for some coffee.

What happened?

It feels like we’re in another episode of the Twilight Zone and I seem to be the only one concerned. The very same people who told me they were voting for Biden because he wasn’t Trump are now saying we have to get rid of him because he undid just about everything Trump had done. But I digress yet again.

For a long time our cell phone provider has been saying I need to get a new phone. So I went out to their show room and looked at the options. The young sales clerk asked me what I wanted in a phone and I replied that I’d one that would ring when somebody called me. So of course he explains the virtues of having the latest version so I would have internet access, could get text messages, and stressed they had plenty of games to play. Needless to say I didn’t get a new phone.

Lately the provider has been calling, and mailing letters that say they will no longer support 3g on my old phone and are going to an all 5g network. It got to the point they finally mailed me a 5g flip phone. I tried to set it up, I really did. Until I got to the part the stupid thing asked me for the wifi password. Evidently they didn’t understand me when I said I don’t want that.

I have a desktop, a laptop, and a tablet so do not need another means of getting on the internet. Oh, the camera on the phone takes good pictures and I can upload them to the internet with the wifi? Well, I have two DSLRs and three point and shoot digital cameras now that do that job just fine. I don’t want the phone to look at pictures, watch cat videos, surf the internet, or cook my dinner.

Enjoy our Wednesday since it’s here. Now for some coffee.

Good start

It was still cool yesterday, but the wind died down and it didn’t seem bad at all. So, grabbed the camera and headed out to get a good start on my book of bird pictures. It hit me that one would want to actually have bird pictures before starting a book about them. So we’ll share a few of said pictures here.

This little guy looks like he’s jumping for joy while actually he’s just a show off and knew the camera was pointed in his direction. Still it was an interesting shot and we liked it. Think we’ll call him Charley Brown.

Of course you can’t talk local birds without including the cardinal. These birds are easy to spot when you look. For some odd reason this one was running the other birds off yesterday so he must have wanted to dine alone.

These little ones were flying all over the place and didn’t stay in one spot too long. It’s almost like they’re part bumble bee. Whatever was on this branch, they liked it and kept coming back for more.

Mama cardinal was trying to hide in the shadows and doing a fine job of it. We haven’t seen much of her lately so she must be getting her food somewhere else. If we catch her when she stays still long enough we’ll get a better picture.

Finally, while not technically a bird, this one was home steading the fence we put the safflower seeds on. Never did catch a bird but did keep them on their toes. If any birds are reading this post, look out for guys like this!

Enjoy our Tuesday. Now for some coffee.

A bit much

Let’s just say it was too cold to play the tuba yesterday and leave it at that. It did warm up a little in the afternoon and we did get some pictures, so we’ll share some with you now.

This turkey buzzard was circling the neighborhood with a friend so we got a shot. Up close these are impressive looking birds, and big. This one had at least an 8 foot wingspan! I keep an eye out as if they start wanting to try living prey it isn’t going to be me.

This guy was chowing down on the safflower seeds and singing. We found the fact that he could do both at the same time interesting. He also looked like he had a little bit of mange starting at the top of his beak. That didn’t seem bother him though.

In this picture there is a robin in the upper right and a starling in the lower left hanging out in a tree. The starlings are an invasive bird and are seen often in big flocks. In this shot the two different birds at least seem to get along or they’re both just stubborn.

Here’s a house finch enjoying the safflower seeds. He looks happy we decided to open the outside cafe for winged critters. Now a few feral cats have noticed the birds and have been stalking the seed in hopes of having their version of KFC. They haven’t caught one yet and we hope they don’t.

Speaking of feral cats, this is the look we get when we yell at them to leave the birds alone. The picture looks like a mug shot and the cat appears guilty. We wait for the trial.

Enjoy our Monday and new week. Now for some coffee.

Sunday snicker

Jesus, Moses, and an old man go golfing. The first one to tee off is Moses.
He smashes the ball and it is heading right for the water hazard before the green.

Moses raises his club, the water parts, and the ball makes it to the green.

Jesus gets up to swing, cranks it out, and it is headed for the water hazard. Jesus closes his eyes and prays. The ball skips across the water and lands on the green two feet from the hole.

The old man’s turn comes and he drives the ball. The ball looks like it is going to drop directly into the water. A fish jumps from the water hazard swallowing the ball, as an eagle drops from the sky, grabbing the fish. As the eagle flies over the green, a bolt of lightning strikes the eagle, making it drop the fish. As the fish hits the green, it spits out the ball and the ball falls into the hole, making a hole in one.

Jesus looks at Moses and says, “I really think I’m leaving Dad at home next time!”

Changes

Didn’t know what we got ourselves into when promising some pictures today. Yesterday started out looking like the picture above, gray and cloudy. We also had wind gusts of up to 50 mph which made holding on to the camera interesting. These may be a little different than our usual pictures yet they tell the story of yesterday, so we share them.

As mentioned above, the day started out cloudy and windy. While out taking some pictures it started to sleet, then hail, and in the picture above we see the results. Later the sky would open up and it would come down like a monsoon the quickly rush on to surprise another area.

And what’s a late March day without a little snow? Yes the snow came down much like the sleet did. One minute it was snowing like crazy and the next minute it was gone. If we hadn’t been holding the camera when it started we could not have gotten a shot.

The wind gusts got so crazy you could almost hear the power and phone lines and it sounded like guitars. Even this robin had a hard time holding on at times. These lines were swaying so bad the bird looked like he was dancing while standing still.

A different robin just said the heck with it and stayed on the ground. We had a lot of fun watching the reaction of the critters to the winds. That said, the high wind didn’t stop all the critters from getting out.

Finally, you may think we exaggerate, but it was so windy it blew a full sized cat into a nearby bush! Thought it was stuck in there until we went to ‘rescue’ the flying cat. He wasn’t hurt and got out of there like he was shot out of cannon! Only in Iowa.

Enjoy our Saturday. Now for some coffee.

Been busy

This morning we’ve been busier that a cat covering crap on a cement floor. Once the exhaust fumes settle we’ll get some pictures ready to share tomorrow. Been to the hospital so the wife could get some tests done, the grocery store for the sticker shock, and a gas station for my smokes. We still have to run to another, closer, gas station to get gas in the car.

The grocery store set us back almost $190 but did include some medical and critter supplies. Found it laughable that the store had 80% lean ground beef for $2.98 a pound while bacon set us back $5.99 a pound. Thing is, from everything we’ve been hearing it’s only going to get worse. Farmers are saying that in a short while we better get ready to bend over and grab our ankles and politicians are blaming Putin for the price hikes.

On a good note, the peanut eating cat hasn’t been dining at the birds bowl. Perhaps he has too sophisticated a taste and is holding out for cashews. Even with the rain and cooler weather all sorts of critters have been flying and scampering around our area. That said, we haven’t seen the old scraggly possum around for a few days and hope she’s alright.

As mentioned, we’ll work on getting some pictures ready to share for tomorrow and see how that goes. If all works out we’ll post them tomorrow. Enjoy our Friday as there should be a party somewhere. Now for some much deserved coffee.

Where’d it go?

While out yesterday we noticed a group of birds chowing down on the safflower seeds. A little hard to see, but there are two cardinals and two finches in the picture. Didn’t have the longer lens on the camera as I was shooting off the back porch with the door open and didn’t want the good lens to get wet. But I digress.

When you see a group of critters this close together you can’t help but look and wonder. The much bigger cardinals aren’t running the finches off and said finches weren’t acting skittish around the cardinals One would think the smaller creatures would be leery of the larger ones and fear being bullied. At any rate they ate their fill then went their separate ways.

This morning when outside feeding the critters and thanking the Lord for letting hang around another day, the sound of the songbirds serenaded me with the wind for a background. With the gentle rain coming down it was a relaxing experience and calmed my soul.

It almost seemed like the wildlife is more civilized than us people. After all, the birds wake up singing, get some exercise, eat, then look for a shiny car to crap on. We humans hit the snooze alarm about four times before getting up, go through a morning ritual of showering, eating, rushing to work and then return home to repeat the same thing 5 days a week. And all while having a smart phone glued to our faces.

At any rate, enjoy our Thursday. Now I need coffee

Some cats

We realized that we haven’t shown too many feral cat pictures lately and will use this post to rectify the problem. We also know that there are other venues for such pictures as facebook seems to have to have the majority of cat pictures seen on the internet. But here are a few of favorites and a few may even be considered cute.

This one always looks like he doesn’t trust you. He is also skittish and it doesn’t take much to send him running for cover. We’ll give him some time.

We’ve been told this cat is a buff colored tiger cat as he has some tan coloring. We don’t know but think he is a good looking critter, for a cat. The warm day we just had brought these critters out and all were acting like school kids on the first day of summer break.

This is one of the newer arrivals and always seems bright and inquisitive. The box she’s setting on blew into the alley with the last strong wind and I was wanting to cut it up to put in the trash bin. Figured it was too soggy to put in recycle. We let her sit while we got other things done, then got rid of the box.

This is another one from the last litter and a bit of a loner. Will play with others but does like his alone time also.

Finally, we have an orange cat on a roof. We couldn’t get a clear shot of her due to where she sat and the trees in the way. Also saw this cat on another roof so she must be a good jumper. Perhaps she just wanted a different view of her little part of the world.

Enjoy our Wednesday since it’s here. Now I need coffee.

Good start

With highs in the 70s and blue skies the week got off to a good start. From today on we’re looking at lower temperatures and rain. We need the rain so we’re not complaining. While we were out we took some pictures and thought we’d share a few here.

The night before the moon came out and the man in the moon looked pretty sharp. He was on his game and we had a good talk before we had to say goodbye. He did look like he had more than his share of Moon Pies though.

These two finches were eating the safflower seeds yesterday and while they didn’t bother each other they sure used some stares. Almost like the house finch, on the right, is saying ‘what are you doing on my plate?’

Took this one just because it was colorful. With the colors it almost looks like it could have taken on a tropical island. The cardinal was flying around with 2 other males and we watched as they chased each other all around the neighborhood.

The sun was in the right spot when this cardinal jumped on a fence so we had to get a shot. We think it’s a keeper.

This little one, we believe it’s a sparrow, was posing on a wayward branch so we got this shot. The bird was calm considering how close we were.

Finally, we just noticed the irises have bloomed and were looking good. We usually see them at this stage around the first week of March but aren’t complaining because they’re a little late. Just brings a little color to otherwise brown lawn.

Enjoy our Tuesday since it showed up. Now for some coffee.