Be careful what you wish for....

After seeing a Blue Jay one day I mentioned that I would like to see a baby jay ....   darn it.  Wish I had never said it out loud.

Two days later I saw this poor little tyke.  All alone in my backyard.  I don't even know how I noticed him because he was not moving...just sitting there very quietly... probably as instructed.  Or as instinct dictated.
Please click on the photo to see his cute little face up close....

He had no tail really...and, very little in the way of wings... he was too small to fly ..must have fallen and somehow glided or flapped a bit to make it into our yard from a nest nearby...

I then heard an adult Blue Jay and saw what I decided was his Mom on the telephone wires nearby ..calling and waiting til I got the heck out of there.. then she flew down.

He more or less stayed on the blocks near the house and close to some tall grass... but, then..as the day progressed, he got a bit more animated and began to hop around all over the yard.  Over to the chairs, out near the shed..... I was panicked and was worse than his mother... dashing from window to window, worrying about some predator getting him.  I had to be ready to rush out and shoo away Mr. Karma, the prowling neighbourhood cat.  She flew back and forth for hours checking on him and bringing him food and finding little things to feed him from the garden.  She was very attentive and caring.  It was so sweet and yet I felt so sorry for her.

But, then I went to do the treadmill.... and ...when I looked, later in the day... they were gone.  I didn't know whether to be happy or sad.  He must have hopped out into the alleyway under the fence... oh, I sure hope they both went to a kind neighbour yard...... I didn't really see any Blue Jay activity after that.

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday.

Happy not to be an enabler....

Did you see the article on whether city chicks.... (Black Capped Chickadees that is)...... are getting lazier than their country cousins?  Because of us bird feeders.

Apparently a couple of gals studied 100 of them and put them through the paces of caching food and then finding the caches of seeds and things and discovered that people who feed birds are not doing them a disservice.  Whew.

There was no difference between the rural and urban little guys... all found their caches about the same ..

There is plenty of info on the fact that the size of a chickadee hippocampus changes with the seasons... (we always joke about it when they stop coming to the feeder as often when it finally warms up) and the fact that they need, or don't need, to find and cache more food at certain times of the year.  Hopefully this latest study took all of that into consideration.

They also don't show up in moulting season because they are too embarrassed to be seen with big bald patches...like one I saw a year or so ago.  Poor little thing was hiding in the lilac leaves so I wouldn't see him.
I was pretty mean and did take his photo anyway.... I feel kinda bad showing it.  Awww... poor wee thing.

The recent article also said more study was necessary to see if urban vs rural birds had differing responses to "novelty".... not sure what that means.  It didn't explain.

However, I like to think city birds have a very curious nature... and love to explore new things .. like this little guy having a shower and a bath and a drink in my new little fountain...about 3 minutes after I filled it and turned it on.

I had one come last year to the other fountain...about the same time frame after we turned it on... maybe it is the same little curious guy/gal?  Who knows with chickadees? ..

All I know for sure is they sure have all the "c" words going for them.  Cute, clever, curious, clean,


....etc...............

First of all....isn't this the cutest little water fountain you have ever seen?  $60 at Home Depot.  Love it.




So did this little guy.....

First, he sat on the edge and had a sip of the waterfall...then, he jumped right into the centre of the leaf and had a bath...then he got up on the edge... and then..he jumped into the leaf above.  I was waaayyyy too slow to get more than these two photos.

I was peering through the slats of a venetian in the kitchen window and didn't want to put it up and scare him off.  Silly me... I finally did put it up and totally ignored me.  Darn!  Why didn't I just do it sooner?  I could have had much clearer shots.

Linking to Stewart's blog for Wild Bird Wednesday.  Click on his name or the photo below to be immediately transported.........

My bread got "over riz"...

Hahahahah.... it broke though the plastic wrap and overlapped the edges of my big bowl... while I was busy forgetting about it and doing other things.

Then, it happened again after I got it into the pans...and the loaves looked a bit wonky and turned out funny shapes.  But, it still tastes the same.  Great@!  so who cares?

Well, it is a bit awkward for putting into the toaster..and they are pretty big slices... but, then again.. who really cares when it tastes so good?

I love home made bread.

I love the little 18 year old guy whose blog I visited waaaayyy back when and who encouraged me to give it a try... Still baking Lewis!  thanks for all the encouragement.  I often wonder where he is today......

... and now it's summer......

Blogging seems to have become a thing of my past.... time just flies and not much to say...nothing much for show and tell.... still trying to get back the strength in my arm and also in the rest of me.  I got lazy during the months I could do nothing with that arm and everything else went sideways too.

Mostly now I am just dirty and sweaty out in the flower garden cleaning up debris and also planting pots... the temperatures jumped from snow and cold to blistering hot... it was +28C the past few days.  Only been golfing twice.    It's even too hot for that to be fun.

See all those invasive violets under the birdie bath and every other place in the garden?  They were hours of work yesterday to dig up, shake off dirt and toss.  Trying to get as much of the little pieces as possible.  I want to eradicate it entirely... may  not be possible.....
A new bleeding heart showed up..must have re-seeded itself... if they fill in I will be happy.
















A neighbour saw me outside the other day and asked if I wanted an indoor plant of hers that is not doing well... okay, I'm a sucker ... I hate to see plants tossed out.   Anyway... I did say yes and took it out of the pot yesterday.  Totally root bound and almost rotted through both large stalks just below the soil.  It had a new little shoot trying to make a go of it and so I figured I would just have to compost the major portion of the plant... and save the baby.  Here is Baby Groot..... for those of you who know Guardians of the Galaxy.  I also am trying to root a couple of the large leaves in just water to see if it will get some rootlets...I have no idea what the plant is.

Anybody know from the large leaf behind the pot what it might be??

My broken wrist has mostly healed.   It is still sore a lot of the day.. and doesn't quite turn over the way I would like it to do yet.  I hope it is temporary.  Still doing physio and go every 3 weeks..  to see how things are progressing... never quick enough for me but she seems impressed with my healing.