November Brings the Birds to the Bird Kitchen

Black-Capped Chickadee  (taken on 11/6/14)

Most everyone knows that I  spoil feed my Backyard Birds...  I don't take (or have) time to take too many pictures these days  --but since it has been awhile since I published a Bird Blog Post, I decided that it was time to do one.

I have 11 different feeders in my Bird Kitchen ---and I have to store them in a large container we have on the deck,  every night!!!!  If I didn't put them away from view,  the Raccoons (which always visit us at nights) would STEAL eat everything...

SO--each morning,  fairly early,  I put out the feeders.  Then I ring the dinner bell (a windchime) ---and step back inside the house.  The birds flock to the feeders for breakfast....It's so much fun to watch them.

We have different birds at different times of the year... Right now,  we are watching LOTS and LOTS of Finches (mostly Goldfinches) at our feeders... I didn't count them when I saw them on Saturday (8th),  but there were probably 40 Finches on the deck...

Hope you enjoy today's pictures --and remember to click on them for enlargements.   None of the pictures are very clear since I was shooting through a dirty window and screen --and the lighting on the deck was not very good.  But--you'll get the idea of all of the joy I have watching 'my' birds!!!!

Above is a cute picture of one of my favorite little birds,  the Black-capped Chickadee.  We have these birds year-round ---and when I'm outside, they love to chatter to me from the trees around the Bird Kitchen.  Wish I knew their language---but I'm sure they are either saying: "Thanks for the delicious meal"   OR   "Get in the house, Lady,  so that we can EAT in peace."  Which do you think they are saying??????ha ha

A Black-Capped Chickadee and a Tufted Titmouse on the Plate Feeder  (11/6/14)

Finches anyone????? We have more finches right now than any other bird.  They love to 'hog' the feeders......UNTIL???????  (11/4/14)

.... the Mourning Doves visit!!!!  The Doves are so big --- they TRULY can 'hog' the Plate Feeder.  (11/4/14)

The Finches are patient for awhile (see that one waiting?).... BUT ????  (11/4/14)

...Then --they decide to descend upon the Doves!!!!  One Dove (named Mabel) flew away --but I heard another one (named Joe)  say to the third one: "Henry,  let's get outta here and get away from these noisy Finches".  (11/4/14)

Did you notice the Eastern Bluebird in the photo above this one????  Anyhow --we have several Bluebirds (year-round birds here) who love to come to the Mealworm feeder...  I love this photo of the Mourning Dove staring at Mr. Bluebird.  Wonder what he is thinking???  (11/4/14)

I love this:  watching the cute little Eastern Bluebird (perched on TOP of the Arbor) waiting to get a turn at the Mealworm feeder.  (11/4/14)

I love this picture of Mr. Bluebird grabbing a mealworm.  (11/4/14)

Another photo showing Mourning Doves,  Finches and a Bluebird  (11/4/14)

Here's one more showing a bird in flight --along with the Doves, Finches and a Bluebird... The Mourning Doves are SO big compared to the small Finches!  But that doesn't seem to bother the much smaller Finch in the plate with the Doves.

On  11/8/14,  look who came to visit!!!!   It's a Pileated Woodpecker (even larger than those Mourning Doves).  AND it looks like this guy is getting fattened up for the upcoming long winter ahead!

BUT---as you can tell,  even the big Pileated Woodpecker doesn't scare the Finches away!!!! The Pileated Woody didn't pay any attention to them since he was going after the suet... AND--the Finches didn't pay any attention to Mr. Pileated... I guess they know it's 'safey in numbers' when it comes to being around the bigger birds!!!!

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my Backyard Birds... I am blessed to have so many here to enjoy!!!!  There are many more who visit --and I just need to take some time to get some more pictures to share.  I do enjoy these sweet little birds.

We are still very BUSY in the yard these days (getting up leaves,  cleaning out flowerbeds,  planting spring bulbs,  etc.)...  It's just THAT time of the year!!!

Hope all of you are enjoying November SO far... Get out and enjoy Nature before it gets too cold.  Speaking of COLD,  we are supposed to get VERY cold beginning this Thursday --and then stay cold for awhile....SO--winter is coming!

Hugs,

Emoticons

Late October in our Yard---October 2014

On the Street Where We Live 10/27/14

We recently saw SO much Autumn Beauty on our vacation to the Maggie Valley area...  I didn't think we'd get to see anything nearly as pretty once we got back home.  For you see,  we have had a very DRY late Summer and Fall here at home.  So many of the leaves on the big trees just turned brown and fell off... SO---we weren't expecting to see much color here.

However,  we did find (and continue to find) quite a bit of color in our area --since the leaves are hanging on longer than usual this year (which indicates a frigid winter upcoming).... Today--I'll share with you some pictures around our yard... One of them is my header this month.  There are two more on my Photo Blog (click HERE for those two pictures).    Hope you enjoy the Fall Photos from Fairfield Glade, TN!  (Click on them for enlargements.)

Oak Leaves changing colors  10/27/14

Front Yard --taken from the driveway  10/28/14

Looking toward the lower side of our front yard  10/28/14

From the street,  looking toward the upper side yard  (You can see our Maple and Dogwood showing off their colors in this shot, along with our English Ivy and Periwinkle Ground Cover.)  10/28/14

From the road,  looking across the front yard toward the lower side 10/28/14

Love our MAPLE which turns a brilliant red color  10/28/14

A close-up of the Maple and Dogwood  10/28/14

Back to one of our OAK TREES --getting prettier by the day!  10/28/14

The Oak Leaves --as they change colors;  Neat, huh?   10/28/14

Color in the lower part of the yard in back   10/28/14

Beautiful tree in our back yard  10/28/14

Looking from our deck toward the golf course fairway as the early morning sun began to shine on that pretty tree;   10/30/14

Another early morning shot --looking through the trees at all of the color;  10/30/14

a close-up of some pretty leaves --as the sun shines on that tree;  10/30/14

Well---that's it!!!!  As you can see,  the last of these pictures were taken on 10/30.   It was on 10/31 and 11/1 when we had that big storm (rain/ice/snow--and lots of wind).. Needless to say,  I'm glad I took these pictures before that storm!!!!!

Have a wonderful day and get out and enjoy nature!!!!  We are definitely 'enjoying' it right now---picking up leaves--leaves---leaves in our yard!!!!!  Fun Fun...

Hugs,

Emoticons

What is THIS and WHY is it in our Yard????????

New fenced item in our yard,  next to the deck!

Hello Friends,  We have something NEW in our yard....  You know that we call our car, Mrs. P..  Well--our new 'friend' is named Mr. PT.......Do you have any idea what is behind that fence???????

George built this fence with materials from Lowe's.

NO---it's not a new home for our resident birds --nor squirrels ---nor chipmunks -- nor for our nightly visitors,  the raccoons....

My hint is that it is something which our Community Club says (in their rules) that MUST be hidden --so as not to take away from the beauty in our community!!!!!  (That's why George built the fence!!!!)  SO---it must be quite ugly!!!!!!  Hmmmmmmm.

Meet Mr.  PT  (our new Propane Tank)

Okay---I'll tell you what it is. Please meet our new Propane Tank  (Mr. PT)... I think he's kinda cute,  don't you?  Don't know why we had to fence him in!  Maybe someone thinks that  Mr. PT will try to escape..... Ya think?

Mr. PT (from the deck)

This is what Mr. PT  looks like when I'm standing on the deck--looking down on that 100 gallon tank. Now ---do you have any idea why we bought Mr. PT???????  We are an all-electric house ---so we have never used propane gas for anything....

Remember what we used to have here??????

This picture is Clue Number 2......  We used to have a huge WOODPILE here.  Remember??????

Wagon Full of WOOD --getting ready to leave us!

But---we gave all of our left-over wood away to a friend.... See that doggie?  That's SWEETIE... Sweetie's Daddy came with his trailer. 

Sweetie's Daddy GLADLY took our left-over Wood!!!

This is Larry  (Big Dude),  blog friend whose blog is HERE.  When we visited Larry and family/friends in their home not long ago,  I mentioned that we had some left-over wood we needed to get rid of.  Larry and a friend along with Sweetie took me up on my offer --and came to get the wood not long ago.

Bye Bye,  Larry---and our WOOD

After loading up all of the wood,  I offered the guys (George, Larry, and his friend) a cold drink (I even gave Sweetie some water)--before they got back on the road heading home.  They were glad to have that wood --and we were glad to find someone who could use it!

George makes sure they can make it out of the yard!

WELL----now we don't have anymore wood to burn in our fireplace.... Hmmmm---wonder what happens next?????

The side yard looks different without the woodpiles.

By now all of you must know what we did!!!!!!  BUT FIRST---I must tell you a personal story here.  I must admit that life and priorities change as we get OLD... I am one person who said that she'd NEVER have a 'fake' Christmas tree in her house... BUT---now I do (and love it)...  AND--I also said that I'd never go to Gas Logs in my fireplace.  BUT--after last winter's horribly cold winter, we decided to make that change.  I still love a wood-burning fireplace --but it was just not practical for us any longer.   Some of the reasons we changed:
1. Hubby has a bad back --and last winter,  all of his work chopping wood,  going back and forth from the woodpile and the garage trying to keep the wood dry was just too much--  since it was SO bitterly cold and since,  even after all of that work,  we had a hard time staying WARM.
2. Gas Logs look much nicer now --and look like the real thing. (I had gas logs once years ago --and hated them since they looked 'fake'.  Today,  they look REAL.)
3. Gas Logs will keep our home cleaner --with less smoke and wood-droppings being carried in and out.
4. Gas Logs are warmer than wood-burning fireplaces ---since all of the heat comes into the room rather than going up the chimney!

Our new GAS LOGS

So---we made the BIG change....  Here's a picture of the logs.   It's not a great picture ---but they really do look REAL.

The new Gas Logs in USE on a cold day

Unfortunately,  we haven't had much cold weather here yet --so we haven't been able to use the fireplace much.  BUT--so far,  we LOVE it...

The neatest thing to me is that it has a REMOTE ---and that's how we turn it off and on.  The remote can be set to maintain a certain temperature---and will go off and on as needed in order to keep the temperature in the house where we want it.

We can also program the remote to come on early in the morning in order to warm things up by the time we get up!!!!!!   I feel very spoiled by this feature---but George will love not getting up early to make me a fire,  or even to get up during the night and stoke the fire to keep it going... We are POSITIVE that we have made the right decision, especially George I'm sure!!!!  Keeping the wood burning fireplace was a HUGE job ---which we truly didn't need to continue doing.

Beautiful look,  don't you think?

Finally,  here's one more picture of our new fireplace while lit.  (The reflections are from the glass doors.)   You can see that there are 'embers' glowing at the bottom.  Isn't it neat??????  I don't know if you are a gas-log-fireplace lover  OR a 'fake' Christmas tree lover ---but this old woman knew that it was time to learn to "love" BOTH.....

NOTE (added after blog post was written):  We got to use our new fireplace yesterday --since it finally got COOL outside..  AND--we've had so much rain now that I cannot complain for a long time about being dry here.  We have had over 8 inches in the past 10 days... Hopefully it will be over soon (today I hope) ---and we will get some sunshine!!!!!  Yeah... Have a great weekend.

Hugs,

Emoticons