Visitors on a Cold, Windy, Dreary Sunday

We had a dreary weekend here on the plateau in Tennessee...  Winter came back!!!!  Dad-Gum it All!!!!  First of all,  it rained ALL day and most of the night on Saturday.  The big shocker (which NONE of the forecasters mentioned) was seeing SNOW when we woke up yesterday morning.

AND--it was 32 degrees with a cold wind blowing.  The little bit of snow melted quickly --but the temperatures stayed in the low to mid 30's all day long...  Needless to say,  we had a roaring fire going in our fireplace!!!!

But,  even with all of the dreariness,  some good came from the weekend.  First of all,  we saw more deer together than we have EVER seen.  They were on the golf course fairway in back of our house... There were 12 of them total....  I immediately got my long lens and took some pictures... They were spread out --so I never got all 12 in a picture.. BUT you will get the idea... Above and below are some pictures of the deer---and below that,  I'll show you my next surprise!!!

Oh how I love my long lens!!!!!  They were pretty far away ---but I got some good shots....

Here's one more picture I took at another time recently (February) of a group of deer which were near our woodpile in the empty lot...  I love these beautiful creatures.  That one was staring at the ole woman with the camera!!!!!

Here is a new bird at my feeder.  This (I think) is a male Yellow-Throated Vireo .  I have seen them on other blogs and they are gorgeous.. Of course,  he is still in his winter colors, but he looks like a vereo to me--with the two white wingbars.  The lighting was not good yesterday for bird pictures.  BUT--he is still a gorgeous bird.

UPDATE:  He is a male PINE WARBLER.  Thanks EILEEN.

This is the female Yellow-Throated Vireo.  She is not as yellow and has a brownish head... Aren't they gorgeous?  I was SO excited to see them... (If these two are not Yellow-Throated Vireos,  please let me know.  I checked online and also my books and I think they are... BUT????  I'm not totally sure.  At first I thought they were Yellow Warblers,  but now I don't...Thanks for any help!)

UPDATE:  She is a PINE WARBLER... That is another 'lifer' for me.

This is a visitor I had last winter while he was migrating.   He is a Yellow-Rumped  Warbler *(Myrtle Warbler)...  Again,  he has his winter brownish colors --so is not the gray/blue color he is in Summer.

*NOTE:  There are two Yellow-Rumped Warblers.  The Myrtle Warblers are in the east and the Audubon Warblers are in the western part of the USA.

Here's one more picture of the male Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Myrtle Warbler).  He has a yellow spot on his head,  yellow on each side of his breast,  and yellow on the upper part of his feathers...  He has a small white eyebrow.  I love the way he was looking at me.

SO---can you imagine how excited I was to see these new visitors yesterday???  It was a good day --despite the weather ---for birding and for seeing the deer.

Hope your weekend was a good one!!!!
Hugs,

Let's Talk Fridays: Are you an Optimist or Pessimist????

This proved a little harder than I thought it would  be.  For you see, I've always considered myself an Optimist... I try to think of the glass as being half-full rather than half-empty.   BUT--there are times when I certainly feel pessimistic about things...  Maybe we all have a little pessimism in us --whether we want to admit it or not...  I certainly am pessimistic about the price of gas,  the cost of food,  and our country in general right now.   Here are some quotes about Optimism vs. Pessimism --along with some images I chose from the internet...

"Optimist: Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster.  It's a Cha-Cha."-Robert Brault

"A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties."  -Harry Truman

"A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes;  a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs;  an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all--he's walking on them."- Leonard Louis Levinson

"Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society.  The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute."  -Gil Stern

"If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator,  he might say, in a pleasant and hopeful voice,  'Well,  this isn't too bad.  I don't have my left arm anymore,  but at least nobody will ever ask me whether I am right-handed or left-handed.'  BUT most of us would say something more along the lines of 'Aaaaaah!  My arm! My arm!'" -Lemony Snicket

Finally,   here's a great quote from Winston Churchill:  "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;  an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

I guess --when it all comes down to it--I am not as much of an optimist as I wish I were....  Now---what say YOU?  Are you an Optimist or a Pessimist????? Why or why not????

Hugs,