Friday, December 27, 2012

Yesterday, Thursday, slightly overcast with lots of sun shining through.  The kind of day that teased with promises of sun till the rains came down, sun still shining through.

Lots of visitors to the yard, though.   Heard the steady chirping between Mr & Mrs Downy Woodpecker.   They were chatting away, flitting among the branches and then each settled down on separate suet feeders .. quietly nibbling away.

Skies overhead …. mostly like this:

I’d filled up the hummingbird feeder .. it was quite empty .. lots of little Anna’s flitting about.  Funny, last week I’d noticed two of the young ones flying around.  It was obviously schooling time for them.  The parents, much slimmer .. sat on branches nearby, issuing orders.   The two youngsters perched nearby.  Heads constantly on alert status, looking quickly to the left, right, left, right – never still.  Then they would zoom overhead, tiny wings touching as they did so … resulting in little thwap-thwap sounds.  I couldn’t help but laugh at these antics, which they repeated over and over.

Really, this is deadly serious life training for them … however, this is the first time I was privy to such schooling and I was totally unprepared for the their activities.  I felt honoured to be there, quite frankly.

Then I happened to look over at the Downy on the suet .. he seemed to be king of the suet, the way he stood so proudly on the top!  Quite a noble pose.

Wandered over to the garlic beds and happy to see the sweet-peas have continued growing.  I’m not one to pluck everything out of the ground once summer is over.

The birds are still daintily nibbling away at the fallen apples .. they are very thorough in their pecking away .. leaving a graceful outline of the apple base.  Garden art at its best!

and the darling little Bushtits .. yesterday they were everywhere, it seemed.  Groups of them visited 3 of the suet blocks.   Many of them awaited their turn … sitting patiently above the blocks.

And of course squirrels have to eat.   This one is a resident, I believe .. having seen him (or is it a her?) throughout the yard at the front, sides and back.

Oh .. a beautiful Spotted Towhee.   Not sure if this one is nesting nearby.  There have been a few tall trees cut down in the neighbourhood.  Not in our yard, though.  Lots of perching room for everyone.  I’ve seen the Towhees at the bird feeder, nice surprise.  This one is resting in the old plum-tree by the kitchen window.  Nearby (but not in the photo) were some Junco‘s, a golden-crowned sparrow and a house sparrow.

The roses are still blooming at the side of the house …

Some ducks enjoying the quiet tidal waters by Spinnakers Pub …

The log created a breakwater for them .. a place to calmly settle in for the morning.

I must share this with you .. DH surprised me with this most wonderful, tilting wagon!  And he spent hours on Christmas morning, putting it together for me!  I could hardly wait to take it outside to use in the garden.  Here is my first trip yesterday .. time to take the geranium filled pots to the back yard, to rest in a frost-free zone for the balance of the winter!

Next it was time to test a load of the Miracle Mulch .. so I loaded up the wagon .. it holds quite a bit.  And see those tires?  No more do I have to worry about being careful going from point A to B in the yard .. these sturdy tires just roll everywhere.  And they turn on a tight radius also!  yea!!!

Another bonus to this lovely cart!  I can easily dump the contents by simply pulling on the handle at the back of the base and .. voila .. no more shovelling!  I love this!  Then I just pop back the box and it locks in place!

That just took a few minutes and now the mulch covers this area of the yard.  Well done and with little effort.  Now I’ll have time to do more things in the yard!

And as I wandered around the yard .. .looking up .. .seeing these glorious rays of the light at the end of the day …

So beautiful

 

Peaceful

 

Restful

And thus ended another lovely little visit to the backyard .. more today!

🙂