Scattered Seed

Perhaps this was a day of Indian summer,  as the bitter cold of morning gave way to sun and mild temperatures.     As soon as I got home from work,  I shed my coat,  and went out back to fill the bird feeders.   I moved some closer to the house for the winter months ahead,  when I’d rather not trudge through mud or snow to reach them.     A female cardinal noticed right away,  and came to the hanging feeder just outside the back door.    My seed supply is dwindling,  although I am using less than other years,  so we will have to make a trip to the feed store to stock up.   Project Feederwatch is just a week away!   This will be my fourth year participating,  and I enjoy seeing what birds I can attract by my offerings.

For the kids in the neighborhood,  George has hung the skeleton from the lamppost,  and set the candy by the front door.   We have had fewer trick-or-treaters in recent years.   The younger families do not know us,  and tend to go where their children have friends.   We used to have 300 or more costumed visitors in a night,  but the past couple of years it has been sixty or seventy.

Our skeleton was a gift from Morgan’s Finnish dad,  Paavo.     After Morgan had lived with the family in Finland as an exchange student,  they came to visit us in October ‘02.   Not speaking but a few words in English,  Paavo ran into a craft store while we were out shopping,  and came out with the skeleton pieces and paints,  and presented us with his finished work.

We don’t have much left of Halloween decorations since the kids are grown and gone,  but these two little cats have survived the years.   I think Morgan made these in Girl Scouts,  which would have been many years ago.

Happy Halloween!

Since we came home from Cheryl and Mike’s with a sack full of apples,  I’ve wanted to make an apple pie.   There hasn’t been a block of time recently when I felt I could devote myself to it,  so George took on the task today since he had the day off from work.    He called me midday to say that he had the pie in the oven,  and had made a substitution in the crust.    He used buckwheat flour to replace a half cup of white flour.   I was very skeptical,  and thought that it would make the crust tough or rubbery.     Surprisingly,  when we each had a piece after dinner,  it was delicious.   The crust wasn’t quite flaky,  but it held together,  and had a nice crumbly texture that I thought was better.

Since he perfected the pie crust recipe, and even made it a little healthier,  guess who gets to make the pies from now on?

What a change in the past couple of days.   Sunday we were driving around with the top down on the car,  and today I didn’t even want to walk out the front door,  it was so cold.    We were hearing reports of snow,  an inch tonight,  and a few more inches tomorrow.   So far,  it has been cold and blustery,  and a few flakes were in the air this afternoon,  but that’s as far as it’s gone.   The precipitation has been to the east of us,  and it looks like it will stay there.

There were a few birds out back when I arrived home,  trying to get some dinner before the sun set.    A goldfinch was swinging on the Christmas-tree-shaped suet,  probably attracted by the nyjer in it.

There were a few finches,  and this common grackle that seemed to be huddling between the posts to escape the wind.

It was such a nice day for October,  a little cool,  but the sun was out,  and the temps eventually went into the 60’s.   I got up earlier than usual to check out the bird situation,  and found a flurry of activity out back through the morning.

George cleaned out the nyjer feeder, hung some more corn cobs,  and filled a small feeder that I had put away for the summer.    I got down on my hands and knees,  and planted some red tulip bulbs that I bought a week ago.    Together we cleaned up the little garden plot out front,  and completed our list of outdoor chores for this weekend.

Enjoying the fresh air,  and not wanting to go back indoors,  we decided to head out for an afternoon drive in the Miata with the top down.

Our first stop was Park Station, to see what birds might be about.

We saw chickadees, a titmouse, brown creeper,  mallard, crows,  goldfinch,  blue jay,  and juncos.     We continued on down towards Chemung,  where George had seen a bald eagle this past week while on his way to Binghamton,  but there was no sign of it today.

It was just a short hop across the border into Pennsylvania, where we drove for our Sunday dinner in Athens before heading back home.

I’m afraid that nice days like this will be lost to us all to soon,  so I’m glad we got out to enjoy this one. (And gas was down to 2.99 a gallon in New York,  2.74 a gallon in Pennsylvania).

It rained most of the day,  though the temperatures were mild,  and that part was nice.    I puttered around the kitchen this morning,  cooking and cleaning,  and keeping an eye out for the birds.   When it rains,  the turnout is always sparse.    I saw a couple of morning doves,  a bunch of starlings,  a couple of house finches,  and three crows.   It was while I watched the crows strut around under the willows checking for spilled corn,  that I suddenly noticed a new bird on the scene.   I thought I was seeing things,  till it moved,  then I yelped,  and George came out to see what the excitement was about.    A ring-necked pheasant in our backyard!     We have seen them in fields,  and alongside the road,  but never in our little suburban development.   We have no idea what drew him to our willow trees.    George headed out with the camera,  and caught a photo just before he stepped out of view and into a neighboring yard.    Pretty exciting for a slow bird day.

We ran some errands,  and George picked up the ingredients for his chili while we were at the grocery store.    While that cooked,  I remembered that I had jotted down a whole-grain cracker recipe earlier in the week,  and this would be the perfect time to try it.    This recipe came from Kathie on a blog she contributes to called Women Not Dabbling in Normal.   I enjoy her posts and hearing about her time in the kitchen.  She inspires me to try new things.   I substituted buckwheat flour for the rye since I had the one and not the other,  and we thought they were really good.  This recipe will have a home in my file.

It was a quiet afternoon,  watching our Netflix movie.    As that ended, the skies cleared,  so I headed out back to fill the feeders and hang a bird treat that my brother-in-law gave us last weekend.

He actually gave us two boxes full,  but we’ll hang one at a time, and see how it goes.    They are shaped like Christmas trees,  with sunflower seed, nyjer, peanuts, safflower, and papaya as the decoration.

This time of year is not good for me,  as far as birdwatching goes.   The sun is barely rising as I head off to work,  and it’s lowering in the sky as I arrive home.   The birds I see in the backyard are few and far between.    I have to rely on my weekends to know what birds are around and about.

This past weekend there was a redwing blackbird invasion,  surprising since they had departed for the most part since August.

Blue jays have become regular visitors again,  and especially seem to enjoy the peanuts and corn we put out.

This is my favorite blue jay shot,  though I can’t tell if it’s a take-off or landing.

Once in awhile I get really lucky and see something unusual like this red-bellied woodpecker.   He sat on the swing for awhile before he decided to give me a closer look.

Of course, the squirrels are never deterred by darkness or bad weather.   As long as there is food,  they show up and find a way to get a good share of it.

We headed out mid-morning for my sister Cheryl’s place.   It was a beautiful morning for a drive,  and I took photos of the foliage on the way,  knowing that the leaves will be gone in another couple of weeks.

Cheryl presented me with a bag of walnuts when we arrived,  from a tree in their yard,  and my brother-in-law,  Mike,  shook his apple tree to bring down some apples for us to take home.   I wish we lived closer,  I would make them a pie.

He also picked some corn that we can use on our twirler for the birds (and squirrels),   and gave us some bird treats he had in boxes,  that I haven’t unpacked yet.    The birds will be pleased.

We had a good visit,  then continued on our way to Auburn.

As we passed by the depot fence,  we saw two turkey vultures posing for a picture.   George did a quick U-turn to accommodate them.

We stopped on the way for some groceries for Sunday dinner with Dad and Evelyn.    Dad’s been suffering with a bad back for a couple of weeks now,  so we tried to keep things easy for all of us.    I helped him with the laundry which ran while we fixed and ate dinner,  and George did a couple of errands they needed done.     It’s nice to be needed, and we wish we could do more.

We had a good visit till late afternoon,  then headed out again.    It was another pretty drive,  with the sun setting over Seneca Lake as we drove southward toward home.

George’s alarm went off before dawn this morning,  the alarm meant for last Saturday when we got up early and headed to New York.   This morning,  he turned it off,  and we slept on.    Even after the furnace kicked on,  I was happy to stay under the comforter for awhile,  half listening for the sound of birds outside the window.   It was a foggy morning,  so the backyard was still quiet when I finally got up for the day.   I had filled the feeders after work yesterday,  after neglecting them much of this week,  so I wondered if the birds would show up.

The fog lifted,  and soon they came – crows, titmice, house finches, a cardinal, chickadees,  mourning doves,  a brown-headed cowbird, house sparrows, blue jays,  and my first junco of the season!   You can see that these finches were hungry, and not taking for granted that I would be consistent with the feeders.

A tufted titmouse is still a rarity here,  so I kept taking shots till I finally got this photo.

As I watched birds from the kitchen,  I had many cooking projects going at once.   The crockpot was filled with a pot roast and vegetables for dinner,  I hard boiled some eggs,  and cooked up a big pot of chicken barley soup for lunches at work.

This afternoon I made up another dill casserole bread.   (Morgan told me last weekend that George said he really did like it.)

Part of our day was spent on errands,  including some Christmas shopping.   Our holidays will involve less expense (offspring,  take note!),  so I plan to be a little more creative and today was a day for working out some ideas.

George picked the last of the swiss chard,  and tackled the job of putting the cover over the rolled-up awning and cleaning up the deck for winter.

With my regular Saturday cleaning thrown in for good measure,  it was a full day.

Rebecca called tonight,  and asked how I was feeling.    “Very tired”  was my answer,  and she seemed to know it would be.   She hasn’t forgotten that I had major surgery just two months ago.   I think I go through my days trying to deny it.

At work,  everything is physical for the most part,  and that saps my energy for the rest of the day.  I feel that I have to pull my weight to be fair to my co-workers, but that means that,  at home,  things that I want to do keep getting set aside.  I couldn’t even stay awake long enough to watch a movie tonight with George.   It’s very frustrating,  and I get impatient with myself.

Thank you, Rebecca, for coming along with your reminder that I need to take it easy for a little while yet.   I went through quite an ordeal in August,  and my body is still healing.

Did I mention I was tired?   I will catch up eventually,  but for now,  I’m off to bed……

 Although I was back at work today,  my thoughts were still in New York.

The Welcome

The Tally cat

The food

The art 

The birds

The cozy apartment

The enjoyment of time spent with two special people

Good memories…..