Saturday Morning at Home

Ooh, almost an entire Saturday morning to myself. You know my spousal unit's a pretty darn good guy, but sometimes a woman just needs some "me time" and that's exactly what I have this morning while he's at work. He just called me to say it's slow at work and he'll be home at 11:00, so I've got to get this post done before he gets home and we have to start running around on errands.

So, I got up at the regular time (4 AM) when my dear spousal unit got up for work and woke me up to come and see the deer out at the bird feeder. The deer have just this week started coming back into our yard. This is unusual behavior for them this time of the year as deer usually "herd up" into larger groups and head for deeper cover/shelter in larger woods. I'm happy to have them visiting again and have already started stocking up on corn.

I figured as long as I was up and it was too dark to see any birds yet, it would be a good time to watch a movie (Hairspray) and work on a knitting project. I enlisted Daisy to be the model for this completed neck warmer (another free pattern from the internet). I think it turned out really nice and that's another ball of yarn knitted up from my stash. (In case you're wondering, this neck warmer is for a human--not a dog, although I think this is a good color on Daisy!)

Once it got light, it was time to fill the bird feeders and see what else was going on out in the yard.

After years of having no squirrels, I finally have about 6 in the yard. They generally behave pretty good until the corn in the ground feeding trays runs out. Then they start exploring some of the other bird feeders--even the ones on the deck.

Hey, are those peanuts?

Silly human--does she think I can't figure this out?

I put the wire cover over the feeder to deter the starlings from the peanuts--I guess I'd better get the longer cover out now!

I guess squirrels like these apples I put out for bunnies and deer too.

Here's where I hope the squirrels will stay as long as there's enough corn for them.

It looks like the dogs will be getting some exercise this weekend chasing squirrels. They can't eat much birdseed as long as they're up here away from the dogs!

The crows paid an early morning visit also. If I don't have any food scraps to put out in their tray, they're perfectly happy to check out what's available in the backyard feeders.

I was lucky to catch a couple of tree sparrows in a moment of stillness.

Here's my first attempt at photographically capturing the red-breasted nuthatch--I definitely need to work on skills for getting a decent picture of this little guy.

Juncos abound in my yard.
Here are the deer tracks coming (left side) and going (right side) from my ground feeding tray. When we were watching them early this morning, I noticed that one of them was favoring her left hind leg. You can see from the tracks in the snow how that leg drags as she walks. Deer are pretty amazing animals and can adapt to life with an injury.

A downy woodpecker checks for insects on the dying birch tree in my front yard.

I hope you're enjoying your Saturday morning and get a few hours to do exactly what you want too!