Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

In the week I was gone the two tomato plants grew quickly. There were quite a few little green tomatoes while a week ago there was almost none. My wife had splurged and bought quite a few plants while I was on vacation–many still in their original containers and needed to be planted. She bought two beautiful budding fuchsia plants one of which I hung from the white pine tree in view from our large living room window. Every year we put one up there and the plant does well there as long as we keep it watered.

The weather finally became seasonal–sixties and seventies. I thought we went straight from winter into summer for a short time. At least it seemed that way. Today I was thrilled I noticed a flower that had little white snow bells. My wife said it was a perennial. The grass was also cut when I got home. All these things happened in the week I was gone.

Tags: fuchsia, gardening, little green tomatoes, living room window, my wife, perennial, spring, summer, tomato plants, vacation, weather, white pine tree, white snow bells flower, winter
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Today I saw an hairy and a red bellied woodpecker at the same time travelling up and down on the trunk of our white pine we put a suet cake on. The hairy woodpecker was an unusual visitor. A hairy woodpecker looks just like a downy woodpecker–just bigger. For months we stopped putting out birdseed because a bear visited our property one time too often destroying our gate during one visit. Our dogs were no help: they slept right through all the bear’s visits. My wife once saw the bear standing in the yard at night munching on birdseed on the ground.

Tags: a bear raided our birdseed at night, bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, birdseed, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, my wife, our encounter with a bear, red bellied woodpecker, suet cake, the dogs slept through several bear visits, white pine tree
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I looked at my dogs outside.  All four.  Each was facing away from the large white pine tree forming a circle around the tree in a different direction.  I love my four dogs.  Each differently.  Coco, a female black long haired is simply sweet.  Pax the elder likes the sound of his own voice.  Sweetie the golden retriever is just that sweet and happy go lucky and loves to gnaw on branches.  Tilla and I have a special relationship.  I earned his loyalty by almost endlessly rubbing his belly.  In fact, he often gives me a hug by resting his upper body on me and then having me pet him.  He is no small dog–at least seventy pounds–very affectionate.  All of them are big.  They are enjoying the snow today.  I never in my wildest dreams expected to own four dogs (and that does not include the seven cats who roam the house).  To say the least, we have no mouse problem in our house.  I could not have imagined this menagerie twenty-five years ago.

Tags: belly rubs, big dogs, Coco, dog hugs, dogs, four dogs, my menagerie, no mouse problem, Pax, pets, seven cats, snow, Sweetie, Tilla, white pine tree
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Two male cowbirds I spotted today on my platform feeder under my large white pine tree.  I have seen them in my yard other years but this is the first time this year.  Only the male has a brown head.  They do have a bad reputation for planting their eggs in other birds’ nests.  Anyway, they were a pleasant surprise today.

Tags: bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, birds' nests, cowbirds, platform feeder, white pine tree
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I don’t see robins in my yard that often.  Most of the grass was snow covered but there was a long V shaped bare spot with each end at least twenty-five feet long under that large white pine.  Briefly there were five robins there hunting earth worms.  It was unusual to see so many robins concentrated in such a small area.  They simply did not have much area to hunt in.  Most of the grass was snow covered.  I never saw five robins in my yard at once.  It was an unusual sight.

Tags: bird-watching, birds, earth worms, five robins in one spot, robins, snow covered grass, white pine tree
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I never paid any attention to it. The big trees in our yard are all white pines. The one in front of our window we hang bird feeders from and see a constant parade of visitors. But that is not the tree I am going to talk about. There is a gigantic white pine outside our large wooden fence. Lately I would occasionally stare at it realize (???) it could be over an hundred years old. It is massive, easily the oldest tree on our property. I have lived here ten years and never paid much attention to it. It is massive and might have seen the beginning of the twentieth century. It is definitely older than me. I could only guess at its age. It is a treasure on our property and all I can do is occasionally walk back there and open my mouth in awe and stare at it and peer at all its gnarled branches and imagine its age.

Tags: big trees, bird-feeders, birds, gnarled branches, tree older than me, trees, white pine tree
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We had unusual visitors to our yard:  twice an indigo bunting was feeding on our bird seed I had strewn on the ground.  They are a small completely bright purple bird and they do not come too often.  Sometimes they come in flocks although it was only one this time that came twice.  I saw a ruby throat hummingbird come to our feeder.  His red throat flashed in the light.  They used to come every day but now they are infrequent visitors.  I love watching them.  Lately grackles have been daily visitors and sometimes scare the other birds away with their aggressive nature.  These are just some of the visitors we get.  Of late, a chipmunk has been feeding on the birdseed.  A few times I found him ten feet up on the big white pine tree.  Usually you only see them on the ground but they certainly have no problem climbing.  At least this one doesn’t.  Every once in awhile we will get a bird I have not seen before.

Tags: bird feeding, bird seed, bird-watching, birds, bright purple bird, chipmunk, grackles, hummingbirds, indigo bunting, ruby throat hummingbird, white pine tree
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I have my eyes open for the two cottontails we saw in the backyard last week.  We tossed out vegetable cuttings in the bushes for them.  They were two plump rabbits grazing in back.  We do see them occasionally around but I had not seen any in awhile.  I wonder where they come from and whether they nest under that large white pine in back.  Ever since I saw them I keep peering out my kitchen window for them.  It is going on a week since I last saw them.  I just wonder where they go in the winter, whether they hibernate, or what?  It has been months since I last saw them.

Tags: backyard, bushes, cottontails, hibernate, kitchen window, nature, rabbits, spring, vegetable cuttings, white pine tree, winter
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In a short time–twenty seconds–I saw a Carolina wren, a brown creeper, the ubiquitous titmouse and a red bellied woodpecker–all from my window.  They were feeding on the birdseed I put out on the ground plus the suet cake placed next to the trunk of my large white pine tree.  The woodpecker took a chunk of fat from the suet cake and disappeared.  I could never understand why it is called a red bellied woodpecker.  The red is on its head not its belly.  It is a big magnificent woodpecker I never saw before I started putting out suet cakes regularly.

The small sized downy woodpeckers are more frequent visitors than the red bellied woodpeckers.  Sometimes you can see two or three downy woodpeckers at one time although they maintain their space between each other.  They march up and down the pine tree stiffly like they are at attention.  The Carolina wren is a big wren as far as wrens goes–maybe the biggest and feeds on the ground as well at the suet.

The brown creeper is a nondescript little brown bird with a curved beak that does just that creep up and down the trunk of the pine tree.  It occasionally can be found on the ground but usually is found on the trunk of the tree going up and down the tree.  Of the four birds, it comes here the least.  These birds mentioned can be found here all year around.

Every once in awhile I spot a new bird and become excited.  The latest was a red-cockaded woodpecker that came every day for a few days although I saw no red on it.  It took several visits before I could make a positive identification.  It is a midsized woodpecker between the size of a downy and red bellied woodpecker.  I had never seen one before.  Watching birds from my large living room window gives me much pleasure.

Tags: bird feeding, bird seed, bird-watching, birds, brown creeper, Carolina wren, downy woodpecker, large window, red bellied woodpecker, red-cockaded woodpecker, suet cake, titmouse, white pine tree, woodpeckers
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You never know what creatures you will see around my house.  Last week I flushed a deer in the woods out back.  It must have been drinking water from the tiny creek there.  It is not unusual to see deer in the area although that was the first time I spotted one in our yard.

A few days ago I moved my mower which was on our front porch and a two inch black toad hopped away and disappeared into a crack between the porch and wall.  I had never seen one that color before although I have seen many toads of all sizes on our porch that are attracted by the bugs the porch light brings.

Just today I saw a chipmunk on the limb six feet up on a branch of our white pine viewed from (???) of our living room.  Usually he is only seen scurrying on the ground helping himself to the bird seed scattered on the ground.  I know they can climb but that was an unusual spot to see him.  You never know what animal you are going to see.  We live on the edge of the countryside.

Tags: animals, bird seed, black toad, bugs, chipmunk, countryside, creatures, creek, deer, edge of countryside, porch light, toads, white pine tree, wildlife, woods
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It must almost be spring.  Today I saw a robin near our feeders.  I ran out into the yard to make sure I was not mistaken and saw a pair of them hip hopping in the snow across the street.  A little later both of them lit on our front white pine tree:  I guess they could not find any food in the snow.  I was thrilled. And brought them to my (???) attention of my wife.  It was my first sighting of a robin this year.  Both of them were pretty fat so they had no shortage of food.  It was March 8 less than two weeks from spring.

Tags: almost spring, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, first robin, March, robin, snow, spring, white pine tree
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All I wanted to do was watch the birds and listen to music with the volume pumped up but not unbearably so.  My wife would be gone several hours.  I had just come back from shopping.

I had a dinner planned–a new recipe-macaroni and broccoli but I would not have to start it for several hours.  I was tickled pink to see a house sparrow briefly.  I had not seen one in awhile.

The snow birds (slate-covered juncos) were feeding on the ground around our large white pine tree in flocks.  I glanced out the back window:  the bare patches were getting bigger.  It was in the forties.

It felt great to be alive.  I just wanted to be, sit back, stand it does not matter.  It was my time.  I was listening to a fine anthology I put together by the Hollies.  It was much played over the years which is a good sign I did my job of mixing the tunes well.

Another anthology by Steeleye Span (an old British folk-rock band) was next.  I do not play that tape too often but I still like it.  And an old (all my music is old) Thin Lizzy album “Jailbreak” was next.

I had no concerns and will rest a little better when my wife get back from her appointments.  Meanwhile I will occasionally glance out my large living room window and see what birds come along.  Maybe even smoke a stogy while life passes me by.

Tags: "Jailbreak", bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, British folk-rock band, felt great to be alive, house sparrow, life, listen to music, music, music anthology, my time, my wife, record album, slate covered juncos, smoke a stogy, snow birds, Steeleye Span, the Hollies, Thin Lizzy, white pine tree
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