I love birds of all kinds, and we certainly have many different varieties that frequent our yard and woods surrounding the house. One of my all-time favorites is the Goldfinch. Not only are they beautiful to look at, but their little chirpy peeps are soothing to the ears. I didn’t even know we had them around. I didn’t see them last year. Since the bears have not been around I thought it was safe to hang a finch feeder on the back deck and see what happened. Filled to the brim with tempting thistle seed, it didn’t take long to attract an audience.

I heard them before I actually saw them. I looked out and could see them sitting in the trees like bright yellow ornaments.
chew-eee chew-eee 
Soon they decided it was safe to come and get something to eat.

Yesterday morning I looked out and saw a bright blue bird, and on further inspection saw that it was an Indigo Bunting! Gorgeous little blue bird! It was dark and dreary, so I couldn’t get a good pic of him. But, I happen to have a photo that I took of one at our cabin in Colorado, so I’ll share that one instead. Same bird; different location. They are rare in Colorado, but not here. I hope to see him again.

SIGH. Sam, our Maine Coon cat, is always in trouble for something. He is into everything! He is the epitome of a problem child. He gets in these moods—and you can see it in his eyes—where he is just looking for trouble. And, he usually finds it. This time I didn’t see it coming. I had been knitting on my purple lace scarf and laid it down on top of my knitting basket while I went to chat on the computer to a friend about her brand-new litter of puppies.

After about 15 minutes or so, I sat back down to take up my knitting again. It was gone; nowhere in sight. Poof! Disappeared into thin air. It took me a minute to digest this dilemma, and then I took action. My first reaction was to blame the dogs who were all laying around looking innocent. They said they didn’t do it. Okay, maybe they didn’t carry it off, they certainly didn’t look guilty enough. I looked all around for it in the kitchen and sunroom, and finally my search led me into the dining room. Such a sight beheld my eyes! My lovely scarf was on the floor, and the ball of yarn was wrapped around the chair and table legs in a very neat web.

It was then that I knew who the guilty party was. Look closely in the photo below and tell me if you can spot him. Sam strikes again.

What to do? I just stood there for a minute, taking it all in. And then I started to laugh. I just couldn’t help myself. He had done such a good job. It was obvious he went around in the same pattern twice with the ball of yarn in his mouth. Just look at the precision in which this web was woven!

I just couldn’t be mad at him. There was no harm done—no dropped stitches, or rips or tears. I only wish I had seen him in action. I had been right in the next room but I didn’t hear a thing. Usually when he’s tearing around the house he makes his little chirpy-burry noises, but this time he was quiet as a mouse.

Now watch the video where I question the accused.
[Note: If you don’t want the QuickTime videos to play on opening my blog, go into your preference setting in QuickTime and under “movies” make sure you un-check the “play movies automatically” setting. I tried YouTube with this one, but it was taken in such bad light their version was too grainy.]

I hereby find the defendant, Sam, GUILTY as charged. Knitting rescued. Case closed.

Using the night shot feature on my little camera I captured the moon last night as it rose behind the trees. Soon the trees will be too leafed out to get this shot until late autumn.

While I am in the process of working on a few more Las Vegas entries, I thought I’d share this photo of my favorite tree in town. I think this is a weeping cherry, and a very old one at that. It takes up the entire front yard with its enormous girth. Its owners have a sense of humor too, as they decorate the tree on each holiday with the appropriate trappings for that particular holiday.

I remember last year when we moved here it was over the Easter weekend, and the tree was in full bloom with Easter eggs dangling from its branches. This year Easter came early and the tree was not yet in bloom. For whatever reason they chose not to decorate it for Easter this year. The last ornaments that hung from it were shamrocks. I have vowed to take a photo of it every time they decorate it from now on. Maybe that will be the 4th of July?

The only blooming trees we have are the shad trees in the woods. They are plentiful around our area, and the first trees to come out. The wooded hills are dotted with splashes of white.

Another tree at the egde of the woods [as yet unidentified], appears to be going to bloom, but it might be just leaves. Hard to tell, but it looks like a blossom coming to me.

The skunk cabbage (at least that’s what I call it) is starting to take over the ground in the woods where it’s boggy. Soon the large ferns will be up and the whole area will turn into a lush jungle.

We’ve had a little rain each day over the past week and our grass is getting greener and greener. Soon Johnny will need to be put back into service. The grass seed that I strew about 3 weeks ago on the spots where the dogs have worried the ground bare, is now sprouting and growing like crazy. Our woods are taking on a green fuzziness, and it changes on a daily basis. Soon our neighbor’s house will be obscured behind a solid curtain of green and we won’t be able to see our back gate anymore. It happens so gradually over time that you can’t really say when it happened.

I welcome the wooded privacy wholeheartedly, even if it means I can’t see the birds in the trees anymore, or if the bears are there. At first it will seem strange to be so closed in, but we will soon be used to it. Just like we adjusted when the trees became bare, leaving us feeling naked and exposed to the world.

The changing of the seasons is such a wonderful thing. It keeps us from becoming stale and stagnant and pushes us forth to do different things than we have been doing over the past months. Instead of sitting by a cozy fire in the evening and watching TV, we’ll be sitting out on our deck or having dinner down by the pool. I’ll be swimming laps in the morning instead of sitting here writing drivel for you to read. My neighbor Kim has already commissioned me for morning walks. I hope to learn how to play tennis as well. Ahh, I can’t wait! I look forward to throwing off the inactivity and sluggishness of winter and embracing the new season!