(74) It All depends On How You Look at It

It's down right cold here today(cold is a relative term. Ask My son in Montana)The high is 50 degrees and windy. Yesterday we were suppose to get a major thunder storm and high winds followed by a cold front. Instead it was overcast to the point of being almost dark and great winds but no rain. The rain went around us. Today the wind has calmed and we have the cold weather. Brad reported that GeorgenGracie's nest is still intact. That's amazing. Such wild winds and still holding tight. I talked to my son in Bozeman and asked him if it was cold there and he said "No" emphatically, "Its about 50 and I have all the windows open and the sun is shining". After the beautiful warm days we have had 50 seems cold to me but warm to him. All depends on how you look at it.

This morning early for a Saturday,about 8:00 I got a wonderful surprise. The dogs started barking and when I went to the door there was a florist, with a vase of flowers for me for mother's day. They were from my son and his wife in South Carolina. This was a huge surprise that made my day. What a thoughtful gesture. They are beautiful don't you think? Did I mention that I love flowers? How did they know?

I got Brad to go on the walk about with me this morning. This was fun because he usually has left for work by the time I get to walk in the yard. Max and Beeker also came with us. This was fun for Maxie who doesn't normally get to go walking about with us daily. He loved smelling and eating grass all the way. Beeks was so excited that Max was around that he kept pulling Max's tail the whole time that Max was smelling the grass. Max just ignored him. (how is that possible?) We finally put a stop to Beeker's abuse, so then Beeks ran circles around Max. In the back yard Beeks was running so fast that when he ran by Max he skidded on his side and into the woods for about two yards. It was the funniest thing to see.

Under the largest bird feeder a male Goldfinch sat and didn't move when we approached the area. Brad was able to pick it up and we moved it to a more sheltered area by our wood pile. It just sat there. We didn't know if it was stunned, ill, or just old and unable to move, but we decided that it was in a vulnerable place and needed to be somewhere more secluded. After we moved it and I took the above picture I tried to get my camera a little closer and it flipped itself over deeper into the sticks. I must have frightened it. I then was reminded of a story my parents told me of a time when they came across a slow moving turtle crossing a rode where they were bicycling and they stopped and moved it to the other side of the rode to be out of harms way. When some hours later they returned to the area there in the middle of the rode was the smashed turtle. Apparently it had been crossing the rode and wanted to get to the opposite side and although they wanted to help, they misunderstood what the turtle's mission was. This is what I began to think, what if the Goldfinch was under the bird feeder to get nourishment, unable to fly and needing to be close to some food. Or what if the wood pile put the bird in an even more vulnerable place than under the bird feeder. What if we were messing with the nature of a bird's life? Later I returned,(about 2 hours later) and the Goldfinch was gone. C'est la vie. And again, it all depends on how you look at it.
During our Saturday soup lunch we were looking outside, watching the birds come and go, when a Hummingbird came to the feeder and stayed. I mean usually hummingbirds come, drink and then leave as quick as possible. They may return a number of times but they don't stay long. Except for this guy. It must have sat there for 5 minutes. When I decided to try my luck at taking its picture, and opened the door, it flew away. Then there was the Indigo Bunting. this is the first sighting for the year. We really treasure these birds because they are so very bright blue. They are about the size of a sparrow but distinctive because your eye will pick up the color so quickly and they fly off so fast that it makes you wonder if you really saw it or just thought you saw it. Here's what I now think about the stunned and slow moving birds we saw this morning. I think that the temperature was such a drastic change in a small period of time this morning that they were trying to warm up. It's my best guess and I'm sticking to it. Any other suggestions or ideas to explain this will be welcome.
Now From the Weird File
I talked to my neighbor this afternoon, she said she was looking out on her back deck and a big animal walked across. She said she had to look it up to find out what it was, it looked like a beaver but the tail was all wrong. Turns out it was a big Woodchuck. I have always called them Groundhogs. She said she is mystified by the variety of animals that walk across her deck. She has had deer, raccoons, and now a woodchuck all walk across her deck. The raccoons and the deer actually looked inside her picture windows. That would be interesting, and seems like it should be right out of a Yogi Bear cartoon.