Sights from around Crooked Acres.
Bluebird on the tree in the back yard. I see him almost every morning, lately. Does this mean Spring is here?
That’s a Hairy Woodpecker (I knew it was some kind of Woodpecker, but had to look around to find exactly what kind. We’ve also got one or two Downy Woodpeckers who visit from time to time).
My pretty Bluebird (pardon the blur, it was shot through a dirty window and at an angle).
The camera focused on the raindrops rather than on the Cardinal. I think it looks kind of neat.
(And then I focused on the Cardinal.)
Chickadees. So hard to get decent pictures of these guys because they won’t sit still!
Nuthatch. Such pretty little birds.
We had a ton of rain Sunday night/ Monday morning, and the bridge that goes over the ditch washed away. Luckily it didn’t go far – I snapped this picture from the spot where the bridge is supposed to be, and if you look closely, you can see the bridge near the tree on the right. It’s too heavy for me to lift, so Fred had to put it back in place when he got home.
Our Winter Honeysuckle is in bloom. This stuff smells so amazing – lemony and fresh, and though the two bushes in front of the house, you can smell the blossoms in the back yard.
George and Gracie playing King of Dirt Mountain.
Having spotted a threat to the flock, they’re off!
I didn’t get her in the picture, but Maxi was sauntering by. George and Gracie stood there and wagged their tails at her, but she ignored them, and eventually they returned to Witch Dirt Mountain.
I love it when the chickens get this appalled look.
Purty rooster.
Synchronized waddling.
Meredith Grey doesn’t care for all this water and mud, thank you.
I have no idea how they stay so clean and white when it’s so muddy out there.
Well, I know how this one stays clean – she stays in the coop where it’s dry.
Steam rising off the pond. Fred claims that that means it’s warm enough to go swimming. He can just shut it, ’cause I am NEVER going swimming in that pond.
Early morning pond.
Pretty boy ducks.
I don’t know what they’re saying about that hen’s back end, but I bet it’s not complimentary.
Checking for food in a puddle.
“Come on, hurry up! You’re so slow!”
Ducks of a feather really DO flock together.
Everett, on the platform in the front room.
Coming down off the platform.
Everett has such gorgeous orange eyes.
Sally’s are a lighter gold.
You can’t really tell from this picture, but Lucy’s eyes are darker gold than Sally’s, but not as dark as Everett’s. The girls’ eyes have a really pretty ring of green around their pupils. I’m trying to get good closeup pictures to illustrate that, but haven’t had much luck yet.
I usually share pictures of Joe Bob on Thursdays, but I don’t have any at the moment, and rather than hunt him down and snap pictures of him now, instead I’ll promise to get some pictures of him before next Thursday and offer you… more black cats!
Maxi outside. “No, seriously guys! Let me in!” and then I go over and open the door because I’m a SUCKER, and she looks in, sniffs disdainfully and stomps off. Grrrr.
“Your home is not to my liking, lady.”
Tom Cullen on the scratcher.
Someone at the vet asked Fred if we named Tommy (whose “legal” name is Tom Cullen) after the Twilight books. Fred was pretty horrified (he is, of course, named after Tom Cullen from The Stand).
Previously
2011: The Box.
2010: Do I know how to show my guests a rollicking good time, or what?
2009: You are correct, sir.
2008: The dog continues to improve. (Read here to see how the dog came to be in our possession.)
2007: Are ya feelin’ bubbly, punk? Well? Are ya?
2006: I think it would be hilarious if someone started manufacturing imitation Maui Jim sunglasses and called them “Oahu James” sunglasses.
2005: I figure they’re professionals and know what they’re doing, so I have no desire to clutter up the small amount of space left in my brain with that kind of information.
2004: I sense that there is a battle of epic proportions in my future, a show-down between Miz Poo and I as to just WHO the blanket belongs to.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: But don’t tell Miz Poo I’m admiring another cat, please…
2000: It’s a conspiracy!
I think I might actually be starting to lose track of the cats! I would have sworn that you mentioned finding a new home for Joe Bob, as he hadn’t been settling in with the main population too well. Was that a different cat?
Maybe Buster? When he was returned to the shelter last Fall, I had planned to keep him here (because I loved him so), but he was picking on old man Spanky, so I had to give him up.
Joe Bob doesn’t care for the other cats and the other cats for some reason don’t like him either, but most of the time there’s an uneasy truce amongst them, and he’s been here with us for… three years? I think? And he loves Fred and I so much that he’ll be staying. 🙂
Since Fred thinks the pond looks so ready for swimming, why doesn’t he just dive in himself and let us all know how the water is? Besides, females shouldn’t swim in muddy ponds because of our plumbing…guys might be okay, though.
There can never be too many black kitties. Tom Cullen looks so shnorgle-able in those pics.
I love, LOVE seeing George and Gracie on their beloved dirt hill, surveying all that is theirs.
Yeah, I’ve tried saying “You go ahead and jump in, I’ll be right there!”, but he doesn’t fall for it (maybe because he knows I’d be there… WITH the camera! Heh.)
I’ve swum in lakes and ponds since I was a kid, but after the recent horror stories about people having brain-eating amoebas crawl up their noses and cause death, I’d leave that pond to the ducks.
“…the ameba that causes the infection lives in soil and in freshwater ponds, lakes, rivers, poorly or nonchlorinated pools, discharge or holding basins, and hot springs throughout the world. Naegleria thrives in warm, stagnant bodies of fresh water when temperatures are above 80 degrees. Consequently, cases of the disease usually occur from June through September. ”
To be fair, it’s a rare occurrence, but a soil-based pond with no inlet or outlet? Duck pond, baby.
I probably should have added that Fred’s not looking to go swimming regularly in the pond – he just wants to go for one swim before the water snakes take up residence. Why he thinks *I* have any interest in swimming in it at all is a mystery to me, because there are no bodies of water anywhere in Alabama (except for maybe the quarry) that I would ever want to go swimming in.
LOVE your pics! I am totally a bird watcher, though damned birds reciprocate by shitting on me, dammit. Been hit approx. 7 times, makes me feel like a Gary Larson cartoon with a bulls-eye on top of my head. Yikes! Whatever happened to Gary Larson anyway?? Back in WI, we know Spring is sprung when the robins return, although they usually return way too early and shiver their tiny butts in the snow, silly birds.
Isn’t being crapped upon by a bird supposed to be lucky? You must be super lucky! 🙂
Because I am such a dork, I cannot read Tom Cullen without saying to myself, “M-O-O-N, that spells Tom Cullen.” And then I giggle quietly like a lunatic. LOL.
That first pic of tommy on the scratcher makes me think of that guy. “he’s the most interesting cat in the world, he doesn’t always use catnip, but when he does, it dos catis.
Geez, there isn’t even a Cullen in the Twilight books named Tom…the vet shouldn’t ask such silly questions! 😉
Gorgeous shots, Robyn. I especially love the cardinal!
I think I’m going to use “Hairy Woodpecker” the next time I need to yell at some idiot in traffic.
ah, yes, it was Buster.
also – good lawdy, was that really all the way back to the Fall? Time moves so fast now that the only way I know how many days have gone by is by the number of underpants in the laundry.