Good Morning!
Yes, I am actually up early for once--LOL! Maybe it's a sign I will be getting back to my normal 8 hours instead of the 9-11 hour sleepathons I've been having (since the virus let up enough for me to breathe and not cough when I laid down). Last night was only 5 hours, but then maybe I'll be to bed early, you know.
Whoohoo!
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Anyways, I had to show you!!
What are the odds?!
I went to take a picture of the sky yesterday...
...and to show you how the snow has melted away except for the snowbanks.
It was late afternoon.
I sat down in the little recliner next to the window...took those two pictures...
...and who should come pecking by!!?? :):):)
The grouse family!
Apparently delighted that the snow has melted...
...so they can pick away at whatever it is they find to eat in that grass.
They never even noticed me...
...because I was already in position with the camera up and aimed...
...or they would have scattered away like crispy leaves in the Fargo wind!!
Karma was sleeping away...
...so there was no cat racing to the patio door to scare them, either.
I have never seen them this close!!
Only the evidence of their little footprints in the snow.
I just kept snapping away.
If I had lowered the cell phone to try to figure out how to switch to video...
...those nervous, skittish birds...
...would have raced away on those cute little legs...
...heads held high on their skinny necks.
They are so cute I can hardly stand it!
They grazed on past my view.
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What were the odds that I would already be sitting right there holding my camera and Karma be sleeping...well, what am I saying. The odds of Karma sleeping are pretty darn high--LOL! All the times I have seen them they have never been up here by the patios and have always been down by the sidewalk or farther away by those garages. I felt like a nature photographer...with a crappy camera. What a thrill!!
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I know.
I am so easily entertained.
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It made me remember silently lying in the prairie long grass near a thirteen striped ground squirrel's hole...for hours...when I was around 7 or 8 years old. When it peeked its darling little head out of the hole...looked right at me...but didn't immediately disappear to safety...climbed half way out to get a better look (imagine how shockingly odd I must have seemed)...and we just looked at each other for a while before it thought better of it and scampered back home...
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And I remember teaching Dagan critter patience when he was two years old. We'd lie on the carpet in a ground floor apartment like this and Dagan had his little arm slipped out the cracked open patio door and screen with his hand full of nuts setting carefully on the cement. We'd fed the squirrels for a few weeks till they were braver about coming up on to our patio for nuts if the door was closed and we were very still inside. We laid on the carpet and he rested his handful of peanuts on the patio for several days in a row...and finally one day...the bravest squirrel came and grabbed a nut right out of his hand! I'll never forget the look of joy and amazement on his face!!
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Those are some of the thrills in my life, folks. They still give me joy. And I'll remember being that close to the grazing grouse, too. And I even got pictures!!! Whoohoo!
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Okay.
Enough critter excitement.
But speaking of critters...
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When I spilled coffee all over my old red bag...well, it washed up okay and all...but for some reason it made me want something different. Yes, I know. I don't even leave home often--but--I got an early Amazon gift card Christmas present from Tori in England!! And it went toward a wild new shoulder bag! Thanks Tori!!
It's a Laurel Burch "Whiskered Family" cat bag! How funny and colorful is that?! Makes me smile every time I look at it. And because it hangs next to the door and I see it every day...well, it's more for my amusement than anything else.
And Miss Karma was not forgotten by Tori, either.
She'll have special treats for a long time!!
(Yes, I just took this because I forgot, she's parked next to me--as usual--in a chair as I type...and I woke her up moving stuff about--LOL!)
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The last few days I have slowly been working on birthday cards for 2016...also very simple. Just not up to anything complicated yet.
Been using up our old carpet tape. We never like to use it anymore since we discovered scrappy tape and scor tape years ago.
I decided it's time to use up some old supplies since I moved (ran across them and realized I had to move them--LOL!). Leah had stamped the front piece for me using the MISTI. (Awesome to use when you are stamping 60 cards!) I taped the top to the orange and the yellow "framing" pieces. Got that far.
Now I need to stamp on the inside of the card base before I tape the top piece on the front (in case I mess up stamping). But I put the fronts of each together so you could see the those anyways.
Yellow.
Orange.
So, I am actually crafting. :)
Leah was doing most of the Christmas card work--let's be honest.
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And Leah is planning on coming back this Sunday again to work on Christmas tags. I'll be working on birthday cards. Such fun to be playing together again. Been quite a long time...and we plan to continue our Sunday craft nights in January. We have a long list of cards and sewing projects. Fun!!
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Got Christmas music on Pandora.
"White Christmas" by the Drifters...kind of cracks me up every time. Have you ever seen the cartoon version on youtube? Karma had a year when she was younger when she would sit and watch that video over and over again. She found the reindeer chorus especially interesting. Silly girl! Didn't interest her but that one year. Who can understand the Karma mind, right?
Well, I shall Jingle Bell Rock off to do laundry.
Have a great day!! :) :)
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"Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen."
Robert Bresson
15 comments:
Hi Rita. I love watching birds too. Great pictures of the little Grouse family outside your window. I also love the new kitty shoulder bag. Hope your days are Merry and Bright and as always, regards to Karma!
You really are feeling better - I can tell from the 'tone' of this post! Tori really sent the "goodies" didn't she?! Wow! That's a stack of kitty treats!
I love the "GrEce" photos! (Grouse, Grousi? no! Grece!) :)
What fun to hear from Fargo on a Friday! I also love getting up close to wild life, especially large birds. I recently spotted a hawk perched on a branch just a few feet from my bedroom window. Made my day! And, again recently, we heard an owl hooting every evening and morning for several days. We also regularly see deer in our yard. They cause a lot of landscape damage but I still like seeing them. Have a great weekend!
Happy that you are (although belatedly) buzzing back to your blissful busy bee-ness!!
Those grouse are really cute and so nice to have around the place. Your new home is so much nicer, and it will only get better as time goes on, I predict. And you're on the mend for real! :-)
Such a thrill to be close to wild creatures doing their thing. Another benefit of the ground floor apartment! I am so glad you are feeling better as Christmas approaches.
Good shots of the grouse! I hope they have a tree for shelter someplace. That new purse is quite snazzy! I like you little tree too:)
Really enjoyed seeing the photos of the group of grouse. I would have been thrilled as well to see so many grazing so close to me. Our ground - like yours up there - is devoid of snow. I hear it's going to snow, though, next week a bit. We'll see if it sticks around this time. Karma is one lucky cat with all those treats...and you are too with a brand new purse!
i like your tiny tree! and love the grouse family!
So happy to see you settling in to your new place!I bet karma "loves" seeing the grouse come by lol
OH, I'm tickled that you managed to get some 'close up' pics of the Grouse family. I loved the story of the squirrel taking a nut from Dagan's hand when he was little. So sweet!
I recognised it as a Laurel Burch design instantly when I saw the bag. Lovely bag and good to see Karma got a treat too. :)
Good to see you and Leah getting back into the crafting. Nice birthday cards. :)
Bradley likes Pandora but I haven't checked it out yet. I have heard some great Pandora music via Bradley though.
I'll be working on the girls' Christmas ornaments today. 2 down, 1 to go.
Have a beautiful weekend.
Love and hugs xo
SO glad you are feeling better!!! I love watching the birds outside too. It's why I keep my feeders on my deck right outside the kitchen door. I can set at the table and watch them. Even though they make a horrible mess on the deck and it takes sometimes hours to get all of the seeds and seed shells out of the crack between the boards. Drives the husband nuts :)
Hello Rita, I love birds and I find it very soothing and comforting to watch them. Your photos are gorgeous!
You and Karma are both very welcome! :)
Your snow has melted? Must have warmed up. And what cute bird shots.
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