Never Enough Time

Do you ever notice how when you get outside to start doing some chores that you run out of time before you're even close to being done with what you wanted to do? This happens to me all the time.

There were so many things I wanted to do this afternoon, so I took my 20-minute nap when I got home from work and then went outside (around 3:15), took some practice shots with my bow and arrow, pulled some weeds from the asparagus patch, threw some grass seed on some gopher damage from last fall (1 done, about 12 more to go), scrubbed out and refilled the birdbaths, filled the birdseed bin, filled the bird feeders, and all of a sudden it was 5:00 and time to start the grill for supper.

After supper, we took the dogs for a walk and then walked to the far end of the yard to check bluebird boxes. The box with a nest started last week has had no progress, however, when we walked up the hill and checked the boxes I had recently moved to a new location, there it was....a nearly completed bluebird nest. Hopefully there will be eggs by the end of the week. I'll keep you posted.

While we were eating supper, I was watching the chickadees getting their mealworms from the dinnerbell feeder. After the chickadees finished, the clever little downy woodpecker flew over and discovered he could get in there to feast on mealworms also. I have the top down really low to discourage grackles (because I keep some shelled peanuts in there too), but this didn't deter the woodpecker at all. He was so funny to watch as he flew up under the top, grabbed a mealworm, and then flew back to the deck railing and got the worm turned just right so he could swallow the whole thing at once. Between him and the chickadees they ate 50 worms in no time at all. So when we got back from our walk I put out 50 more for the chickadees late snack before going to bed and also to hold them through tomorrow until I get home from work.

Here's the chickadees picking up a mealworm. She will then fly to the crabapple tree and pick the worm apart piece by piece to eat it -- not like the woodpecker who can swallow his mealworm whole!

While I was cleaning out the birdbaths, I happened to look up and saw 3 sandhill cranes flying over. That was really neat. Even without binoculars I could tell they were sandhills. They're the first I've seen this year and also the first time ever I've seen them flying over my place.

While pulling weeds, I got a nice serenade from the brown thrasher. He's quite the songster! I also heard a field sparrow in the yard this afternoon.