Our Home --Season by Season

I love going back through old pictures...  Needless to say,  I have ALOT more now than I used to!!!!! (Maybe that is a good thing that I didn't have so many old pictures to go through!!!! I have too many to go through now.. Ha).... Anyhow---I wanted to show you our little home in different seasons.   One thing which I absolutely love about Tennessee is that we get all four seasons --but we don't get the extreme heat nor the extreme cold...It's no wonder why so many people retire here.  We are also 2000 feet UP --on the Cumberland Plateau,  so that is nice (especially when the temperatures in Knoxville and Nashville are in the 90's and we are only in the 80's).   Seems like the best of all worlds,  don't you think????

Anyhow here are four pictures of our home in all four seasons.  I'll begin with Summer of last year (August) which is pictured above.  As you can tell,  there's not a huge amount of color around although the roses still bloom until frost.

Here is a picture of Fall  (taken last Fall)--and the gorgeous colors we get up here.  It's a beautiful time of the year and a busy one for me --since I am in charge of raking and blowing tons and tons of leaves!!!

Here's a picture of late Fall/early Winter ---after the leaves were gone (almost)... I do have to rake and blow many times before they ALL come down.  As you can see (since the roses are still blooming),  we haven't had a frost yet.

I just have to show you my all-time favorite Christmas Snow picture --taken last year in December.  I've shown this before (the others also I'm sure) --but this one makes me say "AH" each time I see it...

We didn't get too much snow last year --but what we got all came at the end of December and beginning of January.  It was a hard winter for most --but we've had worse!!!!  One way I know that is because our Fall Pansies made it through the winter and are still blooming and showing off NOW.

And now--we are to Spring of 2011.  Since we've had lots of rain the past couple of months,  our yard and flowers have really put on a show for us.

NOW---check this out!!!  This was our yard in 2006.  (Compare it with the picture above.) There were no roses yet in the front and no big road flowerbed.  We did have the 3 little round beds by then --and we had our big side flowerbed (which is where we had roses planted at that time).  The roses struggled on the side because there's just not enough sun there... So-- George started moving them to the front in 2007... This year we have over 57 different rose bushes.

Finally, here's one of the first pictures we took of the outside of our 'new' home... OH--how much we loved it.  You can see me (this was in Fall of 1992)  inviting everyone to come in!!!!!  The little elderly couple who had lived in this house since it was built in 1985 was having to move to Arizona to be with their daughter.  The husband had had a stroke and the wife just couldn't take care of him by herself.  They were the sweetest couple--but were NOT yard people.  I think they had a lawn service to mow it --but that was about all they did.

We didn't actually move in until June of 2003--after I retired... George continued to work until 2006---so we didn't begin too much yard work until about 2005-06.  Since then,  we have stayed very busy.. It's WORK ---but oh how wonderful the results are to one's soul and heart once those little buds pop up out of the ground/dirt... AND then to give us the blooms they do----well,  you know how fabulous that is!!!!!

Hugs,

May Backyard Birds

Above is a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER.  To me,  this is one of the prettiest woodpeckers we have (although all of them are pretty).  I love these woodpeckers and they only come to the suet feeder in the Spring/Summer.  Last year,  they brought one of their little ones to the feeder.  Hope they do the same thing this year.  Right now,  we only have two (I think):  a male and a female.  The two of them look almost identical --but the female is a little smaller.  Below are more pictures.

Here's a picture showing Mr. Red-Headed's underside...  Like all woodpeckers,  they can eat from all kinds of positions and angles!!!! ha

This is the female I think.   She is a little smaller than the one pictured above.  She seemed a little unsure as to how to get up to the suet feeder...

I love this picture when the Red-Headed Woodpecker was looking at me.... Sorry about the rusty clip in this picture and the top one above.  I have to use this heavy clip to keep the raccoons from stealing the entire trap. They cannot BUDGE this clip!!!!

I can never do a bird post without showing one of our PILEATED WOODPECKERS.  These birds come to the suet feeder 2-3 times a day most days...  I never tire of watching them.

And here is a close-up of Mr. Pileated.... Note his red mustache (which shows the difference in males and females)... Look at those big claws!!!!

This is a GRAY CATBIRD---which has been coming to the suet feeder quite a bit lately.  I only see one --and this is the first year I've had one regularly at the feeders.  They are Summer Visitors only (Breeding)--so hopefully,  he will bring his family to the feeder sometime.

Finally,   we have 2-3 MOURNING DOVES who come to our feeders regularly.  They love to jump up in the Plate Feeder ---and 'hog' it as their own!!!!!  But--they are pretty birds,  aren't they?

Hope you enjoyed seeing more of my Backyard Birds today!!!  Sorry that some of my pictures are a little blurry today... I was filming inside through glass and screen...

I do have some bad news to report...   Something happened to my baby Bluebirds. The Daddy is gone (was probably killed) and even though I see Mama around the nest,  there has been no activity in the nest in over a week.  SO--this weekend,  George and I looked into the nest.  There were 2 dead babies and 2 unhatched eggs.  I could have cried and cried.. There was no trauma --so I'm not sure what happened.  With Dad being gone,  maybe it was just too much for Mama Blue.  I have been VERY VERY sad over this.  Hopefully,  another family will come and occupy the nest.

Hope you have had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.  God Bless all of those men and women who have fought  and are fighting for our freedom.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY.

Hugs,