Mourning Dove.......

The reflection of the bird and the cloud adds dimension to this shot. I keep the water fresh in it as the birds really do like having the source. The large crows even stop in once in a while.

The Begining of Bluebells.....

The New England bluebells are starting to bloom.  My memory of them was that they grow a lot taller and are will have many more blooms. Our rains on Wednesday and Thursday will help them be better.

New Nest..........

A robin’s nest is built on the support beam of the deck.  It I worked at it, I could maybe see down through the crack of the boards to see a robin there. They hatch out young so quickly and get them out of the nest in such a fast pace that sometimes they are never seen.

Brighter Blooms.......

I couldn’t decide on which one that I wanted to share.  I just showed both of them As of last week we had snow out there.

Sprung.......

Everything in the ground in our area has taken a drastic turn to positive spring growth. Willow trees turned green overnight and buds on flowering trees are ready now to burst open. Everything seems to be sprouting up out of the ground from its winter hibernation.

Yesterday Morning........

A catch of a lifetime.  I looked up while out with Barney and knew I had to get the camera.  I forgot to go take the shot when we came inside.  I made coffee and I remembered then that I still had something to photograph. If you see the level roof tops they show that I wasn’t leaning over  on the camera. In most cases the clouds and sun would have changed angels and I would have missed it.  I lucked out this time

At the Wall.......

Against the wall the spring flowers do bloom.  I see in the photo that there is a daffodil that will blooming.  There should be two blooms for sure. The grape hyacinth took time to develop better with a light rain a few days ago.

Daffodil Yellow.....

The warmer weather caused the daffodils to grow taller. The variety is a shorter one but it did really shoot up more with the soil now warming. The hyacinths also are liking this warm weather.

Moody Blues.....and White.

The day is suppose to be a good one today.  We have clouds so far in early morning but there will be sun.

Suburbia sunrise on Sunday morning with the sun trying to peak through the clouds. It is a great looking sky with textured clouds.

Female Cardinal ....

I zoomed in on her this morning, thinking she was nesting.  She was not nesting.  She is eating something from the spruce.  It may be the ends of the pine branch.  Other birds are feeding on the tree too.  I had one view finder look at her smacking her beak as if she were eating peanut butter.  I am sure it is a dry material and she does prefer it to what I have in my feeders. I do keep watching the tree to see if they will nest in that tree but that may not happen.  I do know that the goldfinches did nest in there.

In the Light......

Thy hyacinths are soaking in the sun and are grateful for the soil to be warming up too.  The brightness of the sun actually put such white reflections on the petals that it looks out of focus. All of these spring flowers did gain in height in spite of the week of cold weather.

Mourning Dove in the Morning.......

I like that the mourning dove is so easy going.  They like to rest on our deck and if there is a stray seed around they will go for that too. The vines are from the evasive one.  They have been clipped back from below and I need to now remove them.  The two doves will fly away from the deck and they will sit for long periods on the fence below.

Middle of the Week....

Grape hyacinths seem to be an old fashion spring flower that is planted on most properties. I did have mine die out at the old house but I have some planted here at the new place. The rock garden that was created around the rose bushes makes it look like I own a part of the lake shoreline.

Yellow Bird in View.......

The male goldfinch is almost done growing out its yellow feathers. During feeding frenzies at the deck the house finch seem to bully the goldfinch away from the feeders. This one did sneak in anyway and I snapped a shot as quickly as I could.

I had to fill the feeder this last evening as it was being emptied down to just a bit of seed. I will have to buy more seed in the future. I do like to feed the offspring of the goldfinches as they bring them to the feeder when they are big enough to hang from the side of the sock.

White Weather......

A white blanket over the intended spring flowers really won’t hurt the flowers. It is just at freezing and the snow will insulate the flowers. I couldn’t get one of those perfect photos with blooms projection in perfect form but this will do.  I have a high school friend who lives in Vermont that posts the very same perfect shot of crocus coming out of the snow.  Its a wonderful shot and he just keeps reusing it saying it would be a waste of his time to try ti catch the view again.

Some melting can be seen around the base of the old blue spruce.

Snowing in April......

The female cardinal seemed a little bit frustrated as the feeders were covered with snow.  I finally slide my door open and threw out handfuls of birdseed  on top of the snow.  If they feed on it fast enough it won’t get buried and I can throw out more throughout the day.

One out of three of my photos were actually in focus. I was glad to get the one good one but I would think that all of them could have focused.  I guess I was doing panic shooting because I was certain she wouldn’t stay there very long.

It is standing room only as this is the only feeder that is staying open through our snowstorm.  I know it snows in April but tornadoes, winds of  70 miles per hour and then sleet off and on makes for a strange spring. I noticed last night that our strong winds had moved my gas grill over towards the stairs of the deck. The direction of the wind kept the grill from going down the deck steps as it sat on the ledge of the top step. It was diagonally wedged in the corner of the deck railing and fortunately the wind did not change direction.

So now with the weather, my geese are sporting snow coats again and the blue spruce is ready to be put on a Christmas card.

We will still run in to church today as we each have a class to teach. I have a birthday girl in the house and we will eat lunch  somewhere.  The special birthday meal she gets tomorrow night. We go to a special place that has great prime rib. We do have cake ready to go for this afternoon.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Waterworld all Weekend.......

We have been seeing lots of rain through the night and also will have it most of the day on Saturday. We are in the center of Iowa so we won’t see snow until late today.  Northern Iowa is in a snowstorm that started in the night.  Tornado warnings were everywhere in the state last night with the worse of it in the south of the state. My little squirrel friend was really hungry this morning but really didn’t like being in the rain. I bet if it breaks off raining for a short time he will be back.  I need to dump the seed into a colander and drain off the water. I am getting my wish to have green grass.

Long Distant Photography......

Safflower seeds are recommended to feed the birds as they don’t reseed into the grass.  I was told tis by a lumberyard employee and the female cardinals shows she really likes them. The shot wasn’t an easy one to get from the second story of the house looking down.

The photo is almost in focus as I zoom down to take the shot.  I haven’t seen her on my deck for a long time so I thought it would be worth a try to shoot down to the ground.  I think it is so amazing as to how orange the beak is in comparison to all her subdued colors for camouflage  while she sits on her nest.

Two Brass Ducks and Flowers......

An unplanned shot of the flowers that had the perfect background surprise. They are sort of like the two geese we have outside in the backyard, these seem to be shifted and moved on the credenza or fireplace mantle when ever the mood hits.

Wednesday’s Blooms......

Robins in Winter......

The robin seems to be enjoying millet seeds. I have never seen robins at any feeders but I have a couple of them that keep coming to eat. They do appear to be very selective of what they want.

Gotcha........

I have seen this bird off and on the past few weeks as he flew by wth great speed.  Yesterday the snow was making all of the birds nervous and they were all at the feeder.  Having so many birds there fighting for positions to eat, helped to distract the chickadee from the camera man. He would grab a sunflower seed and fly off instantly to the staging tree to break it open.

Sharing Supper.....

They like the new seed that I bought yesterday. It is a hit for the three.  Another morning dove really could feed on it for a long time.

Dive Bombing.....

This kind of photo is always an accidental happening.  I was shooting the cardinal in the tree and the next thing I see is that he is leaving.

Christmas Past.......46 years ago.

We moved the jars but didn’t display them in December. They were in a chest of drawers staying safe and were out of sight.  I moved them to the basement a couple of days ago and now they are in my shop on the top shelf. Those who don’t know the decorations, they are shiny brite ornaments or some of them are "want to be’s".  The first ones bought by me was 1972  all red. Others came from my mom’s old box of ornaments and also a batch from my brother's box. Maybe I can get them up and out for next years Christmas time.  The green hooked item is a handle to a fishnet of course.

It’s a Dog’s World.........

It isn’t a great pose but it is one of Barney’s favorite places to be.  When we are both in the living room he can keep an eye on both of us.  At good times he can beg treats by letting out a moan.  What he can do now is get up from this position and walk to another part of the room. He really doesn’t think we know.  He hasn’t been able to physically stand up on his own for a couple of months. About ten minutes after I took this picture he got up and walked over to the hardwood floor in the dining room to be on a cooler surface. I wasn’t watching but I could hear that pitter patter of feet. He has strength in his front legs and normally I have lifted and pulled forward to help him get onto his back legs. He has lost some weight and can now propel his body forward enough to get onto his back legs.  I do still assist him when I can tell that he is struggling. He has really improved from our long winter months when he was pretty much down without help. I have to hustle to keep up with him in the front yard on some days and he does like to be moving around again.

Strong Bonds........

From all of the kinds of birds that I have at the feeder the house finch pairs are the most fun to watch. They have a strong bond between them and where one goes the other follows.  The pairs come and go continually and when I see a male finch I watch for the female to fly in wishing seconds.  Goldfinch birds do not have that same bond when it comes to feeding patterns. It isn’t unusual to see a goldfinch out there by itself and no others show.  It also is common though for three or four male goldfinches being at the feeders at the same time. The female also tend to come by themselves not having that strong pair bonding.

Iceberg.......

The robin stands on the floating ice in the middle of the birdbath while drinking from the melted edges. The sparrow isn’t so certain about all of it.

The water was clean and fresh from all of the rain and snow.  It has been attacking a lot of birds that past few days when there is some melting.

Canada Geese....

The small highway pond that I go by as I journey to the old house had a variety of waterfowl on it. These are the only ones that I could identify. They did make a pretty picture.  I suspect these two will be the ones that will nest on this lake. There really is not much green in this landscape yet even though we are into the month of April.  I saw some white birds that looked like the size of domesticated white ducks, but I am sure that they were not that.  Other water fowl that were ducks were on the water but I don’t know much about them to identify them.  I live in Iowa were ducks normally just travel through.  I did see two pelicans on Lake Saylorville as batches are still migrating through the area. I did not take any photos of them as I was on the bridge and they don’t let me stop on the bridge.

Easter Sunday.....