My sweet little Northern Flicker

This little gal spent hours hanging onto the rocks on the sunny side of the house.  I was pretty worried by the time 4 hours passed and she had only moved a few rocks over.  Well, actually I was worried long before that ... but it was at least 4 hours til she flew off and went to the suet feeder and also got a drink of water at the heated water bowl.  I felt somewhat better then...

It looked like she was sleepy.. because her eyes kept closing.  There was definitely something not quite right with her though, because usually they fly off if I even move anywhere near the window.  This day, I was even able to remove the screen inside the window to get a better photo of her and she just hung there.  By then, I was not sure if I wanted to take her photo... because I felt it wasn't fair.  If they are injured or sick ... I always feel like that.  It is like having an unfair advantage over them and I feel bad about it.

Silly me I guess.  But, later, at dusk, when she did fly away to the nearby Poplar tree and then...on to the nearby golf course trees....I felt a bit better about her health.  She was back in the morning and only hung out on the house side for about 2 hours and then... hasn't been hanging onto it since.  Maybe she just had a headache from pecking something too hard,  or was sick for a few days or something....  I hope that's all it was.

Anyway....I did take several great photos of her and I wanted to post them today.

Here she is  ...  my beautiful little Northern Flicker girl.  Please do click to 'embiggen' and see her lovely face right up close and personal.  So gentle looking... and, I'm sure she sees me, but doesn't appear too concerned about me at all ..... maybe she knows I'm harmless.

If you'd like to see more birds.... head over to Stewart's blog, Paying Ready Attention.  Or, click on the badge below..

Soft and Downy

Isn't she just?  Look, there are even lots of little feathers all around the base of her beak.  I don't know if those are what they term 'rictal bristles' or just some soft, downy feathers... either way I think they are cute.

This is a little lady Downy Woodpecker that comes to the suet cage for her favourite.  Peanut butter and bugs.  Suet cakes I buy at the bird feed shop.  They, and the Northern Flickers get on there and hang... literally ... sometimes it appears as though they are snoozing...but, sometimes, maybe they just refuse to get off and give anybody else a chance.

There is a "pecking order" too it seems.  If the little Downy is on there and a big ol' Northern Flicker shows up....well, the little one flies off for a bit.   But, she comes back... and so does her boyfriend... I've never seen it the other way around.  No Flickers leave if a little Downy shows up for grub.  Big Meanies.
Don't forget... click to make larger to see details if you like.

Waiting patiently for me to finish shovelling so she can come into the patio for her suet cage.  Not too nervous at all...unlike the big Flickers... who take off the instant I go out there.  They may be big meanies in the bird world...but, they are afraid of me.  Hah....

Here is one of the big Flickers...  all fluffed out so he looks even bigger.  It is -25C these days and they puff out their feathers to keep warm I guess.  And...below...... ...the little lady Downy so you can see the size difference.  Sorry they are a bit soft focus looking... almost fuzzy... they were taken with the venetian in the way...but, didn't want to scare them off so left it.

Linking up with Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday again... check them out by clicking on the photos below.

"A gentle expression"

That's the phrase the bird books uses when describing the look of Northern Flickers.  It's so true.  Look at this guy...or maybe it is two different guys ...I can't say for sure.
All I know is ...they hang out ...literally..on my suet cage.  We buy the 'peanut butter and bugs' one and they seem to love it.

Here he is on a cold day.. perched on top of the feeder pole in the sunlight.  Definitely looks like a gentle expression to me.

Hunkered down and all fluffed out on the top of the patio wall
.. still looking pretty gentle.  I wanted to say 'chill' or 'cool'...but, ..hahahha it is cold and snowy and those words seemed not quite right.  Somebody may have thought I was trying for a pun or something..

This is the type of weather we are having ...   it is still snowing, so I will definitely be out there again this afternoon putting in some more shovelling time.  Did over an hour earlier, so I don't think I'll bother with the treadmill today..or the weights... I have sidewalks, a patio and a double driveway to shovel... that'll be another good hour of exercise, so I can opt out today.  ...  maybe just some good stretches later.  Or.....not..........................

Check out lots of other great birds at this site.  Just click the badge...

Best Christmas present ever ...

A robot.  Yep.  IRobot Roomba.

You know when we were young and a vacuum cleaner as a gift was not what we had in mind? ....   Times have changed.

He works diligently let me tell you... and, he doesn't miss a spot.  Those legs under the beds?...especially the ones in the middle? ... he goes around them at least 3 or 4 times making darn sure there is no dust left lingering... what a treat.

The first time we asked him to do our bidding it was almost like having a new puppy.  We followed him around the house checking everywhere he was going... to make sure he wasn't getting into any mischief.  He is so clever... mapping out the areas; making sure he didn't miss any spots, etc..   When we tried out his services a second time he was even more organized.   After all, he had 'mapped' our house previously.  There is only ever a slight problem near the docking port... but, maybe a chair in too close proximity caused that.  We moved the port and will see what transpires next time.

It takes him about as long as it takes me to vacuum the whole house... but, hey..  I can let him get on with his job and I am free to do other things...I love it.!!  Of course, I will still be vacuuming...but,  if little Snoopy does his job once a week, I bet I can cut my own vacuuming down considerably...   he won't be able to open and close doors to get behind them..nor will he do steps .. so the human touch is still essential every so often.   But, the square footage I will actually have to do will be minimal if he does all the rest and does a good job.

After so many years of renovations and having to vacuum daily and sometimes many times a day...I will be so happy to have this little vacuuming buddy ... can't even say how much I love him already.  The main vacuum cleaner is also being replaced... we killed it with all the drywall dust we vacuumed over the years of the silly renovations.  Maybe next week I'll get my new one of those......... the shipment is stuck in eastern Canada.... snowstorms and whatnot... probably some Christmas delays as well.

I have new babies...

I took out my box of Christmas 'mousie' bits when I searched for the Christmas cards in the storage area awhile back.

It was a Herculean feat just to get into that storage area believe me.  It is still stacked with all manner of "stuff" we had to move in there to get it out of the way so we could make our renovation mess.   There were rolls of excess carpet, boxes of record albums, boxes of electrical and electronic gear, my massage table, boxes of tiles, golf clubs and carts, the other pop down movie screen and two long blinds from upstairs reno of 3 years ago....acckkkk!! Disaster area of the first order.  In January, I am going to do a major purge... what fun that'll be.  No, really, I'm actually looking forward to throwing out anything and everything related to renovations.  Goodbye and good riddance to it.  I no longer have to save any of it.  Wheeeeeee!!  oooh, sorry, got a bit giddy there for a nano second..  Oh, alright... perhaps maybe one box of tiles in case there is an accident and something needs replacing.  But, there is going to be a lot of stuff piled out by the fence in the New Year.  We love doing that... we have some regular scavengers who stop by to check it all out and in no time at all...it disappears.  Perfect.  I bet some of them have built houses with all we have chucked over the years.  Complete houses.

Back to the mousies.  It appeared that I had cleaned out several walnut shells last year so I had a head start... thank goodness, as we finished this reno so close to the festive season I didn't have much time to tinker around.  Managed to find a few hazelnuts in the box as well, to make into the actual mice... so, lots of drawing eyes and noses and gluing and playing later...I have several new babies to hang on our own tree or to give to various neighbour kids.. I sneak out on Christmas eve and hang them on doorknobs for a laugh.  Only got caught once when somebody decided to drive home at the exact time I left the porch.  Probably I looked like a deer in the headlights.  I was busted there.  And, one dog barked his head off inside a house...but nobody figured out why, so I sprinted down the block before they opened the door.  Whew.

I love them on our tree... and little kids and parents alike think they are so cute... I make a dozen or more every year it seems.

Here is a shot of a portion of my tree...  you can see a few of the little guys on there.... along with origami and all my other fun little things.. it looks like one of those pics you could make a puzzle out of doesn't it?
Click on any pic to biggify

Here are the little mousies... all the same and yet...all so different.  Just like little babies in a nursery...hahhahahah.... oh, I'll take that one please, the one with all the lovely black 'sticky up' hair...oh, just a minute there aren't any.  Not since my nephew was born.  Okay then..the one with the little blue flower between the ears please?  She's mine, all mine.

Changed my header

That's little Darla, my tiny needle felt I made way back in... uhm.....just had to go to the photo for info.... can't believe it was in 2009.  Good grief!  Time flies.

Yep..it flew past me on the latest renovation as well.... we began it at the end of March and lo and behold...it is now ... December.  Great.  Remember when Sumbunny said it was only going to take "about a month"?  I knew better and said at least 3 ... but, little did I know it would escalate into 8 months plus..... sheeeesh......

My life has definitely not been my own and it was a lot of mess ... and re-creating, and then... well, you get the drift... last Friday the guy came to switch around the glass panes in the office doors and we declared us officially finished!!!  I do have the tree up and am ready for the 'sparkly' season.
Wooohooooooo !!!

Still have to put up my little tree downstairs on the new carpeting and can't wait to see that.... it's totally different now with new carpeting and newly painted and the main wall of speakers etc re-done.  That wall was the main thing we were planning to do when we began things...but, you know how it goes... every project just seems to grow.  Takes on a mind of its own.

I have to say though, that this final renovation has gone the easiest and the best of all we have done in the past 30+ years as far as the professional trades went.   We did lots of it ourselves ... and, then... had professionals finish off baseboards, casings, painting, carpeting, etc.  This time... it was great....I called or emailed them... we set a date for them to show up...they did, I paid them... they went away and we were happy with all the work they did.  Can't say enough good things about all the guys we hired.

All of our worries about each and every stage were totally unfounded... but, in fairness to us... we have gone through some pretty trying times over the years with various trades.... somehow this time we got all the right guys.  What a treat.

At the beginning it was just us, and much as we've done renos for years...... by the time we got it demolished... I think we were saying, "what have we done"??
When a room looks like this.... it is a daunting task to make it right again.

End of March...

By April 19 we had the wall re-built and speaker boxes in place... not too bad for a couple of amateurs.  We did feel proud of our accomplishment at this point even though the end was a very  long way off and seemed even further some days.....













Now, it looks like this.

We re-built that wall around the doorway and also did the ceilings in both rooms and had new carpeting installed.

Here is what it looked like before.... this was the renovation we did ourselves in 2004.  I know that because we take lots of photos of all of our "work".. plus, there were some nasty comments on a 2 x 4 under the wall that I wrote about my "boss" that time around.  No more components collecting dust now.. all hidden away behind the wall in a small "server" room we also built.

After 30+ years of renovating this house... we quit.  Yep... that's right.  Nobody is doing renos again in this place.  They can't.  We've done every single thing that can be done.  It can't get 'old' for many years now.

Somewhere in between things I still managed a bit of golf, practiced at the driving range and on this day..wandered into the park area with my camera... so I give you this pretty one too...

Wild Bird Wednesday

It's been so long since I posted anything that I almost forgot how.

On Sunday, I heard a "ponk" sound and immediately thought it was the fridge.... we've had a lot of trouble with 'fridges since our major renovation, but, then... had a horrible thought that proved to be the case.  I little bird had flown into the front room window and bounced off ...  I ran to the window and sure enough, there he/she was lying feet up on the rocks below the window.  I felt sick to my stomach.

But, ran to find a shoebox as quickly as I could.  My Mom used to do it all the time and it's always been a good way to salvage them and try to revive them.  By the time I got out there he had righted himself and was sitting up a bit.. sort of... so I carefully got him and put him into the shoebox...he did shriek and I was hoping it was just fear and not in pain.

I closed the lid and put the box in the patio.  There were a few holes in it so he had lots of air.  I went into the house but kept a close eye on the box.  After about 10 minutes...I was thinking ...would he try to fly and be panicking if he was trapped in there or would he just stay resting because it was nice and dark?  I waited a bit more and then went out and carefully opened the lid.  His eyes were closed... but in the light...he opened them and actually looked pretty good.  Almost perky.  I had hope.  Back inside I went, but kept an eagle eye on the box in case a cat or something showed up.  Actually got out my camera and went out on the patio steps and got a great photo of him.  I keep saying him, but I do think it is a little, young female.

I had one other little birdie hit our patio window and it killed her.  I just didn't have the heart to take her photo even though she was beautiful.  I think with this little one, I felt hopeful and wanted to document a success.

Several more minutes... so, a total of only about 25 minutes total from the time of impact ... and, off it flew.  I cheered right out loud!!  It was a fluttering up and out and I did wonder if perhaps it might  not have cleared the patio wall or that it landed nearby the steps..so went out to check.  Nowhere to be found, so I guess it is a success.

Poor little thing...I sure hope it was alright and can continue on it's intended path.  I think they must be migrating now and it could have just been a fly by... I have only ever seen one or two and only about this time of year.  I suppose they could live here, but like I say... only ever seen one or two... and, sadly this little guy had a run-in with our window.  Darn it.

Without further ado.... here she is.  I think she is a young American Goldfinch ....

If any of my birdie blog buddies see this... please let me know if you think that is what it is.

So.... update:......   I got two comments saying they thought it is in the Empidonax genus, and Dave from Birds from Behind gave me all the clues to look for which one.  Apparently a "gnat master" if you will  ..   (not Dave, the little birdie that is ) .. empis meaning "gnat" and anax meaning "master".

I looked for photos of Canadian flycatchers and lo and behold, found photos identical to this little one and so it is....    An Alder Flycatcher!

Check out other beautiful birds over at Paying Ready Attention by clicking on the birdie below....

Danielle Donaldson

I've taken some of her online classes previously.... and all were fun.  So, when I saw this one for drawing whimsical little animals (little is the key word here) and how to watercolour them ... well, it had to be done.

What fun!

It is also a bit more than that ... she calls the bottom portion of the projects Story Blocks...  I still don't really get it.  I guess my mind just doesn't work that way.  To me it is collaged bits and bobs and using pretty colours that I think look good with my little guys I've drawn and painted.

So far I've only done a few... we are re-building a wall that divides the exercise room from the tv room...so I don't have many spare minutes to rub together... darn it.  I would much rather be having fun with paints and papers than making eleventy nine trips up and down the stairs every 10 minutes.  I have buns of steel already... and, we are only two weeks into the project.  But, we re-built the front side of the wall already ..and, will be starting the back side framing after a bit of re-wiring ...   It will be close to 2 months by the time we are finished it all I'm sure.  In between it all I try to find a few minutes to draw a few lines and even to drop on a bit of colour.

If you want to check out Danielle's class (or other artists) you could go to Jeanne Oliver's site  http://jeanneoliver.ning.com to see what I'm talking about.

Here is my first little dog . ....

and.... some little bunnies that I did ...

Click on them to make bigger if you like...and, you will have to imagine them matted ... and/or matted and framed for the time being....

Wild Bird Wednesday

The tiny Red Breasted Nuthatch.

I love these little guys ...and, little they are too.  Not much bigger than some hummingbirds really.  But, feisty.. just like a hummer.  They don't take any flack from the bigger birds and dart in and out and get their fair share of the seeds. Sometimes they even try to hog the feeder all to themselves...

They hang upside down from the mesh to get a seed, (which I'm sure is the proper way for a nuthatch) ... but, they also perch on the little wire perches..or...they don't mind taking seeds from the board near the water..or on the ground ... as a matter of fact... they are everywhere ..all at the same time it seems.















I have at least two different ones coming and going on a regular basis.. I only know this because sometimes there are two here at the same time.  Also these same ones or ..maybe others... enjoy my suet feeder at the back of the house.  Their favourite... peanut butter and bugs suet... which the Downy woodpecker and the Flicker ...and a damned Magpie also enjoy.  I do shoo away the Magpie when notice it there.  It can get plenty of other "food" anywhere...

If they don't take the seed and fly directly to their "stash" ...  which they save for rainy or cold days.. they will often beat the heck out of it on the patio wall.   Unlike the sparrows...they are dainty eaters and like to nibble tiny morsels ..much like the chickadees do when they take a seed and fly into the lilac and nibble it for quite some time before returning for a second.

Here is one just for Dave ...    http://burdzbuttz.blogspot.ca  ... a perfect butt shot... which I get plenty of ...I just wasn't quite as clever as he was in naming a blog after the fact.  I love your fun blog Dave .. and all of your perfect butt shots.. as well as all of your other beautiful bird photos.

Look...sometimes he shares.... let me see what is that other bird? .... mmm.... perhaps ... it was a Pine Siskin that day.

We all know this look...... "Hey woman....it's empty...... more seed!!@"      Worse than a pirate... "oi .. ....where's me grog wench ?!..."

Sheeesh.....  birds are cheeky.

And look how easily he does that major stretch.... wow.... .. I wonder if their legs are situated differently in their anatomy than other birds or if they just have stronger groin muscles ... I must search for a straight on shot or two to see if it is noticeable...

Check out many other beautiful and interesting birds on Wild Bird Wednesday (even if it is Friday today) .....


Just click on this badge to go there....

Look who came to dinner

at........... the birdie feeder.

The only sparrow that didn't fly off was this Clay Coloured Sparrow...okay it is actually a clay sparrow ... but,  there is a sparrow called a Clay Coloured .. and, it looks pretty real doesn't it?  There are 3 on this little fountain.

The real ones quickly dived into the nearby juniper shrub and stayed there, quivering, 'til long after Curious George left the vicinity.

I got some photos of the cat and sent them to my neighbour to see if she recognized it.  We don't see many loose animals in our neighbourhood.  We live beside a golf course and do have coyotes and owls and hawks about all the time.  This guy would make a pretty good sized snack for somebody higher on the food chain..well, maybe not higher, but bigger.

He didn't get lucky ..   but, he was definitely checking out the menu.

Then, down he jumped and sauntered off in the direction of the next crescent ..where we think he lives.

Apparently, his name is actually George.  And I have no idea why he is out and about pretty far from home.  I would have thought people might be a bit more concerned for a lovely cat like this.  Looks like a Himalayan to me.  They aren't cheap.  Neither are vet bills.

So,  ....no actual birdies today on Wild Bird Wednesday...but, he is a visitor to the bird feeding station in my patio.
As usual, click on the photos to see them bigger ...what a beauty he is.

Bad George!  Bad CAT !!@

hahahah... yeh, as if I said that.  I just grabbed my camera and took his photo.

Check out real birds on Wild Bird Wednesday by clicking on this image.

Alice ..

With a bit more clay here and there and some sanding done... that scratty mohair is not the actual hair ...but a bit of it....to see if she is getting there.  Just getting a feel for her "look"...   who knows what she will end up wearing on her head.

Added some more clay to the hands and they are actually beginning to look more like hands ...but, not quite there yet.  Wish I could make myself add a bit more clay than I do each time...but, that's me I guess.  Must make them before I get tempted to paint her face.

Good thing Maggi mentioned about not painting her face till we have the hands done so that we get the same colour for flesh... 'specially if we, you know,   ....    ....  mix colours to get "that perfect shade"  hahahah.... been there before.  I think she knows me.

Alice in Steampunkland

The new dolly I am making.

Not much new happening with her ... she will be a long time in the making.

However, I did add some tiny bits of clay to her face and head and got her sort of how I like her ...and, I began the hands.  We'll see if I use the hands or not.  I might have wanted to give a bit more thought to the position of the hands and fingers.  Like, if I want her to be holding something or not.  They won't hold much in this position.

The pattern shows perfect skinny sausages for fingers.... whereas mine definitely look more skeletal.  Nobody mentioned having to put on alternate fingers...but, I found I was having great difficulty doing one wet piece of clay that close to a second piece of clay.  So, finally did alternate fingers and let them dry and then did the rest.

I was thinking how the fingers looked weird and sort of pinched together where they joined each other finger.  But, once I got the little bit of clay onto the back of the hand, I discovered I could lay it up further on the fingers a bit more to give them slight space or a bit of a web between each finger. That'll be more like it.

It looks like a bit (or, a lot) more work is needed on them yet.  I'm so slow and tentative with clay.  I have no idea why.....it is easy to sand it off..it's just paper clay.  But there you have it... working with clay tells you something about you.  Hahahaha,,,, as if I didn't already know that I am cautious and a bit tentative with a lot of things.

Coming along, albeit very slowly.

Click on the pics to see them bigger.