Last Day of March? No Fooling?

 Here it is the last day of March already! What happened to this month? Although this particular week has seemed rather slow. I kept trying to make it go faster. I thought Tuesday was Wednesday, and Wednesday was Thursday, but now here it is really Thursday and tomorrow is April Fool's Day! I feel like I've been fooled already! LOL.  

Like this squirrel is trying to make like a statue and fool the Bluebirds into thinking he's not really there. They weren't fooled, however, and were keeping a watchful eye on him, dive bombing him if he got too close to their nest.

And these Canada Geese are standing at attention on the little marshy island in Still Waters Pond. They are standing like statues too...

Until someone gave the honking alert sound and they all started honking and here they go into flight mode.  Of course I couldn't get the in flight picture. They were too fast for my camera.

Last evening I was walking around the yard and came across this ugly sight:

Those are baby Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers, just freshly hatched apparently and eating the flowers on a weed in the yard. HOWEVER, they will soon move to other plants, like my amaryllis plants, and totally destroy them if I don't destroy them first. So, sorry, folks, but they are history! These fellows are not to be fooled with!

Speaking of Amaryllis Plants:

They are just getting ready to open up and bloom, and if those grasshoppers got on them and destroyed them, I would NOT be a happy camper!

My little blueberry bushes are developing blueberries. Sadly, there aren't very many. I accidentally knocked off some when we thought we were going to have a late freeze and I was trying to cover the plants.  We were fooled by the weather report and ended up not getting the freeze after all. Oh well, maybe they will get better as the season progresses. Time will tell.

The wild blackberries are certainly producing...but the birds usually get the berries before I do. Besides, there are too many thorns to get through to pick them to make it worth my while.

The birds will be happy.

Last evening's sunset on Still Waters Pond was lovely again:

I just stand in awe and watch it as it progresses.  I've been known to stand there and clap my hands and sing praises to God as well...

Psalm 113:1-6

1  Praise the Lord!

Praise, O servants of the Lord,

Praise the name of the Lord!

2 Blessed be the name of the Lord

From this time forth and forevermore!

3 From the rising of the sun to its going down

The Lord’s name is to be praised.

4 The Lord is high above all nations,

His glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like the Lord our God,

Who dwells on high,

(Sunrise this morning)

6 Who humbles Himself to behold

The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?

(this picture was taken a couple of weeks ago when we had a full moon. It was reflecting on the water and Mr. Blue Heron was out there fishing for his breakfast)

And here is some encouragement and hope for us today:

17 ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. 

There is nothing too hard for You.

Jeremiah 32:17

No Fooling!!!

Have a blessed last day of March!

Bluebird Update and The Goose Armada

 Good Tuesday Morning Everyone!  Here's a few happy pictures to help us get started with our day. 

I believe our baby bluebirds must have hatched, because Mama and Papa Bluebird have both been busy coming and going to the nest in the birdhouse, taking turns bringing tasty bugs to feed the babies!

Here's Mama on the housetop, watching for possible intruders.  Between the two of them, they are both very vigilant to stand guard and be ready to fend off any other birds or "creatures" who might disturb their babies:

When she thinks it is safe to go in, she looks inside and checks on the babies, and sometimes she goes inside for a second or two and comes right back out, and other times she stays right there at the "window" and drops the food in:

Meanwhile, Papa Bluebird is keeping watch from a nearby tree:

Then Mama Bluebird comes back outside and flies to a perch to stand guard (and look squarely at me as if to warn me to stay away from her babies!)

And then she looks back at her house to make sure all is well there...

While Papa Bluebird flies to the window and drops in the tasty bugs that he caught for the babies to eat:

Again, he is very careful to look around and make sure all is well:

I think he's on to me...

After both parents have dropped off their offerings for the babies to eat, they fly to the nearby holly tree to reconnoiter and plan their next move.

After chit-chatting for a few moments, they fly away to other places in the yard where they know the good bugs are.

Meanwhile, there's another interesting show going on out on Still Waters Pond:

(Well, actually this might have been the afternoon before, when the sun was so bright it was hard to see what was going on out there)

Do YOU see the "armada" of goose ships lined up just off shore?

They were making their way in, closer and closer, silently paddling by in hopes no one would notice them

Suddenly they caught sight of me standing up on the shore, and they began to send signals and make their clucking goose sounds toward each other

As they stayed in formation, the lead goose began to honk more loudly and you could see them pivot their heads toward the pond instead of the shore:

As the honking became more emphatic, they each began swimming out further into the water, picking up speed as they called to one another:

And it would seem as though on the count of three they all lifted up their mighty wings and prepared for "lift-off":

And off they flew "into the wild-blue wonder, flying high into the sky"!  

I could hear them honking all the way up and around the pond and off to another lake just beyond the horizon.  But they'll be back later. It's all a part of their daily routine. Never a dull moment out there on "Still Waters Pond".  Me thinks the "waters" aren't really all that "still" after all! LOL.

So what else is going on? Hmmm, well, let's see. Nothing much. I went to our Ladies' Bible Study yesterday afternoon. I had mentioned in an earlier post that we are studying the Book of Proverbs.

Someone had asked me what we were using to study the Proverbs, so I thought I would share this information with all of you in case you are interested in a new study guide for your group:

Although this says it is a "6-Session Bible Study...", I believe we will be taking much longer than that with our group.  When you get 15 or more ladies together for an hour, well, you can imagine that it takes longer to get through one lesson than what the writers of this study guide ever considered...

I think we are all realizing that there is a lot more to the book of Proverbs than just a lot of pithy sayings and sometimes funny ways of saying things.  Proverbs is full of Godly wisdom and instruction for living.  And like Proverbs 1:7 says, "fools despise wisdom and instruction." A wise person pays attention to what God is teaching us through His Word, The Bible.

Well, I guess it's time to get this day started. I hope wherever you are you are having a beautifully blessed day.  And if you want to do a little interesting Bible Study to start your day, pick up the book of Proverbs and start reading. You might be surprised at what you will learn!

Baffled!

If you have ever dealt with squirrels constantly raiding your birdfeeders before, you will know how frustrating that can be!  We've had up to five squirrels in the yard at the same time, each vying for his/her turn on digging out the choicest seeds from the birdfeeder and hogging all the good ones, leaving only the dregs for the birds.  Lately even the birds have been taking revenge.  Although it is funny that the Bluebirds do not even visit the birdfeeder or eat from it, they do NOT like the squirrels invading their territory near the birdhouse, and so they have been dive-bombing the squirrels every time they are on the bird feeder.  It's been quite comical to watch.

However, comical or not, we've gotten tired of paying for expensive birdseed for the BIRDS, only to have the squirrels totally pig out on them and not giving the birds a chance.  Now don't get me wrong, I know that squirrels are God's creatures too and that they need to eat, but around here where we live they have PLENTY of natural food to eat. We have  oak trees with acorns out the wazoo, and holly berries in the trees, and young pine cones, which they also love to chew up and spit out the core. There is more than enough food for the squirrels and they really do NOT need to eat the birdseed from the feeder.

So, that being said, we finally splurged and bought a "baffle" to put on the bird feeder pole.

That's that black metal coolie hat looking thing above.  It sits on a little bracket that holds it up on the pole, but it also allows it to tilt and swivel so that the squirrel SHOULD not be able to get a footing on it to reach the bird feeder.

It was quite comical watching the squirrel above, calculating and considering just how he might get up that pole and around and over that new thing to get to his beloved birdseed.  Try as he might, he could NOT figure it out (yet).

If you look in the above picture, you can just barely see his tail sticking out from under the baffle, just before he had to slide back down the pole to the ground.  He was definitely baffled.

And so he went and sat on the birdbath and consulted with his "idol", Bobby the Squirrel, asking the wise cement squirrel what he should do.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bluebird sat up on his perching pole and watched the shenanigans, and I do believe I could hear him chuckling as we watched Mr. Squirrel try over and over again unsuccessfully to reach that birdfeeder.

Even Mrs. Bluebird stuck her head out of the house to see what the commotion was all about!

Well, all's well that ends well. 

I know you can't really see it, but there is another bird feeder in the "Secret Garden" that hasn't been "baffled". (yet).  So the squirrels do still have someplace to get their favorite sunflower seeds. I'm not totally inhumane.

So, what else is new?

This morning hubby and I went for our usual morning walk, and it was a little bit chillier than we thought. So we both bundled up in our hoodies, and then I realized that we were "twins", so of course a selfie was in order! LOL.    Aren't we just so funny?

And of course I needed to take some pictures of things that are developing since it is spring.

Do you know what these flowers are?

They are the flower of the "paw-paw" fruit!. Click HERE for a previous post that has a picture of them when they are ripe.  These bushes are showing up all through the woods right now, and by summer or early fall they will have fruit on them that the critters will enjoy.

And I had to check out the wild plum trees scattered throughout the woods. They are finally developing some wild plums!  The only problem is, by the time they are ripe enough to do something with, the birds have already gotten them or they have dropped to the ground. They are quite tart when ripe, so not really like a "real plum".

But I was very happy to see so many different trees are loaded with fruit this year. Last year there were hardly any.

After we finished our walk we headed to the local flea market. Sometimes there are good things and sometime there aren't. Today was my lucky day!  I scored this beautiful real wicker chair for a "song", including the cushion.

It joins my other wicker chairs on the back porch. Mine are the "plastic" kind of wicker, so are less maintenance, but as long as I keep it under shelter it should be fine.  

Now we are all set for a tea party on the porch. Won't you come and join me?  I'm sure I can find some other chairs around here if we need them. The more the merrier!

The same lady where I bought the chair had this lighthouse dishtowel for sale. She just threw it in with the chair! Deal!!  Who can't use another dish towel? Especially such a pretty one?

And for a dollar I bought these two pie stackers:

You may ask what a "pie-stacker" is.  Well, when I saw these they made me think of my mother, because she had these and used them often to carry her wonderful pies to family dinners or pot luck dinners, or wherever anyone was fortunate enough to receive my mother's pies.

See, you stack your pie pans on them (with pie in them of course)

And then you put them in your cake carrier, or in this case, pie carrier:

By the way, those two pyrex pie plates belonged to my mother. I keep them here in this cupboard, right under her pyrex mixing bowls:

Some things are too special to be hidden away...

My mother baked many a delicious pie in those two pie plates, let me tell you. And I know she used those mixing bowls for so many things, probably to mix up her pie crust, bake her macaroni and cheese casserole, put her delicious potato salad in, the list could go on and on.

Now I have to change my name to "Maurleen".  Apparently that's who owned these pie stackers before. 

LOL.

Is that enough stuff for a Saturday? 

We are studying The Proverbs in our Ladies' Bible Study at church right now. Going through the Proverbs is quite an education in how to live (or how not to live). Here's a good one for today:

"A merry heart does good, like medicine,

But a broken spirit dries the bones."

Proverbs 17:22

No matter what is going on, even when we are "baffled" by life's confusion and frustrations, if we try to keep a "merry heart", we will find that we can cope with life so much better.  No one wants to have dried up bones...

Have a blessed and "Merry" day!