Acorns

While on a walk around Lake Gregory I spotted a pair of Acorn Woodpeckers. 

One was busy hammering acorns in the holes that they had made in the thick bark of a Ponderosa Pine.  I think the other one was looking for bugs on the tree, or perhaps it was a youngster being shown how to store food.

I wonder if they ever get headaches?  Poor birds, I hope not!


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Acorn Woodpeckers

Surprise!

"Are you kidding me!?"  I think that's what this Acorn Woodpecker is thinking.  It was raining lightly last night when I went to bed.  When I got up this morning I had the same thought as the woodpecker.  Now? Snow and hail now?  Just when things are blooming, or starting to bloom?  Are you kidding me?

Thankfully, there was no wind so all the blossoms are still on the cherry and apple trees, but they look pretty limp.  It's supposed to get down to 17 F tonight though, so I'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see how they fare. 

I should have expected some sort of weather, since yesterday was what my dad used to call a "weather breeder."  Brilliant blue sky, crystal air, and windy.  I wasn't paying attention...

It was good to get more rain though!

Life With Sisters

My sister is steadily improving after her stroke and today I was able to take her out to lunch. She had to let me push her in a wheel chair, which annoyed her no end, but the home health nurse said it was that or there would be no outing. My sister said that being in a wheel chair would make her look like an old lady (she's nearly 80). The nurse replied matter-of-factly, "You are an old lady, you've had a stroke and you need to be careful for a while."

Now, my sister still refers to herself as middle-aged. I've pointed out that the phrase means being in the middle of life and I've never heard of anybody living to be 160, but I only said that to her once.

I almost ran for the door right then, but I just had to wait to see what my sister would say. (I was praying it wouldn't be "you're fired" because it took me forever to find this nurse, and she is a real gem). My sister leveled 'the look' (a freeze-the-blood-in-your-veins look that she inherited from our mother) at Shannon, who is in her thirties,blond and very pretty, and said in a sweet but deadly tone, "I had always suspected that you were Nurse Rachet masquerading as Barbie."

I held my breath, waiting for Shannon's reply. She leveled a look of her own at my sister and said, "That's right, Mrs. ---------- and don't you forget it."

Shannon and my sister just looked at each other for a moment. In that moment I was thinking how much I was going to hate looking for another nurse.

Then my sister burst out laughing and said, "Honey, don't you think it's time you called me by my first name?" Shannon laughed and said she would like that very much, and I started breathing again.

Sisters. Life is definitely better with them.

Most of the time.

Pantries and Rambles

This little Acorn Woodpecker is sitting in front of her pantry. See all the holes behind her? She excavated those, and many more, so she can shove acorns into them. I took this photo back in the spring. Today, when I was carrying out dry blankets to the feral cats' houses, I noticed every storage hole in her pantry has an acorn in it, and she's all set for winter.

I didn't take any pictures today because a gentle rain has been pattering down all day. We also had some thunder and lightening. The air smells delicious, full of the scents that mean Autumn to me. Rain, wet earth and leaves, wood burning in fireplaces, the cold, sharp perfume of the creek and pines...they all combine in the chilly, wet air to produce a marvelous fragrance. Breathing this kind of air is a powerful tonic.

After I finished with the cats' beds, I went for a walk through the woods. (The picture below was taken earlier this month, and the one of the wet cedar was taken through a window).

I walked through the wet leaves and trees, snug and dry in my wellies and rain coat. The dogs refused to come with me, preferring to stay in by the fire, but I had the pitter-pat of the rain and the quiet voice of the creek to keep me company, along with the occasional remark from a bird and the friendly brush of a cedar frond across my cheek.
The cedars are my favorite tree in the forest. The tip of every frond has its own tiny jewel when it rains. They're especially magical when it rains, then freezes. As the breeze moves through them, the branches shimmer with millions of tiny sun-sparked diamonds. Look too long and I think you might find yourself under a Faerie enchantment.

After a good ramble, and some interesting conversations with the birds, my stomach informed me it was time for tea so I returned to my warm little cottage. My husband was home today, and he had fires burning cheerily in every fireplace. He even had a mug of tea and a plate of scones, slathered with some of the apple butter from our own pantry, waiting for me...bliss.

A Little Kind of Day

A little sun, a little sleet, a little rain, a little fog, a little wind, a little earthquake...

Well, actually, the earthquake wasn't so little. It was a 7.2, but it was centered in Mexicali, a town just below the California/Mexico border. I was standing at the dining room table, clearing the dishes, when I thought I was having a dizzy spell...then the light that hangs over the center of the table tapped me gently on my head and I looked around to see other things swaying and shaking. As earthquakes go, it wasn't much of a big deal up here. I hope and pray the people and animals who are closer to the epicenter are all right. And, oddly, it was felt as far north as Santa Barbara, about 200 miles from here.

The strongest one I can remember was the Landers/Big Bear quake in 1992. It's magnitude was 8.0 and the epicenter of the Big Bear portion was just a few miles from me. It damaged the foundation of my little cottage, separated the third floor staircase from the wall, knocked things off walls, and knocked everything out of my kitchen cabinets. Well, the cabinets that faced north and south. The doors on the cabinets that face east and west didn't even open! I guess it all depends which fault line the earthquake is on. After I had that damage repaired, I had the cottage retro-fitted for earthquakes, which basically means they bolt the house to the foundation. It's supposed to make it earthquake "proof." I sure hope so...I live just a few miles from the San Andreas fault, one of the biggest in California. It's funny...I have a healthy respect for earthquakes, but they don't really scare me. Good thing, since we have so many here!

You Can Do It!

This little Acorn Woodpecker fledgling was trying for quite some time to pick up a peanut. Her parents had been coming to the feeder with her for three or four days. They would show her how to pick up the peanut, shove it in the tree bark crevice, and then they would peck little bits from the peanut and feed them to her. Every so often, they would not give her any, but would wait, looking at her as if to say, "OK. We've showed you how; now you feed yourself." She just looked at them and waited patiently for them to finally give in and give her peanuts.

Today they didn't come down to the feeder with her, but stayed in the branches several feet above her head. Mom and Dad would call out encouraging comments to her: "You can do it! You know you can!" and she would reply with a plaintive "I'm hungry, you come feed me!" The little one was sounding more and more desperate and I had heard no sound from her parents for several minutes (seemed like hours). Finally, she gave up her entreaties and started pecking around in the peanuts. It didn't take her too long before she had one and, from the branches above her, I heard the jubilant calls of her proud parents: "We KNEW you could do it! We're so proud of you! Now eat the peanut the way we showed you..."

After holding it up in her beak for a moment, as if to show her parents that she had, indeed, captured a peanut she pushed the peanut into a crevice in the bark of the large Ponderosa Pine the feeder is attached to and begin to peck out and swallow tiny peanut bits. She did this several times and then her parents joined her on the platform. I thought maybe she would revert to waiting for them to feed her, but happily, she continued right along feeding herself. Well done, little one!