Chickanutch

I'm confused ~ and I can't blame it all on the heat which has broken all records! (Just in! For a third straight day, BC has experienced 30+ temperatures breaking the previous record of 2 days.) The reason I'm confused is that I think I may have called a chickadee a nuthatch on my last posting! These little tiny baby birds about 2" long max, have black or white stripes on their faces...the black capped chickadee has a black head with white cheeks, but now I find out there is a chestnut-backed chickadee with similar colouring to the red-breasted nuthatch. I think the tail however, of the bird in this series of photos looks like that of a Chestnut-backed chickadee. To 'unconfuse' myself, I have opted to call all small birds with any sign of stripes on their heads, Chickanutches.










It looked like a hot little thing sitting in the tree, and I hoped it would notice the birdbath and have a drink or bath ~ however, it didn't! I had refilled the water earlier in the day so that it wouldn't be boiling hot in this weather of 35 C. At least this particular bird feeder is in a shady tree fairly close to the birdbath in the front garden.



I had another look at Oakley today when giving him a drink, and he seems to be quite enjoying himself, even in the heat. Isn't it amazing how many big and small leaves it has on such a tiny trunk? (we have to call it a trunk rather than a spindly stick to encourage his self-confidence).

Here's Oakley:




I did wander into the back garden for a short time to check on the roses ~ two fragrant cloud photos, one hot cocoa bloom, and one big purple which was wisely sheltering under a leaf! Photos can be clicked on to enlarge.

Here is a photo of a section of a door I make-shifted when the old door on my shed was in bad repair. I bought a used screen for next to nothing, spray painted the frame brown ~ took apart an old picnic table for the slats of wood and used them to make the bottom section, screwed it all together, and added a small windowbox ~ so that the eye would be drawn to that rather than the rest of it! I found an inexpensive bamboo type rollup blind in a store 23" wide, which fit perfectly inside the door frame. I fastened that in with screws, and then found a piece of tracking of some sort in the garage that I cut to size and fastened to the inside of the door for the bottom of the blind to fit into. Voila! I did that before this heat wave, luckily. While the door may not win any prizes, it is functional as it opens and closes!



While I was looking around the back garden, I noticed more signs of deer. The fresh green leaves of the grape vine were nibbled off at a certain height. This is fine with me as the grape vines are wildly growing over all the trees with clumps of grapes ripening in between and amongst the fruit trees! The roses are protected by a fenced in area, but the bird feeders are being emptied on the ground and a few apples are being knocked off the trees. I tried to see if I could see any sign of the deer when I watered the plants on the back deck tonight, (22 C) but it was very still, with a clear bright-star night. I like it when the big dipper is over the house ~ I fancy that it is pouring magical stardust :)

OK ~ obviously I can't sleep, as I'm blethering on, so let's see what else I can come up with. Oh yes, I found a cute little t-shirt for Daffy's dad's new dog Scruff! Although I'm not fussy to see dogs dressed like people, under the circumstances, (Daffy's dad likes t-shirts) here's Scruff:



I hope Daffy sees it before the family heads off on vacation on Saturday :)

Getting your feet wet!

With all of this lovely summer weather, today it's time to get our feet wet, so off with the shoes, and enjoy the warmth of the water ~



Last night, the sunset was amazing because the sun dropped behind a cloud, and then returned before settling behind the hills ~










I'm enjoying having the time off, being able to get caught up on some things that need doing, such as having the piano tuned! I mowed the front and back lawns today, baked some bread ~ went back to the library (once again!). Checking out the beach, doing some work around the house and garden, relaxing on the lounge reading ~ that's the best of summer holidays!

Yesterday I visited my friend at her farm, and she showed me her garden and her vast quantity of peas ~ they're not quite ready yet, but they seemed to go on forever!






Later the two of us went out for a lovely dinner at one of our favorite pubs ~ I didn't take in my camera, but I should have because the generous sized raspberry and blueberry pie we had for dessert looked and tasted delicious. After dinner, we drove to see a live production of Oklahoma, thanks to the reference on Yolanda's blog entry at Bliss.

The bright clear days continue ~ Life is good!

Things are looking up!

...or High as a Kite, or the Eagle has landed!

During the time I wasn't online due to technical difficulties, some relatives came to visit the area and I spent some enjoyable hours with them at the beach where they were staying. One of the children had a high flying kite ~ With the tide far out, we were able to run on the sand with it and keep it flying high!





A little girl asked if she could try, and she did such a great job. You can hear her family cheering her on at the end of this.



Yesterday I went for a walk in the Woodland Garden and saw a bald eagle land on an evergreen tree. Although I wasn't quick enough to shoot the landing, I did get a few photos of it on a branch ~





One of my sunflowers finally turned around to look at the rose garden instead of over the fence!



Finishing off with another lovely summer sunset ~

Back in Business

Our intermittent internet connection cut off and faded into oblivion! After speaking with the internet provider, it was discovered that our modem had become 'obsolete'. Poor thing. Anyway, a new one was promised to be shipped. We waited for 3 days, and after speaking to customer service found out that the new modem had been sent in the mail... snail mail??? I wasn't impressed. After letting the company know that I had decided to change providers (their stiff competition), I was told that a modem would be sent posthaste, in fact expedited. Time passed. I called again, and was promised a substantial reduction on my monthly rate. Finally, after a full week, a box was delivered on the doorstep ~ and the next day, another box was delivered on the doorstep...

So, I'm back in business. Of course, being without internet for a week found me doing lots of other things! I'll post a few photos I've taken over the week of lovely sunny weather. I still have other photos to download, once I get back into the swing of things here.

I had these photos ready when my blogging came to a sudden halt.

A visit from the swallowtail butterfly ~ must have been waiting for the verbena to blossom as it kept flying over the deck each day without stopping! At last ~






This cute little chickadee was having a snooze and enjoying the breeze swinging the feeder cage back and forth ~ lullaby land!





I have a video of birds at the feeder, but it's a bit too long to be uploaded, so I have to see if I can shorten it. A few more bird photos:







Floral shades in the garden:








Some sky photos from the deck as I relaxed now that I'm on holidays :)






I have had a chance to look around the blogs, but not had time to comment as yet. It will take me some time to catch up, but at least I'm back in business AND on holidays ~ did I mention that? ;)

A quick post

Just a quick post in case I'm unable to connect to the internet again. We have been experiencing some technical difficulties ~ not with the computers themselves, but the internet connection. I will try and post, but if I am unable to, you'll know why!

Bright and 'Cherry'

After replacing my recharged camera batteries, my photos seemed to have disappeared before I downloaded them. However, I took out the memory card and put it back in again, and my photos re-appeared. Phew!

It was a bright and clear Canada Day, and red and white seemed to be the order of the day ~ with a bit of blue splashed in!

My eyes were drawn skyward when I heard the unmistakable roar of a Martin Mars Bomber.



Another sight that caught my attention:



The weather has been so glorious, that haymaking has been bales of fun! Well, I can say that because I haven't been working outside in the heat ~



I noticed that someone in the neighbourhood looked like they had grown a crop of Canadian flags, as they were poking up all over their front lawn. I meant to go back and take a photo, but forgot! So imagine that, if you will :)

Meanwhile, back in the garden, it's cherry picking time. The birds have known this for a long time and have had their fair share. This young robin seems to be trying to figure out how to get the one dangling below:




There are still cherries left to eat! ~ and let me tell you, they are succulency personified!





I have recently shown a photo of a pear, and now for the apples:






They're coming along very well!

John of Midmarsh Jottings admired my header (Thanks!) which is a photo of one of my Folklore rose blooms. Here are some other photos taken today:

Two new rose bushes ~ Fragrant Cloud (divine fragrance!)



Big Purple (also very fragrant)



First bloom on the Elle rose this year:



Hot Cocoa



and the sweet little Fairy Roses



I accomplished a lot today at work, which helped me to see that this paper work will eventually be done! One more week to go before I'm foot loose and fancy free! I hope to get to the beach sometime this weekend if the weather stays warm and perhaps it will help cool poor frazzled Flighty!

Have a great weekend!