An Arkansas Valentine Week

George and I took a little trip this past week to celebrate the joy of being each others' Valentines!!!  We went to one of our favorite places,  to Mt. Nebo in Arkansas.  Many of you know about Mt. Nebo if you have followed my blog awhile.  We visit there at least once a year --and even went twice a couple of years.  It's just a piece of heaven to us!!!!

We rent a cabin on top of the mountain (we call it 'our' cabin since we ask for the same cabin every year)---with a view of the valley below and of the sunset.  The picture above shows us sitting outside on top of our picnic table --while waiting for the sun to set.. It was a gorgeous late afternoon in Arkansas on 2/14/13.  

Here is the sunset we saw that evening.  Isn't that just fabulous????

The cabin is a place where we can go to RELAX.   We see wildlife all around the cabin and there are lots of places to hike in the area.  We also visit other nearby areas each time we go.  There's just no place better for a REAL vacation.    Here's a picture of the back of our cabin. 

The cabin has a fabulous wood-burning fireplace ---so you can imagine how much we enjoyed sitting by the fire when we were there.

We enjoyed all kinds of weather --and even had a little snow one night.  BUT--for the most part,  the weather was really really nice this year.  However, the day we went to Mt. Magazine (2/13/13) --the wind was VERY cold.  You can tell in this photo at one of the overlooks how cold we were.  It was fun though!!!!

One of the joys each year is seeing WILDLIFE while we are there.  There are deer on our mountain which are almost tame.   AND of course I have to take a bag of birdseed with me--to feed the little birds.  They must wait for me to get there since they found the birdseed quickly!!!!  One bird that we don't have too many of in my area of Tennessee is the Dark-eyed Junco.  Arkansas has lots of them --along with Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, Nuthatches, etc.

BUT---to my great excitement this year,  I saw a new 'life' bird for me,  a ROADRUNNER (pictured above)...  I had never seen one before ---so this is one of the highlights of this trip for me.  Isn't he amazing???   All I could think about was the old cartoon... Remember "Beep Beep"???????

We did quite a bit of hiking that week.  On this day (2/11/13) ---we hiked the King's Bluff Loop Trail --and saw a fabulous (HUGE) waterfall.  We also walked along the cliff's edge (note picture above) ---and looked at all of the different rock designs and pedestals.

On another day (2/14/13) --- we hiked on the Pedestal Rock Loop Trail --and saw some very unique pedestals (which I will show in another blog post).  Here is a picture of us on that trail.

After leaving the Pedestal Rock Loop Trail,  we drove down a dirt road in search of a beautiful waterfall,  Falling Water Falls.   I will share more pictures later of this beautiful waterfall with you --but I wanted you to see a tiny bit of it today.  The water here is a gorgeous shade of aqua!!!!  Beautiful!

I will end by showing you a picture of a sunrise. We saw the sunrise about 7 a.m. (after a drive down the street) at Sunrise Point 3 different mornings.  All of them are different --but this one (2/12/13) was a favorite.  Mt. Nebo offers benches at Sunrise Point for one to sit and enjoy the sunrise...  SO beautiful!!!!

Well--as you can tell,  we had a glorious week in Arkansas.   Hope you all had a good week also.  I have MUCH more to share---but those will come in time!!!

Have a fabulous Monday.

Hugs,

Emoticons

Weekend Birds--during our Snow

This past weekend (Feb. 1-3) we finally had quite a bit of snow here on the Cumberland Plateau. It was very interesting in that 3 clipper systems came south on three different mornings... The total amount was about 6 inches;  however, since the snows came at 3 different times,  there was melting going on between each snow.  SO--we only had about 3 inches total on the ground at one time,  and that was on Saturday morning.  I posted a blog with photos this past Monday.  If you missed it,  click HERE.

All during the weekend,  my little backyard birds flocked to the feeders over and over.  I got some great pictures of them.  The temperatures were very cold on Friday (11 degrees early that morning--with highs in the low 20's) -- but warmed up some on Saturday and even more so on Sunday. 

Hope you enjoy seeing more of my precious Backyard Birds... The pictures were taken off and on throughout that weekend. The picture above was a typical one showing our deck from my 'throne' (recliner sofa)...  At times, there were more than 50 little birds on the deck at the same time.  MANY of them were Goldfinches.  We have more Goldfinches this year than ever before --but do have a few Pine Siskins and House Finches.

Be sure to click on the pictures for enlargements.  You get many more details that way.

Here is a picture showing our heated birdbath.  Birds need water --and in the winter it is hard for them to find some.  The heated birdbath does not make the water hot or warm --but does keep it from freezing.

I tried all weekend to get a picture of the red Cardinal in the Rhododendron... Finally got one --but when I looked at the picture on the computer,  the Rhododendron was beautiful but the Cardinal was blurry.... Grrrrrrr!!!!  This was one of the few I got of Mr. Cardinal.  I had swept (did that a million times all weekend I think... ha) ---and he was looking for some seed on the deck.  That is a couple of finches in the snow nearby.

The Goldfinches will eat suet, black sunflower seed and thistle.... I have 7 different feeders on the deck --and they'll munch out at any or all of them!!!!!

Here is a pretty little male House Finch. See how much larger some of the House Finches are than the Goldfinches?

I love this picture when it was snowing hard. I  usually don't leave the plate out when it's raining or snowing since there is no cover... BUT--the birds LOVE that plate and the snow didn't keep them from eating there.  SO--I just left it out for them.  Those are finches on the left and the male Bluebird on the right.

My sweet little Dark-eyed Junco only visits me when there is snow on the ground.  I don't know if he's the same one each year --but there's always ONLY ONE at a time that visits us.

Downy Woodpeckers are year-round visitors.   They love SUET ---and always head toward one of my 3 suet feeders.

 

Another winter visitor is the Robin... In fact, we had several of those big birds around the plate feeder that weekend.  Robins generally don't come to feeders --but in the winter,  I'm sure they get desperate... Isn't he pretty???  That is a Mourning Dove behind him --also on the plate feeder.  The two of them take up most of the feeder --and all of the little birds fly to other feeders and let the big boys have it!!!

Love this picture of these two Mourning Doves.  The male (with a pinkish breast) is on the right and the female is on the left... Mourning Doves mate for life... Aren't they pretty?

Pete,  our resident Red-bellied Woodpecker,  comes to the feeders all year long.  He loves to squawk when he is in the trees...  His favorite food is SUET.

Finally,  here are three Bluebird photos which I put in a collage for you. Bluebirds are year-round residents --and I enjoy them so much.  In these pictures,  you can see the female and the male enjoying the suet.  I can't wait 'til spring when we hopefully will have some baby Blues to share!!!!!

Hope you enjoyed seeing some winter birds on a cold, snowy weekend in Tennessee.  We are taking Valentine's Week off to enjoy each other and have some fun... Hope you have a fabulous week --and a Happy Valentines Day to ALL of you...  Be sure to share the LOVE with those around you.

Hugs,

Emoticons