HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - SATURDAY TO SATURDAY - STARTING 2/7/26

The weather above is for next week. As you will be able to see we are going to have higher temperatures. I am looking at Tuesday in particular.

I haven't done one of these for a while but felt like jotting things down, even though it was all pretty mundane. 

Saturday 2/7/26: I'm busy trying to take a photo of a white-throated sparrow in the flat-feeder. He's a quick one, I haven't been successful in getting him full body, the same with a wren and blue jay. The juncos are more cooperative. 

As for the others, either they are super-fast at picking up their seed or my reflexes are slowing down. Let's just say those birds are faster than I am! 

60 mile per hour winds were expected but it wasn't as windy as I have seen in the past. Son texted me and said that he had to hold onto the steering wheel and saw a downed tree. We got our front tree trimmed a few months ago, but we need more taken off and this is a solid reminder.  

The snow has melted a bit, but with these low temperatures, it is going to be a long time before all this snow and ice disappears.

Hubs went to the supermarket and picked up a doughnut for breakfast. He also stopped in at the coffee shop next door for me. Saturday is doughnut treat-day for both of us.

Sunday 2/8/26: son came over. He called later after he had picked up our daughter-in-law and as always, we are looking forward to getting together with both, hopefully soon. 

We introduced son to Spike and he immediately got his cell phone out. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, says I smiling.  

We have the traditional selfie of the three of us before he leaves. Gregg made this one into a painting. It doesn’t get our exact likenesses but we liked it.

Monday 2-9-26: Gregg went to the dentist and he has to have a back molar removed after having had some discomfort this past week. They wanted to do a lot more work than he was prepared for. That's to be sorted out next week. 

I had a quick chat with my brother-in-law in Germany and will be followed by a FaceTime soon. He's like a brother rather than a brother-in-law. I have known him since I was 13. 

Oh joy, we have had mouse activity in our car as you will see from yesterday's Saturday at the Bird Feeder Post. The surrounding where the shift is, has been chewed considerably, and a big hole made. The photos don't show the full damage. You can actually lift up a big flap that shows more damage. This was done in one night! Two years ago we had huge cachet of sunflower seeds tucked into a pocket on top of the engine. The previous link takes you to that story, but you'll have to scroll down. Maybe they are seeking the warmth of the car. This one certainly likes the taste of it.

A few years before that, the snow was elevated up to the dryer vent outside and a mouse got into our basement that way, through the tiniest hole! 

Gregg lifted the hood this time and said he couldn't see any damage, but we're going to be having an oil change and will get the guys to do a double check. I will also be checking the basement. 

Tuesday 2/10/26: Gregg read up on how to keep pests away naturally. He bought a small container of peppermint aromatherapy, yesterday and sprayed it on cottonwool balls as the article suggested. These he placed near the gear shift and others under the seat and in other areas. He did this last night and no more signs of chewing today. Fingers crossed! 

No breakfast today and for lunch we went to McDonalds for a burger and fries. The car smelled lovely though a little overpowering with that peppermint smell.

Dinner was quite late and we had a medley of roasted veggies; potatoes, carrots, quartered onions, and broccoli, cooked with avocado spray and all done on one sheet, popped in the oven. We had bought a Costco rotisserie chicken the day before, and had more for tonight's meal. We have leftovers for tomorrow. Pretty plain cooking but we both enjoyed. 

Wednesday 2/11/26: we ate the leftover vegetables for breakfast/lunch, tossing them around in the frypan for a few minutes. We added sliced tomatoes and an egg, plus a slice of toast. Very good! We had a relatively light supper. Roast chicken again, Lacy Swiss Cheese and lettuce on a focaccia roll. Also, very good and a no fuss cooking day. 

Gregg went out to try and find this boot replacement that the mouse chewed on. Didn’t have any success at the two auto shops. We will probably end up taking it to our dealership. 

I forgive you mouse, you were just following your instincts. Please find another warm place to stay, preferably not at our place. Sorry about the peppermint (not really, our pockets will be a little emptier thanks to you)! 

A quiet day today. Pottered around, did some housework, did a little computer work (I had fun putting a few things together as you can see), I read a bit. 

The temperature rose above freezing and there was a bit of snowmelt. I can see more of the deck. I will be glad to get out there and clean up. It was all quiet at the feeders today.

Thursday 2/12/26: Gregg had his back molar taken out, thankfully a little sooner than expected as there was some infection and they gave him an early appointment. He is doing very well he says. No brushing his teeth for a couple of days his dentist told him. Scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes and soup are on the menu. I was surprised how chipper he seemed to be and very happy that tooth is now gone. I have an idea it was bothering him more than he said.

Spike was back today with his sister, Sister of Spike. Would you believe they both have barely any fur on their tails? I looked it up. Squirrels do have health issues but these two seemed okay otherwise, not scratching and bright-eyed. Other reasons were interesting, as they do molt and also take the fur off their tails to put in their nests for insulation. That's the first time I've heard about that. Neither of them seem to have any health issues and are quite lively and happily stuffing their faces.

This one has a nice healthy tail.

Hubs checked, no more mouse activity, fingers crossed! 

Friday 2-13-26: 39 degrees F. today. Even more snow off the deck. Across the street it is disappearing from people’s front lawns. Not ours yet as they get a lot more sun on their side of the street. At least our driveway and pathway to the front door are clear.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs with cheese, toast for me, and a small glass of orange juice, also berries bought yesterday. I have just finished a cup of black coffee and am blogging for a bit.  

After spending a quiet morning, we made another batch of Thai-style soup. You can see my post here if you missed it. We made several changes by adding extra broth, and we had no green onions for the garnish (also none to put in the soup). A yellow onion did nicely. No carrots - replaced them with peas. Also, added a combination of pasta and dumplings (no potstickers in our freezer, or regular noodles in the pantry). He liked the idea of adding Girelle pasta (recommended by our son) - a little Thai-Italian fusion going on here - and I like my miniature chicken and cilantro dumplings, so we put them in together. He added the left-over Costco rotisserie chicken and I suggested adding fresh cilantro, but he wanted it just for garnish as he wasn't sure about putting it in the soup while cooking. Next, a little lemon juice also at the table, a few splashes of Sriracha, and a teaspoon of Chili Crisp. Sounds an awful lot of ingredients I know, but this turned out really well and is now one of our favorite soups.

We had a tot of Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry before we went to bed. I told Gregg in dramatic fashion, and with pauses, that "It greets - the nostrils - like - an old friend." I got the wanted reaction when he laughed. Doesn't take much to keep our funny-bones going. We, after all, laugh at all jokes that are groaners and often laugh at ourselves.

Off to bed, it's been another fast day.

Saturday 2/14/26: Gregg is doing well after his tooth extraction. He's a trooper I tell him, and having those good genes from his parents may have helped. He also had a long chat with his sister and brother-in-law first thing, and that is always a great start to the day. He went out to our local supermarket and bought our Saturday doughnuts. His choice because I may have mentioned in passing, that we should leave it this week but no, he looks forward to them. He also popped in next door to get my coffee. 

We are not doing anything special for Valentine's Day. It's hopeless trying to get a seat at a restaurant locally and a lot of places don't take reservations. I don't have the patience or ability to wait an hour for a table, not that I ever did even when I was younger. We're not ones for doing anything too much. At the same time, I love seeing what you do. 

I enjoyed watching the birds turn up at the feeders this morning. Above we have a Male house finch and a female Cardinal. Mr. Cardinal was nearby and I'll share him another time. 

I am looking forward to many things about the warmer weather, one of them is washing down the deck, and giving it a good scrub after all this snow we've had. We will be going to the garden center to buy flowers for the planters. I am determined to grow herbs this year. It's 54 degrees F. today.

 How nice it will be to sit out there with a hot drink, relax and enjoy the fresh air. Simple things sometimes are the best. When dear other half went to the supermarket this morning, I threw clothes in the washing machine. I found a simple joy in that. 

We just had a photo sent from our son. He and our daughter-in-law are standing in a very, very long line at Chateau de Chantilly Bakery. They introduced us to the place last year and we love it, but it gets very busy at the best of times and can be hard to find a table. One thing I noticed, they're all young-uns standing in this line, which reaches to the back of the store. Gregg replied that we are going to that other fancy French restaurant, Chick-fil-a. He said "Nothing but the best for my gal." Did I laugh out loud! And yes, that's where we decided to go. We enjoy Chick-fil-a. Their young staff are always polite and friendly, and even with the longest line, we can get through fast. And the food is consistently good. Son said their place was hopping, and I am very glad we're not standing in that long line. (Back home now and we enjoyed as always.) We go through the drive-thru and our friend here always greets us before we pick up our food.

On our way I took one photo as we left the neighborhood. People are starting to get out and about, and the snow is beginning to melt. A beautifully sunny day at 55 degrees F. Tomorrow it's going to be colder, 45 degrees and promising rain all day. 

I'm going to finish here and get this scheduled for midnight. I don't see us doing anything else today of note.

If you stuck through all of this mundane to the end, I thank you. If you skipped entirely, I'm grateful that you popped in and to all who leave a comment, I very much appreciate that. 

A big thank you to those of you who follow me. I have tried to follow other blogging friends but I keep getting a message to say I am at my 100 percent capacity and can follow no more. I have tried deleting a few who no longer visit, but am having a dickens of a time trying the steps I have been given on a help line. Anyone have step-by-step instructions on how to delete some followers? These are the ones who no longer visit by the way, and I do want to support my more recent blogging friends.  

THE COW AND THE SHEEP

In a meadow green and serene,  

Stood a wooden fence so quaint,  

Where wildflowers danced in hues unseen,  

And nature's charm seemed ever faint.

A pretty cow of beige and white,  

Gazed over the fence with eyes so bright,  

Her gentle face, a peaceful sight,  

A countryside beauty in morning light.

Below the fence, a woolly sheep,  

Peeked curiously, not making a peep,  

With kind eyes that held stories deep,  

Of fields where dreams and wonders sleep.

Together they stood, a pastoral pair,  

Amidst wildflowers blooming rare,  

In harmony, without a care,  

Their friendship a sight beyond compare.

With the oak tree casting its shadowy lace,  

And the forest whispering its embrace,  

The cow and sheep found their place,  

In a scene of nature’s gentle grace.

I have more company coming, an overnight stay. Continuing with yesterday’s theme, we have been catching up on cleaning this week and Gregg is a great partner in this. However, my OCD kicks in at such times. It certainly helps with our downsizing project, helps with the motivation. I can't do as much as I would like to any more but as Gregg reminds me, they are not here to inspect the condition of our home and besides, that's what locks on the door are for. Throw everything into the spare room and start again when things are quiet. Grinning from ear to ear here! 

Thank you my Dear Knight in Shining Armor who has just painted the laundry room closet and put together a new shelf unit which fits neatly inside.  Amazingly it is already full of things I have wanted to tuck away from sight and sound, things we still use but not quite as much (kitchen counter tops are relatively free and clear). We are continuing our clearing out of things to take down to the local church - clothes, old kitchen appliances, old pots and pans, all decent to the eye and still working but we won’t use anymore, and probably never will. They will hopefully do someone some good. We have named this year our downsizing year - it's time!

Thanks for all the visits and comments. Always enjoy reading them.

I will be catching up with you all again next week.

(Poem and photo from bing, prompts from me. Signature tag put together in Paint Shop Pro.)

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!

 

This sign tickled my funny bone.  And it's not a dig at the people who knock on the door trying to sell something. We've all got to make a living and there are interesting chats to be had at times. My dear other half once invited a young man in who stayed for an hour-and-a-half. Shocker, he got us started on having our old bathroom on the main level refurbished. It was way overdue, and we were happy to get it done (this is going back a few years). Afterwards, over a cup of tea, we had a great conversation on what he wanted to do in life. He talked about knocking on doors and how challenging it could be, he appreciated us he said, and yes I am smiling. But my dear young man, if you ever come again, consider bringing a bottle of wine! 

All joking aside, I am putting together a post on our latest walk but it's taking me longer than I expected. We drove into Occoquan (Virginia). Walking down the main road full of interesting eateries and shops, I found the sign in front of one of them and decided to do a simple collage of the storefront goodies.

More to follow!

CONTINUING MY COW STORY

 Following on from my post yesterday, where I had mentioned this was from a while ago, (2009 to be precise), my memories came flooding back.  Looking at what I wrote and browsing through photos is cause for a fun discussion afterwards with Gregg, who enjoys looking back at them as much as I do.  The following is what I wrote at the time.

I have to say honestly when I first saw this sign, I raised my eyes and started laughing. We had just spent the last hour driving along a very winding road with incredibly steep drops, and I was a little more nervous than I usually am. No way is a cow going to be on this road I said.  Famous last words because it was seconds later that I saw them.  

But first let me begin my story. We were on holiday traveling along Route 1 in California, a coastal road as you can see. Gorgeous views though I was very surprised at how queasy I felt looking over those sometimes 500-foot drops. It had been several years since I had experienced dizzying heights along a road such as this one.  

The realization struck me as I have gotten older, I am my dear Mother after all. It was a very winding road indeed. Gregg had done most of the driving on this trip, and I was very glad he was behind the wheel. I would not have been comfortable.  A flashback to my mother's white knuckles as she used to grab onto the handle at the roof line on the passenger side.  My mother, bless her, never learned to drive but she sure could jam those invisible pedals on the passenger side.  I wasn't offended, she was like this with my father, and those roads were where you couldn't drive much more than 25 miles-an-hour along the narrow, country roads that we were used to, and oh my goodness, when we actually got onto a main road and went up to 45 m.p.h., poor Mum!  

We obviously couldn’t go too fast here because of the curves.  Imagine our shock when we came around a bend, to find a big black cow right in our path.  I was too surprised to take a photo of that one.  Going as slow as we were, we stopped in good time several feet away. It stood in the center of the road looking at us and did not budge, and as we waited it became apparent that it was not going to budge. We didn’t even think to honk the horn and wouldn’t have because a) we didn't want that big black cow stampeding over our hood, and b) we didn’t want it to run over the cliff. We finally edged around it, not thinking we would see another cow along that road and not one practically kissing our bumper.  We were also thankful we saw no other cars during this experience. 

As far as other cows were concerned, how wrong could we be? We saw more cow signs and crossed over several cattle grids. We then saw another cow making his way down the hill to the road, and another munching on a patch of grass at the edge of the road. Then we spotted yet another, the one on the hump of the hill. We were trying to figure out how it was going to get down because as far as we could see, the hill seemed too steep for any ordinary cow to climb. These were obviously no ordinary cows, they must have had mountain goat DNA.

The pictures don't show the whole story. To see these cows in this particular area was an extraordinary sight.  That patch of grass with a touch of ocean salt must have been very tasty.

THE FRIENDLY COW...

The friendly cow all red and white,

I love with all my heart.

She gives me cream with all her might

To eat with apple tart.

She wonders lowing here and there,

And yet she cannot stray.

All in the pleasant open air

The pleasant light of day.

And blown by all the winds that pass,

And wet with all the showers,

She walks among the meadow grass

And eats the meadow flowers.

~Robert Louis Stevenson~

A wonderful poem by Mr. Stevenson.  Our friendly cow is not walking among meadow grass, but actually on the side of a high cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  Story tomorrow and both will be from my old blog when we were on a road trip from Vancouver to Monterey in 2009.  Seems like yesterday!

Thank you for visiting, 

and enjoy the rest 

of your week.

MORE PHOTOS FROM FRYING PAN PARK

In my first two photos, and always on the look out for interesting bits of nature, Gregg pointed out the fungi growing on the fence.

Good Morning, I hope you all had a great weekend.  Ours was busy as we had company.  Strangely I took no photos, didn't even think of it as we had such a good time talking until after midnight.  

I fixed one of those cheat meals for dinner but we all enjoyed it. It had been a busy week and I had no time to cook or fix ahead.  We were going to be out all day and this seemed the way to go for dinner that night, to get something on the table fast.  I was serving up half an hour after we arrived home.

For an appetizer I had two types of cheeses with crackers, plus some dates and a few nuts put together on a cheese board.  I know where to get really great chicken noodle soup.  It is the next best thing to homemade.  We have known our friends for many years and they do not expect anything more than good company.  One of them recommended the soup.  I added butter croissant and for dessert individual portions of Tiramisu, the kind that comes in a small glass.  A bottle of wine, great conversation and the evening was perfect. 

Not sure what we will be doing during the upcoming week, not sure if I will be taking any photos but in the meantime here are a few more from Frying Pan Park.

A barn housing an old cider press...

and its history in the photos below.

Tired piggies!

And more tired piggies in the next stall.  They all have access to the outside.

I shared these goats in my previous post.

I found another goat in the field, too busy eating to pose for a portrait.

Far too busy feeding face for posing.  Note: clucking noises are of no help at such times.

If you saw my last post here, you will recognize this little charmer.

His brother was a hundred feet away having a snooze.

Brother looked like he would be following suit very soon.

There were signs asking us not to feed the horses as they were work horses.

This lovely cow was busy licking its trough, expectantly waiting for lunch.  We saw staff making their rounds feeding all the animals.

One expectant face looking through the fence.  Sorry little guy, no food but I can see it coming.

Thankfully these turkeys don't have to worry about making an appearance at the Thanksgiving table.

I read that for many years those turkeys who had been pardoned at the White House ceremony were sent here.

there will be

This post is dedicated to farmers everywhere, including those in our own family.

Thank you for stopping by.