Snowbirds!

We had our first substantial snowfall yesterday here at the Blackberry Patch. 

We are low on seeds, but I put out some before the snow set in. 

This morning I also put out some peanuts for them to eat.

  

The wind is very brisk and our woodpecker holds on.

 

 So does this female cardinal!

 

The snow on the ledge looks like clouds on the horizon.

 

 

Cute couple!

 

Junco sitting on his snowy mop perch.

 

Of course, the bluejays found the peanuts!

Did you get snow?

Birds - God's Gift on a Snowy Day

It snowed and our bird friends put on a show. Our finches visited the salad bar.

The table was solid ice and the blue jays just slid on in for take out. . .

picked up their order. . .

 

and flew away!

 

The comical looking titmouse partook of his share of the meal.

 

The cardinal decided to just sit and look gorgeous!

 

 I think these little fellows are so cute! Know what they are? Hint: Their name  is in the list below.

 

 We just love watching the birds! To name a few, we have cardinals, blue jays, titmice, red-bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, wrens, purple and yellow goldfinches, sparrows, juncos, starlings, doves, pigeons, and chickadees. 

They say birds have a knack for knowing when a winter storm is approaching.

If the feeders are jam-packed with birds, and if the birds linger until past their usual last-call time, you can bet bad weather is on the way. Birds are sensitive to atmospheric pressure, and the lows that precede a storm are a signal to stock up while the getting is good.

Are the birds eating you out of house and home this winter?

Remember if you are one of my writing friends, I am now posting over on Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch. Come and follow my posts over there.

Country Winter Scenes

Everyone has to eat in the winter, even the livestock. This farmer is making sure they get their morning meal.

My son has been busy trying out his new toy. The machine is a BCS walk behind tractor we bought this summer. Our old Troy Built, which gave us 30 years of good service, needed replacing. Andrew built the dozer blade attachment. We sent for one of the dozer blades, (they cost over $400), but each one we got delivered to us did not attach right. There was something wrong with every one of them, so we sent them back. Andrew said he could make one better, and he did. His design for attaching it works much better than the manufacturers. We told him he needs to ask the company if they are interested in his design, but he hasn't made a decision.

This is Sycamore Creek Road on Sunday morning.

I love this old  barn that sits along the road.

Looks like this feeder needs filled up again.

This little woodpecker is working hard at one of our suet feeders.

This little titmouse loves peanuts.

So do the blue jays! But one of our blue jays is a little greedy. He will get his first peanut way back in his throat, then put another one in his mouth before he flies off. I don't know how he keeps from choking.

This little bird reminds me of a chipmunk from the side view.  He looks like a sparrow, but his belly is golden. Maybe he is a red-breasted nuthatch. What do you think? (You can click on all my pictures and enlarge them)

Hope everyone is enjoying winter. I'm getting a little cabin fever myself. Our area is supposed to get more snow a few hours from now. How about you, are you snowed in?

Getting Out The Decorations

I have slowly been decorating my house for the Christmas season. I got down my box of tree ornaments from the closet shelf this morning.

I found out that I like angels. . .

snowmen. . . 

and birds.

Did I mention that I liked snowmen?

I think  I  like snowmen. . .

The little vintage houses were sold with a string of lights. There is a hole in the back of them where the light was inserted and they were strung on a tree. I found these in a ziploc bag at a yard sale. I know they were a light set, because a few years back I found another set of these at a thrift store in the box they were sold in. Its like a little lighted Christmas village. I think  they are very neat.

Can you tell that I recycled a lot of items in making the ornaments and decorations? Some of the things I used were old vinyl records, cds, plastic film boxes, pencils, Styrofoam cups, old quilts,  pine cones, juice lids, different sizes of light bulbs, spoons, blocks, golf balls, pages from a songbook and clothes pins.

I love re using items.

Snowy Feathered Friends

I just had to post a few pictures of our feathered friends.

We got a new camera for Christmas and we have been trying to figure it out.

"I need a hat and scarf!"

"Make room, here I come!"

"Brrrrrr!"


"I'm so cute!"


"Help! Where's my perch?"

"Let's go! I'm out of here."


"Topsy Tervy Woodpecker"


"Togetherness"

"Breakfast at the local Feed and Seed."

I love watching our birds! I don't know where the Blue Jays are, I haven't seen any yet. I don't know where the pigeons are coming from. We're in the country, we're not supposed to have pigeons! I guess someone forgot to tell them this is not the city.

The price of bird feed has gotten so high that I was wondering if we could afford to feed them this winter. The cheapest bird seed we found in Ripley was at the local Tractor Supply Co. Before Christmas it was only 9.99 for a 50 lb bag. We bought two bags! I wish we had purchased more.

Do you feed the birds in the winter?

BREAKFAST FOR US AND THE BIRDS

My husband loves tomatoes with thickening (I call it tomato gravy) for breakfast. His mother always made it and after I married him I had to learn to make it.

We had it for breakfast Saturday ( along with some sausage gravy for 2 of my boys who do not like the tomato gravy). It's very good and easy to make, and a lot better for you than the sausage gravy.

I thaw out a quart bag of stewed tomatoes. You could use a quart of canned tomatoes, but all of mine are frozen. You can thaw them in the microwave, but I find it easy to just put it in the skillet, turn the heat on, and put a lid over it. It doesn't take long to thaw this way.

After a few minutes, this is what it looks like thawed:

Put cornstarch into a bowl. (sorry, but I don't measure this-probably 2 or 3 Tablespoons)

Add milk and stir till smooth. (Sorry, I don't measure the milk either, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 cup. You can start out with the small amount, and can always add more later)

Pour into the tomato mixture. Do this while the tomato mixture is hot and bubbly. Stir constantly until mixed thoroughly.

Add more milk, if necessary, to get it to the thickness you like.

Finished tomato gravy poured on top of crumbled up drop biscuits, topped with dabs of butter.
MMMmmm.....MMMmmm!

If you're real hungry you can fry some eggs and bacon to go with it.

After we ate, my husband put some suet out for the birds. He had to stand with one foot on a chair and the other on the deck railing in order to reach up far enough to hang it on the tree limb. This is the same tree where the hornet's nest was this summer.

But his risk taking was worth it, here is our first red feathered customer. You don't usually see cardinals eat suet, but I guess he was hungry.

What's your favorite winter bird to watch?