An unexpected sunny weekend means photos from Rosings Park, including a rare bird fight!
On weekend mornings, Kris puts out birdseed. There’s a certain hierarchy in who gets to eat first. The jays usually have first dibs, and they dominate the feeders until the peanuts are gone. Next come the smaller birds like the chickadees and the sparrows. Last of all come the stupid, stupid rock doves, which are like flying stones.
(Every week it’s as if the rock doves have never seen the main feeder before. They land on the roof and peek down at the food. “Wow! Look at that! Snacks! How do we get them?” “I don’t know, Vern, how do we get them?” “I don’t know. Let’s pace around a while and maybe something will happen.” Eventually they do find a way to the food, and then the idiots cluster there: six, seven, eight rock doves at a time. The poor feeder sways under their mass.)
Today, though, things were a little different. The jays found their domination of the feeder thwarted by a hungry woodpecker; the flicker fed first.
…that is until this flicker happens along and takes over the feeder…
…so they nominate a champion to oust the interloper…
…and a battle ensues, but the flicker is triumphant.
The squirrels love the sunny days, too. They come out to play, forgetting that there are three cats roaming the yard.
The squirrels are finally becoming active, too, on the ground…
…and in the trees. This guy was timid.
Of course, our best cat is silent and immobile:
Stoney is the best cat ever.
It’s not just animal life rejoicing in our yard. The plants are happy, too. The camellias are exploding with color. The big camellia by the road is so heavy with blossoms that the branches are sagging to the ground. Our first garden vegetables are showing signs of life:
The peas have finally begun to sprout.
The blueberry plants have hundreds of buds. The raspberries are verdant and vigorous. This afternoon we tilled both the new vegetable bed and the new herb garden. Kris spent most of the afternoon planting herbs and berries.
Our morning was productive, too. We had a pleasant bite at Ken’s Artisan Bakery; we sold $150 of books to Powell’s, and I picked up some cool Flash Gordon compilations; we popped in on the Briscoes; we bought a bunch of plants at Portland Nursery and Pistils; and we had lunch at Cha Cha Cha, my favorite cheap Mexican place. Best of all, we took the long way everywhere, driving down side streets, the windows down, soaking in the sun and the cool spring air.
Paul decided that he wanted to spend his birthday working in the garden so that is what we did after brunching at Colleen’s Bistro and perusing the isles at Garden Fever and Portland Nursery. All that talk of beets on Saturday night (thanks for the wonderful dinner and company) stimulated Paul’s appetitate for them, thus we we went in search of beet seeds. He picked out two heirloom varieties, one golden and one red. We weeded, spread manure and compost, planted 6 currants (3 black, 2 red, 1 white), divided and redistributed our Hood and Tristar strawberries, and planted Seascape strawberries (we bought a couple of baskets of these neearly every weekend last summer at the Portland Farmer’s Market–yum!). I also managed to squeeze in time to make a marionberry pie. All in all, I very good weekend.
I went to St. Louis with a buddy over the weekend. We each set “personal bests” for Guinness consumption: 73 ounces apiece without getting more experiencing the slightest touch of non-sobriety. That’s a little over three quarts! 🙂
Steady eating while drinking is the key, it seems. Having the stuff available on tap helps, too – much better than poured from cans or bottles!
I love it when the Flickers stand up for themselves. That only happens once or twice a year over here and only in the very early spring. The rest of the year our Flickers are wusses.
Sounds like we almost crossed paths at Portland Nursery. At the very last minute, our trip was delayed until the next sunny weekend.