Seven Sisters; Rosemary; Squirrels; Fountain.

Monday, May 26, 2014.

I went out to the back yard to clip off many of those browned, fading rose blossoms so that more would bud. It's been said that when you clip off the dying blossoms, the bush grows some more blossoms. I don't know if that is true for all the different kinds of roses. 

This whole bush had so many blossoms a week or so ago, it was incredible! These roses have only three- or four-inch stems in the clumps of roses that bloom from one little twig on this rose bush. They call it The Seven Sisters. Several or even more sometimes, grow in a clump. Beautiful! This bush has white roses. 

I wonder how long it will take for all of those buds to develop into new visits of the seven sisters? It took me about twenty minutes to do the roses and the rosemary bush. I couldn't finish the whole rose bush, nor the rosemary bush. My back can't stand leaning over like that, even a little leaning isn't good. I can't do it by standing erect, as I can't reach down for the roses but have to bend.  

The winter was quite harsh on the rosemary bush, but it still produces more fragrant needles. Underneath all the needles are so many dead parts of the branches, tangled up under there, and bare. I really love rosemary fragrance, and use it in cooking quite often. 

    

There is a spot of the lawn in the back yard that is rather moist, and it stays moist if the rain was a very hard downpour. The lawn guy even waited a couple of days to come to mow, but that large spot in the back lawn wasn't dry yet. The drainage is not what it used to be. So when he was mowing, he went right over that area, and his lawnmower got stuck. Luckily he had a helper with him, and they did manage to get it out of the little mire.  

There are about four little ruts in that area, and it doesn't look too bad. The birds REALLY LOVE those new ruts in the slightly lower place out in the back yard. SQUIRRELS, too. The birds came in right after the lawn 'crew' left. They would peck once or twice, and seemed to get some kind of bugs or worm, didn't seem like worms though, and they'd swallow, peck again. Sometimes they would tip their heads to listen to any movement, and jab. It was very nice to watch them through the blinds in the bathroom. If I showed my head, they would go away.  

Squirrels have found that moist area, too, now, and will dig a tiny hole, and eat something. I wonder if they eat bugs, too??? Or possibly they eat little sprouts of seeds from those burrballs that cover the back lawn. Those balls are almost as large as golf balls, and have so many seeds in them. The seeds finally come out and sprout, maybe. The squirrels will dig so quickly, as if it is in a great hurry. Then it hops a couple more steps in either direction, and digs again, eats, hops, digs, eats, hops, digs, for many minutes. They are so funny to watch, and I enjoy that little 'movie'.

Anyway, I sometimes have fun looking out the back window! The birds also like the little fountain back there, when there is any rain water in it. Not many birds, but they occasionally go there.

One day, when the young robins were still a little dependent, there were about three or four young robins flying to the fountain. Then there were about five or six robins (including parents) that were sitting on the edge, and hanging around it. One or two would drink from it, or jump into it and flap their wings in it. I had such a good time watching them, but haven't seen that again.  

I get much enjoyment from looking at birds and squirrels, leaves and breezes, clouds and flowers, and azure skies. 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

Roosters! ~ Crowing!

Saturday, May 24, 2014.

I sat down for a little while to rest, saw the TV weather report, and then I saw the same program I saw a couple of days ago. Two men were handling some roosters and hens in the first part of the program, as they were talking about the fowl.

After about ten minutes, they put the chickens and roosters back in their cages, in the little room where they were having this meeting. Then they got onto the talk of termites and how to get rid of them. 

After several minutes of the talking of the men, the ordinary, largest rooster did his crowing ~ a nice low-pitched sound that I remember so well from my childhood. A few seconds later, another rooster crowed! This time it was a quite different pitch, rather scratchy. I smiled to myself ~ I love hearing roosters! 

Then a couple of seconds later, a bantam rooster crowed his li'l heart out ~ a bit scratchy, very high pitched, and seemingly tiny. What a smile THAT  brought to my face! Then another crow sounded about seven seconds later ~ weird. These roosters that they were handling were all different. There were about five of them, none related to each other. They crowed individually, letting one neighbor have his say, and another, then the largest one crows on his turn again. At one point, one man looked at the other, smiling with a cute little quirk of his mouth, understanding that these roosters weren't going to stop crowing in turn.

So the men kept on talking about the termites, giving pictures of the waistline of the termite to differentiate from the waist-line of the ant family. Also, they informed us that the termites' antennae are straight, the ants' antennae are bent halfway to an angle.

I learned a lot with this program. I had such a marvelous time for about twenty minutes, smiling when I heard a rooster crow; then laughing every time the tiny Tim of a bantam had his turn, making his teeny-thin-sounding crow, and my big laugh involuntarily coming out of me again! 

What a time I had! And today I could hear them all over again in the repeat of the show! How lucky can I get? 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

Belated Thoughts and Traditions; Mr/Mrs Robin With Empty Nest; A Big Catch. Traditions.

May 18, 2014.

Since Time goes by so swiftly, it was discovered that I am behind in adding thoughts to my blog. We'll go back to May First. I love that day! On May Day, when you are very young, a child in the single digits, you go out and pick a small bouquet of flowers for your Mommy; you put the bouquet on the welcome mat, ring the doorbell or knock on the door, and scoot a little behind the house out of sight so she wouldn't see you. She opens the door and discovers that beautiful little bouquet of flowers! She looks around and cannot see anyone. She gives you a hug and a kiss when she finds you.

At Pasadena Waldorf School, they have a Maypole Dance on May First. I was there and saw a few of the Maypole Dances; it filled me with joy. It was so lovely to see the eight grades of students on the lawn at the Waldorf School, and a certain grade would dance around the Maypole and intertwine the long colorful ribbons. It was so very beautiful, awesome, and a wonderful tradition.

There was also Arbor Day, a beautiful idea of planting a tree or bush in honor of someone, or just because you like that kind of tree or bush. When I was very young in elementary school, we were taught about Arbor Day. Our recent culture has done away with some of our great traditions.
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Those robin teenagers grew so big! They would stand up and preen themselves, flutter their wings that were getting close to adult size, and the nest was becoming so full of four growing youngsters. I kept thinking, "This is the day the robins will leave their home!" The real answer was no.  Each day was getting closer to Departure Time, though.

A couple of days later, when I opened the door to peek out at the Robin Nest, it was empty! There was a tinge of disappointment in my heart for a few seconds because I wouldn't see a wonderful mommy and daddy feeding their growing children. Gone, but not really, because those almost-mature birdies were hiding out in the back yard, or the neighbor's yard, and their mommy and daddy still had to feed them for a while as they recovered from the shock of leaving their nest-home.  
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Early in May, one of my sons and I were driving through a lovely green park on a side road and we saw something we never expected. There was a large hawk in the field, to me it looked very large. All of a sudden, it flew almost straight up into the sky, with a snake hanging down from its talon, and the snake made a few wiggles as it was being carried away to the hawk's nest. We were both stunned to see this happening. Quite an experience for both of us.

My sister later told me that she and her husband were riding out on a lake, when they spotted a blue heron standing on a point with a big black snake hanging from both sides of its beak. She was quite surprised to find out that those herons eat snakes.


I'll see you at the Corner Post ...