Saturday, December 15, 2007

Sunday Bulletin Board



The bulletin for this Sunday is, Don't Forget to Feed the Critters! My wildlife loving and feeding neighbor tells me this is a hard winter for the feathery and furry ones, because weather conditions earlier this year have deprived them of some of their usual food to get them through this season. For instance, there's a mockingbird who lives in a tree in our front yard, and ordinarily he and his family look forward to the berries in a little tree in the neighbor's yard, but this year there was not a single berry on that tree for them. Not. One. Berry. Our little friends need help this year.

I'm putting seed and bread crumbs on our deck above and patio below through these snowy, icy, bitter cold weeks. On the deck, we get Junco sparrows like the one in the photo, and Cardinal pairs, other sparrows, blue jays, doves, flickers, and a couple of squirrels who are using their tails like luxurious fur coats to cover their backs. Down below, our tidbits feed the wild turkeys and anybody else who wanders by. I also hung suet, which is popular with a woodpecker. I don't worry about providing water, because our wonderful neighbors keep a clean stream running all winter.

So my Sunday message for this week is: CHIRP! , which translates, I've been told, into both "Please," and "Thank You!"

32 comments:

Nancy P said...

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but around here, we had an untimely freeze last spring that killed off flower buds that would have turned into berries, but then couldn't. We're also missing a lot of nuts from certain trees that couldn't produce, so the creatures who depend on those are hurtin', too.

Be kind to our fine feathered friends, that duck may be somebody's mooothhherrrr. . . Now you'll be hearing that in your head all day. :) The only cure is to feed a bird!

Sweet dreams. See you when it actually is Sunday.

xxoo

katiebird said...

{{{shudder}}} Woodpeckers!

They've ruined virtually EVERY tree in our neighborhood. As each limb falls in a storm we look and there is a perfect little circle -- tapped out by a woodpecker.

And the racket is fierce sometimes!

ALSO, my mother-in-law feeds ALL the little animals by tearing up half of everything she eats and throwing it off the porch.

It's a mess. And one reason I like the snow.

Hmmmm. This sounds a little negative.

You can delete it if you want. :)

Family Man said...

Morning Nancy.

I don't think our feathered and furry friends are having that much trouble down here. I saw a few blooms on our neighbors azaleas yesterday. But a cold front has come through and we're down to 40F this morning. ;)

KB I don't think I've ever heard woodpeckers around here. There probably are, but I just can't remember hearing them.

Hope everyone is doing well in their winter wonderlands.

GhostFolk.com said...

They've ruined virtually EVERY tree in our neighborhood.

Curse not the pecker, Katiebird. Generally, it's the ants and other wood burrowing bugs that destroy the tree from the inside out. By the time the Woodpecker finds them and pokes holes in a tree, the bugs he is after have already interiorly pushed the tree beyond compromise.

Unless it's a grapefruit tree.
:-)

Nancy P said...

Yeah, but have you ever seen a woodpecker use a grapefruit spoon?
The 'peckers used to poke holes in my HOUSE, kb. Big holes. High up where it was really hard or expensive to fix them.

But I love 'em, as long as they're not trying to get into the kitchen.

Hey, FM, stay warm! Wasn't it in a Georgia swamp that reports of that "extinct" woodpecker were heard a year or so ago? I could be making this all up. :)

Ghost, I remember that you and The Bride fed a lot of birds when you lived here.

GhostFolk.com said...

Yeah, Nancy, but like your wild turkeys, it's always fun to see what shows up UNDER the bird feeders. :-)

Kind of like what's under the bed.

GhostFolk.com said...

And, lordy, who knows what's under the decks here. I aint looking.

Nancy P said...

That's why I also scatter food on the patio, which is under the deck. I don't know if you saw my tale about the day this past week when I scattered the turkeys? I walked out on the deck, not knowing they were below. They fled. . .onto an ice rink of a yard. . .and skidded like Ice Capade Turkeys. It was so funny. One of them slipped and sat down!
Down below is also where the fox was making his eerie sounds as he staked out his territory.

So, yeah. . .Eyes Down Below!!

Nancy P said...

Another Sunday Bulletin for the Board! Beth's "tag list" is up at her place:

http://bhanggeli.blogspot.com/

Nancy P said...

Another announcement card, another couple of tacks: Boran is making progress with his new painting. This one shows a surprising color effect:

http://www.blogomni.blogspot.com/

Family Man said...

Well we finally hit the 30's. Ok it's 39, but that's still cold.

I realized one thing about myself this morning when I took George out. I'm kind of a mean person. Not to George of course, but to my neighbors. They both keep immaculate yards and they're constantly getting the leaves up from their yards. Now I've decided to let em all fall, then get them up. I've gotten up a few times since fall, but not the every week like they do.

When I took George outside, I saw from the wind we have, that my leaves have spread over to their yards. For some reason that made me smile. Then I chastised myself for the thought and vowed to get them up......maybe next week.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the plug, Nancy! I think folks who weren't tagged should post their lists here...it was fun thinking of them, and I had a lot more than 7!

Stay warm, everyone. Our huge storm didn't materialize - just wind and a little rain. 76 and sunny right now - but I saw there was a tornado and flooding just north of here.

Watching the snow up north on the Weather Channel - big warm Florida hugs to all of you!

Anonymous said...

Ignore this - Blogger isn't letting me ask for follow-up comments on my first posting, just the second. (shrug)

Conda Douglas said...

We get hawks, usually sparrowhawks or American Kestrels or whatever they're called now. But this year, since the developers in Boise are rapidly destroying most of their habitat, we've had Spenser and Red hawks on the fence. And foxes and deer in downtown.

And I'd love see other peoples list of 7, the ones I've read so far have been so much fun!

boran2 said...

Here in the Hudson Valley, it's bluebird country. They never cease to draw my attention even after all these years.

katiebird said...

First, it's much more fun to blame Woodpeckers than ants. They are more dramatic, louder and movie stars.

Next, has anyone seen Andi? My email is katiebird@gmail.com and I'd really like to talk to her....

Anonymous said...

Talk about trimming a tree :)

We feed the squirrels, hummers, blue jas and three crows that have adopted me. The deer take their pick from my roses and I won't get into the slug sitch...

I've had three sightings of coyotes this past two weeks. Once at the Intel campus, before 6 am he was trotting on his spindly legs through the parking lot. I felt so sad for him/her. The other two (might be the same one) are down the road that run from the the grocery store lot to the fields in between an apt complex.

I'd much rather have them then the apts and parking lots.

My neighbors think I'm crazy because I don't have up any lights and I won't either... and a tree isn't apparent in the front window.

Because I WORK in retail/organics and this time of year is the most hectic and busy. We'll get up our california plast tree by next week I think. We do the non-religious christmas, of course. :) Christ seemed like a cool dude but Christians scare the bejesus out of me. Literally LOL.

Speaking of storms, Portland got a hurricane a few weeks ago along with floods. My mom is in the Centralia-Chehalis area and her oxygen delivery alsmost didn't get through due to the breached dykes. Sound familiar?

And back to critters.... We have another cat. Some asshat dumped a pregant cat off and my friend took it in. It's odd having a big, tall, Russian call you up in the night to ask you "are you sure you don't want to reconsider taking a kitten?" :) And she loves watching hockey.

It's sunday, but I've got to work. See ya.

Family Man said...

Good afternoon Ghost, Conda, KB, Beth and Janet.

KB I talked to Andi early this morning in the cafe, but haven't seen her around since. If I see her, I'll let her know you're looking for her.

Family Man said...

Sorry I missed Boran in the afternoon greetings. There I think I've got everybody now.

Nancy P said...

Conda, the little birds regularly vanish all at the same time, and I do wonder if a hawk has shown up.

Bluebirds, boran!! One of life's most thrilling sights, imo. I once glimpsed a flock of Rocky Mountain bb's and it was so beautiful I've never recovered. :)

Nancy P said...

Beth, that's weird. Blogger has a mind of its own.

Janet, I remember reading about that incredible weather you had. Whoee. And coyotes, too? Last fall we had them singing and yipping behind us in the woods, but I haven't heard any this year.

I am frankly so glad not to have to "do" Christmas any more, though I did love it for years.

Nancy P said...

God knows, farfetched "feeds the birds." :)

Seems like I recall Rich Bylina saying he and his wife feed huge numbers of goldfinches. Or maybe I made that up.

I went down to the Buddhist Center today where they had two guest speakers, one a monk who was a political prisoner for 3 months in Tibet and the other one a guy who did time in 3 American prisons. Their tales were very moving. The monk lowered his head and wept as he talked about praying for his torturers, and how bad he felt for them. The American, upon request, showed us his back where an artist had covered up his racist tatoos with Buddhist symbols.

I was seated next to my high school English teacher, isn't that funny? Life winds around.

Larry Kollar said...

Just got back from "feeding" the birds a while ago, in fact. :-P

The regular birds around here have guts — they just camp out wherever they please. If they hurry up and get their eggs laid before we find the nest, we leave it alone. We also have various feeders around the place.

Ho-kay... we finished the cantata (no recording, we were both singing), then ate ourselves silly downstairs. The cheesecake, though, was what killed me… it didn't keep me out of the chicken houses though (worse luck).

Larry Kollar said...

Oh foo, I almost forgot. We saw a few snowflakes this morning. It ain't exactly warm on Planet Georgia today. We had some serious rain last night, hooray! and some serious wind. The Firewood Fairy added to our woodpile, and we'll have some extra warmth tonight for sure.

Nancy P said...

Far, I love the signs you come up with. And I'm so happy you're getting moisture!


ABSENCE ALERT: I need to be absent for a few days, but I'll put up a post tomorrow morning so you guys can still use the blogorama any time you want to. All is well, I just need to bear down on my other stuff for a little bit.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your stuff, Nancy. Maybe you can teach me to stay offline and focus on my work. I'll be gone the next two days as well, visiting a special friend who's a little down. It'll cheer us both up.

See you when you emerge!

katiebird said...

Good Luck with your goals, Nancy. And Beth, I hope your friend feels better soon.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, kb. I'm hoping my visit will help...oh, and the rum. :-)

Hope things at work slow down this week! And that you had a relaxing weekend on the couch.

Nancy P said...

Beth, I hope you have a good trip. It's a nice thing to do for a friend.

I saw The Golden Compass this afternoon and loved it. Didn't like the book, loved the movie.

Nancy P said...

Thanks, kb. You know who's responsible for this, right? :)

Larry Kollar said...

That disappearing act sounds like a good idea. I'm just afraid I'd miss something!

Beth, hope you & your rum can get your friend feeling better.

Nancy, you've delivered the second positive review of The Golden Compass (vs. many negatives), and the other positive (Carnacki) admitted to seeing it while taking heavy painkillers.

SCORE! The Boy inadvertently gave me an early Christmas present: an (empty) 7oz hip flask that he left in Mrs. Fetched's car.

Anonymous said...

Just don't tell him, far, otherwise it'll be the only present you get!