Birds & Garbage

 

Remember I said the other day that I plan to spend the winter clearing out crap?  Today I began with the shelves on the side wall of the garage which might not have been a great idea because it was 14 degrees this morning.  But since I was gone for the last week my garbage can was empty.  EMPTY.  Which meant that I had a place to put all that crap.  Score!  I wasn't awake enough to remember to take a "before" picture but here are the well-tidied shelves and this is the garbage can (about breast-high on me) that I filled up to the tippy-top and got to the street right before the garbage truck came by.  Whew.

 

After grubbing around freezing my butt off in the garage I put on a hat and better gloves and went out back to fill the feeders.  When I got home last night the birdbath was a glacier so I plugged in the heater and dumped some hot water into it to get the melting started but all of the feeders except the suet feeder were empty.  Within  2 minutes of starting to fill things there were chickadees lurking and scolding me from the apple tree.  Then the bluejays, the red-bellied woodpecker, and cardinals vectored in for peanuts, seeds, and corn.  That makes me feel so good.  Soon there'll be discarded Christmas trees for me to abscond with so the birdies have a place to shelter from the cold and hawks, although at least one of the hawks has learned to land on the ground and wander around in the birdie tree on foot to check if there are any birds in there not paying attention.  Maybe it's the same hawk that learned if it dive-bombs the juncos when they're feeding on the ground at least one of them will clonk itself on the patio door which stuns it just long enough for the hawk to claim an easy meal.  Clever.


 

I was amazed this morning to see that there's snow left from last week's snowfall.  Usually early November snow doesn't hang around.  It falls then melts but this stuff looks like it's here to stay.  Ack.  It's too cold too early too.

In the afternoon I went down to The Attic Cafe & Used Books to meet ACJ for a couple hours of writing.  She's working on a poem that isn't cooperating and I'm trying to figure out how to fix up my novel so it'll be ready for me to take to a writing conference next April to pitch it to an agent or agents.  I sent the manuscript to her last week and she read through it and had some very valuable comments.  ACJ used to be an editor for a local publisher so she's got an eye for things that I and other readers miss.  I have at least a page of notes about things to think about and, more important, talking to her helped me figure out that where it ends at the moment isn't The End.  Some things need rearranging, at least one more scene needs writing, and an idea for how to really end it come to me during our discussion.  I might have to start buying her pot of tea when we get together just to thank her for her invaluable help.



After I got home I realized that there was no way I would have one more lawn mowing this year so I got some gas treatment poured into it, tried to start it (no luck), and wheeled it into the back where I dragged the snowblower out of the shed and put the lawnmower in its place.  *sigh*  Winter really is on the way.  I can't deny it when the big red snowblower shows up in the garage.



One more photo of the Indiana windmill farm.  I do love me some

windmills but I refuse to drive off the road to get a better shot.  Oh, on my way around Indianapolis yesterday a speeding white pickup truck wove around me, shot off onto the into-town highway, and was followed by no less than five wailing, speeding cop cars.  A high-speed chase flowed around me!  Good thing I had both hands on the wheel and was paying attention.  I fulfilled my plan and drove all the way from Lexington to Green Bay yesterday.  I stopped about every hour or so for a potty break and to get some fresh air.  I added a little regular coffee to my mug of decaf so I stayed pretty alert.  The last 60 miles south of Chicago I doubted that I'd make it in one day but once I hit the tollway I perked right up.  Six lanes of traffic going 80 mph with three of the lanes filled with semis wakes a girl right up.  That burst of energy held me until I crossed the state line where I stopped for a McD's mocha frappe (a tiny hit of caffeine) that got me home a little after 6 o'clock.  So I made 600 or so miles in 11 hours.  Not bad.

Still haven't written the prompt but maybe I'll manage tonight.  I woke up at 5:45 this morning to pee and couldn't get back to sleep.  Maybe I'll skip the prompt and just go to sleep.  I'm tired.
--Barbara