Told You

Birds, birds and more birds. This decor won't appear in the latest issues of House and Garden or Architectural Digest, but it's my bedroom and I can do what I want.  I had the old bird prints at the farm and brought them to the city.  Then, I found these sheer curtains at Pier 1.  

I won't be decorating with anymore bird designs, well, maybe wallpaper in the powder room, okay, no I probably won't, but I just love it in my bedroom.  It is beautiful to me and makes me happy.

I'm still deciding what stays or goes.  Most decisions aren't that hard, but some pieces are irreplaceable and I'm having a hard time deciding.  They are ones I probably won't find again at a price I can afford (or will pay for) and/or just don't fit anymore.  I don't want to have to keep my booth open for too long.  We'll see.

My Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite things.  I just love this plate.  It is very old and the bird nut I am, well it flew into my arms and into the city house.  A robin, I believe.

Then again, as you can see, I have many favorite things.  I am simply unpacking and placing things wherever.  I'll keep tweaking, then it will stay that way.  Mostly, putting things on these shelves in ivory and creams.

The old pair of snow skis are the only Christmas decorating I have done at the city house.  Simply haven't had time.  I'm back at the farm until next week while my husband hunts.  Gives me time to pack up more of my favorite things to take to the home in the city.

More Birds

I ordered this on etsy.  It was described as a dove.  Huh?  Be that as it may, I found something new and fun to do.  It is an app on the iphone called Waterlogue and you can purchase it for 99 cents.  I haven't gotten to experiment much with it, but I think it is going to be interesting. Everyone will become an artist with the click of a button.

This is the bird photo with Waterlogue.  I'm sure there are many things one can do with it, but as for me, I haven't a clue.

A Plate Excuse

I call this my Goonie Bird plate.  Bought it at Round Top. Though I love it (I'm a bonafide bird nut and love all things bird),  it has been shelved in a closet.  I don't know where it should go.  The painter/artist did a wonderful job.  It is fairly old, but not dated.  I wonder if the bird is extinct now?
Truth be known, I am really just piddling around, trying to find things to keep me from doing the things I should be doing; a lame excuse to use a plate, I know.  Do you feel guilty wasting time and not being productive?  Oh well, guess I'll piddle some more and find a wall to display it on.

Dirty Bird

Look what I discovered on my patio after a spring rain.  Sure looks like a bird to me.  Maybe the fairies were playing in a puddle with dirt.  Or maybe, I need to hose off my patio.

Bye Bye Birdie

How did an ornery ole bird steal my heart?  Can't be that can opener of a beak that has drawn my blood more times than one could imagine.  He could bark like the dogs only louder if you can believe it. But, then he'd say, "good bird". Yet, we two got used to each other.  My little buddy stole my heart and I guess he loved me too in his own birdy way. We'd sing together. He loved a song I made up and sang to him each morning.  "It's a Birdie kind of day...it's a Birdie kind of day ay ay.  Just a singin' and a preenin' and a wingin' in a Birdie kind of way..." He loved to sit on my shoulder and blog with me.  Hated water though I made him take a shower with me from time to time.  He thought he was king of the manor - lorded over the dogs and cats and us.  Loved popcorn, blueberries and macaroni.  He woke me up last week right before he left on a journey.  Don't think my heart can break many more times from the loss of my pets. Oh Birdie, I'll miss you so. 

"Now cracks a noble heart.  Good night sweet prince.  And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."   

Shakespeare

And I can just hear Birdie's loud squawk above the angel voices.

Cat Study

I am sure you have heard of the latest study saying cats kill billions of birds and small animals.  My cats drag in animals and birds.  Yet, I am certain that humans kill more animals than all the animals in the world combined.  Windows kill more birds than animals do.  One could go on and on.  So it makes me wonder who funded this study and what their agenda is.  Where are The Lone Gunmen when you need them?  By the way, the sweetest cat on earth, Boo, Teddy's brother, just wants to be tickled.  Nothing more.  

The Wonder

We have all seen one - or thousands really.  Murmurations - when birds gather in flight - for some unknown reason.  One of the most beautiful and wondrous sights on this Earth. 

At my Peaceable Hill Farm, I think all the murmurations are done for the year.  The birds have flown south to warmer climes to overwinter.  Hope to see them  next year.

Birds Of A Feather

Blame it on Marie Antoinette.  When the vain queen wore feathers in her hat, one woman's whim became a trend that lasted more than a century and practically decimated avian populations.  According to a 1913 study by the director of the New York Zoological Park; in 1911, the feathers of 129,186 egrets, 13,598 herons, 20,698 birds of paradise, 41,090 hummingbirds, 9,464 eagles, condors and other birds of prey, and 9,472 other birds were sold at auction in London for the millinery trade.  And that's 11 years after the first American animal protection law -  the Lacey Act of 1900 - was passed.  And, those numbers were for one year.  Unimaginable.

For those of you that watch the wonderful Downton Abbey, you'll notice the feathered hats worn by the manor born.

Colder Than A Witch's Tit

Oh! How I do hate winter. Temperatures below zero, blizzards, ice and snow and more snow... It is the work of a demon methinks. Does anyone have a shack on a warm beach someplace, where I can wait out the rest of winter? We have to winter somewhere warm from now on. I just can't stand it. If you watch House Hunters International, it would only cost a mere half-million or so. Maybe, they would let me cook for room and board. Or, I could paint (oils not houses).

Here's Hosannah, the neighbor's horse. They don't shelter her, nor feed her, so I am feeding her through the winter once again. She had icicles on her the other day.

Buzzy, the kitten, and I are reduced to watching the birds feeding. After being housebound for the week, I drove my 4 x 4 truck to town for horse feed and birdseed? My priorities are not the same as most folks.

At least all the creatures around my Peaceable Hill Farm are well cared for. I fully expect the raccoons to come knocking any minute.

When Whippoorwills Call

I heard a whippoorwill this eve. The first this year. I don't know where they go in winter. I love to hear them with their three distinct whistles. Many songs laud the whippoorwill's call - too many in fact to list here. There are also many early native American legends about the whippoorwill. The Omaha's believed its song was an omen of death while the Ute's thought the whippoorwill was a god of the night. There were also early American legends surrounding the bird. Washington Irving mentions it in THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. One New England legend says the Whippoorwill can sense a soul departing and can capture it as it flees. Who knew? For Earth Day, we should know that this bird is becoming endangered and/or threatened by habitat destruction, predation by feral cat and dog populations and insecticides. They are ground dwellers; build their nests on the ground and you rarely see them - just hear that lonesome whippoorwill...





photo by J.W. Dingel

EGGS

When I was small, I had a thing for bird's nests and their little eggs. Curious wild child that I was, I roamed the countryside, climbing into treetops as far as the tree limbs would allow me. Why was I so enamored of eggs? I don't know. As you can see, I still am. Clockwise from left, an ostrich egg, an emu, goose, chicken, banty chicken, quail, and in my sculpted hand, three little eggs I found on the ground and don't know the breed. I also collect nests I find here and there, but only after they have been abandoned.

BASSACKWARDS

You know that old saw about not getting kids or animals to cooperate....

Well, this guy was definitely bent over, shakin' a tail feather, at the barn. He finally decided to cooperate.

A NEW YEAR

One thing I know for certain, about the coming new year, is that the sun will warm the earth once again around here. My sunflowers will be back [facing east in the morning and west every eve],

doing what sunflowers do; growing till ready to make seed for the birds and then starting the cycle all over again...

Happy new year, full of peace, for what must ever be.

My Little Chickadees

I decided I had better look in all the birdhouses around the place to make sure they were clean and wasps hadn't taken them over. When I opened the back door on one, 6 little chickadees and I looked one another over. I think we were all shocked momentarily. These little birdlings are almost ready to fly away; it will only be a day or two.

Bush Birds

This big guy is as big as a real turkey. Though he needs a good clipping you get the picture.

Here is a mother turkey and 2 little poults that I planted last summer in the ground. They seem happy there.

I just started trimming my bird bushes. They are so easy to grow and I can leave them out all winter. The bird in the back is sculpted from a Japanese boxwood. It is a different look. Most of the birds are made from Green Mountain Boxwood. The Green M. B. has smaller leaves and the plants are much denser. I would advise you to first experiment with the GMB. You can start with a 1 gal. bucket all the way up to 5 gal. Of course, the larger bushes will give you a specimen plant right away. First, look for a plant that has a single solid base or stem coming from the dirt. It can branch off into several (look at the second plant) just as long as the branches aren't all coming up from the dirt. This makes it look more like a foot. Then, visually divide your plant where you think the head and tail would be. This will take a few minutes of looking it over; holding it this way and that. Then get those shears out and play like you're Edward Scissorhands. I would like mine to be sloped more on their back as it makes them more birdlike. When spring and summer come around, just give them a 'haircut' and that's all they need. Hint~I planted quite a few smaller 1 and 2 gal. plants last year and will wait until they get bigger before I shape them. It's a good way to save money. The 1 gal. plants are about $6.99 and the 5 gal. are around $25.

Don't forget the upcoming giveaway! The instructions were posted a few posts back. I'll let you know exactly when, what and how in the coming days. The giveaway will be on my 100th post.

Cock Of The Walk

I had 3 peahens and 3 peacocks. The breed, though nosy are not aggressive and definitely have a mind of their own - meaning I have no control over them. They go where they please; down the middle of the road, to neighbors etc. The old meany down the road called at 7 a.m. one morning screaming that she was going to shoot them. They were in her yard and she didn't want them on her property. My husband tried to explain that he couldn't control them and there was no way of catching them. She continued to rant and rave until he hung up on her. So now we have 3 peacocks. The neighbors locked them up in their pen to breed with their hens. This is the only one we have seen since summer.

Two winters ago, they roosted up on the top of the barn when the ice storm hit. You get the picture. Their tails froze to the tin roof and they ripped them to shreds to get down. They looked awful. Now, these tails are six feet long and lush. They are funny to watch and call to each other from great distances. Peacock love!

Eggs

I have bird eggs in different vignettes (along with nests) and thought I'd show a few of them. In the first pic the largest is an ostrich egg, then an emu, a goose egg, a hen egg, a bantam egg, quail egg and then an immature egg, a speckled egg and a tiny one. The immature egg, that's my term for it, is usually the first egg a hen lays. For some reason, the first ones come out small. Some come out soft with a long straw-like tube attached; I don't think I want to know why that is, only I think it is diet/calcium related. Eggs are weird come to think of it. When I was young, I never would eat one unless those white cord thingys were taken off of the yolk. Nowadays, I can't hardly choke one of my own chicken eggs down. They are all pets and uh, I guess I know what little precious peeps come out.... Now, I've grossed myself out. Oh, well, what started as an informational blog has now become - I'm at a loss for words. Ick.

That gray sculpted hand is mine and of course, I dropped and broke it before I finished it.

I wanted to show you this still life under a cloche. I am always finding things on the farm. I found the little screech owl in the attic over the garage. I guess it got up there then couldn't find its way out. The smaller skull is from some kind of tern that I found by the pond in some grasses. The hummingbird flew into one of the windows on my house. I have saved many birds when they do this but this little guy didn't make it. The nest is a hummer nest; they use their spittle to attach tiny lichens to it. Did you know that birds reuse their nests several times during the spring and summer? The fungi, lichens and mosses are from the woods and when dried, they remain as they are for years to come.

Catbird Seat

Here's Teddy in the catbird seat or bird feeder I should say. He is the sweetest cat. Very vocal. Yesterday, I caught him with a chickadee in his mouth and chased him down. I got him by the scruff of his neck and he let go of the chickadee and it flew up in a nearby tree and fussed and fussed. Whew! If I can catch the cats just after they catch the birds then the birds can sing for another day. But, if I'm not around... Did I mention they bring in field rats through the doggy door? One day last week they brought in three in one day. Teddy, Boo, Midge and MeanMom are the barn cats that have moved up to the house. Teddy fights his brother Boo: Midge is young and plays with both of the boys while her mother MeanMom lurks around outside hissing and spitting and chasing or jumping my little weiner dogs. How mean is she? She's so mean, we are at the stage of clawing and grabbing my hand, pulling it to her, then biting it and licking it. A big improvement. I'm trying to tame her so I can take her to get fixed. I have become one of those people I revile; the ones who don't take care of their animals and/or have them spayed or neutered. Let me explain. My farm/barn has become a cat farm; I never knew they had so many babies. I have spayed and neutered 9 cats so far, but I can't afford to do all of them (and they usually leave after I do that). So, all I can do is continue to feed them. I love them all, even MeanMom. They are so sweet (except MM). My husband wants to shoot them but I won't let him. Teddy, Boo and Midge all got to the house because they were hurt or sick. More vet bills. And no, there are no rescues etc. in this area. By the way, MeanMom looks a little fatter, hmmmm. She thinks the garage is her house and goes into the loft where she has her litters. We've tried the havahart cage and she's too smart for that. Let me know if anyone has any ideas. In 23 years, we never had this problem.

UPDATE: Today after I wrote this the dogs and I went out for a walk in the field. I looked back and here came Teddy, Boo, Midge and MeanMom. Meanmom came up to me and rubbed my leg, a first, then let me rub down her back a couple of times then clawed my hand and bit it. We did this several times while out walking and she got better at letting me rub her. Major event for MeanMom. She doesn't bite hard; the claw she catches my hand with is a little more bothersome, but I think soon she will let me pet and rub her without biting. She's finally starting to trust me; it has only taken a year. Hurrah! I've finally made headway with MeanMom.