Yard Birds October 21st

Yesterday morning, my husband called to me from his home office asking if I ordered a "shepherd's hook" from Amazon. Of course I had. It's a tall metal pole for holding a bird feeder. 

He just got a text that it had been delivered!

Huh...I thought I had ordered it through my own account (I had, in fact, but the Internet knows all), but how nice of them to let me know. I went to the front door in anticipation of setting it up in my yard right away, only to find no package at all had been delivered. Not again, I thought. We have the misfortune of living on a street with the same first two letters as the street parallel and a block north of us. Packages are frequently misdelivered.

Maybe it's due to the horrors of students who were taught to read using sight words instead of phonics.  Or maybe it's just a momentary lapse on the part of the letter carrier. Or maybe she just doesn't care anymore. My package was not delivered to my home, nor to my northern neighbor.  As evening approached, I searched the USPS customer service page, but it was no use.  My package was declared "delivered" and I was out of luck.

As I was about to type a note of complaint, the doorbell rang, and there stood a man with a tall cardboard box. He lives 5 blocks away on a street with an altogether different set of letters making up the word, but the same house number. It was super-nice of him to do the gov't's job!  

I set up the shepherd's hook just beyond the dog's reach and made an old planter saucer into a hanging dish-feeder. I filled it with wild bird seed. For some reason, wild bird seed comes with candied papayas. The ants love candied papayas, and climbed 5 feet up and one foot down the hook to enjoy the sweet treat. I look forward to woodpeckers eating the ants.

No feeder visitors came by last night.  Not one.

This morning, ever hopeful, I poured my coffee and sat outside with my camera. There were birds everywhere, thanks to my neighbor's dying cherry tree. He took down a blue spruce in perfect shape, removing the breeding spot for several generations of crows. He took down a row of arborvitae I-know-not-why. He has threatened to take down a smaller tree behind the garage.  But this leviathan cherry, with dead branches and hollow trunk, just waves violently in the lightest breeze waiting for the gust that tears the branches off, and for gravity to do her worst, right over my yard. But I can't really complain, since the tree provides constant shelter for my friends the birds.

Today, I saw a towhee in my yard (technically, in his tree which extends over my yard) for the first time!  As you can see, I got a photo for ID, but it's not beautiful.

Towhee.

And a pair of unidentified birds played way up in the branches, refusing to turn for proper identification. Any guesses?

Unidentified birds in classic Audubon pose.

A house finch stood out red against the blue sky.  He was having a great day!

House finch.

He likes the high branches, where the wind whips his feathers.

A medium sized hawk--possible red-shoulder from the looks and cry--swooped onto the branch, but my little friend spied him early and fled. A bit later the hawk swirled away, to the south.  Sorry, no photo. He's one that got away.

But some other interesting birds were visiting. I looked at a bird in the hedge, and saw a pine siskin! It's the first I have seen in the yard. It had not come for the seeds I put out, but for the tiny conifer seeds in the hedge. I took a few photos. Imagine my surprise when I opened the photo in Picasa and saw that there were 6 birds in the photo! Can you see them all? Did I miss any?

So many siskins.

The birds are pretty well camouflaged, but Amigo, the cat next door, is not. His white fur shines brightly in the morning sun.

Amigo.

Whiskers, the cat next door on the other side, is a bit harder to see in the shadows.

Whiskers.

Both would like to nab a bird, but the birds are well guarded by Circe. Not that Circe has not nabbed a bird in her day, but she'd rather have cat.

"Mmmm.  Kitty-kitty," says Circe.

Finally, a visitor landed on the new feeder.  This song sparrow is brave and patient, and not afraid of Circe at all.

Song sparrow.

Still looking up in case the hawk came back, I saw a flock (well, three) of something go over.  A closer look through binoculars showed them to be greater cormorants. That was nifty.

Cormorants.

And though it was only 65 degrees out, a few honeybees were sucking the last of the autumn nectar. Despite the cold, they were faster than my camera, and I only got a good shot of a foot and wingtip as it explored the morning glory.

Morning glory food for bee.

Meanwhile, the rubbish men came by, some workmen tore out part of our sidewalk, old Greta-two-doors-down yelled at her daughter-in-law in Deutschlish, someone rang our doorbell, sprinkler men came to fix the neighbor's sprinklers, landscapers mowed, leaf blowers moved the leaves around, the fire siren went off, and, in the distance, a chainsaw made short work of a tree. I had coffee and birds, and was almost oblivious.

First Tomato...

And the Dog who would like very much to eat it.

Circe with Bubbles and Violets

Yes, I actually have a dog who blows bubbles in her water bowl. And then she tries to catch them.

After a proper hosing, she dries off in the violets.

Problem...

What does Circe see?



Just out of reach:

Better than mice ;) !

Captivity

The poor dogs are sequestered in my sunroom for the duration of the construction project, at least during the day, while the work is going on. They have been pretty good, and the younger kids stay in there with them, using the computers, and taking the dogs out when they need to go. Sometimes, Circe fusses enough to drive us crazy. Today, I gave her a rawhide to quiet her down. Paul responded, "She doesn't eat those in captivity." And it's true. She saves them for later by burying them in the large potted avacado tree that has been moved in from outside for the winter. The avacado is responding poorly.

Turkey Makes Me Sleepy

Don't Mess with Partisan Puppy

In an ongoing effort to keep Circe from opening her sutures (she went through a pane of glass last week), we tried to keep a cardboard collar on her. When she ate through 5 of them (cardboard collars, not sutures), we resorted to this sign. We did cut it down to size right after this, but the picture was funny. Apologies to the pup for the indignity, but her leg has healed perfectly!

Gov. Palin (God bless her!) may be a pit-bull, but Circe is an Aussie!

I Just Can't Concentrate

Things are crazy here. We had a major incident on a rental property we own (no one injured, thank God!), and now, the new dog is in heat (which is, actually, much more stressful). That was never a problem when I was a kid. But then, we did not have an uneutered male dog in the house. Of all the stupid things...Indy won't stop barking, and we must keep them apart. As an afterthought, I called a local neuter clinic, but they won't touch a 10 year old dog. We cannot have Circe spayed until this whole ordeal is over.

On the other hand, at least this is the first full week of outside-the-house activities! It turns out, though, that when we are not home, Indy stops barking. The good thing is that while he is sequestered in the cellar, no one can hear him...outside the house. If the weather holds, we can do all our school work out there. If it begins to rain, forget it.

Aussie Shampoo?

Circe needed a bath...not quite as badly as Harry, but she really did need one. Paul could not find the dog shampoo, but saw his sisters' Aussie Shampoo. Hmmm. It says "Aussie" so it must be OK for Australian shepherds.

Then he found the Aussie conditioner...

We now have a very fluffy pup with no split ends. And she smells great. Now if only she were more manageable.

Harry the Dirty Dog

We were musing the other day about Harry, one of our favorite characters in a picture book. It all starts with Harry and his bath...he runs away to avoid bathing, and gets very dirty, changing from a white dog with black spots to a black dog with white spots. His family does not recognize him. Poor Harry!


Then we looked at our dogs...We have a white dog with black spots, and a black dog with white spots. (Actually, both dogs are blue merle, but one is darker than the other.)


It's Harry, it's Harry, it's Harry!!

Blue Chip Puppy

So while I'm happily blogging my photos, I set aside the 8 gig chip that is usually in my laptop, only to hear a happy crunch-crunch from the puppy at my feet...

Every Year...

my darling husband puts on his most authoritative voice, and states that it's mid February, so that's pretty much it for the winter, and we don't have to worry about snow. Nearly every year, he is wrong. This year is no exception. In the last post, I added photos of lovely green shoots looking for the sun. Today, I am looking for the shoots. The dogs are having a blast. The kids are shoveling the walk in front of Don's office. I was left with the dogs...they love it!

Indy tries to catch the falling snow in his mouth.

Circe enjoys her first real snow.

Yum!

Run!!!!! It's snooooowing!!

Everyone always asks if Circe is a husky mix. Nope! Both dogs are purebred Australian shepherds, which is to say, they are the decedents of dogs who came to the US with Australian sheep, but they are not Australian. The little blue dogs belonged to the shepherds, who were Basque. They are sure-footed, and love to climb...probably due to their heritage, herding in the hilly Basque country. Also, they are quite fierce, but cautious. In some parts of the US they are used to herd bison. In our house, they are used to herd children, and terrorize the mailman (and they can see him from yards away, and distinguish him from other humans, even when we are out on walks...strange dogs). Circe would like to hone her car-herding skills...thus, the tie-out line.

Has Anyone Seen My Wallet?

Oh. There it is.

That Gingham Dog is at it Again

I have a very vivid childhood memory of my mother reading Eugene Field's horror story in poem form, The Duel, to me and my brothers. I was seriously disturbed by that poem, both for the imagery about a dog and cat fighting until there was nothing left of them, and because of my grandmother's Chinese plate, which I was sure was always watching me.

Now, it seems I have a Gingham Dog of my own. Fortunately, I have no Calico Cat. Unfortunately, this puppy has torn apart everything that can be torn in the entire house. Here she is working on Libby's conducting stick, with a no-longer-stuffed dog beside her. And you should see the recliner (which was on its way to the dump anyway).

And my plates? They are all Chinese.

Circe vs. Venti

Christmas Card Rejects

And the winner:

Merry Christmas!

Puppy camoflage

Big dog, Little Dog

Just had to add a photo of the two dogs getting along. We were a bit worried, but things are OK, as long as Circe takes her signals from Indy, especially when he has a rawhide!