Saturday, September 10, 2011

Geese & Grackles & Hummers, Oh My!

Last evening we heard and saw a flock of Canada Geese flying over the house.  And the night before I saw a huge flock of Grackles and Starlings congregating in a hay field.  Goldenrod is in bloom and the Sassafras leaves are starting to change color already, although some of the early leaf color changes can probably be attributed to the drought-like conditions we are still having.
We've also had a sudden increase in our hummingbird customers at the feeders.  We usually only have three locals that hang out around the house, but I've counted at least eight birds the past week.   Lots of buzzing, fly-bys aerial dive-bombing and squeaky chirping going on.  I think that maybe the newcommers are passing through on their migration to Central America and are fattening up for the long trip.
Summer isn’t officially over yet, but the temperatures are heralding the beginning of Fall.  Since cooler weather is on the way, I figured we should enjoy the morning weather and have tea and quiche on the front porch:
Wood-burning season is just around the corner, so Paul has been diligently cutting up logs and piling them by the wood splitter for me to split.  It’s boring work, sitting in front of that splitter, but it sure as heak beats doing that by hand!  Paul split wood here for three years (I did help a little) but last year we bit the bullet and bought a splitter.  Beats a crap-shoot investment in the stock market in my book.

4 comments:

  1. What a lovely picture! I love the sound of geese going over but I hear ya on the dive-bombers!

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  2. This weather is bringing out the lumberjack in us all I think. Wood spliters are wonderful. Our 11 and 13 y.o. us ours to split almost all the wood we use. Our entire fam was out working on wood today. It was actually quite fun. It helped that I was babysitting my niece. She'll be 2 in December and thought the wood going down the chute into the basement was a blast. She was chucking the small pieces down. After every couple she would laugh one of those belly laughs and say, "That funny!". You know, it did seem funny with her here. :)

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  3. Love the picture of tea - what a great idea! And a wood splitter? We have borrowed one this year because of all the storms that went through and the trees we lost, and I've got to say, its probably a really good investment! I think its on the "Gotta Get Out Own" list here! Thank goodness for the wood, though...right? Sure saves money...and heats better than anything I've ever tried!

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  4. Hoosier Girl, I used to hate the sound of the Canada Geese when we lived in the burbs....they were like the plague there! But here, they are only around once in a while and during migration.

    Patty, Our 2 year old was just doing that kind of laughing when she was chucking wood today!

    MT, Tea time wasn't my idea. Enola Gay has a regular tea time at her place every day and I thought that it was a wonderful thing to do. We don't have tea every day, but I'm working towards it! http://www.paratusfamiliablog.com/search/label/Tea

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