Cedar Waxwings Strike Again!

 No sooner than I hit publish on my last post, I went through the back porch to take some trash out and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a small flock of Cedar Waxwings in our neighbor's evergreen tree! Naturally I was unequipped but ran quickly inside for a camera with a zoom lens. Folks, I was rewarded and I am passing on my good fortune to you!

Who knew that there was an abundance of berries on what I am presuming is a Juniper tree, although don't quote me on that, Those masks! Those super smooth feathers!! While I love Cardinals as much as the next person, this bird is right up there on my favorites list, especially when they show up unannounced which we will get to in due time.

I may have mentioned that Laura resigned her position with the town and as such John wanted to have a party to celebrate her retirement. Finding a date that worked for everyone was not easy, but finally it was settled for last night. Being a surprise party turned out to be more difficult then John expected, but since that was the original plan, he dropped the decorations off at our house weeks ago so we could do the decorating.  Eventually it was decided that it would work best for everyone if it was held in Jenn and Rick's new place that is anything but small and intimate. So, Bruce and I went last week to come up with a plan. They decorate for every holiday in a big way and Valentine's Day is included. We took advantage of her, well, what do you call it when it is a large area? 

Yea...large!

By the day of the party though, they were already switching to Mardi Gras. 

Indeed, I don't know about a legend, but she has been a HUGE asset to the town of Murphy and will be missed.

One day last week I joined with other folks for a walking group called, "Murphy on the Move" and as is typical, I was the slowest of anyone. I do not know why I walk, what other folks think is slow, but I do. When I mentioned that my partner had to be slow, a man spoke up and said he was also slow. Great! I've already forgotten his name, but our pace was quite similar.

Meanwhile this was part of the group leading the way.

I spoke with the lady in the burgundy after the hour walk was complete,

learning that she is an Appalachian Trail hiker and has done sections in most states. Held on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, it might prove difficult with my volunteer schedule, but we shall see. 

I am always so puzzled when I see something like this at our downtown antique store. Where, or who did it come from?

The weather has been all over the map; today is meant to rise to 62 degrees, whereas other days, the wet, cold and fog is pretty miserable.

Let's turn our focus onto beautiful days shall we? I put a different lens on my camera and did some practice shots of things you have seen many times before. 

How different Murphy must have been when the railroad still came to town. This is winter folks.

Plenty bare and brown, but it won't be too long now and this will all transform into glorious beauty. 

Meanwhile, one floor below, Bruce began work on a new project and can you guess what it was?

If you guessed a box to hold cans of gasoline and a gasoline blower, you are the winner!! 

When faced with the prospect of no power for a good long while, Bruce jumped into action, buying gas for the generator. Of course we all know we experienced nothing of the sort. but should we have, my dear Bruce was ready. Wanting to move the gas containers away from the house, he got very creative and went to work.

He painted it to match everything else out back that he has either built or refurbished and then put it in place. Shingles baby!

And here is the completed box in it's new home.

That's correct. Underneath the kayak! I took the photo above to talk about what is happening in the next day or so and that is having the huge stump ground out in order to turn this area into a small garden as it is about the only part of the yard, aside from the front, that has abundant sunshine. The grinding is costing a small fortune, but David keeps telling us to spend our money and so, on occasion, we are. 

Just think, if I am posting flower or vegetable photos, I won't be bombarding you with birds!! 

Speaking of growing things, I am not sure if I ever showed you the giant oyster mushroom I came across last month? 

Robins have been plentiful and I am so here for it. Only once a year do they show up in Orlando, which makes seeing them daily such a treat.

The same holds true with this tiny Song Sparrow.

Earlier today as I was walking along someone asked me what was I looking for as I gazed up into the upper branches of the bare trees. Tiny birds was my answer. The image above puts their size into perspective, although this one is taken in our yard. As were these two cuties.; one is a White Throated Sparrow and the other is a Dark-Eyed Junco. Here today and gone tomorrow! 

And while generally considered a nuisance bird by many, I do love the way a European Starling shines in the bright sunshine. 

All birds are beautiful, but all are not created equally beautiful which is something I am telling you that you do not already know. You may recall that I am recording information each morning on what birds are heard by Merlin, the most fantastic bird app available. 

But, I digress. 

As well as the birds, I record the time, the temperature, and weather conditions. And why is that you ask? Because I am trying to learn more about the North Carolina birds. We have discussed before how sometimes, especially my Bird Buddy feeder, when AI is involved with birds they are not entirely accurate. Mostly they are though, but I am puzzled as to why I am seeing on the app that Cedar Waxwings are uncommon right now because, much to my delight and surprise, as I was bemoaning that fact that seeing them at Daniel and Courtney's house was probably going to be the end of my season with CW. Holy Cow,  moments later as I was walking down the next street over, by golly I saw a large flock of birds fly into a huge tree ahead of me.

Every dark dot you see was a Waxwing.

Here are but a fraction of them!

You would be so proud of me because I did not take a hundred photos of this sighting! I mostly just watched and waited to see if they would fly off en masse. Eventually I continued my walk, reluctantly I might add, but if I was to get any exercise I needed to get moving. After about forty five minutes, I could stand it no longer and made my way back to the "tree" where, much to my surprise, they were still chilling in Chad and Erin's tree. Yup, we know the folks. I sat on a little rock wall watching and waiting. After another ten minutes or so, a few of them began drifting off into a tree across the street that was much smaller.

The best part though was when a group swooped down on a holly bush and mayhem ensued.

By my count there are ten in the above photo. And then there were a few doing some gymnastic moves.

You have been a witness to the fact that I have taken so many pictures of birds that it is crazy, however, never can I remember getting one that is holding onto the branch, upside down ,and with wings spread. Now that was fun!!

And while you may be a little tired of seeing them, rest assured it won't happen for much longer. Of course, maybe I WILL stumble across some again before they leave for the year.

A girl can hope, can't she?

your friend,

Gail 

Ending January on a High/Low Note

We made it! January is nearly no more and we did just fine, if I do say so myself. Beginning the year with  Covid was not my idea of a great start to the year, but aside from being out of shape, we both have experienced no long lasting effects. Bruce is back to his senior body building ways and I am walking whenever the weather cooperates.

Because there is a lot of grey in the landscape seeing the bountiful Nandini berries is always a day brightener. Someone left these to decorate one of the park's picnic tables, or at least that is my version of the story. What were they thinking do you suppose?

The brilliant red is such a contrast to most everything around it, aside from the holly berries to be found in the three trees by the dozens.

I have been taking photographs like they are going out of style, so paring them down to a blog post is quite the task. Bruce told me he thought my last post was really good, however, from what I can tell, most people didn't come across it so here it is again. Why that is relevant is because in that post I mentioned we were soon to be heading out for dinner with some new friends and when it was time to go, this is what the drive was like.

Not ideal for older folks. Bruce is becoming somewhat more comfortable driving in the mountains, but when it is pouring and almost dark, well that makes for a bit of a tense drive. Nonetheless, we made it and had a marvelous time at their eclectic house and I mean that in a good way. The back yard sold them and no wonder when you have a waterfall right behind your deck!

They both follow a Keto diet and we were treated to some delicious food that was good for everyone. Another couple from church were there, Alice and Ron, who live near us. One thing that I have continued  thinking about are the delicious deviled eggs made from their own chickens. Twelve chickens to be exact.

While I was dying to see them, rain, dark and cold for that matter, kept me inside. We are so grateful to the folks who have made us feel so welcome during our time here in Murphy.

As you might note, all of the news so far has been good and that is because I am saving a little something, and really it is a minor set-back, for later in the post. 

Onward with good stuff! Winter is good! The light, at least when the sun makes an appearance, is fantastic!

Don't get too used to exciting bird shots, or at the very least interesting, because soon enough, with leaves on the trees, they will not be nearly so easy to spot.

No, we have not had any bluebirds near the house but they are fairly easy to find at the park adjacent to the river. Honestly I cannot get enough of those pretty birds.

Just this morning I saw a Tufted Titmouse enter Bruce's bird house several times!!! Checking out the real estate? Only time will tell.

Our feeders are emptied nearly as quickly as Bruce can fill them, providing, especially this obsessed woman, a lot of entertainment. Last week we had a new guest, a House Finch came to check things out.

I read somewhere that when one arrives, soon others will follow, and while that may be true it is hard to imagine, what with the volume of birds we have how they will find places at the table. It is so hard to depict in a photograph, but lets just say that there is a feeding frenzy going on throughout the day! And while this is not the article I first read, it does describe the bird "fight club" going on at one's home feeders. Here's hoping I can find the other article because I want to share it with Bruce, but anyway, after reading it, I watched ever more closely to see who would push the other one aside. Very entertaining indeed.Also entertaining was looking out and seeing some local bucks having a go at one another. It began like this and please forgive the quality because I was on the porch shooting through the screen, but let's check it out and you decide. 

Really I can see they aren't much, but in a few years I will only care that I caught the action! One afternoon as we were driving home and talking to Bill on the phone, we saw a big bunch of deer, and then another group, followed by a turkey crossing the road. Bill was loving it.

Rain has been plentiful and the creeks are rising. This is one that runs a long distance along one side of the property. I headed into the woods to get a good look.

I always take a walking stick because the fallen leaves, when wet, can be very slippery indeed! 

One low note I am slipping in here is that one reason I am out of shape is because day after day the courts have looked like this.

So it has not been the cold that, as I'd imagined say back in say September, but rain that has kept us from playing as often as is our norm . This morning Bruce went, in spite of last night's rain, and it must have been dried off because he has not returned. We did practice Monday afternoon once the sun came out and that is when I discovered that it was going to take some time for me to be back in playing shape! 

Aside from all of the above, another high note is that we have gone on two field trips in a row! The first was a scenic drive to nearby Young Harris, GA. That's one thing about our location, two other states are so very close! The drive is alongside a rushing river on winding roads, alongside fields,

AND with a view of the snow-capped mountains!

 Our destination was the easily found Cupid Falls that are situated adjacent to the road just down the way from the college.

Young Harris College is a very small liberal arts college founded decades ago by the Methodist church. Basically, you follow the street we are facing, rounding the corner and down a little ways and you come across a beautiful park with the rushing falls.

Seriously who doesn't love waterfalls? Especially when there is no strenuous hike involved. Sign me up!

More snow on the mountains from last week when it was quite cold. This week is starting off not nearly as frigid. In fact, most days it will be in the 50's which is nearly a twenty degree swing. Either way, I am good. Bruce is learning to layer. :)

A little ways down from where the falls are, we came across something unexpected. 

Isn't that the fun of exploring? You just never know what you will come across.

Here's looking at you kid!

Here's looking at you kid, part two.

Nearing the finish line folks, but not before showing off another exciting find. As we were driving back through the campus I saw a tree and asked Bruce to turn around. He is so great about that, in part because he is such a great husband, and in part because he is so used to it. As everyone knows lighting is key to great photographs and although I would like to have great lighting all of the time, it really is rarely the case. Either the light is too bright or there is not nearly enough as was the case with this scene.

Thank goodness for the exposure compensation feature on my camera. It allows me to add more or less to the exposure. No doubt you can guess which way I went to get this shot of a tree full of Cedar Waxwings.

To say that I was excited is putting it mildly.

Well dear readers, I have saved the low note for last. It won't surprise you in the least to learn that I have hurt myself once again. It happened yesterday afternoon during what was another exciting field trip and honestly I was so lucky because it could have been so much worse.

You might say to yourself, not again Gail, and I would respond, yes again! There is a reason injuries are called accidents because oftentimes they are inexplicable. How in the name of heavens I could have shut the car door on my thumb is just that, inexplicable. How I had the wherewithal to then open said door is also a mystery, but somehow I did. It hurt so darn bad. The back side is not great either. One reason I did not accompany Bruce to the courts today is not only the possibility of the a wet court, but the even worse possibility that I might get hit on my thumb. Getting hit on one of your digits is really painful any day of the week but when one is injured and cold, even this goofy lady is not signing up for that! 

I am so glad that I was able to type and write this love letter to life. So while January had some low notes, the highs most definitely outweighed them. What, pray tell, will February bring?

your friend,

Gail