fully bullies

Yikes, did I miss last week?  It's been so busy here that it's hard to stay on schedule!  We had an amazing Valentine's Day hike at Eagle Creek.

When the trees are bare, you can really see the bird nests!

We had a small celebration at home, with fudgy brownies...

...and lots of board games.  I decorated the whole downstairs in streamers...Frances was a huge help in taking them down!

We continue to have a bounty of birds in these late winter weeks. I've been at the window so much that I've tried to justify it as a "bonding experience" with the cats...

You can usually find them on their window perch.

We see bluebirds daily...hopefully they'll inhabit the new nest boxes soon.

The big pileated woodpecker comes every day too.

We've had some trouble with the European starlings that live around here.  They're invasive and definitely "bully birds." A flock will descend on our suet feeders and they'll be empty within 2 days. They fight with each other...

...and with our other birds.

When the suet feeders are empty, they stare accusingly through the window.

There are ways to starling-proof your suet feeders, but that would make it difficult for the woodpeckers to feed.  We've just resigned ourselves to refilling the feeders...a lot.

Yesterday it got down to 27 degrees, and tomorrow it will be 70.  As I wait for temperatures to moderate, I'm inside baking...

chocolate cupcakes with sweetened peanut butter filling and vanilla frosting

...and finishing up some last-minute knitting.  I haven't been knitting too much lately...just a pair of socks for a Christmas gift...

...and this cowl for myself.  I love a very tight two-loop cowl and found a great pattern right before Christmas.  I knitted over the holidays and finished in January, but as usual, I drag my feet on finishing.  The cowl was a tube that had to be grafted together like the toe of a sock.  The graft was a bit clumsy, but I'm really pleased with the final product.

I love chevron stripes!

Todd modeled it for me.

It probably won't be cold enough to wear it this winter, but I packed it carefully away for the end of the year.  I love finishing projects, especially ones where I dread the finishing.  Hooray!  

Have a great week!  

grey day, and bombs away!

I love getting outside when there's a light, chilly rain.  If you're properly bundled up, it's easy to ignore the wet and just enjoy the brisk air.

We were almost completely alone at the nature preserve this weekend.  It was quiet except for the gentle pattering of rain and the chorus of tree frogs in the background. 

Since there weren't any other people around, we saw many more birds, including a snowy egret...

...and, of course, the omnipresent geese.

I was so excited to see that every single heron nest in the center of the preserve was occupied!

I had a macro lens, not my zoom, so I just couldn't get a close shot.  But at least you can see their silhouettes.

I love how rain brings out the fungus...

...and the flowers!  Since it's regularly dipping into the 70s now (75 by mid-week!), the bulbs are all coming up.

Hellebores are unfurling.

The camellia shrubs are either bud-laden...

...or drooping with blooms!

Perfect timing, because it's almost VALENTINE'S DAY!  💗  I don't really think of myself as a romantic person...I think I'm too analytical/logical for that.  I don't feel like I need a special day to appreciate my loved ones and look a bit askance at the commercialism of it.  But I do love holidays and any excuse to be festive.  Thanks to my handy dandy planner, I knew that February 12th was the day to pull out decorations.  I've already had my advent calendar up!  I've done one every year for a while, re-using the same background sheet but doing different "themes" with the days. This year is funny pictures from the past decade that combined to make a long, rambling Valentine's sentence.

Garlands MUST go up.  They were all waiting in my HOLIDAYS!!! box, so it only took about 15 minutes to festoon the rooms in which we spend the most time.

And camellias are pink/red, so every room is bursting with bouquets.

I normally bake treats to send out, but lack of time coupled with a desire to decrease my sugar consumption resulted in me cribbing an idea from Pinterest.  I ordered a case of Rolos, wrapped them in red paper, and printed out tags.  Tied together, they looked like dynamite...

You're the BOMB, Valentine!  And no leftover cookies to make us feel sick.  Hooray!  I sent out cards to people abstaining from junk food and "bombs" to those who make an exception for holidays.  I'm preparing to make a special two-person dessert tomorrow, which I'll post about next week. 

Otherwise, we've had a series of sleepy days here...

Looking forward to experiencing more chilly hikes and cozy, sleepy days - as much as we can before the heat and humidity set in.

Have a great week!

Cats in Sun & Valentine's Fun

I'm loving all the birds that are starting to come out, even though it's definitely not spring weather yet.

Carolina wrens are constantly singing outside my office window.

Our belted kingfisher is back!  He won't let me get very close...

...but he hangs out on a branch over the water.  I love to watch him skim the surface for insects, but I have to watch from indoors.  Even stepping out onto the back deck, a considerable distance from his perch, elicits a scold. 

We have lots of red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks around here, and the local crows have been mobbing them on a daily basis.  As soon as I hear the crows start up, I know that a lone hawk is nearby.  Sometimes I watch them chase him from tree to tree until he's safely out of their territory.

A brief respite...

...now he's on the move again!

Mostly I just see the little songbirds in the gardenia bushes outside.  Here's a dark-eyed junco tidying his feathers.

The local squirrels are tired of being in their drays and are scampering about, or doing some bathing.

The cats go out on the deck when the sun is out...

...but mostly they hang out in the back living room, under the couch.  We have a sectional couch in there which is directly over 2 heating vents.  It makes a nice warm place for an all-day nap.  Sometimes I'll just see a tail or a leg...

...but I always know they're there!

I finished knitting the socks I was working on, but I'm not very pleased with them.  They're a little loose on the leg, and I like a nice tight fit.  Oh, well, I'm not going to fix the problem, so I'll have to just live with them the way they are.

Valentine's Day is coming up, and this year I decided to do an advent-style calendar for Todd.  I really don't like mushy/overly sentimental messages, so I searched online for sentiments that felt more 'real' to our relationship.  I'm definitely more Spock than Cupid.  ;)  I used this tutorial to fold Valentine-themed craft paper into tiny envelopes.  Each envelope has a number to denote the date for opening.

Sealed with a sticker...

...and taped to a big piece of craft paper.

He opens one every morning.  I love the buildup to "the big day," even though we'll probably just play board games and watch The Walking Dead.  Maybe even a TWD marathon...now that's romantic!  :) 

Have a great week!