I Saw One

I saw a squirrel going in and out of the horse head squirrel feeder this afternoon. It was moving so fast there was no way I could get a picture even if I was closer. It would stick its head into the feeder making it swivel around, then come out with a kernel in its front paws to eat it on the retaining wall. After a few assaults on the horse head feeder, the squirrel moved down the wall to the cob corn and climbed up there. I guessed it chose that feeder because it holds still.

 

A few more of the tiny yellow mums are blooming. I keep hoping that more and more of them will bloom making the whole mound a vibrant yellow. So far, no luck.

 

Sparrows figured out quickly that I filled the round feeder and wasted no time landing on the perches. In this picture you can see one of them just coming in for a landing. There are a lot more of them in the flock than I thought. I spent enough time up filling the cob corn and horse head feeder that the Sparrows showed up and there must have been twenty of them or more. I love the sound their wings make when they take off. Not as much as when Mourning Doves fly away but still a good sound. I've been seeing Canada Geese flying over, not going south, but they're starting to move around. 

 

A Downy Woodpecker joined the Sparrows for a bit. It chose a time when there was only one Sparrow on the feeder so it could jump around from feeding port to feeding port. I keep thinking it'll land on the nuggets but it likes the seeds these days.

 

Today's drawing prompt was Cactus. They were okay to draw. 

 

The thing I was most grateful for yesterday was getting the new The Seaview Series poster but I was also grateful that I took a couple boxes of tosses to the charity drop-off spot. Today I hauled up two bins filled with fabric and took them to Goodwill. I started out opening them and looking at the fabric, then I realized that was a crazy thing to do. If I looked at the fabric, I'd decide it was too good to donate and just keep it, even though I probably haven't looked at it in over a year. So I closed the lids, humped the heavy things slowly up the basement stairs, loaded them into my car, and took them to Goodwill immediately. I was planning to walk today but figured that hauling those heavy things around took the place of a walk.

 

I got stuck while I was writing again today. It's frustrating when I can't figure out how to implement one of the recommendations from the Manuscript Analysis. I read the parts it wants changed and I think it doesn't need changing, so I move on. Then I think maybe I'm wrong, and go back over it, changing a word here or there but essentially not changing the sense of the scene. I also worry that if I take all the suggestions, the work is less my own. I'll figure it out one of these days.

--Barbara